Vol 27 Issue 16 by AFRAMNEWS.COM

May 8, 2022

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

African-American News&Issues

“Addressing Current & Historical Realities Affecting Our Community”

Vol. 27, Issue 16 Warning! Your democracy is under attack. Your vote, your education, women’s rights, and your life. History is repeating itself. - Roy Douglas Malonson

MY BODY

My Choice

Cont. on Pg. 3

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May 8, 2022

EDITORIAL

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GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

BEING BLACK CAN COST AN ARM AND A LEG COVID-19 is not the only epidemic plaguing America’s Black community today. The respected medical journal, The Lancet, has reported, “The epidemic of amputations among Black communities across the USA is a brutal reminder of the enduring complications of [diabetes] among underserved populations…” Other prestigious publications have characterized this epidemic as an indictment of our health care system. Diabetes is one of the most common causes of amputation because it leads to peripheral artery disease, or PAD. PAD in the legs is the narrowing or blockage of the vessels that carry blood from the heart. With the decrease of blood flow, the feet and legs are at a significant risk of gangrene. Diabetics undergo 130,000 amputations each year in the United States, with these patients most often being low-income and underinsured. Numerous studies have

shown that Black folk have their legs amputated at a much higher rate than whites with the same health problems. Some studies have shown that Black folk with diabetes receive amputations at nearly three times the rate of white patients, particularly in the rural South. Others claim that the disparity is four times greater. These disparities exist even when the data is controlled for the fact that diabetes is more prevalent among African Americans. Dr. Foluso Fakorede, a cardiologist in Bolivar County, Miss., who specializes in cardiovascular management, has been waging a campaign to bring awareness to the fact that failure to provide caring treatment for Black and poor people with PAD results in amputations that could have been prevented. Dr. Fakorede reports that on one occasion, he examined the left foot of a Black patient with uncontrolled diabetes and found that the tops of his toes were dark, his sole was yellow and oozing, as the foot was literally rotting due to diabetes constricting the blood flow to his foot and preventing an infection from healing. Upon For more visit examinaframnews.com

A Revival of God

Consciousness Bobby E. Mills, PhD

Human Rights: Civil Rights Since the beginning of time, God ordained laws by which individuals must live and associated with those laws are consequences. God also gives humans free will to either obey the law or disobey the law (violate). Moreover, God gave us laws to serve him (truth). Humans enact laws to serve lawmakers, which in turn, could be the truth or could not be the truth. Individuals should only serve God’s laws, not laws enacted by men which do not serve God (exclusion). God does not desire automatons but gives every human being free-will to either serve man or serve God, and there are consequences in choices. Individuals have the choice to sin or not sin. Initially, individuals created (613) laws and they were unable to live by them. God reduced the (613) laws into the Ten Commandments, and when Jesus was asked which commandments are the greatest, he answered with: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy

mind, and with all thy strength, and the second is like, namely this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Mark 12: 30-31). All the other commandments hang on these two because if you cannot live by the Two Great Commandments individuals cannot live by the other eight. Hence, what individuals have done is to enact laws that they think they can live by and maintain moral civil order. Consequently, most laws that men enact deal primarily with financial arrangements and can complete an entire library system with law books pertaining to corporations and international monetary transactions, because men have made money god. However, the wisest man and richest man to have lived, King Solomon said that it’s all vanity: (For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:) Proverbs 23: 7). Moreover: “The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.” (Proverbs 14: 11). Men with good intentions stop enacting all these unnecessary laws such as Roe Vs. Wade. Thus, men who believe that they are right and have the power to make and change laws use the Bible as a whipFor more visit ping post aframnews.com

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May 8, 2022

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POLITICS

MY BODY MY CHOICE By: Laisha Harris

HOUSTON - Last Monday, Politico shared a first draft copy of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. These cases provided all women access to an abortion in all fifty states. Recent legislation, mostly proposed in Texas, will essentially outlaw abortions for women. In 1973, a Texas statute prohibited abortions except when the abortion would save the life of the mother. Unmarried and pregnant, Roe was forced to give birth to a daughter who she would put up for adoption. The Supreme Court said forcing motherhood forces a stressful life and future, requiring one to care for the mental and physical well-being of a child. Therefore, the right of having the choice to terminate a pregnancy is a choice left to the individual, not the state. In 1992, Pennsylvania had an Abortion Control Act, requiring informed consent 24 hours before a procedure, parental consent for minors, and exceptions for medical conditions. Casey also established a viability rule, stating that abortions can be performed before the third trimester. In 1992, the Center of Disease Control reported 1,359,145 abortions in the United States, 91,113 in Texas. 76% of those abortions were for unmarried women. In 2019, 629,898 legal abortions were performed, 57,275 in Texas. Historically, White women make up 60% of abortions nationwide, Black women representing 33%. By banning to an abortion, politicians are threatening the health and medical safety of women who lack in resources, most notably,

Black women. “They’re making it harder for Black people to survive financially, physically or mentally,” adds Vinny B. The issue is bigger than simply preserving the life of an unborn child. Politicians claim to care about unborn life, but what

to force women into childbirth without forcing additional support to ensure those children get out of the cycle of poverty. People living in poverty do not have the means to provide a quality of live necessary for themselves, let alone to raise a productive

Britnie Price

about the life of the already born? There are 3,378 children waiting to be adopted in Texas. Texas exceeds the national average with 19% of children living below the poverty line, 56% of Texas women living below poverty. It makes no sense

member of society. Not only are they meddling with a woman’s right to choose, but they are jeopardizing the health of Black women who are unable to safely carry a fetus to

term. “My gynecologist has made it very clear that if I get pregnant off her timeline then we would have to terminate the pregnancy. So, what other options are they giving women in these cases? Do I further endanger my life or take matters into my own hands? Either way, I’m not having a child that I don’t want,” says Britnie Price. By telling women to stop having abortions is not going to stop women from having abortions. There are about 16 clinics in Houston that provide abortions. If clinics refuse women the service of abortion, women who are desperate to not give birth may resort to unsafe practices. PhD Candidate Ce’Ne Harris tells us, “The medical, societal, and structural systems cannot sustain an influx of births, children dependent on care, and the abundance of unsafe abortions that overturning Roe v. Wade will undoubtedly cause.” What is most perplexing to me is the audacity of men dictating what a woman can or cannot do with her body. Historically, White men have always had their nose in business that did not belong to them. Even so, these decisions are being made by men who have no realistic understanding of what it is like to be pregnant, give birth, and independently raise a child in an environment or society that sees you as not enough. White men having the authority to remove the only legal option for women to terminate a pregnancy is an inappropriate overstep of the boundaries of all women. Governor Abbott does not control my body. This November, use your vote to elect someone who acknowledges the rights of the people.

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May 8, 2022

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

COMMUNITY

TRIPLE THE LOVE

Chelsea Davis-Bibb, Ed.D.

FRESNO - “I prayed for those babies for 16 years,” Demeteria Ford stated as she reflected on her journey to motherhood. For as long as she could remember, Ford always wanted to be a mother. However, getting to motherhood was not easy. At the age of 19, she had a tubal pregnancy, which caused some damage to her female organs, and made it hard for her to conceive years after. She also suffered from endometriosis and was pained with “surgeries every year to get rid of it.” No matter what obstacles she faced, she was determined to be a mother. “I prayed, kept the faith, and kept it moving.” At the age of 30, Ford adopted a little girl and loved her like she gave birth to her. With this love, she still wanted the full experience of being a mother and feeling the baby grow inside of her.. “That was such a dream of mine because I wanted to be so much like my mother.” At the age of 35, she started In vitro fertilization (IVF). There were three possible embryos that could work, so Ford and her husband agreed to use all three. It was a “painful process” for Ford as she had to take injections and do many other things for this process. After going through this first round of IVF in 2003, they received a call with devastating news when the doctor told them “you’re not pregnant.” Ready to give up, Ford cried, and even became angry at God. “I was depressed for days and weeks, “ she reflected. With everything she was feeling, she was determined

to keep the faith. With hope, they decided to try again, and this time, she had a lot of strong eggs to work with. The doctor told them she could put one of the embryos in or three. Knowing that this could be her only chance again, she said, “please put them all in.” Ten days later, they received the call that

Anise Ford, Demeteria Ford, Amber Ford

they were pregnant. The tears started falling as she thanked God for all three of her blessings. She was pregnant with triplets. “It didn’t seem real. I had to pinch myself until I saw them on the monitor of the screen, and then I heard their little heartbeats, and it was just pure love ever since. I vowed to do anything and everything to take care of those

babies because I knew I prayed for them and God blessed me with them.” Although she was happy and excited about her babies, her pregnancy was stressful and hard. She was hospitalized the majority of the time, couldn’t hold any food down, was bed ridden and depressed. “I just prayed

Demeteria Ford, Jeremiah Ford

and was crying all the time, and stressed out.” At 29 weeks, on August 28, 2004, Ford gave birth to her blessings, two girls and one boy, and her life changed forever. Because they were born prematurely, there were new challenges that she and her babies had to face as two of them were born with a hole in their heart. Medication was able

to repair the heart of one of the babies, but the other one had to have surgery at one day old. She also couldn’t see her babies right away after giving birth. It wasn’t until a few days later that she was able to meet them. Her babies spent a lot of time in NICU, and even though she herself was recovering, when she could, she managed to see them everyday, pumped breast milk for them, and would spend time with them, bonding with each of them the best she could. “I went from one incubator to the next one,” she stated. “It was a beautiful thing. I loved it. It was tiring, but I knew I had to do what I had to do, and they deserved it all.” The babies were able to come home after two months, and caring for “three babies, with three different personalities, and three different needs,” from a toddler, to school age, and now as they are about to graduate from high school, wasn’t easy. It was very challenging but rewarding, and it made me feel good like I was just really doing what I was supposed to do,” she said. Recently, she was troubled with other challenges such as getting sick with COVID, watching her mother become ill with COVID, and then losing her mother and going through a divorce at the same time. She was her mother’s caretaker and she always looked up to her. She took care of her until the day she passed and “it was the hardest day of my life,” she said.

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May 8, 2022

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EDUCATION

HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT FOR HISD By: Jeniece Thompson

HOUSTON - Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee made a historic announcement as Booker T. Washington was awarded $1,060,000 for “The Vision Community Statue Project” in the Houston Independent School District (HISD). According to HISD’s website, “The project includes the erection of a statue of Booker T. Washington, a Community Plaza, Community Park, and a GeoDome Greenhouse.” This Vision will provide many great resources for the community as well as honoring a phenomenal educator in African American history. This will be the fifth statue of an African American in Houston.

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Notice to Proposers Request for Proposal will be received by Lone Star College for: • RFQ #810 Investment Broker Dealer Services. Electronic bids due by 2:00PM, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Online WebEx pre-proposal meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 11th, 10:00AM; call-in number 1-408-792-6300, Meeting # 2624 712 3514 #. Contact: pamela.johnson@ lonestar.edu or (832)813-6782. • Must Register to Bid: http:// wwwappsdstc.lonestar.edu/istar/ supplier.htm. If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact mcvendors@lonestar.edu

Notice to Proposers Sealed Request for Qualifications will be received by Lone Star College for: • RFQ # 814 - LSC-Montgomery Building C First Floor Renovation. Electronic bids due by 11:00AM, Thursday, April 28, 2022. Online WebEx pre-proposal meeting will be held on Monday, May 9, 2022 1:30PM; call-in number 1-408-7926300, Meeting # 2624 459 4010 # Contact: donna.e.cottrell@lonestar. edu or (832)813-6275. Must Register to Bid: http://wwwappsdstc.lonestar. edu/istar/supplier.htm . If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact MC-vendors@lonestar.edu.

Notice to Proposers Request for Proposals will be received by Lone Star College for: • RFP #812 – Pest Control Services. Electronic bids due by 11:00AM, Tuesday, May 31st. Online WebEx pre-proposal meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 16th, 10:00AM; call-in number 1-408-792-6300, Meeting # 2623 061 9068#. Contact: pamela.johnson@lonestar. edu or (832)813-6782. • Must Register to Bid: http:// wwwappsdstc.lonestar.edu/istar/ supplier.htm. If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact mcvendors@lonestar.edu

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Notice to Proposers Competitive Sealed Proposal will be received by Lone Star College for: • CSP #816 –NH Student Services Building Envelope. Electronic bids due by 11:00AM, Friday May 27, 2022. Public Bid Opening, Friday May 27, 2022 at 11:30AM call-in number 1-408-792-6300, Meeting # 2623 084 5558# Online WebEx pre-proposal meeting will be held on Monday, May 9, 2022 4:00 PM; call-in number 1-408-792-6300, Meeting # 2623 884 1692#. Contact: Donna.Cottrell@lonestar.edu or (832)813-6275. Must Register to Bid: http://wwwappsdstc.lonestar. edu/istar/supplier.htm. If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the online registration process, contact mc-vendors@lonestar.edu

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May 8, 2022

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BUSINESS

WHY ARE YOU RENTING? By: Omowale Luthuli-Allen

HOUSTON - Equity as a Goal. Why are you renting or leasing? If you don’t have a good reason, reconsider. Consider building equity as a compelling and gripping reason. Normally, in the African American community we talk about covenants and equity in a biblical sense. Biblically, we are talking about equity relationships with justice and fairness, in other words, leveling the playing field for all. Here we are lasered focused on financial capital. Equity building can take you from the class A minor league ball to the big Leagues. Financial equity is the sum that you have when you subtract debts from assets. When you have more assets than liabilities, it means that you no longer tell people that you are surviving as cockroaches do. Cockroaches survive, but never prosper. If we build equity, we will be thriving and prospering as real winners do. The bedrock of financial equity in America for the middle class is home ownership. 2008 Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg proposed that if he won, his administration would build 1 million homes for African Americans. It is a shame that he was not tall enough and he had an optics problem. We are at this weak home ownership level because of some factors that we could not control, such as historical wage slavery and theft, ghettos as a home because of redlining and other supremacist real estate chicanery. Black returning Veterans would be unable to use the GI bill immediately after the war to build homes. By the way, land theft is a crime and when you submit a

fraudulent deed that you acquired through theft, that is fraud. Owning a home rather than renting is a primary step in wealth building and wealth preservation. Wealth building is Substance. Gold teeth, embedded diamonds, rented jewelry, spinners, and rims equal form. Harris County Community and Economic Development and the City of Houston feature a Home Ownership Down Payment Plan. This program will help you teach you how to build and repair credit to qualify. Call them today. Don’t procrastinate. Yes, the sucking sound that you hear is your money being flushed from making bad choices which is partially a result of the miseducation that we have received. When Booker T. Washington moved from Hampton to Tuskegee, he and his engineers, drafters and carpenters built every building on the campus except the chapel. Washington planned to build houses and hold the mortgage of white homeowners. Then, Washington would see how they voted when Black people held their mortgage. Yes, generally, he who holds the gold rules. Washington and Tuskegee held the gold and equity that made them kings of their own kingdom. You can’t seize what you don’t own. You can’t repossess what has been paid for. Well, what I mean is that you are protected from seizure by the rule of law until the robbers seize the law. If you want to impress, if you want to shine, let your diamond sparkle by making a true stakeholder statement for future generations. Equity allows you to live larger by

going from two to four bedroom when your family grows. Equity can answer the question, “Do you have security-collateral?” Rent forever and a day but you will never have the cushion of equity. Houston is going San Francisco real estate crazy. People in California are using their equity and buying large comfortable homes in Houston. JT, the downfall of too many men and women is not owning the land where they stand and sleep. Harold Cruse, former Prairie View professor and author of the monumental The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual makes the

point that in a country founded on property rights that it is an imperative to be a full citizen, you and your racial group must own property. Forget about Optics and form and focus on equity. Remember, it is not what you make, it is what you can save.

ACRES HOME STEPHEALTHY WALKING CLUB INVITES YOU TO A

HEALTHY WALK IN THE PARK Let’s get active with Dr. Ifedi of Memorial Hermann and the American Heart Association (AHA) for a fun walk in the park. Following the walk, join us for a health presentation on dementia/age-related memory loss and how to live a healthier quality of life with tips from Dr. Ifedi. Plus, the AHA will present helpful resources on stroke awareness and prevention. Saturday, May 14, 9 - 10 a.m. Highland/De Soto Park 3316 De Soto St. Houston, TX Free Event All ages are welcome! Questions? 713.338.5997 We are a local chapter of an international 501(c)3.

Advancing health. Personalizing care.

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