Tag Ray Nagin

NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK,
YOUR CREATIVE CRUSADER!
(504) 214-3082
Ms. Valencia Hawkins
Associate Director,
New Orleans Public Library Main Branch
Re: Attempt To Violate My Access To A Public Accommodation.
Greetings Ms. Hawkins:
The director of the African-American Resource Center just brought it to my attention ( at approximately 3: 30pm today, 6/15/11 ) that the Library IT Department ( which has incidentally engaged in blocking of the New Orleans Urban League site along with other reputable Black sites) has stated I’m engaged in “over-use” of the computer here!
Given the literacy rate here any excessive use by a Black man should be applauded. lol.
I used the two hours time on my card and two hours time on the card of retired New Orleans Police Department officer Mr. Shahed Wali Muhammad, with his permission. I am assisting him in his capacity as president of the Kelly Family Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit registered with the IRS.
It was also alleged that I obtained a guest pass today, which is an outright lie and an insult.
Denying Black citizens access to public accommodations was addressed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the interpretation of the Interstate Commerce Clause used to desegregate public facilities like the New Orleans Public Library System.
As a Muslim; Savannah GA FBI Citizens Academy graduate and an NAACP life member moments like these aren’t novel but are no less unwelcome. I think the IT Department is upset I’ve challenged its unlawful censorship several times; and perhaps the race and religious affiliation of Mr. Muhammad and myself- which is to be expected.
I am not engaged in unsavory nor criminal activities ( unlike a regrettable percentage of indigent patrons on these grounds ) and consider this attempt to limit my access to a public accommodation comical.
I suggest those responsible raise their opinion of Black male patrons- or at least this one. Being Black; male and Muslim isn’t a crime- yet!
Thank you,
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK
P.S.
Mr. Muhammad can be contacted at ( 504 ) 723-1141 to corroborate my claim.
 

By Jake Clapp

Entertainment writer

Deep in the heart of New Orleans, a being lurks — part man, part ghost. It waits to overcome evil and save its home from the predators that would do the city wrong.

He is The Black Ghost, and the night belongs to him.

Many children — and even some adults — dream of being superheroes. But Will Warner is as close as it gets.

Warner, a 42-year-old counselor, filmmaker and teacher at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, created The Black Ghost in 1998 while in the Navy.

He used it as a way to pass the time by creating film shorts and comic strips.

Warner returned from his service in the Navy shortly before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

“Around the time of Katrina, I saw the violence and hurt throughout the city, and I knew that I could create something to give to the people to give them hope,” Warner said. “Growing up I had heroes like the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet and the Shadow, and I knew that kids these days don’t have the same type of heroes with the same type of values to look up to.”

People watch the movies and read the comic books and imagine just what it would be like to be Spiderman, Batman or Superman, and wish that they could have the power to jump buildings in a single bound or hang upside down from a web.

To many, though, the superhero is much more than just heroic powers and spandex costumes. It is a symbol representing peace, hope, protection and the ability to change the world.

“It’s difficult to make any kind of generalization about the meaning of the superhero,” said Brannon Costello, English assistant professor. “An appealing element of the superhero is that it is densely packed with meaning and significance.”

For years, this symbol was something people would find only in a comic book, movie or television show, but recently hundreds of people have begun to take it to the streets.

In just the past few years a grassroots movement has formed called the Real Life Superhero Community.

Men and women across the country make their own costumes and head out into their communities to serve and protect.

Their Web site, Reallifesuperheroes.org, has a full roster of male and female superheroes across the country.

Some heroes, such as Master Legend of Orlando, Fla., go out and patrol their neighborhood streets in search of crime; others seek to change the world by actively showing life can be different through hard work.

Warner took his character and developed it into a real superhero the kids of New Orleans could follow.

Starting out with a digital camera and a laptop, Warner set out to create the first episodes of The Black Ghost television series to air on a public access channel.

Since those first days in 2005, The Black Ghost has grown into a full production with the help of 30 volunteers.

Warner constantly works side by side with the New Orleans Police Department to raise public safety awareness.

Through his social work with kids and teenagers, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin named The Black Ghost the official New Orleans superhero and an Ambassador of Hope for the city.

Warner stays busy, as he and his non-profit production company continue to shoot The Black Ghost and planning a workshop that allows high school seniors to earn college credit by working on The Black Ghost set.

“I’ll know that my work has meant something when I can see kids with blankets tied on run around the yard pretending like they are superheroes, like I did as a kid,” Warner said. “When you go about it the right way, a superhero is a symbol of hope and society. That is all I want The Black Ghost to be.”

——

Contact Jake Clapp at [email protected]

http://www.lsureveille.com/new-orleans-resident-inspires-citizens-1.1359210#5

Carol Forsloff
The city was waiting for this. In the midst of a crime wave, victims still hurting from floods and misery, streets littered with garbage and corrupt police who might turn on or turn you in, here comes a hero.
Here comes Batman, a real, live World Superhero into New Orleans, swooping into neighborhoods in his dark costume and ready to take on the bad guys anytime.
The guy in New Orleans is an actual, registered superhero, a member of a World Superhero Registry. It takes lot for a fellow to be one, and New Orleans has only a single registered superhero in the entire metropolitan area. But that should be enough. What’s more our guy is the only superhero registered in the entire State of Louisiana, so he’s responsible not just for New Orleans, but for Lafayette, the State Capitol, Baton Rouge, Shreveport and even my town of Natchitoches, Louisiana in the north central part of the State as well as all the towns and cities in between.
“Nostrum,” as the World Superhero calls himself, lives in New Orleans and has his own MySpace profile. Well, how else could the citizens of Gotham contact him, after all? His profile on MySpace says it all, “there is right, and there is wrong, nothing more.” Talk about strong and silent, well almost silent, but certainly a fellow of few words.
The New Orleans online paper asked to interview “Nostrum,” but he didn’t respond to the request. It’s likely he wants to keep his identity disguised. He may be Mayor Ray Nagin, after all, taking care of the city by day and arrayed in a hero’s costume by night. Nah, most folks would rather have Aaron Neville because the lad can sing and has the body to intimidate as well. But who knows for sure?
For those who want to join “Nostrum” the sign up page is here. Understand there are terms and conditions for joining because these folks live in the shadow of the law, on the fringes where identities are kept secret and where activities do not always correspond to the usual and customary ways of crime fighting. Since New Orleans hardly has any crime fighting, according to its statistics as the city with the highest crime rate of the nation, who would mind a couple of fellows who cross the line just a bit in apprehending the bad guys.
In the meantime the modern Gotham, alias the Crescent City, also known as Chocolate City, needs to know that somewhere there is a great hero waiting to rescue the people from harm. No one knows for sure when he will show up, but hopefully next time there’s a crime wave—like tomorrow.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/264971#tab=comments&sc=0&contribute=&local=

BY Simone Weichselbaum

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Spiderman has his web and Superman has X-ray vision, but New York‘s real life superheroes just have some sandwiches – and a whole lotta heart.

Costumed street watchers “Life,” “Dark Guardian” and a slew of other comic-bookish men and women patrol the city chatting up people of the night.

Even though cops argue superheroes belong in the movies and not on the streets, “Life” and his odd-looking crew hand out food to the homeless and assure the mentally ill they still matter in a town famous for its arrogance.

“I am selfish, it makes me feel good” said Chaim “Life” Lazaros, 24, a Columbia University film student who co-founded Superheroes Anonymous – a support network that started off as folks connecting on MySpace.

At midnight Thursday, a dozen of the New York contingent will celebrate the group’s second anniversary by taking a plane down to New Orleans.

Big Easy Mayor Ray Nagin will dub Oct. 13 “Day of the Superheroes,” inviting similar-minded caped crusaders from across the U.S. to promote peace and love, a mayoral spokeswoman said.

Still, New York cops weren’t too thrilled to hear about men in tights walking around looking for trouble.

An officer who recently went on patrol with “Life” in Morningside Heights watched as thankful homeless took snacks from the superhero but worried that the masked man couldn’t protect himself, or anyone, from real danger.

“A lot of people were laughing at him,” the officer said. “His only real weapon is a cell phone with 911 on speed dial.”

Batman didn’t need Gotham’s Finest for back up, and real life superheroes argue they have the right to watch the streets without ticking off cops, too.

“They should be happy we are out there,” said Chris “Dark Guardian” Pollak, 24, a Staten Island martial arts teacher by day.

“We expect people to report crime to the police and not put themselves in jeopardy,” NYPD spokesman Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said.

“We are not doing their job. We are helping them do their job,” he said.

Fans agree: A homeless woman sleeping on a Riverside Drive bench early Tuesday woke up to a pile of snacks left by “Life” and his posse.

“They are going to be blessed,” she said.

[email protected]