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Queens Impact Awards: Bayside native helped his impoverished neighborhood rise to beauty

By Kelsey Durham

Mandingo Tshaka has spent a good portion of his 83 years on Earth traveling the world and performing with famous musical acts, but the part of his life he is most proud of is the larger portion that he has spent helping his community.

“I was born in 1931 — I poked my head out into the world and said, ‘Peek-a-boo’ — and Bayside hasn’t been the same since,” he said.

Tshaka spent his whole childhood in Bayside, attending city public schools before leaving the area to become a singer for a doo-wop group called the Ink Spots. He traveled around the globe, performing in Italy, England and several other countries as his musical career began to take off. He also sang in musical productions on Broadway.

But eventually, Tshaka returned to his beloved hometown in 1968 and found a cause he felt was much more fulfilling.

“When I came back, Bayside looked just like the 1900s,” he said, referring to his home turf off Bell Boulevard south of Northern Boulevard. “There were no sidewalks, no curbs and I learned that the government had labeled the neighborhood as a borderline poverty area.”

That day, Tshaka decided to take a stand and vowed do what he could to improve his community. The streets in his neighborhood were in bad shape, he said, so he joined forces with Community Board 11 and petitioned the city for development funds that helped pay for repairs.

Before he knew it, Tshaka was getting involved in projects all around the neighborhood that he believed would improve the quality of life in the place he still calls home today.

“I call it my second verse,” he said. “There were young people selling drugs on the playground and nobody was doing anything about it, so I got on the case.”

As he continued his efforts, Tshaka joined the community board and spent 17 years as a member before stepping down in 2005.

He worked tirelessly to help secure funds that paid for a new playground to be erected, streets to be repaved and for the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground to be officially designated by the city as a cemetery.

In 2011, he was honored as a historian by the state Board of Regents for his contributions to African culture education. A year later, Tshaka successfully worked with elected officials to get the U.S. Capitol to recognize that slave labor was used to build the White House, a fact he said was long forgotten in history.

Today Tshaka still lives in Bayside as he fights a personal battle with cancer, and he said his love for the community that shaped him into the person he is now is still stronger than ever.

Despite the strength he has displayed over the years as he tackled dozens of projects with endless determination, Tshaka said the news of being honored with a Queens Impact Award for his life’s work brought him to tears.

“When I heard this, I just broke down and cried,” he said. “Really, it just struck me. A hero. That’s really something.”

Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or by e-mail at [email protected].