Florida Courier, April 6, 2012, #14

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Fantastic Voyage 2012, Day 2 B1 www.flcourier.com

APRIL 6 - APRIL 12, 2012

VOLUME 20 NO. 14

WHAT’S NEXT?

BY CHARLES W. CHERRY II FLORIDA COURIER PUBLISHER

Trayvon Benjamin Martin, 1995-2012, was a child of ours. He was born, raised, educated, and killed in Florida. He wasn’t the first Black child to die as a consequence of gun violence in Florida. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the last to die – even during the month of February 2012.

So after the rallies, the marches, the radio and TV shows, after the social networking tweets, texts, and postings, where do we Black Floridians go from here? A few thoughts, not meant to be a complete list: • Let's stop the commercial symbolism. Quit buying Skittles, AriZona Iced Teas, and hoodies. Such symbolism is just making

As Black Floridians, we find ourselves in the forefront of what could be a Trayvon Martin-inspired ‘movement.’

Where should we go from here? rich White folks richer, and some of them have interests that may not align with ours.

According to Forbes magazine, Jacqueline Mars and her two brothers, John Mars and Forrest Mars, Jr.,

privately own Mars, the world’s largest candy company, with $31.6 billion in sales last year. Mars candy brands include Milky Way, M&Ms, and Skittles, among others.

AriZona Iced Tea is privately owned by John Ferolito, a rich South Florida resident (coincidentally a large Republican donor) and his partner Domenick Vultaggio. Their company pulls in nearly $1 billion annually.

If you buy your hoodie from Walmart, you are directly supporting the Walton family of Bentonville, Ark. They are Walmart’s largest shareholders and have contributed millions of dollars to GOP and conservative political action committees and Super PACs, including one sup-

BILL DAY / CAGLE CARTOONS

porting Mitt Romney.

This is America. Folks rich and poor can write checks to whom they so desire. But don’t you want to know where your dollars, especially for symbolic tri-

fles like iced tea and candy, are going?

And for you Black Republicans, party-affiliated donations are relevant because the GOP “owns’’ Florida politically. The “con-

cealed carry” and “stand your ground” laws that were critical factors in Trayvon’s death were conceived and passed on the GOP’s See NEXT, Page A2

Armed and dangerous

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. / 1929-1968

State ‘concealed carry’ licenses approach 1 million

BY MICHAEL PELTIER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

With more than 800,000 issued, nearly one in every 15 Florida adults has a license to carry a concealed weapon, according to data compiled by the state.

The number of concealed weapons permits has risen dramatically in recent years as new laws making it easier to obtain them have been placed on the books by lawmakers, spurred on by the National Rifle Association, one of the most effective lobbying forces in the capital city.

Laws scrutinized

CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/MCT

Remembering Black America’s saddest day

‘Casual formality’

if they believe themselves in danger.

But the investigation could take more than a year, said Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, and an attorney. Smith has already called twice for Scott’s task force to meet sooner.

He’s also asked Scott to call a special session to address the State Sen. Chris Smith stand your ground law.

On Tuesday, Smith said the delay is hurting Florida’s image and appeal to tourists. He compared Scott’s reaction to that of Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1993, when two British tourists were shot – and one killed – in a robbery attempt at a rest stop on Interstate 10, east of Tallahassee.

Within hours, Chiles, facing reports that

“In Florida, being armed in public is such a casual formality that law enforcement does not issue the license to carry a loaded, concealed gun; that is done by the Department of Agriculture – the same agency charged with issuing permits to pick tomatoes or transport livestock,” said Dan Gross, of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, during recent congressional testimony.

Among Floridians over 18 years of age, about 6.5 percent have applied for and received permits to carry a concealed weapon. Add the 104,210 permits brought into the state by out-of-state visitors and the total rises to 906,924 as of Feb. 29, according to Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which administers the licensing program Dixie County leads the state in the number of concealed weapons permits issued per capita, with nearly one in 10 residents of the rural county licensed to carry. It is followed by Monroe County, which is the Florida Keys, where 7.3 percent of the population is licensed.

Seven Florida Counties – Gilchrist, St. Johns, Sumter, Lafayette, Glades, Liberty and Calhoun – have the lowest per capita concealed weapons rates in the state, all under 3 percent.

Statewide, the per capita average is 4.2 percent. Take out children under 18, who

See PANEL, Page A2

See GUNS, Page A2

In 2008, Memphis sanitation workers Elmore Nickelberry, 76, center, and his son Terrence, left, held a replica of the placard used by strikers in Memphis, Tenn. in front of the former Lorraine Motel. Dr. King was murdered there on April 4, 1968. See page A2 for a commentary on MLK and Barack Obama.

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

‘Stand Your Ground’ tweak ahead?

Smith launches ‘stand your ground’ panel

By MARGIE MENZEL THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

NATION | A6

Trayvon case goes national HOLIDAY | B3

Learn about Passover FINEST | B4

Meet Cybil from the Joyner cruise

Saying Florida is in “crisis mode” over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, State Sen. Chris Smith said Tuesday he’s launching a task force on Florida’s “stand your ground” law because he’s tired of waiting for a panel created by Gov. Rick Scott to convene.

Scott has said repeatedly that he wants to wait for the results of the criminal investigation into Martin’s death, and he did so again after Smith’s announcement.

Scott’s panel set Last month, Scott created a statewide task force to review the stand your ground law, which allows Floridians to use deadly force

The laws have come under scrutiny since the death of Trayvon Martin, who was shot to death in February by a neighborhood watch member, a convicted felon who had a permit to carry a concealed weapon. George Zimmerman, 28, contends he was defending himself under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” statute passed in 2005. He has not been charged.

Gun control advocates say lax gun laws in Florida are at least partially to blame for Martin’s death. They also say Florida is being used as a test case for gun control legislation in other states.

ALSO COMMENTARY: WILLIAM REED: WHAT DOES IT COST TO RENT A NEGRO LEADER? | A4 INSIDE COMMENTARY: MARIAN WRIGHT EDLEMAN: OUR NATION MUST PROTECT CHILDREN NOT GUNS | A5

FOCUS

A2

april 6 - april 12, 2012

Honor Dr. King (and real Black history) by opposing Obama’s wars Every year, AfricanAmericans pay respect to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the anniversaries of his birth (Jan. 15) and death (April 4). Since 2009, however, these occasions have been put to the service of a revisionist and essentially obscene narrative that portrays the great triumphs and sacrifices of the Black Freedom Movement in general, and Dr. King’s life work in particular, as mere preludes to the ascension of Barack Obama to the White House four decades later.

This narrative finds expression in the fast-buck language of T-shirts that Photoshop Dr. King shaking hands with Obama, a digital miracle achieved by erasing Malcolm X from the actual photo – a huckster’s

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

trick that amounts to a kind of political assassination of both Malcolm and Martin, and of Black history.

Twisted rhyme We hear the twisted narrative in the popular post-2009 rhyme: “Rosa sat so Martin could walk, Martin walked so Obama could run, Obama ran so our children can fly!”

What the rhymer is saying is that Rosa Parks and Dr. King and a whole people in motion – all the sacrificing, dying, theoretical ag-

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. onizing, political strategizing and, sometimes, sheer terror of the struggle – were simply a prelude to Barack Obama’s inaugural ball. Dr. King’s and Malcolm’s lives – and thousands of others – were snuffed out so that one day we would have those pretty pictures of Ba-

rack and his family in the executive mansion.

What the revisionist narrative and the little poem really mean, is that the whole of Black history has been a series of supporting acts leading up to the Main Event: the First Black U.S. Presidency. Of course, if that really were true, then we would already have arrived at the end of Black politics and history. Ironically, this is what Black people’s worst enemies would also like to believe.

What would MLK do?

Once you have bought into the revised history of Black people from Rosa Parks to the present, once all of the players from the past have been aligned in

In Florida, guns are more popular than ever.

ERIC SEALS/ DETROIT FREE PRESS/MCT

ways that make Obama inevitable, it becomes all but impossible not to believe that these dead ancestors would enthusiastically support the First Black President. Especially Dr. King, the most widely revered ancestor.

However, we knew Dr. King; he is probably our most documented – and self-documented – Black leader.

His words, his writings, his life, testify to the certainty that Dr. King would oppose the Obama administration’s foreign and domestic policies, just as he broke with the much more liberal President Lyndon Johnson. Dr. King would see clearly the “giant triplets,” as he called them, at work in this administration: racism, extreme materialism, and militarism. It is an administration bankrolled by and in service of Wall Street: the most extreme materialism.

PANEL from A1 frightened vacationers were canceling their travel plans, ordered Florida law enforcement agencies to guard all interstate rest areas.

Taking too long

GUNS from A1 make up about 21 percent of Florida’s population, and the rate rises to 6.1 percent.

Laws relaxed Florida lawmakers in recent years have approved several bills to relax gun regulations and bolster protections for gun-owning Floridians.

Earlier this year, lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Rick Scott that would allow military personnel and law enforcement to obtain concealed weapons permits before they turn 21, the age requirement for other applicants. The reasoning is those people carried guns around the military, so it seems odd to deny them the right once they get out.

NEXT from A1 legislative and governmental watch. Democrats, as usual, could only cuss and fuss.

• If you insist on spending money symbolically, make a donation in that amount to financially support Trayvon Martin’s family. Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, are spending thousands of dollars in travel expenses. They are average, middle-class Black Floridians that we go to church with, live next to, and work with. They have made “justice for Trayvon” their full-time jobs, and that “justice” may be a long time coming – if it comes at all. (More on that later.)

I’ve written about how Black America financially abandoned the families of Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, MLK, and other civil rights martyrs in their hour of extreme financial need after the breadwinners of these families were brutally murdered.

Black Floridians are all over social networking, and the Internet makes it easy to contribute online or via smartphone. Some bonafide nonprofit organization should make it its mission to link up with the family’s law firm, Parks and Crump (http://parkscrump.com) out of Tallahassee, to work out the details and make sure the family gets the money. It’s time for us to take care of

Last year, Scott signed a pair of NRA-backed measures, including a proposal spelling out what doctors can ask patients about guns in their homes. With supermajorities in both chambers, the Republican-dominated Legislature sent Scott another NRA-backed gun bill that would punish local officials who consciously enact ordinances that are stricter than statewide standards.

Applications backlogged State officials overseeing the licensing of concealed weapons experienced a deluge of requests in recent years. Officials said there was a fear that when President Obama was elected, gun laws would get tougher. Though they didn’t, it seems to have created a rush to get guns. The spike has also been attributed to the decline in the economy and fears of more lawlessness.

our own during these tragedies.

• Sanford/Seminole County folks should target Norman Wolfinger for electoral defeat, and Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee should be fired. Full disclosure: I was a Broward state prosecutor early in my legal career. I’m sympathetic to how tough the job can be. But the Martin case, particularly the crime scene investigation, was botched from start to finish. I don’t know many prosecutors who would have made a snap decision, as Wolfinger’s office did, to not even investigate a homicide before the body of the victim was barely cold.

The buck stops at these men’s desks – time to go.

• It’s time for us to get “strapped” – legally – and join the National Rifle Association. Hundreds of thousands of our fellow Floridians, like George Zimmerman, are arming themselves to defend themselves against perceived “threats” – including “suspicious” Black males.

The Republican-dominated Florida Legislature has made it clear that they prefer concealed weapons registration drives to voter registration drives. In Florida, it’s easier to sign up for a gun permit than to register a voter during a registration drive (they’ll lock you up for turning in the registration card late).

Florida has chosen what’s more important.

It’s time for Black Floridians, especially Black male adults, to start packing. If the concealed carry law is

In 2009, nearly 120,000 applications to carry concealed weapons flooded into Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson’s office, creating a 55,000-application backlog despite efforts to add more staff to process the requests. Since then, the number of permits has grown from about 600,000 to more than 802,000.

Trayvon ‘overreaction’ Despite the attention brought by the Martin case, Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said lawmakers should refrain from “overreacting” and changing Florida’s slate of existing gun laws. In recent years, Negron pushed for the legislation to preempt local gun ordinances.

“I don’t think we should use the Trayvon Martin tragedy, and it is a tragedy, to make changes to either “Stand Your Ground” or Florida statutes as they relate to concealed weapons,” Negron said.

all about deterrence and self-defense, brothers have more reason to deter attacks and defend themselves than anyone else in Florida.

• It’s also time for Black Floridians, especially Black men, to “stand our ground” in our own communities.

Let’s talk straight. Trayvon’s death was an aberration: a White Hispanic (there is such a thing-google “race vs. ethnicity”) shoots an unarmed Black teen dead.

We see Black youth killing unarmed Black youth dead so often that it’s no longer newsworthy.

If I’m going to get strapped to defend myself against the George Zimmermans of the state, I also need to be ready to defend myself (and other Black males), as necessary, against the dysfunctional young brothers who are the products of broken homes, bad schools, prison culture, societal neglect, poor decision-making, and fear.

• Time for our Black military veterans to get in the game. During segregation, Black communities had secret self-defense groups, usually World War II and Korean veterans, who protected the community from violent racists. Such groups existed in Florida and had occasional running gun battles with Ku Kluxers. Can’t our “Desert Storm/Iraqi Freedom/ New Dawn” (Iraq), and “Enduring Freedom” (Afghanistan) veterans do the same in the bad streets of our Florida cities? There’s no need for secrecy when you can walk around in

“We didn’t wait for the investigation,” Smith said. “We didn’t wait for charges. We acted quickly because [the] Florida brand was tarnished at that time, and [the] Florida brand is tarnished right now.”

The Smith-convened panel is scheduled to meet Thursday – after the Florida Courier’s press time – in Fort Lauderdale. It includes Broward County State Attorney Mike Satz; Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley; former state Sen. Dan Gelber, an exfederal prosecutor; state Rep. Perry Thurston of Fort Lauderdale, a defense attorney; Miami-Dade County Public Defender Carlos Martinez and Alfreda Coward, also a criminal defense attorney.

Presenters include Broward Judges Ken Gottlieb, Ilona Holmes and Michael Robinson. Also presenting will be Nikki Grossman, president of the Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Smith also established a web site, www.FloridaStandYourGround.org, for public comment.

“Anything that disrupts the ability of Florida’s economic engine to move forward is devastating,” Grossman

Florida with a gun on your hip. And you can train us how to use weapons wisely and defend ourselves.

• Once we are gun owners, we should still push against the National Rifle Association and its purchased politicians for common-sense gun controls. See Marion Wright Edelman’s column on Page A5 for a laundry list.

• We should build coalitions with Florida’s Hispanic and Latino communities. With the exception of Miami-Dade County, non-White Hispanics and Latinos are minorities that could be considered just as “threatening” as are Blacks. Our “Trayvon” could be their “Alberto,” if you get my drift.

• Poverty is linked to a lack of public safety in Black communities. But poverty is not on anyone’s radar screen anymore.

That’s got to change, and the “you’re on your own,” neoconservative mindset that has seeped into our communities must die.

• Develop a “movement” built to last for the long term, using technology and especially social media. Nielsen Media Research tells us that Black America uses social media at a higher and more intensive rate that any other demographic group in the country. We can use our smartphones for more than voting on “American Idol.”

• We must take more aggressive action, including civil disobedience and economic sanctions.

There’s got to be systemic

change to hold lawmakers and leadership accountable for disruptive laws and criminal justice double standards that end up with Black men dead or disproportionately locked up.

Last year, I saw a documentary called “Pray The Devil Back To Hell” about African women who stopped a civil war in Liberia by shaming men into putting their guns down.

How? Young and old Black women, including mothers and grandmothers, showed up at meetings between warring factions, took off their clothes, and refused to leave until a peace agreement was reached. (Seeing your mother nude is considered shameful for an African man.)

The story moved me. I asked my mother, Julia, now age 84, if she and other churchwomen would go to the state capital during the session and take off their clothes in the Senate chamber to shame Florida politicians into action to confront the state’s incarceration epidemic, for example. Without hesitation, she said, “Yes, if it would save one Black child’s life.”

Women have POWER if they are fearless. What if wives/wifeys, boos, mothers, and grandmothers of gangbangers and drug dealers did that in our violent neighborhoods?

Even hardheads would be shamed into changing their ways.

Here’s something even easier to do. Suppose Black Floridians started an online campaign asking Black tourists not to

MLK ‘gagged’ Obama has expanded the theaters and technologies of war, and claimed the sole right to determine who shall be killed anywhere on the planet: militarism at its worst. And Obama is so intent on protecting White supremacy and privilege, he pretends it doesn’t exist.

That is some deep racism!

Dr. King, like anyone else, would like to be remembered for his actual battles and beliefs. But you can’t celebrate Obama and celebrate Dr. King at the same time, and so the Obamites revise history and put a gag on Dr. King – so that he can’t denounce Obama as a warmonger from the grave.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. E-mail him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response. said, pointing to an article on HuffingtonPost.com calling for tourists to go elsewhere than the Sunshine State.

A boycott would hurt “If tourists boycott Florida – as tourists boycotted Arizona after controversial legislation was enacted there in 2010 – the state will have to choose between economic Russian roulette and putting the guns down altogether,” wrote Andrew Burmon, the site’s associate travel editor, on March 30.

“As long as Florida depends on tourists’ money – to the tune of roughly 9.3 percent of G.D.P. and a million jobs – the state’s government has a motivation to protect citizens of Oregon, Illinois and, for that matter, Brazil, Germany and Japan.”

In addition to political considerations, Grossman said, other states might also have an interest in undermining Florida’s tourism industry.

“It would not be the first time,” she said. “Arizona competes against us and our weather all the time.” She said tourism-propelled states have publicized Florida hurricanes and other negatives – like the shooting of the British tourists. “Our competitors are outspending us everywhere.”

Grossman said the irony is that Blacks benefit enormously from Florida’s tourist economy. Last year 11.1 million tourists visited Greater Fort Lauderdale, she said, and 20 percent were Blacks who spent $1.8 billion there. come to Florida until the state could guarantee that their Black boys would be safe here, in any neighborhood? That’s the kind of commitment we all have to have and harness.

• Continue the pressure until specific goals are accomplished. The initial and immediate goal: Zimmerman should be charged and arrested. Folks should continue to descend on Sanford till that happens.

• If Zimmerman is finally arrested and charged – and I’m sure he will be, probably without a grand jury indictment – be prepared for a “not guilty” verdict. We’ve seen how that’s done. Remember Martin Lee Anderson, the Black teen who was choked to death by guards – while videotape was rolling – in a Panama City youth boot camp in 2006?

The trial was held in conservative Bay County and all of the guards were acquitted of aggravated manslaughter charges.

Expect Zimmerman’s lawyer to try to change the trial’s venue to a mostly White, gun-toting, politically conservative Florida county. If Zimmerman gets jurors who are predisposed to believe Trayvon was a threat, Zimmerman will walk. It’s happened before.

Contact me at ccherry2@gmail.com; holler at me at www.facebook. com/ccherry2; follow me on Twitter @ccherry2.

APRIL 6 - april 12, 2012

FLORIDA

GOP-dominated Legislature may only tweak ‘Stand Your Ground’

BY DAVID ROYSE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

“There’s nothing in the statute that provides for any kind of aggressive action, in terms of pursuit and confront,” said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, who sponsored the measure in 2005.

“So I think that’s been some misapplication of this statute.

If anything could come out of this very tragic circumstance, it could be some clarification of when this applies and how.”

It’s always hard to predict what lawmakers might do on a particular issue, but several members of the Legislature on both sides of the law – supporters and opponents – did say last week that it likely would come in for some clarification. And while there have been calls for repeal, particularly from a few Black lawmakers, most said they thought some sort of change was more likely.

Time for review “There’s a critical and urgent need to look at the law, and at least clarify it, or ex-

FAMU trustees reverse hazing panel decision

BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

While there’s no consensus on whether the state’s “stand your ground” self-defense law may apply in the Trayvon Martin case. Though there’s disagreement as to whether it’s bad or good law, a consensus is emerging that it may not be as clear as it could be as to what it allows and doesn’t.

As the 2005 law has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of the Sanford shooting of the unarmed 17-yearold Martin, veteran lawmakers haven’t been able to agree even on what the measure allows, which the bill’s sponsor acknowledges may point to a need for clarification.

Doesn’t allow pursuit

A3

CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/MCT

Emily Joseph waited for the start of a rally for Trayvon Martin at the Klipsch Amphitheater in Miami on Sunday, April 1.

TALLAHASSEE – Florida A&M University trustees voted overwhelmingly Friday to force members of an anti-hazing committee to meet in public, despite warnings from the committee’s chairman that the move would likely cause most of the committee’s members to resign.

The 8-2 vote by trustees, who had earlier endorsed changing the committee from an advisory panel to a “fact-finding” body to allow it to meet in private, came after Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Board of Governors Chairman Dean Colson both called on university officials to reconsider.

The trustees suggested that public perception of the original decision and the desire to have the committee issue recommendations at the end of the process played into the new vote. But Stephen Robinson, a former federal judge chairing the panel, said that would make it impossible for several members to participate in the meetings.

plain it,” said Rep. Darryl Rou- of Martin last month in San- nor to call a special session.

Members may quit son, D-St. Petersburg, one of ford. The case has gained naSmith had asked earlier this “The committee members must be alseveral African-American leg- tional attention but has also week for a special session on lowed to communicate whenever and islators who have called for re- drawn new attention to the the stand your ground law, wherever they can find the convenient visiting the statute either in a stand your ground law, which but Scott said he wants to wait time to do so,” Robinson said before the special session, or when law- was first passed in Florida, until a law enforcement invesboard vote. At least five of the commitmakers convene. but is now law in several oth- tigation is complete and then tee’s seven members, including Robinson, The incoming Democratic er states. have a task force meet and would likely have to resign if they were leader in the House, Rep. PerThe measure largely ex- make recommendations on forced to hold open meetings, he said. ry Thurston, D-Plantation, ac- panded common law doctrine what, if anything, to do about But other board members pushed ahead knowledged that a full repeal about what people may do to the state’s self defense law. to make the panel’s meetings public, and of the law isn’t likely, but also defend themselves when at“A preventable death is exat least one seemed offended by RobinClient: Region: US referred to Leo theBurnett general sense tacked in their homeBleed: or car – actly what you’re risking now,” 5/3rdpolice Bank 2012 Print suggestion that the committee might Trim: Language: son’s English that Campaign: prosecutors, andLending Smith responded in a second able to Job #: 610-FTFTBPD2002they have long been quit.

Live: 10” x 10” letter on Wednesday. “…We Notes: None even Agency judges may not know stand their ground and fight AD #/AD ID: QFRC0311 “Go ahead and resign,” retorted trustee exactly where the03-27-12 lines are in force with force in those have more than enough eviplacDate Modied: Keyline Scale: 1” = 1” Rufus Montgomery. “But I don’t think as termsCR: of self defense in a pub- es. Under the 2005 Output dence already on hand of the law, that at: a board we should be held hostage under lic setting.

AD Round: also goes for peoplePage: who feel deadly confrontations and the threat of resignation of anyone.”

“The concern is that the ap- threatened out in public, in a self-defense claims to begin The public rift between the trustees and plication has not been fully ex- street, a business, or at a pub- a closer examination of the the committee it set up to draft strategies NOTlaw’s TO track BE USED COLOR APPROVAL plained, there’s some vague- lic event, for example. record FOR and whethfor dealing with hazing at the institution ness about some of the terms,” er changes are needed to stop AD: R. Schmidt P: K. Green AM: R. Sprague BM: J. Lewandowski comes as the university continues to grapsaid Thurston. “We just need its abuse. There is absolutely ple with the death of drum major Robert to make sure it’s being applied Smith wants action no reason the public should Meanwhile, the incoming accept any delay when seven Champion, who was killed in November. appropriately.”

Champion died after a hazing tied to Supporters of the law, which Senate Democratic leader, years of history already exist.”

FAMU’s “Marching 100” band; his death allows the use of defensive le- Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort LauLawmakers aren’t currently has been ruled a homicide by Orange thal force in public without derdale, again urged Gov. Rick scheduled to return until next County medical examiners, and the Flora duty to retreat first, say it’s Scott to let lawmakers look at year and won’t file new legisida Department of Law Enforcement has not clear yet whether it would the issue sooner rather than lation until after the Novemlaunched an investigation. apply in the shooting death later, pleading for the gover- ber election.

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EDITORIAL

A4

APRIL 6 - APRIL 12, 2012

What does it cost to rent a Negro leader?

Did you see George Clooney getting arrested in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C.? The Hollywood activist brought his “A-Team” for the latest demonization of the Islamic government of the Republic of Sudan.

The staged sidewalk show featured Clooney’s father Nick, civil rights leaders Martin Luther King III, NAACP President Ben Jealous, and actor and comedian Dick Gregory. The staged protest also included veteran “anti-Sudan” activists Rep. Al Green from Houston, Massachusetts Reps. James McGovern and John Oliver, and Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia.

How Martin Luther King III allowed himself to be cast as a bit player in the show is questionable. But participants such as Green look at his role and arrest like a badge of honor.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Green lauded Clooney for “shining a spotlight on turmoil in Sudan.” Dazzled by the

WILLIAM REED BUSINESS EXCHANGE

star-and-celebrity-power around him, Green said, “Actions like these to prevent humanitarian crises usually start with one person, and [Clooney] has been that one person.”

Cause ‘champions’ Fred Kramer, executive director of Jewish World Watch and Clooney’s cellmate, said “It was dignified, an incredible array of activists and champions for the issue.” Kramer is a part of a Washington lobby that’s comprised of a collection of groups that has provided ongoing opposition to Sudan’s Islamic government.

And Green can’t help but gush because he’s a part of such a superbly creative visual extravaganza designed to demonize the Sudan

government.

The protest had the legendary King name but many of us doubt that Martin, the father, would have placed his credibility among such a lot. Anti-Sudan activists have misled the American public on Sudan for decades and the spectacle in front of the Sudan Embassy was an endorsement of the rebels the Americans support in southern and eastern regions of Sudan.

The record over past decades shows that America’s imperialist policies have supported separatist movements in the south of Sudan, particularly in areas where oil was found. U.S. intervention on the side of rebel forces during the long civil war is long and permanent. Forces such as Clooney and his colleagues caused the division of Africa’s largest country into the oil-rich South and the diminished North.

The cause of Clooney and cohorts is “regime change.” The charade’s current origins date back to

How Martin Luther King III allowed himself to be cast as a bit player in “The Clooney Show” is questionable.

2002, when Christian Solidarity International (CSI), paid $50 each to buy back 400 Sudanese men, women and children from “Arab slave traders.” The Sudan campaigns reek with imperialism and buffoonery and much care should be taken before one casts their lot with them.

anything to positively affect the lives of people on the ground in Sudan. They spent millions to pass “Save Darfur” legislation and have made smashing the Sudanese an American cottage industry.

These “slam Sudan” activists have manufactured media events and stories that distorted situations in the region. In 2006, Clooney made a TV special called “A Journey to Darfur.” In 2011, Clooney co-wrote a Washington Post Op-Ed titled “Dancing with a dictator in Sudan,” in which he encouraged diplomatic isolation of the Sudan regime and freezing of targeted accounts and transactions of senior officials.

“deceitful practices” that these activists successfully brought about the division of Sudan. People like Green in Congress need to be less parochial and move toward the constructive engagement we need to pursue with the country and people of Sudan, not tell new lies that advocate the overthrow of the Sudanese government.

Unfortunately, the family of Martin Luther King Jr. has done plenty over the last decades to tarnish his legacy. Marty sullied his father’s image and legacy for a speaker fee, travel, and lodging to be a bit player in “The Clooney Show.”

‘Deceit’ brought division

William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and is available for speaking/seminar projects via BaileyGroup. org. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

A critical look reveals these campaigns to be rife with imperialist policies Media events and practices that further Clooney is no friend of demonize Arab and Musthese Africans and there’s lim people. It was through no evidence that he’s done what Louis Farrakhan calls

Majority opposes Obamacare ‘individual mandate’

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: GUNS IN AMERICA

When one takes a cursory look at where various groups in the nation stand on President Obama’s health care legislation – now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court – it appears the country is split along party and race lines.

A new poll conducted by Princeton Research Associates shows 75 percent of Democrats support the Obama position, and 86 percent of Republicans oppose it, with so-called independents evenly split.

The racial divide is similar. Sixty-eight percent of non-Whites “strongly favor” or “somewhat favor” the overall health care law, with only 18 percent opposed. Whites are far more divided, with 33 percent favoring Obama’s law, and 47 percent opposed.

What’s in the plan?

TOM JANSSEN, THE NETHERLANDS

Black and White conservatives and race As the 2012 presidential election campaign begins to take shape, it is way past time for we African-Americans to carefully scrutinize the very influential conservative movement in this country. It is probably the nation’s single most powerful political force, one that has nearly taken complete control of political discourse.

The best way to begin this scrutiny is to pay close attention to observations made by European-American William F. Buckley, Jr. and African-American George Schuyler, both of whom had dismissive attitudes toward us as a people.

WASPs ‘secure’ Buckley, who is considered the godfather of modern American conservatism, made the following observation in a December 30, 1991 issue of his publication, National Review: “Now ethnic sensitivities vary. It doesn’t matter what John Cheever or John O’Hara or John Updike or anybody else writes about them – you cannot really succeed, in America, in riling the WASPs. Their sense of security is as solid as Plymouth Rock, and incidentally as insensate.

“Blacks, yes, are sensitive, but Black lobbies are not powerful enough to punish nonpolitical transgressors against such taboos. (A Black book-buyers’ boycott against a novelist would not impoverish.) If the spoken or written offense is egregious enough, as in the case of the joke told [in 1975] to John Dean by Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz, a Cabinet officer gets fired. If a dis-

A. Peter Bailey TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

trict attorney is named to a federal judgeship and it is revealed that he once made a pot-valiantly genial reference to the Ku Klux Klan, he can be defeated on the floor of the Senate. And no one running for office in a state in which the Black population is significant would consider, post-1965, violating the taboo.

“On the other hand, there is discussion of such questions as relative Black intelligence, sexual promiscuity, and upward mobility that still gets a sober hearing in sober surroundings. About the American Indians one can say most things with impunity; about gays, progressively less as, emerging from the closet, they consolidate and give strength to their retaliatory powers.”

The statement was made in a long article, “In Search of Anti-Semitism,” in which Buckley responded to criticism of his publication for publishing an article regarded by many as anti-Semitic written by one of his writers. Considering Buckley’s above statement, it’s for certain he would not have felt the need to respond to an anti-Black article by one of his writers.

‘Happy though colored’ Schuyler, a journalist and author who is often cited as the godfather of Black Conservatism, made his observation in his book “Black and Conservative.” The first

three sentences in the book state that “A Black person learns very early that his color is a disadvantage in a world of White folks. This being an unalterable circumstance, one also learns very early to make the most of it. So the lifetime endeavor of the intelligent Negro is how to be reasonably happy though colored...”

Further expressions of Schuyler’s sentiments are reflected by quotes attributed to Black conservatives Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: “If I ever went to work for the EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] or did anything directly connected with Blacks, my career would be on irreparably ruined. The monkey would be on my back because I’m Black. People meeting me for the first time would automatically dismiss my thinking as second rate,”); and economist Thomas Sowell: “Black Students with SAT scores of 1,000 should not consider going to any Black college because they will be educationally mismatched.”

Fortunately for us, our 18th, 19th and 20th century ancestors who fought heroically against the proponents of White supremacist/racist terrorism did not share the self-defeating sentiments of Schuyler, Thomas and Sowell.

Contact A. Peter Bailey at apeterb@verizon.net, or 202-716-4560. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

insurance mandate, as do 71 percent of Whites. More Democrats are opposed to Obama’s individual mandate than favor it: 48 to 44 percent. And Republicans are off the scale in opposition, at 15 to 1.

Universal dislike So if the core of the Obama health care plan is the individual mandate, as both the administration and the Republicans contend in their arguments before the Supreme Court, then Obama has based his plan on a scheme that nobody likes – even his most loyal supporters.

There’s another interesting aspect to the new poll. It shows that only a hard core of one in four people want to tamper with Medicare as the Republicans do, with around two-thirds of all racial groups opting to keep the program the way it is, with the government paying doctors and hospitals directly for the service they provide to seniors.

Taken together, the poll indicates strong support for the core elements of the U.S. healthcare safety net, and rejection of private schemes, including Obama’s mandatory purchase of insurance from private companies. It appears that most Americans would rather have the option of dependable, direct health care paid for by the government – which was the case at the beginning of 2009, before Obama unveiled his health care scheme, when 60 percent and more of the American people favored single-payer health care.

But Obama maneuvered them into a something they hadn’t asked for, and which, three years later, nobody wants.

These numbers are, however, heavily influenced by what people think is in the law, and what side they think they should be on, based on their larger loyalties. It is doubtful that majorities on either side of the issue actually understand most of the law’s many provisions, some of which do not go into effect for several years. Therefore, many of the respondents are using the poll to register their broader preference for or against the incumbent president and his party.

It is no surprise that majorities of Whites and super-majorities of Republicans oppose Obamacare, as Republicans call it, and more than two thirds of non-Whites and three-quarters of Democrats support healthcare reform, as Obama calls it.

However, most people do understand the central element of the law: the “individual mandate” that forces nearly everyone to buy health insurance from private companies, or face a fine.

The new poll shows that no significant constituency supports Obama’s individual mandate, with only 28 percent of the overall public favorable to the scheme. Even non-Whites, two-thirds of whom claim to support Obama on health care in general, Glen Ford is executive editor of Blackbalk at mandatory purchase of insurance AgendaReport.com.Click on this story at from private companies.

Fifty-three percent of non-Whites give www.flcourier.com to write your own thumbs down to the individual health response.

Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.

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APRIL 6 - APRIL 12, 2012

Our nation must protect children, not guns When the Children’s Defense Fund released its new report, “Protect Children, Not Guns 2012” in March, we dedicated it to the memory of Trayvon Martin and the thousands of other children and teenagers killed by guns in America, including the 5,740 killed in 2008 and 2009 according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The fight to uncover the truth of what happened the night Trayvon Martin died hasn’t ended, but basic facts that have never been in dispute are starkly clear.

Without George Zimmerman, a zealous neighborhood watcher with a gun, Trayvon Martin would be alive today. The same is true for thousands of other children – whether they were victims of deliberate shootings, victims of accidental shootings, or victims of suicide.

Protect the children Guns lethalize anger and despair and twist everyday tensions into life-threatening and life-taking tragedies. As a nation, we need to protect children from guns, support common-sense gun safety measures, and pass stronger federal, state, and local laws that would save many lives.

We could start by closing the gun show loophole. The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act requires federally licensed gun dealers to conduct background checks on every gun sale, but a loophole in the law allows private dealers to sell guns without a license and avoid the required background checks.

A loophole in the law allows private dealers to sell guns without a license and avoid the required background checks. This loophole accounts for a large share of all gun sales. It’s estimated that unlicensed private sellers sell more than 40 percent

Marian Wright Edelman NNPA COLUMNIST

EDITORIAL

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: TRAYVON MARTIN

to buy a handgun was arrested for a new crime within three years of acquiring the gun.

Safety standards and childproof safety features for all guns should be required. Every gun in this country should be childproof.

One-third of all households with children have at least one gun in the home and it’s estimated that nearly two million children live in homes with an unlocked and loaded gun. It makes no sense that the Consumer Product Safety Commission regulates toy guns and teddy bears but not a product that in 2008 and 2009 killed 62,269 human beings, including 5,740 children.

Gun deaths are the third leading cause of fatal injuries in the U.S. for people age one and older – following only motor vehicle and poisoning deaths. Congress must subject guns to the same consumer product safety regulations that cover virtually every other consumer product.

of all guns in America to buyers who did not have to pass a background check.

Congress should also reinstitute the ban on assault weapons.

The federal assault weapons ban, signed into law in 1994, prohibited the manufacture and sale of 19 types of semi-automatic military style assault weapons and highcapacity ammunition magazines that contained more than 10 rounds of ammunition, but it expired in 2004. Legislation pending in Congress would reinstitute the ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines that were used in the mass shootings in Tucson, Arizona and at Virginia Tech.

Legislation pending in Congress would reinstitute the ban on high-capacity ammunition What we must do magazines that were used in the We must urge our leaders to mass shootings in Tucson, Arizo- make sensible changes at the nana and at Virginia Tech. tional level while simultaneously pushing state and local governRestrict gun ownership ments to protect all in America Our nation should strengthen from deadly guns. Demand the gun restrictions on people con- repeal of the “Stand Your Ground” victed of a violent misdemeanor laws now in effect in 21 states or a violent act as a juvenile. Un- and made notorious in Trayvon’s der current law, a conviction for killing that encourage a “shoot a violent misdemeanor doesn’t first and ask questions later” approhibit a person from purchas- proach to confrontations. Every ing or possessing a gun, and a re- one of us should be demanding lated loophole exists for people repeal of laws allowing concealed adjudicated for violent offenses weapons on school grounds, in as juveniles. child care centers, or other public A study published in the Jour- venues where children and teens nal of the American Medical As- gather. sociation found that a person Urge your state legislators and convicted of a violent misde- local officials to support laws to meanor was eight times more prevent child access to guns such likely to be charged with a subse- as requirements for locking devicquent gun and/or violent crime. es and imposing criminal liability One in three people convicted of when guns are left unsecured or a violent misdemeanor who tried stored negligently. Oppose efforts

TAYLOR JONES, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

to weaken state and local gun laws or legislation that limits the ability of schools, physicians, and others to do their part to keep children safe from guns.

When child and teen gun deaths are compared in 23 highincome countries, 87 percent of all children under 15 killed by guns were in the United States.

Our gun homicide rate for teens and young adults 15-24 years old was 42.7 times higher than the rate for the other countries combined.

There are an estimated 283

million guns in civilian hands in America – almost one gun per person. Why is the United States alone in allowing this unbridled epidemic of guns and public health hazard all over America to continue? It is up to us to tell our leaders, “No more.”

Marian Wright Edelman is president and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund (www. childrensdefense.org). Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Trayvon Martin, Troy Davis and the 2012 election African-Americans are the Democratic Party’s base constituency. Black politicians are long accustomed to making goodsounding but often empty statements against police brutality, stop and frisk, and similar practices. In keeping with the rising level of public anger, Black state legislators in New York showed up for a Monday morning press conference in hoodies.

The problem of course, is that the culture of over-policing African Americans is deeply rooted in thousands federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors offices, and courts.

Not concerned Aside from repealing a single odious Florida law, few of the public figures and politicians suddenly concerned have any proposals to offer that might begin to roll back the omnipresent culture of racist policing, like rolling back the ability of law enforcement agencies to keep confiscated assets, or ceasing to funnel federal money to police departments based on the number of low-level drug arrests. After all, that governing in the interest of the people stuff is hard.

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Showing up for work in a hoodie is easy.

The 21st century civil rights establishment, unlike their predecessors a half-century ago, are so tightly bound to the fortunes and careers of elected Democrats that they dare not raise any demands which will embarrass their colleagues. So extending the dramatic demonstrations to, say, wearing a Black ribbon until the nation’s prison population is cut in half, are utterly unthinkable.

Despite their demands for Justice Department interventions here and there, the last thing the civil rights establishment wants in a presidential year, when their candidate is courting “moderate” voters, is a deep and honest national discussion about hyperpolicing and the prison state. For our cynical Black political class, which we sometimes call “the Black misleadership class,” Troy Davis was last year’s fundraising

slogan, and this year’s get-out- lost both Florida and his home the-vote watchword will be re- state of Tennessee by margins far greater than the number of Black membering Trayvon Martin. voters disqualified by the felony restriction alone.

Sound far-fetched?

As for President Obama, many It’s not. In the 2000 presidenDemocrats have offered the extial campaign, the NAACP’s nacuse that the president can’t tional voter action arm comsay what he wants to say about missioned a mailer to millions this or that, or is saying what he of Black households across the thinks he must to please some country. It featured Whites wav- unknown powerful interests. But ing confederate flags and the tag if the president is prevaricating line “If they win, we lose,” and a on these other fronts, how do we drawing of a pickup truck drag- know he’s not telling Black peoging a chain, an obvious refer- ple as much as he can of what ence to the 1998 Texas murder he thinks we want to hear withof James Byrd by White suprem- out actually doing much of anyacists. thing?

In fairness, the murder did Obama could have opened his happen when Republican presi- mouth on the November 2006 dential candidate Bush was gov- murder of Sean Bell by NYPD. ernor in Texas, and Texas had As a member of the powerful failed to pass hate crimes legisla- U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee tion. But the Black political class and presidential aspirant then, never bothered Al Gore about Obama was in an ideal spot to put the fact that his home state of both light and heat on that and Tennessee, like Florida and other many similar cases. He didn’t. key states, banned from the votIf the Obama White House was ing lists for life anybody convict- the least bit interested, it could ed of a felony, disenfranchising have told the Justice Department hundreds of thousands of voters to find a legal reason to take an in each of those two states alone. interest in the case of Troy Davis.

They never demanded he use his That’s all it would have taken to political capital to stand up for preserve Davis’s life for months their actual constituents. Gore or years longer, as investigations,

We are all Trayvon Martin I have two nephews that I love with an amazing passion. Anyi, 28, is a Los Angeles-based comedian who kinda looks and acts like me. Armand, 25, is an Oaklandbased aspiring writer and a 2008 graduate of University of California Santa Cruz.

Both of these young men are well over 6 feet, 3 inches tall. Both of them wear hoodies. And both of them have had unfortunate run-ins with so-called law enforcement officers that have tainted the way that they see law and order.

A few years ago Anyi, then working for Berkeley-based Youth Radio, parked his dilapidated car in the public transit parking lot and headed to meet colleagues who were also taking the train to an assignment. A police officer followed him, said his car was stolen, pulled a gun on him and forced him to his knees, even as his colleagues begged the officer to stop. As it turned out, the offi-

DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

cer had miscued one digit in the license number and was looking for a new Toyota, not an ancient jalopy.

No discipline There was never an apology nor any discipline for the officer who, unfortunately, happened to also be a young African-American.

We were grateful that Anyi had so many witnesses around him that the police officer could not pull a “Trayvon” on him. But the experience embittered Anyi; it reminded him that the police are not his friend.

This is “post-racial” America.

You can shoot and kill a young Black man in a hoodie then claim

self-defense because you find him threatening. There was a case, perhaps three decades ago, when a White man was able to claim disability because he was “afraid” of working with Black people. What if each of us could claim disability because we are afraid of working with hostile Whites? Instead, we suck it up each day and walk into a world where we know that our race makes us suspect.

Hoodie or not, we are all Trayvon Martin. In other words, there is still a manufactured fear of a Black presence in our nation and in our world. We have an African-American president who has been assailed, not because of his mostly moderate politics, but because he happens to be of African descent. We have an attorney general whose motives have been maligned because of his race.

And we have a baby boy walking the streets with iced tea and some candy, whose height and hoodie made him suspect to a deranged

White man (yes, it is possible to be White and Hispanic) with a temper and a history of domestic violence who disobeyed 911 orders and took his gun out to get vigilante justice.

If George Zimmerman had an ounce of integrity, he would turn himself in instead of hiding out.

But Zimmerman is not the problem. The climate, these “stand your ground” laws are more the problem.

We stood our ground What if we, Black people, chose to stand our ground? Once upon a time, we did. In Tulsa, Okla. in 1921, a young Black man, Dick Rowland, happened to jostle a White woman elevator operator in the office building where they both worked. The unintentional contact was too much for the crazy White powers that existed and they threatened to lynch Rowland, who fled to Greenwood, the area once called “Black Wall Street.”

Black men rallied to Rowland’s defense with a militia that threatened White power. Whites responded by rioting against Black

debates and political maneuvers continued.

Talk, concern are cheap Even a federal investigation confined to the specific case of Trayvon Martin is a tiny thing, as there are a million mostly young Black men in prison, and hundreds will be killed by sworn police officers –not pretenders like Zimmerman – this and every year of the near future.

For Obama and the Black political class interested only in their own careers, Trayvon Martin will be an empty slogan. Their careers are proof enough that rolling back the prison state won’t be accomplished at the voting booth. The movement for real change will have to begin somewhere else, and flow to and from some entirely different directions.

Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport. com. Contact him at bruce. dixon@Blackagendareport. com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response. people and holding us in concentration camps. It is likely that bombs were dropped on the Black community by our own government, but the newspapers documenting the attacks now cannot be found.

A wealthy community was eliminated. But in the words of poet Claude McKay, “If we must die, let it not be like hogs, haunted and penned to this in this inglorious spot...Like men we’ll face the murderous cowardly pack, pressed to the wall, dying but fighting back.”

Find McKay’s Harlem Renaissance poem and ruminate on it.

We are all Trayvon Martin. When do we start fighting back in an organized, disciplined, focused and effective way?

Julianne Malveaux is author of “Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History.” Click on this story at www. flcourier.com to write your own response.

TOj A6

NATION

APRIL 6 – APRIL 12, 2012

Trayvon case drawing attention around America

BY KYLE CHENEY STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON – The nation’s only African-American governor, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, this week questioned the reaction by Florida law enforcement to the shooting of Trayvon Martin, whose death last month has exploded into a national debate about racial profiling and self-defense laws.

Deval Patrick Patrick is just the latest Black politician around the nation to voice support for Martin – or at least acknowledge the troubling aspects of the case, from U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois, who was escorted from the floor of Congress for wearing a hoodie in support of Martin, to New York city councilmen and New York state assemblymen who donned the same symbolic jacket, to President Obama, who said if he had a son he’d look like Trayvon.

White politicians have also joined in the outrage – former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm posted a picture of herself in a hoodie on her Facebook page.

Additional insight But Patrick has an additional insight into issues involving race, rights and justice – Patrick headed the civil rights division of the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton.

Describing a “sad, murky” set of facts surrounding the shooting, Patrick praised the Obama administration’s Department of Justice for investigating the shooting.

“I think it’s a really important thing that DOJ, civil rights division has gotten involved, and a troubling thing that law enforcement in Florida has not,” he said during a radio interview on WTKK. Martin was killed last month by a volunteer neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, who claimed that the two began scuffling and that he fired his weapon in self-defense.

Police never charged Zimmerman, and the decision shined a spotlight on Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” self-defense statute in which residents are permitted to use deadly force if they feel they are under physical threat.

Questions have emerged about whether Zimmerman, who is of Hispanic descent, racially profiled Martin, and whether police did the same by opting against charging Zimmerman.

‘Particularly unfair’ “It’s been moving, what the response has been, sort of across demographics,” Patrick said. “The senselessness of this, the notion that you could look a certain way, be dressed a certain way, and be in a certain neighborhood and place your life in jeopardy on account of that is not who we want to be in this country.”

“How we layer assumptions on people – that’s an unfortunate part of life.

And when you add in race, it feels particularly unfair,” Patrick continued.

Asked by WTKK host Jim Braude whether he thinks Florida police erred in not charging Zimmerman, Patrick said, “I know how important it is to review the evidence and talk to the folks and make a judgment and not just pop off based on what you read in the newspapers or see in the news.”

Patrick added that he would veto a bill in Massachusetts similar to Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.

“Well, I don’t think that bill is going to move and if it were to move, it’s not

going to get past my desk,” he said. “We don’t need a stand your ground bill, and I don’t entirely understand what the argument was for it in Florida.”

Patrick said the shooting didn’t appear to involve self-defense issues.

“The other part of the Trayvon case I would say that is troubling is that it

didn’t seem to have anything to do with standing your ground,” he said. “It seemed more to do with a kid being in the wrong place at the wrong time

or frankly in a perfectly appropriate place but being assumed to be in the wrong place and being stalked by a guy with a gun.”

Patrick said it would be a “tribute” to the Martin family if Massachusetts lawmakers passed a bill to crack down on racial profiling in traffic stops.

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HEALTH FOOD || HEALTH TRAVEL | |MONEY SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS LIFE | FAITH | EVENTS | CLASSIFIEDS | ENTERTAINMENT | SPORTS | FOOD April 6 - April 12, 2012

IFE/FAITH

Lemon called racist for Martin coverage See page B4

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

EGGS-Plosion!

Plenty of ways to let them shine See page B5

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SECTION

B

‘Feel like moving that body!’

From pole dancing to dancing with Queen Latifah to Chicago stepping, there was plenty to see and do on Day 2 of the Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage

D

arn. I missed the pole-dancing lessons.

There were three poledancing classes the morning of Day 2 and my Florida Courier colleague and cabin mate Lisa Rogers-Cherry decided we didn’t bring along the right exercise outfits to engage in the experience. Shoot. What was I thinking? I left all of my stripper clothes back in Tampa.

That didn’t stop other sisters who donned jean shorts and other fitness attire and went on about their business.

The truth is that I was dog-tired from the previous night, staying up late swooning to Keith Sweat as he crooned songs like “Freak Me Baby’’ and “Let Me Lick You Up and Down’’ instead of taking my 50-something behind to bed.

Since much of the talk on Day 2 (Monday, March 26) seemed to focus on keeping the embers burning in a relationship, I kinda wish I had gotten in a little pole dancing and taken that walk – or stretch – on the wild side.

Focus on love From pole dancing to a lesson on “pillow talk,” there were plenty of sessions and activities designed to help spice up any love life. We were cruising to Jamaica, but love seemed to be in the air.

Sponsored by the Tyler Perry “For Better or Worse” TV series on TBS, Donnell and Janet Proctor won a trip on the cruise to renew their vows and other couples on board were invited to do the same.

Then there was a session featuring Dana and Adrian from “Amazing Race” giving tips on “The Art of Pillow Talk.” Model Melyssa Ford and Miami-based comedian Marvin Dixon hosted “The Dating Game,” but based on the new friends mingling on the pool deck many cruisers seemed to be doing just fine finding their own new “boos.”

There also was a Sybil’s Book Club discussion inviting ladies to listen and learn. The session was titled “Shut Up and Listen to What Men Have to Say.”

it gradually became popular. Iris also writes a column, “Just Ask Iris: The Bottom Line,” for GrapevineColumbus.com on business issues.

The idea for the Southern-flavored canned vegetables originated in 1989 and was in markets within a couple of years. The company has since become synonymous with quality, convenience and flavor.

Frances also is a very sharp sister. She’s a longtime State Farm executive based in Indianapolis. Over breakfast, the four of us covered varied topics – from Glory’s collard greens to Trayvon Martin, kids, work, relationships – to brothers bringing White women on a Black cruise.

Something for the body and mind Along with pole dancing, there were plenty of sessions to work that body.

Classes included a body sculpting boot camp, a 3-on-3 “LakerHaterCentral.com” basketball tournament, rock climbing, Chicago-style step lessons by the legendary George Daniels, and a seminar on secrets to a flatter stomach.

By the way, George, who has been teaching smooth moves to cruisers for years, ended up being this year’s winner of the “Sit your Ass Down Award’’ selected by J. Anthony Brown and Tom Joyner.

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Pole-dancing classes were offered for those bold enough to get into the swing of it.

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BY JENISE GRIFFIN MORGAN FLORIDA COURIER

DELROY COLE/FLORIDA COURIER

Legendary Chicago-Stepping instructor George Daniels has twice as much to smile about on Day 2 of the cruise.

Lisa Rogers-Cherry/Florida courier

As usual, the brothers had the upper hand on the ship. Beautiful sisters of all shapes, sizes and ages sashayed and strutted around Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, and they greatly outnumbered the men.

But the biggest complaint from sisters weren’t about the lack of men to go around. They were more pissed off about the brothers – albeit a small number – who had the nerve to bring their White women on a “Black” cruise. With all of these sexy, sensuous and sultry Nubian queens on a cruise, and they still drag their White chicks on the ship?

OK. I’m pretty cool with whomever people chose to love, but I was a little taken aback by the thirtysomething brother sitting to the left of me at the concert the night before with the stringy-haired blonde on his lap. Really, brother? You gotta flaunt it like that?

At breakfast and during the day, cruisers were talking about how Keith Sweat “disrespected’’ the Fort Lauderdale sister he summoned to the stage, then dismissed the cruiser when he was tired of her dancing. And folks also were miffed at how he handled Silk, telling the group he helped to found that they would be dismissed from singing with him when he got ready. Ouch. Good thing Day 2 seemed to be all about love.

Lisa and I were blessed to share a table at breakfast with Iris Cooper of Ohio and Frances Johnson of Indiana. Iris is a founder of Glory Foods and told us of the company’s steady growth and how

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Brothers and White women

The announcement was followed by a hearty laugh by George, one of the most endearing people on the cruise.

But Day 2 wasn’t all about the body.

There were sessions for the mind as well.

The Alzheimer’s Association hosted a morning walk and an afternoon panel discussion on “Alzheimer’s and the African-American Community.” Southwest Airlines presented a seminar titled “Let Us Upgrade You: Elevating Your Influence.” Art enthusiasts were enthralled by the collection presented by Premier Art.

To our knowledge, no ankles were broken during the basketball tourney.

DELROY COLE/ FLORIDA COURIER

Waiting in line On Monday afternoon, some of the celebrities were mixing and mingling with cruisers. A long line to get autographs had formed to get signatures from a number of celebs, including Dr. Bobby Jones, Reginald Ballard (“Brother Man” from “Martin”), Larry Dodson from the Bar-Kays, gospel legend Dottie Peoples and Wendy Raquel Robinson from BET’s “The Game.”

From love to Kwame Kilpatrick Later that evening, Lisa and I headed to dinner where the attire was formal.

Most of the women wore black after-five cocktail dresses with their best costume jewelry, while the men were decked out in dark suits.

Vandolyn Johnson of Tampa was enjoying her free cruise.

“They called me one night and said I won,” she told us at dinner. With her was Daphne Fentress, also of the Tampa area. It was the first Joyner cruise for both.

Also dining with us were Danny and See VOYAGE, Page B2

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CALENDAR

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APRIL 6 - APRIL 12, 2012

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FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Ft. Lauderdale: R&B group Tower of Power will be at the Parker Playhouse April 13 for an 8 p.m. show.

Miami Gardens: Councilwoman Lisa C. Davis of Seat 2 is sponsoring a Mother’s Day Contest for City of Miami Gardens residents. To nominate someone for Mother of the Year, write in 300 words or less why they should be selected. Letters can be mailed or hand-delivered

by April 13 to City of Miami Gardens City Hall, Attn: Councilwoman Lisa Davis, 1515 NW 167 St., Building 5, Suite 200, Miami Gardens, FL 33169. More information: 305-622-8063.

Port St. Lucie: Free one-onone genealogy assistance is available at the Morningside Branch Library during the month of April. Guidance, information and assistance with Internet searching using free sources will be provided to interested researchers on April 11, 18 and 25 from 12:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. at 2410 SE Morningside Blvd.Call ahead for an appointment and bring any family information that you already have with you. More information and to set an appointment: Patti Kirk at 772-567-7463 orckirkfirst@comcast.net.

Miami: The Best of The Best concert will be held Memo-

VOYAGE from B1 Vanessa Warren of Detroit.

With one male among us, we had a lively discussion about – what else?

– relationships. We also spent some time discussing former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was a cruiser on the Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage several years ago.

Jazz, ‘U.N.I.T.Y’ from Queen After dinner, we were entertained royally by Queen Latifah. Cruisers who had seen her the previous night had complained about her selection of slow jazz numbers. But as one who loves her 2004 “Dana Owens” album and still listens to it often, I was in heaven, especially when she crooned “Simply Beautiful” and “California Dreamin’.”

After some jazz numbers, the phenomenal artist cranked it up, taking cruisers back to her days of hip-hip. Her 1993 Grammy Award-winning “U.N.I.T.Y” from the “Black Reign” album seemed to be an anthem of sorts for the swaying sisters. Even the wait staff that served us our steaks and seafood dishes earlier were standing in the back shouting, “Sing it, Queen!

We love, you Queen!”

Queen Latifah was fun and engaging. She danced and kidded with Tom Joyner, who sat in the corner of the stage. She sipped from a glass of Patron Gold, a top-shelf tequila, courtesy of an enamored male cruiser.

The Queen even left the stage and partied in the aisle with cruisers.

It’s late but it ‘Feels Good’ That same night we caught Tony! Toni! Toné!.

Most popular during the

EARTH WIND & FIRE

Earth, Wind & Fire will be at the Hard Rock Live Orlando June 29 for an 8 p.m. show.

BETTY WRIGHT

Betty Wright joins R&B singer Monica at the James L. Knight Center May 13 for a Mother’s Day Special show at 7 p.m.

American Board hosts education jobs event to recruit Florida teachers The American Board, a non-profit organization dedicated to recruiting and certifying community-based teachers in Florida, will host a public event on how local residents can become certified Florida teachers.

The event will be held April 18 at 6:30 p.m. at The University of South Florida 40FIFTY Lofts student apartments clubhouse, 4050 Rocky Circle in Tampa and will be led by Florida Teacher Certification Specialist Jude Paul. rial Day weekend May 27 at Bicentennial Park. Featured artists include Shaggy, Mavado, DJ Khaled, John Holt and Marcia Griffiths. Bestofthebestconcert.com.

Pembroke Pines: The Family Christian Association of America (FCAA) will host its 13th annual Faith-Keepers

MCT

The event is free and open to the public.

“Anyone with a bachelor’s degree can become a full-time teacher within a year as long as they plan the right path.” Paul said.

“We are searching for people who have real-life experience and want to apply that experience in the classroom.”

At the event, attendees will learn what to expect in a career as a teacher and receive advisement on a personalized path to certification.

Paul can be contacted at jpaul@americanboard.org or 407-505-5893 to answer questions about the event or about the paths to teacher certification in Florida.

Golf Tournament April 26, 8 a.m. at the Grand Palms Hotel and Golf Resort. All proceeds will benefit the FCAA youth and family services programs. More information: Rosalyn Alls, 305-685-4881 or ralls@fcaafamily.org.

Fort Lauderdale: The Broward County Office of Eco-

nomic and Small Business Development and Purchasing Division presents How to do Business with Broward County, April 19 at 3 p.m.

2650 Sistrunk Blvd. More information: 954-357-6400.

Fort Lauderdale: Can’t get credit due to bad debt? Learn how to change that and improve your Credit Report

by examining, challenging and having negative items deleted from your credit file.

Please bring a copy of your credit report with pen and paper to be ready to write the letters to your creditors and credit agencies, April 25, 6 p.m. 2650 Sistrunk Blvd.

More information: 954-3576224.

Duval County: WorkSource will be recruiting for the 2012 Mayor’s Summer Jobs program on April 6.

The program provides the opportunity for 185 Duval County students, ages 16-21 to earn valuable experience working in various facets of city government for five, 20-hour weeks, plus one week of training beginning June 18 and ending July 27 http://www.worksourcefl. com/jobseekers/young_ job_seekers/Mayors_Summer_Jobs_2011.aspx

late 1980s and early 1990s, the group sang hits “Feels Good,” “Lay Your Head on My Pillow,” “Just Me and You,” ”Heaven Must Be Like This” and “It’s Our Anniversary.”

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get to the show featuring performers from the 1980s – Glenn Jones, Tony Terry, Michael Cooper and Phil Perry. While I chose to turn in early that night, Lisa had some energy left and headed to the 2 a.m. hip-hop show.

Lisa met Tracey Austin, a public relations publicist from Chicago who was on the cruise with her husband celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. They became fast friends and decided to go to the hiphop concert. Before the concert started in Studio B, Tracey introduced Lisa to comedians Rodney Perry and Damon Williams.

Fort Lauderdale: Celebrate April as National Poetry Month at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC) on April 21 at 2 p.m., 2650 Sistrunk Blvd. Participants and students can recite their own original poems or choose other poems to read. A panel of judges will consider the poem’s merit, dramatic appropriateness and level of difficulty, public reaction among others. The winners of the competition will have their poem recorded professionally, placed on a CD and uploaded to a dedicated website for the winner to promote their project to the general public.

Free and open to the public, registration required: 954357-6224.

Miami: Tickets to see Madonna at the American Airlines Arena Nov. 19-20 are now on sale.

Fort Lauderdale: Raekwon will be at Revolution Live April 6 for an 8 p.m. show.

Coral Gables: R&B group New Edition will be at the BankUnited Center May 5 for an 8 p.m. show.

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Port St. Lucie: The Morningside Branch Library continues its children’s programs for April with Wednesdays, April 11, 18 and 25 at 10:30 a.m. – Join Miss Sarah in the children’s room for storytime with music, books, creative movement and more; Thursdays, April 12, 19 and 26 at 10:30 a.m. – Join Miss Carol Ann or Miss Sarah in the children’s room for storytime with music, books, creative movement and more; Saturdays, April 7 from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. in Room 103, an afternoon of Nintendo Wii and board games for all ages. 2410 SE Morningside Blvd., Port St. Lucie. All programs are free and open to the public.

Fort Lauderdale: Broward County Library presents the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center highlights for April to include Prearranged Group Tours, available during library hours. 2650 Sistrunk Blvd.

More information: 954-3575950. Free homework help is also available for students grades K thru 12, 3 p.m.

More information: 954-3576157.

It felt good to hear Tony!

Toni! Toné! perform on the cruise.

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Below, Wendy Raquel Robinson of “The Game’’ was on board. Shown left are Sisters with Voices, better known as SWV.

Lisa’s report “While standing and waiting for the concert to start, rapper Too Short stood with us and cracked jokes about people and told us that he was going to get the audience crunk! The funniest thing was that we didn’t even know who Too Short was. But when he got up on the stage, the majority of the audience stood up, clapped their hands, and rapped with him.

“The hip-hop show was absolutely electrifying.

Even forty-something yearolds were on their feet doing old-school dances and singing their old favorite rap songs. The lineup included Michel’le, SWV, The Brat, Lady Rage, Too Short, Doug E. Fresh (who taught us how to “Dougie”), Special Ed, Kwame, Dana Dane, and Grandmaster Melle Mel.” Melle Mel was still jamming, but Lisa couldn’t take any more and turned in at 4:30 a.m.

Next week - Day 3: Ocho Rios, Jamaica

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R&B singers Glenn Jones, left, and Phil Perry also entertained cruisers.

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Dominoes poolside was a popular pastime for the fellas.

STOJ

APRIL 6 - APRIL 12, 2012

HOLIDAY

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PASSOVER A look at the significance, food and traditions of this Jewish holiday

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pring is in the air — flowers are blooming and the weather is getting warmer. After a cold winter, those are certainly reasons to celebrate.

In the Jewish faith, spring also is a time to commemorate ancestors’ freedom from slavery with the festival of Passover.

Passover is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the Israelites, the ancestors of the Jews who were freed from years of slavery in ancient Egypt with the help of their leader, Moses. This celebration, which lasts eight days and corresponds to the Hebrew calendar, begins at sundown April 6 this year.

The Passover holiday is full of tradition, stories and food. It is a happy holiday, a festival of freedom and a time for family and friends to gather together. Read on to learn about the history of Passover, the Seder ceremony, holiday vocabulary and more.

— Colleen Jaskot, McClatchy-Tribune

The history of Passover The story of Passover starts in the Hebrew Bible in the book of Exodus.

“That chapter tells the preparations for the first Passover and describes the first Passover and (the Israelites’) flight from Egypt,” said Rabbi Charles Feinberg, of Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, D.C. The Israelites endured years of slavery under the Egyptians. Under orders from God, Moses told the pharaoh to let the Israelites go free. When the pharaoh refused, God sent 10 plagues to Egypt — blood in the Nile River, frogs, bugs, wild animals, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and, finally, death to the all of the firstborns.

However, the Israelites “survived the plague of the death of the firstborn by putting the blood of the lamb on their door-

The Seder ceremony Passover begins with a ceremonial feast called the Seder. Some traditional foods: Hard-boiled egg The hardness of the egg stands for the Jews’ strength.

Roasted lamb bone Symbolizes the lamb that was sacrificed in ancient days before the Temple was destroyed.

Salt water Stands for tears shed by the slaves and for the salty Red Sea. Matzos Three pieces of flat, unleavened bread, each representing a group of slaves.

When the Jews fled Egypt in haste, they took their bread dough without letting it rise and baked it quickly in the sun.

Bitter herbs Horseradish roots recall the suffering of the slaves.

Haroset Made with apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine. Its color is reminiscent of the clay the slaves used to make bricks for the Pharaohs’ pyramids.

Wine Drunk from a goblet known as the “cup of Elijah.” Elijah was one of the Jewish prophets.

Greens Parsley and celery are dipped into salt-water as a reminder of the parting of the Red Sea.

Vocab list

Haggadah: Means “to tell.”

It is the book outlining the order of the Passover Seder.

Haroset: Food eaten as part of the Seder, made from apples, nuts and wine, symbolizing the mortar of the bricks the Israelites made while enslaved.

Chametz: Leavened products, which cannot be eaten during Passover.

Seder: Ritual feast of Passover Seder plate: This special plate contains the food for the Seder, including a hard-boiled egg, haroset, horseradish, a shank bone and a green vegetable.

Kugel: Popular food to eat on Passover; it is a matzoh or potato dish baked like casserole.

Matzoh: The unleavened bread eaten during Passover.

posts,” Feinberg said.

That is where the holiday gets its name — because the plague “passed over” the Israelites.

After the plagues, the pharaoh released the Israelites, but they had to leave quickly, so preparing food for their journey was rushed.

“One of the major rituals is eating unleavened bread — matzoh — because they didn’t have enough time to allow the bread to rise,” Feinberg said. “So one of the ways we celebrate the holiday is we don’t eat any leavened products.”

“It’s like a cracker ... not much different than saltines, but much plainer, so you can put things on it and eat.”

That ritual continues to be celebrated during Passover today.

“What’s special about Passover is we have a special service at home called the ‘Seder,’ which means ‘order’ in Hebrew,” Feinberg said. The name is appropriate, because there is a specific order of steps for the Seder, from a book called the Haggadah, Feinberg said.

The main part of the Seder is “eating the special foods that are supposed to remind us of what happened,” Feinberg said.

“Many of the preparations (of the Israelites) became a source of ritual for the holiday.”

Rabbi Ethan Seidel of Tifereth Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C., said the annual event means that the story continues to be passed on.

“The basic part of the Seder … is telling our children the story,” Seidel said.

Often, Feinberg said, people will make connections between that story and modern ones about oppression and freedom.

At the Seder, there is a Seder plate (above), which includes a shank bone, bitter herbs (often a horseradish root), parsley or another green vegetable and salt water, Feinberg explained.

“We have a roasted hardboiled egg, and we have something called haroset which is usually a mixture of nuts, apples and wine together, supposed to remind us of the mortar — part of the slavery was that they had to make bricks for construction,” Feinberg said.

“The bitter herbs represent the bitterness of slavery, and the parsley is dipped in salt water to remember the tears the Israelites cried,” Feinberg said. The shank bone represents the lamb’s blood that was put on the doors so the plague would pass over them.

“The heart of the evening is the meal.

There is lots of stuff made out of matzoh, potatoes and eggs — because we can’t use any bread or leavened products. It’s traditional to have roast meat — brisket or turkey,” Feinberg said.

The four questions Traditionally, the youngest person at the Seder table reads aloud the “Four Questions” known collectively as “Mah Nishtana” which means “why is it different.”

These questions ask why the evening that begins Passover is different from other evenings.

The “Four Questions” are actually one question plus four clauses that, along with the answers, give an overview of the story of Passover as told in the Passover Haggadah.

The main question is: “Why is this night different from all other nights?”

The clauses are: 1. “Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?”

2. “Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?”

3. “Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?”

4. “Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?”

Passover treat Matzo Haystacks

No kid will be able to pass over this simple treat. Macaroon fans will love the coconut-almond recipe; for a sweet-tart variation, swap in some dried fruit.

21/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 2 cups salted matzos, crushed into small pieces 11/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut 2/3 cup sliced or chopped almonds Melt the chocolate chips according to the directions on the package, and stir until smooth. Combine the crushed matzos, the coconut, and the almonds in a large mixing bowl. Pour the melted chocolate over the dry mixture and stir until all of the pieces are coated. Use a teaspoon to dollop haystacks onto a sheet of parchment or waxed paper, or into paper muffin cups. Allow the treats to cool (about 10 minutes). Makes about 60 pieces.

Other traditions While Seder is a service at home, there also are services offered at the synagogue for each day of Passover, with the first and last days as the major services, Feinberg said. The other nights, families typically invite company over for dinner.

Seidel agrees that spending time with family is key to the celebration of Passover.

“You go to synagogue, you relax, you chat with friends. That’s our idea of a good life,” Seidel said.

SOURCEs: “Jewish Holiday Cookbook” by Susan Gold Purdy, “Jewish Holidays” by Margery Cuyler, kosher4passover.com, www.holidays.net, www.angelfire.com

photo courtesy of FamilyFun magazine

Dried Fruit Haystacks

Follow the recipe above but reduce the amount of chocolate chips to 2 cups and substitute 1 cup of dried fruit for the coconut and almonds. We used a mix of chopped apricots and sweetened cranberries.

— FamilyFun magazine

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

TOj B4

Meet some of

FLORIDA'S

finest

submitted for your approval

STOJ

APRIL 6 – APRIL 12, 2012

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

E-mail your high-resolution 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.

More than 4,000 cruisers joined nationally syndicated radio talk show host Tom Joyner on the 13th annual Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage 2012 aboard Royal Caribbean’s “Navigator of the Seas,” one of the world’s largest cruise ships. The Florida Courier spotlights some of the best-looking people on board.

Will, who lives in Chicago, was on his first Tom Joyner cruise.

Cybil, a Houston resident, was on her sixth Tom Joyner cruise.

will

cybil

Lemon called racist for Martin coverage EURWEB.COM

CNN’s weekend anchor Don Lemon had to tell it like it is during an interview with Goldie Taylor about the controversy Trayvon Martin’s murder has brought out.

During the conversation, he had a moment and said, “please don’t send me any more tweets that by having this conversation, I’m a racist.”

It wasn’t until after the commercial break he decided to delve into what exactly he was talking about.

A twitter-er was upset that Trayvon Martin was being talked about at all and posted: “Don Lemon, you are a racist. You are fixated on this one issue over and over. We want to hear the news, not your personal agenda. Go work for BET.” But this isn’t the first time a CNN host has been called a racist for speaking the truth. Colleague Soledad O’Brien had to tell social media folk to stop posting racist comments about Critical Race Theory.

The conversation paused in this area for a moment.

Lemon added, “That was the nice one.

He didn’t call me the n-word.”

Don Lemon Goldie Taylor offered her own amusing Twitter exchange.

“I”ve been called the n-word more, collectively, over the last 72 hours than I have my whole life,” she said.

“It’s amazing to me what people will say with the anonymity of a tweet.”

Lemon asked, “What did they say?”

“I was checking my Twitter, and someone said, ‘I’ll shoot you,’ and my response was, ‘You better be a quicker draw.’”

Questlove opens ‘Hoodie Shop’ in NYC EURWEB.COM

Famed drummer Questlove is calling it a coincidence that he is opening a store called “The Hoodie Shop” at the same time in which the country is enveloped by the Trayvon Martin murder.

Martin, who was killed on Feb. 26 while walking unarmed in a Sanford housing complex, has unfortunately popularized the hoodie in his death because his shooter, George Zimmerman, called him suspicious because of the clothing he was wearing.

The Roots drummer, who partnered up with Brooklyn Bowl owner Peter Shapiro, immediately contacted his partner to see what he felt about the opening with the Martin controversy swirling.

“I texted Pete and said how ironic is it that we’re going into this Hoodie Shop venture now, with what’s happened,”

Questlove Questlove told New York magazine. “How we gonna handle this, because I don’t want people to think we’re jumping on the hoodie bandwagon.’”

The Hoodie Shop opened a day before the Million Hoodie March held in New York City.

Questlove says he planned to open the shop a year ago and the grand opening just happened to occur around the same time.

UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH RELATIVITY MEDIA A PRACTICAL PICTURES/ZIDE PICTURES PRODUCTION “AMERICAN REUNION” JASON BIGGS ALYSON HANNIGAN CHRIMUSICS KLEIN THOMASEXECUTIVE IAN NICHOLAS TARA REID SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT MENA SUVARI EDDIE KAYE THOMAS JEPRODUCEDNNIFER COOLIDGE AND EUGENE LEVY BY LYLE WORKMAN PRODUCERS LOUIBASEDSONG.FCHARACTERS RIEDMAN PAULWEITZ CHRIWRITTENSANDWEITZ SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT JASON BIGGS

BY CRAI G PERRY WARREN ZIDE CHRIS MOORE ADAM HERZ CREATED BY ADAM HERZ DIRECTED BY JON HURWITZ & HAYDEN SCHLOSSBERG A UNIVERSAL PICTURE SOUNDTRACK ON RELATIVITY MUSIC GROUP

© 2011 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES STARTS FRIDAY, APRIL 6 CHECK MOBILE USERS: For Showtimes – Text REUNION with your ZIP CODE to 43KIX (43549)! No charge from 43KIX, std. rates may apply. Text HELP for info.

STOJ

APRIL 6 - APRIL 12, 2012

HOLIDAY

B5

With all due respect to Mr. Bunny, eggs really play the starring role at Easter. Here, FamilyFun magazine gives you plenty of ways to let them shine: color them with crayons, fill them with goodies, perch them atop frilly pedestals, even give them a snorkeling vacation. That’s right — get ’em out of their shells!

— Naomi Shulman

Surprise Inside Eggs

An un-eggs-pected treat hides in each of these colorful orbs. Kids can hunt for them, smash them open and enjoy.

To keep the contents secret, Mom or Dad can handle the job of filling and capping.

For extra fun, make a “golden” egg holding a dollar.

YOU WILL NEED: l Pushpin l White eggs l Clean nail scissors l Egg dye l Skewers or chopsticks l Egg carton l Small trinkets l Paper and pen l Paintbrush l White glue l Mini cupcake liners (1 per egg)

1. With the pushpin, make a small hole in one end of each egg.

Using the nail scissors, expand the hole to be 1 inch wide, then empty out the whites and yolks (they can be reserved for cooking).

2. Dye the eggs and let them dry overnight by resting them on skewers or chopsticks set in a mug.

3. Place eggs, hole facing up, in the egg carton. Fill each with trinkets.

4. Cut narrow strips of paper and write a message, such as “Crack Me,” at the end of each strip.

5. Brush a thin coat of glue around the holes, then stick a message strip and a cupcake liner in place on each egg. Turn the eggs over and let the glue dry.

Note: If you include edible surprises, use wrapped candies only and soak the emptied shells in a bleach solution (1 teaspoon of bleach mixed with 1 quart of water) for 2 minutes. Let them dry before dying them.

(Idea by Megan Reardon, notmartha.org)

MELTED-CRAYON EGGS

When the most humble of art supplies meets the shell of a just-boiled egg, the crayon wax softens, and the colors swirl together in a magical way. The results are fast, fun and gorgeous.

To begin, hard-boil white eggs. Remove them from the hot water with tongs or a slotted spoon, dry them, and rest them in an empty egg carton or on plastic bottle caps (an adult’s job). Color them with the crayons’ tips or remove the paper coverings and use the crayons’ sides. For a speckled effect, grate a crayon and sprinkle the bits over the eggs. The waxy eggs are very slippery, so take care when turning them to color the underside. When you’re done coloring, leave them to dry for about an hour.

DYE-VING DUDES These hard-boiled snorkelers are fully equipped for a dip in the blue (or green or pink). For a hilarious centerpiece, display a row of the finished dudes sitting in their dye-ving tanks.

YOU WILL NEED: l Egg dye l White eggs, hardboiled l Permanent marker l 3/4-inch round white adhesive labels l 1-inch-wide clear bottle tops l Small rubber bands l White glue or glue gun* l Flexible straws l Self-adhesive foam l Small clear glasses or bowls (optional) 1. For each snorkeler, dye the bottom third of an egg, then let it dry.

TIE-DYE TUFFETS

2. Draw eyes on a label and adhere it to the bottle top. Slip the rubber band around the egg, about a quarter of the way down. Glue the lid over a rubber band.

3. Trim a straw 1 inch above and 2 inches below the flexible section. Bend it into a snorkel shape and glue it in place.

4. Cut foam flippers (trace the template, below). Glue them to the egg, adhesive side down, and let dry. Stick the adhesive side to the display surface, or, if you like, to the inside of a small glass or bowl. With a pitcher, gently pour in dye until the egg is partly submerged. *Note: White glue is kid-friendly but requires drying time; using a glue gun is an adult’s job.

(Idea by Tracy Ripon) PHOTOS BY ED JUDICE/ FamilyFun magazine/MCT

Here’s a clever use for leftover egg dye (and cardboard tubes), and the results are springtime-lovely. For even more of a wow factor, use the trimmings to make matching collaged eggs (see “Bonus Idea,” below).

FOR EACH TUFFET, YOU WILL NEED: l 2 coffee filters l Egg dye in various colors l 1-inch-tall segment of cardboard tube l White glue 1. Fold each filter into quarters and dip its edges and point into a differentcolor dye. Unfold the filters and let them dry on a paper towel or draped over an empty egg carton.

2. When the filters are dry, fold them again and snip fringe along the edges.

If you plan to make the collage eggs below, reserve the trimmings.

3. Lay each filter flat. Lightly coat the outside of a tube segment with glue, then put it at the filter’s center. Gather the filter around the tube, adhering it to the sides. Repeat with the other filter. (For small eggs, double up the tube

segments, fitting one inside the other.)

BONUS IDEA Don’t toss the coffee-filter trimmings from the tuffets; instead, use them to make pretty collage eggs. Simply brush hard-boiled eggs with watered-down white glue, stick on the trimmings, and brush the eggs with another coat of glue. Let them dry for an hour.

(Idea by A. J. Freund, auntpeaches. com)

TOj B6

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APRIL 6 – APRIL 12, 2012

Publix will be closed Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012.

We will be open regular hours on Monday, April, 9, 2012.