Community recalls devastation of crack Event mourns losses of life and stolen futures

Community recalls devastation of crack
Event mourns losses of life and stolen futures

April 10, 2011|By Meghan E. Irons, Globe Staff

One man recalled selling it to his best friend’s father. A woman watched her husband fall further into its grips. A nurse recounted caring for babies born addicted to it.

Twenty-five years after crack cocaine swept across this city, destroying families and neighborhoods, Bostonians say they are still reeling from its deadly legacy. Yesterday more than 100 people came together at Hibernian Hall in Dudley Square to mourn the lives, the years, and the friends they lost.

“Crack cocaine came and infiltrated our community like [Hurricane] Katrina,’’ said Leonard Lee, a 52-year-old from Dorchester who works with drug and violence prevention issues for the city. “It got rid of all our moral values.’’

FULL STORY HERE
http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-10/news/29403983_1_powder-cocaine-crack-cocaine-families-against-mandatory-minimums

READ MORE - Community recalls devastation of crack Event mourns losses of life and stolen futures

Crack chipped away at Hub

Crack chipped away at Hub

By Marie Szaniszlo  |   Sunday, April 10, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage
Photo by Faith Ninivaggi

Twenty-five years after crack cocaine surfaced in urban America, dozens of people gathered in Roxbury yesterday to talk about its lingering impact on Boston’s black community.

“In the beginning of the 1980s, we were feeling good about ourselves,” said George “Chip’’ Greenidge, founder of the National Black College Alliance and organizer of the symposium. “We had ‘The Cosby Show,’ affirmative action. And then something just came out of the sky and hit us.”

The “game-changer,” as Greenidge put it, came in a new, cheaper form of cocaine.

Fulani Haynes was a pediatric nurse who used to treat crack-addicted babies at the former Boston City Hospital. Screaming, shaking and sleepless, the infants were born showing withdrawal symptoms no amount of cuddling seemed to soothe, Haynes said. So nurses would give them small, decreasing amounts of pure opium in a hypodermic needle, wrap them tightly in blankets and lay them in their cribs in complete darkness to calm them for a few hours.

“The nurses became the mothers,” she said, “because the parents were busy getting high.”

Grandmothers spent their “golden years” caring for their grown children and their children’s children, and violence increased as word spread that dealing crack was a fast way to make money, said Boston Deputy Police Superintendent William Gross.

In the late 1980s, Congress brought back mandatory minimum drug sentences, treating crack offenses much more harshly than powder cocaine crimes, said Barbara Dougan of Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

“These laws were not passed out of concern for young, black men, but out of fear of young, black men,” Dougan said.

The result, she said, was an explosion in the prison population that has left one out of nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34 in behind bars.

“Clearly, they’ll be coming back to our communities,” said Boston Police Superintendent Paul Joyce, “and we want to make sure they end up in a better situation than they began.”

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1329648

READ MORE - Crack chipped away at Hub

25 yrs. After Crack: The Effect of Crack on Boston's Black Community Sat. 4/9

25 Years After Crack;
The Effect of Crack Cocaine on Boston's Black Community
(1986-2011)

Sat. April 9th, 2011
9am - 4pm
Hibernian Hall 184 Dudley St. Roxbury (Dudley Sq.)
sponsored by: Greatest Minds, National Black College Alliance

READ MORE - 25 yrs. After Crack: The Effect of Crack on Boston's Black Community Sat. 4/9

BOSTON CITY COUNCILOR HIRES GEORGE “CHIP” GREENIDGE AS CHIEF OF STAFF

BOSTON CITY COUNCILOR HIRES GEORGE “CHIP” GREENIDGE AS CHIEF OF STAFF

Boston—City Councilor Michael P. Ross has appointed George R. Greenidge, Jr. as Chief of Staff.

PRESS RELEASE
January 10, 2011
Contact:   Amy Derjue, 617.635.4225, (c) 401.368.8952

BOSTON CITY COUNCILOR HIRES GEORGE “CHIP” GREENIDGE AS CHIEF OF STAFF
Boston—City Councilor Michael P. Ross has appointed George R. Greenidge, Jr. as Chief of Staff.

Greenidge is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Black College Alliance an organization of alumni and college students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities committed to mentoring the next generation of civic leaders. Previously, he served as a Program Officer at the Boston Foundation. He recently served as the Board Chair of the Boston Empowerment Zone, a non-profit charged with dispersing HUD resources to Boston’s most economically challenged neighborhoods.  Greenidge graduated from Morehouse College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and International Affairs, and received his Master's Degree at Harvard University’s School of Education.  Greenidge is a longtime resident of the Boston area, and he currently resides in the Ashmont section of Dorchester.  His father currently lives in Mission Hill.

“I am honored to join the great team Councilor Ross already has in place.  I look forward to bringing the Councilor’s innovative ideas to our city as his Chief of Staff,” Greenidge said.

“I am thrilled to have George Greenidge as the newest member of my team.  He has worked tirelessly to bring people together to change our city for the better.  His energy and enthusiasm will be an asset to my office, and to the entire district,” Ross said.

======================================

George R. Greenidge, Jr.
Chief of Staff for
Michael P. Ross ( District 8 )
617.635.4225
george.greenidge@gmail.com (email)

READ MORE - BOSTON CITY COUNCILOR HIRES GEORGE “CHIP” GREENIDGE AS CHIEF OF STAFF

TONITE!! An Evening with the Cast of The Wire 6PM

Hey Folks,

The cast of the WIRE will be at Harvard Law School on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 6pm. As many of you know our work with GREATEST MINDS has looked at urban poverty and ways that we as citizens can help address it by utilizing our networks and resources to solve those issues.

I hope that you can join Prof. Charles Ogletree and the cast on Monday - as we examine the root causes and develop strategies we can put together to help our communities foster and grow.  I will definitely be there. See you Monday.

Sincerely,

George "Chip" Greenidge
National Black College Alliance / Greatest MINDS

Upcoming Event

An Evening with the Cast of The Wire
Monday, November 8, 2010 at 6:00pm

Langdell Hall North
Harvard Law School
1545 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA

Prelude to the HLS course on The Wire!
Join Professor Charles Ogletree and actors from the award winning HBO series. Professor Ogletree will be teaching a course on The Wire next spring and many criminal justice experts and Wire actors will be attending the class and special public sessions.

Featuring:
Michael K. Williams (Omar Little)
Jamie Hector (Marlo Stanfield)
Donnie Andrews (real-life inspiration for Omar character)
Sonja Sohn (Kima Greggs) invited
Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Institute of Politics

RSVP Here
RSVP does not guarantee a seat.
Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

For More Information
Visit http://charleshamiltonhouston.org
Email: houstoninst@law.harvard.edu
Phone: 617-495-8285
Find us on Facebook

Accommodations: If you are a person with a disability requesting a reasonable accommodation in order to attend a Houston Institute event, please contact us two weeks in advance.
About the Houston Institute

Established in the fall of 2005 at Harvard Law School by Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice (CHHIRJ) seeks to honor the extraordinary contributions of one of the great lawyers of the twentieth century. Charles Hamilton Houston dedicated his life to using the law as a tool to reverse the unjust consequences of racial discrimination. CHHIRJ is committed to marshalling the resources of Harvard and beyond to continue his unfinished work.




Forward email

This email was forwarded to george.greenidge@gmail.com, by Jacqueline Rivers.
Privacy Policy.

Email Marketing by
Constant Contact

READ MORE - TONITE!! An Evening with the Cast of The Wire 6PM