November 21, 2021
SAN ANTONIO/AUSTIN EDITION
PROTECT AND PRESERVE: FREEDMEN’S TOWN the history of FreedGlady House is a well- men’s Town, in which respected figure in the she is on a crusade to community, known as protect and preserve. AANI: Tell us a little much for her successful businesses as she bit about what it was is for her passion in like growing up in fighting for the com- Freedman’s Town. House: I grew up in munities in which she the heritage Freedserves. African-American News&Issues man’s Town (Fourth community). spoke to House about Ward
I’m the fourth of 14 children; 4 boys and 10 girls, and it was a very close community, everybody knew everybody from one end of the community to the other end. Those were your neighbors, usually, people think your neighbors are immediately next
THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, IS IT JUSTICE FOR THEM AND CRIMINAL FOR US?
“Addressing Current & Historical Realties Affecting Our Community”
By: Roy Douglas Malonson
Vol. 26, Issue 44
door to you. It didn’t matter where they lived, as long as they lived in Freedman’s Town, they were your neighbors. You didn’t have to worry about people kidnapping children or abusing
Freedmen’s Town cont’d page 3
COVID VACCINE FOR KIDS 5-11: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
By: Nevaeh Richardson
Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5-11. The move has garnered criticism and speculation about the vaccine’s effectiveness and health risks for children. Many parents are still unsure and are looking for more information about the vaccine for their children, and when it comes to our Black and Brown children, we want to make sure you are doing everything possible to keep our kids safe as they are impacted more than others. Here are some of the most commonly asked questions regarding Pfizer for children, and answers provided by the exFor more visit perts at childrenshospital.org. aframnews.com
“YOUR VOTE AND YOUR MONEY ARE THE TWO MOST POWERFUL THINGS YOU HAVE. BE CAREFUL WHO YOU GIVE THEM TO.” - ROY DOUGLAS MALONSON
2 AFRAMNEWS.COM
November 21, 2021
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The Rittenhouse Trial: Legalizing White Vigilantism America is already in a state of Russianstyle autocratic governance being, and the notion of democratic majority rule is dead. Hence, in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, it is American Democracy/justice that is on trial. To add insult to injury the Judge’s s pi r itu a l ly / l e g a l ly confusing instructions to the Jury is proof positive of the death of democracy, and justice is not in an American courtroom. Only confusion and more confusion; but know this: “God is not the author of confusion, but peace,” God has said judge not, lest you shall be judged also. It’s not personal. A judge needs both godly temperament and conscience, because it is not about personalities, but law and justice. Can you image a permanent-
tan minority child being driven across state borders by his mother with a long gun, kills two individuals, seriously wounds a third individual, and then pleads self-defense. Just maybe Rittenhouse’s mother is the one that should be on trial, because she assisted him in the commission of a crime. Rittenhouse made decisions for his mother rather than his mother providing spiritual guidance for him. His mother (family) spiritually and morally failed him. The church community failed Rittenhouse. The school system failed him. The self-centered tenor and tone of some White Americans failed him, because he was given through public contributions almost three million dollars for his selfdefense claim when he was the ungodly vigilante aggressor. It seems as though with all of the family and socio-economic advantages that White Americans have had throughout the history of America; they still act publicly without a God conscience. Regardless of skincolor individuals do not live forever! Rittenhouse made consequential decisions for his mother,
SAN ANTONIO/AUSTIN EDITION
EDITORIAL
rather than his mother providing spiritualmoral guidance for him. Consequentially, she allowed a spiritually confused child to have his way; not a civic minded citizen, but possess the mentality of a vigilante. This is a clear example of the spiritual breakdown of familystructure in American society. Family structure is the basis of every society: goes the family: goes the world. Therefore, “Be not deceived: God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. America, we must find a spiritual-moral way to fix the breach in our justice system. In order to ensure that the scales of justice are balanced and that Lady Justice is truly color-blind. Lying is the beginning of sin, and the devil is the father of lies. Rittenhouse lied about his primary reason/motive (s) for going to Kenosha, Wisconsin. If an individual lies about one thing; they will invariably lie about anything or everything. No doubt about it, America had a four-year Presidential leadership example of chronic habitual lying.
For more visit aframnews.com
Think About It By Dr. John E. Warren
Race, justice and our courts A number of actions taking place in our courts today are confirming what we as Black people have always known and experienced, namely, a dual system of justice in America. One for Black and people of color, and one for White people. Consider the following current events as supportive proof of this statement. For those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 in what we now know was an “insurrection” with intent to kill, we have seen those people identified and charged get light sentences. Consider the White grandmother who posted all kinds of proud photos at the “rally” and received a sentence of “community service”. Others got less than a year in prison time where maximum sentences were available. Consider now the Kyle Rittenhouse case under way in Kano-
sa, Wisconsin for the shooting of three people and the killing of two following the protest of the police shooting of Mr. Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse drove out of his way to attend the protest with an AK-47 assault rifle. Charged with murder by the prosecution, we have an old white judge who decides that those shot and or killed can not be called victims but must be called “looters”, even though they were not on trial. This action in and of itself was prejudicial. Now the judge has gone two steps further. First, he excused Rittenhouse’s bail violation by not informing the court that he had moved. Such actions by Blacks and people of color have led to bail revocation and lockup. Second, the Judge’s most recent blasting of the prosecution with such personal hostility in front of the jury certainly should be considered prejudicial and suggests that the judge is unfit to continue presiding over this trial. Consider the defense motion to “declare a mistrial with “prejudice”, which, if granted, would be the same as an acquittal.
For more visit aframnews.com
SAN ANTONIO/AUSTIN EDITION Freedmen’s Town cont’d children. Hell, we all got abused when we got that a** whooping. That’s called child abuse today, but we all survived it. It made us better people for the most part. AANI: You’re an activist, historian, and preservationist of Freedman’s Town. What made you want to fight for it and other historically Black communities in Houston? House: Because I found out that our people are not Black, African American, Negro, Colored and all of that, we are Moorish American. We were here before any other people. We are the original people. The need to do research is finding out who you are. And so, as I began to research and dig further into who we are, I was just totally amazed at how we had been lied to. For example, we were told that Emancipa-
tion meant freedom when it does not. It means going from private ownership to public ownership. Our heritage is so great, I had to make sure that I researched Freedman’s Town heritage because, for example, when you trace back the deed in Freedman’s Town, it traces back to Tejas, well Mexico really, all of that, that was us. It’s still us today but the Caucasian-controlled media will not allow our people to be on the forefront when they do these movies, when they talk about Indians. The Indians were really Siberians, they came over here from Siberia. But Hollywood would have you think “oh they were here always, from the beginning.” No. We are the original people, we’ve been here more than 385,000 years, since the beginning of time. So, I carefully and respectfully researched
November 21, 2021 Freedman’s Town against many odds. See the Caucasians stole everything from us: our heritage, our culture, our land, our wealth, and even our minds. But because we’re ignorant of our heritage, we just go ahead and let folks tell us anything… We have as a people “old blood” that stands for original; original man and original woman. They want to keep us ignorant so that we won’t reclaim our estate. We taught them everything, but destruction, that’s in their DNA. We have to be careful about what we create next time. AANI: Seeing other historically Black wards like the Greater Third Ward and The Greater Fifth Ward fight against rapid gentrification, what advice do you have for residents of these areas? How can we preserve our history and heritage? House: Well first of
all let’s do Third Ward because 90% of Third Ward has been owned by Caucasians... since they first stole the land from our people. It was easier despite having the largest number of Moorish elected officials residing in Third Ward … Ninety-five% of the grassroot people in Third Ward have been pushed out. So... I told people to start your own plan for your community. Divide your community into quarters, four parts: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, and assign people to work in each quadrant where they live and to monitor and serve on different committees. We do that in Freedman’s Town but the city council refuses to let us know about anything. It will take an act of the legislature to return the grassroot people back to their original land and everywhere. Now Fifth Ward has a ghost of a chance to
AFRAMNEWS.COM 3 take and preserve and to block gentrification. What people don’t realize is that we want new development in Freedmen’s Town, but we want it the way we want it, where it would be affordable for our people so that all of the thousands of families who were displaced could return. Another thing to notice is when you go in the inner-city neighborhoods, Third Ward is a blazing example; churches remain, but the people are gone. The preachers got their money a long time ago and they didn’t care what happened to the people of Third Ward. How much money is enough to sell off your people for generations to come? So I tell people to get involved in your community. Everybody’s too busy to look into… the indigenous communities in the city or outside of the inner city because gentrification is hitting you everywhere.
These Caucasians continue to steal our land whenever the opportunity is there for them or they make the opportunity to steal our land. So that’s all I can tell our people. You have to plan. You have to get involved and stop letting the so-called elected officials lead you over the cliff. AANI: What’s next for Gladys House? House: The same I’ve been doing; working for my community. I have a vehicle inspection station as well as my floor covering business but I continue to take on the injustice that’s against Freedmen’s Town and any of our Moorish American communities and causes… I just continue to do what I can until I’m given a different assignment by the universal creator. Our ancestors are watching everything we do and say. -- AANI
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November 21, 2021
SAN ANTONIO/AUSTIN EDITION
Partnering to help create opportunities Last year, Bank of America committed $1.25 billion over five years to advance racial equality and economic opportunity. To date, we’ve directly funded or invested one-third of this amount on top of long-standing efforts to make an impact in our communities and address society’s greatest challenges. Here are some of the ways we’re working to make a difference: • Investing $300 million in 100 minority-owned and minority-led equity funds for diverse entrepreneurs and small business owners, helping them create more jobs, financial stability and growth. • Investing $36 million in 21 Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) banks that support minority-owned businesses, building pathways to economic vitality in our local markets. This is in addition to approximately $100 million in deposits to MDIs and our existing CDFI portfolio of more than $2 billion. • Providing funding and support through innovative programs and partnerships with community colleges, universities and nonprofits that offer training and credentialing programs connecting more people to high-wage, in-demand careers. We’re doing this work in collaboration with community partners, business leaders, experts and academics across the public and private sectors to ensure that our investments are directed where they’re needed most. Together, we can help drive sustainable progress in the Austin-San Antonio Corridor. What would you like the power to do? ®
David Bader President, Bank of America Austin
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