“Addressing
By: Natiece Ford
We the People
Your vote and your money are the two most powerful things you have. Be careful who you give them to.
- Roy Douglas Malonson
SO THEY SHOOK HANDS
In the words of Donald Trump, “I don’t care what she is...” e September 10, 2024 presidential debate between current Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump did not focus on the race or gender of either candidate. Rather, women’s rights, the A ordable Care Act, immigration, in ation, and foreign policy were major topics of discussion. e question is how do these common issues usually raised during election times a ect the Black community, and will history repeat itself?
Early in the debate, both candidates were asked about their stance on the Supreme Court case Roe
v. Wade and abortion rights. Former President Trump stated that he would make exceptions for cases of incest and rape while repeatedly claiming that the Biden administration would allow abortion in the “7th, 8th, and 9th months,” which was quickly debunked by moderators. When asked again, he never gave a clear yes or no answer to whether he would veto an abortion ban.
Vice President Harris promised to sign a bill when passed by Congress to reinstate the protections of Roe v. Wade.
Hands on pg. 3
By: David Ellison
Join the O ce of Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, County Engineering Department and Public Health for a groundbreaking ceremony to announce the rst construction phase of the estimated $200 million revitalization of the historic Riverside General Hospital facility, which will be the health department’s headquarters.
Riverside opened in 1927 as the rst local nonpro t hospital for Black patients. It closed in 2015 for various reasons. Commissioner Ellis and county o cials are planning Riverside’s future that includes essential healthcare preventive services in ird Ward and other areas.
Ellis on pg. 4
A Revival of God Consciousness
Bobby Mills, Ph.D.
ere are several empirical reasons why Black men have always been subjected to socio-economic dehumanization. Institutional racism against Black males by White males is paramount. Lack of positive Black male leadership roles in family structures as well as structural economic impediments is another primary reason. e Law Enforcement Constabulary unfairly look for reasons to dehumanize Black males., the George Floyd execution is a primary example. ese statements of facts are not excuses for non-productivity, only truths related to the why of it all. When Blacks were brought to America as slaves, Whites gave Blacks a “Pie in the sky” form of Christianity. Even in the twenty- rst
EDITORIAL
century most Whites do not embrace Bible-based, Jesus exampled Christianity, even though America’s governmental system is based upon Judeo-Christian principles. Most Whites do not desire to embrace Bible-based Jesus oriented Christianity, they want something for nothing, because of their desire for material things. Christian Right Evangelicals are the classic example. Family is the basic unit of every society, and it is within family units that spiritual moral unity of purpose is fostered. Family breakdowns engender societal breakdown. Consequently, Black women could move in and out of the socio-economic structure more easily than Black men, because Black women posed no threats to the authority of White males. e objectives of White men have always been to make Black males feel as though they are anything but a man, and they have succeeded with many Black males. is is precisely why, in the twenty- rst century, so many Black males have become ungodly feminized. erefore,
the faith of Blacks in God and the Black church experience have been the saving grace. America is a multi-cultural democratic society based primarily upon a totem pole social strati cation system, and historically Black people are at the bottom of the Totem Pole, not by choice or chance, but by the design of Whites utilizing chattel slavery. Institutional racism as the mechanisms buttressed by guns, guns, and more guns. erefore, the societal cliché goes like this: if you are White, you are alright. If you are brown stick around, but if you are Black get back. Making skin-color God is a sinful dangerous proposition. is social fact is primarily why most southern states tend to be at the bottom of the socioeconomic totem pole as the poorest states in the union, because southern states tend to not wisely utilize their human talents and resources. It is wake-up time for Black men. Too many Black men are being paid by White men to convince other Black men, especially young Black
males who cannot think for themselves to be fool hearty: “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.” (Proverbs 26: 4-5). Too many young Black males have fallen into the devil’s trap of selfdestruction. us, to become a fool of a fool makes an individual a bigger fool. It has rightly been said, convince a fool against his will, you leave him a fool still, and some fools will go to jail or die as fools. Hence, any Black man associating with or voting for anything pertaining to Donald J. Trump’s agenda is a fool’s fool to the nth degree. e governing principle is the same (institutional racism), if perchance you meet, Omarosa Manigault Newman, ask her concerning the use of the “N” word. Donald J. Trump and his MAGA Cult followers have one overriding agenda item: White Supremacy, not multi-cultural democracy.
Read more at aframnews.com
“We Africans in America have been socially engineered to reject our past, and far too many of us live in a state of suspended animation. We deny the historical realities confronting us daily. Too many of us mistakenly believe that the past has no bearing on the present and is unrelated to the future. Thus, we have been conditioned to live our lives disconnected from cultural values, principles, and ideals - essential for peaceful living.”
- Anthony T. Browder
EDITORIAL
TEACH BY EXAMPLE
By: Jazz Pazz
Identifying children in “need” of special education or harsh discipline is signi cantly dependent on their teacher’s race, especially Black males, particularly if they are also economically disadvantaged. Black students with Black teachers are more encouraged than punished.
A new study by the American Educational Research Journal determined that Black students are more o en placed in stigmatized classes when they are educated by non-Black teachers. Most diagnoses of poor performance are made at the discretion of teachers or administrators with no resemblance to their students, instead of by expert medical analysis, according to their nding. “ ese disabilities may be most prone to subjectivity and, ultimately, misclassi cation,” a condition that aggressively pro-
motes candidacy for the school-to-prison pipeline.
Having Black teachers matter tremendously to Black children’s success. Exposure to Black teachers strongly enhances Black children’s sense of themselves and prospective scholastic success. ose who have studied under Black teachers in elementary school are more inclined to graduate high school and become admitted to college—13% more likely if they’ve had one Black teacher in elementary school, over 30% more destined if they have had two. Black boys bene t even more than Black girls. With a Black teacher in grades 3-5, boys express nearly 30% greater intent to attend college and a considerably reduced desire to quit high school, according to the Center for Black Educator De- velopment.
Undoubtedly due to Black teacher’s superior anticipations for Black students, they are rewarded with better outcomes for them with higher test scores and increased attendance. ere is an urgency to increase the recruitment of Black teachers, who represent only 7% of the 3.8 million public school teachers in the U.S. But a preponderance of Black teachers who previously embraced instructing now yearn to escape their profession. Not only does Texas underpay teachers by $8,828 compared to the national average, but Black teachers working in public schools are often required to work too long hours, at lower pay, and accept more di cult assignments.
e landmark Supreme Court case that began in Dallas County, Texas, in 1970 and was nally ruled on in 1973 made restrictive state regulation of abortion unconstitutional, although the ruling would be overturned in 2022, bringing women’s rights back to the forefront politically. In a journal article on “ e Impact of Hostile Abortion Legislation in the United States” published by the National Library of Medicine in 2023, studies found that Roe v. Wade reduced the maternal mortality rate for women of color by 30% to 40%. In another study mentioned in the same article, if a total abortion ban were to go into e ect, maternal deaths would increase by 33%. In other words, Black women die twice as o en as their white counterparts from pregnancy-related issues countrywide, while states like New York report maternal mortality as high as ve times. In an attempt to prevent postpartum maternal deaths, New York passed a law extending pregnancy Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months postpartum, coverage that would be available regardless of immigration status, making issues like women’s rights, the A ordable Care Act, and immigration synonymous. When asked if he had a plan regarding Obamacare, formally known as the A ordable Care Act, former President Trump stated that Obamacare was “lousy healthcare,” noting that he inherited the system due to Democrats’ unwillingness to vote to change the policy. Trump stated that if he and his people could come up with a plan that was cheaper for the people and the population and better healthcare, he would change it but only has concepts of plans due to not being president. Vice President Harris was clearer on her aspirations for American healthcare. Harris mentioned eliminating private insurance companies’ abilities to deny those with preexisting conditions and maintaining low
prescription drug costs for seniors at $2,000 yearly while making that a possibility for all. e emergence of better healthcare options for the country is critical, especially for African Americans when preexisting conditions like diabetes, asthma, and hypertension a ect the Black community at disproportionate rates. More importantly, the issue that bridges the gap between women’s rights, Black maternal mortality, and the A ordable Care Act is systematic racism in healthcare (SRH). Proof of SRH starts as early as 1835 with the experiments of J. Marion Sims, the so-called “father of gynecology.” Sims operated on at least 10 enslaved Black women, three named Lucy, Betsey, and Anarcha, where it is documented that all 10 women were operated on multiple times without anesthesia. Anarcha was operated on 33 times in a span of three years. e purpose of the aforementioned operations was to nd a cure for vesicovaginal stula, which once cured, would make the enslaved women with the condition more valuable to their white owners. Less than 100 years a er Sims, in 1932, Black men were test subjects of the United States Public Health Service and the Tuskegee Institute in the study of “Untreated Syphilis in the Male Negro,” where participants were lied to about treatment while being baited with free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance. Due to certain healthcare options being available regardless of immigration status, it is important to note that when asked about policy changes regarding immigration, Vice President Harris directed attention back to her opponent, stating that he would rather “run on a problem instead of x a problem,” citing that a border security bill was drawn up that would have, if passed, sent 1,500 Border Patrol agents to the border and stopped the ow of fentanyl into the country but was
ON RACIAL JUSTICE & CIVIL RIGHTS
THE DEMOCRATS’ PLATFORM
1876
The Democratic Party of the United States . . . reaffirm[s] our faith in the permanence of the federal union, our devotion to the Constitution of the United States, with its amendments universally accepted † as a final settlement of the controversies that engendered civil war; and do here record our steadfast confidence in the perpetuity of Republican self-government, in absolute acquiescence in the will of the majority, †† – the vital principle of republics – . . . [and] in the equality of all
† This statement is completely false. Just as the Democrats had fought every civil rights bill and amendment to the Constitution (see note on p. 7 about opposition to the Amendments), they were still doing so at the time this platform declaration was written.For example, in the 1875 civil rights bill to prohibit segregation and racial discrimination, not one Democrat in Congress voted for that bill. Significantly, Republicans did pass that bill over the strident and virtually unanimous opposition of Democrats, but following its passage, it would be another 69 years before the next civil rights law was passed. Why? Because in 1876, Democrats gained control of the U. S. House, and with a divided Congress, Democrats successfully blocked any further progress in the civil rights arena until the mid 1960s. †† Democrats said they were willing to abide by the will of the majority but they used several means to keep blacks from being part of that majority. After regaining control of the south in 1876, Democratic state legislatures enacted poll taxes, literacy tests, “grandfather” clauses, multiple ballots, hide-and-seek polling places, Black Codes (Jim Crow laws), forced segregation, white-only primaries, property ownership requirements, and annual voter registration fees to prevent blacks from having any voice and to exclude them from being part of any majority. Therefore, the clause in this platform affirming the “will of the majority” actually means only the white majority.
THE REPUBLICANS’ PLATFORM
1876
When, in the economy of Providence, this land was to be purged of human slavery, and when the strength of government of the people by the people and for the people was to be demonstrated, the Republican Party came into power. . . . e Republican Party has preserved . . . the great truth spoken at its cradle, that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that for the attainment of these ends, governments have been instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Until these truths are cheerfully obeyed – and if need be vigorously enforced – the work of the Republican party is un nished. e permanent paci cation of the Southern section of the Union, and the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their rights, are duties to which the Republican Party is sacredly pledged.
Democratic state legislatures enacted poll taxes.
Upon completion of the rst construction phase, the Harris County Public Health ACCESS (Accessing Coordinated Care and Empowering Self-Su ciency) Program will open its doors to serve residents addressing the unmet needs of speci c populations. e rst phase includes renovation of three historic buildings – the hospital, nursing school and laundry building – that are on
of Historic Places at the 4.3-acre site in ird Ward.
e project is partially funded by $9.6 million in grants, including $7.1 million from the Houston Endowment and $2.5 million from the State of Qatar, which donated the money as part of the $30 million Qatar Harvey Fund to assist Southeast Texas with damages from 2017 Hurricane Harvey.
CHENEY’S ENDORSE HARRIS
By: USA Today
So tenacious conservative Dick Cheney and progressive icon Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are voting for the same presidential candidate.
You don’t see that every election.
Former President Donald Trump’s bid to regain power is generating all kinds of odd situations, including stalwart opposition from party leaders and members of the Republican political establishment such as Cheney, former Rep. Liz Cheney and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. e Cheneys have gone so far as to say they will vote for Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Speaking of dynasties, former President George W. Bush does not plan to endorse his party’s standard bearer this year, and he won’t say how he or former rst lady Laura Bush will vote in November, a spokesperson con rmed over the weekend.
It’s a dynamic that would have been unthinkable even 10 years ago: e GOP’s most
recent president and presidential nominee who came before the party’s current pick won’t publicly back him.
Americans never would have expected Romney not to receive Bush’s support in 2012 − or the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., not to get Bush’s backing in 2008. Former President Bill Clinton supported then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008, even a er he defeated former rst lady Hillary Clinton in that year’s Democratic primary.
Many of these prominent Republicans who have split with Trump have made themselves clear: It’s both policy and personality di erences that are fueling this ssure in the Republican Party. And those are di erences that could decide the presidential race between Trump and Harris.
“What’s happened to the Republican Party today, you know, is indefensible,” Liz Cheney said Sunday on ABC’s “ is Week.” “And I hope to be able to rebuild ... a er this cycle.”
Trump and allies say
the party has already been rebuilt via the MAGA movement, and the vast majority of Republican voters remain with them while the critics are “Republicans in Name Only.”
“Dick Cheney is an irrelevant RINO, along with his daughter,” Trump said in a weekend Truth Social post. In the meantime, the political world is trying to get used to the idea that the Cheneys –among the most conservative political gures of the last half-century – are backing Harris, a product of liberal California. Some cited Bill Murray’s character in the 1984 lm Ghostbusters: “Human sacri ce! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!”
Some of the Republicans who have balked at Trump’s rise over the last 8 years genuinely disagree with him on the issues facing the nation, including items that were party dogma for decades. Amid Trump’s gradual GOP takeover, starting with his 2016 election, the Republican Party has become
more interventionist in the economy and more isolationist in foreign policy.
Trump built his 2016 campaign in part by attacking the kinds of Republicans who are attacking him now, the party’s more traditional prior leaders. at includes several members
of the Bush administration, including Dick Cheney.
To be sure, Trump attacked Obama and Hillary Clinton, his 2016 opponent, over just about everything. He also had harsh words for Bush and Cheney, particularly over the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2007-
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08 nancial crisis. e New York businessman condemned long-time Republican support for free trade and international military alliances.
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NOTICE TO PROPOSERS: REQUEST FOR SUB-CONTRACTOR PROPOSALS FOR FBISD CLEMENTS HIGH SCHOOL REBUILD
“Durotech, Inc., as Construction Manager at Risk, on behalf of Fort Bend I.S.D, will receive sub-contractor/vendor proposals for the Clements High School Rebuild project, as designed by DLR Group.
Proposals and quali cation statements will be received by Durotech, Inc., from interested proposers, sub-proposers and suppliers until 2:00 PM on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 in the presence of the Owner and Architect at the o ces of Durotech, Inc. at 11931 Wickchester Lane, #205, Houston, TX 77043-4501, Phone: 281-558-6892 and Fax: 281-496-5637. Construction Manager Contact: Sidhesh Kakodkar/Julian Ciarella.
Drawings and Speci cations will be available for review at the o ces of Durotech, Inc., and at the plan rooms of AGC, Dodge Data & Analytics, Virtual Builders Exchange, Brazos Valley Contractors Association, Construction Data and CMD Group. Prevailing wage rates in conformance with State of Texas law will be paid on this project. All proposals shall remain valid for sixty (60) days. e Owner, Architect/Engineer and Construction Manager reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, to waive any informalities and irregularities in the proposal process, and to make the awards in the best interest of the owner. By submitting a proposal, each proposer agrees to waive any claim it has or may have against the Owner, the Architect/Engineer, Construction Manager and their respective employees arising out of or in connection with the administration, evaluation, or recommendation of any proposal; waiver of any requirements under the Proposal Documents, or the Contract Documents; acceptance or rejection of any proposals; and award of a Contract.”
DIFFERENCE
As a born-and-bred Texas company, H-E-B is committed to fostering a culture of diversity & inclusion in Texas, both in our workplaces and the communities we serve. Celebrating the differences and similarities of all Texans is integral to everything H-E-B does, every day, from employee recruitment to supplier registration, store locations to in-store product selection.
