 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
And In Between 2...
At the end of 1966, the office moved again to 633 east 169th street where
it shared space and worked closely with the Bronx Community Self Improvement
Association. Interestingly, the executive board of the Association contained
members who had also been part of Bronx CORE such as Mabel Hurst and
Johhnie Mae Hunt.
By September 1967, NYC CORE chapters were caught up in the struggle over community control of schools. Bronx and Brooklyn CORE announced demands for the establishment of community run schools exclusively for the education of disruptive children. A proposal was submitted to the superintendent of schools at the Board of Education that November. Several CORE members had been arrested a few weeks earlier for sitting in at the superintendent’s office during a teacher walkout.
Convention And Split
Both Herbert and Sonny Carson of Brooklyn CORE walked out of the 1968
CORE national convention. The two chapters seceded along with others
in response to Roy Innis of Harlem CORE having been voted in as ‘leader
for life’. By this time, Callendar had already stepped down from
his position with national CORE.
Herbert was still in Bronx CORE at the end of 1968 but he eventually just left.
Quagmire
What happens next with Bronx CORE is unclear. Innis’ nephew,
Cyril Boynes, Jr. was listed in the press as Bronx CORE chairman by
1970. In 1972, he and two members of Harlem CORE (his brother Rupert
Boynes and vice chairman James Howard) were arrested for kidnapping
two students from a Bronx high school and assaulting them at Harlem
CORE’s office. The students had been accused of assaulting Roy
Innis’s son, Alexander, also a student at the high school.
While the press did mention the 1968 killing of Roy Innis' other son, thirteen year old Roy, Jr., the fact that Cyril Boynes is also a nephew of Roy Innis was not mentioned. The relationship makes it seem more of a personal, family issue as oppossed to a political one. All three eventually pled guilty and received three years probation. Cyril went on to become Harlem CORE co-chair in 1973.
Just A Mess...
Bronx CORE continued to exist at least in name throughout the 1970’s.
Morton Van Allen was listed as chairman in 1976. Oren Chambers, as the
head of Bronx CORE in 1978, was part of a group that denounced Harlem CORE
chairman Len DeChamps in a story in the Amsterdam news. DeChamps was
only one among many speaking out against Innis’ ‘Black Mafia’
like activities such as the beatings and shootings of other CORE members, including
DeChamps’ vice chair James Howard.
In 1979, the New York State Attorney General after a lengthy investigation against CORE for misappropriation of funds discovered a secret ‘slush fund’ being maintained by Innis and others for personal use. A bank account in the name of Bronx CORE was used to mask at least $70,000 in transfers from the ‘slush fund’. According to an article in the Amsterdam News, the bank account was opened in 1974 by Morton van Allen. Most of the money withdrawn from the account was done by checks drawn to cash and endorsed by Allen. The whole matter was eventually settled out of court.
In response, Herb Callendar, who had changed his name to Makaza Kumanyika, became part of an unsuccessful effort along with former CORE heads James Farmer and Floyd Mckissick, Arnie Goldwag of Brooklyn CORE and others to take back CORE from Innis. Innis won when the State Supreme court found him to be the legitimate head of CORE in 1981.
Presumably, as national CORE lost its offices, Bronx CORE had faded away by 1981. That same year however, Judith Jones, a former head of Bronx CORE’s Youth Committee ran unsuccessfully for mayor. At the time, she was one of the very few Blacks to have run for mayor and may have been the first Black woman to do so.
©Security: Chenjerai Spooks stylee