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The tactic also remained part Brooklyn CORE's arsenal as evidenced by its actions during the riots in Bedford Stuyvesant that summer. These directly followed the Harlem riots that began of July 18th, the start of 'the long hot summers'. As with the riots in Harlem, the riots in Brooklyn started at a Brooklyn CORE rally.
On July 21, 1964, Brooklyn CORE held a rally to protest the killing of James Powell and the police brutality that took place during the Harlem riots. According to Race Riots New York 1964, BK CORE hoped to take advantage of the growing discontent in the Black community and convince residents to become involved in the civil rights movement and with BK CORE. It held a rally at 1 A.M. on the corner of Nostrand and Fulton Avenue, the main crossroads of the Black community in Brooklyn. It started the rally by marching around the block specifically to tie up traffic and, as with the Stall-In, to prove to the 'power structure' they could still jam the city up if it chose to.
There was initially a low police presence at the rally, but one Black male who introduced himself as an off duty police officer 'heckled' the speakers, causing the crowd to get agitated. When the crowd began to turn on him, the on duty police called for reinforcements. The increased police presence only agitated the crowd more and added to the tension between the two groups. BK CORE actually gave the police credit for its restraint. BK CORE members surrounded the cops by locking hands in order to protect them from the restless crowd. As even more police reinforcements arrived the situation exploded as it had in Harlem. Among the BK CORE members on the scene were Gil Banks, Ollie Leeds and twenty six year old Stan Brezenoff who helped with the first aid station set up at BK CORE's office. The office stayed open for three straight days. The chapter limited its demonstrating to the Downtown CORE demonstration at Police headquarters in Manhattan for the rest of the week.
Major Owens and the rent strikes
After Isaiah Brunson left, France Crayton served as the interin chairman until Major Owens (Black) took over. Originally from Tennessee and a Morehouse graduate, Owens worked as a librarian in the Brooklyn Public Library. Vinny Young served as his vice chairman.
Following the directive from the national office to focus more on community organizing and less on demonstrations, BK CORE began working to increase political participation in Bedford-Stuyvesant. It created a voter registration campaign, which transformed overtime into an independent political campaign. The chapter created its own version of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party which it dubbed the Brooklyn Freedom Democratic Movement. According to Owens, it was the members who decided he should be the one to run for office.
He was not the first member of Brooklyn CORE to run for office. Dr. Palmer ran for office as a Black Republican in 1960 but lost.
Owens lost his campaign for city councilman but over the years the practical experience was turned into the chapter's and NYC CORE's greatest political legacy.
The other legacy of his tenure as chair was the rent strike. Whereas other CORE chapters such as East River CORE did not see their rent strike efforts as fruitful, BK CORE saw its rent strike campaign as a big success. At its height, BK CORE helped organize hundreds of people to participate. By July 1964, Ken Rice (Black), the coordinator for the rent strike committee stated the chapter had convinced tenants in two hundred and twenty five buildings to withhold their rent. According to Purnell, this was the 'first significant rent strike' in Bedford-Stuyvesant.8
The entire chapter was involved at some point including college student Paul Heinegg (White), Mary Phifer (Black), 'the first lady of Brooklyn CORE' and Stan Brezenoff, then the chairman of the housing committee. BK CORE's approach was not to lead but to help tenants organize themselves and start their own groups.
As Brooklyn CORE began to transition to Black Power in 1966, Major Owens left Brooklyn CORE and Ollie Leeds took over again as chairman. Kirchner started her own group, FOCUS, to work with Whites in the Sheepshead Bay part of Brooklyn. Frances Crayton became the assistant commissioner for Administration for Children's Services and then head of all Head Start programs.
Footnotes
From Brian Purnell's PhD dissertation, A movement grows in Brooklyn: The Brooklyn chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Northern Civil Rights Movement in the Early 1960's.
1. page 175
2. page 166
3. page 170
4. page 198; Meier and Rudwick's CORE, pages 201-2
5. page 352
6. page 408
7. page 403
8. page 399
©Security: Arnie Goldwag stylee