There is another injustice facing an African American male principal who was fired in mid-August by a special investigator with the New York City Department of Education. At present, U.S. Congressman Gregory Meeks (St. Albans, NY - D) is the only major public figure to back the reinstatement of Principal Shango Blake, former head of Queens Village, Queens, NY Intermediate School 109 (6th, 7th, and 8th graders). The special investigator who investigated Blake for misappropriation of $30k of funds and inappropriate conduct is allowed to fire any NYC Department of Education employee strictly based on allegations in his report - no due process (no trial). Therefore, Blake is the third African American male principal who has been fired by office in recent years (another famous person was the late Walter Turnbull of The Boys Choir of Harlem school and fame). Blake did not spend the funds on himself. He used for the students to write, produce and perform Hip Hop music videos that promoted school spirit and the dress code. The students were recently honored at Robert DeNiro's TriBeCa Film Festival where their recent video debuted this summer. During his four year tenure, Blake introduced fencing, engineering and nursing classes to the junior high schoolers. He was a strict disciplinarian and his own son attended the public school. He is married and the father of five who lives in the community where he served.
Blake's father, James Blake - a Borough of Manhattan Community College Professor, has been speaking to local Black media; including the likes of Gil Noble (Gil Noble's "Like It Is" televison show).
I do not have contact for either James Blake or Shango Blake but since the mainstream media is covering their version; I want our community to know the full details of Blake.
You can see a more detailed version of Shango Blake's story, links to other news reports, and links to the two music videos on my blog at YamInternet.com:
http://www.yaminternet.com/Blog/wordpress/...
Posted By: Deidra M.
Monday, September 24th 2007 at 5:30PM
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