Florida Courier, November 17, 2017

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VOLUME 25 NO. 46

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NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

DOWN A RAT HOLE Haitian government officials are accused of embezzling $2 billion in Venezuelan loans earmarked for post-disaster rebuilding efforts.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES MIAMI HERALD / TNS

PATRICK FARRELL/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

In this October 2016 file photo, an elderly woman walks along a debris-filled street in Roche a Bateau, Haiti.

Thousands more dead Report shows large overdose increase

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI – A special Haitian Senate commission is accusing more than a dozen former government officials and heads of private firms of embezzling $2 billion in Venezuelan oil loans – money that could have helped the country rebuild after its devastating earthquake in 2010.

An anti-corruption investigation concluded that charges should be filed against two former prime ministers, several exministers and the owners of pri-

vate firms on grounds they misappropriated and embezzled money that left post-quake Haiti with unfinished government buildings, poorly constructed housing and overpriced public works contracts.

Low-interest loans The nearly $2 billion that was paid out came from the country’s Venezuelan oil largess, known as PetroCaribe. It provides Haiti and several other cash-strapped Caribbean countries with subsidized oil on favorable financing terms.

The debt is stretched over a 25-year period with a 1 percent interest rate and a two- to threeyear grace period allowing the countries to use the savings to finance social and economic projects.

Fraud and lies “It can be declared that the PETROCARIBE has been the ob-

ject of embezzlement…and prevarication on the part of those indexed in this report,” the commission’s report concluded.

The probe covers 2008 to 2016, a time frame covering four hurricanes in Haiti in 30 days, the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake and 2012’s Hurricane Sandy.

In response, then-Presidents Rene Preval and Michel Martelly declared states of emergency, allowing their respective prime ministers – Jean-Max Bellerive and Laurent Lamothe – to approved projects using PetroCaribe funds.

“The results, however, were very unconvincing and gave rise to worrying doubts about the management of the PETROCARIBE fund,” the report found.

Bellerive and Lamothe are among those named in the report, along with former finance and commerce minister Wilson Laleau, who currently serves as See HAITI, Page A2

JULIA MAE TROUTMAN CHERRY

Still fabulous at 90 years young Julia T. Cherry celebrated her 90th birthday with a small group of family and friends on Nov. 11 in Daytona Beach.

Mrs. Cherry is the senior managing member of Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC, the legal entity which owns the Daytona Times and Florida Courier newspapers.

Log on to daytonatimes. com to see a slideshow of her life.

COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

TALLAHASSEE – A highly anticipated report from Florida’s medical examiners shows dramatic increases in all types of drug-related deaths, including a 97 percent increase in deaths caused by the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

The report, released Wednesday, found that the total number of drugrelated deaths in Florida jumped 22 percent from 2015 to 2016.

The number of opioid-related deaths – 5,725 in 2016 – grew by 35 percent. Opioids were either the cause of death or were present in the decedents, according to the report.

“Clearly, those are shocking numbers and we have got to do something about it,” Senate Health Policy Chairwoman Dana Young, R-Tampa, said.

Fatalities increasing Even more troubling, medical examiners reported that deaths related to all kinds of drugs – prescription drugs, such as oxycodone, and street drugs, like heroin and cocaine – and alcohol were on the rise. And, doctors and experts say, the numbers of drug-related deaths are even more dire than the data in the report reflects.

The report comes as lawmakers wrestle with how to cope with the nationwide opioid epidemic that has gripped Florida and prompted Gov. Rick Scott and President Donald Trump to label the issue a public health crisis.

DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR. / HARDNOTTS PHOTOGRAPHY.COM

See REPORT, Page A2

Bethune statue proposal moves forward

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – A statue of civil rights leader and educator Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune is getting support in both chambers of the Florida Legislature as a replacement for a Confederate general who has long represented Florida in the U.S. Capitol.

Over the objection of a senator who decried “cultural purging,” the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday voted 18-1 to support a proposal (SB 472 and SCR 184) aimed at replacing the statue of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith in the National Statuary Hall in Washington.

ALSO INSIDE

Each state gets two representatives at the statuary hall, and Smith has represented Florida since 1922. Florida’s other representative in the hall is John Gorrie, widely considered the father of air conditioning.

Bethune, who in 1904 founded what became Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, was president of the National Association of Colored Women, an appointee by President Herbert Hoover to the White House Conference on Child Health and served as an adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt.

B-CU has offered to pay for the statue.

Response to shooting The Legislature voted in 2016 to replace the Smith statue during a nationwide backlash against Confederate symbols in the wake of the 2015 shooting deaths of nine AfricanAmerican worshippers at a historic Black church in Charleston, S.C. However, lawmakers during the 2017 session did not reach agreement on whose likeness should replace Smith. In advance of the 2018 session, the House is also advancing a measure backing Bethune.

Sen. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican who is the descendant of a See STATUE, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

NATION | A6

Twin dies trying to save disabled driver

Travel ban partially goes into effect

Justices to hear FAMU hazing case next year

March takes aim at sexual assault

GUEST COMMENTARY: ANGEL LÓPEZ SANTIAGO: WHY WE MUST DECOLONIZE THE CARIBBEAN | A4 COMMENTARY: AJAMU BARAKA: ‘RUSSIAGATE’ AND DEFENDING RADICAL BLACK SELF-DETERMINATION | A5

FOCUS

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NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

The Democratic hurricane came from the bottom People like the Koch brothers, the Mercers, the Adelsons and other corporate and business giants that contribute millions and billions of dollars to political campaigns should not have to be in a hurricane to see which way America’s political winds are blowing.

Democratic Party candidates showed out in recent elections and dominated statewide and local political contests in Virginia, New Jersey and across the United States.

Like a drum Democratic Blacks, women, Hispanics and LBGTQ candidates all beat most of their political opponents like the Florida

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

A&M University drumline beats drums at football game halftime shows!

Why were there so many Democratic victories?

For one, the voters overwhelmingly resisted the demonic, divisive, hateful, bigoted, recalcitrant and ridiculous political policies, proposals and views of President Donald Trump!

Voters showed they have no desire at all to be led by a presi-

dent, a Congress and by local elected officials that suck up to Steve Bannon, to White racists, to White supremacists and to neoNazis! The majority of the people turned out to vote for candidates that promised to serve the people!

Now, don’t go to sleep and dream that the recent election victories were orchestrated by Democratic Party officials and their highly-paid, highly ineffective and politically stupid political consultants. The political strategy and advice given over and over that Democrats could win races by being more conservative than their Republican opponents was politically ratchet, whack, and doomed to die one election death after another.

The recent Democratic hurricane that swept so many candidates to election victories did not blow from the top down. The landslide wins, in most cases, came from the bottom up!

On their own It was the groups that the Dem-

REPORT from A1

ocratic Party never helped, never believed in, never encouraged and never funded and financed that shocked the political world and helped so many new and improved Democratic candidates beat numerous incumbent conservative political puppets!

Groups like organizations for women, organizations for the disabled, organizations for Latino voters, LBGTQ organizations, Black political action committees (PACs), members of Black Lives Matter, and other progressive movements were the ones that went out to vote in significant numbers, made phone calls and canvassed their neighborhoods. They got their friends and family members to understand why it was so important to vote against every politician with devilish ideas and political actions!

If Democrats want to win the 2018 elections, they need to give less money to closet conservative candidates, and give more money to their political bases like Black voters and other grassroots organizers of all colors and creeds!

It should be obvious that “any Negro” won’t do if you’re looking for people who can influence the masses of voters that often choose not to vote; who can influence people to put down their crack pipes and narcotic needles and go to the polls; and who can influence young and older people to put down their smartphones long enough to vote for political progress, affordable health care, better jobs and better business opportunities, political and community unity, world peace, equal rights and justice!

If the Democratic Party wants to ride the strong winds of political victories, they need to start from and work from the bottom to get back to the top!

administration’s own opioid task force, led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, called this summer for a stronger federal drug strategy.

2006 to 1,023 in 2016, with a dip as low as 56 in 2011, the year legislation aimed at shuttering the pill mills went into effect.

The highest numbers of deaths were in the 35 to 50 age group.

And deaths caused by cocaine – 1,769 – jumped by 83 percent.

Duval, Manatee, Palm Beach and Monroe counties saw the greatest numbers of deaths due to cocaine.

In Florida No funds allocated Last month Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to take on the deadly opioid epidemic, directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday to declare a limited 90-day public health emergency in response to the crisis.

But despite his sweeping rhetoric about the human toll of drug use, the president stopped short of declaring a broader national emergency and did not make any additional federal money available to confront a crisis that last year killed more than 64,000 Americans.

Senior administration officials say they hope Congress will provide more funding in a spending bill later this year, though officials would not say how much money the White House is seeking.

Trump has been under pressure for months to step up the federal government’s response to the drug epidemic and has been promising since the summer that he would declare an emergency, a technical step that can free up funding and loosen regulations.

Limited steps

C.M. GUERRERO/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

A City of Miami Fire Rescue crew worked on an overdose victim in this 2017 photo. The victim was suspected of taking a heroin/ fentanyl overdose.

HAITI from A1 chief of staff for President Jovenel Moise.

Shameful graft Among the waste detailed in the 646-page document distributed Tuesday, prior to a scheduled Senate hearing that was later postponed: • Construction overages that include the ministry of public works paying for 10 miles of road that actually measured 6.5 miles; • The signing of a contract between the ministry of public health and a dead person; • Large disbursements by government ministers with no documents to support the expenditures; • Tens of millions of dollars paid to Dominican and Haitian firms for post-earthquake roads, housing and government ministries that never materialized or weren’t completed.

One of the most blatant allegations involved the reconstruction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, one of 40 government buildings that crumbled during the earthquake. The Dominican firm Hadom was awarded a $14.7 million contract, and paid $10 million up front, to construct the building that remains unbuilt.

Hadom’s lucrative Haiti contract is among several given to Dominican firms after the quake that became the subject of separate probes in Haiti and in neighboring Dominican Republic, where Hadom owner and Dominican Senator Felix Bautista was accused of embezzlement.

The Bautista case was eventual-

ly dropped by the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court.

Also cited in the Haitian Senate’s anti-corruption report are a number of private firms – including one that the commission’s president, Sen. Evaliere Beauplan, says is owned by current President Moise.

‘Partisan’ report Laleau has blasted the report as “biased, partial and partisan.”

A minister under former President Martelly, Laleau is accused of misappropriation of public funds in the report.

“PetroCaribe,” Beauplan said, “is not a gift. It’s money Haiti borrowed, and generations of Haitians will have to repay this debt.

But the government wasted this money, more than $2 billion.”

Prior to the earthquake, Haiti had accumulated more than $396 million in debt to Venezuela, which the South American nation forgave.

Billions in new debt But in the last seven years, it has racked up almost $2 billion in new debt as Martelly’s government ministers traveled the globe promoting a new image of a post-quake Haiti while reconstruction projects languished and tens of thousands continued to live in camps.

As of October, more than 37,000 Haitians still lived in 27 camps, the International Organization for Migration said.

“With all of that money, we don’t have anything in terms of a serious hospital. We don’t have anything in terms of an airport.

We don’t have anything in terms of a port. We don’t have anything in terms of a stadium. We don’t have anything,” Beauplan said.

The new order will allow some limited new steps, such as allowing patients in rural parts of the country to access medication for addiction treatment through telemedicine, administration officials said.

But many public health officials have been urging White House to take more sweeping steps, and the

“This money was wasted among a handful of people.”

Nothing new This is not the first time a Haitian government commission has investigated government corruption.

Last year, Senate President Youri Latortue launched a similar probe into Haiti’s management of its PetroCaribe funds.

And after former President JeanBertrand Aristide’s 2004 flee into exile, former Sen. Paul Denis headed an administrative probe that concluded that $17.4 million was transferred abroad by Aristide and his collaborators.

No one was ever prosecuted as a result of either probes, leaving some to conclude that the current corruption investigation will be treated the same way.

Tainted image Even so, the probe has sparked a debate about corruption and good governance in a country that continues to languish at the bottom of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking 159 out of 176.

That tainted image has led to donors such as the United States refusing to provide money directly to the Haitian government.

Both Bellerive and Lamothe – the two prime ministers who are among those the commission wants charged – have defended themselves against allegations of corruption in awarding the disaster-related contracts. They’ve said that $12 billion in promised earthquake aid was never delivered by the international community, forcing Haiti to dig into its own coffers and make quick decisions to help its recovery.

Prescription drugs killed more Floridians than street drugs such as heroin in 2016, the medical examiners reported. Oxycodonecaused deaths increased by 28 percent.

The report said 3,550 people died with at least one prescription drug in their system that was identified as the cause of death, a 40 percent jump from 2015. The report notes that the drugs may have been mixed with other drugs and/or alcohol.

Deaths due to fentanyl, a lethal synthetic opioid analgesic often mixed with heroin, spiked by 97 percent in a year, causing 1,390 deaths in 2016, according to the report. Manatee County saw the highest incidences of deaths due to fentanyl analogs, synthetic drugs similar to fentanyl but much more potent, with more than 25 deaths per 100,000 residents.

The drugs that caused the most deaths were cocaine, benzodiazepines, fentanyl, morphine, fentanyl analogs, heroin, alcohol, oxycodone, methadone and methamphetamine. The presence of methamphetamines in decedents spiked by 103 percent, the report showed.

Street drug increase The report also showed the numbers of heroin-related deaths have spiked dramatically since 2011, when lawmakers cracked down on prescription “pill mills.”

Over a decade, Florida saw more than a 10-fold increase in heroin-related deaths, from 96 in

STATUE from A1 Confederate soldier and who has defended the Confederate flag and memorials, said Bethune is worthy of the honor.

But Baxley added that he opposed “dishonoring” Smith.

“Regrettably, I can’t vote for this because I think it’s supporting a continuation of cultural purging and dishonoring those who came before us,” Baxley said.

The West Point-educated Smith was born in St. Augustine but had few ties to the state as an adult. After surrendering and taking an oath of loyalty so he could return from Cuba, Smith spent his remaining years as an educator in Tennessee.

Politics at work?

On Tuesday, they both rejected the report’s findings in messages to the Miami Herald, calling the report poorly put together and politically motivated.

Three of the five commission members are in the opposition and some have charged that the goal of the report is to eliminate potential Haiti presidential candidates through the court of public opinion by tainting Martelly’s government as corrupt.

“As with everybody, my wish is for a true audit of not only the PetroCaribe funds, but generally of all the contracts signed by

Give your family members and friends the perfect Christmas gift. Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.

“Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants. net.

‘Plane crashing’ Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Chairman Jeff Brandes called the numbers in the report “staggering.”

“Imagine if we had a plane crashing in the state every month.

We would do everything we could to stop that. That’s about the amount of people who are dying every month due to opioid addiction. We must put the same effort that we would put into a plane crashing every month and stopping that into this opioid addiction. It’s going to take an allhands-on-deck approach to this,” Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, told The News Service of Florida on Wednesday.

Overdose deaths and opioid addiction affect “everyone in the state,” and the solution starts with criminal-justice reform, Brandes said.

“We have to define success and to me success is not more incarcerations. It’s less deaths,” Brandes said. “That needs to be the number one goal that the Legislature has. We want less opioid deaths in Florida. And we’ll do everything we can to focus on less deaths.”

Dara Kam of the News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

Panel review A panel known as the Great Floridians Committee last year nominated three possible candidates to replace Smith.

In addition to Bethune and Everglades activist and writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the other nominee was George Washington Jenkins Jr., founder of Lakeland-based Publix supermarket chain.

The measures advanced Tuesday, a bill and resolution, must now go through the Rules Committee to reach the Senate floor during the 2018 session, which starts in January.

In the House, the Government Accountability Committee has overwhelmingly supported its version of the statue replacement. The measure (HB 139) must get through the House Appropriations Committee before going before the full House. all governments,” said Bellerive, who also briefly served as Martelly’s prime minister after his 2011 election. “People have a right to a clear explanation. This report is just a political tool full of lies and assumptions. It won’t resolve the hunger for the truth.”

Lamothe, meanwhile, said the report “is a well-orchestrated character assassination campaign based on blatant lies and fabrications to block potential presidential candidates.”

On Tuesday, the Senate voted to delay a debate on the report until Nov. 30 to give members more time to read the final version.

NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

FLORIDA

A3

‘Selfless act’ leads to death of twin on highway Sisters stopped on I-95 to help disabled driver when one was hit by pickup

BY MIKE CLARY AMD ADAM SACASA SUN SENTINEL/TNS

FORT LAUDERDALE – Heading home to Boynton Beach late Sunday on Interstate 95, twins Marcasia and Markwonda Crenshaw made a fateful decision to help a motorist in distress.

Minutes later, 25-year-old Marcasia Crenshaw was dead, struck and killed as she tried to run out of the path of a pickup swerving in the southbound lanes of the highway as the driver attempted to stop, according to investigators.

‘She wouldn’t move’ Markwonda Crenshaw, who ran in the opposite direction, said she barely avoided being hit herself.

“I got out of the way quickly,” said Markwonda. “She ran left, I ran the other way.

“When I turned around, she was in the grass. I was touching her, trying to wake her up. But she wouldn’t move.”

Stopped to help The tragedy unfolded Sunday night just outside of Titusville in Brevard County. The twins and their two young children were returning from a weekend visit to Jacksonville.

Marcasia was at the wheel of a Nissan Rogue, Markwonda said.

They decided to pull over when they spotted a vehicle “stopped in the inside lane, air bags out, emergency lights on, and smoking,” said Markwonda Crenshaw. “We pulled over to make sure everyone was OK. Who wouldn’t?”

Kids were asleep In the sisters’ vehicle, which was parked in front of the disabled van, were their two children: Marcasia’s 5-year-old son and Markwon-

da’s 2-year-old daughter. Both were asleep in their car seats.

Troopers said the disabled vehicle that caught the sisters’ eye was a Dodge Sprinter driven by Yuri Kosolapenko, 23, of Jacksonville.

He had been involved in an earlier crash, according to a Florida Highway Patrol crash report.

Hit by truck After the twins got out of their car to help Kosolapenko, another driver, Dalton Vancor, 23, of Deatsville, Ala., at the wheel of a 2004 Chevrolet pickup truck, “attempted to aggressively brake and swerve left to avoid” the Dodge Sprinter, the crash report said.

Marcasia Crenshaw tried to run toward the grass median but the right side of the truck hit her, troopers say.

Kosolapenko and Vancor were not injured in the crash.

“This was a selfless act,” said Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Kim Montes. “They chose to stop to help somebody. They probably didn’t realize how much they put their lives at risk.”

Rarely apart The twins had been in Jacksonville visiting their mother, Judy Riley.

On Monday, Markwonda Crenshaw, Riley, the two children and other relatives remained in Cocoa Beach awaiting information from the Brevard County medical examiner on Marcasia’s death.

Normally, the sisters would have returned to work Monday, Markwonda as a dental assistant, Marcasia in a Lake Worth-area hotel.

Markwonda said she and her sister were rarely apart. Originally from Boynton Beach, they went to high school in Jacksonville, shared an apartment in Tallahassee while attending college and then moved back to Boynton Beach in 2012, Markwonda said.

“I can’t eat, can’t sleep, crying, I’m just in disbelief,” Markwonda said. “Honestly, I am trying to be strong, because I have the kids.”

The crash remains under investigation.

COURTESY OF MARKWONDA CRENSHAW/TNS

Marcasia Crenshaw, left, is shown with her twin sister, Markwonda. Marcasia was killed on Nov. 12 in a Brevard County crash on I-95.

Millions spent weekly to clean Irma debris from waterways

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Florida continues to spend about $2.4 million a week to clean up debris strewn across state waters during Hurricane Irma two months ago.

The state money could soon run dry, even as the weekly costs grow with the cleanup moving deeper into counties more heavily damaged by the storm.

Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Secretary David Clark told members of the House Select Committee on Hurricane Response and Preparedness on Monday that by early next year the state may use up the $36 million allocated to the agency for storm-debris cleanup.

“At the current pace, we’re spending about $2.4 million a week to do the waterway cleanup,” Clark said. “At that pace, we’re going to run out of money by the time we get into session at the beginning of January or sooner.”

FEMA help expected Committee members, while praising the state agency for waterway cleanup efforts, didn’t offer direction on future or emergency funding.

Chairwoman Jeanette Nunez, R-Miami, has said she expects legislation to come out of the committee in mid-December.

The state expects to receive at least 75 percent reimbursement for its expenses from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

But based on past storms, Clark said the federal money, which isn’t guaranteed, might be at least two years away.

Numbers will rise Clark said the state has already spent about $12 million to clean up about 76,000 cubic yards of household goods, building materials and vegetation that ended up in state waters following the powerful and deadly storm.

By comparison, the state spent close to $15 million to

Dante Martin

Robert Champion

Justices to hear FAMU hazing case in February THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

The Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments in February in an appeal by a former member of Florida A&M University’s “Marching 100” band who was convicted

MIKE STOCKER/SUN-SENTINEL/TNS

Damaged boats are shown in Key West after Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys on Sept. 13. clean up 79,000 cubic yards of debris after Hurricane Matthew caused damage along the East Coast in October 2016.

Clark said Irma’s numbers will increase as the state has ramped up efforts in Collier County, which sustained the second of two landfalls by Hurricane Irma on Sept. 10.

Also, the state is still working on an agreement with Monroe County to assist in waterway cleanup at the southern end of the state, which received the first landfall and saw some of the most severe impacts from the storm.

Vessels not included The “hope” is to have boats in the waters of Monroe County in a few weeks, he said.

“As the rising waters and the king tide events are subsiding we’re starting to find more debris that is either coming up to the surface or as the waters drop we’re finding more debris,” Clark said.

The DEP cleanup work doesn’t include vessel removal.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife

Conservation Commission estimates about $25 million will be needed to complete removal of the remaining 514 damaged vessels still in the water or thrown ashore.

1,800 boats removed Major Robert Rowe, the commission’s boating and waterway section leader, said the state is expected to pay 25 percent of the vessel-recovery costs.

More than 1,800 boats have already been moved from state waters, many into storage areas by the owners or the state, working with the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard.

The state estimates that each vessel costs $25,000 to $40,000 to remove, Rowe said.

Unlike water-debris removal, the pace and cost of storm debris hauled from land has been among several points of contention in the government’s response to Hurricane Irma. The House committee didn’t address land-debris removal on Monday.

Florida Farm Bureau Group giving $500k to Step Up For Students SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

GAINESVILLE – The Florida Farm Bureau Group, a Floridabased property and casualty insurance company, is donating $500,000 to the Step Up for Students Scholarship Program.

The donation will fund about 76 K-12 scholarships in the 201718 school year.

“At Florida Farm Bureau Group, helping families is what we do best. We are thrilled to partner with Step Up For Students to help deserving Florida schoolchildren reach for their educational dreams,” said Florida Farm Bureau Chief Executive Officer Steve Murray. “We hope these students reach high, and we look forward to a long relationship with Step Up For Students.”

How it helps This is Florida Farm Bureau Group’s first donation to Step Up For Students, a nonprofit that helps administer the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program for financially disadvantaged Florida school children.

The program is funded with

in the high-profile 2011 death of drum major Robert Champion.

The court on Monday issued an order that scheduled oral arguments on Feb. 7. Dante Martin was found guilty of manslaughter, felony hazing resulting in death and two counts of misdemeanor hazing in the death of Champion, who was injured in Orlando during a band ritual known as “crossing Bus C.” During the ritual, band members were struck repeatedly as they crossed from the front of a bus to the back, and Martin was “president” of Bus C, according to a 5th District Court of Appeal ruling last year that upheld the convictions.

Champion passed out after finishing the crossing and later was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Martin’s attorney has argued that a state hazing law is unconstitutional, at least in part because it is overly broad.

Martin, now 30, was sentenced to 77 months in prison after being found guilty by an Orange County jury. tax-credited donations and allows parents and schoolchildren to choose between a K-12 scholarship that helps with private school tuition and fees, or one that assists with transportation costs to outof-county public schools.

“Thanks to the generosity of our donors, Step Up For Students is helping Florida families customize their children’s educational opportunities,” said Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up For Students.

“On behalf of our Step Up families, we thank Florida Farm Bureau Group for its commitment and generosity.”

Tuition scholarships For the 2017-18 school year, Step Up For Students is serving more than 100,000 students throughout Florida with tuition scholarships valued at up to $6,343 per student for kindergarten through fifth grade, $6,631 for sixth-eighth grade and $6,920 for ninth-12th grade.

More than 1,700 private schools participate in the scholarship program statewide.

Students who qualify for the national free or reduced-price lunch, or those who are homeless or in foster or out-of-home care, may qualify.

For more information, visit www.StepUpForStudents.org.

EDITORIAL

A4

NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

Why we must decolonize the Caribbean Hurricanes Maria and Irma have exposed the trappings and inequalities of colonialism in the region. The hurricanes have blown away decades of legal and international maneuvers and ruses, local constitutions, and moves towards autonomy and integration and administrative reclassifications, leaving exposed a simple colonial truth.

Such reclassifications have deemed these islands everything from overseas territories (such as the United Kingdom’s British Virgin Islands) to unincorporated territories (like the United States’ Puerto Rico and American Virgin Islands) to overseas “departments” (like France’s Guadéloupe and Martinique) to overseas “collectivities” (like France’s Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy) to overseas “municipalities” (The Netherlands’ Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba).

Serving their masters Yet the hurricanes have shown that the Caribbean islands, regardless of title, all exist to serve the colonial masters, and not the other way around. Even sovereign island nations like Dominica seem to float in the same colonial stew of dependency and underdevelopment that paved the way to the destruction of human habitation after the hurricanes.

Man-made global warming has fueled super-hurricanes that are more frequent and destructive than ever. But the fragile infrastructure of the islands – their energy, food, agricultural, tourism, land-tenure, finance, and debt regimes – are also manmade.

Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis set the conditions for the degree of destruction Maria wrought.

Much has been written about the vulture funds’ grip on the island’s economy, the billions owed in a national debt that decision-makers in Washington, D.C., have refused to audit, the unelected fiscal control board set up in the capital to extract money owed to Wall Street interests.

Then there are the austerity measures: the proposed cuts to the minimum wage and pension funds, the closing of schools, the neglected infrastructure. This neoliberal nightmare scenario meant the infrastructure and di-

ANGEL LÓPEZ SANTIAGO GUEST COMMENTARY

saster preparedness necessary to mitigate a disaster like Maria were completely neglected.

What must be done?

Beyond recovery efforts, how do we think about this situation in ways that are not only theoretically relevant, but that allows the residents of Puerto Rico to develop a more secure, just, and equitable future? In short, how do we decolonize the Caribbean?

The truth is that talk of independence is a non-starter for many of the residents of the region.

More than 500 years of European colonialism is a heavy tradition not easily disposed of. Not even national independence helped island-nations escape fully their colonial grip: see Haiti, Dominica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and more.

But post-coloniality and decolonization are two different things, and I argue we must achieve the latter.

Decolonize sovereignty The Caribbean needs food sovereignty, energy sovereignty, and land sovereignty.

As it is today, decision-making about each of these key elements of life and livelihood has been determined from without.

Decolonizing the Caribbean requires us to envision a “non-sovereign” future requiring us to hack our understanding of what “sovereignty” means.

Our understanding of sovereignty stems mostly from the French political theorist Jean Bodin, who in the late 1500s established that sovereign power is both indivisible and non-alienable. Under this understanding, talk about more than one sovereign in a single territory would be nonsensical.

But to decolonize the Caribbean, we must speak and write about “sovereignties” (plural).

Food sovereignty concerns establishing autonomy and equitable shares of food regimes, from agriculture to farming to fishing

Black Press demands respect from Black celebs, athletes, pols Throughout history, the Black Press has been the best friend that Black celebrities, athletes and politicians have ever had.

We often cover Black public figures from the very start of their careers, before they’re “discovered” by the mainstream media, all the way through to their ascension to star or leadership status.

Before they became household names, had hit records, secured multimillion-dollar contracts or became leaders in the United States Congress, it was the Black Press that was always there for their press conferences and events, often giving them extensive coverage when the mainstream media might only give them a brief mention in the Bsection of their newspapers or 15 seconds at the end of an evening news segment.

Too ‘big’ for us When the mainstream media finally “discovers” these same Black celebrities, athletes and politicians and they attain a certain degree of fame and success, suddenly they think it’s okay to

ROSETTA MILLERPERRY GUEST COMMENTARY

snub the Black Press.

Now they don’t have time to give interviews to Black newspapers or magazines. There’s no time to make the visits to Black radio stations, where they once made regular appearances.

Their (usually) White public relations and management staffers guard their time and appearances carefully, and shun Blackowned media. These same public relations firms often discourage their Black clients from working with Black-owned media companies and advertising with the Black Press.

This is a disgrace, because when things go bad and these Black celebrities want to get “their” side of the story out, the first place these folks run to is the Black Press.

If there is a story about political corruption, infidelity or oth-

to imports and exports, that determine how and what we eat, and to whose benefit. A rapid glance at the diet of the average Puerto Rican, at the agricultural and food regime changes in Puerto Rico from Spanish to American colonial times, shows that basic decisions about food – what to grow, who to sell to, at what price, and what people eat – are not organic decisions, but planned regimes that must be critically assessed.

In Puerto Rico, the absolute and unquestionable submersion of the island and its people within the financial control of the United States has created consumption habits and lifestyles that have not only fostered dependence but are also unsustainable. The same can be said of other islands in the region.

Energy sovereignty That is why Puerto Rico and other islands must establish energy sovereignty, and rethink the energy regimes that determine how the islands power electric island-wide grids, dependence on fossil fuel, the export and import regimes associated with it, and the development of renewable sources of energy.

Finally, the Caribbean must establish land sovereignty. This concerns the regimes that determine how we use and develop land, who owns the land, the possibilities of communal ownership, the decision-making processes related to land, and associated tax regimes.

One central idea is to move beyond the current view which holds that land must either be private or public. Instead, we must explore different alternative land-tenure and land-management regimes such as community land trusts, mutual housing associations, land cooperatives, land banks, intentional communities, conservation land trusts, among others.

Land sovereignty is at the center of debates in the island of Barbuda, for example; but in Puerto Rico, struggles for land sovereignty have questioned land policy around beaches as it relates to the tourism industry.

In the case of Puerto Rico and other islands, we must also think and act towards trade sovereign-

er alleged crimes involving a Black public figure, the mainstream media’s attitude is usually “guilty until proven innocent.”

It’s the Black Press that usually takes the “innocent until proven guilty” approach, urging fairness and caution, telling readers, listeners and viewers to wait until all the evidence is in, frequently reminding folks of all the great things that their favorite hero did in the past.

Constant advocate The Black Press remains the advocate for Black celebrities, athletes and politicians even now, even though so many of them seem oblivious to our existence. That is why, increasingly, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the trade group that represents over 200 Black-owned media companies, that reach more than 20 million readers in print and online every week, is reminding these Black public figures that Black newspapers are their champions and defenders 24/7, and that we have backed them in good times and bad.

It is instructive to see how mainstream media is covering the NFL in the wake of Donald Trump’s garbage claims that the players are somehow “disrespecting the flag and the military” if they kneel during the playing of the national anthem.

The Black Press backed Colin Kaepernick’s protest against

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THANKSGIVING 2017

YAAKOV KIRSCHEN, JERUSALEM POST

ty, meaning sovereignty over the commerce, finance, and cultural exchange regimes that determine trade conditions and who they benefit.

Of course, the United States is particularly possessive of its exclusive prerogatives over trade.

But in the case of Puerto Rico, does it have a right to this monopolistic prerogative when their guarantee of color-blind citizenship and the right to determine economic bankruptcy are inoperative or arbitrarily denied?

leveraged and elevated.

The few success stories of neighborhood protection and resistance to environmental racism that we know about have been possible only through the intradiasporic horizontal networks of solidarity and concern that the diverse diasporas have developed between each other. These horizontal networks of support, solidarity, and activism need to be replicated in the Caribbean.

Decolonize the Diaspora

Our fragmentation is not accidental, and neither will we come together by accident. This is a political process that needs to be coordinated from the grassroots, with transparency, accountability, and democratic participation.

Decolonization will not be easy, but the diasporas here in the United States, and in every imperial metropolis (France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom) can and will play an important role. Conversely, a decolonization drive in the Caribbean will only heighten the possibilities of decolonization in our own exile communities.

This struggle, the push towards achieving multiple sovereignties, is of the utmost urgency. The future of our communities, our neighborhoods, and our ancestral homelands lies in the balance.

Diasporas have a fundamental role to play in these processes.

Our barrios and neighborhoods in the United States – and in New York City specifically – have for years suffered the kinds of devastating consequences that we are likely to see now in Puerto Rico and other islands in the region.

Communities of color (in particular Puerto Rican, Dominican and African-American) are the most affected by environmental injustices in New York City. Diasporas have for decades dealt with dynamics similar to those that the hurricanes now render so clear: second-class citizenship, the politics of neglect, conquest, displacement, vulnerability to vulture-developers, weak democratic representation, and lack of transparency.

There are important examples in the island of working-class communities organizing to fight against environmental injustice, gentrification, and displacement.

These island-based and diaspora-based knowledges need to be

oppression and police brutality from the beginning, and continues to do so. The Black Press supports Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett and other players who have responded positively in the wake of criticism.

Black newspapers have printed the entire “Star-Spangled Banner,” including its verses supporting slavery, while many mainstream publications have bought into the Trump idiocy.

When conservative newspapers and publications attacked ESPN commentator Jemele Hill for her tweets about Trump, it was the Black Press that offered unqualified support.

Always there We’ve been there through decades of attacks on Black leaders, and we remain vigilant to the constant character assassination and innuendos lodged against Black public figures at the local, state and national levels.

What the Black Press wants from Black celebrities, athletes and politicians is respect, fairness, transparency and the same access provided to mainstream media outlets.

Don’t just advertise in The New York Times or The Washington Post; also do business with NNPA member publications; continue to make appearances at Black radio stations; order subscriptions to Black publications, in print and online.

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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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Deliberate separation

Angel ‘Monxo’ López Santiago teaches at Hunter College’s Africana, Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Department at the City University of New York.

Our subscriptions and advertising rates are more reasonable than those of the big corporate newspapers, and despite what some advertising firms say, we’re more trusted in the Black community than “general market” publications.

Time to support It’s time for the Black celebrities, athletes and politicians who say they value entrepreneurship and economic empowerment to do business with the Black Press.

Why should Black public figures financially support our mainstream competitors exclusively, when those businesses have very few connections to the Black community?

The Black Press was there for our Black entertainers and politicians, passionately sharing their stories with our readers, listeners and viewers, when no one knew who they were. We celebrate their success and we won’t assume guilt if something goes wrong, or desert them when they’re wrongfully accused and dragged through the gutter by the mainstream media.

So, to the Black celebrities, athletes and politicians that think that they’re too big for the Black Press: recognize and support us as we’ve recognized and supported you all along.

Rosetta Miller Perry is publisher of the Tennessee Tribune newspaper.

Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC, P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, publishes the Florida Courier on Fridays. Phone: 877-352-4455, toll-free. For all sales inquiries, call 877-352-4455; e-mail sales@flcourier.com.

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The Florida Courier reserves the right to edit any submission, and crop any photograph, for style and clarity. Materials will not be returned.

NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

‘Russiagate’ and defending radical Black self-determination It is absurd and an insult to argue that Russian propaganda efforts “deepen political and racial tensions in the United States,” as proposed by Julia Ioffe in a recent article in Atlantic magazine.

But the linking of the legitimate struggle of African/Black people in the United States against systemic oppression with “foreign” influences has been a recurrent feature of the ideological and military containment strategy of the US state ever since the Soviet Union emerged as an international competitor to the 400-year-old colonial/capitalist Pan-European project.

Responding to racism From the early 20th Century activism of the Pan-African Conferences through the Marcus Garvey movement, the socialist African Blood Brotherhood and the International African Service Bureau born out of the rise of fascism in Europe and the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s, Black radicals formulated a theoretical understanding of and practical response to the realities of colonial and capitalist racist oppression throughout the African world.

And with the establishment of the Soviet Union, many Black radicals gravitated to revolutionary Marxism, as both a critique of the Western capitalist dominance and a theory for disrupting that dominance.

Constant opposition The complex and often contradictory relationship between Black radicals and the international communist movement did not, however, stop the US state from suggesting that every oppo-

AJAMU BARAKA BLACK AGENDA REPORT

sitional movement on the part of African/Black people here was communist-inspired.

From our agitation at the United Nations for human rights and against colonialism to what became known as the civil rights movement, the emerging national security state labelled our movement “subversive” and targeted our activists.

Containment of the Soviet “threat” abroad meant ideological and political containment domestically so that by the mid-1950s, targeted repression and the McCarthy hearings effectively de-internationalized our movement for democratic and human rights and isolated Black radicals like Claudia Jones, W.E.B. Dubois, and Paul Robeson from the emerging civil rights movement.

By the time of the Montgomery bus boycotts, most activists in the South were afraid to even mention the term “human rights,” because it had been effectively associated with communist subversion and the Soviet Union.

Today, the new McCarthyism is being led by centrist and liberal Democrats utilizing the notion that capitalist Russia possesses the power and influence to impact elections and create racial tensions. Once again, Black opposition is cast as foreign-influenced, a security threat that justifies special targeted repression.

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

a “timely” observation from his “presidential listening tour.” According to CNBC, “(Zuckerberg) said the extent of the US opioid crisis was the thing that surprised him the most during his travels throughout America this year.

Given Parker’s confession, this observation reeks of hypocrisy and cynicism in equal measure.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that pointing the finger at opioids was just Zuckerberg’s Trumpian way of deflecting from the brain damDealing drugs This is rather like a drug kingpin age Facebook is causing. (or the head of a big pharmaceutical company) confessing about Told you so the unintended consequences of There’s no denying Parker’s the dopamine-triggering drugs contention that social media like (or opioids) they peddle.

Facebook and Twitter are just as This is why CEO Mark Zuck- hazardous to your health as opierberg felt compelled to inject oids like fentanyl and heroin.

With friends like Senate GOP, Moore needs no enemies As one friend told me, “If Senate Republicans had been at Gettysburg, they would have cut and run at the first sound of cannon fire and Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia would have defeated the Union Army of General George Meade.”

In fact, if Senate Republicans do to tax reform what they did to replacing Obamacare, they can most likely say “hello” to a U.S. House controlled by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in 2018.

But no one should be surprised at their failure to stand together against a united Democratic and media resistance to the Trump agenda.

Cut and run At the first hint of scandal or controversy, Democrats usually rally and unite like a family under siege, while Republicans run over each other trying to be the first to say, “don’t blame me; I’m on the right side.”

Just look at how Senate Republicans are running for cover to get as far away as possible from

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: ROY MOORE

Brazile questioned

Zuckerberg designed Facebook ‘Like’ as an addictive opioid It turns out that your brain on Facebook is like an egg in a frying pan. This, in effect, is what Facebook founding president Sean Parker confessed, according to CBS News: “The unintended consequences [is that] it literally changes your relationship with society, with each other [and] God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.

“The thought process that went into building these applications… was all about: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’

That means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever.”

EDITORIAL

CLARENCE V. MCKEE, ESQ. GUEST COLUMNIST

Roy Moore, the anti-GOP establishment candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama.

Moore is under siege from a decades old accusation of sexual misconduct with then teen-age girls. As serious as these allegations are – and they are very serious – they are allegations only!

Many will recall the allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment made against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by those on the left in an attempt deny him confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What is amazing, even for Republicans, is how quickly so many have been to throw Moore under the bus based on allegations alone. It didn’t take long after the accusations against Moore came to light in The Washington Post

But it is not just the radical “Black identity extremists” who write for Black Agenda Report and other Black radicals that find themselves subject to greater state scrutiny and on the receiving end of smear campaigns by rags like the Washington Post.

Even loyal servants like Donna Brazile have now provoked the ire of the Democrat Party leaders who question whether she has also become a Russia mole. Brazile didn’t even try and run from the Democrat plantation, but she is being treated like a runaway slave for having the temerity to question “Massa Clinton.”

In a culture where six capitalist multinational corporations control most of the news content, it is not surprising that the public’s attention would be diverted to the ongoing soap opera of Russiagate.

Those of us on the frontlines in the struggle for our collective dignity, human rights and survival don’t have the luxury of allowing our attention to be diverted from the primary forces responsible for our oppression.

Russians aren’t shooting down our people in the streets; transferring our children from juvenile to adult courts in record numbers; infiltrating our organizations; suppressing our votes; closing schools and hospitals in our communities, poisoning the water and land in our communities; raising our rents and taxes and displacing us out of the cities; or militarizing the police.

These are the results of the policies enacted and implemented by “Americans” in a society where the lives of the Black working class and poor don’t (and never have) mattered.

STEVE SACK, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

USSR supported movement

for all strategic considerations regarding allies, objective social forces internationally, and deterOn this 100th anniversary of mining whom our friends and enthe revolution that brought into existence the Soviet Union, the emies might be.

Russia of today is not the Soviet Stand and fight Union of 1917.

But we will never dismiss the We stand in solidarity with all role, with all its contradictions, those who stand with us, who rethat the Soviet Union played in spect our autonomous processsupporting the fight against West- es, and who are committed to ern colonialism in Asia, Africa, authentic revolutionary de-coloLatin America and throughout nialization and building a socialthe world and in support of Af- ist future. rican/Black democratic and huBut we will fight all who attempt man rights in America. to erase us, to silence our voices, Our historic task is to organize power for self-determination that and collaborate consciously or is rooted in the Black working unconsciously with the White suclass – the majority of our peo- premacist, patriarchal, colonial/ ple – as part of the effort to build capitalist order. a broader multi-national, multiAjamu Baraka is the national racial, anti-oppression radical social bloc to transform the so- organizer of the Black Alliance cial and productive relations in for Peace and was the 2016 candidate for vice president on the America.

Our responsibility is to make Green Party ticket. Contact him revolution. That is the baseline at www.AjamuBaraka.com. tricky propositions.

Therefore, take it from me; your friends and followers would really appreciate it if you’d spare them the annoying social obligation of having to tell you (every friggin’ day) how witty you are, or how beautiful you look. This especially when you insist on posting selfies in which you look like a Russian babushka selling borscht who thinks she’s a Victoria’s Secret model selling lingerie. Really, get over yourself!

Many are commending him for speaking out.

I, however, see him as a Johnny-come-lately, given commentaries I wrote as far back as 2013.

Here is an excerpt from “Keep Your Selfies to Yourself…Puhleeease!” posted April 7, 2014: A selfie is not just about adoring one’s own reflection like Narcissus; it’s more about taking a picture of that reflection to publish for all the world to see. But am I the only one who rues the cognitive dissonance that has turned self-obsessed showoffs from laughingstocks into standard-bearers of what is now not only acceptable but required public behavior?

Nothing irritates me in this context quite like the way people convey every private sentiment – from condolences to birthday greetings and romantic love – only by tweeting or facebooking it for everyone to read…

I do not think social media are utterly without redeeming value…It’s just that, all combined, [that value] probably accounts for less than 10 percent of what is posted daily. Whereas the other 90 percent seems borne of a pathetic neediness or insecurity, which causes people to make fools of themselves by posting selfies for no other reason than the vain hope of eliciting idle flattery.

Remember when there was no greater social nuisance than the

dad who showed off pictures of his newborn child (even to complete strangers) – as if it were the most beautiful thing God ever created? Well, that dad is social wallflower, compared to the twit who posts selfies – as if she were the most beautiful thing God ever created.

Frankly, this culture of unbridled narcissism and oversharing has become like a metastasizing cancer that is eroding all traditional notions of personal discretion and public decency. This cannot be a good thing, especially for the self-esteem of young girls.

After all, they were already suffering untenable body-dysmorphic triggers from images of models in glossy magazines. Now, thanks to photo-shopping apps, ordinary girls on social media are setting similar, unattainable standards of beauty…and fame…

But here’s a PSA for those of you who seem as addicted to chasing “likes” as junkies are to “chasing the dragon:” Your friends and followers are too socially correct to tell you what an embarrassing bore your selfies – to say nothing of your banal thoughts, snarky comments, and hackneyed aphorisms – have become. You are clearly as clueless about the perennial truth that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ as you probably are about the economic theory of ‘information asymmetry.’ And I gather ‘unfriending’ and ‘unfollowing’ are

– which has endorsed Moore’s Democratic opponent – that the GOP’s already tissue-thin wall of courage began to crumble.

His answer: “We are going to Moore should leave the race.

Nearly a dozen other sena- leave this decision to the jury. tors said almost uniformly that People on the jury will have to Moore should step aside if the allook at the facts like the people of legations were true.

Alabama will have to look at the facts (regarding Moore).”

Doesn’t take much

Running away The National Republican Senatorial Committee severed financial ties with Moore; Sens.

Bill Cassidy, R-La., Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, pulled their endorsements; Mitt Romney said he should step aside because he was “unfit for office”; and, three other senators – John McCain, R-Ariz., Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he should step aside.

Portman’s rationale is astonishing. He is quoted as saying, “ . . . if what we read is true and people are on the record . . . “ then Moore should step aside.

Does Portman really believe that if an accusation is reported in the media and people are on the record supporting it that we must assume it to be true? How naïve. I wonder if he would feel the same way if someone was on the record in a press report falsely accusing him of some disgraceful conduct?

Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., now says that he believes the women and that

The lesson here is that all it takes to take down a Republican candidate is an allegation.

Republicans, to placate a GOPhating media, will do the rest.

Where is the proof and where is the beef? They don’t ask.

Compare the GOP attacks on Moore and the wall-to-wall media coverage of his situation with the coverage and Democratic response to the corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. Not only has the media given scant coverage to the Menendez situation, from his indictment through trial, we have not heard Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and scores of Democratic Senators saying that if he is convicted he should resign from the Senate.

Until “Fox News Sunday” moderator Chris Wallace asked Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen, DMd., whether Menendez should step down if convicted, I don’t recall the media asking any Democrat about Menendez.

What about ‘fake news’?

Parker’s confession doesn’t address the white elephant on Facebook’s platform: the pandemic of fake news of that infected the presidential election, which caused so many of its brain-dead users to vote for Donald Trump.

I hope some of Facebook’s 2 billion users have enough brains left to “Like” (and heed) Parker’s sobering admonition. It behooves all consumers of social media to appreciate the Orwellian nature of the anti-social behavior all networks foster – namely compelling users to continually stare down at ‘smartphones’ that make so many users dumb people.

Anthony L. Hall is a native of The Bahamas with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com.

Great answer He should give his Republican colleagues lessons on crisis management.

It’s too bad Senate Republicans weren’t as enthusiastic in messaging to pass healthcare legislation as they have been in attacking Moore.

Moore is an easy target. It doesn’t take much courage to say he should resign “if” the allegations are true. Let’s see how brave these senators will be when it comes time to pass meaningful tax reform.

Clarence V. McKee is a government, political and media relations consultant and president of McKee Communications, Inc., as well as a Newsmax.com contributor. This article originally appeared on Newsmax.com.

TOJ A6

NATION

NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

GARY CORONADO/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Sexual assault survivors along with their supporters are shown at the #MeToo Survivors March against sexual abuse on Nov. 12 in Los Angeles.

‘No more secrets, no more lies’ Sparked by #MeToo campaign, sexual assault survivors rally, march in Hollywood.

BY BRITTNY MEJIA LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

LOS ANGELES – Some wore Tshirts with the words “Me Too” emblazoned across the front, while others held up signs that said “No more sexual abuse” and “Rape is not a joke.”

On Sunday, Nov. 12, several hundred survivors of sexual harassment and assault and their supporters gathered in front of the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to draw attention to their cause.

Recently, there has been an uprising of women who have gone public with their stories of abuse and systemic sexism.

“I’m really happy to come here, because really it’s Hollywood that opened this floodgate,” said Tarana Burke, who cofounded an organization called Just Be Inc. “It’s really symbolic to have this march happen, not with Hollywood stars, but in Hollywood.”

Bravery touted Last week, comedian Lou-

is C.K. became the latest Hollywood figure to be felled by a sex scandal, following producer Harvey Weinstein, producerdirector Brett Ratner, writer-director James Toback and actor Kevin Spacey. Also, Sacramento politicians and Washington lawmakers have been ensnared in their own scandals.

TV journalist Lauren Sivan, who has accused Weinstein of making unwanted sexual advances, wore a red shirt to Sunday’s demonstration that said “Take Back the Workplace.” She also stood up to speak to the assembled crowd.

“You are all brave,” she said.

“Bravery comes in many different forms. You don’t have to wear a flak jacket to make America a better place to live and to work and you’re all doing it by being here today.”

‘No means no’ Sivan then took her place at the head of the crowd as it began to march through Hollywood, chanting, “No more secrets, no more lies — no more silence that money buys!”

As the marchers passed tourists snapping photos along Hollywood Boulevard, their chants echoed along the street: “Survivors united, will never be divided,” and “Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes

and no means no.”

Among the crowd were three friends, each with their own stories of survival. All of them work in the entertainment industry and live in Los Angeles.

“We think it’s really important to bring a voice and a face to the survivors that are literally all around us,” said Diana Varco, who held a sign that read “Rape is not a joke.” “We joke about it like it doesn’t happen and that just perpetuates the cycle.”

The first step

No longer intimidated

Burke said that Sunday’s #MeToo march was just the first step in a larger campaign to raise awareness about sexual misconduct in the workplace and elsewhere.

“I think it’s just the beginning,” she said. “This goes so far beyond Hollywood, this goes so far beyond the glitz and the glamour of what we’re seeing in the media — deep into the crevices of all parts of the world.”

‘So many more’

Put on notice

Trump has maintained his innocence during his presidency, as he did in the campaign.

Protesters marched to the CNN building on Sunset and Cahuenga boulevards. They rallied about 11:30 a.m. in front of the building with several demonstrators speaking to the crowd.

“We will no longer be intimidated, we will no longer be dismissed, we will no longer be silenced, we will no longer feel alone,” said Tess Rafferty, coorganizer of the Take Back the Workplace March that joined forces with #MeToo organizers for Sunday’s rally.

“And if you try and silence or intimidate or discredit one of us, you’re going to have to deal with all of us. We are no longer the ones who have to fear for their jobs, you are.”

The crowd later marched back toward Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, walking past Spacey’s star on the Walk of Fame. Some pointed out other notables.

“This is a perfect place to hold this rally,” one demonstrator said, gesturing toward Trump’s star.

Beside her, Christy Lee Hughes, also a survivor, held a sign that read: “Stop victim blaming.”

“I feel like people are finally starting to listen,” Hughes said.

“But I do have to emphasize this: This is the tip of the iceberg.

There are so many more, I’m telling you — there are so many more.”

Their friend, Jozanne Marie, an immigrant from Jamaica, said she dealt with abuse from within her family for a 10-year period.

She wore a shirt that read: “The shame does not belong to you.”

“This is a bigger issue, it’s all over the world. I’m glad people are talking about it right now,” she said. “I’m hopeful this movement will help remove shame. … I believe things are going to change and this is going to set us up for the next generation.”

Actress and activist Frances Fisher was among those who joined the demonstrators.

“There’s a tsunami of women and men coming forward for the first time in the history of the world and finally the mainstream media is paying attention,” Fisher said. “It’s an incredible moment in the history of something that has been endemic in society ever since the cavemen.

“We’re putting everyone on notice who are predators, that this will not stand — all the way up to the predator in chief,” she added. She was referring to President Donald Trump, who was caught bragging in vulgar language on a 2005 video, recorded for the “Access Hollywood” show, about grabbing and kissing women without their permission.

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ruben Vives contributed to this report.

Trump’s travel ban partially goes into effect Decision impacts six countries with Muslims as majority

BY JAWEED KALEEM LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

A federal appeals court Monday partially revived President Donald Trump’s travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries, allowing it to go into effect against people without a “bona fide” connection in the U.S., such as close family members.

The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means that the federal government can start blocking travel into the U.S. by most nationals of Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Somalia and Chad who lack family in the country.

The order partially reversed one from Honolulu-based federal judge Derrick K. Watson, who blocked nearly the entire ban on the grounds that it “plainly discriminates based on nationality.” Watson ruled on a lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaii.

Temporary measure The 9th Circuit decision is a temporary measure before judges hear arguments Dec. 6 over the government’s appeal of Watson’s ruling.

A panel of three judges — Michael Daly Hawkins, Ronald M. Gould and Richard A. Paez — is

considering the appeal. All were appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Trump signed his newest travel ban on Sept. 24 to indefinitely halt travel from most citizens of the six countries, but Hawaiiand Maryland-based federal judges issued orders stopping it just as it was about to go into effect in October.

Win for Trump Trump’s travel order also applied to North Koreans and certain Venezuelan government officials and their families, but judges allowed bans on those nationals to continue.

The 9th Circuit decision is a win for the Trump administration, which has struggled since January in three attempts to push similar travel bans that immigration advocates and federal judges have largely described as illegal.

Judges have said the president’s bans either violated immigration law or were unconstitutional in discriminating against Muslims. The Trump administration has argued in federal courts that the bans fall within presidential power and are needed to protect Americans from potential terrorism.

The U.S. Supreme Court briefly allowed a prior travel ban to go into effect over the summer as long as people with close family in the U.S. were exempt from it.

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS

Muslims and activists stand near a fence across the street from the White House to protest against the Trump administration’s proposed travel ban on Oct. 18 in Washington, D.C.

Who’s included White House officials said the latest ban was written after an extensive review of vetting procedures for nations around the world. In a statement, the Department of Justice said it wanted the ban fully restored.

“We are reviewing the court’s order and the government will begin enforcing the travel proclamation consistent with the partial stay. We believe that the (travel ban) proclamation should be allowed to take effect in its entirety,” said spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam.

In issuing its order Monday, the 9th Circuit said that for-

eign nationals who have “bona fide” U.S. connections cannot be blocked.

The court said those included “grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins” who live in the U.S.

Bias against Muslims?

Lawyers for the Trump administration will also argue a separate travel ban case on Dec. 8 in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That appeal is over a decision by Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, who has also blocked the ban for people who do not have a “bona

fide” U.S. connection.

Chuang wrote in October that Trump’s campaign trail comments about Muslims and his Twitter postings pointed to the ban being an unconstitutional example of discrimination against Muslims.

The Trump administration has vowed to take its case over the ban to the Supreme Court. If it does, it won’t be the first time.

The administration was set to argue its prior travel ban in front of justices in October before the court dropped the case, saying it was moot because the prior travel ban in front of it — a temporary one — had expired.

COURIER

Haddish makes ‘SNL’ history See page B5

NOV. 17 – NOV. 23, 2017

|

GQ honors Kaepernick See page B6

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

SECTION

B

TOJ

PATIENTS DYING YOUNGER FROM

SICKLE CELL

PHOTOS BY JENNY GOLD/KAISIER HEALTH NEWS/TNS

A nurse takes patient Derek Perkins’ blood pressure at the sickle cell center at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland – one of only three places in California that offer specialized services for adults with sickle cell disease.

BY JENNY GOLD KAISER HEALTH NEWS/ TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

F

or more than a year, NeDina Brocks-Capla avoided one room in her large, brightly colored San Francisco house — the bathroom on the second floor.

“It was really hard to bathe in here, and I found myself not wanting to touch the walls,” she explained. The bathroom is where Brocks-Capla’s son Kareem Jones died in 2013 at age 36, from sickle cell disease.

It’s not just the loss of her son that upsets Brocks-Capla; she believes that if Jones had gotten the proper medical care, he might still be alive today.

Discrimination and poor care to blame, medical experts say

Mostly affects Blacks Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder that causes some red blood cells to bend into a crescent shape.

The misshapen, inflexible cells clog the blood vessels, preventing blood from circulating oxygen properly, which can cause chronic pain, multi-organ failure and stroke.

About 100,000 people in the United States have sickle cell disease, and most of them are African-American.

Dying younger

Inconsistent care Jones was sent to a clinic at San Francisco General Hospital, but it was open only for a halfday, one day each week. If he was sick any other day, he had two options: leave a voicemail for a clinic nurse or go to the emergency room.

“That’s not comprehensive care — that’s not consistent care for a disease of this type,” said Brocks-Capla.

Brocks-Capla is a retired supervisor at a worker’s compensation firm.

She knew how to navigate the health care system, but she couldn’t get her son the care he needed. Like most sickle cell patients, Jones had frequent pain crises. Usually he ended up in the emergency room where, Brocks-Capla said, the doctors didn’t seem to know much about sickle cell disease.

A long wait

NeDina Brocks-Capla sits in her kitchen in San Francisco. Her son Kareem Jones died at age 36 from sickle cell disease.

Patients and experts alike say it’s no surprise, then, that while life expectancy for almost every major malady is improving, patients with sickle cell disease can expect to die younger than they did 20 years ago.

In 1994, life expectancy for sickle cell patients was 42 for men and 48 for women. By 2005, life expectancy had dipped to 38 for men and 42 for women.

beaten the odds. He sits in an exam room decorated with cartoon characters at Children’s Hospital Oakland, but this is the adult sickle cell clinic. He’s been Vichinsky’s patient since childhood.

“Without the sickle cell clinic here in Oakland, I don’t know what I would do. I don’t know anywhere else I could go,” Perkins said.

Lack of access Sickle cell disease is “a microcosm of how issues of race, ethnicity and identity come into conflict with issues of health care,” said Keith Wailoo, a professor at Princeton University who writes about the history of the disease.

It is also an example of the broader discrimination experienced by African-Americans in the medical system.

Nearly a third report that they have experienced discrimination when going to the doctor, according to a poll by NPR, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“One of the national crises in health care is the care for adult

once he turned 18 and aged out of his pediatric program, it felt like falling off a cliff.

A misdiagnosis

Dr. Elliott Vichinsky examines Derek Perkins at the sickle cell center at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, which sees both children and adults. sickle cell,” said leading researcher and physician Dr. Elliott Vichinsky, who started the sickle cell center at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland in 1978.

“This group of people can live much longer with the management we have, and they’re dying because we don’t have access to care.”

Beating the odds Indeed, with the proper care, Vichinsky’s center and the handful of other specialty clinics like it across the country have been able to increase life expectancy for sickle cell patients well into their 60s.

Vichinsky’s patient Derek Perkins, 45, knows he has already

When Perkins was 27, he once ended up at a different hospital where doctors misdiagnosed his crisis. He went into a coma and was near death before his mother insisted he be transferred.

“Dr. Vichinsky was able to get me here to Children’s Hospital, and he found out what was wrong and within 18 hours — all I needed was an emergency blood transfusion and I was awake,” Perkins recalls.

Kareem Jones lived just across the bay from Perkins, but he had a profoundly different experience.

Jones’ mother, Brocks-Capla, said her son received excellent medical care as a child, but

When she tried to explain her son’s pain to the doctors and nurses, she recalled, “they say have a seat. ‘He can’t have a seat! Can’t you see him?’”

Studies have found that sickle cell patients have to wait up to 50 percent longer for help in the emergency department than other pain patients.

The opioid crisis has made things even worse, Vichinsky added, as patients in terrible pain are likely to be seen as drug seekers with addiction problems rather than patients in need.

The medication Despite his illness, Jones fought to have a normal life. He lived with his girlfriend, had a daughter and worked as much as he could between pain crises.

He was an avid San Francisco Giants fan.

For years, he took a drug called hydroxyurea, but it had side effects, and after a while Jones had to stop taking it. “And that was it, because you know there isn’t any other medication out there,” said Brocks-Capla.

Indeed, hydroxyurea, which the FDA first approved in 1967 as a cancer drug, was the only drug on the market to treat sickle cell during Jones’ lifetime. In July, the FDA approved a second drug, Endari, specifically to treat patients with sickle cell disease.

See DYING, Page B2

CALENDAR & BOOKS

B2

NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

MARVIN DIXON The Black Saturday Comedy Show featuring Rickey Smiley, Deray Davis and Marvin Dixon is Nov. 25 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami.

Pompano Beach: A Dru Hill concert featuring Sisqo, Jazz & Tao and Tony, Toni Tone will be at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center on Nov. 25.

Orlando: The Orlando Classic: Tastemasters Official After Party is Nov. 18 at the House of Blues Orlando.

Miami: The Art Blues & BBQ Festival is Dec. 2 from 2 to 7 p.m. featuring the Chicago Blues AllStars, Ike & Val Woods and the Valerie Tyson Band. Location: African Heritage Cultural Arts Center. RSVP at www.ahcacmiami.org Orlando: Songs for the Soul: An Intimate Evening with Brent Smith and Zach Myers is Dec. 12 at House of Blues Orlando.

IKE & VAL WOODS 21 SAVAGE

The Numb the Pain Tour featuring 21 Savage stops at The Ritz Ybor in Tampa on Nov. 26.

The Art Blues & BBQ Festival is Dec. 2 from 2 to 7 p.m. featuring the Chicago Blues All-Stars, Ike & Val Woods and the Valerie Tyson Band. Location: African Heritage Cultural Arts Center. RSVP at www.ahcacmiami.org

Coates’ writings look back at Obama years Ta-Nehisi Coates has always wanted to write with gravity and clarity, without sanctimony or sentimentality. Art, he believes, “must reflect the world in all its brutality and beauty, not in the hopes of changing it but in the mean and selfish desire to not be enrolled in its lie, to not be coopted by the television dreams, to not Ta-Nehisi ignore the great Coates crimes all around us.”

At the same time, “with outrages compiling daily,” Coates keeps “hoping that I am wrong, that I am somehow unnecessarily bleak.”

Coates is, of course, the author of “Between the World and Me’’ (2015), a polemic ostensibly addressed to his son, which won the National Book Award. He is also a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.

DYING from B1 Disease comparison Funding by the federal government and private foundations for the disease pales in comparison to other disorders.

Cystic fibrosis offers a good comparison. It is another inherited disorder that requires complex care and most often occurs in Whites.

It gets seven to 11 times more funding per patient than sickle cell disease, according to a 2013 study in the journal Blood. From 2010 to 2013 alone, the FDA approved five new drugs for the treatment of cystic fibrosis.

“There’s no question in my mind that class and color are major factors in impairing their survival.

Without question,” Vichinsky said of sickle cell patients. “The death rate is increasing. The quality of care is going down.”

Incredible pain Without a new medication, Jones got progressively worse. At 36, his kidneys began to fail, and he had to go on dialysis. He ended up in the hospital, with the worst pain of his life. The doctors stabilized him and gave him pain meds but did not diagnose the underlying cause of the crisis. He was released to his moth-

“We Were Eight Years in Power’’ consists of eight essays, in which Coates sets each year of the Obama administration in the context of his own experiences and perceptions; eight essays previously published The Atlantic; and an epilogue entitled “The First White President.”

Beautifully crafted, the book illuminates the Obama era with sensitivity, sympathy, stridency, and searing insight. And “We Were Eight Years in Power’’ lays bare in its “full complexity” the tension between hope and despair in 21st-century America.

Coates’ thesis is straightforward and stark. The American story, he declares, is a “majestic tragedy...To be black in America was to be plundered. To be white was to benefit from, and at times directly execute, this plunder.”

Racist banditry was not – and is not – “incidental to America, it was essential to it.”

Iconic work In several of his controversial, yet deservedly iconic, Atlantic

Orlando: The Original Wailers will perform Nov. 21 at the House of Blues Orlando and Nov. 22 at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale. cluded that racism had been defeated. Acknowledging that Obama’s victory underscored the “incredible distance” the United States had traveled, Coates maintains that it is a mistake to ignore the context in which that victory was secured and “the quaking ground beneath Obama’s feet.”

The election of Donald Trump, Coates writes, confirmed everything I knew of my country and none of what I could accept...I was shocked at my own shock.”

Defiance, “the general theory of the life,” became, as it had been, his “firm ground.”

Straightforward, stark

BY DR. GLENN ALTSCHULER SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Miramar: The Freestyle Under the Stars show is Nov. 18 at the Miramar Regional Park Amphitheater.

Performers: Stevie B, George Lamond, The Cover Girls, and Trinere.

Explanations missing

BOOK REVIEW Review of “We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy’’ by Ta-Nehisi Coates. One World. 367 pages. $28. essays – “Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?”; “Fear of a Black President”; “The Case for Reparations”; and “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration” – Coates demonstrates how deeply racism is embedded in our country’s practices, politics and policies.

On election night 2008, Coates points out, some Americans con-

Racism, Coates repeats, is “at the heart of the country’s political life.”

However compelling, this conviction leads him to downplay or dismiss other forces and factors.

“We Were Eight Years in Power,’’ for example, does not mention the growth of a Black middle class.

Coates acknowledges but questions the efficacy of the formula used by Obama and other progressives to close the gap between Blacks and Whites by designing programs for all Americans, like the Affordable Care Act, which reduced the uninsured rate for Blacks by over 30 percent.

Nor does he adequately explain what is wrong with a “both/ and” strategy based on simultaneous critiques of White racism

STOJ

Orlando: Kevin Hart: The Irresponsible Tour stops at the House of Blues Orlando on Dec. 12.

Miami: Lady Gaga’s world tour stops at the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami on Nov. 30 and Tampa’s Amalie Arena on Dec. 1.

St. Petersburg: Preservation Hall performs Nov. 21 at The Mahaffey Theater.

Orlando: Catch Jagged Edge with Sammie on Dec. 3 at the House of Blues Orlando.

Miami Gardens: Free one-one business consulting sessions are available through December for Miami Gardens residents. Call M.D. Stewart & Associates for an appointment at 305-890-4984.

Orlando: Keyshia Cole performs Nov. 17 at the House of Blues Orlando.

Daytona Beach: Catch Irma Thomas, Blind Boys of Alabama and the Preservation Hall Legacy Quintet on Nov. 19 at The Peabody.

Fort Lauderdale: Broward Citizens for Seniors will present its annual Seniors Prom on Nov. 18 at the Bahia Mar Hotel from 5 to 10 p.m.

Tickets and sponsorship: Call 954303-4900. and Black ghetto culture (whose downside has been documented

by Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson).

Call for resistance “We Were Eight Years in Power’’ ends with a reminder that President Trump’s tenure in office does not “mark the end of history.” Coates calls for resistance, especially against “the bad bargain that whiteness strikes with its disciples,” a bargain that, alas, “has held through boom and bust.”

Insisting there should be no conflict between resistance to White supremacy and opposition “to the degradation brought about by an unrestrained capitalism” – and no contradiction between supporting reparations and living wages, law enforcement and single-payer health care, Coates seems, at some level, to endorse the “both/and” strategy about which he had expressed skepticism.

Nor can you be sure that he’s motivated only by “the power and necessity of immediate defiance” and not abstract ideas of hope, justice, and national redemption.

Dr. Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He wrote this review for the Florida Courier.

creasing its budget for research and treatment of sickle cell disease.”

er’s care, still in incredible pain.

At home, Brocks-Capla ran him a warm bath to try to soothe his pain and went downstairs to get him a change of clothes. As she came back up the stairs, she heard loud banging against the bathroom walls.

“So I run into the bathroom and he’s having a seizure. And I didn’t know what to do. I was like, ‘Oh come on, come on. Don’t do this. Don’t do this to me.’”

Funding waned

Was preventable She called 911. The paramedics came but couldn’t revive him. “He died here with me,” she said.

It turned out Jones had a series of small strokes.

His organs were in failure, something Brocks-Capla said the hospital missed.

She believes his death could have been prevented with consistent care — the kind he got as a child. Vichinsky thinks she is probably right.

“I would say 40 percent or more of the deaths I’ve had recently have been preventable — I mean totally preventable,” he said, but he got to the cases too late.

“It makes me so angry.

I’ve spent my life trying to help these people, and the harder part is you can change this — this isn’t a knowledge issue. It’s an access issue.”

Time and training Vichinsky’s center and others like it have made

NeDina Brocks-Capla stands in her living room in San Francisco. She made a shrine filled with memories of son Kareem Jones, who died of sickle cell anemia in 2013. major advances in screening patients for the early signs of organ failure and intervening to prevent premature death. Patients at these clinics live two decades longer than the average sickle cell patient.

Good care for sickle cell requires time and training for physicians, but it often doesn’t pay well, because many patients are on Medicaid or other government insurance programs.

The result is that most adult sickle cell patients still struggle even to access treatments that have been around for decades, Vichinsky said.

Identified in 1910 The

phenomenon

is

nothing new — the disease that used to be known as sickle cell anemia has had a long and sordid past.

It was first identified in 1910 and helped launch the field of molecular biology. But most of the research was used to study science rather than improving care for sickle cell patients, Vichinsky said.

In the 1960s and ’70s, sickle cell became a lightning rod for the civil rights movement. At the time, the average patient died before age 20.

Tested by Panthers The Black Panther Party took up the cause and began testing people at their “survival conferences”

across the country.

“I’m sure we tested over 4½ thousand people for sickle cell anemia last night — and I think that the voter registration is running neck and neck with it,” Black Panther Party Chairman Bobby Seale told news crews at an event in Oakland in 1972.

The movement grew, and Washington listened.

“It is a sad and shameful fact that the causes of this disease have been largely neglected throughout our history,” President Richard Nixon told Congress in 1971.

“We cannot rewrite this record of neglect, but we can reverse it. To this end, this administration is in-

For a while, funding did increase, newborn screening took hold and by the 1990s, life expectancy had doubled, with patients living into their 40s. But over time, funding waned, clinics closed, and life expectancy started dropping again.

Vichinsky pushes against that trend for patients like Derek Perkins. The father of four looks healthy and robust, but like most sickle cell patients, he has episodes of extreme pain and has problems with his kidneys, heart, hips and breathing.

Keeping him thriving requires regular checkups and constant monitoring for potential problems.

“The program Dr. Vichinsky is running here, I feel I owe my life to (it),” said Perkins. “If it wasn’t for him and the things that he did for me, my family wouldn’t have me.”

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. KHN’s coverage of children’s health care issues is supported in part by a grant from The Heising-Simons Foundation.

STOJ

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

B3

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.

Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year before and during the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions. On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors. Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years.

Click on www.flcourier to see hundreds of pictures from previous Carnivals.

Go to www. miamibrowardcarnival. com for more information on Carnival events in South Florida.

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Haddish makes history with ‘Saturday Night Live’ appearance Funny woman Tiffany Haddish has got folks talking because of her appearance on “Saturday Night Live” on Nov. 11.

Besides being funny and feisty, like she normally is, the really big deal is that Haddish made history by becoming the first Black female stand-up comic to host the show in its 43 seasons.

Haddish pumped big energy into the show – and the season – that had been short on it, as Deadline put it.

those out of the way quickly, while mentioning “Girls Trip,” that blockbuster summer hit she was in, while wondering about the where her cut of the profits were.

“I googled myself – it said I’m worth $2 million! What do I need to do to get this money?

Fake my own death? Tupac this sh*t and move to Tyler Perry Island?”

Then she brought up her past … being brought up in foster homes.

“I grew up in foster care,” she said. “So I want to thank anyone who paid taxes between 1990 and 1999.”

‘Girls Trip’ joke

Hit-and-miss show

EURWEB.COM

As far as the intros, she got

Living in group homes with

mostly Black and Hispanic kids wasn’t an easy thing come 11:30 on Saturday nights, Haddish reminded.

“Trying to convince them that Dana Carvey was just as funny as Damon Wayans was a problem. I got stabbed twice, in a bunk bed.”

Haddish also had a “Tiff Tip” for men: “If you got your thang-thang out and she got all her clothes on you’re wrong.”

Over all, as usual, the show was hit and miss, including Tiffany’s sketches. Her most memorable character probably was Boo Boo Jeffries, a fighter in a Mortal Kombat-type game who’s all fierce bluster but no fists.

CHRIS HASTON/NBC

NBC’s “Will & Grace’’ was hailed for LGBTQ characters in leading roles. From left: Eric McCormack as Will Truman, Debra Messing as Grace Adler and Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland.

Report: LGBTQ representation on TV hits record high but problems remain

BY GREG BRAXTON LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE/NBC

Tiffany Haddish gives the opening monologue on Nov. 11. She was the first Black stand-upcomic to host “Saturday Night Live.’’

The representation of primetime TV characters identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer has reached record highs in the past year. But despite that progress, the range of diversity of those characters remains limited.

That conclusion was detailed last week in “Where We Are on TV,” the latest in the series of annual reports issued by GLAAD, which monitors the extent and portrayals of regular and recurring LGBTQ characters on scripted broadcast cable and streaming series.

The reports also examine the overall diversity of scripted shows on prime-time broadcast TV.

901 regular characters The report from the advocacy group said that of the 901 series regular characters expected to appear on broadcast prime-time scripted programs in the 201718 TV season, 58, or 6.4 percent, were identified as LGBTQ. The total represents the highest percentage of LGBTQ regular characters since GLAAD started its expanded survey 13 years ago.

The report said there were an additional 28 recurring LGBTQ characters in prime time.

Overall, the study said, 86 LGBTQ regular and recurring characters appear on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and the CW, a boost from last year’s previous high of 71.

Shows in the report hailed for featuring LGBTQ characters in lead roles included NBC’s “Will & Grace” and ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder.”

Mostly White males On the cable front, the number of LGBTQ regular characters increased from 92 last year to 103 this year, while recurring LGBTQ characters went up from 50 to 70.

But the report said the boost in numbers is only part of the story, as TV continues to grapple with the issue of increasing diversity.

LGBTQ characters are still predominantly White and male.

FOOD

B4

NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

STOJ

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

Whether this holiday marks your culinary debut or you’re a seasoned chef looking for a fresh take on seasonal favorites, you can take some notes from the pros. Every good chef has an arsenal of tricks and techniques to create amazing dishes every time, and the perfect blend of spices is one of those winning secrets.

In a properly seasoned dish, the spice accents the natural flavors without overpowering them. That’s why it’s a good idea to build your menu around spices and herbs of the highest quality, such as Spice Islands, which crafts and packages spices and herbs from around the world to deliver the most authentic and intense flavor possible.

Add flavor-rich, seasonal spices to your holiday table with these flavorful recipes for a Traditional Turkey Rub, Cranberry Apple Chutney, Butternut Squash Soup with Thyme Butter and Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes.

From the appetizers to the main dish to dessert, flavorful seasonings can make a good recipe great. Find more ideas for spicing up your holiday menu at SpiceIslands.com.

TRADITIONAL TURKEY RUB Prep time: 5 minutes Yield: rub for 1 turkey (about 15 pounds) 2 teaspoons Spice Islands Crushed Rosemary 1 teaspoon Spice Islands Thyme 1 teaspoon Spice Islands Onion Powder 1/2 teaspoon Spice Islands Garlic Powder 1/8 teaspoon Spice Islands Ground Saigon Cinnamon sea salt Spice Islands Ground Black Pepper pure olive oil (optional) 1 turkey In small bowl, combine rosemary, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder and cinnamon. Generously add salt and pepper. Lightly coat turkey with oil, if desired.

Rub all surfaces of turkey with seasoning. Roast according to package directions.

Spice up the season

PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

Flavorful holiday dishes for every course CRANBERRY APPLE CHUTNEY Prep time: 15 minutes Total time: 45 minutes Yield: 2 cups 1 bag (12 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries 1/4 cup water 2 large apples, cored and chopped 1 1/2 cups sugar 2/3 cup finely chopped onion 2/3 cup golden raisins 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger 1 teaspoon Spice Islands Minced Garlic 1 teaspoon salt

MINI PUMPKIN CHEESECAKES Prep time: 15 minutes Total time: 1 hour, 50 minutes Yield: 18 mini cheesecakes 18 paper baking cups (2 1/2 inch diameter) 18 gingersnap cookies 12 ounces cream cheese, softened 3/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon corn starch 1 teaspoon Spice Islands Pumpkin Pie Spice

3/4 teaspoon Spice Islands Ground Allspice 1/4 teaspoon Spice Islands Ground Saigon Cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon Spice Islands Ground Cloves 2/3 cup dark corn syrup 1/3 cup cider vinegar 2/3 cup chopped pecans In large saucepan, combine cranberries, water, apples, sugar, onion, raisins, ginger, garlic, salt, allspice, cinnamon and cloves. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat; cover, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Add corn syrup, vinegar and pecans. Cook uncovered 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve with roast turkey, pork roast or baked ham.

2 eggs 1 cup canned pumpkin 1/3 cup light corn syrup Heat oven to 325 F. Line muffin tin with paper baking cups. Place 1 cookie in each cup.

With electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, corn starch and pumpkin pie spice. Add eggs and mix well. Add pumpkin and corn syrup; beat 1 minute.

Pour filling into liners, dividing evenly. Bake 30-35 minutes until just set.

Chill 1 hour.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH THYME BUTTER Prep time: 35 minutes Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Yield: 6-8 servings 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 teaspoon Spice Islands Ground Ginger 1/4 teaspoon Spice Islands Cayenne Pepper 3 pounds (about 7 cups) butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 2 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped 2 small onions, coarsely chopped

2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) chicken broth, divided 1/2 cup water Thyme Butter: 1/4 cup butter, softened 1/2 teaspoon Spice Islands Thyme 1/2 teaspoon Spice Islands Garlic Powder Heat oven to 425 F. In large bowl, combine oil, ginger and cayenne pepper. Add squash, apples and onions; toss to coat.

Transfer to 15-by-10-inch baking pan. Roast in single layer 35-45 minutes, or until tender. Remove from oven.

Working in batches, combine squash mixture and one can chicken broth in blender or food processor; blend until smooth.

Transfer pureed mixture to large saucepan. Stir in remaining chicken broth and water. Bring soup to boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes.

To make thyme butter: Combine butter, thyme and garlic powder until well blended. Spoon onto wax paper and roll into 3-inch log; wrap tightly and refrigerate until firm.

To serve, cut butter into thin slices. Ladle hot soup into individual bowls; top each with slice of butter.

Tip: Puree can be made in advance, covered and refrigerated up to 2 days.

S

NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

FOOD

B5

Deliver holiday flavor with

pecans FROM FAMILY FEATURES

The holiday season is ripe with opportunities to gather around the table with loved ones and enjoy a delicious meal.

Elevate your holiday menu with freshly harvested ingredients like naturally sweet pecans. As America’s only native tree nut, the pecan boasts a proud heritage shared by the farmers who have grown it for generations – but this tree nut is more than a pie ingredient.

While the American Pecan Council’s Classic Pecan Pie is an ideal grand finale, consider including nutrient-dense pecans throughout the holiday season as a snack or in innovative pecan-filled dishes like Roasted Acorn Squash with Pecan Vinaigrette and Pecan Wild Rice Pilaf.

In addition to being a versatile addition to your holiday feast, in each 1-ounce serving of pecans, you’ll get 12 grams of “good” monounsaturated fat with zero cholesterol or sodium, according to the USDA. Compared to other nuts, pecans are among the lowest in carbs (4 grams) and highest in dietary fiber (3 grams) per serving.

For more seasonal recipes, nutritional information and cooking tips, visit AmericanPecan.com.

PECAN WILD RICE PILAF Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 45 minutes Servings: 12 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock 2 cups water 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus additional, to taste 1/4 teaspoon cloves 1 cinnamon stick 3/4 cup wild rice, rinsed 1 cup black rice, rinsed 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or pecan oil 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1/2 large sweet onion, diced 2 cups butternut squash, diced 1 medium tart apple, peeled and diced black pepper, to taste 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 cup chopped pecans or pecan pieces

1/3 cup dried currants In medium saucepan, bring stock, water, nutmeg, ginger, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, cloves and cinnamon stick to boil. Add rice and bring back to simmer. Reduce heat to low and half cover with lid. Allow rice to simmer about 45 minutes, or until tender and liquid is absorbed. Remove and discard cinnamon stick.

While rice is cooking, in large skillet, heat olive or pecan oil and butter. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 4 minutes.

Add in butternut squash and cook, stirring often, until squash is tender and beginning to caramelize at edges, about 8-10 minutes. Add in apples and cook additional 3-4 minutes, or until apples soften. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, along with thyme and ground cinnamon. Stir in chopped pecans and currants, and cook until pecans are slightly golden and fragrant.

Remove mixture from heat. Stir butternut squash mixture with cooked rice and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

CLASSIC PECAN PIE Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 70 minutes Servings: 10 1 pie dough (9 inches) 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 cup light corn syrup 1 cup light brown sugar 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 3 large eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 teaspoon salt

ROASTED ACORN SQUASH SALAD WITH PECAN VINAIGRETTE Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 35 minutes Servings: 4 Squash: 1 small acorn squash 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/4 teaspoon sea salt Dressing: 1/2 cup raw pecan pieces 1/4 cup olive or pecan oil 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1/4 teaspoon sea salt Salad:

2 1/2 cups raw pecan halves Place baking sheet in oven. Heat oven to 350 F. Line pie pan with rolled out pie dough. Press into edges and up sides. Use fingers or fork to create decorative edge. Set aside.

In large bowl, whisk together butter, corn syrup, brown sugar and vanilla extract. Add eggs and salt, and whisk until mixture is even. Fold in pecan halves.

3-4 handfuls baby spinach 1 1/2 cups cooked farro 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced 1 ounce crumbled goat cheese Heat oven to 425 F. To create base, slice small part of one side of squash. Trim ends from squash, cut in half lengthwise and scoop out sides. Place cut-side down and cut squash into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place on sheet tray and toss with olive or pecan oil and salt. Roast until squash and peels are tender, 30-40 minutes.

While squash is roasting, heat small skillet over medium heat. Add pecans and toast, shaking pan, until nuts are

Pour mixture into pie crust and spread evenly with spatula. Use pieces of aluminum foil to cover edges of pie crust. Place pie on prepared baking sheet and bake 60-70 minutes, or until pie is set in center.

Remove pie from oven and allow to cool completely before serving or chilling.

Note: Pie can be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated overnight.

Allow pie to come to room temperature before serving.

fragrant. Transfer 1/3 cup of pecans to bowl and reserve remaining pecans for topping. Add oil, vinegar, maple syrup and salt while nuts are still warm. Stir vigorously and set aside.

In large bowl, combine spinach, farro, shallot, half the squash and half the dressing. Toss to combine then lay remaining squash on top of salad. Drizzle with remaining dressing and sprinkle with goat cheese and remaining toasted pecans before serving.

Note: Acorn squash skin is edible but needs roasting long enough to make it tender. If unsure, use delicata squash or skinless butternut squash.

Helping you is what we love to do.

That’s why there’s always an experienced bread baker on hand in your Publix Bakery. And an expert cake decorator, too, ready to customize beautiful cakes to your every whim, for any occasion.

See how we serve you at publix.com/service.

B6

SPORTS

NOVEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 23, 2017

Kaepernick is GQ’s ‘Citizen of the Year’ EURWEB.COM

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has received GQ’s coveted 2017 “Citizen of the Year” honor.

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The magazine on Monday released the covers of its four “new American heroes,” including late night host Stephen Colbert, NBA star Kevin Durant and “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot in addition to Kaepernick.

Rapper J.Cole, director Ava DuVernay and actor/ activist Harry Belafonte were part of a 10-person team of contributors to Kaepernick’s piece, offering “rare insight” into the athlete through their own perspectives of activism,

protest, and equality.

“Much has changed in the four years since Colin Kaepernick was last on the cover of GQ. Back then he was a rippling superhero of a quarterback on the rise. But a simple act—kneeling during the national anthem— changed everything. It cost him his job. It also transformed Colin Kaepernick into a lightning rod and a powerful symbol of activism and resistance,” a GQ article states.

PHOTOS BY DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

B-CU defeated FAMU again last year on the gridiron, 39-19.

Rattlers or Wildcats?

Florida Classic returns Nov. 18 FROM STAFF REPORTS

Thousands ascend upon Orlando each year for the Florida Blue Florida Classic, which features instate rivals Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats and the Florida A&M University Rattlers.

The football teams will face off on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Camping World Stadium. The Florida Classic is arguably the largest event in Black college football despite losing some luster in recent years as game attendance has fallen.

The Classic is more than the football game. It’s billed as a weekend for college friends to reunite and a time for families to come together and fans to show out during a showdown of the two HBCUs.

Colin Kaepernick is shown on the cover of the latest GQ magazine.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE FOR BLACK STUDENTS. NO EXCUSES.

Their records From 1999 to 2006, the Florida Classic drew record crowds of more than 70,000 fans including an individual game record of 73,358 in 2003.

In recent years, the game has drawn over 40,000 fans, about a 20,000 drop from the early 2000s. The attendance was 45,372 last year and 45,728 in 2015.

The highest attendance was 73,358 in 2003.

Bethune-Cookman has won the game in previous years. Last year, the Wildcats defeated the Rattlers 39-19.

The Rattlers haven’t won the Classic since 2010 when they defeated the Wildcats 38-27 with 61,712

The Bethune-Cookman Marching Wildcat band and the Marching 100 will face off during the halftime show at the Florida Classic. in attendance.

Halftime excitement B-CU goes into the game with a 6-4 overall record and 5-2 the MEAC (MidEastern Athletic Conference) record. FAMU’s record is 3-7 overall and 2-5 in MEAC play.

The annual football game starts at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, at Camping World Stadium. Along with the football game, a high-

light is the halftime show featuring two universities’ marching bands.

There will be plenty of applause and cheers as the high-stepping Marching 100 and the Marching Wildcats entertain the stadium crowd.

Tickets can be purchased at the stadium’s box office on game day only.

For complete details on the Florida Classic, visit Floridaclassic.org.

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