Poindexter Village festival showcases history, speculates about future of Near East Side

Let’s Be More Like George W. Bush. Seriously.

Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman

Demagoguery has always flourished during times of national unease. And so it is not surprising that while Americans grapple with the consequences of war and recession, media personalities and future presidential hopefuls are preying on their fears.

For the past several weeks, talk radio and cable news has been abuzz with the controversy regarding the proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan, not far from the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks that killed thousands of people and destroyed the World Trade Center.

Because of the hyperbole with which this topic has been discussed in the media, it is understandable—though regrettable—that many Americans have a negative reaction to the proposal. It is extremely unfortunate, however, that some of our would-be leaders are using this moment to fan the flames of division and intolerance.

The question of whether Muslims in New York have the right to build an Islamic Center near Ground Zero isn’t really a question at all: Of course they do; this is America. Religious freedom is one of the foundations upon which this nation was built. Every American has the right to worship how and where they see fit.

This principle, enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution, is one of many that make me proud to be an American. But others apparently think it should be revisited. For example, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich recently suggested that when it comes to religious freedom, America should follow the lead of Saudi Arabia.

“There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich is clearly hoping to ride this issue all the way to the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, though I don’t know that suggesting that America take its cues from an Islamic theocracy is the best strategy.

Not all opponents of the New York mosque are making as radical a case as the former House speaker. Some have acknowledged that Muslims have the right to build a mosque in lower Manhattan, but say they should have the decency to refrain from exercising that right because of the attacks of nine years ago.

WHAT'S GOING ON?

Find out by Visiting Columbus African-American Agencies

Send your News to: contact@yournewscolumbus.com About Us Comments and Suggestions! Advertising Rates

Poindexter Village festival showcases history, speculates about future of Near East Side

By Felix Hoover

For Your News Columbus

Oct. 9, 2010

Photo by John Ray

The Poindexter Village Community History Festival not only reflected on Ohio’s first public-housing community, but also raised questions about the future of the Near East Side.

The festival, held Saturday at Beatty Recreation Center, provided a blend of arts, history and tradition. Some displays presented background on Poindexter Village, including the appearance by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the community’s dedication on Oct. 12, 1940.

Many residents of Poindexter Village attended the festival, including Mary Catherine Saunders, formerly a beautician on Mount Vernon Avenue.

“I wanted to see who was here,” she said, while reconnecting some of her old clients.

Displays and discussions were presented concerning some of the personalities who left their imprint on the community, such as James Madison and William Colwell, the first two administrators at Poindexter Village, and the Rev. James Poindexter, for whom the village is named.

Madison. 99, was at the festival, but he has shared many of his memories about Poindexter Village and the area known as “Bronzeville.”

Willis Brown and Dana Moesnner of the Bronzeville Neighborhood Association, are fighting to include Bronzeville in the name of what many call the King-Lincoln District. They displayed copies of news articles that detail the interaction between Bronzeville’s mayor and the mayor of Columbus in the 1930s and ’40s to prove it was a viable entity.

They dispelled the idea that “Bronzeville” was a pejorative term for the black communities in Columbus, Chicago and other cities. In its time, “bronze“ was an acceptable term. As such, African-American actor Herb Jeffries starred in Westerns as the “Bronze Buckaroo.”

It was difficult for many at the festival to leave Beatty Center and look across Ohio Avenue at the flats of Poindexter Village without thinking about the brick buildings that once housed many prominent black families. Even more difficult was to look at the vacant Poindexter Tower without wondering its fate.