“Addressing
Current & Historical Realities Affecting Our Community”
LIVING LEGEND RALPH COOPER
By: Natiece Ford
In the early 1960s, Ralph Cooper and a group of friends decided to try their hand at football. Before tryouts could truly begin, the Worthing Junior High School football coach pulled the group aside and asked, “What do you all see out there?” e group replied, “A lot of guys trying out for the football team.” e coach responded, “No, a lot of great guys are trying out for the football team.”
is marked the beginning of Ralph Cooper’s journey in sports writing, as he eventually became the historian for the team. However, this was not the rst time he heard he would excel in the industry. As a young boy in Jewett, Texas, a rural area, he spent time with his grandmother, who o en listened to the farm report. On one occasion, while they lis- Cooper on pg. 3
We the People
We need to start holding each other accountable.
- Roy Douglas Malonson
By: Sadiyah Karriem
A memorial service will be held to honor the life and legacy of Hurt Porter Jr., co-founder of the internationally renowned Kidcare childhood feeding program. Kidcare was the rst meals on wheels program to address child hunger in America. Porter passed away on November 4th at the age of 81, following a courageous battle with prostate cancer.
e Porters founded their charity from humble beginnings in their Northside Houston home. eir work gained widespread attention a er they challenged City Hall’s restrictions on preparing meals for Houston’s hungry children in their home kitchen. rough years of dedication and sacri ce, Hurt and his wife, Carol, were nationally recognized for their e orts to combat childhood food insecurity. ey were honored by President George H. W. Bush as his 866th Point of Light, also Presidents
EDITORIAL
Bobby Mills, Ph.D.
ere is an adage, “Be careful what you wish for,” because it just might be to your detriment. Likewise, be careful what you vote for because it just might be what you do not need. erefore, we should not be surprised by any of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s decisions and governmental appointments. He told the world precisely his leadership intentions and governing motivations, revenge and payback, not multi-cultural democratic governance. Exclusion, not inclusion, and revenge and payback are of the devil. Moreover, President-elect Donald J. Trump intends to govern by utilizing socio-political confusion as a means of maintaining control and in uence in the political governing and appointment processes. ere were
some Americans who naively believed that Trump did not really believe and intended to execute the horrible things he was espousing on the campaign trail. What a surprise! America, critical thinking skills are a necessity when dealing with an individual that wholeheartedly believes that he is the smartest person on planet Earth and “I, and only I, can x it.” Democracy is for spiritually enlightened and secularly educated individuals. is is why Autocracy only exists in socio-economically underdeveloped countries. Moreover, individuals who have a God conscience cannot be fooled. erefore: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his esh shall of his esh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6: 7-9).” is scriptural verse embodies the law of life, both
Read more at aframnews.com
JUSTICE FOR MALCOLM X:
GOVERNMENT
WILL THE
EVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE?”
By: Natiece Ford
Do something about Malcolm X, enough of this black violence - J Edgar Hoover
e family of slain Civil Rights leader Malcolm X has mounted a lawsuit against the CIA, FBI, and NYPD for their involvement in his assassination on February 21, 1965. ey claim that the FBI knew of the threat and allowed the assassination to take place anyway. Justice should come, but will it? Movies like *Judas and the Black Messiah* point to the introduction of informants by government agencies, but does a movie do justice for all that was lost by the slaying of our Black leaders? Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. are commemorated on murals, street signs, and in schools, but never with the responsibility of the government through dollars or otherwise.
Now we stand con icted, without proactive leaders who target the problem head-on, but rather show up a er an injustice has already taken place. e uprising of a Black nationalist group like the one Malcolm X had begun to organize around the time of his demise is unlikely in 2024. We have been conditioned to believe that we are free, conditioned to believe that all is well because we are on an equal playing eld—that is, until you are pulled over or are in line for a loan that you have all the quali cations for. Will $100 million su ce? Is that enough retribution for a people’s leader? Will the government say that the threat came from within and that they had no responsibility to stop a killing because it did not come from their hands?
“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
tened together, Cooper’s grandmother told him, “You can do that.”
Although he did not heed her words at the time, the seed was planted for what would make Ralph Cooper a living legend.
On April 9, 1968, Cooper attended the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with his uncle, Rev. Benny Wilson. At that time, there was only one airport in Houston, and due to the nature of the event, all ights to Atlanta were booked. Unable to nd anyone to ride with him, Cooper, despite his mother’s hesitation, decided to
travel east through formidable southern territory with his uncle. At 19, he was juggling two full-time jobs while attending school. During the funeral procession, he met four sisters whose father was a professor at Morehouse College. A er learning that Cooper was not involved in the NAACP or SNCC, the eldest sister told him, “You aren’t doing nothing,” implying that his lack of involvement in civil rights organizations meant he was not in the ght. Her comment stuck with him.
Back in Houston, while reading the Forward Times
newspaper, Cooper noticed a small article advertising the paper’s need for writers. A er three rounds of tough interviews, he was hired in 1969— not for sports, but to cover the municipal courts, which he described as life-changing. When asked why it was lifechanging, he recounted a particular story. Although he frequently interviewed rapists and murderers, this story was di erent. One Sunday, Cooper received a call from a Houston police detective asking if he would like to interview a group of men accused of raping women in the area. e
conditions of the interview were unusual: Cooper was locked inside the holding cell alongside the suspects, tasked with interviewing them one by one. e men, aged 16 to 22, were described as nicelooking, and one even had a family with kids. All of them admitted to committing the crime, and the story became a front-page feature for the Forward Times. Unbeknownst to him, Cooper’s tapes were subpoenaed, resulting in sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years for the men.
Eventually, Cooper was given the opportunity to write
the stories he wanted—those about sports. At the time, few were interested in covering the Astros and their Black players or middle schools. When asked about the challenges he faced as a reporter, Cooper noted that the news industry was dominated by white males, with the few women in journalism also being white. He experienced trouble obtaining press passes and was even referred to as the janitor in the press box, re ecting the racism prevalent in the media during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Cooper traveled the world covering Muhammad Ali in Houston and George Foreman for their ght in Africa. He wrote for the Forward Times, e Informer, e Houston Defender, e Voice of Hope, and Muhammad Speaks, with articles and photos appearing in Ebony and Jet magazines.
Cooper advises young writers to be passionate about what they do and to recognize their ability to help those without a voice share their stories. From Monday to Friday, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., you can nd Ralph Cooper on KCOH Radio 1230 AM, KCOH e Source Internet, Simple Radio App, and Ralph Cooper Facebook Live. He also appears as a guest on the Devin Wade Show on Saturday mornings on 90.9 FM.
THE DEMOCRATS’ PLATFORM ON RACIAL JUSTICE & CIVIL RIGHTS
17 of 26 Special Edition
THE REPUBLICANS’ PLATFORM
pledged to maintain equal opportunity and rights for Negro citizens. †
1936
We favor equal opportunity for our colored citizens. We pledge our protection of their economic status and personal safety. We will do our best to further their employment in the gainfully occupied life of America, particularly in private industry, agriculture, emergency agencies, and the Civil Service. We condemn the present New Deal policies which would regiment and ultimately eliminate the colored citizen from the country’s productive life and make him solely a ward of the federal government.
† African Americans had historically been loyal to the Republican Party. In fact, in the 1932 presidential election during which this platform was written, incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover received more than three-fourths of the black vote over his Democratic challenger Franklin D. Roosevelt. Why had Republicans received so much African American support? In 1875, African American Republican U. S. Rep. Joseph Hayne Rainey had explained: “We intend to continue to vote so long as the government gives us the right and necessary protection; and I know that right accorded to us now will never be withheld in the future if left to the Republican Party.” Consequently, black Americans – long being the victims of Democratic-sponsored racism and segregation – continued their loyalty to Republicans well into the 20th century.
FINANCIAL THE INSURANCE SCAM
By: Travis McGee
Being a homeowner is the American dream, but taxes and shady insurance practices are making it the American Nightmare. Most people try to protect their property and investments by some form of insurance, with the belief that if I pay them, they’ll pay me when something happens. However, the fact of the matter is that homeowner’s insurance is almost impossible to get in the state of Texas, with insurance companies pulling out daily. Wind storms, hail, rain, sleet, snow, or natural disasters are all parts of God’s work in which man has zero control over them, but having insurance is a part of the preparation, you would think.
Taxes are high, and insurance is just as high. Di erent clauses like the Tropical Cyclone Clause makes it almost impossible to meet your deductible, which sometimes can be up to 10% of your property value once the storm becomes a named storm. For example, if your property value is $300,000.00, your deductible can be 10% of that which is $30,000.00. Insurance companies determine your insurance coverage, which increases your chances of having a huge deductible you can never meet.
You calculate ACV (actual cash value) by determining the total depreciation from the time you installed or bought the materials, products, etc. In most cases, depreciation is a signi cant deduction from your losses as
well. Replacement Cost (RC) is what it will cost to replace your property as of today. Insurance companies have become a bigger scam than taxes. ey are a massive and risky black hole where people dump money with almost no return at all. Just like we’re responsible for paying our insurance premiums, insurance companies should be held to the same standards when paying claims. If no claims are made or the insured is dropped, insurance companies should refund the money. Most mortgages make insurance mandatory, and high insurance costs can raise your mortgage since it’s escrowed in your payment. You would think homes owned, free and clear, would be less hassle with acquiring insurance, meeting deductibles, or even a ording insurance, but that’s not the case at all.
We have very little assurance in our insurance options, or lack thereof. Do we keep dumping money in the money pit, or do we save our money and wait for the storm? Nationwide is not on our side, State Farm is not a good neighbor, and Allstate isn’t all that great.
Joseph Hayne Rainey
FINANCIAL
TAXING THE POOR TO SPEND ON THE RICH
By: Bill King
When the Texas Legislature originally established tax increment reinvestment zones (TIRZs), the intent was to provide a mechanism for underdeveloped areas to retain a portion of the property taxes collected in those areas to invest in projects that would spur development. e statute de ned the areas that would qualify for this special treatment as those with a “substantial number of substandard,
slum, deteriorated, or deteriorating structures.”
Houston now has 25 TIRZs that raked in nearly $260 million in property taxes in 2023. It is important to understand that this $260 million in property tax revenue was diverted from the general fund of the City of Houston and, to a lesser degree, the general funds of HISD or other sponsoring entities.
About two-thirds of that $260 million went
to just seven TIRZs: Uptown, Midtown, Market Square (Downtown), Lake Houston (Kingwood), Upper Kirby (River Oaks), Greenspoint (IAH) and Memorial. I don’t know about you, but when I think about areas in Houston with a “substantial number of substandard, slum, deteriorated, or deteriorating structures,” none of these areas come to mind.
Over the years I have
Medicare plans change every year, so can your health. Visit Medicare.gov to see all your options side by side and compare coverage, costs, and quality ratings.
been observing the operations of the Houston’s TIRZs, it has always appeared to me that the bulk of the TIRZ money was going to projects in a uent areas of the city. However, I could never gure out how to prove or quantify that suspicion. Enter the Center for Public Finance at Rice University’s Baker Institute.
New in 2025, all Medicare plans will include a $2,000 cap on what you pay out of pocket for covered prescription drugs. The cap only applies to drugs that are covered by your plan, so it’s more important than ever to review your plan options to make sure your drugs are covered.
Get help with drug costs.
If you are struggling with your prescription drug costs, Extra Help is a Medicare program that can help pay for your drug coverage (Part D) premiums, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs. If you make less than $23,000 a year, it’s worth it to apply. Visit ssa.gov/extrahelp to complete an application.
Notice to Proposers
Request for Proposal will be received by Lone Star College for:
• RFP 24-11-03 LSCS Used Truck Purchase
• Electronic submittals due by 5:00PM, Monday, December 06, 2024.
• Contact: dina.sauser@lonestar.edu or (832) 813-6532. Must Register to Bid: https://lonestar.ionwave.net/Login.aspx
Monday, November 11, 2024.
• Contact: dina.sauser@lonestar.edu or (832) 813-6532.
Must Register to Bid: https://lonestar.ionwave.net/Login.aspx
• If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact MC-vendors@ lonestar.edu.
• If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact MC-vendors@lonestar.edu. LEGAL NOTICE
Notice to Proposers Request for Proposal will be received by Lone Star College for:
• RFP 24-10-01 LSCS Hydraulic Training Station Simulator
• Electronic submittals due by 2:00PM, Friday, November 08, 2024.
• Contact: dina.sauser@lonestar.edu or (832) 813-6532. Must Register to Bid: https://lonestar.ionwave.net/Login.aspx
• If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact MC-vendors@ lonestar.edu.
/Login.aspx. If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact MCvendors@lonestar.edu.
e Houston Independent School District Purchasing Services Department located at 4400 West 18th Street, Houston, TX 77092 is soliciting Request for Proposals (RFP) via the District’s electronic bidding portal. Proposers may login to view speci cations and submit their responses at the following link https:// houstonisd.ionwave.net/Login.aspx until 10:00 a.m. (CST) Friday, December 6, 2024, for the following solicitation: RFP 25-11-12 High Voltage Electrical Services Pre-proposal conferences will not be held.
