Volume 27 Issue 42

November 6, 2022

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

African-American News&Issues

“Addressing Current & Historical Realities Affecting Our Community”

Dr. Loren J. Blanchard

Vol. 27, Issue 42 African-American News&Issues endorses Beto O’Rourke for Governor of Texas

vote nov. 8

Making An Impact Cont. on Pg. 3

2 AFRAMNEWS.COM

November 6, 2022

EDITORIAL

President/Chief Editor

Chelsea Davis-Bibb, Ed.D.: Editor Nick Jones: Afram TV Tristar: Layout Design

News:

A Revival of God

Consciousness Bobby Mills, Phd

Office: (713) 692-1892 Wednesday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

Fixing The Crime Problem On The Front End Society cannot fix the problem of criminality after crimes have occurred, only equally and fairly punish criminals through the court system. Society cannot legislate morality.

Morality must be taught and exampled in family units. Society can only punish criminality.

Families must teach the Holy Scriptures of the Bible, especially the Ten Commandment, because the Ten Commandments are designed to teach morality and prevent crimes against God, human failures, and society in general.

Question: How does America fix its crime problem? The GOP cannot fix America’s crime problem because the GOP is a problem.

A problem cannot fix a problem. Sadly, The GOP has become a Kool Aid drinking White Privilege Cult that has turned inward to serve its own EGO interests,

not societal universal good. Simply put, The GOP’s objective is Power, Privilege, and Pleasure based upon the nonsensical notion of “Make America White Again.” American society cannot righteously and fairly dispense justice in a multi-cultural democratic society because of White Privilege and lack of God conscience, and the desire to exclude Non-Whites.

Even though, America was never a Caucasian country, and can never be. Life is about contradictions. Most individuals think of others first and their failings. Consequently, they learn to become self-centered and selfish.

However, if individuals learn to think of themselves first, they will know themselves, their strengths, and weaknesses, and they will always operate from their strengths rather than condemning others for their weaknesses.

This is precisely what The Christian Right Evangelicals, The GOP, White Nationalists, Fox “FAKE” News, and some spiritually misguided Blacks and other minorities do, condemn others out of selfrighteous.

For more visit aframnews.com

Food for Thought Oscar Blayton

BECAUSE THEY WERE JUST GERMANS? In my hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia, there is a living museum whose stated motto is: “That the future may learn from the past.”

At a time when America is being plagued by legions of history deniers wanting to hide their true nature by obfuscating who they have been, it is important to learn from the past so we can see the dangers we face in our future.

Most people alive today have no personal memories of World War II, but few are unfamiliar with

its place in history. The massive destruction and human misery brought about by the rise of fascism is unmatched in modern times. For more than seven decades, historians have struggled to explain how the Axis nations, and Nazi Germany in particular, came to inflict such horror on the world. In many instances, historians simply concluded that this was just the nature of the German people.

In his book, “Iron and Blood: A Military History of the GermanSpeaking Peoples Since 1500,” Oxford University Professor Peter H. Wilson warns that attempts to draw a continuous line through centuries of violent German history culminating in the Holocaust are the result of “lazy” scholarship and imply a false continuity and inevitably.

Germans cont’d Pg.7

We are looking for community and Black history writers

from all over the Houston area (Acreage Home, Independent Heights, Third Ward, Fifth Ward, Missouri City, Piney Point, Carverdale, Bordersville, North Forest, and all other Black communities) that can produce stories that address current and historical realities affecting our community.

Please send your inquiries to news@aframnews.com.

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

November 6, 2022

AFRAMNEWS.COM 3

EDUCATION

Making An Impact By: Chelsea Davis-Bibb, Ed.D.

“Even when I was in elementary school, high school, or even college, I didn’t have it in my mind that I was going to be a college president. I knew my trajectory was going to take me likely into higher education, but I just never knew what that journey was going to evolve into,” said Dr. Loren J. Blanchard, president of the historic University of Houston Downtown.

In a family where most of his relatives were teachers, teaching came natural to the Louisiana native. He grew up during the Civil Rights era where there were more African Americans who went into the teaching field largely because they knew they would have more of an impact on children and the generations that followed. Also, because there weren’t many opportunities in terms of African Americans going into science and other fields because they were limited.

Neither one of his parents obtained a college education, but they understood the value of education and made sure

their children had of K-12 including University of Georgia. need to serve as your everything they a hospital setting During his doctoral major professor.’” needed. “They wanted and private practice. program he had a Frasier may have had to make sure that my Although he enjoyed major professor, unorthodox practices life and the life of my his time in these Mary Frasier, who to some people in sister would be much roles, “there was just supported him how she helped her better than theirs.” Dr. a yearning for more, through his entire students, but those Blanchard referred to something different.” doctoral process. practices worked. She this as social mobility. Dr. Blanchard She was the only had non-negotiables He further said, “As then stepped African American for all her students. we were growing up, into educational in the whole college They couldn’t engage we never even felt administration of education at the in relationships unless that we were they were in a lower married, financial once they class, but finished their we were, coursework, because they had my father to stay in and mother Athens, made so Georgia to many do all their sacrifices writing that we for their didn’t even dissertation, realize those and lastly, sacrifices in their last were semester, President Blanchard probably they had serving lunches at the 2022 pretty dire. to live with But they her and her Homecoming Barbeque. wanted to husband. Dr. make sure Blanchard we had better thought she means.” and supervision.

University of Georgia was joking but she With a speech He worked as an during that time. “She wasn’t. He agreed pathology education assistant principal was such a unique to her terms and background, Dr. for a short period of person and when I finished his Ph.D. in Blanchard knew time in Louisiana, first went to visit the Education Psychology his path would be but decided he still university she said in three years. Dr. somewhere in the wanted “more.” to me, ‘if you really Blanchard received classrooms with What felt right for are interested in a great amount of children who had any him at that point finishing your PhD support to help kind of speech and was moving into the from beginning to him achieve this language impediment. area of educational end within a threegoal, which is what Once he stepped psychology and year period, then students need today. into the field, he obtaining his this is the place you “When I say support, tried every aspect doctoral degree at the need to be, and I I know what support

means to get people to the finish line. She was the best model that I could have ever had. She was like the pinnacle of it,” he reflected.

Everything Dr. Blanchard has experienced, has been “building blocks” to prepare him for the role he is in today.

In his career, he has served as division chair, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic and Multicultural Affairs at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Accreditation Leadership and Accountability within the University of Louisiana system, Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at Xavier University in New Orleans, and to Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs for the largest system in the country, California State University, which is made up of 23 Impact cont’d Pg.4

4 AFRAMNEWS.COM Impact cont’d universities and 600,000 students total. “That’s where I really refined my skill in student success and what student success meant and means today.”

Dr. Blanchard didn’t have “an appetite for presidency” even though many people said he would be a college president one day. One of his mentors, Norman Francis, who served as president of Xavier University of Louisiana for 34 years, which put him among the longest serving college presidents in the United States, encouraged Dr. Blanchard to apply for the presidency at Xavier, but Dr. Blanchard felt his will-house had been second in command where he could really make needed changes. He simply didn’t want to be president. Francis told him, “Presidency may not be in your blood, but I tell you it’s in your DNA and one day it’s going to happen,” and it did.

Although he had other opportunities, UHD caught his eye and his heart largely because of the students they serve. “We are designated as the most diverse university in the southern region…That felt like my comfort spot, and I knew that I could come in and really help to make

November 6, 2022 a difference in the lives of young people and adult learners.” It has been 19 months since he was selected as president and they just completed the strategic plan that really helps them “know the direction, the guideposts and the north stars they must pursue and are well into the heart of getting it done.”

When it comes to his leadership style, Dr. Blanchard hopes that others will say it’s a very “collaborative style’’.” He believes that it takes everyone working together to reach the intended goals. He is also very equity minded and is focused on impacts because “that’s what matters most.”

Dr. Liza Alonzo, Assistant Vice President for Presidential Affairs and Constituent Relations, who was once a student herself at UHD said, “Dr. Blanchard dares us to think differently and bigger than we ever have as an institution… I am just excited to work alongside him and the spirit of thinking bigger for our students.” Marie Jacinto, Executive Director of Communications Advancements and University Relations, said that Dr. Blanchard is a “visionary,” and how he articulates the vision well, which is what true leadership means to her.

One of the priorities for the institution is to move up the ladder in respect to socioeconomic mobility. According to Dr. Blanchard, UHD is ranked 133 in respect to the number of students within their university who have climbed the socioeconomic ladder by virtue of having their degree in hand.

“It’s not just making money, but students live more productive lives, healthier, and the children they bare will likely have a higher education experience, and all of these positive outcomes with respect to students who climb the socioeconomic ladder,” Overall, the main focus of UHD is student success, which is why they rolled out their new strategic plan. They have been very transparent about their financial needs, which is why they are seeking “55 million dollars from the legislature to really help move our strategic plan forward,” Dr. Blanchard mentioned. They are currently in the implementation phase and some of the focus will include the need for stronger advising, being able to meet the basic needs of students, a social enterprise and impact center to provide a union of what can happen with the power of undergraduate research and entrepreneurism, and “providing students the opportunity to really understand how important that can be in order to make the kind of impact within the city and state we’re looking for them to make.”

They are also looking to find a place to house their police department. When it rains, it is easy for the police building to flood, so they would like to purchase a building or land to construct a building to put their

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

police on higher ground. Dr. Blanchard spoke highly of his police officers and how they do “a noble job” with their campus related work as well as the work they do in the community.

When discussing legacy, Dr. Blanchard proudly stated that his legacy is going to be centered around service and impact and how he would be happy with just the notion that while here on earth it really has been simply about making differences in people’s lives. He hopes that people will say that he was as selfless as he could be.

He concluded with, “There is nothing that can bring greater joy.

No paycheck, no life experience other than knowing that I had the opportunity to have my hand in the life of that person and that somehow, and it might be just a little small portion of it, that I was able to make an impact on them in order to help them move to where they need to be. That matters more to me than anything else.”

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

November 6, 2022

AFRAMNEWS.COM 5

NATIONAL

Student Loan Forgiveness on Halt By: Brandon Patterson/NNPA

A federal appellate judge on October 21 temporarily blocked the Biden Administration from cancelling student debt in response to a lawsuit filed by six conservative states alleging they could be hurt financially by the plan.

The court blocked the plan after the states appealed a lower court’s decision to throw out their suit due to failure to show they would be hurt by it. The court ruling does not prevent the administration from operating the debt forgiveness application or prevent people from applying, the White House said. But no debt can

be waived until the court issues a final decision. It is not clear how long the temporary decision will last.

The administration had intended to start cancelling loans as soon as October 23, court records show, according to USA Today. The plan, announced in August, would cancel $10,000 in debt for eligible applicants and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.

“Plaintiffs will suffer no irreparable injury from the provision of much-needed relief to millions of Americans, but the public interest would be greatly

harmed by its denial,” the Biden Administration said in legal filings, adding that, if the court disagrees, any injunction should only apply to the states that filed the lawsuit, where about 2.8 million people are eligible for forgiveness, according to USA Today. Those states include Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina.

Conservatives have attacked the debt forgiveness plan as expensive overreach of executive authority since the plan was announced. In this case, the six states argued that the debt forgiveness plan could incentivize student loan borrowers with loans serviced by the states, which aren’t eligible for debt forgiveness, to swap those loans for federal loans that are eligible, costing the states

money, according to USA Today.

The administration, however, says the Department of Education already changed its loan regulations to disallow the swaps, according to USA Today, rendering the issue moot.

The states also argue, however, that the administration has no authority to cancel the debt at all.

The administration has held that a 2003 law allows the executive branch to reduce or erase student loan debt.

The case is just one of many lawsuits over Biden’s debt cancellation plan. At least six different parties have challenged the plan in court. In most cases, however, the lawsuits have been quickly dismissed, according to USA Today.

6 AFRAMNEWS.COM

November 6, 2022

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GREATER HOUSTON EDITION Germans cont’d

Wilson argues that this laziness risks ignoring the agency of those involved in the atrocities, thus acquitting them of their personal responsibility. He states that in each case, individuals chose to partake in genocide, and the question as to why they did demands more complicated answers than “because they were German.”

It is true that a great deal of what happened in Germany in the first half of the 20th century had to do with a crazy little man named Adolph Hitler. But even he can’t take all the blame.

When World War I ended in 1918 with total defeat for Germany, the Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, and the Dawes Plan of 1924 created conditions that placed Germany in a pressure cooker. The treaty forced Germany to give up its colonial territories, reduce its military forces and make reparation payments to the Allied powers.

But perhaps most stinging to the German people was the treaty’s “War Guilt Clause” which required Germany and her allies to accept all the guilt for starting the war. This public humiliation of Germany enraged its population and gave rise to their sense of grievance.

The heavy reparation payments placed on Germany by the treaty were eased somewhat by the

November 6, 2022 Dawes Plan, created by Charles G. Dawes, an American banker who later would become vice president of the United States under President Calvin Coolidge. Under the Dawes Plan, Germany’s annual reparation payments were reduced initially but were scheduled to increase over time as its economy improved. Additionally, economic policymaking in Berlin was reorganized under foreign supervision and Germany was required to rely on foreign loans to make its reparation payments.

More importantly, the plan left undetermined the full amount to be paid.

After World War I, Hitler remained in the German army and, in 1919, was an intelligence agent assigned to infiltrate the German Workers’ Party (DAP).

After joining DAP, Hitler discovered that he agreed with their views, so when he was discharged from the army six months later, he became an enthusiastic party member.

DAP eventually changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) and became known colloquially as the “Nazi Party.”

As he rose in the party, Hitler became adept in the use of scapegoating as a means of focusing blame upon minorities for the economic hardships and other grievances of his angry listeners.

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November 6, 2022

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

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