Jerome Smith, a civil rights leader of uncommon courage, was called ‘Big Duck’ for a reason

A leader of the New Orleans sit-in movement, Smith became a kind of evangelist for the Congress of Racial Equality during the spring 1961 Freedom Rides whose participants demanded desegregated accommodations at bus stations in the South.

The Bed-Stuy community board said the upgrades were "not in alignment" with the historically black neighborhood, which has been taken over by hoards of gentrifying lefties.