Richard Green The man behind the actions
By Shantelle Flavien
The humbling factor about CEO Richard Green is found in his Head-quarters Crown Heights Youth Collective. The humbleness isn’t the simplicity of the building, a three story renovated house used as a refuge for youths in the community. Nor is it the beauty of the mural that embellishes the side of the building that he and other artists worked on for a year, coupled with the uninhibited natural grace of the community garden. The humbling factor is found in the multiple awards and plaques he has achieved.
Crown Heights Youth collective mural
The interior walls tell a story of Richard Green and his life. They are covered in paintings from fellow artists some by former students, pictures of him and his family, past youths that visited Crown Heights collective, portraits of heroes, like Fredric Douglass and Malcom X relics of the past like framed stamps downstairs in the studio space he has reserved for students.
Lining the walls as one walks up the stairs there are framed photos of various meetings with prominent figures. Such Desmond Tutu from South Africa, after he worked diligently to get Nelson Mandela to come to America, him meeting with three mayors Dinkins, Bloomberg and Giuliani, Celebrities like actress and civil rights activist Betty Shabazz Malcom X’s widow and Stevie Wonder famed pianist and musician. To name a few.
Letter signed by Bill Clinton
There are framed letters from organizations commending him on his civic acts and commitment to his community. He even has letters written and signed by three presidents Regan, Clinton and Bush. Green however is not filled with arrogance of his accomplishments. They are constant reminders of the pat and help him to refocus for the future.
“My goal is to catch up to Martin Luther King.” He said with a laugh. “King has about 400 awards. I don’t even have half of that.”
Unless you either know of his reputation or know him personally Green would not be noticed by the common passerby. Clothed in jeans and a simple T-Shirt, brightly colored while still holding a level of casual refinedness about him, and silver dreads coupled with a handsome well-kept beard.
Articles paint him being the civil activist and a key player in the part of healing from the Crown heights riot in August 1991. When a station wagon driven by Yosef Lifsh, hit another car sending it to the pedestrian sidewalk at 8:21 p.m. Monday, August 19, 1991. The station wagon crushed two black children, 7-year old cousins Gavin and Angela Cato. A rumor spread quickly that the Hatzolah ambulance crew ignored the dying black children in favor of treating the Jewish men. The rumor ignited violence from black youths that lasted three days.
“In 1991 when this Crown Heights issue broke. I was in the right place at the right time. Talk about a perfect storm. He said “All the things that were being put out there we were there to put out the correct concise information. That’s all I did from the very beginning”
Green has a serious aura about him. A fixed gaze and determined stride in his walk for a 67 year old man. It is a face that has seen war, and experienced grief. Green served as a marine in the Vietnam War. He left California on April 3rd 1968 right after his and many other of his fellow classmate’s graduation.
“Serving in Vietnam made me realize the importance of humanity and the importance of the needs of people that would be more accented to me being in a war zone. Seeing that people are at the very ebb of their existence. How any and every little help and opportunity that was offered to them they was so well appreciated because they stayed at the bottom every day for so long and so often so that made me feel a way about it an when we came home.”
Since then over the past 20 years racial tension has continued its slow but gradual healing process. So much so that it adds to another community hurdle welcoming newcomers. Newcomers are mostly the young business owners ranging from the ages of 25-30. Most of the Newcomers are from Manhattan looking for a place to start a business or just have a place to call home.
To Green however, it’s not the people he sees as a threat to the dwindling longtime residents of the community but more so the apartments that out-price them.
“A lot of these apartments have come to out-price people. But there are so many other ways to counter that out-pricing.” Green says passionately. He continues, “Rent regulation rules. The catch term now is what? Affordable housing. What is affordable? The bank of attorneys, Black and Latino attorneys who went to college who went to law school because of the struggle we went through. They have to come back give up some time and sit down with a block of people and say ‘Ok here is affordable housing, this is what it looks like and this is how we are going to get you into it.’”
Green Remains hopeful in the times of change. He currently teaches at Medger Evers College. He understands that the times are changing. It doesn’t make him slow down but rather refocus his efforts on what he can do with the time he has. What he can say to his students, which he believes, are the torchbearers for the success of the community. Green, unlike some long-term residents a bit resentful to the change that comes along with newcomers, is not deterred by their presence but welcomes their ideas to improving the neighborhood.
“I saw it when we changed I saw this neighborhood when it was prominently all white. So when it changed, it changed and I lived through it. He said. “Living through it meaning that I was able to say to myself okay what’s going to happen now in the community it’s changing what am I going to do to improve the change? What am I going to do to marry into the new changing demographics? Me personally I see it as a possibility for us to figure things out.”
