Unity Community Center
Unity
Community Center
Junious
Ricardo Stanton
Unity
Community Center was founded in Camden New Jersey
thirty-five years ago to provide a place where strong discipline could be infused
through art, music, martial arts, history and culture. The founders Robert and
Wanda Dickerson have made it their life mission to teach African dance and
drumming, martial arts and numerous other programs in a loving, caring family
style environment.
For the Dickersons this is a family
affair with a distinctive mission. Now their children and grandchildren are
actively involved in the programs and are working to establish and maintain the
Unity Community Center as an institution
dedicated to empowering the community.
“My wife Wanda and I started Unity Community Center
in 1983 because we saw the decline of the inner cities not just in Camden but all over America. The at-risk communities
were suffering a serious image problem, crack cocaine was coming in, in the
early ‘80’s we saw the decline of the inner cities with businesses moving out
and the mom and pop stores were leaving Camden. A friend of mine said it looked
like they dropped a bomb on Camden on Broadway
(a main street in Camden)
and it wasn’t getting any better” Robert Dickerson shared.
In the ‘80’s the Dickersons started
local programs in Camden New Jersey centered on what they enjoyed and
were involved in for years, African dance and martial arts. Robert explained how
it came about. “I was doing boxing and
karate in North Philadelphia and Wanda’s stepfather
introduced us. She had been doing
African dancing with the Arthur Hall Dance Ensemble since she was in junior
high school.”
Robert and his two brothers were
active in the Nation of Islam which had a major influence on him and Wanda was
greatly influenced by Arthur Hall. When they met, Robert and Wanda discovered
they had a lot in common, their love of Black people, African history and culture
and a strong sense of self-determination.
After they married, his mother-in-law
told them about available houses in Camden
New Jersey, they checked out some
houses and decided to move there. They kept their martial arts and dance
activities in Philadelphia and lived in Camden for ten years before they decided to open the Unity Community
Center.
With the help of a friend they
acquired a storefront building on Mt
Ephraim Avenue in the heart of Camden. Robert and Wanda created a non-profit
organization and started teaching African dance, praise dancing, drumming,
disciplined drilling and martial arts at a reduced rate because they knew most
of the people couldn't afford to pay. “We chose to be a non-profit because we
knew on the market what we are offering the people couldn't afford it.”
Deeply embedded in all their
programs is the teaching of the importance of personal discipline and African
culture. “The difference in our martial arts program is we don’t just give them
martial arts, we give them what we call a holistic program of their culture. If
you don’t know who you are or where you are going it is impossible to love
yourself so our methodology is we put the martial arts the culture, the
disciple and spiritual parts in our program together it gives the child a
chance to grow properly.”
The Dickersons are known for their
African Dance and Drum ensemble and their national championship UPK Pasha
Generals martial arts program but they have successful education, training and
enrichment programs also. Fees and donations from the performing and martial
arts programs help fund everything else they do. The Dickersons have never enjoyed the financial
support of the City of Camden, Camden County
nor the state of New Jersey.
They expanded their program offerings to
include: music training, cultural enrichment, entrepreneurial training, productions
and promotion and leadership development.
Their goal is to provide strong healthy role models, discipline, and a
quest for excellence for toddlers to elders. They now have two facilities the
original Camden location and 5532 Chester Avenue in Southwest
Philadelphia.
Over the years they have maintained
their programs without grants or funding from any governmental agencies. On
Sunday November 4th at 5 PM they will hold their annual fund raising
banquet and talent showcase. The Dickersons are celebrating thirty-five years
of continuous community service and honoring numerous community servants,
cultural icons and activists. The UCC’s performing art groups will perform and
this is always a stunning display of talent and precision.
The banquet will be held in the grand ballroom
of the Clarion Hotel at
76
Industrial Highway just south of the
Philadelphia airport.
This is their signature fund-raising event. Tickets are still available and can
be purchased Online at
www.unitycommunity.com.
Unity Community Center is a 501C3 tax exempt
nonprofit organization; part of the ticket price is tax deductable.
I hope to see you there for this
great event.
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The Hate You Give
The Hate You Give
The Hate You Give is a film directed
by George Tillman Jr. that addresses contemporary issues with enough twists and
turns that make it more than a polemic against police brutality or race and
class stratification in America.
The film is in limited distribution at select theaters so you have to look for
it and see it before it is pulled from circulation.
The film takes a panoramic and intense look at
urban life, race, and class through the eyes of a light complexioned Black high
school student who lives in the hood but attends a bougie white suburban prep
school so she can get a “better education”. She lives in a two parent home, her
mother is a nurse and her father owns and operates a grocery store in the
community where they live. Her dad is a reformed gang banger who spent three
years in prison who is the alpha male for his family which includes his wife
Lisa played by Regina Hall, their daughter Starr, her older half brother Seven
and younger brother. There is great love and affection in the nuclear family
especially between Maverick (Mav) Carter played by Russell Hornsby and Hall;
but they disagree over whether to remain in the old neighborhood or move out.
Lisa the mother wants to move out of the neighborhood.
Amanda Stenberg who plays Starr
Carter the budding scholar-athlete has a white boyfriend but she is not
sexually active. Living in the hood Starr
knows the deal and clearly sees the stark distinctions between white privilege
and Black deprivation. She knows first hand the violence of the inner city.
Starr’s uncle, her mother’s brother
Carlos, is a policeman who helped the family out when her father was in prison
and became a surrogate father for Starr. Starr has a close relationship with
her uncle that becomes stressed when Starr experiences first hand the tension
between the police and community, the nuances of race, class and the prevailing
notions about “snitching” in the hood.
Without giving anything else away,
violence touches Starr in an intimate way which forces her to grapple with her
double sided existence. Her life is much more complicated than telling her
father about her white boyfriend as she is subsequently forced to deal with
deep loss and its emotional and socio-political aftermath.
Starr is forced to make serious
decisions based upon her experiences and its concomitant trauma while coming to
grips with whether or not she should do the right thing. We watch as this
unfolds in scenarios and situations all too familiar in modern America.
The film’s characters are not
portrayed as superficial caricatures of young people and adults. This is a
complicated film about a myriad of complex issues which under Tillman’s
direction, the actors are able to pull off admirably. Deep conflicts and
tensions exist throughout the film based upon the various back stories and
current events but the characters handle the juxtaposition of the past and
their present realities and predicaments well and believably.
The film provides many messages but
the late Tupac Shakur’s THUG LIFE acronym, meaning the hate you give little
infants f’s everyone provides the emotional foundation of the film. All sides of
the issues are depicted but the only issue and virtue the film trumpets are
courage and reliance.
Go see The Hate You Give before it is pulled from theaters.
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Shae Your Blessings
From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Share Your Blessings
“Be generous as long as you live. What goes
into the storehouse should come out… Generosity is a memorial for those who
show it, long after they have departed” – Ancient African wisdom saying
One of the qualities
of African people was generosity; sharing and assisting others. When I was
growing up we didn’t have a lot of money but I saw my mother give to others
when they were in need. Sacrifice is a form of giving, giving your time, resources,
the wisdom you have accumulated over the years so someone else can benefit. We
have to get back to sharing and not be so self-absorbed, self-centered and selfish.
Unfortunately a lot of Black people
think you have to be rich to give or to be a philanthropist. No so any and
everyone can give. The word philanthropy
comes from the Greek; philos meaning
to love, anthropos man, to love man
or humanity. People think you have to be rich to be a philanthropist due to the
work of a slick PR pioneer named Ivy Lee. Lee was a newspaper reporter who quit
his newspaper job and began helping politicians run their election campaigns.
He and a man named George Parker formed Parker and Lee the third PR firm in US history. Lee
believed in working with the press and created the press release.
Another one of Lee’s major
accomplishments was changing the public image of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The
Rockefeller family was hated following the Ludlow Massacre when Rockefeller had
striking Colorado
coal miners who were striking one of his
family’s mines expelled from their company owned homes and had the tents they
were forced to live in destroyed killing forty people and wounding hundreds.
Lee met with the miners and created
a media campaign featuring pictures of him (Lee) and Rockefeller meeting with
the miners union, dancing with their wives and planting positive stories about
Rockefeller in the media. Lee’s efforts helped quell public animosity towards
Rockefeller.
Image makers like Lee depicted the
robber barons as philanthropists because they created foundations to hold onto
their wealth but gave money to charity at the same time. This is where the American
notion that you have to be rich to be a philanthropist originated.
African people on the other hand
always knew the power of cooperation and sharing as their style was communal
living whether they were herders or sedentary agriculturists. Cooperative work,
responsibility and sharing the fruits of collective endeavors are part of our
history. Mutual aid and support were always integral parts of African culture even
during our enslavement in this country.
Today we live in a culture where
people are fixated on themselves the so called “selfie generation”. If we are
to grow, evolve and prosper socially and financially as a collective we have to
return to our African roots, values and ways. Even the poorest Africans share.
When most of our people resided in
the south, we had a tradition of helping, sharing and mutual aid. We have to
get back to and improve that tradition! A 2012 report by the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation entitled “Cultures of Giving: Energizing and Expanding Philanthropy by
and for Communities of Color”, stated African-Americans were more likely to
“give back to their community: than other ethnic groups. “African-Americans,
for instance, give away 25 percent more of their income per year than whites
and 63 percent of Latino households now make charitable donations. People of
color are also growing in size and their assets are increasing as well.” And
this report was formulated after the devastating economic crash of 2008 that
saw many African-American families’ wealth wiped out or greatly reduced.
An article about Black giving highlighted our history
of philanthropy. “The WKKF data also shows significant growth in
‘identity-based-philanthropy’, where the incentive is to give is based on race,
ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. The study, though, acknowledges
African-Americans have a long history of philanthropic giving, with its first funds
established in the 1920s. ‘Across communities, growth rates have varied but
African-American funds have had the most consistent growth over time,
increasing modestly each decade since the 1970s,’ says the report…It is not
surprising black Americans are such generous givers. This commitment to give
something back to society, especially to people of color, is best looked at in
the context of a history of racism and oppression. In the early days of
slavery the black church, with its emphasis on giving, played a central role in
aiding the community. As the fight for equality intensified, African-Americans
made significant contributions to the civil rights movement, ranging from
financial aid to helping organize NAACP events. From this struggle for equality
black people developed a loosely defined kinship, strong networks of mutual aid
and sensitively towards the less fortunate.”
https://thegrio.com/2012/01/11/african-americans-are-more-charitable-than-other-races-report-says/
Let’s build upon this
great tradition and step up our giving and philanthropic efforts. Share what
you have, share your blessings.
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