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%u25a1 RESTAURANTWe Will Be ChangingTo Our Hearty Winter MenuIn DecemberFresh Game Will Be FeaturedDinner Tuesday%u2014 SaturdayBrunch All Day Sunday448 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217 237-2271Su-SiTs Specials of the WeekCold Noodles in Hot Sesam e Sauce ...........................................$3.95Flaming Wor Won Ton S o u p ....................................................................$5.95SuSu%u2019s Cornish Hen & S tu ffin g .............................................................$8.50Clams Cantonese S ty le ........................................................................... $9.50RESTAURANT %u2022 BAR %u2022 CATERERS60 HENRY STREET (cor. CRANBERRY) BROOKLYN, N.Y.ALL M A JO R C R E D IT C ARDS A C C EPTEDD elivery to: Park S lope %u2022 Boerum H ill %u2022 Brooklyn H ts. %u2022 C obble H ill* C arroll G ardensCockiaiis %u201c d w 9 Sunday BrunchH lf H E M E M M M P M E H jE MQuick Delivery Take Out ServiceGrand Opening62 B o n d S t,(b etw . S ta te & S c h e r m e r h o r n )Brooklyn*s HI Lunch Spot!Specialty Goodies For The HolidaysL o u is R e s ta u r a n t%u2022 DAILY SPECIALS %u2022Breakfast %u2022 Lunch %u2022 Dinner%u2022 Cold & Hot S andw iches %u2022 Roast M eats/Platters%u2022 Tempting Burgers %u2022 Seafood%u2022 Diet D elights %u2022 Salad PlattersGreek SpecialtiesShish Kebob/Soulvaki/Pita BreadSpinach PieSoups %u2022 Desserts %u2022 BeveragesTake A Break From YourBusy Day%u2014 Dine With Us!Open 7 Days A Week S W AM-7 PMF re e L o c a l D e liv e r y8 3 4 -6 2 5 7Congress ForgerBY AMINISHA WEUSIBla:k writers and scholars of African, Caribbean and African-American heritage convened in Bedford Stuyvesant on Nov.15-16 and called for a new cultural renaissance, international in scope. The International Congress of Black Writers and Artists was sponsored by Cross-Section African American and Caribbean Fine Arts, Inc. and The College of New Rochelle.Cross-Section is an organization which has promoted intercultural activities for the past 10 years. According to Fritz Joseph, the Executive Director, %u201cthe group brings black artists from the Caribbean and America so they can support each other%u2019s projects.%u201dThe Congress was hailed as a major demonstration of unity between Caribbean and American bom blacks. This unity is being forged because, according to Joseph, %u201cWhen we really look at our problems, they%u2019re the same.%u201d The black American and Caribbean communities have not, as a rule, rallied around common issues in the past. The panelists, Caribbean, African and African-American in origin, pointed to the need for preservation of African culture and social values %u2014 the common thread linking all blacks.Saturday%u2019s activities began with a keynote address by Dr. Leonard Jeffries, head of the Africana Studies Dept, at City College. A panel, %u201cCulture and History: Bridging the Gap and Sharing the Legacy,%u201d followed with Sidique Wai of New York University%u2019s Africana Studies Dept.; Dr. Myma Bains; Rosalyn Jeffries; Mujih Mannan; and Dr. Henry Frank, Director of the Haitian Center in Manhattan.Another panel, %u201cLiterature: Black Writers as Architects of Social Values,%u201d featured Dr. Wilfred Carty, scholar; Louis Rivera, poet and publisher; Frank Laraque, scholar; Lionel Pacquin, author and Arthur Flowers, author.Elombe Brath, Pan-Africanist and Consultant for WABC-TV; Carolos Russell, playwright and professor at Brooklyn College; Derrick McDowell, president of the Platinum Factory %u2014 a recording studio in Bed-Stuy; Crystal McKenzie, owner of a graphics design firm led a discussion on %u201cCommunications: The Challenge: Controlling Our Black Creative Resources.%u201dPoets James Gwynne, Santra Estravec, Denize Lauture, Bob LaPierre, Dawad Phillip, Zizwe Ngufua, Pedro Petri, Safiya Henderson and Wanda Wiener read from their works, summing up and giving dynamic illustration of the power of the ideas.Throughout the day the panelists, in a style reminiscent of the 60s, discussed vigorously and sometimes heatedly the role of black writers in forging African values. There was unanimous agreement that African culture was the common bond between Caribbean and American blacks and that the inability of those groups to unite and achieve power in this country was directly related to their culture being extinguished by the dominant Europeank \\ ----------a _ n __________I %u201eIM fW FYllS D U IIU 5culture.The need for blacks to own and control their own systems of media and cultural institutions was a theme repeated often throughout the day. Most of the panelists agreed that blacks are the only ones to project the positive images needed in visuals and the written word to their communities. Speaker after speaker cited examples of black culture being stifled. Dr. Frank talked about the plight of African religions. %u201cThey%u2019ve been ridiculed to the point that blacks are ashamed of their own religions %u2014 simply because they don%u2019t know the truth about the ceremonies,%u201d he said.Dr. Leonard Jeffries warned that the answer was to move toward %u201can African liberating consciousness %u2014 negro achievers are not enough.%u201d Reminding the audience that %u201cwe are not Europeans,%u201d he called for blacks to find the core of African-ness and work to preserve it. He said that AfricanAmericans can take the positive aspects of western technology that can help bring African culture into the 21st Century.Louis Rivera related the woes of fledgling small presses. %u201cAccountants and promotional folk decide what gets into the press,%u201d he said. He said there was a critical need to get independent books into the classrooms to combat the ones which are %u201cfloundering with the lies we exist beside.%u201dArthur Flowers saw the writer%u2019s role as refining the cultural process and delivering it to the people. He challenged writers to look at challenges black people are facing, determine the social values needed for those challenges and forge those with the pen. Flowers also said black writers should be the ones to raise issues to the surface that work on the people%u2019s subconscious. He said that black women writers have been leading this movement in their recent work.Elombe Brath raised the question of whether black culture is a product. He warned that in the quest for economic viability, blacks must not become capitalists. Stating that %u201cthe African way is collective, he said it would be dangerous for blacks who were once capital themselves to aspire to become capitalists.The questioning begun by Brath was continued by Carlos Russell as he asked whether black writers were truly leading the black liberation struggle today. %u201cI think we fell for the %u2018okey doke%u2019 and we%u2019re trying to fit into mainstream America,%u201d he said. Russell mentioned that he had written a play and produced it in Brooklyn only to be asked if it was going to Broadway. Russell said the role of the black writer is to project Afrocentric concepts. He said writers must write for liberation, growth and change.The power of the pen and the spoken word was overwhelmingly reaffirmed during this Congress as was the role of black writers in shaping social values. Vowing to network during the year and to return a year from now with the business community invited, the First International Congress of Black Writers and Artists took to the streets to spread the word.A r t l a k e sKAFKA%u2019S JOSEPHINE: The Arts at St. Ann%u2019s will present a production of %u201cJosephine,%u201d based on a parable by Franz Kafka. %u201cJosephine,%u201d set to the music of Brahms, tells the story of a singer%u2019s relationship with her audience. Performances will be held from December 10-21, Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 4pm, at 157 Montague Street. Tickets are $8. For information, call 834-8794.BACA VAUDEVILLE: BACA Downtown will open its fifth annual Performers Showcase Forum on December 12 and 13.Each program will consist of a vaudeville revue of nine artists and ensembles. The December 12 Drogram includes B.J. Goodwin%u2019s %u201cTemp-For-A-Day,%u201d and %u201cZunza%u2019s Day%u201d by Amy Guggenheim. On December 13, the program includes Bill Callihan%u2019s %u201cTick Juice%u201d and Yda Walt%u2019s %u201cMyrtle.%u201d All performances start at 8pm, at 111 Willoughby Street. Admission is $6 or TDF voucher. For information, call 596-2222.COLLEGE GIRLS: The Brooklyn College Theater Department will present a Mainstage Production of Caryl Churchill%u2019s %u201cTop Girls%u201d from December 11-21. A woman celebrates her success in 1890%u2019s London with a dinner party, the guests being great women of history. Performances will be held on Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 2pm, at the Gershwin Theater, Campus Road and Hillel Place. Tickets are $4 on Thursday and Friday evenings, and Saturday matinees; $5 on Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees.CLASSICAL GUITAR CONCERT: Tne New Theatre of Brooklyn will present a concert of works by Raeh. Villa-tabes andothers, performed by classical guitarist Alice Artzt. Artzt has recorded 10 records, and is a member of the board of directors of the Guitar Foundation of America. The concert will be on December 13 at 3pm, at 465 Dean Street. Tickets are $8 or TDF; $6 for subscribers.Page 22, TH E P H O E N IX , Decem ber 4, 1986

