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Black Power part 3
As a result of the sit in, Shankar showed up expecting a meeting at a JHS in early July which turned out to be a protest rally. Shankar was humiliated by area residents who harassed him from the stage of the school's auditorium until he left. He was later portrayed in the news as having acted in good faith but the meeting was a set up arranged by BK CORE. Carson, implied to be the head of the set up, was quoted as saying, "This is not a rally. Its an indication of the mood of the people." Ollie Leeds, who was also there, denounced the UFT, as well.
While these events marked the beginning of long lasting charges against various BK CORE members of anti-semitism, they also marked the beginning of the chapter's successful efforts at institution building in the field of education.
The same week as the rally, James Farmer announced plans for a college to be built in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Referred to as a 'community university' its emphasis was to be on the teaching of poor Blacks. A year later, Floyd McKissick and Sonny Carson started talks to buy the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University which had been proposed for sale due to rising costs. These events were precursors to what eventually would become Medgar Evers College in the City University of New York. Meanwhile, BK CORE was running its own black history classes taught by Les Campbell.
There's a riot going on
As the public schools went on break during the summer months and Brooklyn CORE began its voter registration campaign dubbed Operation Registration, another long hot summer was beginning. After Newark, New Jersey went up in flames, Brooklyn CORE responded to a request for help by Newark CORE and started a campaign to raise funds and collect resources for victims of the city's riots.
A smaller group within Brooklyn CORE had been responsible for picketing a group of merchants on Fulton street for what it considered illegal and racist business practices as in the case of the chapter's 1962 Ebinger's campaign. The Amsterdam News noted within a week of the riots Brooklyn CORE members went back to some of those same stores to request contributions for the efforts in Newark and were successful. The name of the specialized group, CORE Guard, which included Ajuba Grinage, Kenya Williams, Kioka Solomon, Sherene Sulkulzula among others, is again indicative of the mindset in the chapter at the time. The chapter's support of efforts in Newark also speaks to the relationship growing between the chapter and then writer Leroi Jones (aka Amiri Baraka).
Within a few days, on July 29, another riot in started in Brooklyn which was said to have been initially instigated by Roosevelt 'Zulu' Zimmerman. The well known local street activist and Black nationalist, known for walking around with a machete, was arrested for 'brandishing' the machete at BK CORE's April 1, 1967 rally where he was a speaker.
Mayor Lindsay came down to the BK CORE office later that night for a meeting that was so heated nothing was accomplished besides the mayor being yelled at. It did demonstrate Carson's growing political clout despite what was being said about him in the press. By September, city officials went back to Sonny Carson and BK CORE for help in ending a three day riot in Brownsville.
Start of Ocean Hill-Brownsville Controversy
Just as the public school year was starting in September, the UFT decided at a rally to go on strike over salaries and school conditions. Brooklyn CORE showed up at the rally carrying a figure of Shankar in effigy but was prevented from setting it on fire. As had been done by carrying a coffin with 'Bury Jim Crow' written on the side during the Bibuld campaign against the BOE, Carson and his group were being dramatically disruptive to draw attention to the issue. Carson, 32 at the time, demanded teachers on strike should have their military deferment canceled so they could be sent to Nam like so many Black men who did not have the opportunity for deferment.
A week after the UFT rally, on September 18, twelve Brooklyn CORE members were arrested for trespassing and physically fighting the police after a 2 1/2 hour sit-in at the superintendent of schools' office. Reginald Herbert was additionally charged with menacing a policeman with a walking stick and Rajib Nichols with harassing a policeman. In the melee, one of the cops was hit in the head with a 'three foot high metal ashtray'. While the BK CORE people confirmed it, they added it only happened after the cops tried to hit them with the ashtray and a BK CORE member took it away from them in self defense. As the hurt officer was being carried out, one of the female members screamed, 'I hope you die'. When the fighting stopped, The Brooklyn CORE members stated they would let selves be arrested as long as no one touched them. Once outside, though, they started fighting again. One guy fought his way out of the police van and was fighting the cops until they finally pushed him back in. According to Carson, a civilian who started cursing out the cops for arresting the BK CORE people was also taken away. They discovered later he was an undercover cop put in the jail cell with them to see what information the cops could get. The case against the twelve members was dismissed two years later.