NYT: A Symbol of Activism Is at Center of Court Dispute

pitu

pretty interesting article in the NYTimes . . .
A Symbol of Activism Is at Center of Court Dispute
By TRYMAINE LEE
Published: November 18, 2007
The Slave Theater, a Brooklyn movie house that became a platform for a new crop of black activists in the 1980s, will almost certainly be sold to pay off its owner’s debts.

November 18, 2007
A Symbol of Activism Is at Center of Court Dispute
By TRYMAINE LEE

John L. Phillips Jr. took a seat in the last row of the theater and surveyed its crumbling ceiling, the debris strewn in the aisles and the faded art that he had hung a generation ago.

“Hardy!” Mr. Phillips, 83, called out to Clarence Hardy, his assistant and friend, who was down the aisle a bit. “Quite a place, isn’t it? We ought to think about opening up again.”

“Yes sir,” Mr. Hardy responded. But Mr. Hardy knew better.

Nostalgia and a touch of Alzheimer’s shielded Mr. Phillips, a retired Civil Court judge, from the truth, but not his old pal. Nothing short of a miracle could avert the theater’s sale.

Mr. Phillips had once been a millionaire property owner, with the Slave Theater and its sister, the Black Lady Theater, both in Brooklyn, his prize possessions.

When racially charged killings in the 1980s unstitched already flimsy race relations in the city, the Slave Theater grew to be more than just a movie house, it became a symbol and center of black activism. Bedford-Stuyvesant and the theater became platforms for a new crop of black activists the way Harlem had been a lifetime earlier.

But in 2001 Mr. Phillips was declared mentally incompetent — a result of an investigation that some believe was politically motivated — and a series of court-appointed guardians took over his affairs. For years, according to accusations in court by the current guardian, they siphoned off his fortune and failed to pay his taxes.

Now, the old man is basically broke, living in an assisted-living facility in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a world away from his old neighborhood. Selling the theater and what is left of his other real estate holdings seems the only option. Some people are reluctant to see that happen.

“The Slave Theater is definitely a community treasure,” said Brenda Fryson, chairwoman of Community Board 3 in Brooklyn, which is trying to get landmark status for the theater. “It goes back some years, and people remember going to that theater as little kids. It really is a great part of our history in this neighborhood.”
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