Arts today 4.3

Vol 4.3

May 22, 2017

|

Sami

BENTIL Featured Artist pg #86

View this and past issues from our website.

A A YOUTH...

S.H.E...

21ST CENTURY...

pg. #32

pg. #40

pg.#62

BERNIE HAYES

KEVIN POWELL

PIERRE BLAINE

I choose to reflect the times and the situations in which I find myself. How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?

(Nina Simone)

pg.

2

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

IN THIS

ISSUE:

6

Moline Acres Police Department College Scholarship Program in partnership with Infinite Scholars Program

IN THE NEWS POLITICAL HISTORY...

10

The Moline Acres Police Department College Scholarship Program wishes to acknowledge some of the students in our city that have accepted the promise of a college scholarship for accomplishing the following criteria: 1.

2.

3.

4.

95 percent school attendance 3.3 or better cumulative grade average 22 or better composite ACT score No major discipline problems

INFINITE SCHOLARS

Through our mentorship program with Infinite Scholars, the Moline Acres Police Department wishes t OP/ED help fulfill the hopes and dreams of families in our community wishing to send their children to colleg The Infinite Scholars program uses it extensive nationwide network of 500+ colleges and universities t find a college scholarship for students who achieve the criteria above. The Moline Acres Police Department is committed to helping our students accomplish these criteria. The motto for this progra is “Our Badges Create Scholars.”

32

46

Moline Acres is located in North St. Louis County, Missouri. To learn more, contact the Moline Acres Police Department at 314-868-2433 or Infinite Scholars at 314-499-6997.

AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH...

BERNIE HAYES

EAST ST. LOUIS CULTURAL ARTS FEST. E.B.R.

112

68

Pictured are Moline Acres Chief of Police Colonel Ware, Police Officer Donaldson, and students Charmaine and Charles.

FEATURED POET KD MORRIS

WOMEN OF COLOR PAY DISCRIMINATION DR. MALAIKA HORNE

pg.

4

LIVE / WORK / PLAY NATE JOHNSON

12

16

AD SPACE

62

54 SPRING TO DANCE DANCE ST LOUIS

21ST CENTURY CIVIL WAR PIERRE BLAINE A writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, or because everything she does is golden. A writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.

Junot Diaz, Professor of Writing,

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 2008

Established 2014 Volume 4.3 St. Louis, MO www.the-arts-today.com/ Layout/Design www.bdesignme.com

NOTE:

As the publishers of The Arts Today Ezine we take care in the production of each issue. We are however, not liable for any editorial error, omission, mistake or typographical error. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of their respective companies or the publisher.

Copyright Š 2017 - All rights reserved.

COPYRIGHT:

This Ezine and the content published within are subject to copyright held by the publisher, with individual articles remaining property of the named contributor. Express written permission of the publisher and contributors must be acquired for reproduction.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

IN THE NEWS

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS for the Annual Fellowship Programme for people of African descent

GENEVA (21 March 2017) – The United Nations Human Rights Office today announced the opening of the application period for its annual Fellowship Program for People of African Descent.

The Fellowship Program is one of the key activities taking place during the UN International Decade for People of African Descent, which was launched to effectively improve the human rights situation of Afro-descendants worldwide.

Every year, the Program offers an intensive learning opportunity to people of African descent on human rights issues of particular importance to Afro-descendants globally. Topics include: human rights law, forms of racial discrimination, access to justice, and racial profiling, among others. Fellows learn about a wide range of UN anti-racism legal instruments and mechanisms, which can help them in combating racism and racial discrimination and in the overall protection and promotion of human rights.

Application Process:

“Through our Fellowship Program, we want to empower a new generation of advocates to combat racism everywhere, and to advance the human rights of Afro-descendants. While the abolition of slavery brought freedom, many of the deeply discriminatory social structures were never torn down and remain to this day. Our past Fellows are using their human rights knowledge to open new avenues for recognition, justice and development for Afro-descendants in their countries,” said Yury Boychenko, Chief of the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section at the UN Human Rights Office.

Following the completion of the three-week long programme, past Fellows have carried out human rights awareness and capacity building initiatives for civil society working to promote the rights of Afro-descendants in their respective countries. They have also supported civil society engagement with UN during fact-finding missions to their countries. A number of Fellows have successfully received grants for local projects; contributed to discussions about national plans of action on combatting racism; and lobbied for new anti-racism legislation.

pg.

6

Applications and additional information are available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ Issues/Racism/WGAfricanDescent/Pages/ FellowshipProgramme.aspx). The Fellowship Program application period begins on March 21, 2017 and runs until May 31, 2017.

Applicants must be fluent in English, should have a minimum of 4 years of work experience related to promoting Afro-descendant rights and must be currently employed by an organization working on issues related to People of African Descent or minority rights. They must submit their CV and a letter from their organization, certifying their status.

Selected Fellows must be available to attend the full duration of the Program, which will be held in Geneva, Switzerland from 13 November to 1 December 2017.

Additional resources: Video of past Fellows: https://youtu.be/BSiCHpZ_6PA UN Decade for People of African Descent: http://www.un.org/ en/events/africandescentdecade/

Your Source for Art Appreciation

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St. Louis

Please support our sponsors, many of-

fer events or programs with an emphasis on the arts and creativity.

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Volume 4.34.3 Volume May 22, 2017 May 22, 2017

May 20th, 2017

Gateway Motorsports Park 700 Raceway Blvd.

Madison, Illinois 62060 Check-In: 4:30pm Event Start: 6:30pm

pg.

8

A CULTURAL & FAMILY AFFAIR! FREE EVENT!

Performing Arts Stage African Marketplace Cultural Demonstrations Daily Fitness Opportunities Jewelry, Clothing, Oils Safari Teen Hut African Films Authentic Foods Children’s Activities African Arts and Crafts Sat. 10am-8pm I Sun. 11am-8pm I Mon. 10am-6pm Expanded Health Village

May 27th - 29th, 2017

World’s Fair Pavilion, Forest Park

Movie Night at the Muny The Muny West Pavilion 8 p.m.

Pre-Showing Discussion 8:30 p.m.

Screening Bring lawn chairs & blankets

Queen of Katwe

Sun., May 28th 8 pm

For More Information, call (314) 325.2291 or Visit www.stlafricanartsfest.com Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

OP / ED SECTION

Moline Acres Police Department College Scholarship Program in partnership with Infinite Scholars Program

The Moline Acres Police Department College Scholarship Program wishes to acknowledge some of the students in our city that have accepted the promise of a college scholarship for accomplishing the following criteria: 1.

2.

3.

4.

95 percent school attendance 3.3 or better cumulative grade average 22 or better composite ACT score No major discipline problems

Through our mentorship program with Infinite Scholars, the Moline Acres Police Department wishes to help fulfill the hopes and dreams of families in our community wishing to send their children to college.

The Infinite Scholars program uses it extensive nationwide network of 500+ colleges and universities to find a college scholarship for students who achieve the criteria above. The Moline Acres Police Department is committed to helping our students accomplish these criteria. The motto for this program is “Our Badges Create Scholars.�

Moline Acres is located in North St. Louis County, Missouri. To learn more, contact the Moline Acres Police Department at 314-868-2433 or Infinite Scholars at 314-499-6997.

Pictured are Moline Acres Chief of Police Colonel Ware, Police Officer Donaldson, and students Charmaine and Charles.

pg.

10

Editorial Rebeccah Bennett TRUTH: This is not the first time that this country has been run by a bigot.

It is not the first time that we have experienced political isolation and social rejection.

Founder and principal of Emerging Wisdom LLC.

A

nd it is not the first time that we have had to figure out how to metabolize our grief and fear in ways that did not immobilize us, but caused us to actualize our power to change the world.

PERSPECTIVE:

Right

and forefathers lived through horrors that were generational in scope and scale. They persisted through times when there was little chance of a better tomorrow, much less a better life – not even for their kids. Yet they responded to their lot in life by creating resistance movements, aid societies, educational and religious institutions, banks and co-ops, art forms, innovations and spiritual practices that continue to make our lives

now it might do us some good to call upon our ancestors for wisdom, strength and guidance. Our foremothers Copyright Š 2017 - All rights reserved.

better today. Remember that their blood is our blood. Their strength is our strength. They are the ROOTS and we are their FRUITS.

PRAYER:

We call upon our ancestors, those upon whom the sky fell.

We call upon our ancestors who experienced all manner of degradation, humiliation, violation and death. We call upon our ancestors, people who swung from trees and were forced to live on their knees. We call upon our ancestors, many of whom persisted, survived and endured without destroying themselves or others. May whatever it is that nourished and sustained them come more fully alive in us. Ashe.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

Would you like a printed copy(s) of an issue mailed to your home?

Send your request to us by email **Remember to include the volume/issue** Cost may vary per issue.

pg.

12

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

pg.

14

Beaumont Class of 1978 Is sponsoring

Double Occupancy $149.99 per person Single Occupancy $209.99 per person

A Bus Trip to Tunica MS (With an excursion to Memphis TN)

Package Includes: 1. Roundtrip transportation from Saint Louis to Tunica/Memphis on Saturday May 20th 2. Overnight Stay at Resorts Hotel and Casino in Tunica, MS 3. Excursion to Beale Street in Memphis, TN 4. Memphis in May; World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest: May 17-20, 2017 5. Two Meal Vouchers 6.

$25 in slot play.

Return to Saint Louis Sunday May 21st

Payments can be made in $50 increments

1st payment to reserve your seat on the bus is due April 1st (non-refundable.)

To make payments or for more info contact Marietta Shelby at 314-799-5296 or email her at Beaumontclassof1978@gmail.com Bus will depart from Hanley Metrolink Station at approximately 12:30 am Saturday May 20th and return late evening Sunday May 21st.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

IVE WORK PLAY

Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017 St. Louis

I

t's been said that April showers bring May flowers, and in St. Louis, we have certainly seen plenty of showers, so now let's bring on the flowers...and festivals! As usual, I have a few suggestions on how we can get out and enjoy St. Louis. I'm looking forward to making it a great month!

MAY

5 thru

MAY

7

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If you are looking for something to do tonight, I would highly recommend checking out the opening reception of the Contemporary Art Museum's Summer Exhibition. It will feature Urban Planning: Art and the City 1967-2017, which is a group exhibition of artists' response to the transformational effects of urban development in the United States.

Afterwards, you can head downtown to Rosalita''s Cantina for their 7th annual Cinco de Mayo street festival! There will be food, drinks, music and more!

It's always a good time, and you know that I love a good festival!

For a bit of a different flavor, you can head to the St. Louis Science Center as they host their First Fridays event. This month the theme is The Hunger Games. This happening is intended for audiences 16 years of age and older.

Tomorrow, after volunteering with my fellow St. Louis REALTORS and Rebuilding Together to help out a few homeowners in the Old North neighborhood, you will find me and my girls at the Cinco de Mayo Festival on Cherokee Street! The People's Joy Parade starts at 11am and there will amazing food, live music on 3 different stages along with plenty of activities for everyone! I hope to see you there!

Local Events MAY

You might also want to sneak by The Stage at KDHX tomorrow morning to watch them "walk the dog" at the United YoYo Championships.

Tomorrow is also Derby Day, so you may want to Grab your hat or bowtie - or just come Derby Day Casual to the beautiful 90 acre campus of TREE House of Greater St. Louis (formerly Therapeutic Horsemanship) to help raise funds to cover the care of our amazing herd of therapy horses and enjoy the race!

Starting this Sunday and continuing on the first Sunday of every month through the end of the year, the St. Louis Running Tour invites runners of all abilities to join in a 4.5 mile trot through everyone's beloved Forest Park.

From now through Sunday, the 2nd annual Tennessee Williams Festival in St. Louis celebrates our own renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright at locations around the Grand Center Theatre District.

Also, today and tomorrow, the 2017 St. Louis Microfest beer tasting festival will be in Forest Park. In addition to tasting international and local brews, it includes live music, silent auction, food, live brewer and chef demonstration!

On Sunday, you can also check out rescheduled ArtFest in Richmond Heights , which promises to be a great time, complete with amazing local artists, crafts, music and more!

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www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

IVE WORK PLAY

At The Sheldon art gallery, a piece of St. Louis history that spans segregation through modern-day municipal development is remembered in an exhibition of color photographs by Jennifer Colten --Higher Ground: Honoring Washington Park Cemetery: Its People and Place. Oh yeah, and the SheldonGala, on the 12th will feature the one and only George Benson!

Join me at the Missouri History Museum for Twilight Tuesdays, a live outdoor concert series. This week will feature the funk styling of Dirty Muggs!

Also on Tuesday, Bach at the Bistro (as in Jazz) is presented by the Bach Society of St. Louis in conjunction with the the 2017 Bach Festival.

Have you considered taking part in a community garden (one with a panoramic view of the downtown skyline) that benefits you and the entire St. Louis region?

Well now's your chance. Volunteer orientations are underway at Gateway Greening, so sign up today. On Wednesday there's a similar-themed event at the Food Policy Lunch n' Learn at Schlafly Bottleworks.

MAY

8 thru

MAY

14

Sponsored by the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, the Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl is an exciting mid-week event offering concerts at locations throughout Grand Center. Take advantage of this free music series!

Thursday through Sunday marks two theater-related events for the whole family: the hilarious play "Born Yesterday" is on stage at the Clayton Community Theatre and the 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee is at the Kirkwood Theater Guild.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers brings down the house at Scottrade Center on Friday.

Starting this Saturday and continuing through the summer, the stunning floral installation, Garden of Glass by Craig Mitchell Smith, shimmers with light and color in the Climatron at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Mother's Day weekend is the perfect time to be out with the family and friends.

From Friday through Sunday, the Art Fair at Laumeier will celebrate its 30th Anniversary with food from local vendors, hands-on activities for children, live music, and lots of beautiful artwork by 150 juried artists from across the country.

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T H G I L I TW

S Y A D S E TU ONES J D R A W ED

SPRING 2017

MUSEUM MISSOURI HISTORY

Front Lawn ’s m u se u M • E E R F • 6pm– 8pm Tuesday, MAY 2 in Turnage Band lv e M y ar d n e g e L e h T nter Featuring Tonya Poy Tuesday, MAY 9

e 1970s and 1980s)

rites from th Dirty Muggs (funk favo Tuesday, MAY 16

g the music of Elvis)

Steve Davis (featurin Tuesday, MAY 23 Men of Soul e th to te u ib Tr ’s LLC Tuesday, MAY 30

)

of the Grateful Dead

the music Jake’s Leg (featuring Tuesday, JUNE 6 Tribute to Prince on ti u ol ev R l ca si u AM All-Star Band e th d an s e m ol H l Featuring Kar

William Conger This/That - Bruno David Gallery | May 4th - June 17th|

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

IVE WORK PLAY

The Modern Meal: Sustenance Through Ritual is an exhibition at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum that evaluates through art an activity that is central to all of our lives: food. Take an in depth look at the social, political, and environmental factors that make eating such a profound pastime.

Learn about "Protecting Your Assets and Making Your Money Work For You." The National Association of Women Business Owners offers advice at the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac. I'll be out of town, but I'm gonna hate to miss Bonobo, who will be performing at The Ready Room on the 16th!

If you're a true foodie who likes to branch out from standard restaurant fare, there's an event for you at The 9th Annual International Dine Around: Taste of South Grand on Thursday. The South Grand neighborhood is famed for its assortment of ethnic cuisine options.

MAY

15 thru

MAY

21

If you are up for another taste, check out the Taste of Maplewood Street Festival!

In its 7th year now, it brings together foodies, shoppers and music lovers to enjoy the bites, sights and sounds of a city known for everything hip and happening!

Also on Thursday, master stargazer Neil deGrasse Tyson will be at the Peabody Opera House. The event is in connection with the release of his new book, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.

The inspiring and relevant rock musical RENT is at The Fabulous Fox on Friday.

And if you or the kids enjoy all things Superman, Batman, and other largerthan-life characters, the Sci-Fi Superheroes will be in concert at the St. Louis Symphony, also on Friday.

Get ready for a fun Saturday... This is opening night for Madame Butterfly -- a moving story about a Japanese geisha and an American soldier -- at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; The Annie Malone May Day Parade & Festival brings the streets to life downtown -- the parade is the oldest African-American parade in the nation and the biggest fundraiser for Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

IVE WORK PLAY

At The Bell House on Monday your socks will rock with a performance by Thuatha Dea & S. J. Tucker Live!

The Summer concert series in Ryan Hummert Park in Maplewood kicks of on the 24th with local musicians blessing the stage for an evening of good fun.

Several great events go through the Memorial Day weekend, starting Friday: The 1st Annual Mississippi Nights Music Festival on Laclede's Landing will be an ongoing tradition. The scheduled lineup for this event includes 25 bands, all 100% local. Come check out the newly designed riverfront made possible by CityArchRiver.

Schlafly's Art Outside: An Alternative Art Fair was established in 2004. Its mission is to increase public awareness and appreciation for the local art scene by creating opportunities that bring together artists, musicians, culinary experts, families, and the St. Louis community at large.

MAY

22 thru

Forest Park hosts the St. Louis African Arts Festival at the World's Fair Pavilion. It will be a delightful day for visitors to enjoy music, dance performances, arts and crafts, merchandise and food vendors, and of course, the park!

You can also check out the St. Louis County Greek Fest to enjoy a lively environment destination in which you can experience the Greek community's deeply rooted traditions and heritage.

On Saturday, the stage comes alive at the The Touhill Performing Arts Center with the Spring to Dance Festival. This is a special occasion highlighting the creative efforts of many talented dancers, a true reason to celebrate this Spring season.

MAY

28

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

IVE WORK PLAY

At the St. Louis Science Center, the Discovery of King Tut exhibit showcases replicas of more than 1,000 objects from the tomb of King Tut. The original artifacts do not travel outside Egypt. This fact alone speaks to the archaeological significance of the collection, so don't miss the opportunity to see these fascinating treasures.

Starting this Wednesday and continuing weekly throughout the summer at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Whitaker Music Festival combines sounds and sights for a truly magical night. Revelers appreciate everything about this annual event. Lawn chairs and coolers are encouraged.

Yes, we have a great rest of the month ahead of us! Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for you.

All the best. -Nate

MAY

29 thru

MAY

31

P.S. We do not have the housing report for April just yet, but as previously mentioned, March saw an increase of nearly 7% in median sale prices over last year! That fact, coupled with a 12% reduction in inventory from last year continues to make for a robust seller's market. Here is the report. Let me know if there are any questions that I can answer for you. We would love to help you achieve your real estate goals!

All the best. -Nate Nate K. Johnson ABR,CRS,GRI Broker/Owner Real Estate Solutions 314-575-7352 Direct | 314-558-6025 Fax | 314-514-9600 x 102 nate@livingstl.com | www.livingstl.com

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XYZA

Street and Documentary Photography | May 25th|

DAILEY & VINCENT At the Grandel | June 3rd|

William Conger This/That - Bruno David Gallery | May 4th - June 17th|

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

BLACK COMIX RETURNS - African American Comic Art & Culture

A hardcover collection of art and essays showcasing the best African American artists in today's vibrant comic book culture.

pg.

26

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

DRUM M I N G Up a Dance 14th Annual African Dance Celebration Returns to COCA on MAY 20 Led by Executive and Artistic Director Diadie Bathily, Ariky Lolo, the region's premier professional West African dance company, presents the 14th Annual African Dance Celebration. This year's production, "Dance & Drum Voyage," features a special guest performance by the Saint Louis Osuwa Taiko, the local organization that performs, promotes, teaches and preserves the art of Japanese ensemble drumming. Together with Afriky Lolo’s drummers, the collaborative production explores and elevates the musical art forms of West African and Japanese taiko drumming while highlighting their physical vigor.

Taiko drumming has inspired the likes of the hit musical “STOMP” and the drums themselves can average 60 pounds in weight. Similarly, West African drumming is just as physically intense as it is rhythmic. “Dance & Drum Voyage" spotlights Afriky Lolo’s beautiful West African choreography and pulsating drumming.

The 14th Annual African Dance Celebration also features artwork by Nigerian artist and United Nations Arts Ambassador Ibiyinka Alao, also know as the “Nigerian Ambassador of Art,” whose works have been featured by MOMA, Smithsonian Museum, British Council, National Museum of Nigeria and many more. In addition to his artwork serving as the set’s backdrop, Alao is making a special presentation about the meaning of his paintings at the show.

Authentic costumes are another highlight of the African Dance Celebration. The company imports colorful, decorative costumes from Mali and Ivory Coast, director Diadie Bathily’s native countries. The company also maintains a local wardrobe team that hand stitches many of the costumes.

Each year the African Dance Celebration presents an exciting performance that takes audiences on a captivating journey of West African culture and history through dance.

There’s never a dull moment. Bright colors and movement are always present on stage, making it an entertaining experience for both adults and children. Afriky Lolo, which is composed of both youth and adult companies, creates a vibrant, larger-than-life production of lively West African dance, powerful drumming, colorful costumes and dazzling lighting design.

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WHAT: 14th Annual African Dance

Celebration: “Dance & Drum Voyage,” featuring Afriky Lolo and Saint Louis Osuwa Taiko

WHEN: Saturday, May 20 at 8 p.m.

WHERE: COCA, 524 Trinity Avenue

(in the U. City Loop), University City, MO 63130

TICKETS: All tickets are $25. Call 314.561.4877 or visit www.cocastl.org or email boxoffice@cocastl.org

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

#NextArtFriday

Fashion x Art x Poetry x Music.

Join us for a mixed media experience sure that reminds us that fashion design is an art that should be exhibited in galleries.

The core of the night is a fashion show that is not to be missed.

VISIT pg.

30

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

African

Youth

American

Must Accomplish HIGHER Goals!

I am completely and absolutely dismayed when I read or hear reports of African-American children constantly failing achievement tests and not performing well in basic fields of study. A number of specialists are convinced the cause is racial. Is it racial? Is it cultural? Does the social status of individuals have an effect? Consider a few factors.

are on the list of Illinois’ lowest-performing schools, based on test scores for the past two years. Seven school districts in Metro East have one or more schools on the list: Alton, Granite City, Madison, Venice, Brooklyn, Cahokia and East St. Louis.’ My question is why? Here we are, sixteen years later and we must ask are the circumstances the same?

A recently published article alleged poverty alone does not explain the large gap in achievement between black students and others in Illinois public schools. Sabrina Walters noted ‘the data by race, released in an annual Illinois school report card, will undoubtedly force local school officials to deal with racial disparities head on.’

I have an idea. What if Nelly, Chris Rock and Chris Tucker were not considered role models but merely entertainers, and their fashions are not the recommended attire for school or job searches? What if black children were taught the truth of their history? If they were aware that African people played a very significant role in the Roman Empire, do you think they would become more interested in the past and want to read and learn more?

Ronald Ferguson, a Harvard researcher, suggests that minority students are being discouraged from reaching for more challenging courses. “The question is whether a black child with the same past grades and test scores would receive different advice in selecting classes than a white child,’’ Ferguson said. “We strongly suspect a lot of racial bias in the process.’’

Perhaps you remember the dispute that erupted in University City, Missouri a few years ago when Rosie Dowdy was the superintendent. Most African-American parents in the district were upset because the students in the Honors Programs were predominantly white, in a mainly Black district, while African-American pupils were either discouraged from entering the programs, or denied admittance. I understand this is still a regular practice in several school districts in Missouri and Illinois.

Do you think they would take note if they read in their textbooks about Emperor Lucius Septimus Severus, an African, who was the most distinguished of the African emperors of Rome? Yes, a Roman Emperor. There were several Black Emperors of Rome. Or perhaps they would learn about Emperor Opellius Macrinus who also ruled.

The November 15, 2001 edition of the St. Louis PostDispatch reported ‘twenty-one schools in the Metro East area

What if textbooks and church news items revealed that there have been three

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH... cont.

pg.

34

African Popes of the Catholic Church? Pope St. Victor, who was elected in 189 AD, established a set date for Easter. There was Pope St. Militiades who governed as pope from 311-314 AD, and Pope St. Gelasius who reigned from 492-496, and saved Rome from famine. If course books acquainted students with knowledge of Black pioneers and settlers of this nation, I think this generation would have better selfesteem, confidence and more sense of worth.

What would the improvements be if young people read about York, Ben Bruno, Jim Pierce, Edward Rose, John Marrant, John Stewart, George Bonga, Aunt Clara Brown, William Robinson, Biddy Mason, Miffin Gibbs, Cherokee Bill and thousands more? Perhaps they would realize that their improvement, deliverance, or recovery could easily be in education. Possibly they would aspire to be at the top of their class. Probably if their parents knew more of our story, they would demand progress and development from the children and insist on fair and equal treatment from school boards and educators.

Asante Sana. ~Bernie Hayes

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

pg.

36

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

pg.

38

BLACK Archaeologist

We ask the question in this episode , “if superior black beings from another world landed here on Earth, and learned the true history of black people in America, how might they react.”

Watch our other episodes on YouTube, TechNubian1, and don't forget to donate $5.00 to our upcoming fourth season, our Gofundme link on Facebook, I Love Black Archaeologist.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

pg.

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SHE A

s we approach the beauty and magic of MOTHER’S DAY and the love we show women who are moms mentors role models caretakers, we cannot afford to forget that ONE IN THREE WOMEN AND GIRLS ON THE PLANET are the victims, DAILY, of sexual violence, or OVER ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. This is why SHE was created by Jinah Parker. SHE is to reflect, but also to correct.

I do not even know what else to say, other than we are blown away by all the love and support we’ve gotten for SHE: a choreoplay, our new theater production in New York City at HERE Arts Center. It opened a week ago, we’ve had a wide range of people show up, amazing talk backs with audiences after every show, and THIS INCREDIBLE FIRST REVIEW….

“

SHE, a stunning, beautiful, and evocative choreoplay about women and girls, and men and boys, too

via Medium.com: http://tinyurl.com/lmb2msl

”

But this is only the beginning. Our vision is BIG, VERY BIG, and includes taking SHE to another theater for a long multi-month run, a SHE website with a SHE curriculum and SHE resources for survivors of sexual violence, and both a national and global tour.

art that challenges, art that is mad real, art that is about healing and bringing people together.

This is SHE, this is a movement, as envisioned

by SHE Jinah Parker, dancer and choreographer and playwright, and director Phaedra Michelle Scott. PLEASE click this link and it will just take a few seconds to MAKE A DONATION

https://www.gofundme.com/supportshe Finally, just THANK YOU for caring about this cause, one of the most important global human rights issues of the 21st century.

Respectfully, Kevin Producer, SHE: a choreoplay

But we cannot do this work alone. We are still asking for donations to fund our efforts. $5 $10 $25 $50 $100 or more, whatever you can do to support art that has a message,

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

An artist's duty, as far as I am concerned, is to reflect the times.

(Nina Simone)

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42

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

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Baba Askia Toure' I am an innovative, epic poet, who created two major books, "From the Pyramids to the Projects" (Africa World Press, 1990), and "Dawnsong!," Third World Press, 2000). "Pyramids" won an American Book Award in 1989. And in 2003, "Dawn-song!" won the 2003 Stephen Henderson Poetry Award, presented by the African-American Literature & Culture Society, an assoc. of the American Literature Assoc. Since then, I've done other books, of which I'm truly thankful.

However, what I desire to bring before the Facebook reading body, is the fact that I've innovated the Nile Valley epic, in the volume, "DawnSong!," which was critiqued by Dr. James E. Smethurst, and also a young, Black female Ph.d graduate candidate...otherwise there was complete "silence" from the Black Literature Community, about the first Nile Valley epics written in the English language!

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

East St. Louis Cultural Arts Festival Coincides with 1917 Race Riot Centennial:

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Annual Tribute to Miles DAVIS, Henry DUMAS &

Katherine DUNHAM MAY 19

(Poetry by Soular Systems Ensemble & Michael Castro. Jazz by Delano Redmond Quintet. Art by Edna Patterson Petty. Dance. Exhibits.

BookSales.)

East Saint Louis, Illinois—Three artistic giants who greatly impacted this city and the world will be honored Friday, May 19, 2017, at 6:30 pm in the Multipurpose Room of Building “D” on the Higher Education Campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), 601 J.R. Thompson Dr., East St. Louis (62201).

Known as “Da-Dum-Dun,” the annual free family festival is a tribute to music avant-gardist Miles Dewey Davis III (1926-1991), after whom the city named a school in 1982; Arkansas-born literary treasure Henry Lee Dumas (19341968), whom Toni Morrison called “an absolute genius”; and dance doyenne/ institution builder Katherine Dunham (1909-2006), who maintained a home in ESL for more than 30 years.

“Da-Dum-Dun 2017” intersects the Writers Club's 31st year of programming and the Centennial of ESL's 1917 Race Riot. Among art forms and events to be featured: poetry, dance, drumming, jazz,cultural vendors, exhibits/ sales of books, and photo/art displays from the EBR/SIUE Collection and works of Edna Patterson Petty. Performers will include poets of the Writers Club's Soular Systems Ensemble--Roscoe “Ros” Crenshaw, Charlois Lumpkin, and Jaye P. Willis--led by Darlene Roy; translator and former St. Louis Poet Laureate Michael Castro; published poet/educator Treasure Shields Redmond; and jazz musicians under the leadership of trumpeter-educator Delano J. Redmond.

Davis, raised in this city, graduated from Lincoln High From: EBR Writers Club/SIUE English Dept./EStl 1917 Race Riot Centennial Commission/Drumvoices Revue/Black River Writers Press/ESL Cultural Renaissance Revival Committee: 618 650-3991; eredmon@siue.edu

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E STL CULTURAL ARTS... cont.

School in 1944 and joined his Lincoln High classmate--pianist Eugene Haynes, Jr. (Lincoln '43)--at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Dumas taught at SIUE-ESL's Experiment in Higher Education (1967-68) and years later the city honored Empress Dunham by renaming North Tenth Street after her. During her decades of residency in the city she established and administered the Performing Arts Training Center, the KD Dynamic Museum and a namesake Children's Workshop, all under the aegis of the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities.

Besides Davis, other renowned Lincoln High alumni (and contemporaries of “Da-Dum-Dun” honorees) include National Black Theater Founder Barbara Ann Teer, singer/yodeler Leon Thomas, former UN Ambassador Donald McHenry, EBR Writers Club President Roy, Sylvester “Sunshine” Lee (who directs his namesake Cultural Arts Center & Performance Ensemble), and Dr. James Rosser, retired president of California State University-Los Angeles, who graduated from Lincoln High in 1957 with EBR. Schools Superintendent Dr. Lillian A. (Adams) Parks to the late Honorable Wyvetter Hoover Younge of the Illinois House of Representatives.

Current and late “trustees” of the EBR Writers Club, founded in 1986, include Margaret Walker Alexander, Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Avery Brooks, Haki R. Madhubuti, Quincy Troupe (Davis' biographer), Walter Mosley, Raymond R. Patterson, Barbara Ann Teer, Dr. Jerry Ward, Jr., and Dr. Lena Weathers.

For information about “Da-Dum-Dun” or the Writers Club, call SIUE English at 618 650-3991; write the Club at P.O. Box 6165, East St. Louis, Illinois 62201; or email eredmon@siue.edu.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

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The Soul of Harmony: Book One: The Promise written and illustrated by Craig Rex Perry

About the Book The Soul of Harmony is a music driven, action adventure that follows the near capture of young Harmony Walker and her famous dad, blues and jazz musician John "Eazy" Walker. Seduced by promises of fame and fortune, Harmony enters into a pact with a mysterious woman and accepts possession of a Magical Mouthpiece, with the promise to return it in one year. Unbeknownst to the Walkers, the Mouthpiece was stolen from the Horn of Gabriel by the woman who is actually an evil demon in disguise named Demonica Shadows.

After one year of fame, fortune and travels, Harmony refuses to return the ancient artifact thinking the woman has forgotten about it, but the evil woman finds them and uses her demonic powers to change Eazy into an old man and sets about claiming Harmony's soul!

Narrowly escaping with their lives and finally understanding the power of the Mouthpiece, the Walkers run from the forces of evil that are waiting and watching for their chance to regain possession of the magical artifact!

“

Review:

The Soul of Harmony is a real treat, Perry's illustrations are simply stunning! This gorgeous art, combined with the mysterious adventure of a young girl named Harmony Walker, makes for a truly captivating read. Harmony is a story about family, music, and a girl's love for her father. Will Harmony be able to correct her mistake? I can't wait to read more.

”

- Rebecca Sims-Nichols

The book can be ordered from Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2kgUgoo or Barnes and Noble.com at http://bit.ly/2l8aXla

About the Author: Craig Rex Perry has been an illustrator and designer for over 30 years. With his signature style, he has worked for Global brands including Disney, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Hasbro, Gianni Versace, NIKE Addidas. His comics, illustrations, apparel design and graphics have adorned the pages of magazines, newspapers and consumer products.

Perry is a graduate of the School of the Arts in Chicago and Otis Parsons in Los Angeles. He has a long history of book illustration with Empak Publishing, Hyperion, Jump for the Sun, Disney, Warners and Dreamworks. The Soul of Harmony is first in a three book series.

Visit Rex online at www.rexstudios.net For more information, contact Rochon Perry at rperry@cedargrovebooks.com

website: www.cedargrovebooks.com | twitter.com/cedargrovebooks | facebook.com/cedargrovepublishing Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

Spring TO DANCEÂŽ Festival Returns for Its 10th Year!

More than 30 premier and emerging professional companies from across the country perform a wide spectrum of dance styles for three nights of nonstop dance

Highlights include Joffrey Ballet, NYC tap icon Jason Samuels S pg.

54

Smith, Aerial Dance Chicago, Miami City Ballet and many more!

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

Dance St. Louis concludes its 2016-17 season with the 10th

Annual Emerson SPRING TO DANCE Festival on Memorial Day Weekend. As one of the region’s must-see festivals, SPRING TO DANCE brings together more than 30 professional dance companies from across the country for three unique, exhilarating nights over Memorial Day weekend. From ballet, modern and contemporary to Indian, West African, aerial and tap, the festival presents a wide spectrum of dance styles, offering something for everyone with a different program each night.

A total of 10-11 performances from different companies take place each night of the festival. At 6 p.m. performances by four professional companies begin in the Lee Theater, followed by the 7:30 p.m. mainstage performances in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall by six or seven more professional companies.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. when St. Louis-area community dance groups lead interactive demonstrations in the Touhill’s Terrace Lobby, performing a range of dance styles such as hip-hop, African, hula and Central American folk dance. This year’s local community groups include: Tribe Ayaka, Hip Hop Foundation Fanatics, Grand Center Arts Academy – Dance Ensemble, Chasing Lights, Alma de Mexico, Grupo Atlantico, Dance Life Center, Alexandra Ballet.

The participating professional companies of the 10th Annual Emerson SPRING TO DANCE® FESTIVAL 2017 come to St. Louis from as far as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington State on the West Coast to New York City and Washington D.C. on the East Coast as well as numerous Chicago-based companies.

The full line-up of participating companies and festival schedule are: Friday

MAY 26

Lee Theater, 6-7 p.m.

Christopher K. Morgan & Artists Clinard Dance Lehrer Dance Collage Dance Collective A-B Performance Hall, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

MADCO Sewam American Indian Dance DanceWorks Chicago Divine Rhythm Productions ft. Jason Samuels Smith & Igmar Thomas Joffrey Ballet Idaho Regional Ballet

Friday

MAY 26

Lee Theater, 6-7 p.m.

Kambre’ Contemporary Dance Company Prakriti Dance Neos Dance Theatre Ate9 dANCEcOMPANY Leverage Dance Theater* (performing a special environmental piece) A-B Performance Hall, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Mid-Columbia Ballet Lucky Plush Productions Chicago Tap Theatre San Francisco Ballet The Dancing Wheels Company The Big Muddy Dance Company

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Friday

MAY 26

Lee Theater, 6-7 p.m.

Same Planet Different World Afriky Lolo Chelonia Dance MOMENTA A-B Performance Hall, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Saint Louis Ballet Dayton Contemporary Dance Company Chicago Human Rhythm Project Miami City Ballet Aerial Dance Chicago/Elements Contemporary Ballet Eisenhower Dance Utah Regional Ballet

Covered by the New York Times and Dance Magazine, the festival has gained national and regional attention for thrilling audiences with a smorgasbord of dance styles from the premier and emerging dance companies for

"In a difficult economic climate, Dance St. Louis has just the ticket.” Time Out Chicago says, “Audiences flock to a ticket price under $20. Dance Magazine states,

the performances—the price is right and the offerings are generous.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says, “Of all the

local Memorial Day weekend events, perhaps the most consistently exciting is the three-night Spring to Dance Festival presented by Dance St. Louis.”

Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

WHAT: 10th Annual Emerson

SPRING TO DANCE® Festival 2017

WHEN:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 26-28, 2017 5:30 p.m. – Terrace Lobby community performances 6 p.m. – Lee Theater performances 7:30 p.m. – Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall performances

WHERE: Touhill Performing Arts Center

TICKETS: $10-20 per night. Call

314-534-6622 or visit http://www.dancestlouis.org.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

pg.

58

For African American Youth & Young Adults Ages 13 – 24 Living in St. Louis City and County

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LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD! SPEAK PREVENTION THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA! FEMALE ONLY SESSION! FEMALES

DATES

Workshop Dates

Oct. 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27 Nov. 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17 **REGISTER BY OCT. 4TH**

Orientation

October 8, 2016

MALE ONLY SESSION! MALES

DATES

Workshop Dates

Jan. 18, 19, 25, 26 Feb. 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23 **REGISTER BY DEC. 31ST **

Orientation

January 14, 2017

TIMES

LOCATION

TIMES

LOCATION

11:30am – 2:30pm 5:30pm – 8:30pm (each day)

11:30am – 2:30pm 5:30pm – 8:30pm (each day)

UMSL ITE Building 4633 World Parkway Circle, St. Louis, MO 63134

UMSL ITE Building 4633 World Parkway Circle, St. Louis, MO 63134

For Additional Program Information call 314-516-8491

REGISTER ONLINE

Sponsors & Partners

www.ProjectY-ChatNow.org

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

HOT GLASS BLOOMS TO LIFE AT THIRD FRIDAY!

pg.

60

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

21

st

Century

CIVIL

WAR

By Pierre Blaine

Author: Movement: Race, Power & Culture in America Available on Amazon.com

pg.

62

The president asks the question – Why did we fight the Civil War?

Ironically, it is the right question – but more to the point – why are we still fighting the Civil War? Unfortunately, the president is leading fighting

War” mentality. It continues to take shape in the relentless assault year after year to deconstruct the Affordable Health Care program for

the Civil War in the 21st century. What a waste of time for the Republican Party to be fighting the Civil War which they have continuously been fighting since President Ronald Reagan.

Every policy being implemented is designed to retard progress this country has made. It is emboldening a constituency that is still fighting the civil war for what purpose? We see it percolating up in police departments where some policeman are killing unarmed black men and boys without provocation. We see it percolating up at the nation’s pastime in which a baseball player is called “Nigger” – 70 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color line.

The professional women tennis dynasty of the Williams’ sisters has endured racial animus every since they climbed to the height of the Tennis Parthenon and - it continues…

20 million Americans. The repeal of the Affordable Health Care program is the epitome and ultimate arrogance of House Republicans and leads the charge in the 21st century civil war. Let’s look at the behind the scenes policy objectives of Congressmen’s protection of their own publicly subsidized healthcare benefits as a U.S. Representative.

We do not have to guess about what government policy looks like when it is implementing “Civil

Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

Members of Congress use a loophole to retain robust benefits in their public healthcare plan through the Affordable Healthcare exchanges.

Congress and their Congressional staffers purchase their healthcare through the District of Columbia’s small business health options program exchange. Members of Congress are on Obamacare and they use this loophole to prevent Congressional staffers from quitting Congress because they if they did not the staffers could not afford to pay their healthcare premiums. Therefore, the 20 million Americans

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

21ST CENTURY CIVIL WAR... cont.

currently using the Affordable Healthcare program should demand the exact same healthcare members of Congress are receiving.

If they cannot do that they should relinquish their healthcare coverage right now.

The Paris Agreement – Le Accord de Paris is an agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Regardless of where you come down on the issue – whether or not human beings are contributing to the horrific examples of extreme weather conditions being evidenced all over the world – we as the guardians of the planet must do what we can to protect it.

Thus, the whole world has come together to do what we collectively cannot do alone – make progress on reducing our carbon footprint to give the world a chance.

The United States of America must remain part of that effort – contact the White House and tell the President to stay in the Paris Agreement.

Do not allow this picture to be the defining moment of us not doing what we can to help the planet give the Polar Bear his habitat back.

pg.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

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John Jennings Associate Professor Visual Studies SUNY Buffalo tumblr: http://jijennin70. tumblr.com/

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

♀

Women of Color &

Pay Discrimination

In 1963, President Kennedy signed into law The Equal Pay Act. Yet more than a half of a century later, women are still pushing for their wages to be on par with men’s.

The issue has spawned a number of terms indicating the gravity and the seriousness of the problem. It includes: ♀Unequal pay for equal work ♀Gender wage gap ♀Gender income difference ♀Pay inequities ♀Male-female income

♀Pay inequality ♀Gender gap in earnings ♀Gender wage divide ♀Pay discrimination

To solve this pesky and longstanding problem, groups are still seeking to have Equal Pay for Equal Work. Simply put, this means men and women who do similar work with similar job titles, education and experience are paid the same. Under this definition, rarely are women paid the same as men. The exception is reportedly in the modeling industry where women models are paid more than males.

Although there’ve been long hard slogs to close the wage gap, there’ve been small incremental gains. For example, in 1963, the pay differential was 59 cents; now it’s around 78 cents. Unfortunately, placed in the broader scope of things and at its current pace, women won’t receive parity until 2059. So do the math, if you will, and it can be reasonably

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assured that many women who are currently in the paid workforce will not be able to enjoy pay equality no time in their work life. Sadder is after retirement, their pensions will be less, if they’re still in existence.

So even in their golden years, women face pension pay gaps.

The issue could be viewed in two ways: Number one, because of sexism, women lack access to opportunities and are either chronically unemployed, underpaid or lagging behind in the labor force and Number two, when women do work on par with men, they’re paid less.

This is a gross display of a double standard and a double whammy of both lack of access to opportunities and pay inequality.

White non-Latino males are the benchmark. This yardstick of measuring the salaries of White men against those of all women is used because generally White males are the most privileged, wield the most power and make the highest wages. As an aside, although Asian American men represent a tiny minority, in general they make higher wages than White males.

Root causes are structural impediments many times buried deep into systems that perpetuate wage losses for women. It could be unwritten, non-verbal even invisible yet discrimination persists and normalized in practice. Suffice it to say, it’s illegal to discriminate, so it becomes a sort of de facto and de jure dichotomy. It’s clearly manifested when you see White males at the top and White women further down and most women of color at the bottom. Hence, men are the beneficiaries of women’s mobility held at bay. Men reap these differentials and gain in

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WOMEN OF COLOR... cont.

power relations and income. Some call it a gender tax on women. Put another way, women are subsidizing men’s salaries and propping up their power.

One of the basic causes for pay discrimination is the undervaluing of women’s work, particularly in traditional female occupations. The work of women of color is undervalued even more. Yet, all women stand to lose: rich or poor, young or old, Blacks, Whites, Latinas, Native Americans and Asian Americans. Men also lose, particularly men of color. This is also a worldwide problem; there’s gender bias throughout the globe. Some places such as the Scandinavian countries do better while others in less developed nations are abysmal. Reportedly, Iceland is scheduled in the not-to-distant future to eliminate the gender wage divide once and for all. This is most likely the only country in the world that will have this distinction.

The reason experts explore and examine root causes so assiduously is an attempt to get at its genesis as well as understand the deepness and pervasiveness of structural barriers. First there are the roots, the tree, the branches and the leaves. In other words, a root cause is an initiating cause that spreads through the system. The tree came from the seed and the seed from the tree and so on. This way we can have further insight into its myriad complexities, because knowing history, sharpens analysis, aids in problem solving and shapes public policy. Since forever, the biological function of women has been childbirth; which some contend is how the problem began. While this is the most powerful and precious act of human beings, that is, producing the

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sanctity of human life, it has also placed mothers in an exceptionally precarious position, hampering their ability to work and compete outside the home, which gives men the upper hand. As a result, they’re frequently held back, rendered lower status and economically exploited.

Over the last several decades, women have been entering the labor force in increasing numbers. Depending on her education, women can lose up to $2 million over the course of their careers. Women of color are shorted even more. This is why the tagline: “I want my million dollars,” by the Wage Project, which seeks to eliminate the wage gap, resonates so much.

The Wage Project website notes: •

•

•

A high school graduate loses $700,000. A young woman graduates from high school this year and goes straight to work at $20,000 a year. Over her lifetime, she will make $700,000 less than the young man graduating with her.

A college graduate loses $1.2 million. A young woman graduates from college into a $30,000 starting salary. Over her lifetime, she will make $1.2 million less than the young man getting his diploma in line right behind her.

A professional school graduate loses $2 million. A young woman gets a degree in business, medicine, or law and graduates into a $70,000 starting salary (along with staggering student loan debts). Over her lifetime, she will make $2 million less than the young man at her side.

According to the PEW Research Center, July, 2016, compared to one dollar made by her White male counterparts: • • • •

Asian American women make 87 cents White women make 82 cents.

African Americans -- 65 cents Latinas – astoundingly low 59 cents

In some states, White men earn more than double the wages of Latinas.

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WOMEN OF COLOR... cont.

Equal Pay Day 2017 was April 4, which includes all women. It shows how far into the year women have to work to earn what men earned in the previous year. But since women of color have borne the triplets of race, gender and class oppression, Equal Pay Day is also observed according to ethnicities of color. Below are the breakdowns.

• • • •

Asian American women - March 7 African American women – July 31 Native American women – September 25 Latina women -- November 2

There are also wage disparities between women of color and men of color. Black men have a pay disparity comparable to White women.

Put it this way, the wages of women of color are at the lowest rung of the ladder. Black women in particular are demonized via stereotypes, misperceptions, misinformation, disinformation and negative images further devaluing their status and their work. Even though, race, gender and class bias has diminished somewhat, this fundamental ideology persists in the U.S. Other contributing factors are outdated and unfair notions that men are the sole breadwinners, still justified by some employers to pay men more. While in point of fact women are increasingly responsible for financially supporting their families, particularly women of color.

Women are the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in more than 60 percent of American families. Hence our livelihoods are increasingly dependent on women’s wages.

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Another contributing factor is race and sex segregation in the labor market. Similar to Blacks being steered into certain neighborhoods, women are also steered into certain occupations, hence the “pink ghetto” of HR (human resources) where professional women are increasingly concentrated. There are also more narrow recruitment methods deployed. At all levels, including senior-levels, there’s a general lack of consideration for mentoring, grooming or putting women on the fast track for special assignments and promotions.

Of the 500 occupations in the U.S., women are concentrated in only 21.

Women are concentrated in mostly traditional occupations, which pay less. Women of color are concentrated even more. Traditional occupations include teachers, nurses, social workers, clerks, domestics and service workers. On the other hand, men who work in traditional women’s occupations are generally paid more. There are also many circumstances that preclude women from casting a broad enough net for advancement. For example: • Insufficient networks can be a barrier to women’s access to opportunities. Most women have more kin (family) networks than non-family networks.

• Traditional family networks are more pronounced among women of color. They are expected and socialized to be almost solely responsible for the domestic/family sphere, including housework, cooking, childcare, etc.

• Many women hold down full-time jobs while responsible for the domestic sphere. “The double-shift” as they call it. This also is a work-life balance problem.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

WOMEN OF COLOR... cont.

• The Mommy track where women are shunted aside after maternity leave. Working mothers are penalized while working fathers are rewarded.

• The sandwich generation also can be a barrier. Women are expected to take care of aging parents and other older relatives plus see after their families and work.

Getting back to networks: Men tend to have more occupational networks, while women, as earlier noted, have more family networks.

Studies show that those who have more occupational (or non-kin) networks tend to have more access to job opportunities. Playing golf or poker, going to conferences, participating on boards and joining clubs can facilitate networking opportunities for career advancement, that is if you have the time and women who are married and/or with children usually don’t have the time.

A man may work from dusk to dawn, but a woman’s work is never done. (An unknown quote dating back to the American Revolution.)

Faring not much better are women in senior level occupations. Women lawyers who make partner face a 44 percent pay gap, according to Bizwoman, 11/30/16. African American women doctors fare even worst, a mere 52 cents compared to their White male counterparts.

There are only four Black CEOs (men and women) in the Fortune 500 as of 2015. There are fewer women of color: Indra K. Nooyi, Pepsico, an Asian-Indian American and Ursula Burns, Xerox, first African American CEO in the U.S. stepped down the end off 2016. Other African Americans, such as Rosalind Brewer, head of Sam’s Club, retired in January this year.

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Despite headwinds that push back progress, women are stouthearted and determined. They’re, in fact, creating tailwinds, bringing up the rear, to fight back against the intransigence or stubbornness of the power structure.

The glass ceiling is one of the most vexing, stoking the noxious winds of sexism in the workplace. The glass ceiling is when a woman is doing everything right but still not getting ahead. Like carbon monoxide, it’s one of those odorless, invisible vapors that swirl around and engulf virtually every woman worker. In addition to unequal pay, it includes low rates of promotions and high rates of turnovers. Sexual harassment also plays a foul role, where women many times are held back if she doesn’t cooperate sexually or under duress, she may leave. Case in point is the recent ousting of Bill O’Reilly, TV host and head money maker at FOX News. Reportedly he had a bad reputation for harassing scores of women, yet his behavior was tolerated for years.

Women are projected to account for 51 percent of the increase in total labor force growth by 2018. Sixty six million women are currently employed in the U.S. with 73 percent working full-time jobs and 27 percent on a part-time basis. So this problem of pay discrimination will worsen without sufficient attention.

These antiquated and patriarchal notions of women’s work (for example, unpaid in the domestic sphere or underpaid in the work place, the public sphere) must be jettisoned if we’re to treat women fairly and

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

WOMEN OF COLOR... cont.

remain a global competitor. As many have noted, due to the evolving service, information- and knowledge-based economy, the nation is moving exponentially into a more feminized, technologically driven and robotized workplace.

As manufacturing jobs, more suited for men, muscled its way abroad, many men were caught in a lurch. Disaffected males, particularly White males, have received a great deal of attention, with pundits claiming joblessness and alienation as reasons working class White males voted in droves for Donald Trump for U.S. president. Yet, Black women and other women of color have faced disaffection and alienation for centuries with nary a peep. Historically, they’ve suffered a litany of disparities and being left behind in this new economy. Nevertheless, it would bode well to address their plight in a more urgent and forthright manner.

The YWCA is another agency tackling this important issue. In St. Louis, Mary Ferguson, PhD, a racial justice advocate at the Y, is doing great work in this area. On its website, titled, Empowerment and Economic Advancement, it states:

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… Women of color are overrepresented in low-wage industries that lack basic workplace protections. There is no doubt that women are central to the economic well-being for their families and play a critical role in our nation's economic prosperity. Despite this, 21st-century workplace policies are out-of-date and do not adequately support a woman's ability to balance work-family demands.

Let’s hope that the YWCA, the Wage Project, AAUW, legislators and other groups quicken the pace to ensure pay equality becomes a reality before 2059 so that women currently in the workplace can feel more respected, recognized and fully compensated for their contributions.

Equally as important are huge swaths of women who rarely make a living wage. Families (including children), communities and even the society would be much better off as the YWCA has noted, not to mention advancing the status and dignity of this often underrepresented group.

Said Rachel Toalson, poet, essayist and journalist as well as mother of six: “I get it. Our society is still finding its way into gender equality. We are still fighting for equal rights for women. Traditionally, men were the breadwinners and women the caretakers. So this is a new’ thing for some of us, but as a society, we should be farther along than we are.”

Malaika Horne, PhD, is an academic writer and journalist.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

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78

Walking the Blue Line: A Police Officer Turned Community Activist Provides Solutions for the Racial Divide

By Terrell Carter Bettie Youngs Book Publishers

$15.00 paperback

“As I recall my experiences, I find it incredulous that people in law enforcement honestly believe and say that a racial divide and racial profiling don’t exist. An officer’s mind is divided: first, between the police and the general public and second, between the police and minorities.”~ Terrell Carter Walking the Blue Line follows the author’s experiences growing up as a black child in St. Louis, MO, a racially charged city still trying to overcome its divided past, and his five year journey as a law enforcement officer which led him to reevaluate his views on citizens and police alike. Readers are taken on a compelling journey as he details personal stories of the challenges of navigating this new world, including how he had to testify against a former partner for falsifying a major drug arrest.

Terrell details the thoughts and tactics of police officers based on their training in the police academy and lessons they learn on the streets and how this information can help citizens better understand why officers do what they do while still holding them accountable for protecting and serving their communities.

Walking the Blue Line can be ordered from www.terrellcarter.net, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and traditional booksellers.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

COLTRANE & NADHIRI COLTRANE AND NADHIRI

It might be argued that Langston Hughes’s Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods

for Jazz ( New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971 ) can make readers more attentive to combinations of words and music and to the issues of response and interpretation broached in Stephen Henderson’s Understanding the New Black Poetry: Black Speech and Black Music as Poetic References (New York: William Morrow, 1973). More recent critical discussions of musical and verbal aspects of African American poetry extend the thinking Henderson initiated, but they do not displace the centrality of his formations in the development of theoretical discourses. We have yet to sufficiently critique his insights about how “mascon” (a massive concentration of Black experiential energy) informed African science and currently informs “the meaning of Black speech, Black song, and Black Poetry” (44). Henderson’s considerations of origins play nicely against the laughing barrel, signifying humor of Hughes’s liner note entitled “Jazztet Muted”:

Because grandma lost her apron with all the answers in her pocket (perhaps consumed by fire)

certain grand- and great-grandsons play music burning like dry ice against the ear. Forcing cries

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o

f

succor from its own unheard completion --- not resolved by Charlie Parker --- can we look

to monk or

Monk? Or let it rest with Eric Dolphy? (92) For Hughes’s blues-jazz composition , Dolphy, Monk, Ornette Coleman, Dizzy, Duke, Ella, Miss Nina, Carmen, and Hawkins revolve in the orbit of Charlie Yardbird Parker, but John Coltrane (1926-1967) remains unnamed (not called for or evoked) “in the quarter of the Negroes/where black shadows move like shadows”(77); the absence of Coltrane may be a cultural comment rather than an oversight. The tacit comment, of course, signals the limits in Hughes’s imagination of the space that consciousness of theoretical science should occupy. When Hughes wrote Ask Your Mama, a brilliant example of what jazz poetry can be, Coltrane had yet to be embraced by many black music aficionados with a love supreme; a handful of Coltrane’s fellow musicians might have overtly appreciated his sustained interest in physics, although good musicians intuit physics in their improvising.

The embrace did manifest itself , three years after Coltrane’s death, with the publication of Michael S.

Harper’s Dear John, Dear Coltrane (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1970), as seminal a work as Ask Your Mama.

Joyce Pettis has noted that in Harper’s collection we can find

“a force crystallizes and spirals in an unanticipated form.

John Coltrane is this

force, negating violence and death through his inimitable music and answering hate with a love supreme through which he enables the survival of others more than himself” (African American Poets: Lives, Works, and Sources. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. 145. Such books as Lewis Porter’s John Coltrane: His Life and Music (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989) and Coltrane on Coltrane: The John Coltrane Interviews (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2010), edited by Chris DeVito, and John Scheinfeld’s documentary CHASING TRANE (2017) signal a need to study Coltrane as more than a reference in African American poetry. Harper gave birth to brightness. Coltrane and his music radiate in the realm of jazz poetry.

The import of such radiance is explored in Stephan Alexander’s The Jazz of Physics: The Secret Link Between Music and the Structures of the Universe (New York: Basic Books, 2016).

Just as Coltrane was in the shadows of attention in Ask Your Mama, Asili Ya Nadhiri’s innovative poetry

(tonal drawings in poetic form) remains in the dim shades of black literary history and is known mainly by those who read his website (http://www. nadhiriwrites.com) or one of his postings on Facebook, or who have read his chapbook the inner recesses of an abandoning life (2004) and listened to the 39 tracks on its appended CD. The reason may be that his poems do not appear in widely circulated journals and anthologies. He is mentioned in neither of the influential anthologies of innovative poetry edited by Aldon Lynn Nielsen and Lauri Ramey, Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone: An Anthology of Innovative Poetry by African Americans (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2006) and What I Say: Innovative Poetry by Black Writers in America (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2015). A single poem, “hustling our absurdings in place,” appears in Black Gold: An Anthology of Black Poetry (Savannah: Turner Mayfield Publishing, 2014), edited by Ja A. Jahannes.

Some Chinese readers know of his work from Wang Zuyou’s “Tonal Drawings Written in Poetic Form? --An Interview with Asili Ya Nadhiri.” Foreign Literature Studies 37.5 (October 2015): 1-9, or from my lecture on his poetry at Central China Normal University in September 2011. There I argued that (1) Nadhir’s poems

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COLTRANE & NADHIRI... cont.

exploit transitions and transformations in new representations (words) to describe the experience of time and (2) ) his work is a continuing effort to forge a new performance genre that integrates theme and thought (the word, poem, text) with musicality (activation of the poem in highly rhythmic renderings that may or may not involve instrumental music) and the visual (typography). His uniqueness is not found on the page. It

must

be discovered by thinking about the significance of his creative process, his aesthetic. That lecture may eventually become an essay on tonal drawings as innovations. But what do American readers know about Nadhir’s innovations, about how they may be related to the aims of the African American Intellectual History Society “to expand the boundaries of who counts as an intellectual and what constitutes thought itself”?

Of course, Nadhiri is but one of hundreds of unsung innovative American poets. His affinity with jazz

musicians, including Coltrane, and his sustained thinking about the explanatory limits of physics warrant our giving more attention to the body of his work and, thereby, expanding literary histories. So too do the parallels in his poetics with, in the words of T. J. Anderson III, an ethnomusical tradition “that uses several of the standard musical tools of jazz to craft a work that is distinctly individual while also voicing the collective consciousness of the African diaspora” (Notes to Make the Sound Come Right 174). The second stanza of Nadhiri’s recently issued tonal drawing “so hastily demising” brings the right sound to the ear :

imploding echoes are snoring in the belly of all our rapaciously ajudicating verdicts our fawning marble-ling institutions and their yawning substitutions

and common disdaining ablutionings

are desperately devouring each other for one another’s cracked cup of some noma-nating brew on and on and on and on

and always we acting like

this is something brand new Copyright © 2017 Asili Ya Nadhiri

Keeping in mind Stephen Henderson’s critical categories of theme, structure and saturation, we might use this stanza to begin questioning what points of origin in science and music are relevant to Nadhiri’s creation of a new genre; more precisely, we might ask questions about African American creative processes as epistemologies which delineate a genre of being and thinking as works of art. ~Jerry W. Ward, Jr.

pg.

82

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

Portfolio Fundraiser Moves to Artist's Studio Janet Riehl's "Women & Wardrobe: The Riehl Collection" exhibit has finished it's successful run at The Portfolio Gallery and Education Center. It brought in $2,000 to help with much-needed building repairs. Many people went home with framed ($150) and unframed ($50) prints they love, and a good time was had by all.

Folks have said they would have loved to have seen the show, and were sorry they missed it. Janet has decided to host At Home evenings on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. so you can! Come visit, enjoy the work, and of course buy whatever calls to you.

Any profit realized will continue to benefit Portfolio Gallery.

If you'd like to come, please contact her at janet.riehl@gmail.com.

Janet and Robert Powell, director of Portfolio Gallery and Education Center appeared on Fox 2 news. http://fox2now.com/2014/07/29/women-wardrobe-and-art-on-a-cell-phone-atportfolio/# Janet and her art was featured in the Alton Telegraph. http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/home_top-lifestyle-news/50095336/Artists-workmakes-Riehl-results#.U-Tbf1Ao7qC

Come on out! Meet some new people and enjoy some playful, colorful, and sensuous art inspired by African Women.

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OLIVE BAR ROOFTOP O P E N TO N I G H T Click to RSVP COMPLIMENTARY ENTRY 10PM-11:30PM(ladies) and 11:00 (Men)

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Featured

Artist

Submission

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Sami

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Bentil

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

What do I do?

I help the college bound teens of busy parents write extraordinary college entrance essays. And, I provide perceptive leaders with trustworthy diversity & inclusion facilitation.

My book, Chop: A Collection of Kwansabas for Fannie Lou Hamer, is available at www.femininepronoun.com

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

Featured

Poetry

Submission

"Black Urban Removal" We were warned When they started "black urban renewal" It quickly transitioned To black urban removal Masked as gentrification We lost generations of wealth By not paying attention To the changes in urban education Calling it "standardized testing" According to whose standards?

Got brothers thinking They the shit On stage with laniards and forties at a show While calling every woman Including their moms A bitch and a ho Oh It don't apply to yours So, the rest of the women In your life Must be bitches and whores?!

You see We were warned When they started "black urban renewal" It quickly transitioned To black urban removal With the help of tell-lie-visions Baby sittin our chirren Jerry springin' all over the place as the bottom of the well Chants his name Now we have two rejects Stomping for Trump Because they drank the Kool aide Damn near drowned in it Now they are lost in space A place where they forgot their race They will be reminded The moment the cops Pull up behind them Stretch them And spray them Taze them and blaze them...

Yup We were warned When they started "black urban renewal" It quickly transitioned To black urban removal And we are doing everything in Our power to help them When we stand in line For Jordan's and smart phones While our the lights are off In half of our homes...

That some don't even own - renting what could be yours If only you paid attention When they tried to warn us that they were going To start "black urban renewal" that quickly transitioned into black urban removal.

Where ya living now?

Next to a Starbucks, that never gave an elevated fk About the ma and pa stores...

Too late, They're outta luck Because it take seven words and thirty-two syllables To order one cup of coffee...

We were warned When they started "black urban renewal" that quickly transitioned To black urban removal...

Got us playing Hide and seek with our freedom Cops and robbers with Cops who rob us of our dignity...

Oh snap, some of us gave THAT away a long time ago...

So, on to the next reality show...

And now a word from your sponsors In rehab and abandoned buildings - They tried to warn us Made it clear that they wanted "black urban renewal" to make it easy for black urban removal.

- kdmorris (poet) (c) 2016

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KD

Copyright Š 2017 - All rights reserved.

Morris

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Photo credit: LaMarr McDaniel Photography

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BIO kdmorris was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. When he was eight years old, he took his late mother's Kodak 110 camera apart and put it back together.

He learned that was a major "no-no." He was always one to dig beneath the surface to see what makes things work. Now, more than 40 years later, he photographs people as they work and enjoy life. With little formal training, kdmorris honed his craft by following the leaders in the photographic community through reading books and articles and asking questions of other photographers. Through trial and error, which was an expensive approach but a rewarding lesson, it paid off. As a result, kdmorris has become well known for his fashion, event and concert photography as well as "everything you need a photographer ​for..." photographer.​ kdmorris is also a brand ambassador for Black Rapid, a leading camera accessory company.

www.kdmorrisphotography.com www.reverbnation.com/kdmorris

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

Featured

Artist

Submission

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John

Jennings

Associate Professor Visual Studies SUNY Buffalo tumblr: http://jijennin70. tumblr.com/ Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Greetings everyone! I hope you are well. Just a personal note from me to say I would love to speak at your college, university, high school, corporation or company, or community. As some of you know I am the author of 12 books, including The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey into Manhood; I do work like this across America and globally, as both a speaker and change agent bringing all kinds of people and communities together for real and honest dialogue, for practical solutions and action steps; and I am a co-founder of BK Nation, our non-profit that focuses on civil rights and human rights for all people.

Here is a link for my full BIO: http://www.kevinpowell. net/about.php And attached are details about some of my topics. I would love to work with you.

I thank you all, Kevin Powell

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CAM City Wide “Open Studios

10.09.16

10th Annual Open Studios STL This year marks the tenth anniversary of Open Studios STL, featuring over 200 St. Louisbased artists and art spaces; sponsored by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.

The Jewelry, Poetry, Art, Carvings, project sketches and ideas of artisan David A. N. Jackson will be on display in The 2nd Floor Boutique 5555-5557 Etzel Avenue 63112 and in workshop display areas of the location. “This marks my first year of participating in OPEN STUDIOS (2016) so I hope to make it exciting, thought-full, thought provoking, & on point.

Portions, illustrations, and considerations of continued dialog are being created in reflection, response, and interreaction to what the world

and current climate environs asks, expects, and demands of Black/ African-n-America artists and persons of color. There are and will be some extra arts & music expression for you to InJoy by members, musicians and friends of PEPAA –(the Progressive Experimental Positive Arts Association).

Stop on by. Shop and buy. Sit, Look, Listen, and Chill Out.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1306956772671767/ Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

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“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:34-40 NIV

We seek to impact the world with the love of Christ one life at a time!

Hopelessness and desperation are on the rise in a world where the greatest segment of the population possesses the least amount of resources.

We need your help! Please help us fight this epidemic by sending your tax deductible donations/contributions to: For His Glory Ministries of St. Louis P.O. Box 1942 Maryland Heights, MO. 63043 http://calvarychapelslc.com/homeless-ministry/ For other ways in which you can help please contact Pamela Ford at pamelaford98@gmail.com or 314-216-0744.

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ART OF FOOD

Wellington Well, Well

The dish this month was one of my favorite dishes to make while I was working in San Diego. Salmon Wellington is one of those dishes you will want to try and pull out when you're feeling adventurous. Or even when it's time to impress your beau or your future in-laws. In your mushroom butter you can use any combination of mushrooms you'd like. (I like to use chandeliers and baby fellas.) If you're not a fan of mushrooms that's fine, Google 'compound butters and choose your favorite. The butter in this dish is very important because it helps keep the salmon moist and juicy while it's cooking inside of the pastry dough. Once all the prep work is done, it's such a simple dish to put together.

You'll even be impressed with yourself when you're done. h to put together.

You'll even be impressed with yourself when you're done. ~Léna O. A. Jackson To contact me, get more recipes, find out about events I’m apart of, or to even order some of my food: www.facebook.com/gspDore www.instagram.com/gspDore gspDoreinfo@gmail.com

Salmon Wellington 4 ct Salmon, 4-5 oz each 2 sheets Puff Pastry Dough, thawed Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out both sheets of puff pastry and cut each sheet in half. On a baking sheet, place a piece of parchment paper down & spray the top with non-stick cooking spray. Place 4 of the puff pastry dough on the parchment paper. Spoon a few tablespoons of the creamed spinach down the middle of the pastry sheets. (You want the line of spinach to be slightly shorter than the piece of salmon you're using & less than half the width of it as well.) Pat dry the salmon fillet and place it directly over the creamed spinach. Next take your mushroom butter and spoon it on top of the salmon in a thin layer.

Mushroom Butter 2 C Butter 1 1/2 C Mushrooms, mixed & chopped 2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning 1 Tbsp Oregano Take your mixture of mushrooms and finely chop. In a medium saucepan, melt butter and add shallots & minced garlic. Next add chopped thyme leaves, chopped rosemary leaves, salt and black pepper. (Alternatively you can add 3 Tbsp Italian seasoning & 1 Tbsp died oregano.) Sauté for 3-4 minutes and set aside to cool. Once cooled off, combine softened butter with the mushroom mixture. Set aside in refrigerator until ready to use.

Carefully place a stretched piece of puff pastry on top of the salmon piece to cover it. Using a fork, pinch the edges all the way around. (If the pastry is too soft, it will stick to the fork. Dip the fork in cold ice water and continue creating the design on the puff pastry.) Brush each wellington with egg wash or spray with your desired cooking spray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until pastry is golden and puffed. Once done baking, let the salmon wellington stand for 10 minutes before cutting & serving.

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Creamed Spinach 32oz+ Spinach, raw 3 Tbsp Garlic Cloves, minced 3/4 C Heavy Cream 3/4 C Whole Milk 1/2 C Butter 1 C Shredded Cheese (Italian Cheese Mixture, Parmesan or Gruyere) 1/4 C Shallots, minced 2 tsp Salt 1 tsp Black Pepper, freshly ground Melt butter in a 6 to 8 quart pot over medium heat. Stir in garlic and shallots & sautĂŠ until tender. Slowly whisk in heavy cream and milk until smooth. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and stir periodically. Next add in your raw spinach. Cover and increase the heat to medium, which will steam and slightly wilt the spinach, approximately one minute.

Remove the lid and stir (using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula) the hot cream sauce from the bottom over the top of the spinach. Continue until spinach is completely wilted. Set aside and let cool.

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Roasted Asparagus & Blistered Tomatoes 1 bunch Asparagus, ends trimmed 1/2 C Cherry Tomatoes, halved a.n. Salt and Black Pepper 2 Tbsp Lemon Pepper Seasoning 1 tsp Garlic Powder 1 tsp Onion Powder 1/4 C Shredded Parmesan (optional) a.n. Vegetable or Extra Virgin Olive Oil Toss asparagus & tomatoes with oil and spices. Place on a baking sheet, be sure to spread asparagus spears out. If using, sprinkle cheese on top of the veggies. Bake for 15-20 minutes, along with your Salmon Wellington at 400 degrees F.

Doré

Bon Appétit, Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

R A T S L AL M O TO R S , I N C .

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for more info visit us online

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for more info visit us online

100 VEHICLES FOR SALE

OVER KEVIN TAYLOR (314) 427-6550 office (314) 540-8618 cell (314) 423-9133 fax sales@allstarmotorsinc.com kevin.taylor.sales@gmail.com

WE SELL VEHICLES FOR CASH. PRICES ARE NEGOTIABLE. 9201 ST. CHARLES ROCK RD. \ ST. LOUIS, MO. 63114

MAKE ME AN OFFER. www.Allstarmotorsinc.com pg.

132

Rickkita Edwards teaches Core:Cardio & More @ North Co.Rec Center

every Mon-Wed- Fri.

5:30 PM-6:30 PM

She also teaches "WaistNWeights" every Mon

@ Faith Miracle Temple

7:15 PM-8 PM

Contact me today for personal training sessions!

314-566-9125 I.G WaistNotFitness | FB WaistNotFitness | Email:WaistnotFitness1@yahoo.com Copyright Š 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

“Acting White”

Share your Story Dear friends: I have been asked to write a chapter in a book that will address colorism in education. My chapter will focus on “acting white.”

Specifically, when I was growing up, I was a “smart” student. My top performance in school, doing homework, raising my hand to answer questions, etc. often drew the accusation from my African American classmates and friends that I was “acting white.”

Now, I know there are psychologists out there who say this is not true and does not exist. But alas, it was absolutely true for me. I have written about this in past works. I will do so again for this new book. I do know that many young folks today who continue to have such allegations hurled at them so feel free to share this email with whoever and have folks email me directly.

I did a survey on this very question about 7 years ago and the results were consistent with my experiences decades ago. I’d like to update my earlier survey. I would love to hear from anyone out there who has a similar/related story either involving yourself or someone you know. I would like to include your story in the chapter. I will conceal your identity if you request.

Do you have a story to share? If so, please email to me at: norwood@wulaw.wustl.edu.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead Kimberly Norwood , Professor of Law | Washington University School of Law pg.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

News, Podcasts and More!

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Destined For The Dreamer

An Easter Basket of Messages & Memories

Arkansas Separates MLK Holiday and Robert E. Lee Recognition Copyright Š 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

ART OF HEALING

Your Ad or Article could be here!

Contact us if you have a contribution to the ART OF HEALING.

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RICKKITA EDWARDS

CARDIO-CORE & MORE AT NORTH COUNTY REC. CENTER

TIMES: MON WEDS FRI 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

She teaches a class 2 Mondays a month at Faith Miracle Temple 7:15 pm - 8:00 pm.

(ALL CLASSES ARE FREE)

COMING SOON! WAIST-NOT FITNESS PERSONAL TRAINING #GETWAISTEDBYRICKKITA

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

Ajuma Muhammad Author of 101 Proven and Effective Strategies for Empowering Black Boys

WATCH NOW!

1 0 Strategies

f o r E m p o w e r i n g B l a c k B oy s 1. Black boys should maintain a healthy relationship with God. 2. Black boys should honor and always respect their parents.

3. Black boys should embody greatness in everything they do.

4. Black boys should take pride in their history and culture.

5. Black boys should empower their community through leadership and service.

6. Black boys should be role models in their communities.

7. Black boys should honor, respect and protect the black woman.

8. Black boys should work to establish an economic foundation in their communities.

9. Black boys should travel internationally to better understand their place in the world.

10. Black boys should love themselves!

www.ajuma.org

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Copyright Š 2014 by Ajuma Muhammad

Book of Poetry by

Lenard D. Moore

th on 30 iti d Ed ite ry Lim ersa niv

An

http://www.mountainsandriverspress.org/Home.aspx

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Hello, I would love it if you took a moment to check out my GoFundMe campaign: CLICK GOFUNDME LINK BELOW TO DONATE https://www.gofundme.com/black-archaeologist-season-4

Your support would mean a lot to me.

Thank you so much!

- Michael Lambert

Black Archaeologist.

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Sycorax's Daughters

~ Edited by Kinitra Brooks, PhD, Linda D. Addison, Susana Morris, PhD. Forward by: Walidah Imarisha

A powerful, revealing anthology of dark fiction and poetry by Black women writers. The tales of what scares, threatens and shocks them will enlighten and entertain you.

Sycorax’s Daughters’ stories and poems delve into demons and shape shifters from Carole McDonnell’s “How to Speak to the Bogeyman” and Sheree Renée Thomas’ “Tree of the Forest Seven Bells Turns the World Round Midnight” to far future offerings from Kiini Ibura Salaam’s “The Malady of Need”, Valjeanne Jeffers’ steampunk female detective in “Mona Livelong: Paranormal Detective II” and others.

These thought-provoking twenty-eight stories and fourteen poems cover creatures imagined— vampires, ghosts, and mermaids, as well as the unexpected price paid by women struggling for freedom and validation in the past—slavery to science-fiction futures with transhumans and alternate realities. Leave the lights on and join these amazing authors as they share their unique vision of fear.

Tiffany Austin - Tracey Baptiste - Regina N. Bradley - Patricia E. Canterbury - Crystal Connor - Joy M. Copeland - Amber Doe - Tish Jackson - Valjeanne Jeffers - Tenea D. Johnson - R. J. Joseph - A. D. Koboah Nicole Givens Kurtz - Kai Leakes - A. J. Locke - Carole McDonnell - Dana T. McKnight - LH Moore - L. Penelope - Zin E. Rocklyn - Eden Royce - Kiini Ibura Salaam - Andrea Vocab Sanderson - Nicole D. Sconiers - Cherene Sherrard - RaShell R. Smith-Spears - Sheree Renée Thomas - Lori Titus - Tanesha Nicole Tyler - Deborah Elizabeth Whaley - L. Marie Wood - K. Ceres Wright - Deana Zhollis

Review:

“

Sycorax's Daughters introduces us to a whole new legion of gothic writers. Their stories drip with history and blood leaving us with searing images and a chill emanating from shadows gathered in the corner. This anthology is historic in its recognition of women of color writers in a genre that usually doesn't know what to do with us.

”

- Jewelle Gomez, author The Gilda Stories

About the Editors: Kinitra D. Brooks, Ph.D. is an associate professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her research interests include contemporary African American and Afro-Caribbean, black feminism, and horror studies.

Linda D. Addison grew up in Philadelphia and received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University.

She is the award-winning author of four collections including How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend. She is the first African-American recipient of the HWA Bram Stoker Award® and has published over 300 poems, stories and articles.

SUSANA M. MORRIS, PhD. is an associate professor of African American literature at Auburn University and co-founder of the popular feminist blog, The Crunk Feminist Collective.

Sycorax's Daughters is available for Preorder on Amazon until March 10. Follow this link. http://amzn.to/2lsxgz3 ~~ Rochon Perry Publisher, Cedar Grove Publishing website: www.cedargrovebooks.com twitter.com/cedargrovebooks facebook.com/cedargrovepublishing

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OPPORTUNITIES

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Closing in on my goal for “Fire this Time” - if everyone would do two things 1) support the making of this film with just a $20.00 donation and 2) encourage 2 of your friends to do the same - it will allow me to license some additional footage and photos - you can donate now by going here: http://www.cmt-tv.org/#!join-the-team/c1195 CMT-TV.org is a 501c3 non-profit organizations thus your donations are tax deductible - thank you - the making of this film will help me attract more resources which will allow real community filmmaking in STL -Phillip W. Johnson Producer of the #Ferguson Film Fire this Time

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CAREERS

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Volume 4.3 May 22, 2017

Over 30 Issues Published

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