 Major sponsors for Ableton on Air include Green Mountain Support Services, empowering people with disabilities to live home in the community, Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support come together. Media sponsors for Ableton on Air include Park Chester Times, Muslim Community Report, WWW, this is the Bronx.info, Associated Press Media Editors, New York Powered Online Newspaper, U.S. Press Corps Domestic and International, Anchor FM and Spotify. Partners for Ableton on Air include the HOD of New York and New England, where everyone belongs, the Orthodox Union, the Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired of Vermont, the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Center Vermont Habitat for Humanity, and Montpelier Sustainable Coalition, Montefiore Medical Center of the Bronx, Roosevelt Kennedy Center of Bronx, New York, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of the Bronx, Ableton on Air has been seen in the following publications, Park Chester Times, WWW, this is the Bronx.com, New York Powered Online Newspaper, Muslim Community Report, WWW.H.com, and the Montpelier Bridge. Ableton on Air is part of the following organizations, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Boston, New England Chapter, and the Society of Professional Journalists. Welcome to this edition of Ableton on Air, the one and only program that focuses on the needs, concerns and achievements of the different label. I'm Lauren Seiler for Ableton on Air. Before we get started, we would like to say thank you to our sponsors, Washington County Mental Health, Green Mountain Support Services, and many others, including the support of the Muslim Media Corporation, Park Chester Times, and many, many, many others, including Albert Einstein College of Medicine of the Bronx, the Rose of Kennedy Center of the Bronx, Montefiore Medical Center of the Bronx, and the Vermont Division for the Blind, and Visually Impaired, and many others as well. We would like to welcome Shike Musa Jame, who is part of the Park Chester Times, and many other things he's doing with the Muslim Media Corporation. Let's talk about the Bronx fire that happened about a week and a half ago, where 17 families, including eight children, had passed away from a horrible fire and aftermath of this, which it was caused by a space heater and a door not working within the building. So why don't you talk about what happened, how it happened, and how you have been involved helping these families and victims and families of this horrible tragedy? Thank you so much, Larry. First of all, I would like to say greetings to you and your crew and your listeners. My name is Shike Musa Jame. I am the founder of Muslim Media Corporation, which publishes Muslim Community Report, New York Parrots, and Park Chester Times. I am also, I would say, the full-time community organizer within the African and Muslim community in New York City. You're also a Muslim Imam, correct? Yes, I'm also an Imam of a Masjid in Coab City. So I wear many hearts, but they are all intertwined into community work. So thank you for the question concerning the fire tragedy that took place two Sundays ago. I'm here to give an update as to what has happened and what is going on. First of all, we are mourning the deaths of 17 family members, including, as you said, eight children. Among them, two-year-old boy. So this is very, very painful, very, very tragic. Was there anybody with special needs that perished within this tragedy as well? That is among the many, many things that we're going through in terms of investigating who was what, who had any type of disability or special needs. And soon, we will get that information out publicly. But I just want to say that, unfortunately, we cannot bring back the death. We cannot turn the clock back. However, the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers took this tragedy at heart, and they have been providing all kinds of services and donations. They have done above the call of duty, and the families are very, very gratified. As far as I understand, also the Jewish community has, when above and beyond, with the Jewish community that was rocked in Texas and the problems they've been having, they've been helping you as well with donations. You know, I have been saying throughout the week, nobody wishes to be in such calamity. But if you have to be in such calamity, New York is the best place for that calamity to be for you. And I said the reason for that is because of the Jewish community. They have the infrastructure for anything humanitarian. From day one, the Jewish groups were among the force on the ground. They were among the force to provide food, even halal food, to the affected. They have been among the largest donors financially to discuss. They have been the power behind the scene, and the families and the community and the Muslim community in general could not have been more grateful for the Jewish neighbors that we have that came among all the other New Yorkers, but the prominence of Jewish services and assistance and donations cannot be understated. So can you explain a little bit about how the fire happened? It happened through a space heater. How exactly did it? So people can have the backstory. How exactly did it happen? Larry, for the past 30-something years, the worst fire tragedies in New York City happened in the Bronx. And all these fire tragedies were preventable. All these deaths were preventable. The last fire tragedy, which happened Sunday, January 9, was a result of overheated space heater. No, but just the other day. We were told by people who are extremely impoverished conditions living in dilapidated buildings that are not being provided with the services that they are entitled to and deserve. What we're saying to our local elected officials, to our mayor and the governor, and our congresspeople is that these tragedies are preventable and this tragedy that happened Sunday will be the closure for such tragedies ever be falling to such people. And we have launched a grassroots campaign in making sure that such tragedy will not be repeated under any circumstances or under any conditions. Space heaters are used because people do not have adequate heating systems in their apartments. That will be changed immediately. That goes also for people in, I don't mean to bring them up, it also goes to people who are in the New York City Housing Authority because the New York City Housing Authority for years has not been providing adequate heat for people. When you pay rent, and I'm sure you agree with me, when you pay rent and you pay your utilities or utilities are included, it should include adequate heat. Why do people have to use or conform to using a space heater? First of all, space heaters are extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, and then in this building you had a door that did not work properly. So when you have nothing, when you pay rent, but then you have things that don't work properly, things like this are going to happen. And then the other day, a couple of days after this, there was another incident on Fox Street where a house exploded. I don't know if you heard about that one. But that was a gas leak, that was a different thing. So these buildings that are horribly maintained, there has to be somebody accountable. You can't just say, sorry, this happened. This is thousands of lives. So these are hundreds of lives that are at stake here. Go ahead. Thank you, Larry, for highlighting the heart of the issue. We live in the tale of two realities. Two cities, basically. Yeah, two cities and two realities. We have the most privileged people who happen to own the corporations that own this housing building. Let's take bronze, for example, over 80% of bronze residents are renters. Bronze is the place where 81% of the residents are rented. And poor, correct? Well, yeah, that's why mostly they rented. So we have a county who suffers so long for injustice, for inadequate and for neglect from the hands of absentee landlords who lives in some of the most luxurious neighborhoods and buildings and areas who do not suffer the consequences of eating and any kinds of public safety or quality of life issues. That is why the funeral of the 17 individuals were publicized. We invited the media and elected officials in the Masjid inside so that the whole world will see the injustice that caused their death and to vow never ever to repeat it again. Now, we welcome people to buy buildings. We welcome investors. We welcome people to have tenants. But what we do not tolerate anymore is that you invest on buildings and then you neglect your tenants and you neglect the quality of life and you neglect the basic services that your tenants need because you can neglect it without facing the consequences. Those days are gone. We're going to make sure that the residents of the bronze, whether they're tenant or whether they're owner occupants, they will get the best services that are available to them and we're going to insist on it. Right now, we are forming grassroots coalition of community organizers to making sure that we are no longer going to be perished in such negligible conditions, such injustice, and such extreme poverty so that we have to resort to all these heating units in housing development, whether they are nature or whether they are privately owned buildings, we're going to make sure that such a tragedy will not be repeated again without being challenged. And that has started since the fire tragedy. So what type of before we get to fire education, what has been some of the donations that have been given, obviously food, clothing, what money for hotels, correct? So what type of donations have come across since this fire tragedy? You know, from day one, donations have been trickling. You name it, they donated, including toys to making sure that families will not have interruption to their children's toy enjoyment. Every single items that are used in our households have been donated to a point where they are in the storage facilities, they are in massages and community centers, New Yorkers came in droves and brought everything you can think of, the family is very grateful. And also, monetarily, they have been doing so much fundraising online that millions of dollars have already been raised and I am sure millions of dollars more will be raised because now we have celebrities who are taking the course as they own and making sure that they raise as much money as possible so that the people who lost loved ones will not suffer financially afterward. As you know, after the burial, what's left is long-term consequences of losing the loved ones, some of whom were the break winners. So we need to be there for them, we need to provide them with all the services that they will need forever and ever. Some of these services are short-term while others are permanent because some people are still in a hospital with bad conditions so we don't know whether they will make it or whether if they do make it under what condition. So we are preparing to making sure that we meet them wherever they are because New Yorkers came and provided everything that they will need in short-term and long-term. As far as fire education, okay, because you had a door that did not work, okay. So is there anything that your organization is working with the New York City Fire Department or other fire departments in and around different counties to give fire education or help institute fire education when it comes to things like this not happening again? You know, New York City is a place where every service that you can think of is there. The problem has always been people not knowing the existence of those services and how to utilize them. So because of what happened, we have dedicated our activism toward education for that which can save lives. Whether it is a fire safety, whether it is a public safety, whether it is emergency response, you name it, we will collaborate with the government, with private agencies, community-based organizations and experts to making sure that all the residents in the city get the training that they need so that when such a tragedy happens, at least you can minimize the death and the pain and the suffering because this tragedy was a result of one door that remained open. If that door had closed shut, we will not be funeralizing 17 individuals. Maybe no one would have died or maybe one or two. But because of the door remain open, unfortunately the building was engulfed with smoke. All the death died because of smoke inhalation, not the fire, but smoke. I also understand that somebody from Lehman College had passed away, one of the students had passed away because of this. So explain now, so let's go into what your organization really does. What does your organization really do for helping communities such as the tragedy that happened? But go into more and what your organization really does. Absolutely. During Mayor Bloomberg's administration, we had started an organization we call African Rapid Relief Mobilization. African Rapid Relief Mobilization. And we had trained so many people into CPR, fire safety, emergency management, and disaster relief services. Unfortunately, the subsequent years, we did not do the right thing by continuing the efforts until this tragedy. Now we have decided that the African Rapid Relief Mobilization that was launched over 10 years ago will become a centralized organization that deals with all kinds of tragedies, relief services, fire, disaster, you name it, on behalf of the African community in the city. So this Sunday, we're having a meeting with African leaders so that we can actualize the African Rapid Relief Mobilization. As of now, we are working with different organizations from Red Cross to the Office of Emergency Management to Bronze Works and to Community Board 5, various organizations to Gambian Youth Association, Islamic Cultural Center. But we will now centralize all the operations concerning disaster fire or you name it, or emergency to the African Rapid Relief Mobilization. So that something like this happen, the city, the agencies, the affected individual, the community will just go to the African Rapid Relief Mobilization and get the services that are needed on a timely basis. Services that are culturally and religiously appropriate. Do these fires or these tragedies happen? Well, obviously, somewhat it was an accident with the space heaters. But is this because of lack of education, like with the doors or lack of education per se? No, no, this was the result of injustice. New York City is the wealthiest city in the nation. New York City is home to more billionaires and millionaires in the nation. For New Yorkers to be hard-working New Yorkers, yet they live in such impoverished condition, this is injustice. Space heating is used by people who do not have adequate heating system in their apartments and homes. And we should not tolerate it anymore because we have the resources to provide to every New Yorker, especially hard-working New Yorkers. So this is the result of injustice and we are going to get to the bottom of it so that we can prevent it. It is happening too frequently. It is happening too deadly and it is happening under our watch. And we are not going to allow it to continue to happen. We're going to use this tragedy to making sure that justice is done for not only Bronxites, for the residents of New York City at large. It is all about injustice, whether it is injustice from our government, whether it is injustice from our, you know, building owners, or whether it is injustice from the agencies that really regulate the inequality that exists in our housing arrangements. So what you're saying is that people don't care. They just let things happen. Correct? Well, because these people bought these buildings in a very cheap amount and then they get all the government programs and house New Yorkers and then they live in luxurious, safest, most affluent neighborhoods and communities and yet they do not give a banana to the people that they are renting because to them the people are not really human beings. They're just there so that they get the checks from the government or from the people. We're going to change it up. If you have a tenant, you're going to treat that tenant the same way you treat your loved ones. In terms of discriminating against poor people because they live in such a zip code or such a neighborhood will no longer be tolerated. So basically it's a small house after house, building after building program after program, neighborhood after neighborhood to making so that every New Yorker deserves dignity in their housing, safety in their community and equity in the economic condition. That is what our commitment is and that is what we're going to be doing in collaboration with all the stakeholders including the government. Now, the class system has been for years from the Titanic first class, second class, third class and then also the Holocaust, ghetto A, ghetto B, ghetto C. Now, during the Holocaust Jewish people were put into deplorable conditions. They were not fed well, not clothed well, etc. Now, do you think, I don't mean to say this but your opinion, do you think New York right now is going through its own class system where the poor people are not or people in general are being put into groups that they're not being treated the right way and they should? Absolutely. Now, we live in the greatest wealthiest nation on the face of the earth and in this wealthy nation we live in the wealthiest city in the nation. The reason why New York is a great place when tragedy happened to people is because of the experience of the Jewish communities. As you said, the ghettos of the Jewish world had given them the ability and the understanding and the experience of not creating these ghettos where people are not regarded as equal, as worthy, as valuable. And because of the experience the Jewish community has developed humanitarian infrastructure that can be activated at a minute's notice. And that's what has happened the moment the fire took place. The first group from Brooklyn that came was a Jewish group. Guess what they brought? Halal food so that everybody affected will be fed so that they can at least go on with their lives and dealing with the Red Cross and others because hungry people, silly people unfortunately and people who just come out of a worse tragedy in 30 years there's nothing they can do right but when you feed them and then you're there and then you provide guidance then they can talk and they can talk with relevance and that's what the Jewish community did and that comes from the background of suffering injustice for so long to a point where they have been able to build the infrastructure to mitigate the pain and suffering. What is Halal food? So what is Halal food? You mentioned Halal food. So what is Halal food for those that don't know in terms of like giving resources? So Halal food is food that is permissible for Muslims to eat meaning that there's no alcohol there is no pork product and it was let's say if it had meat the slaughtering was done in such a merciful manner that the animal was not tortured the animals was not butchered and the animal's right was given and the name of God was proclaimed upon slaughtering the animals so that is what constitutes Halal food. Okay so we have a little time left so the African community that you're a part of or the Muslim community that you're a part of now you're an Imam so I understand that the funeral was held last week or this past week and your your center or the center couldn't hold the amount of people you know because you had COVID and you had other so explain how the community came together with the burial of these individuals. Absolutely you know the place where the funeral took place is called Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx and it's on 166th Street the good thing is that that place was recently integrated they built it brand new from ground up they raised over three million dollars to build it so it only opened a couple of months ago but as big as it is it could not you know accommodate one third of the people that sort of therefore we immediately work with the city to provide heating from block to block they planted the whole community with thousands of people in the tent but even the tent as huge as they were there were more people outside the mosque and the tent than they were in so people came from all areas of New York New Jersey and Connecticut because everybody Muslims and non-Muslims wanted to be part of it to show their solidarity and to show their fellowship the same thing they did with donations we are so extremely grateful for how New Yorkers handle and manage and really so support for the cost we are dealing with right now so everybody was there almost who paid for the funerals the city of New York? you know millions of dollars have already been raised so the preliminary payment was made by the city of New York but obviously when everything is done all the expenses will be deducted from what is raised and whatever left will be given to affected families okay so explain a little bit more about you know if you don't mind let's go to a slightly other topic since we have a little time left to promote it what exactly is going on because you're going to Africa maybe next year on a pilgrimage explain a little bit about that and your African the African part of your organization yeah thank you I don't know if it's very appropriate to combine the two but I think they are pretty much interconnected this September 3 2022 for the first time we have been communicating with the African governments asking them to create a week long open house on the continent meaning that every African nation on the continent will use September 3 to September 10 as an African open house we call it Daylight Africa Week and we ask people from all walks of life all backgrounds all geography to go to Africa and visit Africa motherland it doesn't matter whether you're black white, you live in Europe, you live in Asia you live on the continent or not America according to what we know so far we are all the descendants of Africa Africa is motherland to blacks and whites and everybody but unfortunately the overwhelming majority of the global citizenry does not have the knowledge they need to have about Africa what they see about Africa is so distorted it's so one sided it's so dark, so gloomy so empowering so we tell the governments open the door let everybody come and see for themselves and see the beauty and see how huge Africa is and see the environment and see the reality and if some of them are investors there are government opportunities if some of them are researchers they can do the research if some of them are philanthropists they can see areas where charities are needed but open Africa on September 3 for everybody that's one thing, number two we have over 43 million African-American we have over 43 million African-Americans in the United States majority of them very small percentage of them have any connection to the continent that they came from so we're also calling it in addition to calling it Daylight Africa Week we're also calling it transatlantic family reunification transatlantic family reunification so it's going to be powerful it's going to be huge but it's going to be very very beneficial both to the continent and to everybody in the world Africa is a place that is mystery to the majority of world citizenry and September 3 that mystery will begin to fade away and into the understanding of a continent that every person is part of so let's um if anyone wants to donate anything in terms of this tragedy whether it be diapers, food, clothes where do they turn can you give a website? absolutely, if anybody is donating material non-monetary then you can bring it to the Islamic Cultural Center the address is 371 East 166 Street Bronx, New York 1-0-4-5-6 again Islamic Cultural Center address is 371 East 166 Street Bronx, New York 1-0-4-5-6 if somebody is donating money please go to the mayor's fund just google mayor's fund and donate that all the monetary donations New York City mayor's fund thank you is there a website for the Islamic Cultural Center? no there is a website but the best thing is to use me because I am the spokesperson and the coordinator and my number is 718 822 5555 718 822 5555 I am the community coordinator spokesperson anything related to the fire tragedy? ok well we would like to thank Shikému Sadrame for joining us on this edition of Ableton On Air for more information on donating now this is extremely important for more information on donating anything clothes, food diapers baby food anything materialistic that people can use during this fire tragedy please call Shikému Sadrame at the following number 718 822 5555 that number once again is 718 822 5555 Shikému Sadrame is the community coordinator and he is also the one of the people in charge of the Partisanist of Times and the Muslim Media Corporation the address again that people can turn 371 is 166th Street 371 is 166th 166th Street Bronx, New York 10456 ok so for more information on that address to send any packages in relation to the Bronx fire that's 371 East 166th Street that's 166th Street, Bronx, New York 10456 that address once again is 371 East 166th Street Bronx, New York 10456 718 822 5555 Shikému Sadrame who is a community with liaison in terms of this Bronx fire and we thank you for all the work I know you're extremely exhausted and you know and recuperating but we thank Ableton and I thanks you for all the work that you've been doing and we thank this a reality because losing a loved one is not a good thing but prayer and having the community together is extremely important when it comes to these things so we thank you for helping the community out and we thank you for joining us on this edition of Ableton on Air Arlene is not here today we would like to thank of the Muslim Media Corporation and all his work that he has done for helping these families get back on their feet with housing food and many other one last thing is the American Red Cross involved American Red Cross is involved Office of Emergency Management involved and many many other agencies but I will end with this part of our advocacy is adequate services for individuals with special needs I just want to let you know that your platform and the people you advocate for are part of our advocacy to making sure that the housing the logistics, the transportation the services are also adequate for the special needs New Yorkers thank you for joining us on this edition of Ableton on Air again one last time that phone number is 718-822-5555 718-822-5555 the address is 371 East 166 Street on the envelope do they put your name well how do they do it no no no they can put the fire tragedy or the fire victims okay fire victims 371 East 166 Street Bronx, New York 104-56 Bronx, New York 104-56 718-822-5555 again this we put an end to this edition of Ableton on Air our leading is not here today thank you to our sponsors and supporters I'm Lauren Seiler see you next time on the next edition of Ableton on Air stay safe during a fire and we must work together to make these tragedies not happen again I'm Lauren Seiler see you next time major sponsors for Ableton on Air Green Mountain Support Services empowering people with disabilities to live home in the community Washington County Metal Health where hope and support come together media sponsors for Ableton on Air include Park Chester Times Muslim Community Report WWW this is the Bronx.info Associated Press Media Editors New York Power Online Newspaper U.S. Press Core Domestic and International Anchor FM and Spotify Partners for Ableton on Air include Yachad of New York and New England where everyone belongs the Orthodox Union the Division for the Blind and Visionary and Parallel Vermont the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity and Montpelier Sustainable Coalition Montefere Medical Center of the Bronx Rose of Kennedy Center of Bronx, New York Albert Einstein College of Medicine of the Bronx Ableton on Air has been seen in the following publications Park Chester Times WWW this is the Bronx.info WWW this is the Bronx.com New York Power Online Newspaper Muslim Community Report WWW .h.com and the Montpelier Bridge Ableton on Air is part of the following organizations the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Boston, New England chapter and the Society of Professional Journalists