New Haven Independent

The members of Epsilon Iota Iota, the New Haven chapter of Omega Psi Phi (founded at Howard University in 1911), were out in force on the 200 block of Dixwell Avenue in front of the Q House Saturday morning. They were among the groups involved in a week-long community clean-up that is the traditional build-up to the festive Freddie Fixer Parade, which takes place this Sunday, May 20.

It will be the 45th edition of the parade. The parade was established in 1962, said Larry Young, president of this year’s Freddie Fixer parade committee (shown with committee historian and “mom” Beverly Richardson) not as an African-American event but as an expression of ecological and community responsibility by Fred Smith, a Dixwell Avenue family physician; Charles Twyman, a school administrator; and Ed Grant, environmental activist and recent winner of the city’s Green Award.

The parade has deep roots in Dixwell and beyond; it is the focal point of a kind of community reunion. Thousands of people - many returning from far-away states — are expected to march and to line the route, which begins at Dixwell Avenue and Morse Street on the Hamden line and winds through downtown ending up in front of City Hall. It was not always that way.

“When I took this job,” said Young, who replaced an older generation of leaders, “Ed Grant sat me down and made sure to tell me the history of the parade, which not everyone really knows. The key thing, he said, is that Freddie Fixer is not an African-American event, or a Puerto Rican event, or a white event. It’s an ecology event, and in that way ahead of its time.

“Take yourself back to 1962,” he said, “and you’ll remember this was a racial kind of time. That first year, Dr. Smith, Ed Grant and a few others wanted to show the community was taking care of itself. They also wanted to point out that Dixwell was not getting its fair share of city services — there were even some houses back then, he said, that still had dirty floors. So the houses did need fixing. And they began a march, just about seven people at that first one, with one bugle, and one drum, right here. They marched around the block and people came out and, slowly, began to clean things up. They knew they were on to something when even the winos came out and began to sweep up the glass.

“Cycle ahead one year, and the next parade, they wanted to go downtown. But the racial tension was such in the 1960s that the powers that be weren’t so sure about it. But Dr. Smith [a housing commissioner and the city’s first black police commissioner] intervened, and the parade route extended downtown. I’m not sure what they called it that first year or two, but Ed told me that they were at the old Winchester school, drumming up interest with some kids, and they asked the class what to name the parade. One kid piped up; ‘Freddie the Fixer,’ referring to Dr. Fred Smith. Eventually the ‘the’ dropped out.”

There has also long been a series of parties associated with the event, including a Freddie Fixer Ball. “Don’t tell anyone,” Beverly Richardson said, as she pointed to where Dr. Fred’s Smith’s office was [she was his patient until she was 17 years old], but I had my first date at the Freddie Fixer Ball. I was in the ninth grade, his name was Leslie Russell, a friend of the family, and he was very well behaved. We’re friends to this day.”

The historical record is also uncertain whether it’s “Freddie” or “Freddy.” What is certain is that the parade’s meaning has evolved not only with the generations, but with the issues facing the Dixwell community. “In 2002, Young said, “we had a young man shot and killed on the eve of the parade. Youth violence, a gun problem, and a police corruption problem” — Young was wearing a T-shirt with an image of disgraced police officer Billy White emblazoned on it — “continue to plague the community, so for several years now we’ve had a Stop the Violence School Tour incorporated as part of this week’s build-up.”

The Stop the Violence Tour is led by local TV personality Veronica Douglas. It will be going to five middle and high schools beginning Monday, at Wilbur Cross. It features among others a young man who recounts his life of crime, incarceration, and life-change; Young himself; Doug Bethea, a local activist who lost his son to gun violence; and, this year, Marylou Aleskie, executive director of Arts and Ideas, who will be talking about lessons from the Big Read.

Leslie Singleton (pictured with rake), the chair of the clean-up committee, is also going to be doing a program designed specifically for girls, called “Love Your Body.” Singleton, who grew up in the Dixwell area, was in for the clean-up and will return for the beginning of the Stop the Violence tour on Monday. Where will she be on Sunday?

“I’m graduating from Springfield College,” she said with quiet pride. “Tomorrow!” Not waiting to graduate to launch herself in life and business, Singleton is the owner of Resources Outreach Center, on Ferry Street, which teaches homeless women life skills.

Other members of the 2007 parade committee are (in the photo back row left to right) Threata Green, Stephanie Boyd, Kim Mallard, chairman Young, Eugene Taylor, Chevonne Ayres, and Singleton.

Now back to those fraternity guys, who had moved off down Dixwell. Of the chapter’s 40 members from colleges in the Greater New Haven area (including Yale, Southern, and the University of New Haven, among others), at least a dozen were sprucing up in expectation of Freddie. According to the group’s spokesman, Al Rahim Williams (center in the photo), this turnout was nothing surprising. “Omega Psi Phi has a national social service mission,” he said, “and this is very much in keeping with it.” The fraternity, whose requirements include, among others, a minimum 2.5 grade point average and graduation from a four-year college, has had its members working in the Freddie Fixer clean-up since 1990.

Anthony Smith (on the left of Williams in the photo), and Michael Downing, on the right, know this particularly well. Now in their mid-20s, they both grew up within blocks of the Q House. Downing attended Livingstone College in North Carolina and is doing environmental technology work (Dr. Fred would be proud) in Meriden. Smith, with an undergraduate degree from Tuskegee and a graduate degree from Fordham, is a social worker for the State Department of Children and Families.

These are busy young men and women, as are all the volunteers. But the work must be done, as Freddie is coming. For a full list of Stop the Violence programs, parties, and parade events, call the Freddie Fixer Parade office at 397-1212 or email at this address. For fuller information on the history of Dr. Fred Smith, click here.