Making America Healthy Again, One Sleepy Village at a Time

Louis Conte, health Freedom Editor, The Kennedy Beacon

Last weekend, I took my family to the village of Sleepy Hollow for a few hours in the afternoon. One of my sons, who has autism, works at a small coffee shop there – Sleepy Coffee Too – on Beekman Avenue, the village’s main street. 

It’s a wonderful way for my son, and other people with disabilities, to develop job skills and be part of the community. This is the kind of place that author Michael Bernick envisions in his book, The Autism Job Club.

Sleepy Hollow is indeed the New York State village that Washington Irving wrote about in his famous short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, published in 1820. Remember that classic American tale of the Headless Horseman who haunts the terrified village residents? The literary presence of Irving still resonates in New York’s Hudson Valley and in Irvington in particular, named for the author, just south of Sleepy Hollow.

We walked the streets of Sleepy Hollow with my other son, who also has autism, taking in a glorious autumn day in a town that rightly could be called the Halloween capital of the world. The sky was a brilliant blue and Beekman Avenue was adorned with ghoulish depictions of the vengeful headless horseman, skeletons, witches, and other diabolical decorations.

If you spook easy, turn around and go back to Pleasantville.

At the end of the street, the Hudson River flows south toward New York City. This is the river that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Riverkeeper Alliance fought to restore to health. Kennedy took the corporate polluters to court for years and won settlements that eventually led to the cleanup of the Hudson River, which today has the highest biomass of any river in North America.

Kennedy helped make the Hudson healthy again. Now he’s part of the growing movement to  make America healthy again. His opponents are not river polluters this time. They are the human polluters – Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Food.

Americans are like the Hudson was forty years ago – polluted, poisoned, and sick. Kennedy is leading the charge to end the chronic disease epidemics which afflict the nation.

Years ago, people around the Hudson Valley wondered if river towns like Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown and Ossining were going to fade away. Not only was the  river polluted; the automobile factory had closed down and vast tracts of land were contaminated with toxins. White working families were leaving and Latinos were moving in. I recall a coworker who said, “Those river towns are going to hell. No one there even speaks English anymore.”

As we walked down Beekman, I am happy to report that the negative comments about Sleepy Hollow were completely wrong. The people who live there today have reinvigorated the village. It is better than it ever was.

A few feet away from Sleepy Coffee we came upon a community festival in the parking lot of the Church of Saint Teresa of Avila. Hispanic music played, men grilled chicken, women served healthy portions of rice and beans and other Latino cuisine staples. People were speaking Spanish and English and enjoying the day and their community.

I met a woman named Margherita who suggested I try her Dominican chicken. Margherita said she is seventy-four but has the energy of a woman in her thirties. “I cook for the people here and to keep the church going,” Margherita told me. “All that we have comes from God.”

Sleepy Hollow shows us that there is space for disabled people to work and diversity to thrive even as we hold onto our American traditions. The Headless Horseman still haunts the town on Halloween night. But now he eats better!  

My Dominican chicken was delicious. As I ate lunch with my family, I looked down Beekman Avenue and watched boats sailing on the blue waters of the Hudson.

Kennedy is right: If we can restore a river, we can restore the health of our nation.

We can have this America again. We can love our neighbors again. 

Healthy river. Healthy food. Healthy village. Healthy people.