Linda's Place

Harlem Consumer Education Council, Inc. HCEC Too many people are afraid to do anything because they don’t feel qualified…All you need is confidence in the rightness of your cause. The rest of it will fall into place. Florence M. Rice Founder and President P.O. Box 1165 – Triboro Station New York, NY 10035 About HCEC’s Founder and President Florence M. Rice was born on March 22, 1919 in Buffalo, NY. During her childhood, Ms. Rice spent several years in the Colored Orphan Asylum and in foster homes in New York. Upon completion of the eighth grade, she left school to work as a domestic seamstress where she became a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Ms. Rice spoke out against the discriminatory practices targeted at African American and Latino workers. She participated in the late Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.’s 1962 Congressional hearing, which probed dressmaker union’s policies. After testifyin...

Donald Trump says to Mitt Romney, “….do not apologize,” on NBC’s Today Show.  Mitt Romney dis 47% of the U.S. population Mitt Romney’s recent remarks are more than just controversial remarks. His remarks hurt the poor, youth, unemployed mothers with no husbands, the economically marginalized, and the struggling so-called 47%. The poor are not freeloaders.   It is this percentage of the population that is hurting the most in the global economic and  racist crisis. It is imperative that the American public understands that the pain that we are feeling as a nation economically is not confined to the U.S.  It is wonderful that finally the poor have become an issue in the 2012 U.S. Presidential election. So much of the focus has been on the middle class and in saving the middle class. Thanks to the Mitt Romney leak the poor have become an issue, and a part of this election’s dialogue.    As the world’s resources continue to shrink and the e...

37th Anniversary Celebration   of the Canaan Senior Service Center Sunday, September 23, 2012 at 3:00 pm. Located, at 132 West 116th Street in Harlem, NYC Please come out to learn your history through experience. I have found Harlem Seniors to be the most energetic and active seniors on the planet.  It is so important that we take time to learn from them. There is no history like experience.  Florence Rice just invited me to the event on Sunday at Canaan. She is a 93 year old consumer affairs activist. She is the founder of Harlem Consumer Education Council. She has been at the forefront for decades fighting for consumer rights. She was born in 1919 in Buffalo, New York. Her experiences read like a textbook on African American, American, and world history. She spent most of her early life in the Colored Orphan Asylum in NYC, and several foster homes. Most of her adult life has been spent in educating our people about their human and civil rights. She ...

How poorly we have prepared the youth for the many challenges they are facing, issues that are local, national, and global. Do we really know how and what to prepare them for? We have created a very individualist society which does not help them in regards to thinking and acting collectively. There was some hope in 2008. History was made in that young people went to the polls in record numbers to elect the youthful Barack Obama for President. It is imperative that young people go to the polls again. The future belongs to them and what the future will look like - they must be a part of it.  Voting is a collective responsibility and activity. If the youth do not come out and vote like they did in 2008 it will be a step backwards.  During my youth and early adult life the Republicans were in power. It was a very long road for an Obama to appear and get elected. For so many years we would use the word apathetic to describe the public (the masses). It seems as though the b...