March 20, 2022
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
African-American News&Issues
“Addressing Current & Historical Realities Affecting Our Community”
Vol. 27, Issue 09
If you want to destroy a race, destroy their history - Roy Douglas Malonson
Has The Black Press Lost Its Way? Pg. 3
2 AFRAMNEWS.COM
March 20, 2022
President/Chief Editor
Chelsea Davis-Bibb, Ed.D.: Associate Editor
Tristar
Griselda Ramirez: Production
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Consciousness Bobby E. Mills, PhD
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Is America Your Country? Sometimes in order to rightly answer a question an individual must both psycho-analyze the question and the questioner. In this circumstance both are the same. In order to effectively answer the question; we must return to America’s historic beginning. Therefore, ask indigenous Native Americans is America their country? The obvious answer is a resounding: YES! However, if we examine the historical record of what happened to Native Americans it is an abomination. Therefore, the country belongs to those who have control of the country utilizing guns, more guns and whatever weaponry is in vogue. Let’s briefly revisit 1619 when Blacks were brought to America as slaves regardless of the circumstances. In 1860-1863 America was engaged in a brutal-bloody Civil War between the free states and the slave-holding states, north versus the south, the union verses the confederacy, and the Yankees versus the Rebels. Thank God Almighty the Union won and occupied
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
EDITORIAL the Confederate states. No doubt about it, the infrastructure of America was built on the backs of slave labor, and even after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation Blacks were never free, because President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth making certain that Blacks did not receive reparations. Vice President Andrew Johnson a southerner became President, and immediately began to removed Union soldiers the South, and later instituted the Black Codes denying Black their Human and Civil Rights. In twenty-first century, America Blacks are still not first-class citizens, because in a democracy Human Rights, Civil Rights and Voting Rights are the same! Sadly, too many Americans are attempting to change democracy into Russian-style White Privilege Autocracy: something for nothing. Thus, even White autocracy is not for all Whites; Russia is the perfect example. Since we have the historical facts concerning America’s checkered historical sins: let’s spiritually attempt to answer the question: Is America Your Country?
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Partin’ the Waters By Omowale Luthuli-Allen
Credible messengers No prizes for predicting rain, only building arks. The numbers for Harris County amount to 2.5 million and the City of Houston is working with 500,000 as random and senseless acts of violence continue to spike. This bank for violence interruption is our taxpayer money. Judge Lina Hidalgo and the Commissioners have approved building of this ark in Sunnyside and the Mayor and Council have approved the near Northside. These communities face a disproportionate share of violence. Credible messengers do not have an enforcement authority as they shift and rebalance the tightrope walk. Messengers are tasked with intercepting violence before it begins, at the first sign of risk and after the pain of violence. The communities are brittle because they often have strong social tensions. Think of social tensions as beefs. With beefs, slight provocations among irrational actors can ignite a prairie fire. Sunnyside, a growing and prospering community experienced
50 young people murders over eight years, primarily because of gang-related violence. Interrupting violence is broader than youth violence. There is sexual violence, elder abuse and bullying. The mandate given to messengers will be multi-focused. The policy makers will make decisions about the specific targets, but the decisions will not be based on black pepper magic. Our problems are confounded by colliding mega-trends. Vance Packard, author of a Nation of Strangers spoke of weakening community cohesion, splitting asunder. Our neighbors don’t feel that they are wrapped in a single garment of destiny. Weaker communities and families are becoming fortresses. The children of strong and resilient families never have to observe what Oscar winning actor Will Smith endured. That is, feeling like a wimp because of his inability to intervene when his father was beating his mother. Robinson is right. Accountability begins at home. Win the confidence of your family, your students and treat them well.
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GREATER HOUSTON EDITION By: Roy Douglas Malonson
I
When you think about the purpose of the “black press,” what comes to mind? This is a question that is not asked enough. Journalism has been around for centuries, and at one time, there were no Black newspapers for black people. Journalism is a powerful tool that is used to communicate news, to millions of people across the entire world. But when it comes to black news, are those who are a part of the black press truly fulfilling the intended mission it set out to accomplish? According to The American Historian, “The members of the black press were an amalgamation of professional journalists, citizen journalists, influencers, pundits, and everyday readers who all shared a stake in promoting civil rights, reporting “race beat” news, and using their editorial voices to speak truth to power on the experience of racism.” The members of the black press were not afraid to speak for a race that had no representation in other media outlets. They were the voice for the voiceless and used the power of the pen to expose the realities of what blacks were facing. The Freedom’s Journal was the first African American newspaper in the United States. Freedom’s Journal was created by John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish on March 16, 1827. It was a weekly four column publication that printed every Friday. The publication consisted of biographies, births and deaths in the black community, foreign and domestic news, and editorials. The editorials were focused on racial discrimination and other injustices that blacks were facing. Since there were many white media outlets that openly supported slavery and racial bias, Freedom’s Journal’s mission and purpose was to
March 20, 2022 expose the truth. The publication also wanted to encourage literacy within the black community. Another historical newspaper is the Houston Informer, which was published in Houston by Clifton Richardson Sr., on May 2, 1919. The newspaper was a weekly publication that used “subscription agents to increase readership and advertising agents to secure regional and national advertisements.” The newspaper’s content was based on a ten-point platform created by Richardson that focused on the “advocacy of domestic and foreign democracy, playgrounds for African American children and the improvement of educational facilities for them, an educated and consecrated ministry, development of the Houston Ship Channel, cooperation between races, better streets, federal investigations and legislation regarding lynching, and equality before the law for all men.” It also focused on voter suppression, anti-lynching laws, salary gaps between races in the Houston Independent School District (HISD), and the “recommendations of the Colored Citizens’ Committee on the HISD’s, $3 million bond issue for the schools in the district,” the need for effective parenting, and a host of other events and issues. All the elements discussed in the newspaper were issues that concerned the African American community and society as a whole. Like Freedom’s Journal, the Informer was not afraid to discuss the problems that needed to be addressed. They did not sugar code or hold back anything. This is what the black
press should look like. Today, the black press has lost its way. There are many issues that are occurring in our society that are not discussed in the black press. We are watching history repeat itself and the black press isn’t doing a damn thing about it. As a race, we are two steps back further than we were before. This is the reason why the African American News and Issues Newspaper (Afram News) was created 27 years ago in the heart of Acres Homes. The sole purpose and mission of Afram News is to address the current and historical realities affecting our communities. If not us, then who? The mission of the black press must not falter. It has to stand stronger now more than ever. It is time for the black press to be that voice once again for the black community. It is time for the black press to produce content that will continue to move our race forward. It is time for the black press to educate our people and our youth, so they will know their history in a world that wants it erased. It is time for the black press to return to the grassroots of its intended mission. Some Black Publications Established in Houston The Western Star-Exact origination date unknown. (1881 or 1893) The Independent-1898 The Call-1970 Informer and Texas Freeman-1919 Houston Defender-1930 The Negro Labor News-1930 The Texas Examiner-1942 Old Ironsides Monthly-1947 Forward Times-1960 Metropolitan-1961 The Voice of Hope-1968 The Houston Call-1970 The Houston Sun-1982 Freedmen’s Journal-1983
AFRAMNEWS.COM 3
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LOCAL
March 20, 2022
NEWS STATE
In GETTING Memoriam: GAS HIGHER BY Chief THE DAY Counsel Gregory Berry
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee announced this week the Passing of her Beloved Long-term Staff Member Chief Counsel Gregory Berry. Berry, who has served as Jackson Lee’s Chief Counsel for over a decade, was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law and held a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington. Gregory attained a master’s in Political Science and Government from the University of Michigan, where he was also a Ph.D. candidate. The congresswoman said they will long remember his contributions to policy and law, as well as his decades of service to the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Department of Energy, and Howard University School of Law where he was a Professor of Constitutional Law. She and the entire staff offer their deepest sympathies to his family, his many many friends and his colleagues as they honor his tradition of excellence, service and hard work. Further information about his funeral arrangements and his memorial services will be forthcoming.”
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
The statewide gas price average in Texas is $4.00 for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel, according to the AAA Texas Weekend Gas Watch. That price is 62 cents more than from this day last week and is $1.45 more per gallon compared to this day last year. Of the major metropolitan areas surveyed in Texas, drivers in El Paso are paying the most on average at $4.19 per gallon while drivers in Amarillo are paying the least at $3.74 per gallon. Gallons cost $4.01 in Beaumont, $3.96 in Houston, Galveston and San Antonio, $3.98 in Austin, $4.00 in Bryan-College Station and $4.07 in Dallas. The statewide gas price average recently jumped to a level never seen before in the Lone Star State due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Market analysts attribute the sudden spike to uncertainty in the global oil market as to how big of an impact the loss of Russian crude will have.
NATIONAL
SHALANDA YOUNGWHITE HOUSE BUDGET
Congratulations are in order for Shalanda Young, who is now the first Black woman to lead the White House budget office. The Senate confirmed Young to the position with bipartisan support with a vote of 61-36. For the past year, Young has served as acting director of the Office of Management and Budget. She was confirmed last March by the Senate to serve as the deputy director and ascended to the top role after Neera Tanden’s nomination was withdrawn. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it shouldn’t have taken this long to confirm someone as obviously as qualified as Young because she knows the budget and appropriations processes like the back of her hand. Schumer also said Young has proven capable of working with Republicans and Democrats alike, and it was through her guidance the administration landed some of its biggest victories including the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law. The Congressional Black Caucus rallied behind Young for the job in the Biden administration, as did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her entire HouseDemocratic leadership team. Such a well-deserved honor.
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
March 20, 2022
HISTORY
AFRAMNEWS.COM 5
‘The North Star’ By: Chelsea Davis-Bibb, Ed.D.
Frederick Douglass was once an enslaved man who escaped slavery to seek a better a life. He was born in Talbot County, Maryland around 1818. The exact details of his birthdate are unknown. After being separated from his mom at a young age, Douglass lived with his grandmother on a plantation in Maryland. He was fortunate to learn the alphabet and even taught himself to read and write. Using the bible, he was able to teach other slaves how to read. He also published the first and well-known autobiography titled “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave.” He became a big activist, author, and public speaker. In all that he accomplished, he also published an antislavery newspaper called The North Star on December 3, 1847, using the money he received from a speaking tour in Great Britain and Ireland. It was a very influential newspaper of the pre-Civil War era. The name of the newspaper was derived from “escaping slaves who used the North Star in the night sky to guide them to freedom.” The North Star’s Motto was, “Right is of
no sex-Truth is of no color-God is the Father of us all, and we are brethren.” The newspaper was changed to Frederick Douglass’ Paper in 1851. Douglass knew the importance of having a newspaper that focused on issues that greatly impacted the black community. It was the only way that the black voice would be heard. The four-page newspaper published weekly and had more than 4,000 readers with a $2 per year subscription. The newspaper contained elements that focused on abolitionist issues, book reviews, poetry, education, and equal rights for all, and so much more. Douglass is someone who will always be remembered for his work, his bravery, his truth, and the impact that he made on the many slaves he helped. He will also be remembered for the impact he made on the black community. Douglas used his voice to expose the issues blacks were facing, and to educate and empower blacks. In the words of Frederick Douglass, “Everybody has asked the question, and they learned to ask it early of the abolitionists, ‘What shall we do with the Negro?’ I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us.”
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March 20, 2022
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
EDUCATION
Ida B. Wells
By: N. L. Preston
In honor of Women’s History Month and saluting the history of the Black Press, we place our spotlight on Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Over the course of a lifetime dedicated to combating prejudice and violence, and the fight for African-American equality, especially that of women, Wells arguably became the most famous Black woman in America. Born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War. She was the eldest child of James Madison Wells (1840–1878) and Elizabeth “Lizzie” (Warrenton). James Wells’ father was a White man who impregnated an enslaved Black woman named Peggy. At the age of 16, she lost both her parents and her infant brother in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. She went to work and kept the rest of the family together with the help of her grandmother. Later, moving with some of her siblings to Memphis, Tennessee, she found better pay as a teacher. Soon, Wells co-owned and wrote for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper. Her reporting covered incidents of racial segregation and inequality. In the 1890s, Wells documented lynching in the United States in articles and through her pamphlets called Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases, and The Red Record, investigating
frequent claims of whites that lynchings were reserved for Black criminals only. Wells exposed lynching as a barbaric practice of whites in the South used to intimidate and oppress African Americans who created economic and political competition—and a subsequent threat of loss of power—for whites. A white mob destroyed her newspaper office and presses as her investigative reporting was carried nationally in Black-owned newspapers. Subjected to continued threats, Wells left Memphis for Chicago. She married Ferdinand L. Barnett in 1895 and had a family while continuing her work writing, speaking, and organizing for civil rights and the women’s movement for the rest of her life. While her work contains extensive documentation of lynchings, she was one of the first to do so. Her work is notable for its realtime reporting on the prevalent incendiary propaganda about Black rape that was used to justify the practice. Wells was outspoken regarding her beliefs as a Black female activist and faced regular public disapproval, sometimes including from other leaders within the civil rights movement and the women’s suffrage movement. She was active in women’s rights and the women’s suffrage movement, establishing several notable women’s organizations. A skilled and persuasive speaker, Wells traveled nationally and internationally
on lecture tours. In 2020, Wells was posthumously honored with a Pulitzer Prize special citation “for her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.” - AANI
(July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931)
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March 20, 2022
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