By Cynthia Koons
“We’ve been working with the Bayside community for several years because there is always a need there,” said Ken Cohen, president of the Northeast Queens NAACP. “There have been quite a few incidents of a bias nature in the Bayside area.”
To promote the NAACP’s mission of advocating for civil rights and social justice in the area, Cohen held a meeting in Bayside April 26 — the first general meeting of the northeast Queens branch in at least five years.
“We have now decided that every two to three months that we will meet at Bayside as we are also wishing to meet in other areas of our northeast Queens section,” he said. His chapter’s membership includes Auburndale, Bayside, College Point, Flushing, Forest Hills, Douglaston, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks and Little Neck.
He said about 250 people are members of the group, representing many nationalities, ages and walks of life. At the Bayside meeting April 26, he said about 50 people showed up — 25 of them being new to the NAACP.
“We cover such a very broad area, so we figured we would have a better response if we took our meetings to the people instead of the people to the meetings,” Cohen said. “We have incorporated a relationship in the Bayside community by establishing the use of the Community Baptist Church.”
The demographics of Bayside, according to 2000 Census data, indicate that out of Bayside’s total population of 28,271, 1,308 or 4.5 percent of residents are black. Another 6,640, or 22.7 percent, are Asian and 3,439, or 11.8 percent, are Hispanic.
Mandingo Tshaka, a Bayside black activist, said the need for an active NAACP presence in his community was crucial.
“The NAACP has resurrected several times here, but for whatever reason it seems to fail,” he said. “I always call Bayside never, neverland. There’s a great deal of apathy.”
NAACP member John Byas of Flushing said the group is not solely designed for the black community.
“(The NAACP) reaches out to a lot of communities and lets them know what civil rights is,” Byas said. “Nobody should be discriminated by creed or color.”
The group boasts a membership of more than 500,000 people nationwide and is also considered the country’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, according to its Web site.
Local chapters are required to have 25 members to be considered active by the national organization. Declining memberships in various northeast Queens NAACP groups forced the formation of the regional group in 2002, Cohen said.
This month, the area’s NAACP chapter plans to promote awareness about the effects of the landmark Brown vs. t he Board of Education decision that desegregated public schools five decades ago.
“We still have many schools that are segregated, mostly because of the communities,” Cohen said. “The poorest performing schools are in the districts that have the highest minority populations.”
He said the NAACP will disseminate information about the importance of the court decision and any changes that still need to be made.
“Has there been any progress in the last 50 years?” he asked. “Some, but not enough.”
Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
