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African-American News and Issues Newspaper

VOL. 22 ISSUE 29

AframNews Entertainment

Mr. Tighten Up Himself: Mr. Archie Bell

Greater Houston Area

On The Road To Change Photo By: Zach Tate

HOUSTON - Recently, African-American News&Issues afforded me the great privilege and opportunity to speak with a musical stalwart of the Houston community. Worldrenown, talented living legend vocalist; is an inadequate expression to define the character of Mr. Archie Bell, of “Archie Bell and the Drells”. For, he began reppin’ Houston long before it was ever popular amongst, local hiphop artists’ and famed entertainers. He is one who really needs no introduction to residents of the Astro City. In fact, if he did he would adamantly give it himself; as it has become his custom and signature mark around the world, for over half a century.

Some issues affecting the Black community across the nation needing constant attention include: • • • • •

Police brutality The upcoming Census Redistricting Voter suppression Policy changes on health care • Criminal justice reform • Educational funding • Voting rights SEE PAGE 4

Derrick Johnson, Vice-President of NAACP

Part 1: Civil Rights Organization Evolving To Tackle Modern Challenges

“Hi everybody, I’m Archie Bell of the Drells from Houston, Texas. We don’t only sing, but we dance just as good as we walk.”

The introduction that has been played and heard from coast to coast precedes the instant smash hit of 1968, “Tighten Up”. For months, during that time it remained on Billboard’s Hot 100 and Hot Rhythm and Blues charts. During an era of political chaos “Tighten Up”, presented a fresh and funky dance tune that was oblivious to its dispensation. Affectionately known as, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”, Mr. Bell graciously shared part of his story with me during an enjoyable 30-minute conversation. Here’s what our talk entailed…

R.S. Jones: Mr. Bell how are you?

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: Oh I’m fine, how you doing?

R.S. Jones: Just fine, so I gotten in contact with Mrs. Juanita on yesterday and she said that today would be a good time for us to talk…

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: : Well that’s fine, now isn’t a bad time.

TO CONT. READING SEE PAGE 5

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American News&Issues

C.O.H Report Card Hon. Sylvester Turner City of HoustonMayor

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eport cards are rare in the summer, but I am glad to report on the progress we are making on several initiatives designed to enhance the quality of life in Houston neighborhoods.

Every neighborhood deserves to have a thriving population of young people who find opportunity and meaningful activities. I am glad to report that 5,200 youth found work this year through the Mayor’s Hire

Roy Douglas Malonson Chairman Shirley Ann Malonson President/C.E.O. Chandra Jarmon

Production/Editor

Kimberly Taylor

Production Asst.

Darwin Campbell

Senior Journalist

Chelsea Davis-Bibb

Journalist

Rebecca S. Jones

Contributing Writer

Mark Spivey

Contributing Writer

Lorenzo Tolbert

Contributing Writer

Jadarrius West

Distribution

General: news@aframnews.com Ads: sales@aframnews.com Website: www.aframnews.com African-American News&Issues is published

by African-American News & Issues, Inc., 6130 Wheatley Street, Houston, Texas 77091, (713) 692-1892. Our office hours are Monday-Friday, 9am - 5pm. The entire contents of the paper are copyrighted by African-American News & Issues, Inc. All rights reserved. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the publisher. African-American News&Issues is not responsible for any claims made by advertisers.

The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the publisher.

African-American News&Issues assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs and other material, unless accompanied by a self-address stamped envelope.

Letter to the Editor

W

e welcome all original responses from our readers to content found in the African-American News&Issues.

Letters to the Publisher may be sent via e-mail to news@aframnews.com. Please keep all letters under 300 words. Be sure to include the author’s name, area of residence. All letters and articles may be verified before they are published. All letters are subjected to editing or being cut for spacing purposes. Thank you in advance for your submission.

TX-2

Editorial & Opinion

Houston Summer Jobs program that connected them to private businesses and non-profit organizations.

Meanwhile my Complete Communities program is moving forward in its initial stage. This program, which I announced in the spring, will bring together public resources, private businesses and philanthropic groups to improve overall conditions in five “pilot” neighborhoods: Third Ward, Second Ward, Near Northside, Acres Home and Gulfton. By “pilot,” I mean that these neighborhoods will serve as test cases for a program I want to implement citywide.

Planners have already met with neighborhood leaders to set priorities for the improvements. Next, we will launch a series of public meetings where my staff and I gather more feedback from residents in each neighborhood. We will not impose one-size-fits-all solutions in these neighborhoods. We will only move forward after listening closely to each area’s wants and needs.

But we also plan to move quickly after we gather the wide-ranging feedback. First will come “quick delivery” items, such as enhanced street lighting and new playground equipment, even as we plan long-term housing and economic revitalization projects.

Learn more online at http://www.houstontx.gov/ completecommunities/

On another front, we are moving forward with hiring a company to provide new curbside recycling service, including the resumption of the recycling of glass. As the value and methods of recycling change, we will select a service that will keep up with technology and provide the best financial deal for the city.

Also, the City Council just a few days ago approved my proposal to add $4 million to a program to repair roofs and make other structural repairs on homes that were covered by those blue tarps resulting from hurricane damage several years ago. As we look to improve every neighborhood in our great city, it’s time to make permanent fixes.

- END

TEXAS • AUGUST 7 - 13, 2017

Black Male Entrepreneurs Deserve Full Respect & Support The Black Whisperer Darwin Campbell, Senior Journalist

“We want to grow and expand our business and teach others about opportunities in entrepreneurship over selling drugs.” 20-year old Black Entrepreneur Marlin Gipson What on Earth does a Black man have to do to be legitimate, respected and accepted without prejudice today in society?

It is rather troubling to see events unfold where a legitimate young brother and his crew working hard to pursue their dreams of owning and running a business, only to have their images publicly ridiculed and openly challenged by a Precinct One Constable Deputy, Shane Cates.

These are young men trying to do right things the right way.

Marlin Gipson started at the bottom in a competitive business environment and is following the rules of engagement in business as he competes with other Black, White and Hispanics lawn services doing the same job.

A Little History For hundreds of years during slavery, Black men were treated like breeder bulls and work horses only good for sunrise to sunset work and sowing seeds that bring about stronger chattel to work fields and support the plantation.

These Mandingo Black men were loved for their muscle and brawn, but also were hated because the master could not” measure up” in many ways.

When situations created fits of jealousy that became obvious, a Black man was whipped and beaten to within one inch of life, but not enough to hurt his stock or prevent him from returning the fields or the bedroom to produce – and that ain’t fake news history either.

From May 2 to May 10, 1963, the nation bore witness as police in Birmingham, Alabama, aimed highpowered hoses and sicced snarling

dogs on black men, women and even children who wanted just one thing — to be treated the same as white Americans.

Not all Black men are making excuses, hating the man and rebelling against a system that is tilted against Black men.

Led by an unapologetic racist cop named Eugene “Bull” Connor, Birmingham cops brazenly attacked protesters — and the television cameras covering the drama broadcasted their brutality to the rest of the country.

Connor became a living symbol of Southern bigotry and Birmingham became ground zero in the struggle for civil rights.

Not all of us are stealing trucks and cars and using the vehicles to work nights destroying the front of convenience stores just to get at an ATM, Cigarettes or Beer.

Unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same... or get worse.

Brilliance vs Buffoonery

Starting and working a business from inception to action is difficult within itself and public perception can be the difference between success and failure.

The young brothers put their best feet forward and put their dream in motion and none of their plans involved robbing, hurting or killing anyone. They were out in the open, working during daylight hours and had business cards to show potential customers.

Why then was it necessary for Precinct One Constable Shane Cates to go to great lengths to inconvenience law abiding citizens and harass them when it was plain they had not ill intentions.

What’s wrong with the picture is simple. In the United States, police officers still continue to have little to no respect for Black men and we still have police officers have their own fears and mental problems and need some serious counseling, retraining and treatment when dealing with African-Americans and working the beat in our neighborhoods.

Some Whites officers even still have a difficult time accepting Black initiative and creativeness and ability to conceive a winning plan and put it into action.

Time to Undo the Stereotypes

Not all of us Black men sit around smoking “doobies”, sitting on porches or under trees in the neighborhood playing dominoes, talking and wishing our lives away.

The Hard Truth

Black Entrepreneurs are fighters who get up every morning with intentions and a plan to win, despite the obstacles we face as Black businessmen and women.

They are driven by ideas, determination and hard work and a desire to succeed.

Raw desire and sheer willpower does not allow us to curl or fold in the face of all the No’s, Stereotypes or Discouragement and obstacles that we know exists.

Blacks can be successful in business, especially when we are supported by our own communities.

The importance of buying black has been well documented as an avenue to strengthen the black community economically, not only to provide jobs, but also to keep our nearly trillion-dollar buying power in our hands.

Many African-Americans have stated that they will never shop at a black-owned store or use a service until prices get lower, customer service improves, and the services or selling reflects things that they want.

However, the only way for Gipson or others to survive, thrive and improve is through practice and financial support from the Black community base.

Support keeps Gipson and other Black entrepreneurs in business in the long term.

Black Business Entrepreneurs Go to War Faithfully Everyday

Some days are diamonds and some days are coal, but despite the difficulties, the sun comes up and entrepreneurs face it. Strong Black men go out and do that each day over and over again.

Continue reading online @ www.aframnews.com

TEXAS • AUGUST 7 - 13, 2017

Editorial & Opinion

Trump, Policing, And Ethnic Slurs The President of the United States should not be encouraging cops to break the law.

Rev. Al Sharpton President, National Action Network

It took a long time to get here.

After decades of addressing police misconduct, and then taking the fight to the federal level with protests we all led around the police killings of Eric Garner, Freddie Gray and later Tamir Rice and others, we finally witnessed movement in the right direction. President Obama not only met with civil rights leaders and activists from around the nation, but he implemented The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. That task force made recommendations such as having officers wear body cameras and having the Department of Justice work out consent decrees with police departments around the country. Now President Obama’s successor has the DOJ interfere with consent decrees, and not only does he and his Attorney General say questioning police hurts morale, but this weekend he tells law enforcement to be rough when arresting suspects. This is not only a reversal of progress but it is dangerous and unacceptable behavior from the President of the United States.

“Don’t be too nice,” is one of the many troubling comments President Trump said to a crowd of officers last week in Long Island. It’s illegal, immoral and unthinkable in a democratic society to say that someone under arrest should be treated in a manner other than presumed innocent until proven otherwise. And even if a person is found guilty, he or she must be treated in a professional manner period. This bias against people who in

large part end up being innocent of any crime exposes a president who will use dog whistles and bigotry rather than raise the nation’s vision towards unity and policy that would make such unity come to fruition. To add insult to injury, he used the term “paddy wagon,” which is clearly biased and an established slur.

I, and many others in public life, have been guilty of using slurs (including the “n-word”), but we not only corrected ourselves and apologized, but we no longer use such words.

Donald Trump is now the President of the United the States – not the businessman debating and arguing in the penthouse suite at Trump Tower with others (as even we have done in the past). To tell police officers to disobey the law and presumption of innocence,

and then use an ethnic slur on top of it, is to normalize behavior we should never accept from the Oval Office.

This is why 1,000 ministers are marching from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorial in Washington, D.C. to the DOJ on August 28th. It marks the 54th anniversary of Dr. King’s historic and groundbreaking “I Have a Dream” speech. As I stated during my weekly rally at National Action Network’s headquarters on Saturday, the fundamental tenets of that dream were fighting for voter rights, criminal justice reform and against poverty.

All of those are under threat today.

Dr. King’s mission was to take on the dream busters, reestablish the higher moral quest of this nation, and affirm the law. This president’s words encourage people to do just the opposite.

DeAndra Yates, Contributor of www.huffingtonpost.com

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American News&Issues

WE MUST RESPECT!

ver the course of the past week, I thought long and hard about the recent controversial issue that we reported concerning Marlin Gipson and Constable Alan Rosen’s office on last week. While African-American News&Issues still remains a publication that thrives off of highlighting and addressing current and historical realities affecting our communities; I found it necessary to write about “RESPECT” in regards to this issue. I allowed my people to do their story on the issue, posing questions and concerns that the community had in regards to the way that the situation was handled, by the Constables office. But ultimately, I still have to elaborate on one common principle that is first and foremost importantly.

American General Robert E. Lee said it best when he quoted that,

“Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.”

I wholeheartedly agree with him in this aspect. It does not matter what type of authority we have any type of encounter with, authority alone automatically warrants respect. Back when I was coming up we were taught and trained to say, “Yes sir”, “No sir”, “Yes ma’am” and “No ma’am” period point blank. It didn’t matter how we felt or thought about folk, we were trained to respect people in their positions either way. There have been times in my life that I knew there were folk that didn’t care for me, but simply showing respect to them; forced them with no choice other than to respect me.

By no means am I attempting to justify or side with law officials in

this case, because as we know there are a few bad apples in every bunch.

Sometimes, there are even more bad apples in the bunch than good.

Nevertheless, we Africans living in America have to first do our part and respect, so that we won’t give folks any reason to raise a concern or issue against us. It already doesn’t take but a small spark to light a fire. So why put gasoline on something, that you see can easily ignite without you fanning the flame? My point here is that authority demands respect, regardless of the situation.

Parents these days need to go back to those old morals and values of simply teaching their children to respect people in positions. Because if they don’t respect their parents or themselves; they certainly won’t respect those in authority positions, and that factor alone could be the very death of them. Time after time, situation after situation, and encounter after encounter; has already proven that the odds are stacked up against members of the African-American community.

That is on mostly all levels from the White House to the jailhouse, but especially when an encounter with law officials arises. So to me it’s simple, keep your mouth shut, do like you are asked to do and above all show respect to authority.

MARLIN GIPSON

Just to briefly recap the situation…

Recently, videos recorded by a young Black male, Marlin Gipson went viral after an officer approached him.

Gipson was in the process of distributing business cards for his lawn-care business. It can clearly be seen on the video that some other young Black males were in the background,

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We MUST Understand

By Roy Douglas Malonson,

landscaping at the time. Gipson told the officer that he was, “trying to make money”. The officer then asks for his name and date of birth and ultimately for his identification. Gipson does not provide his identification but, instead he provides his business card and asks the officer for his information as well.

Afterwards, the officer requests for him to turn around and put his hands on his head. Gipson, while steady recording the incident flees from the scene to go home, where the situation later escalates. When the officers arrive at his residence, Gipson requests that they leave his home and retreats inside.

According to reports, police officials are granted access into the home by a family member. The end result leads to a K-9 unit being released on Gipson along with him being tasered and sustaining injuries to his arm.

I will reiterate my stance again. Of course, there was some policy issues involved with the way that things were handled. Part of which may be some of the very reason that the charges were ultimately dropped. Yet and still, our Black children need to learn about respect. Things could have been much worse than they were. This young man could have been packed out instead of walking away… Members from our community have seen it happen far too many times as it is, from things a lot less than this altercation.

Concluding, We MUST Understand when an officer approaches, say, “Yes sir”, or “Yes ma’am”, “What can I help you with?” Be respectful and comply with any requests within the law that are asked of you to avoid any allegations or suspicions on your behalf. If they ask you for identification, produce it, quietly. Never leave the scene, because that can only compound more charges such as: evading arrest or fleeing the scene. I’m not conveying that this entire ordeal was right, but I’m stating that our children MUST learn to RESPECT! - END TX-3

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NAACP from pg. 1

HOUSTON - As African-Americans face evolving issues that are reshaping our community and futures, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) contends it is still relevant, evolving and up to the task to take on the modern struggles.

But in an era when activists quickly organize and mobilize mass demonstrations using social media, the NAACP finds itself struggling to remain on the cutting edge of the social justice movement.

Taking a first steps indicating change, the group has changed leadership at the top of its ranks.

New Leadership The NAACP named vice chairman of the board of directors Derrick Johnson as interim president and CEO. Johnson, new interim president and CEO of the NAACP, wasted no time stating his plans and desires for the organization.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done and we won’t waste any time getting to it,” he said. “We are facing unprecedented threats to our democracy and we will not be sidelined while our rights are being eroded every day.

We remain steadfast and immovable, and stand ready on the front lines of the fight for justice.”

Johnson had formerly served as vice chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors as well as State President for the Mississippi State Conference NAACP.

Leon Russell, Board Chairman of the NAACP. “Derrick’s longtime service with the Association will allow him to take decisive action to deal with daily challenges...”

Pressing Issues

For Johnson and the groups other 500,000 members in 2,200 local chapters must seek ways to figure out how best to support civil rights workers on the ground in communities that are working on issues like police brutality, the upcoming Census, redistricting and voter suppression, according to Leon Russell, NAACP National Board Chairman.

Other issues affecting community

across the nation needing constant attention include: • • • •

Policy changes on health care, Criminal justice reform, Educational funding Voting rights

The group is struggling to figure out how to better respond to the new realities confronting AfricanAmericans without abandoning the principles that made it one of the nation’s leading forces for social change.

According to Johnson and Russell, the groups wants a balanced approach as it remembers its history and plans for its future.

Local Challenges

“I could not think of a better, more battle-tested or more qualified individual to guide the NAACP through this transition period,” said TX- 4

tively,” said Dr. James M. Douglas, president of NAACP Houston Branch.

Johnson, Russell and other leaders are going on the road nationwide on a listening tour that will allow opportunities to talk to its local members and figure out what the future of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization should be, he said.

The base mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.

Leon Russell

Cover Story

In Houston, the issues of reforming bails and bonding system, public education, police relations, brutality, immigration and what to do about voting and redistricting are at the forefront of fight in a diverse and growing city.

“The modern challenge and question is how do we achieve our goals and objectives and get there collec-

Dr. James M. Douglas

“With many of us spread out and living in many places, there is little cohesion or common ground among us – that is one of the main things we will have to address.”

Black communities in Houston are no longer concentrated in one area.

It is a conglomeration of AfricanAmerican communities covering a myriad of neighborhoods and tens of thousands of Black people living across the Houston Metro area including, Houston wards, CypressFairbanks, Katy, Kingwood, The Woodlands, Sugarland, Missouri City, Fort Bend and other areas.

Douglas said the residential spread has created a whole new set of issues on top of what already exists on the table.

“We are still in the fight and area a loud and active voice from Austin to Washington D.C.,” He said.

“However, the way things are in communities, we keep fighting, but it is more complex to bring back the cohesion we once had when we all lived in the same close communities.”

History Founded Feb. 12. 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest, largest and most widely recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization. Its more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, campaigning for equal opportunity and conducting voter mobilization.

Founding Group The NAACP was formed partly in response to the continuing horrific practice of lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, the capital of Illinois and resting place of President Abraham Lincoln.

Appalled at the violence that was committed against blacks, a group of White liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard, both the descendants of abolitionists, William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moscowitz issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. Some 60 people, seven of whom were African American (including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell), signed the call, which was released on the centennial of Lincoln’s birth.

Echoing the focus of Du Bois’ Niagara Movement began in 1905, the NAACP’s stated goal was to secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution, which promised an end to slavery, the equal protection of the law and universal adult male suffrage, respectively.

The NAACP’s principal objective is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of United States and eliminate race prejudice. The NAACP seeks to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through the democratic processes.

The NAACP established its national office in New York City in 1910 and named a board of directors as well as a president, Moorfield Storey, a White constitutional lawyer and former president of the American Bar Association. The only African American among the organization’s executives, Du Bois was made director of publications and research and in 1910 established the official journal of the NAACP, The Crisis.

NAACP in Civil Rights Era By the 1950s the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, headed by Marshall, secured the last of these goals through Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which outlawed segregation in public schools. The NAACP’s Washington, D.C., bureau,

Texas •A ugust 712-18, - 13, 2017 Texas • August 2013 led by lobbyist Clarence M. Mitchell Jr., helped advance not only integration of the armed forces in 1948 but also passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964, and 1968, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Despite such dramatic courtroom and congressional victories, the implementation of civil rights was a slow, painful, and oft times violent.

The unsolved 1951 murder of Harry T. Moore, an NAACP field secretary in Florida whose home was bombed on Christmas night, and his wife was just one of many crimes of retribution against the NAACP and its staff and members.

NAACP Mississippi Field Secretary Medgar Evers and his wife Myrlie also became high-profile targets for pro-segregationist violence and terrorism. In 1962, their home was firebombed and later Medgar was assassinated by a sniper in front of their residence following years of investigations into hostility against blacks and participation in non-violent demonstrations such as sit-ins to protest the persistence of Jim Crow segregation throughout the south.

Violence also met Black children attempting to enter previously segregated schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, and other southern cities. Throughout the south many African Americans were still denied the right to register and vote.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s echoed the NAACP’s goals, but leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, felt that direct action was needed to obtain them.

Although it was criticized for working exclusively within the system by pursuing legislative and judicial solutions, the NAACP did provide legal representation and aid to members of other protest groups over a sustained period of time. The NAACP even posted bail for hundreds of Freedom Riders in the ‘60s who had traveled to Mississippi to register Black voters and challenge Jim Crow policies.

Continue reading online @ www.aframnews.com & stay tuned for *Part 2 – NAACP Houston’s Road To Change By:Darwin Campbell

Texas • August 7 - 13, 2017 ARCHIE BELL from pg. 1 R.S. Jones: Ok, so Mr. Bell I like to have conversations… I find it best if people just tell me about themselves rather than me asking a ton of questions... Usually, people will answer any questions I may have as we converse. I am very familiar with who you are already. You are a living legend of our time, here in Houston and the state of Texas and actually all over.

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: Right…

R.S. Jones: So I already have a slew of information about you; from your background history, to your parents and family, to stats on your music career… But we want to hear it from the man himself, “Mr. Tighten Up”.

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: Whatever questions you ask me, I’ll give you the information.

R.S. Jones: Great, well we can start off with where you’re from? I know that music has been a part of your background since forever. I believe I read where you have been singing since around the age of ten. So if we can go back to what inspired you to start singing and how all of that came to be and we can move forward from there.

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: Alright, that’d be fine… So I was born in Henderson, Texas on September 1, 1944. My parents moved to Houston when I was 9-months-old. We moved to Fifth Ward right off of Lyons Avenue and Swatts Street. Swatts Street was taken over when the Interstate 59 came through. It was wiped out.

I started singing in the Baptist Church at the age of five. I belonged to Fifth Ward Baptist Church which was located on Bringhurst and Lyons Avenue when I first started singing in the church. My mother sang in the church and all of her Uncles started singing in the church at an early age. I started performing at E.O. Smith Jr. High School on Lyons and Gregg. That’s where we got the group, “The Drells”. It started out from there.

The first year that Kashmere Gardens opened up I attended Kashmere Gardens High School, under the direction of Conrad Johnson. The first band that I worked with was, Conrad Johnson.

They changed the zoning and everybody that lived on the South side of Crane had to go to Wheatley and everybody on the North side had to go to Kashmere. That’s how I ended up having to go to Wheatley.

At E.O. Smith that’s where the group was first formed. We started singing in the Glee Club and Boys Chorus. They used to have talent shows that would come up at different schools at different times, and we would enter them. Most

Entertainment of the times, we would win first place. Anytime that they had talent shows at any schools like: Yates, Washington, Worthing, Carver and different ones, we would always perform on the talent shows; which was one of the ways we got started. Later on, we all went to Wheatley and we sang in the Glee Club and Boys Chorus, under the direction of Consuela Moorehead at E.O. Smith. When we got to Wheatley her place was taken over by Mr. Harvey.

Mr. Harvey had a great influence in my career because I had never seen a Black man play Beethoven, Hannibal and music like that, and he did better than they did. He was really a talented man. We all sang in the Glee Club and anytime we would perform we would always win first place. He said we couldn’t go for 2nd place. But, Wheatley had a long line of entertainers; Lester Williams and many other people like Tapscott. We were always aware of that, and never knowing that we would be on the Hall of Fame there one day too.

R.S. Jones: So, Mr. Bell I want to ask you about your experiences with segregation then. I always like to ask about that because we are a Black newspaper and we like to go back into our history. So do you have any thoughts on the measures of segregation and integration and how it may have affected you then?

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: Segregation was prevalent then. I grew up during the time when there were places downtown and restaurants that you couldn’t drink from the water fountain. I grew up in that era; but, it never detoured us and we never got involved in nothing. I think Black people did alot better when we were segregated. Because, when we integrated that’s what broke up all of the schools and everything else that we participated in. It was something that we all went through. Even when we traveled on the road with the group there were a lot of places that we couldn’t stay in and eat at. But it was one of those situations. We went through stuff like that but we really didn’t let that bother us. Because we were busy doing what we were doing. We were so involved in the music

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that we didn’t really let it affect us in any kind of way.

We knew what was going on so we tried to keep up the tradition that we were traveling and working on. We overcame, but we were just like everybody else who had to struggle and fight and go through it. We had a lot of instances where people tried to block us. I think that was one of things that Archie Bell and the Drells, never got to be as big as we could have; because we had a Black-owned manager. But, I was determined to do what I had to do. We were not interested in people trying to block us, all we were interested in was performing and entertaining.

R.S. Jones: Well, Mr. Bell that is totally understandable… So let’s proceed on with talking more about your music career.

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: I started out as a Blues singer and I got tired of singing about the blues. So that’s why I wanted to do music that uplift people and make people happy.

That’s how, “Tighten Up” became one of our first biggest hits.

The music was done by the TSU Tornadoes and I did the lyrics.

R.S. Jones: So I also want to pause right there and ask you something else. In researching you, I see that you were acquainted with another one of our greats who has passed on, Mr. Skipper Lee. I see that he was instrumental in your formation of what you were doing back then…Do you have any words on that?

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: Skipper Lee was the man who used to do talent shows over there at KCOH radio station and we were entered into a lot of talent shows. We did one in LaPorte one year and he had about 1500 people at the show and after the show he came and asked if we wanted to record a record? And we all said yeah’! It was one of those questions where we didn’t ask our parents or anything, we just said yeah’. He kind of saw that we had potential and something that was happening. After a while, he became our manager…

Promoting and producing stuff on us. He was instrumental and a lot of things happened for us.

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When I first met Skipper Lee he had a parttime show at KCOH and he was a mail carrier.

Later on, he was our manager and he began to work and put things together and got us in a position to be recording artists’. We went into the studio and start doing some recording at the time.

A lot of people say that Skipper Lee made us famous but we made him famous. It was actually vice versa…

R.S. Jones: Yes sir, so if I’m not mistaken… As the years went on, I believe you and “The Drells” performed until around the 80’s or so?

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: Yes, 79 to 80’s. After that, we had been on the road for about 20 years. We got going in 69 and everybody else just kind of felt that it wasn’t nothing else to do. We had already been around the world and everything. And I decided that I didn’t do this all these many years for nothing, so I continued and went on with a solo career.

I have still been going on, around the country; Germany, Great Britain, Japan and all those places for many years afterwards. I decided that since I been in the business all these many years that I might as well carry it all the way.

R.S. Jones: Totally amazing! Mr. Bell, you have accomplished a great deal of success.

To this day, we regard you as a legend, including my generation and I’m 35. So I would like to ask what would you contribute much of your success to?

Archie Bell, “Mr. Tighten Up Himself”: Well I think I contribute most of my success to my background and my mother sang in the church and everything. Most of my success was just being determined.

I was at a concert at a place called the City Auditorium at about the age of 17. And on the show was, Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson.

When a group came on the show with no introduction, nobody moved. But after Jackie Wilson came on, all of the women were falling out like they was being shot down with shotguns. I said these guys are something else and I got to find out what are they doing to do stuff like that, because it really impressed me.

So I made up my mind that night… I didn’t know what I was going to be doing, but I know what I’m going to be doing the rest of my life.

The people that I was influenced with we used to work at the club. We did shows with Bobby Bland, Esther Phillips, James Brown, Ike & Tina and all the entertainers. We were the house band. So I got a chance in my early age to see a lot of professional people before my time. That really inspired me.

Continue reading @ www.aframnews.com By: Rebecca S. Jones TX- 5

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African

Did You Know

American News&Issues

THE BEAUMONT RACE RIOT OF 1943

The Beaumont Race Riot of 1943 was sparked by racial tensions that arose in this Texas shipbuilding center during World War II.

to identify her attacker from the number of black inmates held at the city jail.

The sudden influx of African American workers in industrial jobs in the Beaumont shipyard and the subsequent job competition with white workers forced race relations to a boiling point.

Nonetheless, on the evening of June 15, about 2,000 shipyard workers and an additional 1,000 bystanders marched on City Hall when they learned that a suspect had been jailed. The number of people eventually reached 4,000 as the mob approached City Hall.

Once there, the mob splintered into smaller groups and began to break into stores and destroy property located in the black neighborhoods near downtown Beaumont. Black citizens were assaulted while whites looted and burned black stores and restaurants. More than 100 homes of black Beaumont residents were ransacked.

BACKGROUND The riot itself exploded on June 15, 1943 with most of the violence ending a day later.

White workers at the Pennsylvania Shipyard located in Beaumont, Texas confronted black workers after hearing that a local white woman had accused a black man of raping her. The woman who made the accusation was later unable

whites who threatened to join the mob. The Army and Navy also made the town off-limits to nearby military personnel.

Within the town, all activity came to a halt. Local bus lines were ordered to stop running, and buses scheduled to stop inside of Beaumont were rerouted to go around the city.

Mayor Gary closed all liquor stores, parks, and playgrounds to prevent the gathering of large crowds. Black workers were barred from going to work. The curfew was lifted the next day on June 16, and the guardsmen left the town.

UPROAR

Mayor George Gary called in the Texas National Guard late

TEXAS • AUGUST 7 - 13, 2017

CALM on the night of June 15, and acting governor A.M. Aiken Jr. declared Beaumont to be under martial law. About 1,800 guardsmen entered Beaumont along with 100 state police and 75 Texas Rangers at that time.

Upon their arrival an 8:30 p.m. curfew was established.

RIOT IMPACT The Texas Highway Patrol placed roadblocks around the city to seal it off against rural

The declaration of martial law was lifted on June 20.

During the five day period 21 people were killed. Also 206 people were arrested and tried in court on June 20.

Of those arrested, only 29 were actually charged with

specific crimes, mostly assault and battery, unlawful assembly, and arson.

The rest of those arrested were released. No one was specifically held responsible for the deaths during the riot.

Although black and white workers returned to the Pennsylvania Shipyard, war production in the area was slowed for months.

SOURCES: James S. Olson, “Beaumont Riot of 1943,” The Handbook of Texas Online, http://www. tshaonline.org/handbook/online/ articles/BB/jcb1.html (accessed 11 June, 2008); Glen Yeadon and John Hawkins, The Nazi Hydra in America: Suppressed History of a Century (Joshua Tree: Progressive Press, 2007).; Blackpast.org and Contributor: Wang, Tabitha C., University of Washington By: Darwin Campbell

METRO is developing a new plan for transit in the region.

Learn more by attending an upcoming open house near you.

For a complete list of dates and METRO route information for each Open House visit METRONext.org.

Join us at one of these meetings or give us your input at METRONext.org.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 1 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

MONDAY, AUGUST 7 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Tracy Gee Community Center 3599 Westcenter Dr. Houston, TX 77042

Houston Community College Brays Oaks 8855 West Bellfort St. Houston, TX 77031

Hiram Clarke Multi-Service Center 3810 W. Fuqua St. Houston, TX 77045

Katy ISD Education Support Complex 6301 South Stadium Ln. Katy, TX 77494

8 West Bellfort 46 Gessner

11 Almeda/Lyons 14 Hiram Clarke 54 Scott 98 Briargate

25 Richmond WEDNESDAY, JULY 19 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

TUESDAY, JULY 25 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

THURSDAY, JULY 27 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Humble Civic Center Phillip Cezeaux Recreational Center 100 N. Houston Ave. Humble, TX 77338

White Oak Conference Center 7603 Antoine Dr. Houston, TX 77088

Quail Run Community Center 16748 Quail Park Dr. Missouri City, TX 77489

Metropolitan Multi-Service Center 1475 W. Gray St. Houston, TX 77019

THURSDAY, JULY 20 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

WEDNESDAY, JULY 26 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Acres Homes Multi-Service Center 6719 West Montgomery Rd. Houston, TX 77091 44 Acres Homes 64 Lincoln City

85 Antoine/Washington

Sagemont Park Community Center 11507 Hughes Rd. Houston, TX 77089 88 Sagemont

SATURDAY, JULY 29 10:00 am - 12:00 pm Magnolia Multi-Service Center 7037 Capitol St. Houston, TX 77011 METRORail Green Line 20 Canal/Memorial 28 OST-Wayside 38 Manchester-Lawndale 50 Broadway 76 Evergreen

32 Renwick/San Felipe 40 Telephone/Heights 41 Kirby/Polk THURSDAY, AUGUST 3 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Wyndham Houston West Energy Corridor 14703 Park Row Blvd.

Houston, TX 77079 75 Eldridge 162 Memorial Express

THURSDAY, AUGUST 10 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Lone Star College University Park 20515 SH 249, Building 11 Houston, TX 77070

Judson Robinson Senior Community Center 1422 Ledwicke Houston, TX 77029

44 Acres Homes

48 Market

Montie Beach Community Center 915 Northwood Houston, TX 77009

Third Ward Multi-Service Center 3611 Ennis St. Houston, TX 77004 4 Beechnut 9 Gulfton/Holman

Any person who requires language interpretation or special needs accommodations is encouraged to contact METRO Public Affairs at 713-739-4018, or via email at METROPublicAffairs@ridemetro.org. Every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate your needs.

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

26 Long Point/Cavalcade 44 Acres Homes

Heading Title:

EDITION DATE: August 7 -Public 13,Notice 2017 (Vol. 22 Issue 29) EDITION DATE: August 14 - 20, 2017 (Vol. 22 Issue 30) Contact Information: Rate and size of Ad to run in AAN&I’s Houston edition.

What’s Happenin’ Title: EDITION DATE: Aug 7 - 13, 2017 Heading (Vol. 22 Issue 29)

TEXAS • AUGUST 7 - 13, 2017

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE GEORGIA PORTS AUTHORITY P. O. BOX 2406 SAVANNAH, GEORGIA 31402 The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) will receive sealed bids for providing all labor, materials, equipment and services required for the design, fabrication, transport, erection, testing, certification and placing into service eight (8) rail mounted gantry (RMG) cranes to serve the GPA’s new Port of Savannah International Multi-Modal Connector (IMMC) project at the Garden City Terminal in Garden City, Georgia. For detailed information, please visit the Georgia Ports Authority website at www.gaports.com/engineering/projects.

Lone Star CoLLege Bid requeStS: • RFP #531 Semi Trucks for Lone Star College. Electronic submissions due by 11:00 a.m., August 29, 2017. WebEx proposal meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 15, 2017, at 10 a.m.-11 a.m.; call–in number 832-813-6702. Contact christina.m.thibodaux@lonestar.edu 832-813-6575. Must register to bid: http://wwwappsdstc.lonestar.edu/ istar/supplier.htm.

PUBLIC NOTICE Lone Star CoLLege Bid requeStS: • CSP #534 Building Weatherproof Repairs for Lone Star College- North Harris. Electronic Submittal due by 11:00 a.m. 08/31/2017. Mandatory Pre-proposal meeting 08/17/2017 at 1:30 a.m. at LSC-North Harris, North Harris, Industrial Education Bld. Room IE90, 2700 W.W. Thorne Dr., Houston, 77073 Online WebEx pre-proposal meeting will be held on 8/18/2017, at 10 – 11 AM; call–in number 832-813-6701. Contact christina.m.thibodaux@lonestar.edu 832-813-6575. Must register to bid: http://wwwappsdstc.lonestar.edu/ istar/supplier.htm.

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Read us online! www. aframnews. com Name: Christina Thibodaux Marketplace Heading: Company: Lone Star College System Public Notice SUBCRIBE!!!!

Phone: 832-813-6575 PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice REELANCE RITERS EEDED Fax: 832.813.6513 Houston Community College Contact Email:Information: Christina.M.Thibodaux@lonestar.edu Information •Contact Must have knowledge of African-American comRequest for Proposals (RFP) Judy Address Name: Scott for Tearsheets: Name: Jennifer Chiu munities in Houston and be able to travel upon Financial AdvisoryCompany: Services 5000 Research Forest Title: Drive Moffatt &Heading Nichol assignment only.

Phone: 713.718.5138 Project No. 17-63 The Woodlands, Texas 77381-4356 Phone: 912.231.0044 Public Notice • Must have the ability to report, proofread and edit.

Email: Hua.Chiu@hccs.edu Sealed proposals will be received in Fax: 912.231.0046 sample writing to sales@aframnews.com Address•forEmail Tearsheet/Copies: Procurement Operations (3100 Main Contact Information:• Earn $50 to $100 Email: jscott@moffattnichol.com AD COST Street, Room No. 11B01, Houston, 3100 Main Street

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CLEANING PERSON NEEDED Address Texas 77002) until 2:00PM (local for Tearsheets:

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Houston, Texas 77002 Name: Christina Thibodaux call 713-692-1892 for tearsheet mail out --Total Cost to run Ad for one week: OW IRING TAFF RITER Company: Lone Star College System or send resume to 2 Eastat:Bryan Phone: Street, Documents can be obtained 832-813-6575 $94.32 sales@aframnews.com • Major/Degree in Communications/Journalism www.hccs.edu/procurement Suite 501.

Fax: 832.813.6513 AD COST • Must have knowledge of African-Americans and Email: Christina.M.Thibodaux@lonestar.edu Savannah, GA 31401 communities time) on Thursday, August 2017.

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Address for Tearsheets: • Must be able to travel upon assignment 5000 Research Forest DriveCost to run ad for 2 weeks AD COST • Must be knowledgeable in Adobe programs: The Woodlands, Texas 77381-4356

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$239.04 InDesign, Photoshop and Acrobat CARRIERS • Must be knowledgeable in Microsoft programs: A Cinderella Total Affair Cost toNEEDED run AdADfor one week:Word, Outlook, Excel and Powerpoint COST

9314 Cullen Must be creative with the ability to design, layout, Please $261.00 sign for approval• and fax Must have proofread and edit.

Houston, TX 77051 knowledge of back Total Costto to (713) run Ad692-1183 for one • week: Social media and website experience From 11am to 2pm maps and • Must have Telephone/Email Etiquettes For more info contact: byAfrican-American $134.64 12run NOON Wednesday for Total Cost to Ad for two weeks: • Must be able to create manual/e-file system (713) 491-0260 Communites • Must have excellent note taking/listening and next$522.00 Monday’s For more publication.

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information • Marketing and sales a plus Please Please sign for sign approval and fax back to • 713-692-1183 Starting Salary $30,000 call 713-692-1892 for approval and fax

SUBMIT YOUR UPCOMING EVENTS TO • Email your resume to sales@aframnews.com Send Resume to by 12 NOONSignature Wednesday the week before Monday • sales@aframnews.com back to (713) 692-1183 Photo Journalist news@aframnews.com PO#112784

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sign for approvalfor and fax by 12 Please NOON Wednesday ATTENTION: If you speak Spanish or Vietnamese, back to (713) 692-1183 Date language assistance services, free of charge, are next Monday’s publication. by 12 NOON Wednesday for available to you. Call 1-844-500-6043 (TTY: 711).

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them differently on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in our health programs and activities. Amerivantage is a D-SNP plan with a Medicare contract and a contract with the State Medicaid program. Enrollment in Amerivantage depends on contract renewal. Part B premium is covered for fulldual enrollees. This information is not a complete description of benefits. Contact the plan for more information. Limitations, copayments, and restrictions may apply. Benefits, premiums and/or co-payments/coinsurance may change on January 1 of each year. The Formulary, pharmacy network, and/or provider network may change at any time. You will receive notice when necessary. This plan is available to anyone who has both Medical Assistance from the State and Medicare.

Premium, co-pays, co-insurance, and deductibles may vary based on the level of Extra Help you receive.

Please contact the plan for further details. This policy has exclusions, limitations, and terms under which the policy may be continued in force or discontinued. For more information on benefits, please contact your agent or the health plan.

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African

American News&Issues

Trump’s Black Agenda

“I don’t need nobody to give me nothing, open up the doors I’ll get it myself” – soul singer James Brown

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump declared: “I will be great for African-Americans.” So, six months in, the question blacks should be asking is “What now Donald?” Donald J. Trump has all the tools to be the greatest president for black Americans since Richard Nixon and the scope of minority enterprise programs.

But, alas politics has not made Trump and blacks bedfellows. On no level do blacks and Trump communicate.

And, no group loathes Donald Trump as much as African Americans. Trump’s first six months in the White House show that interests of people

of color not very high on his Commander-In-Chief Priority list.

Millions of blacks are living on the edge. But, blacks, and their issues, are marginalized by both major parties. There’s a gap between blacks and Trump. Blacks view Trump as a racist beyond redemption. Published reports say “he think blacks are lazy.

According to a book written by former Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino president John R. O’Donnell, the real estate mogul said in 1991 that “Laziness is a trait in blacks.” Allegedly, he was referring to a black accountant working for Trump Plaza, and added, ““Black guys counting my money! I hate it.

The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” In a 1989 interview

Business with Bryant Gumbel on NBC Trump said: “A well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market.

I think sometimes a black may think they don’t have an advantage or this and that...

I’ve said on one occasion, even about myself, if I were starting off today, I would love to be a well-educated black, because I believe they have actual advantage.’’

The Democrats have decided edge when it comes to blacks’ politics. “What have you got to lose?” has garnered reams of babble from Democrats’ Black misleadership which has focused on showing Trump what blacks have to lose under his presidency. But the economic reality is African American households have been getting poorer over past years. The meter of progress is running backwards

on Black America, toward greater inequality and relative poverty. Trump can help Blacks’ business prospects.

Despite Blacks according him idol status, Obama’s years were no panacea for America’s longstanding racial inequities.

Trump should step to blacks and establish effective lines of communications. The state of black America is bleak.

According to the National Urban League, African Americans continue to lag far behind whites economically.

“Moreover, prospects look much worse under President Trump” says Marc Morial, the league’s president and chief executive. The standard of living for African Americans is 72 percent that of the average white person according to the “equality index.”

A large percentage of blacks are trapped in horrible

TEXAS • AUGUST 7 - 13, 2017 unaccredited inner city schools and high crime neighborhoods in situations that negatively impacts black youth’s ability to attain wealth in adulthood.

In the campaign Trump attempted to woo black voters with a 10-point plan for urban renewal to further improve life for African Americans with increased school choice, safer communities and financial reforms to make it easier to start a business.

To be “president of all the people” Trump has to “open up doors” to be more accessible to blacks. Moving forward requires both blacks and Trump adopt different mindsets. Blacks must reconsider our monolithic support of Democrats’ policies that have habitually failed miserably at moving blacks out of poverty.

We need Trump to do address something Obama never did, a “Black Agenda” to include:

economic development, staple and progressive communities with unlimited educational opportunities.

Trump can do good reaching out to blacks. But blacks need access to Trump.

Whatever happened to Pastor Darrell Scott the Cleveland pastor? We need Trump to give legs to campaign rhetoric such as: “appointing a commission to investigate the school to prison pipeline… shut it down and create new pathways…invest in training and funding local and federal law enforcement operations to remove gang members, drug dealers, and criminal cartels from neighborhoods,” William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via Busxchng@his.com

Houston Minority Supplier Development Council 2017 Business EXPO Set for Sept. 6-7

HOUSTON, TX — “Rooted in Business, Growing in Diversity” is the theme of the upcoming Houston Minority Supplier Development Council’s 2017 Business EXPO, set for Sept.

6-7 at George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.

More than 1,500 corporate buyers, governmental agencies, medical and educational institutions seeking diverse suppliers attend the annual expo. A list of this year’s exhibitors can be viewed at http://expo.hmsdc.org/registration/ exhibitors/list. This year, HMSDC is pursuing greater outreach to both non-certified and certified minority business owners, and on Gen X and Millennial age groups to ensure these younger companies are exposed to more business opportunities in Houston and beyond.

Henry Ford once said, “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” This sums up HMSDC’s approach in trying to expand beyond the industries typically featured at previous expos. This year’s expo includes several industries with a growing impact on how minority entrepreneurs do business locally, regionally and nationally — i.e., health care, liberal TX - 8

arts, banking, sports and other thriving industries.

As Ingrid Robinson, President of HMSDC shares her vision for this year’s Expo, “The partnerships we have embarked upon for this year’s EXPO is geared to show the impact and diversity we have in our city and our organization.” From partnering with the Department of Energy to bring the Energy Summit to Houston to creating a Know your Numbers village which will encourage health and wellness information for businesses and employees, EXPO will have something to offer all attendees.”

Other key EXPO events include: The Coaching Corner; the MBE Boot Camp; the Best of Class Reception; the EXPO Marketplace 2017; the Early Bird Energizer Breakfast; the One-toOne Sessions; and the Rigel Awards Luncheon.

Attendees can also utilize Direct Connect, which allows MBEs to notify exhibitors, in advance, of their plans to visit their booth at the Expo in an effort to cultivate, establish and expand meaningful business connections.

Additionally, two EXPO Marketplace Preparation Seminar — designed to coach exhibi-

Texas HBCU

TEXAS • AUGUST 7 - 13, 2017

Read us online! www. aframnews. com

9

TSU Art Students Revive School’s Mural Tradition

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Texas Southern University’s long and storied history of art lives on in a new set of student-produced murals recently hung in the school’s Wellness and Recreation Center.

World renowned artist and founder of Texas Southern University’s Art Department, the late Dr. John Biggers, who came to TSU in 1949 instituted a departmental requirement early in the program’s founding that all graduating seniors paint a mural. The cost-saving move of using the walls of Hannah Hall as the students’ canvases launched what has become a tourist attraction for global art students who come from everywhere to pay homage to Biggers and the work of his students.

However, a moratorium had been issued on the painting of murals on campus, thus ending a long and proud tradition, which was only recently rescinded; and by accident at that.

In search of artwork to give added life to TSU’s Recreation and Wellness Center—known by students as the Rec Center—its director, Iisha Voltz, originally looked at other companies to provide artistic works to adorn the building’s walls.

“Then one day I said, ‘Wow; we have an art department on campus. Maybe we can partner with them to produce some murals,’” recalled Voltz. “Seeing that the Rec Center is a student-funded facility, what better way to showcase TSU art students and their skills than to have them produce something that will remain a fixture on this campus for decades. These works will be something they and their families and children can come back to and see the mark they left on campus.”

To get the ball rolling, Voltz ventured to the

University’s Art Department and began asking whoever she saw for leads on muralists. She was eventually directed to Jesse Sifuentes, a TSU art professor and instructor of the school’s mural painting class.

“With the moratorium on murals, my students were just painting murals on canvas,” said Sifuentes. “Thank goodness for Ms. Voltz. She went in art classes looking for students to paint murals. When I told her I have a mural painting class next semester who can help out, she said great. She gave us the opportunity, and we jumped on it.

Ms. Voltz needs to be commended. She’s either a troublemaker or a hero; but definitely a hero in my book,” shared Sifuentes.

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The students who produced the works are Derrick Brown, Nathaniel Donnett, Frederica Grant, Christopher Hicks, Robert Riojas, Isaiah Thomas and Faith Schwartz.

Availa b Now! le

Sifuentes explained that unlike paintings done on easels where an artist paints, and then names his or her work, “With murals it’s the other way around.” Voltz provided the students with the theme, a narrative of “Health and Wellness.” And once equipped with their charge, Sifuentes’ students did a walk-thru of the Rec Center and each chose their wall for their future painting.

“After the walk-thru we met once again where the students had their visions of what they wanted to do,” said Voltz of her team’s review of the artists’ sketches.

According to Voltz, there were just a few minimal changes suggested to the students’ visions as everyone was consistent in staying on theme.

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Education/Youth

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HOUSTON ISD - HISD’s 2017 state legislative agenda included finance, educational equity and local control and governance. Read below for a summary of how HISD fared after the 2017 session in Austin, where HISD’s government relations staff was stationed to support the district’s priorities.

election was the second time this question was put before the voters. The ballot measure known as Proposition 1 prevailed with over 60% of the voters wanting HISD to write a check to pay its recapture obligation. HISD’s payment for this year is $83 million, and the payment will grow in future years as property values rise.

Finance Until the end of session, HISD’s board, superintendent, finance and government relations staff fought hard for a solution that would lower the district’s recapture obligation for the next two school years. Unfortunately, by the end of session, the school finance bill died and the state’s budget continued the state’s practice of shifting more of its constitutional obligation to fund public education to local taxpayers. The state’s declining contribution to public education is a result of its over-reliance on local property taxes, or recapture, to fund schools.

HISD’s recapture situation proves the school finance system is broken. With state revenues down, the 2017 legislative session was not the time for school finance reform. The House and Senate were at odds on almost every issue this session, and school finance was no exception.

Speaker Joe Straus made school finance reform and reducing recapture a high priority. On April 20, the House passed HB 21, a school finance bill championed by House Public Education Chair Dan Huberty, which reduced HISD’s recapture obligation for the next two years and provided meaningful financial relief to school districts statewide. However, the bill came with a $1.9 billion price tag and deferred a payment to the Foundation School Program - two components the Senate disliked.

For weeks, HISD’s board and superintendent continued to urge Senators to pass the House version of HB 21 because it helped the majority of students statewide and reduced recapture.

Per state law, HISD is property-wealthy and must pay recapture to the state. An election was held May 6 asking voters how they wanted HISD to pay its recapture obligation - write a check to the state comprised of local property taxes or pay by losing a portion of the district’s commercial tax base to another school district. The May

Visit www.houstonisd.org for more information

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During the week of July 10, we held our second Teaching for Learning Process Summit (TLP) at the M.O. Campbell Educational Center. More than 500 district administrators, principals, assistant principals and skills specialists participated in the event. This year’s TLP Summit focused on instructional coaching with the goal of building teaching capacity at all of our campuses. The four-day session centered on the teaching of Jim Knight, who is a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He is also president of the Instructional Coaching Group.

On July 18, we held our annual APPLE (Aldine Plans for Performance and Learning Excellence) Celebration, at the M.O. Campbell Educational Center. Board members, district administrators and district principals attended the event. I updated the group on the progress of a number of new schools that are under construction, renovation projects that are underway at existing schools and shared testing data from the 2016-17 school year. We also heard from Nimitz High School Principal Dr. Crystal Watson and Caraway Intermediate Principal Todd Roede, who have led their respective schools out of Improvement Required (IR) status. I discussed the challenges we face heading into the 2017-18 school year and the grade-level reconfiguration in the 2018-19 school year. Finally, I shared an overview of Aldine’s District of Innovation Plan and components of our Strategic Design work.

We gathered for lunch joined by a number of business partners and we celebrated the successes from the 2016-17 school year and enjoyed a lip sync competition between members of the Technology Services Department, the Finance Department and our Intermediate FORTBEND ISD – In the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustee’s continuing efforts to protect the future of Texas public education, the Board unanimously approved and adopted three legislative resolutions at the July 17, 2017 Regular Board Meeting. These resolutions were adopted ahead of the July 18th Texas 85th Legislative First Called Session, which begins today and will address a number of issues that will affect FBISD and districts across the state.

The three resolutions as adopted by the FBISD Board of Trustees address:

email: contact@shirleyannflowershop.com

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ALDINE ISD - July has been a busy month as we prepare for the 2017-18 school year.

Constitutional Support of Public Schools Teacher Compensation School Finance Reform

TEXAS • AUGUST 7 - 13, 2017 Superintendent Dr. Wanda Bamberg Aldine Independent School District

School Principals. The Eisenhower High School Jazz Ensemble and the Aldine Dance Company entertained the crowd.

On July 18, the Texas Legislature convened for a Special Session called by Gov. Greg Abbott. Approximately one-third of the governor’s agenda pertains directly to public education. We will monitor the Special Session and provide you with updates on issues that will impact public education and Aldine ISD. Individuals interested in running for the school board can apply for a place on the ballot by picking up an application packet at the Donaldson Administration Building (2520 W.W. Thorne Blvd.). A general election for Position 3 (held by Rose Avalos), Position 4 (held by Connie Esparza), and Position 5 (held by Steve Mead) and a special election for Position 6 (held by Dr. Kimberley Booker) will be held on Tuesday, November 7. Applications for the general election can be picked up between now and August 21 and packets for the special election can be picked up between August 15-September 6. For more information on the application process, please visit our website at www.aldineisd.org.

The 2017-18 school year begins on Monday, August 21, which is just five weeks away.

I look forward to a great year working with you as business partners, parents and community members as we strive to Produce the Nation’s Best!

“Our state leaders are claiming to support Texas teachers and students, but they are being disingenuous,” said FBISD Board of Trustees President Kristin Tassin.

“After a failed attempt to pass vouchers in the regular session and divert money away from public schools, our Lieutenant Governor is now proposing a pay raise for teachers in an effort to force his agenda. These pay raises are something that many districts, including FBISD, have already approved, despite the fact they we will have less money from the state. While all of us are for higher salaries for our teachers, without state money to pay for the mandate, this is nothing more than big government control of our local funds,” said Tassin.

Cont. reading online @ fbisd.org

TEXAS • AUGUST 7 - 13, 2017

From 5th to 1st

Sports

By: Jermaine Hayter

and corner back. William Jackson lll also goes by “William Bucktown Jackson” or “Lil Will”.

It has been said that Fifth Ward is one of the roughest places to grow up in Houston TX. Its a well-known area for crime, gangs, drugs, and prostitution. I know from first-hand experience since that’s where I grew up. It’s not easy not to become another statistic in the mean rough and tough streets of Fifth Ward. But we’re not talking about me, I want to talk about William Jackson lll.

Lil Will did not get recruited by a major university so he went to Trinity Valley Jr. College.

Where he did one year and was recruited by Tom Herman and the University of Houston cougars.

While at University of Houston he was still a stand out player but he was labeled as being too small, he over came that and became one of the best corner back in all of college football. He was considered a lock down cornerback.

William Jackson lll was born on October 27,1992 to parents Vanessa Hailey and William Jackson Jr. In Houston, TX (Fifth ward) he has four siblings three sisters and one brother.

He has overcome being a statistic by having a strong support system from his mom, and what is considered a rare commodity in fifth ward his “Father” a lot of children wasn’t as lucky to have both parents in the household. His father William Jr. was a fixture in his life, he stayed on him about working hard and being the best man and person you could be. He would go to work with his dad, who owned his own ac /heating company called Terrell AC/Heating Company. He always kept him busy and away from the streets, he had a phrase that he always used “sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to get to where you wanna be”. ”. He got to the NFL by working hard and being consistent, it’s not easy coming from Fifth Ward to being the first round draft pick for the Cincinnati Bengals.

William Jackson lll was a standout football player at Wheatley High School in Houston’s Fifth Ward.

He played corner back alongside Xavier Howard safety for (Miami Dolphins). ). They were the best one and two punch in the city as safety

On September 30,2013 he was named AAC (American Athlete Conference) player of the week, 2014 he was named to the AAC all conference second team, and in 2015 he was named on Phil Steel’s preseason allAmerican third team and his biggest collegiate accomplishment was when he was named MVP over the dominate power house Florida State he had 2 interceptions and 10 tackles one for a 6 yard lost and one of the best games of his career. He ended his career at U of H with 40 pass break up’s which put him third on the all-time list, dispite only playing three years he ended his collegian career with a game clinching interception against Florida state.

He went on to be drafted in the first round of the NFL draft to the Cincinnati Bangles with the 24th pick in the 2016 draft. Unfortunately he was injured in off season work out and was out for the whole 2016 season. He worked hard to get back in shape for the 2017 season in which he is projected to be a starter for the season opener. He came home to do his first football camp and he did it for free. The camp took place at Wheatley High School in fifth ward, he also had a host of other NFL players to come out and help including another Houston native Brandon Lafell wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals. The kids really enjoyed themselves, but to look at some of the professional players faces, they look as if they had more fun then the kids. I watched them bring the best out of the kids. They hit every drill in confidence, also I heard that kids tried to compete against the NFL player .

After the camp I interviewed William Jackson lll and his dad William Jackson Jr. Interview: J.H. William Jackson lll, how was it growing up In Fifth ward, what was the

African

American News&Issues

11

The Lost Sport in the Black Community I love the game of baseball.

I played baseball from the age of 4 until I was 17. I stopped playing because I fell out of love with the game. My years of playing in high school we only won three games, but no matter what our record was I played hard and tried to win. I didn’t see that in my teammates, we would lose and they would be laughing like we just won. That made me very upset because I hate to lose, losing made me lose my passion form the game. I still today regret not staying with the game. I started coaching baseball and that put the fire and desire back in me to play the game, but I knew I could never play the game again like I did as a kid.

Baseball is the highest paid sport in the country, but there are only 61 black players in the game. Let’s do the math there are 32 teams with 25 players on the active roster, so that makes 800 players. Out of 800 players there are only 61 american born black players, that’s a problem.

I can remember growing up and most of the best players was black, but today I bet the average person couldn’t name one black person in the league without going to Google. I never thought in today’s time that I would meet a person who had the same amount of passion I had about baseball, until I met Coach Larry Davis. He is the coach of the Lincoln city Rays, who has been coaching baseball

for 60 years in Lincoln City Park. He also coached for the boys and girls club of Houston and Doss park just to name a few. He won 6 championships through the years but his passion runs deeper than that.

What he really wants to do is to bring baseball back. We talked about how in the 80s and 90s you could find kids playing baseball at any park or any field. You would see them playing without gloves, baseball, or bats, all they had was a broken broom handle and tennis balls and whatever they could find to use as base. That was love for the game! how can we get that back. It starts with getting the passion back, we have to reintroduce the the sport back into the inner city youths.

I was introduced to the game of baseball by my uncle Timothy Smith he taught me the basic things I needed to know about the game. After interviewing Larry Davis I learned that he and my uncle had been working together teaching and coaching baseball together at Lincoln city park for a few years together. By talking to the two of them they want the same thing I want “To bring baseball back to the inner city”.

But in order to do that it takes our community “The Black Community”. We need volunteers to help coach and work with the kids, we need sponsors willing to help out in ways they can. Coach Larry

first sport you played, and how did you stay out of trouble?

W.J. It was rough, the first sport I played was football I went to football camps and I rode horses that kept me away from the streets.

J.H. How was it having both parents in your life?

W.J. My parents pushed me very hard they always wanted what was best for me J.H. What was one thing your dad told you that made you want to work so hard?

W.J. Sometimes you got to do something you

Davis and Timothy Smith has formed a non-profit organization together called, Houston Volunteers for youth development. There is nothing that can be done without volunteers who are committed to helping these kids. As of today, Timothy Smith, Larry Davis and myself are committed to organizing a tournament for the inner city neighborhoods of Fifth ward, Southpark, Third ward, Acres Homes, Studewood, Sunnyside,Greenspoint, Trinity garden, Homestead area and South union.

If you would like to volunteer to help, or you want to sponsor a team please call Coach Larry Davis at 281537-0964 or email Timothy Smith at: smith71989@yahoo. com, or me Jermaine Hayter at Mr.Hayter72@gmail.com .

We are very committed to getting the ball rolling on these kids and getting baseball back into the inner city. Once again volunteers are very important to get it going and commitment is greatly needed.

The sports corner with Jay the Barber!

don’t want do to get where you wanna be J.H. I see that stuck with you, I follow you on social media and I see how hard you been working to get back to play.

W.J. Yea I have always been a hard worker I’m just trying to get it in I want to be the best.

J.H. So did you have a chip on your shoulder when you went to U of H? W.J. O yea I had a big chip I had to prove everybody wrong, that made me work harder.

Cont. reading The Sports corner with Jay online @ aframnews.com TX - 11

African

12

American News&Issues

TEXAS • AUGUST 7 - 13, 2017

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