Where are all the Coloreds in Brooklyn

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WHAT HAPPENED TO BROOKLYN?

CBS this Morning (Saturday) just did a segment on Brooklyn, NYC and how cool it has become, questioning if becoming so cool is inadvertently decreasing how cool it actually is.

My son, Brooklyn-Born and Brooklyn-Spirited.

The Barclay and the Nets, Barbara Streisand, a new influx of artists into Williamsburg, waterfront high-rises, a surplus of trendy cafes and stores, etc.

They interviewed about five Brooklynites on the new dynamic of THE NEW BROOKLYN, and I just felt lost and was left scratching my head:

Where was (The) Brooklyn Moon (Cafe), THE ORIGINAL trendy spot in BK?? That was the first place I ever snapped in lieu of clapping for some dope ass poetry. It was my first experience in cool! It was where the truest balance of intellectuals conjured a cypher of patchouli, myrrh, smokey locks, brilliance, hope and drive, save for an occasional sista visiting from the south, wearing Chanel or Red.

Where was Cake Man Ray? He was a change agent in Fort Greene, giving away offerings of red velvet cupcakes he had made from scratch during innocent exchanges of neighborhood scoops; Turning neighborhood folks into apprentices who would carry on his rich legacy; Remembering everyone's name from little old ladies to metro-sexual brothers setting world trends from cracked sidewalks on Fulton Street; and posting Kappa Alpha Psi imagery everywhere the eye could see.

Moshood? Remember Moshood? How could any of us have forgotten? Their fashion shows were legendary! And hell, the queen herself, Eryka Badu, used to chill and shop there. They had greeting cards with black faces on them and candles that smelled like stuff we hadn't a chance to remember, but recognized right away.

Carol’s Daughter? Hello?? Where was she? She’s everywhere now, but not in this damn interview, that’s for sure. Her products reminded armies of sisters that they were beautiful enough as natural as God had made them! She changed Brooklyn. Mary J. uses her products, for crying out loud! Damn!

And where the hell was Alice Walker's daughter Rebecca Walker, with her beautiful self? She had the first cyber-cafe in downtown BK, and sold healthy juices and shit! Where was she?  She Sold wheat grass for Christ's sake!

My eyes didn’t see one person of color being interviewed, although they did show a picture of Jay Z! And that’s crazy as hell because every bodega (corner store) in Brooklyn, for the eight years I lived there, was Middle Eastern or Latino-owned!

Soul, by Derrick Watkins, featuring Bilal Smith

And just where the hell was Gordon Chambers, the Ambassador of Fort Greene and songwriter extraordinaire during this interview? Didn't he write from Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Brandy, and about 9,000 others? No mention of Gordon?

Where were David De La Cruz, warrior stylist for more than 15 years, and Jelani Bandeli, the voice of Brooklyn (who knows a whole bunch about a whole bunch)?

Mos Def? Carl Hancock Rux???

We lived in BK when the new Brooklynite was DEATHLY AFRAID to ride the A-train, let alone to exit at Kingston-Throop or Clinton-Washington! We lived in a Brooklyn where cab drivers, in the worst attempts at acting ever, pretended their cabs broke down at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge to avoid driving your black ass into the Bowel of Brooklyn, DESPITE your six-figure salary or your Columbia University degree.

Why weren’t there any Caribbean Brooklyn folks interviewed? Don’t they represent the world’s largest concentration of West Indian peoples outside of the Caribbean? In fact, they host millions during the country's largest Carnival, right?

And at the end of the segment, the reporter somberly reminds us that lots of marginalized ethnic groups have been displaced in BK during this gentrification. (He meant Black and Latino folks)

Ya think?? What do you think you just did, Seth?

How the hell you mention this new Brooklyn without reverence to those who put it back on the map--Jay Z, Biggie, Kim, Foxy, Nas, Kane, Lyte, Busta, etc., is beyond me and flat-out inconsiderate.

Before the above mentioned began shouting out ((((((Brooklyn!!)))))) in their music, it lay quietly in the shadows of Manhattan, as a stepchild. Remember? Cabs wouldn't go there!

Back then, Fort green was known best for its projects and bags of weed in bodegas, not cyber-cafes and coffee shops. But Hip Hop transcended culture, making racial prejudice a frowned-upon, old-time phenomenon among evolved youth, touching the bones and souls of white boys and girls throughout suburban America, sending them dashing to record stores, clicking to MTV and searching iTunes with dreams of full immersion into a culture driven by spirit—Hip Hop—and full separation from the shit their grandparents and parents laid on them—entitlement.

Our youth of all colors finally waded against this tired, historical tide and found a common bond--rebellion against the bullshit un-evolved America tries to ignore even today; racism and entitlement, thanks to lil brown boys from THE BK. Not implying that their methods of rebellion are near-perfect, but whose were? it's rebellion!

So now, as we depict a one-dimensional, pale Brooklyn to the world, void of black and brown peoples and their contributions, my question to CBS This Morning is this; WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THE COLOREDS AND THEIR STORIES IN YOUR INTERVIEW?