Father’s Day scholarship Brunch
29th Bi-AnnuAl Community Re-entRy n.P. GRAduAtion
By: Crystal LaShan
To earn a second chance in life is a rare and priceless gift. Sadly, Black youth are more than four times as likely to be detained or committed in juvenile facilities as their white peers, according to nationwide data collected in October 2019. In 2015, Black youth’s incarceration rate was 5.0 times as high as their white peers, an all-time peak. The 29th Bi-Annual Community Re-Entry Network Program Graduation (CRNP) graduates were excited, full of hope, and proud of their accomplishment. This experience provided a
new season to manifest in their lives, and every graduate was excited to take advantage of this second chance.
The program’s highlight was the testimony of Damion Walker, the Co-Producer of Truth & Justice, who was introduced by Vivian King, Producer of Truth & Justice. Damon told the audience, “On July 20, 2010, I was released after 17 years of incarceration. Not long after my release, I enrolled in the Community Reentry Network Program and later graduated.
“The fatherhood journey is the best thing I never knew I needed. It is the purest form of ever-evolving unconditional love that a person can ever expect to experience, and for that, I will be forever indebted,” said Brandon J. Carson, The Houston Morehouse Alumni Association (HMAA) Father’s Day Brunch Chairman, as he shared his insight on becoming a father. HMAA has produced its signature event, the Annual Father’s Day Scholarship Brunch, for over ten years to raise scholarship funds for Houston Area Morehouse students. Saluting fathers on the Saturday before Father’s Day, has become a treasured tradition that has raised more than $400,000 to increase equity and access to higher education.
Every year, HMAA showcases outstanding African American fathers and highlights the bond of fatherhood that binds our ties to the Houston Community. The program’s highlight is always the Maroon Tiger Father of the Year Award. Houston Area, high school students were asked to write a 500-word essay on why their father should be considered the Father of the Year. The student with the winning essay receives a five-hundred-dollar scholarship.
This year’s winning essay belonged to Christopher Augustus, an incoming Morehouse freshman from the Cypress area. Christopher stated, “My father has been a constant source of encouragement and inspiration in my life.
Scholarship on pg. 4
“Addressing Current & Historical Realities Affecting Our Community”By: Crystal LaShan Photo Credit: Right Time Solutions Graduation on pg. 3 Don Taylor, Derek Garrett, Kristen Ashley, Surrell Taylor, Marlin Seale, and Brandon J. Carson Fredrick Braden and Wayne Boehm
EDITORIAL
President/Chief - Editor Contributing
A Revival of God Consciousness
Bobby Mills, PhdSince the passage of the Civil Rights Act of (1964) and the Voting Rights Act of (1965), America has been involved in an uphill fight with a tremendous downhill drag seeking to ensure democracy for all citizens. However, southern states have convinced many northern states that their fight for a slave society was indeed a just fight (Civil War). The South lost the war but was never truly punished for their criminal attempt to overthrow democracy, even though Blacks were never fully included, and to this day not fully included as firstclass citizens. Most Whites usually brag concerning their socio-economic advantages over Blacks and other minorities.
In fact, Blacks never received the forty acres and the mule promised after President Lincoln was assassinated, the forty acres and the mule became a dream. The free states
Question: when will the majority of Whites see and walk in the light? Christian Right Evangelicals, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not tell the truth: but if we walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”
(1 John 1: 6-7).
the OverflowTarget Practice
A Georgia Police Department is under investigation after a post uploaded to Facebook went viral. The post showed a photo of a Black man being used as target practice during a gun training exercise at the Villa Rica Police Department. Many people have weighed in on this post including the Villa Rica Mayor.
behind it. Are your officers practicing their range? Or are they preparing to have an encounter with a Black man (or other races) that they plan on shooting?
For
Villa Rica Police Chief Michael Mansour claims that they use other photos of people for targets that include White and Asian people, but somehow the officer who posted the picture of the Black man, “mistakenly” posted that photo only. It has been said that these types of targets are also used at other police departments for training. Why use people at all? Why not just use regular shooting target templates? The ones with the circles. When you post a certain demographic as target practice for a police department, it makes you question the intent that is
more visit aframnews.com We ARe lookinG foR histoRiCAl WRiteRs That can produce stories that address current and historical realities affecting our community. Please send your inquiries to prod@aframnews.com
It was also said that this was not the first time that police departments have been in trouble for using a Black man as target practice. Just last year, the Michigan Police Department had a legal review over the same issue. The NAACP of Carroll County, where Villa Rilla is located, called this incident “extremely offensive.” Chief Michael Mansour also said that “It was not an intentional act. We do everything we can to not offend anyone.” This was very intentional. The police department had a choice, and they chose to use a Black man as target practice, and it is very offensive, and if anyone thinks otherwise, I don’t understand it. With everything that has happened in our nation regarding police and Black people in general, you would think that this would be the last thing that you hear about in the news. You would think that someone would have known better and not have posted the photo.
Thirteen years later, I have the ultimate honor of encouraging the graduates of the 29th class as keynote speakers. I haven’t been this excited about a speaking engagement in a long time. I want to thank my friend Vivian R King for thinking of me in these moments and encouraging my gifts.”
Mr. Walker told a heart-wrenching story of being a sixteenyear-old young Black man who was a part of the wrong crowd, which led to his imprisonment at such a young age. He
was sentenced to 17 years in prison and had to re-enter the Houston community as an adult with no knowledge of how to function in a world he wasn’t familiar with. Mr. Walker’s story is a reminder of the importance of working with our youth, helping them understand the importance of making the right choices in life, being careful of whom they surround themselves with, and how one wrong choice can take your life on a different path that could change it
METRORapid Gulfton Corridor Project Updates and Public Meeting
forever. Forty-one percent of youths in placement are Black,
States. Since 2008, CRNP program of the Houston Health Department has
even though Black Americans comprise only 15% of all youth across the United
been serving the Houston Community. Their caring, multidisciplinary staff
is committed to addressing the needs of the “whole” person with innovative, evidence-based programming, and linkage to services designed to meet the needs of formerly incarcerated persons to help stop the cycle of recidivism. CRNP’s mission is to work with the community to assess, plan, and implement effective strategies to reduce recidivism, increase public safety, and successfully assist and support ex-offenders in
transitioning to becoming productive, contributing members of the Houston community. These recently returning citizens have been encouraged that their best years are ahead of them and not behind them. This program is in the Kashmere MultiService Center because most formerly imprisoned people are settling in the Kashmere Gardens area when they reenter the Houston community.
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Stronger communities.
Throughout this project, we have collected feedback from many members of the community.
Based on your input, we are proposing to:
the
He never lets me forget my worth and potential and always reminds me to strive for excellence in everything I do. His faith in me has given me the courage to face challenges head-on, knowing he will support me no matter the outcome. Without his guidance, I can say that I would not be where I am today. The intelligence and unique perspective my father possessed has always amazed me. He has taught me to view the world differently, encouraging me to think critically and question the status quo. His wisdom has been a guiding force in my life, and I am truly fortunate to have been raised by someone with such a vast wealth of knowledge.”
By: Crystal LaShan
