Filmmaker Dominga Martin poses for the camera (Frank Ishman)

Just in time for Black History month, black and white and colored photographs of African American women are canvassed across the white washed walls of the 2,000-square foot Skylight Gallery in Bedford Stuyvesant.  The exhibition entitled Her Word as Witness: Portraits of Women Writers of the African Diaspora, features 35 portraits of African-American women who are considered among the most influential writers of this era.

“Black women have not always been revered,” said filmmaker Dominga Martin, who is featured in the exhibit. “We have been shunned by society and are still trying to make our presence known.”

Inspired by women of color who have impacted her life as an artist, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, a Brooklyn-based photographer who has been working on the project since 2008, focused on the literacy of women writers, including Sonia Sanchez, Demetria Lucas, and Martin. The show, which opened in December, is the photographer’s third solo exhibit.

Martin, an award winning writer, producer, director and co-founder of CrèmeMagazine.com, says she found her voice when she was 16-years-old.

“I remember raising my hand saying I don’t know how to write,” she said.  It wasn’t until she attended a historically Black college, Clark Atlanta University, that she considered pursuing writing as a career.

Since then she has directed two short films, appeared in the Roxbury film festival, created a music video with R&B artists Floacist and Musiq Soulchild, and has also freelanced for magazines including VIBE and UPSCALE, Men’s Fitness online and Blackfilm.com.

As a writer, one of the main goals of Martin’s work is to inspire younger generations.  “I want young kids, especially young Black kids in the hood to know that their voice is important and they matter,” she said, adding that she feels honored to be featured in the gallery during Black History month.

Che Baraka a curator who has worked at the Skylight Gallery for 30 years, believes that young people today are more focused on pop culture than Black history.  “It’s important for them to understand how rich the Black culture really is,” he said.  “More and more women are shedding layers to African-American history.”

This exhibit certainly fits that notion by putting women, who often go unnoticed, in the spotlight, according to gallery manager Jackie Woods. “As women, we are not portrayed as frequently as men are when it comes to our history,” she said.  Woods believes this exhibit allows African-American women to appreciate their differences and embrace their Blackness.  Gallery visitors seem to appreciate the sentiment.

“It’s really an eye opener that there are so many Black women in New York who have made great strides,” said Shelly Woodward, a resident of Bedford Stuyvesant as she walked through the exhibit.

The exhibition will be showcased at Restoration Plaza’s Skylight Gallery until March 31. It is scheduled to travel to other venues in New York City and throughout the United States in coming months.

Reed's mother, left, and aunt, right, speaking to press outside the Bronx Supreme Court before his release. (Rebecca Ellis / The Bronx Ink)

“You gotta clap when he comes out, clap!,” the crowd of 50 to 60 people chanted, gathered outside the corrections entrance on the side of the Bronx Supreme Court Criminal Division on Tuesday morning.

The group was waiting for Jateik Reed, 19, who was released on bail, after he had been picked up in the 42^nd Precinct on marijuana and cocaine possession charges on Jan. 26. Neighbors and witnesses said they saw four cops beat him with batons. Jateik denies he had any drugs on him.

“He was beaten in a most unfathomable fashion,” said Gidion Oliver, Jateik’s defense attorney from the Legal Aid Society, speaking to reporters after the court adjourned.

The police, however, say Reed resisted arrest. The prosecution indicated that the teen has outstanding robbery and assault charges and petitioned the court to increase his bail by another $30,000. Oliver and his client denied the charges, maintaining that they were tacked on the day after Jateik was beaten. The judge struck down the application for an increase and kept Jateik’s bail at $10,000 cash or $30,000 bond. An anonymous donor footed the $10,001.00 bill for Jateik’s release.

The crowd patiently waited until about 2 p.m., when Jateik’s attorney told Jateik’s father to pull his car around the back and get ready for a homecoming.   “I am so happy you don’t even know!,” Jateik’s mother, Schuan Reed, exclaimed outside the exit.

Jateik Reed waves at his supporters as he gets in his father's SUV after he is released (Rebecca Ellis / The Bronx Ink).

The excitement about Jateik’s release has not clouded the somber reality that young people like Jateik face in the context of escalating tensions between the police and working class neighborhoods of color in New York City.  While the NYPD cites the need to step up intervention and surveillance of communities like the 47^th Precinct of the Bronx to curb  violence, youth like Jateik live in a“target area” for the NYPD’s Stop and Frisk policy, where officers can randomly stop people based on suspicion of carrying drugs or weapons.

“His four-year-old brother cries for him,” said Jateik’s mother. She said she tried to keep the harsh reality from this youngest son, Jayaire, but that he could still sense what was going on. “Kids still know what’s going on. They feel the tension,” she said.

After Jateik was arrested and witnesses saw the officers continuing to beat him in the van, his mother, worried for her son’s safety, took Jayeire and Jateik’s other brother Jashawn, 17, to the 42^nd  Precinct to speak to the captain.  She says she and and Jashawn were harassed by officers, and they were not allowed to speak to the captain.   The precinct has not yet replied to comment on this incident.

Jateik’s mother says she’s been so shaken that she had to turn off the videos of her son’s beating that were posted on youtube.  “I couldn’t watch the rest of it,” she said.

When Schuan went to visit him at Riker’s Island correctional facility, Jateik told his mother that he has had nightmares that the officers will come back to kill him. They hugged goodbye after visiting time was up. “He wouldn’t let me go,” she said.

At Jateik’s arraignment on Feb. 1, his mother cried when she saw his injuries. He had four stitches in his arm and in the head, and his back was black and blue. Schuan was also concerned that Jateik had not received proper medical care while in custody.

On the same day, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly put the four cops on desk duty and initiated an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation. Melvin Hernandez, assistant to the public information at the district attorney’s office, confirmed the internal police investigation of the beating but would not comment further. The NYPD’s Department of Public Information has not yet replied to requests for any further comments as to how they are proceeding with the investigation.

Meanwhile, the courtroom, filled to capacity, was packed on Tuesday with family, supporters, and clergy members. Both Jateik’s aunt, Latifah Reed, and father, Bernard Walker, are Baptist ministers. Patrician Edwards, a minister at the Gosemite Baptist Church on Prospect Avenue, said that Jateik came to church regularly and sang with his brother in the choir.

Walker explained that Jateik was on the way to meet him in order to register for an alternative school the day he was arrested. Both of Jateik’s parents are concerned that this arrest may hinder his enrollment, and hope that the school will understand the circumstances.   While Walker knows his son isn’t perfect, he insisted that Jateik wanted to turn his life around. “He wants to get out of the community,” Walker said, meaning out of a rough neighborhood. “When he gets out, I want to keep him away from bad influences. I want to make sure he gets back and forth to court and get him back in school.”

His mother said that while Jateik may have been in trouble before, he is innocent of the robbery and assault charges, citing that he has an alibi for the day the crimes occurred.   “Even if he did do these other crimes, which I know he didn’t, that does not justify the beating he received,” Jateik’s mother said. “The police need to be retrained.”

As to whether this unfortunate situation has inspired her to become more active in the community, Jateik’s mother said yes, definitely.   “I’ve heard of these things going on in our community all the time. I’m just sorry that it took this to happen to see what’s what. I’ll be out there,” she said. “I only pray that the truth comes out.”

Jateik Reed hugs his mother before he gets in the car after he is released. (Rebecca Ellis / The Bronx Ink)

As the hour of Jateik’s release approached, his mother and aunt choked up, speaking to a small group of community members and clergy surrounding them.

“When he gets out, I’m going to feed him! Doctor him up. He can have anything he wants. I’ll take him out,” his mother said.

Jateik came out of the side door in a flash of orange, still in his orange prison suit. Cameras snapped, and in an instant, Jateik was in the SUV, reunited with his family, hugging his mother. He reappeared briefly to thank everyone for their support. After a number of flashes went off to capture the moment, a man stepped up to the car and said to Jateik, “Now get your rest. You still have a lot to do. The struggle ain’t over.”

In fact, the release is just the beginning of Jateik’s journey into the legal system.  Jateik is due to reappear in court on Feb. 24 for the robbery and on March 17 for assault. “I hope justice prevails,” his mother said.

All pet owners know that saying good-bye to a beloved animal companion is a painful and difficult process. The Hope Veterinary Clinic in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn helps local and out-of-borough residents come to terms with their loss through hospice care and on-site counseling.

Produced by Michael V’inkin Lee and Rebecca Ellis

An entrance to the city's first Slow Zone in the Claremont section of the Bronx. (Cristabelle Tumola / The Brooklyn Ink)

A turn off the busy lanes of Southern Boulevard in the Bronx promptly takes a driver off that roadway onto the mostly residential streets of Claremont. Two months ago, drivers barely took their feet off the gas pedal as they made the turn. Now, however, they are greeted by hard-to-miss 20 mph signs and large white numbers painted on the street’s asphalt. If those signs don’t catch drivers’ attention, the speed bumps will.

The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) launched a Neighborhood Slow Zone program this fall that reduces speed limits from 30 mph to 20 mph and adds safety measures, such as speed bumps, within a select area. The first and currently only existing Slow Zone in the city was created in the Claremont section of the Bronx in late November. A 20 mph zone program in London has already proven to reduce vehicle speeds and accidents by as much as 40 percent. Now several neighborhoods in Brooklyn are applying for their own Neighborhood Slow Zones, hoping for the same results.

“Apparently there is a practice among drivers to drive more than the speed limit suggests is legal. One of the ideas is that if we lower the speed limit to 20 then maybe people will adhere to that or at least recognize that they’re in a residential area,” says Ben Petok, communications director for Brooklyn Councilman Stephen Levin, who is supporting the Slow Zone applications of three Brooklyn neighborhoods—Boerum Hill, Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights.

The New York City speed limit is 30 mph, but reduced speed zones exist directly in front of schools. The Slow Zone program, however, creates a whole area, around a quarter of a mile (approximately five by five blocks), where the speed limit is 20.

Drivers know they are entering a Slow Zone with standard speed limit signs, as well as gateways. Speed bumps also decrease vehicle speed, calm traffic and remind drivers that they are in a 20 mph zone, says DOT press secretary Scott Gastel.

In addition to 20 mph signs, Slow Zones also feature speed bumps, like this one in front of a Claremont elementary school. (Cristabelle Tumola / The Brooklyn Ink)

New York City has reduced the number of traffic fatalities by 35 percent compared to 2001, according to the August 2010 New York City Pedestrian Safety Study & Action Plan. But the city wants to lower them even more.

In order to make its streets even safer city officials looked towards another major international city, London. A study that measures the effect of 20 mph traffic speed zones on road injuries in London from 1986 to 2006 found that 20 mph zones led to approximately a 40 percent reduction in road accidents and fatalities, and the number of serious injuries or deaths in children were reduced by half.

Using the British program as a model, the DOT selected an area in the South Bronx as its first Slow Zone because of its crash statistics, community interest and easily definable borders, says Gastel. He adds that at this time it’s still in an evaluation period.

But in a little over two months, residents are already seeing its impact.

Joanne Morales, who has a young daughter and lives in a building just inside the zone, says the Slow Zone is definitely making a big difference, and now cars slow down and stop instead of speeding.

“It helps since we’ve got kids crossing and coming out of schools,” says Ruben Cadet, who also lives in the Claremont Slow Zone. But he adds that the speed bumps are the measure that is really slowing down drivers rather than the 20 mph signs.

Anna Rivera, a driver who resides in the Slow Zone, admits that she is now driving slower because of the speed bumps, and notices that there are fewer accidents and speeding cars.

Her friend Jimmy DeJesus agrees with her, but adds that the zone hasn’t stopped every driver from speeding. Still, he is happy with the results.

Other areas in the city, including four in Brooklyn, submitted applications last week for their own Slow Zones. Any neighborhood can apply, and the DOT will consider factors such as crash data, proposed borders, presence of schools, senior centers, daycare centers and small parks in the zone, and letters of support.

“Why these specific neighborhoods would be good homes for Slow Zones is really because they are family neighborhoods with a lot of parents with small children, with school-aged children who walk to their local schools and it’s a safety hazard to have cars speeding through,” says Petok.

The aim of Slow Zones, in addition to lowering the number of accidents, is to reduce noise and traffic in residential neighborhoods, says Gastel. Cut through traffic—cars taking short cuts to avoid busier streets—have plagued some Brooklyn neighborhoods, such as Prospect Heights, which are near major Brooklyn roadways and the Atlantic Yards construction site, the future home of the Barclays Center.

A busy Atlantic Avenue intersection that borders several residential neighborhoods in Brooklyn. (Cristabelle Tumola / The Brooklyn Ink)

“Given our location surrounded by major arterial roads, Prospect Heights experiences substantial cut-through traffic and, with our long blocks, drivers often speed in order to make it through the next traffic light before it turns to red,” says Tom Boast, vice president of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council and head of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Slow Zone Application Committee.

Strong support for these zones from residents, community groups and local politicians was evident at a January 21 informational meeting held in Park Slope ahead of the DOT’s Feb. 3 Slow Zone application deadline.

Eric McClure, president of Park Slope Neighbors, one of the community groups that sponsored the meeting, says that “overwhelming the people [at the meeting] who thought it was a good idea felt that it would make the streets safer and that they consider vehicle speeds an issue of concern in the community.”

The Brooklyn Paper recently reported that some residents in Greenwood Heights are against a Park Slope Slow Zone because they believe once vehicles leave the 20 mph area and enter their neighborhood they will start speeding. But the earlier mentioned study on London’s 20 mph zones found that no evidence of road fatalities migrating to adjacent areas, and that traffic deaths in those places fell by an average of 8 percent.

McClure has encouraged Greenwood Heights to apply for their own 20 mph area. “It would be nice if we were just on big contiguous neighborhood Slow Zone,” he says.

The Brooklyn Heights Cinema has been open for 42 years, becoming a landmark in the neighborhood. But when its lease ends in June, the theater may be forced to close to make room for a five-story condo. We spoke to Kenn Lowy, the owner of the cinema, about the future of the iconic filmhouse. Produced by Scott Eidler and Jessica Hartogs Oakley

The Egyptian community in Bay Ridge is concerned about the progress in Egypt, a year after the Arab Spring at Tahrir Square. They voice some of the pressing issues.

Produced by Purvi Thacker and Sarah Munir.

Residents gathered in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Not only did the festivities bring the Chinese-American community together, but it also provided an economic boost for local vendors.

Christie’s Jamaican Patties, a staple of the Prospect Heights restaurant scene, might be closing its doors after more than 40 years of business. The owner, Paul Haye, reflects on what the possibility of closure means for him. Produced by Sarah Munir and Vikram Patel

Thomas Horrell of Bespoke Bicycles in Fort Greene, Brooklyn shows us how to “true” a wheel and why people say Bespoke is the “non-douche bag” bike shop.

After eight years in Clinton Hill, Jessie Leam of the Pure Nail Salon remains a neighborhood fixture by charming regulars and newcomers alike.