In the twenty-first century, we have too many pastoral leaders who say Lord, Lord and cohort with the devil and spiritually misguided politicians. In America, pastoral leaders are spiri tually and morally obligat ed to consistently inform politicians that we live in a multi-cultural democratic society; whereby no citizen has special privileges or unfair socio-economic cul tural disadvantages. Thus, the role of pastoral leaders, especially in the 21st cen tury is to teach and preach the Word of God, in and out of season, and not seek to defend the indefensible: RACISM and SEXISM!
Race is not biology, but sociopsychology. More importantly, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of
the earth, and hath deter mined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts 17: 24-26). Hence, justice is a spiritual concept, and is oftentimes difficult to achieve societally, because the spirit of the devil is fathering the world and influencing politics in churches, especially Chris tian Right Evangelical churches.
Politics is of the world, because politics is about power, money, and a lot of pleasure mixed in-be tween. The Prophet Amos said it best: “But let judg ment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5: 23). God’s spiritual judg ment and righteousness is pure, not color coordi nated, because it brings the Godly-righteous punishment individuals deserve for their sins. Sadly, there are countless pastoral leaders across America today, who are dismayed and spiritu ally saddened at the partisan political stance recently taken by Dr. Ed Young, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church. Question: has Dr. Young become victimized by White rage?
An indi vidual’s life spiritually is defined by the choices he or she makes.
When President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dine with him at the White House, in 1901, the Southern white press condemned President Roo sevelt while many African Americans hailed him as a friend of the “Negro.”
But delving into the back ground of Theodore Roos evelt, it is not difficult to find troubling instances of his be lief in white supremacy. One such instance involves the most famous narrative about Teddy Roosevelt.
As school children, we were taught that in the Battle of San Juan Hill, the courageous Teddy Roosevelt led his val
iant Rough Riders to victory against a larger enemy force during the Spanish-Ameri can War.
But that narrative is far from the truth.
Modern-day research has brought to light a different story where Black troops, from the 10th Cavalry (Buf falo Soldiers) and other units, led in much of the fighting of that campaign and even rescued Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders from an nihilation. According to Je rome Tuccille, author of “The Roughest Riders: The Untold Story of the Black Soldiers in the Spanish-American War,” Roosevelt “straggled up there (the top of San Juan Hill) with just a handful of the re maining Rough Riders” after Black soldiers had taken the hill and the fighting was over.
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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.
Bobby Mills, Phd
Food for Thought Oscar Blayton
As the first African American female podiatrist to become board certified in foot surgery in the United States in 1993, Dr. Tina Oliver has been in practice for 32 years. Her desire to become a doctor came from watching her uncle who was a physician.
Dr. Oliver also had a strong interest in her science classes grow ing up and was always intrigued with how things work, which is what led her to the field of medicine. “I chose podiatry spe cifically after I was already on a pre-med track in undergrad… I had the opportunity to shadow a podia trist in my hometown Port Arthur…He was telling me about the field, how we can work on patients, perform
surgery, and can help people.”
On April 17, 2022, Dr. Oliver’s life changed when she had an unexpected aneurysm. On Easter Sunday, she woke up and was supposed to help with directing the choir at her church, but she didn’t feel well and decided to stay home. Later, Dr. Oliver was going to go grocery shopping with her daughter and when she was getting dressed, she felt herself sniffling like she was having allergy issues, but when she blew her nose, she felt “an ex plosion or something go off” in her head.
“It was a total surprise because I am a pretty healthy person and I work out,” she stated.
Dr. Oliver had a friend who had an aneurysm 20 years
prior, so she suspected an aneurysm based on her friend’s experi ence. “The pain was just like a headache that you’ve never had…and with an aneurysm, timing is ultimate. The quicker you can get something done, the more suc cessful your survival rate is,” she mentioned When she arrived at the hospital, they took her back immediately for a brain scan based on her symptoms. She was nauseated and had diarrhea, “which are symptoms of an aneu rysm that people aren’t aware of because we don’t talk about it all the time.” The results of the scan showed she had a bleed, which needed to be dealt with immediately. They had to rush her to another hospital so that she could see a neurosurgeon. They had to per form a procedure that required them to drill a hole in her head so they could put a drain in to relieve the pres sure. While she was going through all of this, her 18-year-old daughter was there by her side. “I call her my little warrior because she actually gave them all of my history, told them what I was aller gic to, and she had to
sign my consent forms because I was not able to do it myself.”
At the age of 18, her daughter had to make some hard decisions regarding her medical care and the route the doctors would have to take in order to save her life.
The procedure took seven hours, and when it was com pleted, the doctor told her that everything went well, and she was in the hospital for a little over two weeks and then started the rehabilitation process. She started off in a wheelchair and lost a lot of weight but was able to get out of the bed alone within three days, and then started to use a walker. Even tually, she was able to walk without a walker again.
Prior to the aneu rysm, the only other thing she had going on medically was some lab work that was a little off. While she was in the hospital for the aneurysm, she had them check her parathyroid gland, and when she went back to the doctor for her follow up appointment from brain surgery, the doctor told her they found a tumor. With this news, she now needed an endo
crine surgeon to remove the tumor.
In April of this year, Dr. Oliver had two brain sur geries and the parathyroid ectomy where they took the tumor out and found it was be nign. “The doctor told me that it was pos sible that the tumor on my parathyroid threw off everything else in my body, which could have caused the aneurysm.” The doctor also told her that she may have been born with the vessel and at some point, “that’s how people find out they even have an aneurysm by the time it ruptures.”
After she started recovering from the parathyroidectomy, she started sneaking in to see one or two patients to “see how it would feel to get back to work.” By the first week in August, she returned to MD An derson and Memorial Herman and started working three days a week at different places to regain her strength, and now she has been back for over a month.
When reflecting on everything she went
through, Dr. Oliver said, “It’s a blessing. It’s amazing. It’s miracu lous just because of how it happened.” She further mentioned how if she didn’t know someone who had gone through what she went through, she would have “brushed off the symptoms,” but having background knowledge helped her and ultimately, saved her life.
Because it is Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month, Dr. Oliver wants people to know that if you get a bad headache and your vision is impaired, and if it’s just something that’s different, don’t wait. “People need to go to the emergency room and get checked out because time is of the essence,” she ex pressed.
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Dr. Oliver after her brain surgery. Dr. Oliver pictured with her daughter.A Houston native, pioneer, trend setter, well accomplished, kind, and warm-hearted man, Llyod Gite, a former journalist who worked at Fox 26 news for 25 long years and made TV Personality his life. He enjoyed every year he worked there, interviewed so many wonderful people from all walks of life behind the camera. Although he had a deep love for journalism, he also loved Africa. In fact, Gite’s news reporting career led him to take his very first trip to Africa in 1976.
“I was fascinated about Africa ever since I was child, and then fast forward, I took my very first trip there while still working in televi sion. Best moment of my life,” he said. His first stop was to the West Coast of Africa, where he visited
Ghana, Togo, and Nigeria. “That’s when I fell in love with the art there,” he added. From there, Gite started collecting art pieces and paintings from Africa to bring back to Houston. He started out hand ing art pieces to friends as a gift and then slowly sold them one piece at a time. Gite then developed a passion to expose the art to the youth and community. The Gite Art Gallery is a place where the Black community can make a connection to Africa, especially for those who’ve never been or who have no intentions on traveling there.
The Gite Art Gallery is in the heart of Third Ward at 2024 Alabama Street, where you will find a charm ing and loving two-story brick home built in 1943. This amazing
Art Gallery has been recognized as one of the most stunning galleries in Texas, but the gallery is so un known to most Blacks around the community. As it was time to make his transition from Fox 26 News, Gite retired after 25 years of being a well-known journalist in Hous ton. He knew exactly where his life was going take him next, which was another flight back to Africa. It became an instant passion of Gites to fly back and forth from the U.S and Africa.
“Art is really important to the soul, and after I retired from Fox, I knew exactly what I was going to do next and that was opening my own Art Gallery,” Gite stated. That’s exactly what he’s been doing since the early 2000s, and since the grand opening
of his gallery to now, it has been a huge success. In addition to art, the gallery has participated in nonprofit work. “We’ve held events here where kids come in and take tools or ancient African masks, which is important because it gives them a chance to see what art looks like, and I just want it to open young Black kid’s minds.”
His gallery has donated over $10,000 dollars’ worth of art to Emancipation Park for renovations. They also raised and donated more than forty thousand dollars’ worth of art to The Ensemble Theatre at HCC Downtown.
The Art Gallery is very important, especially for the youth in the Black communities. What makes this Art Gallery special is the origins of each of the art pieces. About 95 percent of the Gallery pieces comes from Africa and five percent comes from Cuba. Mr. Gite doesn’t have plans on expanding his gallery right now or in the near future, but for what it’s worth, the gallery has done great right here locally in Houston.
People travel from all over who may read about his gallery and will come to shop.
If you’re ever in the area stop by The Gite Art Gallery and expose yourself to some of the best Afri can paintings you’ll ever see.
Lloyd Gite.
The racial makeup of prison popu lations in America changed almost overnight after the Civil War, a new report has revealed.
In Tennessee, during slavery less than 5 percent of the prisoners were Black. In 1866, after eman cipation, that number jumped to 52 percent. And by 1891 it had skyrocketed to 75 percent.
“More than 150 years ago, a prison complex known as the Lone Rock stockade operated at one of the biggest coal mines in Tennessee,” researchers for a joint study issued by Reveal at the Cen ter for Investigative Reporting and Associated Press.
“It was powered largely by Afri can American men who had been arrested for minor offenses — like stealing a hog — if they commit ted any crime at all. Women and children, some as young as 12, were sent there as well,” reporters Margie Mason and Robin Mc Dowell concluded.
The organizations spent months unearthing this history, focusing on Tennessee Coal, Iron & Rail road, which ran the stockage and coal mine, and the company that later bought it, U.S. Steel.
They reported finding an ancestor to an individual imprisoned in the Lone Rock stockade nearly 140 years ago.
The researchers said they also in terviewed the descendent of a man who struck it rich from his role in pioneering Tennessee’s convict leasing system.
“After the war, a new form of slavery took hold in the U.S. and lasted more than 60 years,” the authors noted in a podcast.
The research team reported that at the state park that sits on
the former site of the Lone Rock stockade, relics from the hellish prison are buried beneath the soil.
Archeologist Ca mille Westmont dis covered “thousands of artifacts, such as utensils and the plates prisoners ate off.”
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NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS
Sealed bids, in duplicate, addressed to OST/Almeda Corridors Redevelopment Authority will be received at Emancipation Park, Cultural Center, 3018 Emancipation Avenue, Houston, Texas 77004, until 1:00 pm (CST) on Friday, October 14th, 2022. Hard copies of the bid must be delivered in person. Bids will be publicly opened and read at 1:05 PM on Friday, October 14th 2022 for furnishing all necessary materials, equipment, superintendence, labor, and incidentals for the construction of Additional Park Improvements and Landscape Enhancements at Emancipation Park. CONTRACT DOCUMENTS are on file at www. civcastusa.com. There is no cost to download the Bid Documents but you must register at civcastUSA. com. The right is reserved, as the interest of the Owner may require, to reject any and all bids, and to waive any informality in bids received. A Mandatory Pre-Bid Conference will be held at Emancipation Park, Cultural Center on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at 2:00 pm (CST). Prospective Bidders may attend the pre-bid either in person or virtually. All information on to how to register for the pre-bid conference are included in the Bidding Documents that can be found at civcastUSA.com.
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We’re furthering our partnership with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Inc., helping emerging leaders succeed in today’s economy.
Our Better Money Habits® platform is available in Spanish, Mejores Hábitos Financieros,® to help people build financial know-how and make informed, confident decisions.
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