The danger behind the power dunk SEE PAGE 7
East Central Florida’s Black Voice
EE FR
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN: Improving the odds for America’s children See page 4
Food brings Hope donates tablets to Westside students SEE PAGE 3
APRIL 17 - APRIL 23, 2014
YEAR 39 NO. 16
www.daytonatimes.com
Local races starting to heat up Cusack facing several challengers for her County Council At-Large seat BY ASHLEY D. THOMAS DAYTONA TIMES aysheldarcel@gmail.com
Daytona Beach Commissioners Carl Lentz, Kelly White and Patrick Henry have thrown their names into the proverbial election hat for Election 2014. The three incumbents in Districts 1, 3 and 5 face no challengers for the Nov. 4 election al-
though there’s still time for others to enter the race. The city commission consists of seven elected officials – one mayor and six zoned commissioners. They each serve fouryear terms and elections are staggered on even-numbered years. For this reason, Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry as well as Commissioners Pam Woods, Robert Gilliland and Paula Reed will remain on the commission for another two years uncontested.
Cusack’s competition Along with the city seats, various coun-
ty, state and federal spots are up for grabs. One race in particular to be closely watched is the County Council At-Large seat. Current At-Large Representative for Volusia County Joyce Cusack will seek to hold her seat. Her challengers thus far are Patricia Northey, County Council Representative, District 5; Webster Barnaby, Deltona City Commissioner District 2; and Holly Hill Mayor Roy Johnson. The County Council makes broad policy decisions much like the board of directors of a major corporation. It also reviews and approves the county’s annual budget and
Patrick Henry
Kelly White
Carl Lentz IV
passes ordinances as necessary. These elected officials are elected for a term of four years. The current Daytona Beach representative, Josh Wagner, District 2 was elected in 2012. Please see RACES, Page 2
Teacher, former Times writer Annie Doris Christian dies BY ASHLEY D. THOMAS DAYTONA TIMES aysheldarcel@gmail.com
“Amazing Grace’’ was her favorite song. She was a good cook and she liked flowers. Those are the sweet memories Leonard Christian has of Annie Doris Porter Christian, his mother who lived to be 84 years old. The longtime local resident died on April 8. Mrs. Christian was a very active member of Greater Friendship Baptist Church where she served as a Sunday School teacher and on other boards and auxiliaries. She also was a deliverer of the Daytona Times and wrote opinion pieces. Born on July 11,1929, she was a 1949 graduate of Carver High School in Dawson, Ga. She attended Albany State College prior to transferring to BethuneCookman College where she was conferred a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education on May 28, 1956.
Taught over 30 years She received a teacher’s certificate in 1957. Known as a very caring and loving teacher to all of her students, Mrs. Christian was employed with the Volusia County School System where she taught first and second grade students for over 30 years until her retirement. She was assigned to her first teaching job at Bonner Elementary School, transferred to Campbell Elementary School then to Highlands Elementary as a result of the integration of public schools. Mrs. Christian received a Masters of Education at Florida A&M in 1972. She married Leonard Victor Christian on July 16, 1951. To this union, five children were born.
Wrote columns Mrs. Christian was a life member of the NAACP, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Volusia Educators Association, Florida Retired Educators Association, and the National Council of Negro Women. After her retirement, she delivered the Daytona Times and also penned opinion columns. “She wrote for the newspaper a very long time ago,” her son related. He also told the Times this week that his mom was an avid gardener who loved yellow and red flowers. She was awarded many beautification Awards from the City of Daytona Beach. Her family also shared “she loved to sing, spend time with her family, attend Sunday School and church. She loved life and did everything that she could to keep her family happy and together. She instilled education in all of us by encouraging us to learn something new each and every day.” Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. April 19 at Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Daytona Beach.
ALSO INSIDE
Children were given the opportunity to learn about the legacy of Dr. Bethune while having fun during a “Learn and Grow” art workshop.
Festival celebrates accomplishments of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Far left: Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was an American educator and civil rights leader, she served President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a member of his Black Cabinet.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
T
he inaugural Mary McLeod Bethune Cultural Heritage Arts Festival was held April 6-13. The seven-day celebration of educational and cultural events featured national and local speakers, educators, musicians, artists, poets and craftspeople. The purpose of the festival was to celebrate the accomplishments of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Bethune-Cookman University and the National Council of Negro Women. The event was organized by Bethune’s granddaughter, Dr. Evelyn Bethune, who said she wants to see it grow into one of the largest festivals in the southeast region. During the celebration, an awards gala was held to present the Mary McLeod Bethune Cultural Heritage Arts Festival Bridge Builders Award. Recipients were Donna Gray-Banks, Arts & Culture; Con-
gresswoman Corrine Brown, Civic Engagement; Mayor Derrick Henry, Economic Development; Dr. Edison O. Jackson, Education; Dr. John P. Johnson, Education; Dr. Charlie Salter, Philanthropy; and Dr. Michelle Carter-Scott, Faith.
The Bahamas Junkano Shakers based in Miami provided entertainment during the festival. PHOTOS BY DUANE C. FERNANDEZ, SR./ HARDNOTTS PHOTOGRAPHY
Above left: Past presidents of BethuneCookman University serve as the backdrop for the awards gala held Saturday.
COMMENTARY: DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX: WOMEN GET UNEQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK | PAGE 4 CULTURE: R.I.P. T-SHIRTS ARE A POPULAR MEMORIAL FOR SLAIN BLACK MALES | PAGE 5
7 FOCUS
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APRIL 17 – APRIL 23, 2014
BRIEFS
City of Palm Coast plans Easter egg hunts Families will have the opportunity to celebrate the Easter holiday with two fun and free activities – one geared toward children and one for teenagers – offered by the City of Palm Coast’s Parks & Recreation Department. The Teen Flashlight Egg Hunt will be at 8 p.m. Friday, April 18, for students in grades 7-12, at Belle Terre Park, 339 Parkview Drive, Palm Coast. Students should bring their own flashlight to hunt for candy-filled eggs. Refreshments will be provided. On Saturday, April 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., children will have the opportunity to participate in the Eggs’travaganza Egg Hunt at Central Park in Town Center, 975 Central Ave., Palm Coast. Activities will include egg hunts for 14,000 eggs. Three egg hunt times will be offered in the morning, and three more in the afternoon. The schedule is based on child’s age, with opportunities for all age groups in the morning and again in the afternoon. A final egg hunt for all ages will be offered in the afternoon. Admission to both events is free. For more information, call 386-986-2323.
Head Start taking applications for 2014-15 school year
MARTIN H. SIMON/POOL/ABACA PRESS/MCT
Gospel at the White House The Washington Performing Arts Society’s Children of the Gospel Choir perform during an Easter Prayer Breakfast in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Monday.
Mid Florida Community Services, Inc. Head Start program is accepting applications for the 2014-2015 school year. Head Start is a federally funded preschool program that promotes the school readiness of children ages three to five from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development. Children must be three or four years old on or before Sept. 1 and meet low-income guidelines. Parents of children with disabilities are also encouraged to apply, regardless of income eligibility. Head Start welcomes children with medical conditions, children who are homeless, and second language learners. VPK classes are also available. For more information, call 386-736-1325.
Huger golf tournament set for April 19 The Beta Delta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. will present its third annual Jimmy Huger Scholarship Golf Tournament April 19 with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Huger is a longtime member of the fraternity. The tournament will be held at the Daytona Beach Golf Club, 600 Wilder Blvd. Proceeds from the event will fund scholarships for local high school seniors attending college as freshmen in the fall of 2014. For more information, contact John Huger at 386-566-8393.
Open Mic Poetry Festival set for April 19 The sixth annual Open Mic Poetry Festival is at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 19 at the New Smyrna Beach Regional Library, 1001 S. Dixie Freeway. Poets of all styles are invited to perform their original works. Participants must be 18 or older to read. To register to perform, call 386-424-2910 or sign up at the library’s reference desk. The festival is hosted by the Poet’s Corner Poetry Workshop and sponsored by the Friends of the Library in recognition of National Poetry Month.
Florida House questions tax cut for Speedway BY JIM TURNER NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Neither proposal has advanced in the House.
TALLAHASSEE – Floridians should expect the return of the popular “back-to-school” salestax holiday this August. But state funding for Daytona International Speedway and a temporary tax break on gym memberships could be casualties when the House and Senate meet next week on their opposing packages to complete Gov. Rick Scott’s election-year tax cuts. House budget leaders have expressed surprise that the raceway funding was included last week in the tax-cut package. But senators, advancing a number of proposals to help the ongoing speedway improvements, consider the issue an economic development driver. Overall, the two chambers have taken different approaches to filling in the remaining $100 million in tax breaks to accompany a $400 million a year repeal of a 2009 rate hike on motor vehicle registration fees. Scott has already signed the registration fee reduction (SB 156) into law.
2 measures
Middle ground? House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said last Friday the two chambers will “find a middle ground.” But when asked about the Senate’s inclusion of money for the speedway, Weatherford, who has been averse to government funding of stadiums, said, “that would probably be one that we probably would not be supportive of. But it’s early.” The House wants a wide array of tax breaks, from sales-tax holidays on back-to-school items, energy-saving appliances, hurricane supplies and gym memberships, along with the elimination of the sales-taxes on the purchase of child car seats and bicycle helmets for kids, a temporary lifting of sales taxes on the purchase of cement mixers, a loan program for television production in the state, and a lessening of the sales taxes businesses pay
STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT
A drying truck works on pit road during a rain delay during the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach on Feb. 23. for electricity. The Senate has countered with a package that keeps the back-to-school holiday while reducing a tax on cable and phone services, lessening an insurance tax paid by bail bond services, and directing sales tax dollars to assist the $400 million ongoing “Daytona Rising” improvements at the raceway.
‘Nichey stuff’ Melbourne Republican Ritch Workman, the architect of the House plan (HB 5601) that he has christened a “patchwork of awesomeness,” described the Senate’s self-declared “broadbased” proposal as “nichey stuff.” “There is no battle royal brewing, but there (are) definitely going to be some strong negotiations,” Workman said on April 12, a day after the Senate replaced the bulk of the House patchwork. “We have to talk about what stays and what goes. We are very far apart and we need to get together.” Leaders of the two chambers agree that they will provide up to
RACES from Page 1
State, federal elections Three Florida state senators cover the Volusia County area. District 6 Senator John Thrasher (Republican) will contend against Greg Feldman (NPA) for his seat. Neither Republican Senators Dorothy L. Hukill (R) nor David Simmons face competitors at this time for their District 8 and District 10 seats, respective-
Joyce Cusack
Patricia Northey
ly. A sole Florida House of Representatives member covers Daytona Beach. Incumbent Rep. Dwayne Taylor (D), District 26 will face Michael Cantu (R) at the polls. Three current county judges are up for re-elec-
Roy Johnson
Webster Barnaby
tion and face no opponents – Judith “Judy’’ Davidson, Group 1; Steven Henderson, Group 6; and Peter A.D. McGlashan, Group 10. On the state level, current Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam (R) will face Thaddeus “Thad”
$500 million in tax and fee cuts, and maybe go a little above that figure. But they are not looking to go a lot higher.
Hukill optimistic Despite philosophical concerns from Weatherford about stadium funding, Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron and Finance and Tax Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Dorothy Hukill, who has sponsored the speedway funding, believe the racetrack will survive the final cut. “I’m very optimistic that the Speedway legislation will be passed and funded when we leave here in early May,” Negron, R-Stuart, said April 10 after the Senate package was crafted. The Speedway funding has been approved as a standalone measure (SB 208) by the entire Senate, and the potential for the racetrack to get money has been tacked on to a separate proposal (SB 1216) that would require stadium sales-tax-subsidy proposals to be ranked by the Department of Economic Opportunity.
Hamilton (D) while Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater (R) gets a challenge from William Rankin (D). Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) will face George Sheldon (Dem), Perry E. Thurston Jr. (D), and Bill Wohlsifer (Libertarian Party). Gov. Rick Scott has 31 contenders with former Gov. Charlie Christ and former State Senator Nan Rich as his most prominent foes. In the congressional races, U.S. Rep. Ron Desantis (R) District 6, is being challenged by David Cox (D). District 7 U.S. Rep. John Mica (R) has five contenders.
A similar funding proposal during the 2013 session died as lawmakers blocked requests to direct state sales-tax money into a number of stadium projects. The Senate response does includes two measures that were in the House patchwork: a threeday period in August for backto-school shoppers to buy items without paying sales taxes, projected to save Floridians $39.6 million, and a tax discount on pre-paid phone plans, expected to save phone users $1.4 million. The Senate’s back-to-school proposal is similar to a House plan, except when it comes to computers. The Senate plan limits the exemption to non-commercial computers that cost under $750. The House wants the state not to collect sale tax on the first $750 of the cost of computers and electronics, regardless of the overall cost.
Other proposals Individual senators have said they would continue to seek several other proposals from the House package, including salestax holidays on energy-saving appliances and hurricane preparation gear, along with the program that would provide up to $20 million a year in loans for television production in Florida. “I can understand that maybe gym memberships may not make it, but the other (sales-tax holidays) certainly are ones that have been proven in the past to be very successful, and I want to see them put back in,” Workman said. Workman also defended the TV loan program, saying it makes Florida unique as efforts are being made to increase the incentives the state offers film and television production effort. And he said the state shouldn’t impose sales taxes on items it mandates, such as car seats and bicycle helmets for children.
Not too late Volusia County and Daytona Beach citizens who want to contend for a local office seat should be aware of various deadlines. Signed petitions are due by May 19 at noon and paperwork to run, such as certification letters, are to be submitted between June 16-June 20 by noon. For those who choose not to have signed petitions, a qualifying fee equal to 3 percent of salary for office being sought plus an election assessment fee 1 percent and a party assessment fee 2 percent (partisan offices only) can be
paid instead. City elections are conducted by the City Clerk’s office and all others through the Supervisor of Elections office. You must be registered to vote in order to vote in any election. Primary elections will be held Aug. 26 and the General Election is Nov. 4. For more information on current candidates or to seek candidacy information, contact the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Office at 386-2544690 or the Daytona Beach Clerk’s Office at 386-6718023.
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M A YNEWS OR
APRIL 17 – APRIL 23, 2014 COMMUNITY DECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006
Cruise a fundraiser for Flagler NAACP On March 30, 54 people set sail from Fort Lauderdale on the fabulous “Celebrity Silhouette” as a fundraiser for the Flagler County branch of the NAACP. The seven-day event was hosted by Freedom Fund Chair Marie McCray and President Linda Sharpe Haywood. The ports of call were San Juan, Puerto Rico; Basseterre, St. Kitts; and Philipsburg, St. Maarten. Guests enjoyed sightseeing tours, beaches, restaurants and shopping while in port. Shipboard, they enjoyed a variety of fine dining, spa treatments, entertainment, and bouAlfreda tique-style shopBrown ping. The guestrooms were spacious and offered every amenity one would expect from a worldclass ship. Haywood and Mr. and Mrs. Eric Josey were guests of the captain on formal night and thoroughly enjoyed his hospitality. By all accounts, the “fun” raiser was a tremendous success! ••• Join the Flagler County NAACP
PALM COAST COMMUNITY NEWS JEROLINE D. MCCARTHY
for the April 22, 6 p.m., membership meeting at the African American Cultural Society, 4422 North U.S. 1, Palm Coast. Everyone is invited to learn of the NAACP pursuits as well as the branch’s latest success of a fundraising cruise. For further details, contact the NAACP at 386-446-7822.
COURTESY OF HELEN MASON
Helen Mason, Ginger Bradfield and Jacquelyn Faison enjoyed touring St. Kitts while Charles McCray and Freedom Fund Chair Marie McCray were decked out at a formal affair aboard the ship.
AACS still collecting for Relay for Life AACS Relay for Life Team Captain Alfreda Brown disclosed the American Cancer Society’s relay success, which partnered with the African American Cultural Society (AACS). The event was a blast seeing so many friends participating in the Relay for Life events in Flagler County on April 4-5 at Central Park in Town Center of Palm Coast. The Relay for Life events are not only a way of joining the community in fighting cancer
but a way of inspiring hope by raising funds and cancer awareness to help those facing cancer. We started the campaign Feb. 22 with two team members seeking donations, stationed in the AACS Cultural Center lobby. Their names are June Bethel and Hermione McLemore. The other team member is Pamela Skin-
ner of New York, who fund-raised from the New York area. We thank everyone for support. With “your help,” the AACS raised $3,131. The campaign will go on until August 2014, but if you were unable to contribute and would like to make a donation, please contact the AACS at 386-447-7030.
••• As always, remember our prayers for the sick, afflicted and bereaved.
Celebrations Birthday wishes to: my husband, Louie, April 21; Marsha Rode, April 22; Florastine Hancock and Kevin Senior, April 23.
Food brings Hope donates tablets to Westside students
Shown in the photo are Javin Clayton, Katie Hopkins, Luis Pena, Ronnie Cummings, Shanece Appling, Grace Braswell, Alex White, Laron Killins, Travis Gould, Brandon James, Malana Jackson, Israel Gonzalez (ICI Homes), Forough B. Hosseini (founder of Food Brings Hope), Westside Elementary teacher Aimee Shank and Westside Elementary Principal Judi Winch.
BRIEFS
Stewart Memorial to kick off Women’s Day activities with Gospel Fest Stewart Memorial United Methodist Church is hosting Women’s Day celebration activities starting April 24 at 7 p.m. The Women’s Day theme is Christian Women Leading the Way to Christ.’’ All events will be held at the church. Old-fashioned Gospel Fest The Women of Stewart have invited gospel singers from across the county to fill the church with foot-tapping, handclapping music. Free to the public, the Gospel Fest begins at 7 p.m. It will be held at Stewart Memorial, 317 N. Dr. M.L. King, Jr. Blvd., Daytona Beach. ‘Worship in the Yard’ Featuring Carol Coffie as guest speaker and the music of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church of Palm Coast, “Worship in the Yard” will include songs of praise, prayers, a brief spiritual message, food and fellowship. The event is May 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. All guests will be given “Stewart Dollars” to make purchases from “Attic Treasures & Antiques of Stewart” on display. Everything is free. Mothers Day Prayer Brunch Dr. Gwendolyn Grant, columnist for Essence magazine, will be the May 10 guest speaker at this 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. brunch honoring mothers. The 2014 honorees are women who serve as role models and exemplify service, commitment, and faith. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased from the Women of Stewart.
Food Brings Hope (FBH) Founder and Chair Forough B. Hosseini presented 10 new iPad Minis to the FBHonors class at Westside Elementary this month. FBHonors is FBH’s STEM-focused after-school program for academically advanced, high achieving students. “The students we serve at FBH may be economically disadvantaged, but that shouldn’t mean they must be academically disadvantaged as well,” said Hosseini. “We believe that providing access to technology and the educational tools that come with it is an important tactic in pursuing our objective to foster the talent of these bright young minds and ultimately help them reach their fullest potential.” The goal of the FBHonors initiative is to cultivate the talent of high achieving students, in small class settings, through rigorous, varied enhanced opportunities designed to navigate them through high-school, help them enroll in college, and, in doing so, lead them on a path to success. The program, which also includes middle school students from Campbell, Holly Hill
and Hinson, is administered by Westside principal Judi Winch and teacher Aimee Shank. “The students in FBHonors were thrilled to receive the iPads which will help further their explorations involving STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) projects. With this gift, children will be able to continue working on projects at home. This expanded educational experience would not be possible without this generous donation from Mrs. Forough Hosseini,” Winch remarked. FBHonors meets every day after school for three hours per day. The students in the program were selected based on their academic promise and their desire to commit to its rigors. FBHonors is named in memory of Hosseini’s nephew Farshad Babazadeh who was killed in a car accident at 18. For more information about FBH, visit www.FoodBringsHope.org. or contact Fay Theos, Executive Director at 386-4531588 or Fay@FoodBringsHope. org.
Women’s Day Worship Service Daytona Beach City Commissioner Paula Reed will be the May 18 guest speaker at the 10:45 a.m. service. It will include the “Women of Faith Ecumenical Music Ensemble,’’ a melding of voices from the best choirs in the community. The ensemble will provide the music for our 2014 Women’s Day worship service. For more information about the events, contact Shelia Jackson at 386-255-7222.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority seeking scholarship candidates The Daytona Beach graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. is looking for candidates for its 2014 Scholarship Award Program. Participation is open to high school seniors currently enrolled in schools in the Halifax area, namely Daytona Beach, Holly Hill, Ormond Beach and Port Orange. Interested students should check with their school principal or school website for applications. Information also is available at the sorority’s website at www.akagammamuomega.org. The deadline for receipt of completed applications is May 2. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is an international service organization founded in 1908 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. It is the oldest Greek-lettered organization established by college-educated women of African-American descent. The organization has more than 250,000 members in graduate and undergraduate chapters in the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caribbean, Canada, Japan, Germany and on the continent of Africa. For more information, contact Jennifer Thomas, committee chairman, at 386405-5945.
Left to right: Sherry Paramore, UNCF; LaVon Thomas, third-place entrée winner; Robert Jones; Gregory Dew; and Gamma Mu Omega Chapter President Tracia Culver.
Men show their cooking skills at AKA, UNCF event
Desserts: first place, David Howard; second place, Jarrod Mills; third place, Andre Cunningham.
The Gamma Mu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. held its Second Annual Male Cook-off held in partnership with the United Negro College Fund on March 23 at the Daytona Beach Resort & Conference Center. Eighteen contestants competed in the Male Cook-Off event in four categories – appetizers, salad, entrée and desserts. Appetizers: first place, Patrick Bartee; second place, Terence Culver; third place, Robert Jones. Salad: first place, Sir Malcolm Scott. Entrée: first place, Gregory Dew; second place, Robert Jones; third place, LaVon Thomas.
People’s Choice winner In addition, Ferren Harris was the winner of the People’s Choice category, which was voted on by the event’s attendees. The competition’s judges were Gerald Hilliard, associate general manager for Piccadilly Restaurant; Vivian Ray, hospitality and culinary program director at Livingston College, Salisbury, N.C.; and Costa Magoulas, dean of the College of Hospitality and Culinary Management at Daytona State College. Proceeds from the event will go toward college scholarships for Volusia County students.
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7 EDITORIAL
APRIL 17 – APRIL 23, 2014
Women get unequal pay for equal work When John and Ann started working on January 1, 2013, John had an immediate advantage. Because women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn, it took Ann until last Friday [April 11, 2014] to earn the same amount of money that John earned in the calendar year of 2013. The issue of unequal pay is so important that President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act 50 years ago. While we have come a long way, baby, the pay gap has remained stubborn. This is why President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act as soon as he assumed office. This year, to commemorate National Equal Pay Day (that’s the day Ann finally earns as much as John), the president signed an Executive Order protecting workers from retaliation when they speak of unequal pay in the workplace (one of the ways employers can maintain unequal pay is to make discussing pay grounds for firing). The president, through the Secretary of Labor, is also requiring federal contractors to provide data on pay, race, and gender to ensure that employers are fairly paid.
18 months instead of 12 We know all about John and Ann, but what about Tamika? If women earn 77 percent of what men earn, what about African-American women? African-American women earn about three quarters of what other women earn, mean-
DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM
ing that if it takes Ann until April 11 to catch up with John, It will take Tamika until about June 1 – about another six weeks – to catch up. Tamika earns in 18 months what John earns in 12 months. Even African-American women with the highest levels of education experience these differences. White men with a postgraduate degree earn a median salary of $1,666 a week African-American women earn a median salary of $1,000 during the same time period. For all the talk of pay equity and paycheck fairness, the status of African-American women is largely ignored. It wouldn’t take much for the president, or some of those feminist groups who support paycheck fairness to throw in a line or two about African-American women. Nor would it hurt African-American organizations, especially those who serve Black women, to point out this injustice.
Just as important Are African-American women invisible? Don’t we count? African -American women raise the majority of our children, and shoulder many of the challenges in the
African-American community. Ignoring us in a conversation about unequal pay simply marginalizes our experiences and us. The focus on “overall” data is yet another way of marginalizing not only African-American women, but other people of color well. Reporting aggregate data gives some notion of economic progress. Reporting specific data about African American women and men makes it clear, for example, that AfricanAmericans experience depression-level unemployment rates. Lily Ledbetter deserves the limelight she earned because she brought this matter to the president’s attention. There’s a Black woman out there who can tell a similar or more compelling story. She, too, needs to be lifted up. We ought to know her name, see her name on a piece of legislation. Ledbetter is an ordinary shero, a working class woman who stood up for her rights. She reminds us that, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “You don’t have to be great to serve.” We need a sister to remind us that we don’t have to be elected, appointed, or anointed to make a difference.
Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer. She is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C. Write your own response at www.daytonatimes.com.
Improving the odds for America’s children More than 40 years ago, the earliest planning for what would become the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) took place at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. CDF began in 1973 in a Harvard University-owned clapboard house. Our beginning was bolstered by a two-volume publication of the Harvard Educational Review in 1973 and 1974 among whose top editors were CDF staff, many of them graduates of or students at Harvard’s education and law schools. Another young staff attorney, Hillary Rodham, in her first job after law school, contributed an article on the “Rights of Children.” At the same time, CDF staff knocked on doors to look for children out of school in Massachusetts and all across America. A local group, Massachusetts Advocacy, had issued a report on Children Out of School in Boston and we wondered whether this was a statewide or national problem. After knocking on many thousands of doors in census tracts across our country, CDF documented it was a national problem with at least 2 million children out of school, including 750,000 the census said were between 7-13 years old but did not tell us who they were. We found many were children with disabilities. Other children were pushed out by discipline policies, language, and the inability to afford school fees.
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN NNPA COLUMNIST
Report offers findings Children Out of School in America became our first report in 1974. We followed it up by organizing with parents at the local level and collaborating with national organizations concerned with children with mental, physical, and emotional disabilities and many others to help push Congress to enact 94-142 – now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – which for the first time gave children with disabilities the right to a free, appropriate public education. CDF’s first report led to publication of School Suspensions: Are They Helping Children describing many of the practices we are still combating today with school discipline policies that suspend children for a wide range of nonviolent offenses include truancy and subjective offenses like disruptive behavior. After 40 years we are now blessed with a new indispensable evidence-based book from Harvard Education Press—Improving the Odds for America’s Children: Future Directions in Policy and Practice. Kathleen McCartney,
President of Smith College and former Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, was the driving force behind this volume that she co-edited with Hirokazu Yoshikawa and Laurie B. Forcier. Each chapter suggests a prominent pathway for moving forward to level the playing field and improve the odds for children. The volume starts with prenatal and infant health and development, emphasizing parent and caregiver support in a child’s earliest years, moves through the school years and adolescence, and addresses the special needs of the most vulnerable youth involved with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Our children are in trouble and our nation is in trouble, and we must reset our moral and economic compasses. CDF has been sounding the siren with urgency and persistence over four decades and will not stop until it is heard.
Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. Write your own response at www.daytonatimes.com.
Progressives should campaign against the Supreme Court When I first heard the news, my response was one of both outrage and a calm lack of surprise. I knew that there was a very real chance that the Supreme Court, in its McCutcheon v Federal Election Commission decision, would make it even more difficult to have limits on campaign spending. I suppose that I did not want to believe it. Thus, when the decision was issued, I found myself both resigned and furious at the same time. The U.S. Supreme Court’s majority has made a mockery of right-wing allegations that it is liberals who have been engaged in so-called judicial activism. The conservative majority of the Supreme Court has gone out of its way to ensure the political supremacy of what the Occupy Movement called the 1 percent – the plutocrats. There have been discussions ever since the Supreme Court’s notorious decision in the Citizens United case that there is need for a Constitutional amendment that addresses campaign finance. We now have an even more urgent need for such an amendment in
BILL FLETCHER, JR. NNPA COLUMNIST
light of the court’s further opening of the gates to super-money.
Remove corruption So, what do we do? The first and most immediate step must be the formation of a very broad coalition to take initial steps towards securing such a Constitutional amendment. This coalition needs to make the midterm 2014 elections about the super-rich and money in elections. In that sense, candidates need to be running against the Supreme Court. Progressive candidates need to make the McCutcheon decision their battle-cry and use it to demonstrate the extent to which the 1 percent is moving at breakneck pace to derail any pretense of democracy. And they must commit to fighting for a Constitutional amendment to
remove corruption from the electoral process. The McCutcheon decision must be understood in tandem with the voter suppression efforts that we have been witnessing over the past eight years. These are steps that are being taken to hold back the future, that is, to deflate the power of the growing majority in the U.S.A. that is seeking broad and significant social and economic changes. The time has come to refocus the November elections on what is really at stake: the greed and avarice that now feels completely comfortable showing its face in public.
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a racial justice, labor and global justice writer and activist. He is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies and the author of “They’re Bankrupting Us” – And Twenty Other Myths about Unions. Follow him on Facebook and atwww. billfletcherjr.com. Write your own response at www.daytonatimes.com.
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: CYBER SECURITY
MIKE KEEFE, CAGLE CARTOONS
Equal pay for women helps us all Could you use an additional $24,000 in your yearly wages? How about nearly $19,000? Or even just another $11,000 to $12,000? Those figures are what you get – or rather, what women who work full-time don’t get because of the pervasive “wage gap” between women and men. Correcting that injustice is one reason President Obama last week issued an executive order and a presidential memorandum meant to ensure that contractors for the federal government follow equal-pay provisions. True, election-year politics also played their part in the action: One purpose it served was to underscore the opposition of the Republicans in Congress to another proposed federal act – here, the Paycheck Fairness Act – aimed at advancing the rights of women. President Obama won the women’s vote by 14 and 12 points, respectively, in 2008 and 2012, and there’s no reason to believe that either the GOP’s policy positions – on, for example, reproductive rights or social-safety-net issues – or the continual stream of sexist comments from GOP state and federal officials has changed the ratio of women’s voters’ preference. That’s likely the reason GOP officials last week were careful to denigrate the president’s and the Democrat’s actions while fervently declaring their support for the idea of equal pay for equal work – without suggesting any proposals to aid its advance. Their mantra has been to declare the president’s orders will end up hurting women by limiting employers ability to offer job flexibility and merit raises and bonuses.
Equal pay for equal work Many private-sector employers forbid workers from discussing their salaries with other workers, and punish those who do. The discrepancies in wages that enables employers to promulgate was underscored by the Lilly Ledbetter case, which reached the Supreme Court shortly before Obama took of-
LEE A. DANIELS NNPA COLUMNIST
fice. Ledbetter, a 21-year midlevel manager for Goodyear Tire, had discovered shortly before she was to retire that her salary had always been significantly less than men who had the same job title and duties even though her years of service was equal to or greater than theirs.
Too late The Supreme Court ruled that she had discovered the discrepancy too late to bring a case against the company. Immediately upon Obama’s taking office, the Congressional Democrats, who then held both chambers of Congress, passed the Lilly Ledbetter Act to correct that injustice, and it became the first act the new president signed. But there’s no doubt that an overall gap of at least 5 to 12 cents exists between women and men who do the same work. And there’s no doubt that the wage gap that Black and Latina women endure is far sharper than that of their White counterparts. So, given that mothers are the primary or co-breadwinners in nearly two-thirds of American families, and the primary or sole breadwinners for nearly 40 percent of American families, one would be justified in thinking that – in addition to the principle of fairness – eliminating the wage gap would provide a much-needed income boost to women whose wages sustain their families. Rep Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn, a sponsor of the bill, said, “This is not about women, it is about ensuring families, who are more reliant than ever on women’s wages, are not being shortchanged.”
Lee A. Daniels is a longtime journalist based in New York City. His latest book is Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America. Write your own response at www.daytonatimes.com.
Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.
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APRIL 17 – APRIL 2014 DECEMBER 14 -23, 20, 2006
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MCULTURE AYOR
EMILY MICHOT/MIAMI HERALD/MCT
Amanda Brewer in her Liberty City apartment looks over her collection of R.I.P. T-shirts last month in Miami. Many of the victims were relatives of hers who were shot and killed in Miami.
R.I.P. T-shirts are a popular memorial for slain Black males While customers honor other beloved ones through the shirts, the majority of business at a Miami shop comes from those left behind after a violent killing BY NADEGE GREEN THE MIAMI HERALD/MCT
MIAMI — They come to put their dead relatives and friends on a T-shirt. A young woman clutches a photo of her murdered 16-year-old brother. He grins at the camera, his right hand clutching a gun. Three young men line up to pay homage to one of their friends, a “street soldier,” with his Facebook profile picture. Here at Studio X, inside the U.S.A. Flea Market, miles away from South Beach in a gritty pocket of Liberty City, is where Black Miami’s killed are memorialized. Pictures of the deceased are stamped onto plaques and necklace charms, but a majority of customers come to put a picture on a T-shirt. For the bereaved who robe themselves in these memorial shirts, the act is a public expression of their loss. It is a ritual they turn to in their time of grief. It is a testimony of a life prematurely taken by violence in neighborhoods where these killings don’t always make the news cycle.
Often the first stop The Studio X booth, with its purpose emblazoned on a sign out front — “Home of the R.I.P. T-shirts” — is often the first stop before funeral arrangements. And long after the funeral is over, the grief-stricken return. They come on their lost loved one’s birthday and on the anniversary of the killing for more T-shirts to proclaim their sadness. Here, love is a memorial worn close to the heart and out in the street. Ayleen Lopez, the softspoken graphic designer on duty, gently directs customers to a menu of images beneath plexiglass to use as a background for the photo of their loved ones. “People do it because it’s their way of remembering someone they loved,” she said. “Not everyone understands it. In Miami, in the ’hood, this is how you show this person means something to me.” Menu item CR-14 depicts a cross topped with a crown of thorns. CR-17 is a pair of hands clasped in
EMILY MICHOT/MIAMI HERALD/MCT
Hai Haliva, owner of Studio X, and Ayleen Lopez, a graphic designer, work inside the booth at the USA Flea Market, where they design the T-shirts. models for others. Thirtyfive binders sit on the back shelves of the booth. The oldest is from 1994. Nearly every surface of the booth is papered with pictures of the dead. Above one wall, a sign reads, “For those who lost their lives through senseless killings.”
Knew them all CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/MCT
Miami rapper Desloc Piccalo helped popularize the memorial shirt trend with his popular hit “Picture on a T-shirt,” in the mid-1990s. He now encourages young fans to join after-school programs, but he admits his words don’t hold as much sway as the pull of street life for young people who feel that they don’t have other options. “They’re like, ‘Man, three of my friends died this month, so it ain’t nothing. I can go tomorrow, too — I don’t care.’ ” prayer. G-13 is Miami’s skyline bordered by what looks like two AK-47 assault rifles on top and, along the bottom, a row of bullets.
Mostly young Black men Studio X is one of the better-known memorial shirtprinting enterprises locally, but similar businesses dot strip malls and flea markets throughout South Florida. They are part of the urban background of inner cities across the country. “It should be once in a blue moon, but every week it’s another body,” said Leonard Brown, who designed memorial shirts for 12 years at Studio X. The killers and their victims whose likenesses end up on T-shirts are overwhelmingly young Black men. “When you look at mortality, if you’re a White female, White male or Black female, the chief reason you will die before age 35 is mainly an automobile accident,” said Dr. Charles Hennekens, a Florida Atlantic University professor and physician. “But if you’re a Black male, the chief rea-
son you will die is homicide with a firearm.” Hennekens calls it “the new American tragedy,” the disproportionate rate at which young Black men are slain. In an article Hennekens co-authored in The American Journal of Medicine, he wrote that homicide among young Black men is a national epidemic.
Archivists of death The perennial statistics of murdered Black men spurred President Barack Obama to recently unveil “My Brother’s Keeper,” an initiative to intervene in the lives of at-risk boys of color before they interact with the criminal justice system either as a perpetrator or as a victim of violent crime. The White House noted that “African-American and Hispanic young men are more than six times as likely to be victims of murder than their white peers — and account for almost half of the country’s murder victims each year.” In Miami, the designers at Studio X serve as archivists of death. Copies of their shirt designs are cataloged in ordinary white three-ring binders to use as
Passers-by stop to take it all in. “I can see my friends that were killed in the early ’90s. Now, it’s my little brother’s friends getting killed,” said Bennie Thornton, who stopped by long enough to pay his respects to the faces he recognized on a recent afternoon. Inside one of the binders, Thornton found a photo of his cousin Albert, who was murdered in North MiamiDade. The family got shirts made at Studio X. Thornton, 37, grew up in Liberty City’s crime-ridden Pork ’n’ Beans projects, formally known as Liberty Square. As soon as he could, he got out. “I didn’t want to end up on a T-shirt,” he said. Pointing to a banner on Studio X’s wall, a collage of dead young Black men, Thornton said, “I know all these boys. They grew up right around here.”
Much respect for ‘dope boy’ When a well-known “dope boy” — a drug dealer — is murdered, Studio X is overloaded with orders, said Brown, the graphic designer. The drug dealers, minor cult figures in their neighborhoods, gain respect by playing the role of philanthropists, Brown explained. They pay a neighbor’s late rent, buy groceries for a struggling mother or give lunch money to school kids. “When a big name in the ’hood gets killed, for two weeks straight that can be all of our business, people coming to get that shirt,”
Brown said. Lopez, 21, started designing Rest In Peace shirts four years ago. She says the process is routine. First, she uploads the victim’s photo to a computer and places it against the customer’s chosen backdrop. Heartfelt words of remembrance are added: “Gone but not forgotten,” “We love you,” or “In thuggin memory.” The customer approves the final product before Lopez prints her creation. Within minutes, she heatpresses the design onto a shirt. It’s $17 for a design on the front, $22 for a design on both sides. The customers supply their own standard cotton tees — the color of choice is usually black or white.
‘The ghetto’s obituary’ Lopez said that although there are customers who come in to put a grandmother who died of natural causes on a shirt, or an uncle who died suddenly of a heart attack, the majority of the business comes from those left behind after a violent killing. The memorial shirts have become modern mourning garb for the mostly young people who wear them to wakes and funerals in lieu of typical black suits. After the funeral, the shirts are worn to the grocery store, laundromat, gas station. Amanda Brewer owns seven memorial T-shirts. Five depict friends or family members who were killed in Miami’s impoverished Overtown neighborhood. “It’s like the ghetto’s obituary,” she said of her T-shirt collection. One shirt is a tribute to her uncle and cousin — a father and son — killed 14 years apart on the streets of Overtown.
Dad, then son On the front of the white
shirt is a picture of Brewer’s uncle, Jimmy Duncan, with white doves encircling his head. Family members believe he was killed for his flashy gold chains and bracelets. The year was 1989. He was 19 years old. When Duncan died, he left behind a 1-year-old son. That son, his namesake, is on the back of the same shirt. He was killed in 2003, just blocks from where his father was gunned down. Jimmy Duncan III was 15. Last year, over the Labor Day weekend, another of Brewer’s cousins fell victim to the violence in Overtown. Demetrius Hyppolite, 26, was killed by gunfire, multiple bullets piercing his body. He is also on one of her T-shirts. “This is my time to grieve. When I put it on, I’m saying, ‘Yes, they took my family.’ But you know what, they’re in a better place,” Brewer said. “They’re still with me because I wear their shirts.”
‘Free’ shirts popular At Studio X and other Tshirt-printing businesses with inner-city clientele, another type of shirt is slowly gaining popularity, the “Free” shirt for young men and women who land in jail or prison. “When your homeboy gets locked up, you get a ‘Free so-and-so’ shirt. … It don’t matter if he is guilty,” said Brown, who recently left his post in Liberty City to start a memorial shirt business in Broward. A smaller menu beneath a plexiglass at Studio X advertises “Free” shirts. Customers can choose from jail bars, a judge’s gavel or handcuffs as options for backgrounds. “I’d rather do the ‘free’ shirt,” Brown said. “A least they’re still alive. I don’t know who’s going to die next. I just wait for the next picture to come.”
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APRIL 17 – APRIL 23, 2014
East Central Florida’s Black Voice
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M ASPORTS YOR
APRIL 17 – APRIL 2014 DECEMBER 14 - 20,23, 2006
The danger behind the power dunk Vince Carter among players sharing how dunking basketball has taken its toll BY DWAIN PRICE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/MCT
DALLAS — Shane Larkin is perhaps the poster child toward revealing the dangers lurking for players who have an affinity for power dunking a basketball. Last summer, mere hours before Larkin was about to board the Dallas Mavericks’ charter for Las Vegas so he could play in the team’s summer league, the rookie point guard from Miami fractured his right ankle while attempting a fast-break power dunk during a practice session. Larkin, the 18th overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft, was trying to show owner Mark Cuban and coach Rick Carlisle that they had invested wisely in him. But the injury kept Larkin participation in the Mavericks’ summer league, training camp and the entire preseason, and he also missed the first 10 games of the regular season after undergoing surgery July 16. “Cuban and Carlisle, that was the first practice they came to, so I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m about to show them what’s up,’ ” Larkin said. “And I went to plant my foot, my foot went and cracked. “I took off wrong and I landed wrong. I was laying on the ground, I got up, then I walked up to the training room and I put the ice on it, and then when I took the ice off it was swollen.”
Toll on Bryant, Carter While power dunks have often been used as an intimidating factor that can also be the spark behind a rally, they are not often performed without repercussions. Players such as Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant have talked about the toll power dunks have taken on their forearm, wrist, hands, fingers, knees and ankles. Sometimes a power dunk can leave fingers a bloody mess. San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili tweaked his hamstring during a Jan. 28 game against the Houston Rockets while attempting a power dunk. “I’ve had moments where I’ve dunked the ball harder than normal and caught all the forearm and have a big old lump right there from it,” said Carter, pointing to his right wrist and forearm. “When I dunk the ball, sometimes on the wrist mostly is where you kind of get your lines.
“One of the reasons I started wearing (protective) bands is sometimes it hits there, so it takes some of the pain away. But I always make it a point when I dunk the ball to dunk it with the hands. But sometimes I can still dunk in slow motion, which felt like it was my hand, and I still hit that wrist.”
Powerful but painful Carter said one of his most famous dunks — during the 2000 All-Star slam dunk contest in Oakland, when he stuck his entire right forearm in the basket and hung on the rim — was exceptionally painful. During games, Carter knows power dunks are in vogue because they send a message to the opposing team, regardless of the danger behind that dunk. “I made my mark on trying to dunk on big guys,” Carter said. “But when they see that the little guy is coming up there dunking with power, they’re like, ‘All right, if I try to block it this little man might break my hand.’ “So every time I was by myself I tried to dunk it with power to make a statement. It was like, ‘All right, this will be your fingers if you put your hand up there,’ so I think after a while when they see you come in there and they know I wasn’t afraid to try and jump over people with the power, they’d think twice.”
Shattered glass It’s not just the players doing the dunking — or the ones trying to block a dunk attempt — who are in the line of fire when power dunks are being executed. The basket is not immune to such power. In 1979, Darryl Dawkins of the Philadelphia 76ers held up two games within a span of three weeks when he broke two rims and shattered the backboard glass with powerful dunks. The glass pieces covered the floor but fortunately didn’t land in players’ eyes. That led to the NBA using breakaway rims, which were made to release some pressure when they’re pulled down. In addition, during his years with the Orlando Magic in the 1990s, Shaquille O’Neal used his massive power to bring two baskets nearly off their strapping support systems. As was the case when Dawkins shattered the backboard, players were scurrying to get out of the way so the backboard wouldn’t fall on their head. Shorter players, such as the 5-foot-11 Larkin attested to, also are in a far greater danger when they’re flying in for dunks.
BRAD LOPER/DALLAS MORNING NEWS/MCT
The Dallas Mavericks’ Vince Carter (25), a Daytona Beach native, dunks against the New Orleans Pelicans in the first half on Feb. 26 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Mavs won, 108-89.
‘A long ways down’ When Spud Webb reached international fame after winning the NBA slam dunk contest at Reunion Arena in Dallas in 1986, he admits that some of those dunks came with a hefty price. “Yeah, your wrist and forearm would be hurting sometimes if you’re doing a lot of dunk-contest stuff,” Webb said. “You definitely can feel it if you’re dunking all the time.” At 5-foot-7 and one of the shortest players in NBA history, Webb also had to jump higher than the average player and had a far greater distance before he landed on the court, thus increasing his probability of injuring his knees and ankles upon impact. Webb, however, said: “A lot of people ask me with the longer leap that I take, did my knees usually bother me, or my ankles? But it actually didn’t, and I don’t know why. “It’s a long ways down, so I guess I’m a lot more careful coming down.” It’s also a long ways down for Mavericks center Brandan Wright, one of the NBA’s resident
sky walkers, who gets dangerously high in the air on his patented lob power dunks. “Sometimes the best way to score is to dunk it,” Wright said. “We don’t think about getting hurt. If it happens, it’s unfortunate.” During his time playing for the Sixers, center Samuel Dalembert, now with the Mavericks, had some injuries related to power dunks. “You try to slam the ball in and you still have this part right here that starts swelling up,” said Dalembert, pointing to his forearm. “It happened to me when I used to dunk a lot when I was in Philly on alley-oops. “As a big (player), they don’t call fouls as often when you go down low and the little men smack you. So you try to go hard and slam it in hard, and a lot of times you get those little swellings and bruises on your arm.”
Hanging on NBA veteran Corey Brewer wasn’t worried about any swellings or bruises when he stormed down the floor in 2009 on a fast
Magic ends road slate with a 4-37 record BY JOSH ROBBINS ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT
CHICAGO — The Orlando Magic can breathe a sigh of relief. They won’t play another regular-season road game until late October at the earliest. Their 2013-14 road slate finally ended Monday night with an ugly turnover-filled 108-95 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. Playing without Nik Vucevic and Jameer Nelson, the Magic gave the ball away 20 times, and starters Victor Oladipo, Arron Afflalo and Maurice Harkless were kept on the bench for the entire fourth quarter for the second consecutive game. Kyle O’Quinn, who scored a teamhigh 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds, didn’t play in the fourth quarter until Dewayne Dedmon fouled out with 2:06 to play.
Team’s worst road record With the loss, the Magic (2356) clinched at least a tie for the league’s third-worst record. If the Utah Jazz defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night in Salt Lake City, the Magic would have been guaranteed to finish in sole possession of the league’s third-worst record.
Magic trailed early
The team in sole possession of the league’s third-worst record will enter the NBA Draft Lottery on May 20 with a 15.6 percent chance of winning the top overall pick, a 15.7 percent chance of receiving the second pick and a 15.6 percent chance of obtaining the third overall pick. The Magic completed their road schedule with a 4-37 record — the worst road record in franchise history. Until this season, the worst road record in club history belonged to the 198990 Magic, the inaugural team, which went 6-35.
19 points for Nicholson The Bulls started Monday night’s game by surging to a 14-2 lead, fueled partly by four Magic turnovers in the first 3:37. The Magic responded well, cutting the deficit to 17-14 when O’Quinn scored on a putback layup after a miss by Doron Lamb. Second-year power forward Andrew Nicholson contributed to Orlando’s improved play late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter. He made his first four shot attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers from the left corner. Nicholson has been in a slump since mid-December, and Magic officials would like to see him enter the offseason on a positive note.
break and promptly dunked with some authority over Derek Fisher, who was trying to take a charge on the play. “He’s always known for taking a charge, but I felt like I could go over the top of him and I was able to dunk over him,” said Brewer, who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. “But I wouldn’t say the dunk is dangerous except when you’re running full speed and you have to hang on the rim. “That’s the only time it can really be dangerous — if a guy undercuts you.” Larkin certainly understands the danger. He never made it to Las Vegas, winding up instead on an operating table at the Texas Sports Medicine facility in Dallas. “For a guy like me, I’ve got to jump 30-something inches off the ground to dunk it. I’m up there with a lot of time to fall the wrong way, land the wrong way. I’ve got to exert more energy when I jump, so there’s a lot more pressure on my legs,” Larkin said. When it comes to power dunks, let the dunker beware.
SCOTT STRAZZANTE/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/MCT
The Chicago Bulls’ Carlos Boozer celebrates his assist in third quarter against Orlando Magic at the United Center in Chicago on April 14. The Bulls defeated the Magic 108-95. He finished the game with 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting. The Magic committed a season-high 13 first-half turnovers, resulting in 15 Bulls points. Late in the half, Oladipo drove down the right edge of the lane and dished to O’Quinn as
O’Quinn barreled down the lane. O’Quinn dunked, cutting Chicago’s lead to 55-44. But the Bulls struck back on their ensuing possession as Tony Snell swished a 11-foot fadeaway jumper as the second quarter expired.
The playoff-bound Bulls (4732) looked engaged all game long. Joakim Noah finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. On one early sequence, a referee whistled O’Quinn for a traveling violation, and Carlos Boozer celebrated by pumping his fist. Meanwhile, Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau continuously prowled the sidelines, and his hoarse growl occasionally could be heard on the opposite baseline on the other side of the court, 50 feet away. The Magic trailed 61-48 early in the third quarter, but they slowly chipped away at the deficit. Afflalo hit a turnaround jumper, and his basket started a 19-3 Orlando run. After Mike Dunleavy missed a short jumper, the Magic started a fastbreak that ended with Dunleavy fouling O’Quinn as O’Quinn drove to the hoop. O’Quinn made both free throws to cut Chicago’s lead to 64-61. Dunleavy countered by making a 3-pointer, but the Magic cut the lead to 67-64 when Oladipo sank a trey from the top of the arc with 3:43 left in the quarter. A short while later, Magic coach Jacque Vaughn subbed out Oladipo and Afflalo for Ronnie Price and Lamb. By the time the quarter ended, Chicago had extended its lead back to double digits, 81-70.
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