Deerfield Beach Blacks Disrespected In Life and Death

Dear Editor:

How can distraught Deerfield Beach residents get a piece of private land that was once a cemetery/graveyard called the “Old Colored Cemetery” in some records turned into a historical memorial?

How can residents prevent townhouses from being built on top of dead African Americans’ remains?

This land could be made into a memorial to all the black Broward County residents who, because of segregation, were buried in odd lots and side yards and whose locations (if not their memories) are lost forever to their descendants.

Who can make this happen? Who should be notified about this? Who has the power/clout/resources to make this happen?

That is what a group of residents were discussing at the recent meeting held by former Deerfield Beach Commissioner Ben Preston. Other than a petition to preserve the site, nothing concrete was decided, but a lot of good ideas were aired.

It seems to me that the public is being kept in the dark about this, very little information has been released as to what is happening, what might happen, and what the rules and regulations are involving a situation such as this.

This meeting was not held by our representatives, it should have been, but it wasn’t. We haven’t heard much from them at all.

The site on a 5 acre lot at the intersection of SE 2 Avenue and SE 5 Court, Deerfield Beach, is owned by a private owner who, after being assured by test after test that all remains had been removed, is distressed to find that wasn’t the case. Now what?

And, why is the digging for remains continuing?

It seems to me that finding as much as they have is certainly an in-your-face-sign that there are many more, as many as 300 if anecdotal evidence is to be believed, after all the ones found were right where the relatives said they would be.

It’s time for the State/County/City to step in and declare it a historic site and shake loose some bucks to acquire the property.

There is no possibility of relocating all the remains. Sure, you could relocate the few skull and leg bones and teeth, but it would be impossible to find all the decomposed molecules and small scattered remains of the decedents.

Picture your precious relatives being treated this way. Picture only some of a loved one’s parts dug up and relocated. How would you feel?

Respect that was once denied can now be given to an entire group of people.

This is a perfect opportunity to create a memorial; there is no African American Cemetery memorial in Broward County.

The State/County/City should buy this land and turn it into a memorial park.

Bett Willett

Deerfield Beach

Splash Bash

Friday, August 7, 6 to 10 p.m.

Splash Adventure, Quiet Waters Park, 401 S. Powerline Rd., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442

Last year was themed Splash Ahoy; this year is Superhero Splash Bash. It is always a fun time in the water for all ages. The fun includes games, a bounce house, prizes and splash time. Fee is $6 (ages 12 months and under free). Pre-registration required. Info: 954-357-5100.

Pancake breakfast

Sunday, August 9, 9 a.m. to noon.

Elks lodge, 700 NE 10 St., Pompano Beach, FL 33060

Hosted by the Benevolent Patriotic Order of DOES, Drove 142. Adults: $5, children: $2.50. Open to the public. For information, call 954-255-3130.

Deerfield Beach Orchid Society Meeting

Tuesday, August 11, 7:30 p.m. SHARP

Women’s Club of Deerfield Beach, 910 E. Hillsboro Blvd., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Award-winning ornamental horticulturist Glen Decker will be discussing Paphiopedilums. Decker has appeared in Martha Stewart’s Better Living Magazine, on a PBS TV special, Orchid Delirium and was the technical editor for the Orchids for Dummies book. Find out about “How to Grow Great Slipper Orchids.” No charge for a guest to visit two times. After, membership fee. Info: deerfieldorchids@gmail.com or visit www.deerfieldbeachorchidsociety.org.

I want to talk with you about walls today. Why? Because we all put up walls; and because I felt myself climbing the walls as I tried to figure out what to write about this week.

I sat at my desk and I looked at the walls. Those walls contained pictures and those pictures made the walls speak to me. Those walls spoke to me about their family history.

They spoke of the Walls of Jericho and how Joshua made those walls come tumbling down.

Those walls told me how some of their family became famous for keeping people out and how some became famous for keeping people in.

Those walls talked to me about the Great Wall of China, which was built to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from the attacks of Nomads.

They told me about The Berlin Wall, built in the middle of Berlin by East Germany to stop East Berliners from escaping to the west. Thank goodness that wall went down in 1989 with the fall of the Soviet Union.

Those walls told me of the great Walls of Troy, built to protect the city of Troy.

Those walls shared the story of one of the newest members of the wall family, The Vietnam Memorial Wall, which was built to honor those who fought and died or are still Missing in Action from yet another horrible time of war.

And, those walls proudly shared with me the story of their Jewish Branch, the Kotel, the Western Wall, the sole remnant of the Holy Temple located in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Riskin notes that Harav Kook, speaking of the Western Wall, said, “There are some hearts which are made of stone, and there are some stones which are truly hearts.”

Cardiologists may be able to go inside our bodies to see the wall of our heart, but there is an emotional side to the heart as well. Jerusalem is the heart of our people and The Wall … the Western Wall … is the heart of our city … and the seat of our soul.

Others may have damaged the walls of our heart, but we have found a way to bypass the damage by building something through the study of Torah that can survive beyond the walls.

Harold B. Lee wrote that, “The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes.” What have we done and what are we doing of importance in this, our home?

Comedienne Goldie Hawn said, “Comedy breaks down walls. It opens up people. If you’re good, you can fill up those openings with something positive, maybe combat some of the ugliness in the world.”

As slaves in Egypt we lived a life imprisoned behind the walls of the Pharaoh. G-d freed us from those walls. He showed us that there were other walls for us to get through, as we walked through the Red Sea with a wall of water on both sides of us.

We still have many walls to get through. We have walls to break down and we have walls to build up.

Maryanne Hershey wrote, “May your walls know joy. May every room hold laughter and every window open to great possibility.”

Joshua may have blown a horn and knocked down the walls of Jericho, but, in just a couple of months, we will blow the Shofar for the High Holy Days.

May the blasts from that Shofar remind us to fill every space in the walls of our heart with loving kindness, and let us say, Amen.

Shalom my friends,

Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach (201 S. Military Tr., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442). Regular Shabbat services are open to everyone on Saturday mornings from 9 to 11:30 a.m.

By Emily Rosen

ERosen424@aol.com

www.emilyrosen424.com

I graduated from High School in Brooklyn, NY on the day that American troops stormed the Normandy Beachhead (DDay), the beginning of the end of the “good” war.

There were 500 kids in my graduating class and only two of us – me and my best friend Carol — who were exhorted to keep our mouths shut during the singing of our class song, reconfirming the well-known fact that both of us habitually sang off-key .

Don’t bother with the math. Suffice it to say that many a year and many a lifetime have subsequently passed, but Carol and I have endured as good friends, singing our hearts out in private on the very few occasions when we get eye-to-eye contact, she, a resident of Connecticut, and I, a transplanted Floridian.

So when she called several months ago, insisting that is was time for me to visit in her newly downsized condo digs, I succumbed.

The first thing she did was get tickets for the Emmy multi-awarded “The Curious Incident of the Dog,” etc., the price of which was “curiously” close to a Porsche. But I didn’t want a Porsche.

And thus began “Emily’s Life Review” tour.

Once “up there,” I could not “not visit” the remains of my other life – people who contributed to what became the richness of my life, people with whom I shared important milestones and giggles. Carol’s house was my final and longest stop.

Planning the trip had some similarity to the planning of an army invasion, minus the big map and pointer and 4-star generals. Many of my personal 4-star generals, however, were quick to offer me updated intelligence. It went like this: “You’re crazy to attempt so many places.” “Renting a car? You don’t know how bad the traffic is. You will be stuck on throughways forever.” “One wrong turn and you’ll be lost. And you know how bad you are with the GPS.” “You’re too old to be traipsing alone all over the tri-state area.”

The bile rose in my stomach – and I am known to live and advocate in loud decibels for a stress-free life — but I soldiered on … and a glorious “Nyeah Nyeah” to all of them. My plan worked seamlessly – from the cousin family wrap-up, to the nursery-school car pool reminiscences, to the years of exotic world travel in out-of-the-way destinations with Billie, my best of all times travel friend (a former next door neighbor), and to Carol and our high school war-time days and young motherhood.

Beaches and parks, and community activities, were all part of the deal. Manhattan streets and traffic, subways and frenzy, the cacophony of sounds and smells, the body shapes and misshapes, the whirring of unrelenting movement and fl ow of energy – the numbing experience of the 9/11 memorial and museum brought it all, in the midst of building cranes rising to the sky, to a meditative halt, a reality check, a somber reflection on humanity and the eternal struggle between good and evil, and a human artistic achievement worthy of its purpose.

I came home on an emotional high. Now, I am breathing deeply and exhaling slowly. I let go of my stress and fulfilled my mission.

So it’s Back-To-School August and for many Florida full-timers, vacation is over, and the countdown to next June begins. But, now, it’s time to knuckle down and get the work done.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. on July 31, onlookers could see a vehicle, a 2015 blue Hyndai Sonata, engulfed in flames with a possible person lying in the street in the westbound lane of Hillsboro Boulevard. The accident caused the road to be blocked off by BSO.

Sources say the crash was caused by the car traveling at high speed, jumping the curb and hitting a tree causing the engine to catch fire. The driver was supposedly pulled out of the vehicle and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue attempted to save his life, but he was pronounced dead on the scene.

On Aug. 1, the name of the driver was released as 32-year-old David Alejandro Garcia Ramirez of Deerfield Beach.

BSO is still investigating the crash.