Michael Cox

Description

Michael Cox was born and raised in Brooklyn. He grew up in Crown Heights/Prospect Heights in the 1980s and 90s. He was raised by his mother and father, both from Brooklyn. He recalls his first memories in Brooklyn as walking with his grandmother as a toddler down Eastern Parkway to the playground and the Grand Army Plaza monument. He talks about being proud of Brooklyn, but not overall happy about gentrification. He speaks about a number of social issues that faced communities of color when he was growing up such as disinvestment, predatory actions, drugs, violence, and redlining. He highlights the ways the community members worked together to ensure success for the next generations and mentions and their inability to access economic opportunity because of systematic oppression. He talks about the relationship between the lack of economic opportunity, the decrease of property value, and social changes to Brooklyn. Cox talks about attending Syracuse University for college and became a public school teacher in East New York and Brownsville after seeing the need to get involved with the injustices of the school system. He talks about his decision to help address issues through politics as a policy advisor to New York Congressmen and working in the Obama Administration. He speaks about returning to New York to ensure that despite gentrification, the shape and contours of the community would allow youth to have an experience similar to his own. He talks about working to get mixed and moderate income in Brooklyn to...

From Collection

Community Curators

Record Contributed By

Weeksville Heritage Center