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DECEMBER 20 – DECEMBER 26, 2018

VOLUME 26 NO. 51

A BIPARTISAN ‘FIRST STEP’

The U.S. Senate approves a bipartisan criminal justice overhaul that supporters say is a good start toward reducing mass incarceration in America. COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

MARK KURLYANDCHIK/DETROIT FREE PRESS/TNS

Culinary training programs for prisoners, like this one in a Michigan state correctional facility, are the types of programs that will be funded in federal prisons under the 2018 First Step Act.

WASHINGTON ‒ The Senate late Tuesday approved a bipartisan overhaul of criminal sentencing and the federal prison system, an initiative pushed by President Donald Trump’s aide and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The bill, approved in the Senate 87-12, is expected to be passed by the House and

NANCY SUE WILSON / 1937-2018

Voice of ‘song stylist’ is stilled Singer Nancy Wilson, whose 70plus album musical career across seven decades included jazz, blues, pop, and R&B performances, died Dec. 13 at age 81. In this 2005 file photo, she shows off the second of three GRAMMY awards she earned during her career, this one for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Read her obituary on Page B2

signed by the president. The 12 “no” votes were from Republicans.

True compromise It falls short of what lawmakers and advocates had sought to do with the measure more than four years ago during the Obama administration. It’s a “compromise of a compromise,” as California Democrat Sen. Kamala Harris put it when announcing her support for the bill. And senators who back the bill and a wide ideological spectrum of outside groups who long fought for the measure spent Monday asking the Senate to reject even more changes that they say could have fractured the delicate deal. Still, it’s the most sweeping changes to See OVERHAUL, Page A2

We’re No. 3 State population climbs to 21.3 million BY JIM SAUNDERS NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE ‒ It wasn’t so long ago that Florida was trying catch New York. Now ‒ at least in the population game ‒ it has left New York in the dust. The U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday released new estimates showing Florida had about 21.3 million residents as of July 1, cementing Florida’s place as the third most-populous state behind California and Texas. Florida also had the fifth-highest growth rate from July 2017 to July 2018, with all of the fastest-growing states in the southern and western parts of the country. Puerto Rico and nine states had population declines during the period, according to the Census Bureau. Florida has seen its population steadily increase from 18.8 million in 2010 to 21.3 million this year. It climbed ahead of New York to move into third place nationally in 2014 and has steadily expanded the gap, with New York at 19.54 million people this year.

Cali still first But Florida is nowhere close to overtaking California, which had an estimated 39.56 million people, or Texas, with 28.7 million. Behind California, Texas, Florida and New York, the other top-10 states this year are Pennsylvania, with 12.8 million people; Illinois, with 12.74 million; Ohio, with 11.69 million; Georgia, with 10.52 million; North Carolina, with 10.38 million; and Michigan, with about 10 million.

Sun and terrain The trends indicate many people are looking to live where it is warm or where they can enjoy the mountains. The fastest rates of growth from 2017 to 2018 were in Nevada, 2.1 percent; See STATE, Page A2

Snipes sues governor and Senate president

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

NATION | A6

Sentence upheld in FAMU hazing case

2 Blacks get key roles in Congress

COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

Anti-lynching bill returns FOOD | B4, B5

Festive flavors and seasonal sips Give the gift of homemade food for the holidays

ALSO INSIDE

TALLAHASSEE ‒ Accusing Gov. Rick Scott of a “malicious and politically motivated” executive order, suspended Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes has filed a federal lawsuit against Scott and Senate President Bill Galvano as she tries to regain her job. The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Tallahassee, follows a tumultuous period that included high-profile reports of election problems in Broward County, Snipes’ announcement that she would resign from the job in January, Scott issuing an executive order to suspend Snipes ‒ and Snipes saying she was rescinding her resignation.

Senate won’t decide In the lawsuit, Snipes argues that her due-process rights are being violated. It came four days after Galvano said the Senate, which has the constitutional authority to remove from office or reinstate suspended elected officials, would not take up the matter. The 27-page lawsuit said Snipes Dr. Brenda has “suffered a significant deprivaSnipes tion” of her rights. “She has been publicly humiliated by being closed out of her job and further not being paid during the suspension,” the lawsuit said. “At this point, Governor Scott’s allegations have gone unchallenged as he sits high on a ‘throne’ utilizing state resources to continually humiliate Snipes. Due process clearly applies.” Scott and other Republicans hammered Snipes See SNIPES, Page A2

COMMENTARY: AJAMU BARAKA: BOLTON’S AFRICA SPEECH IS ‘WOLF AND THE FOXES’ | A4 COMMENTARY: DANNY HAIPHONG: HILLARY 2020 IS MALCOLM’S ‘AMERICAN NIGHTMARE’ ON STEROIDS | A5

FOCUS

DECEMBER 20 – DECEMBER 26, 2018

Here’s the Democratic dilemma Even though today is a new day and this time is a new time, Democratic pundits and loyalists continue to suggest using the same losing election strategies, the same political resources and the same losing political consultants and political staffers will guide them to election victories in 2020. Almost-victories by Stacey Abrams, Andrew Gillum and others are in fact losses! No political party can expect to win in 2020 with tactics used in campaigns in 1920 or even 2016!

Fix the problems Well, how can Democrats win in 2020? They can identify their election problems, decide what can be done to fix problems, and hire the consultants with the talent, skills and voter influence that can deliver the votes needed to win. Democrats didn’t just lose on Election Day. They lost almost every day! I know you don’t like for me to say that, but it’s true. Democrats lost in free media, paid media, absentee voting, targeting, mailing, robo-calling and in many other ways, in most cases. The people don’t know but the DNC and RNC (Democratic and Republican National Committees) run campaigns like over-

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

seers ran plantations! If candidates don’t do what they are told to do, hire who they are told to hire and contract who they are told to spend money with, they are threatened and told they will lose Democratic support.

What do we get? The Republican “base” gets jobs, get contracts, get appointments and gets a lot of love from the Party. What does the Democratic Party’s most loyal base, the Black bloc voters, get in election times? Blacks get talk about the love of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and of HBCUs. They get menial work like putting flyers on windshields or door-knocking opportunities. If they’re lucky, they might get an afternoon in late October where they can dine on a free piece of mullet fish or chicken and a cheap beer! If there are Black candidates qualified to run for political office, there are Black political professionals qualified to guide candidates to victories

Now you, Stacey, Andrew or anybody else please tell me why the White man’s or woman’s political ice is colder than the Black man’s ice or the Hispanic man’s or the Native American’s ice. It is not!

No money for us If a political party gets around 90 percent of all Black votes cast and says it is not worthwhile to spend at least money collected from Black PACs, Black labor unions, Black organizations and Black individual donors with Black consultants, Black media, Black pollsters, Black printers, Black caterers, Black mailers and other Black businesses, it should tell you something. And if the Black candidates that lost elections that you love don’t think it’s a good idea to have Blacks in campaign decision-making positions, what does that behavior tell you? It should tell you the people that get paid during a campaign are the people that will get paid afterwards!

What can they do? So, what can Democrats do to win in 2020? To win, Democratic officials and candidates can respect all voters, especially the most loyal and most frequent Democratic voters ‒ who happen to be Black.

Democrats can dismiss their historic assumption that “any Negro will do” and seek to utilize the talents and influence of Blacks that have a history of political experience and winning campaign successes. Democrats can reject the descriptions that news networks give voters. Truth is, for instance, “urban” is Black and also “suburban” is Black ‒ perhaps Blacker than some gentrified neighborhoods in big cities like Atlanta’s West End, Fourth Ward and East Lake-Kirkwood communities. Democrats must hire consultants that understand political timing. Even when Democrats do the right things, when they do things at the wrong time, the results can be politically disastrous. Spending millions in advertising in White media outlets, for instance, six months before election and thousands in minority media outlets six days before an election is a waste of dollars and has the appearance of “hush money!”

I could go on and on Democrats need candidates and consultants that can deliver Election Day wins! Hiring losing consultants every year and expecting winning outcomes is political insanity! The GOP will hire anybody, of any political party, of any race and any philosophy that will help them win elections. Democrats like to hire and pay Democratic politicians and Democratic op-

eratives that they can control, despite their political inexperience or ineffectiveness. The people want good government. The people want political change. People historically shut out of government, like Black and other women, want political opportunities. And Black businesses and Black political professionals want to get paid! They don’t want government jobs, political appointments, appearances on cable news shows or promises, hope and dreams.

See for yourself Read recent election articles at Politico.com. Now more than ever before, the Democratic Party needs qualified and experienced professional consultants to assist a diverse group of candidates win elections in 2020! Democrats need to understand that politics is war. To win a political battle, you have to fight for votes in enemy territory! God always sends Democratic candidates, like Stacey and Andrew, political soulmates. But they are never considered, never recognized and never utilized!

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants. net.

SNIPES from A1

because of problems in the aftermath of the Nov. 6 elections, which included Scott defeating Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in a race that required machine and manual recounts because of its narrow margin.

Evidence-free allegation

DREAMSTIME/TNS

The Southernmost Point marker in Key West. The Sunshine State continues to attract new residents at a record clip.

STATE from A1

mated numeric growth was secondhighest, with population going from 20,976,812 in 2017 to 21,299,325 this year ‒ an increase of 322,513.

Saying goodbye

Idaho, 2.1 percent; Utah, 1.9 percent; Arizona, 1.7 percent; and Florida, 1.5 percent. Rounding out the top 10 in growth rates were Washington, Colorado, Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina, according to the Census Bureau. Texas saw the largest numeric growth, gaining 379,128 people over the year, while Florida’s esti-

States that lost population during the year were scattered across the country, according to the Census numbers. They were New York, down 48,510 people; Illinois, down 45,116; West Virginia, down 11,216; Louisiana, down 10,840; Hawaii, down 3,712; Mississippi, down 3,133; Alaska, down 2,348; Connecticut, down 1,215; and Wyoming, down 1,197.

OVERHAUL

treatment for inmates, among other changes. The bill would increase direct spending by $346 million over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It would allow low- and minimumrisk prisoners to earn credits for early release to re-entry centers or home confinement.

from A1

prison and sentencing laws in decades. Called the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person (First Step) Act, the legislation would undo some of the sentencing crackdowns of the 1990s and create programs for federal inmates to reduce recidivism.

Judges get leeway The bill’s main provisions include modest changes to sentencing. It would give judges more freedom to hand down sentences below the mandatory minimum for nonviolent drug offenders, including those imposed by so-called three-strikes laws that automatically result in life imprisonment. It would eliminate a provision that prosecutors used to “stack” firearm charges for long sentences for firsttime offenders. And it makes retroactive a 2010 law that reduced the sentencing disparity between crack ‒ which disproportionately involves non-Whites ‒ and powder cocaine.

Training and treatment On the prison side, the bill would create more job training and drug

States not covered The bill would affect only prisoners in the federal system. The vast majority of criminal cases are handled in state courts with prisoners held in state prisons, which would not be affected. Still, the change at the federal level could add momentum to efforts in many states to roll back some of the harsh sentencing laws adopted during the 1980s and 1990s, when crime rates in the U.S. were much higher than they are now.

‘Major change’ Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, worked on the bill and called it an “overwhelmingly bipartisan piece of legislation that is going to be the first major change in criminal justice legislation since the Clinton era.” It includes measures to address points raised by the National Sheriff’s Association, such as preventing

The biggest decline, however, came in Puerto Rico, which saw an estimated population decrease of 129,848 people, or 3.9 percent, from July 2017 to July 2018. During that period, the U.S. territory was devastated by Hurricane Maria. “Puerto Rico has seen a steady decline in population over the last decade,” Sandra Johnson, a Census bureau demographer and statistician, said in comments released Wednesday with the new estimates. “Hurricane Maria in September of 2017 further impacted that loss, both before and during the recovery period.” firearm offenders and fentanyl traffickers from early release from prison and specifying conditions for supervised release from custody. Critics of the bill, including Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., argued that the bill allows early release for many categories of serious, violent criminals, and thus is a threat to public safety as well as the future election prospects for Republicans who support it.

More to come The bill, if it becomes law, won’t end the call for criminal justice changes. Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Democrat who wrote the bill with Grassley, said on the floor Monday that he agrees with those who suggest the bill doesn’t go far enough to unwind harsh mandatory minimums. But compromise is what the Senate is all about, he added. “Congress should make this bipartisan legislation a fitting ending to this year,” Durbin said. “For all the cynicism and skepticism about what Congress can achieve, we can prove as soon as tomorrow, with one of the most historic changes in criminal justice legislation in our history, that we can work together for the good of this nation.”

By Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Todd Ruger CQRoll Call TNS.

Shortly after the recount started, Scott himself suggested possible fraud, but never offered any concrete examples. Snipes contends that lawsuits filed by Scott’s Senate campaign forced delays that could have been avoided. “Governor Scott and others working on his behalf tried in every way to damage Snipes’ reputation and inject doubt into the minds of Broward voters that the Broward County elections process was being conducted properly,” the lawsuit alleges. “Tweets from the President of the United States and untrue allegations made by Governor Scott resulted in death threats against Snipes and her family members.”

‘Speaks for itself’ But John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott, characterized the lawsuit as a “desperate move.” “The governor’s action to remove Ms. Snipes from office for misfeasance, neglect of duty and incompetence speaks for itself, and the media has reported on multiple instances where she broke the law (in handling the election),” Tupps said in an email Tuesday. “This lawsuit is a desperate move from someone who has already officially submitted her resignation. This is simply an attempt by Ms. Snipes to rewrite the history of her failed leadership.” Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker has scheduled a conference call Thursday afternoon ‒ after the Florida Courier’s Wednesday night press time ‒ to begin moving forward with the case.

Fifteen years in office Snipes, a Democrat who was first appointed elections supervisor in 2003 and has been reelected three times, announced Nov. 18 that she would resign effective Jan. 4. But on Nov. 30, Scott issued an executive order suspending Snipes and replacing her with

Pete Antonacci, whose past roles have included serving as Scott’s general counsel. The day after the executive order, Snipes held a news conference and rescinded her resignation. The lawsuit said Snipes’ attorney contacted Senate General Counsel Jeremiah Hawkes on Dec. 3 about starting the process for a Senate hearing to fight the suspension. But Galvano said Thursday that the Senate considers Snipes’ resignation “unconditional and effective Jan. 4, and the Senate will be taking no action.” In a memo to senators, Galvano also said there wouldn’t be time to conduct a “full investigation into the serious assertions” in Scott’s executive order. The Senate will not hold committee meetings before Jan. 4 and doesn’t begin the 2019 legislative session until March 5. “Past Senate practice as recently as 2012 dictates if a term ends prior to the Senate being able to take action, then no further proceedings are held. … This decision in no way reflects on Dr. Snipes, the governor, or their actions,” Galvano wrote. “The decision merely reflects that no timely action can be taken by the Senate. Nothing precludes Dr. Snipes from seeking a judicial determination of any rights she may have related to the Office of Broward County Supervisor of Elections.”

Injunction requested The lawsuit seeks an injunction to block Scott and Galvano from enforcing parts of state law and a Senate rule dealing with suspensions. It also seeks a judgment that those parts of state law and the Senate rule are “null and void” because they deprive Snipes of due process. “In this case, the suspended public official’s loss of pay or the orchestrated shattering of her reputation was without due process of law,” the lawsuit said. “Also, the laws do not provide any procedural safeguards for notice and an opportunity to be heard. In the case of Snipes, there has been no opportunity to respond to Governor Scott’s executive order.”

Jim Saunders and Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida and Rafael Olmeda of the Sun Sentinel /TNS contributed to this report.

DECEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 27, 2018

FLORIDA

Hazing conviction upheld in FAMU band death BY JIM SAUNDERS NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – More than seven years after the death of Florida A&M Uni-

versity drum major Robert Champion, the state Supreme Court on Dec. 13 upheld the conviction of a fellow band member and rejected arguments that a haz-

ing law was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court unanimously rejected an appeal by Dante Martin, who was convicted on manslaughter and hazing

charges in an incident that drew national attention. Champion suffered fatal injuries in November 2011 in Orlando during a ritual known as “crossing Bus C.”

77-month sentence During the ritual, members of Florida A&M’s renowned “Marching 100” band were struck repeatedly as they crossed from

Robert Champion

Dante Martin

the front of the bus to the back, and Martin was “president” of Bus C, according to court records. Champion passed out after finishing the crossing and later was pronounced dead at a hospital. Martin, now 31, was sentenced to 77 months in prison after being found guilty by an Orange County jury of manslaughter, felony hazing resulting in death and two counts of misdemeanor hazing. But in appealing, he argued that the state’s hazing law was unconstitutional because it was overly broad and vague.

Opinion by Canady

“

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In a 19-page opinion written by Chief Justice Charles Canady, the Supreme Court on Dec. 13 upheld a ruling by the 5th District Court of Appeal that rejected the arguments. In part, Martin’s attorneys contended that the hazing law was overbroad because it criminalized constitutionally protected speech and conduct, but Canady said prosecution under the law required a showing of “serious bodily injury or death” for a felony charge or a “substantial risk of physical injury or death” for a misdemeanor charge. “The focus of the criminal hazing statute thus undoubtedly is on physical harm and the risk of physical harm,” Canady wrote. “Any impact on speech or expressive conduct is insubstantial and purely incidental to the purpose of preventing physical harm.”

“

‘No actual ambiguity’ Similarly, Canady turned down the arguments about vagueness. “Here, at most, the various detailed arguments that Martin raises concerning the terms of the hazing statute do not point to anything that goes beyond run-of-the-mill ambiguity,” the opinion said. “And no actual ambiguity in the terms of the statute has been identified by Martin that has any bearing on the offenses for which Martin was convicted.” Justices Peggy Quince, Ricky Polston, Jorge Labarga and Alan Lawson fully joined Canady’s opinion. Justices Barbara Pariente and R. Fred Lewis agreed with the result but did not sign on to the opinion.

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Champion’s death came during the annual Florida Classic weekend, which includes a football game between Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman University. Martin is housed at the Tallahassee Community Release Center and is scheduled to be released in April 2020, according to the Florida Department of Corrections website. In 2015, the family of Champion settled a lawsuit against the university by accepting a $1.1 million payment and an apology from the school.

EDITORIAL

DECEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 27, 2018

Bolton speech on Africa is ‘the wolf and the foxes’ Malcolm X reminded us that we had to be careful about the difference between the wolf and the fox. The wolf for Black people were the hardcore, racist White folks with the hoods and clearly articulated stance in support of White supremacy. The fox, on the other hand were the liberals who were supposed to be our friends. Their ultimate support for White supremacy was always just as deadly. But it was sugarcoated in diversionary language like “humanitarian intervention” and the “responsibility to protect.”

Both are canines The game, according to Malcolm, was that Black folks would recognize the danger of the wolf and run from the wolf straight into the jaws of the fox ‒ with the consequence being just as fatal, because both the fox and the wolf are members of the same canine family. This captures in many ways not only the nature of the ongoing saga of U.S. politics in general ‒where there is really no substantial difference in the class interests and fundamental priorities of the two capitalist parties ‒ but specific policies like U.S. policy in Africa. In a speech this month before an audience at the rightwing Heritage Foundation, John Bolton unveiled the Trump administrations’ “new Africa Strategy.” In what could only be characterized as another example of the White supremacist racial blind-spot, Bolton revealed an understanding of Africa and the role played by the U.S. and Europe that was a compete departure from the reality of the systematic underdevelopment of that continent by Europe and the U.S. In Bolton’s world, the predatory powers in Africa were not the European powers that raided the continent for Black bodies to create the wealth of Europe, and then carved up a weakened and devastated Africa among those same powers in 1884. It wasn’t the U.S. that murdered African leaders, overthrew African states and imposed brutal neocolonial leaders. No. The real threat to African states were the “predatory” Chinese and, for whatever reasons he threw in the Russians, that, according to Bolton “stunt economic growth in Africa and… threaten financial independence

The people of Africa

ed or confused could fail to conclude that economic relations in particular with China provides African states a modicum of space to exercise more effective national sovereignty than had ever been afforded them by the European colonial powers that carved up and unmercifully exploited African labor and land.

must not allow the

Nothing different

AJAMU BARAKA BLACK AGENDA REPORT

African continent to be drawn into competing blocs during the last death throes of a dying neoliberal capitalist world system. We say to Bolton, Trump and the neoliberal democrats – U.S. out of Africa, shut down AFRICOM, Africa for Africans at home and abroad! of African nations.”

Africa’s choice Therefore, in typical colonialist arrogance, African states have a choice. Either surrender to Chinese and Russia interests, or align themselves with the U.S. to secure “foreign aid” and avoid subversion from the U.S.! From the point of view of the African, it was the predatory practices of European and U.S. imperialist policies that reduced Africa to its present situation as the richest continent on the planet in terms of natural resources, land and people ‒ to a balkanized continent of 54 nations, economically disarticulated, politically fragmented and still suffering the cultural effects of alien colonial cultural imposition. Whatever the national intentions of China or Russia may have in Africa, only the most jad-

White churches must take a moral stand In 2019, we will commemorate 400 years since the first 20 slaves were transported by ship from Africa by White slave traders and landed in Jamestown, Va. Now four centuries later, race remains a central dividing line. Today, for example, the racial wealth gap exposes a stark difference. The median wealth of a White household (“median” means half are above and half below) is 12 times greater than that of a Black household. The median wealth of a White household is $134,430, of Blacks it is $11,030. This is virtually all about equity in a home, the leading source of middle-income wealth. African-Americans still suffer from de facto segregation, after years of being red-lined from decent neighborhoods.

Disproportionate pain In the financial collapse, African-American households suffered the worse. Black unemployment rose twice as much as White unemployment in the Great Recession. Middle-class Black families, lacking inher-

REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR. NNPA COLUMNIST

ited wealth, were targeted for the most aggressive and leveraged home loans. When the bust came, they were the most at risk and suffered the greatest loss of homes. The wealth gap is not erased by educational attainment, by full-time employment, by getting the right occupation. The typical Black family with a head of household working full time has less wealth than a White family whose head of household is unemployed. Median wealth for a Black family whose head has a college degree is about 1/8 that of a median White family similarly educated. African-Americans are constantly told to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. In the Black church, for example, ministers

But that is the point and the intent of U.S. Africa policy over the last 73 years since the end of World War II. Bolton and the racist policy-makers in Washington don’t want to see Africa nations with any space to act independently of the dependence imposed on them by predatory trade regimes, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund debt peonage. While China provides investment in African infrastructure and production capacities, the U.S. offers Africa militarism and subversion from Libya to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bolton didn’t mention in his statement that U.S. strategy for Africa, which centers on military recolonization, would be a continuation of the U.S. policies of the last few decades and in particularly during the Obama administration that saw the expansion of the U.S. military presence by 1,900 percent. The Trump “strategy” offers nothing substantially different. The policy continues to be more guns, more bases and more subversion. The destruction of Libya that resulted in the enhanced military capacities of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Ansar al-Sharia in Libya; the disastrous decision to carve up the Sudan and create yet another colonial entity called South Sudan; military and political support for President Kagame of Rwanda, President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Museveni of Uganda; and expansion of AFRICOM, reflects the murderous continuity of U.S. African policy. Bolton claims that in order to assist with African economic development, it is “developing a new initiative called “Prosper Africa,” which will support U.S. investment across the continent, grow Africa’s middle class, and improve the overall business climate in the region.”

repeatedly preach the need for discipline, self-reliance, faith and hard work. Yet even those who succeed still remain behind. The divide has deep historical roots.

History of oppression Two hundred forty-six years of chattel slavery (1619-1865), only 12 years of Reconstruction (1865-1877), 19 years of Black Codes, KKK and White Citizens Council violence (1877-1896), 58 years of legal apartheid with nearly 5,000 African-Americans lynched and, even since the 1954 Brown decision, ongoing racial discrimination. During the recent midterm elections, I was constantly asked whether African-Americans would vote in high enough numbers and margins for Democrats so that candidates White and Black had a chance to be elected. Democrats seem almost satisfied if 20 to 30 percent of Whites turn out to vote for Black or progressive White candidates. What responsibility do White people have to register and turnout for progressive Black and White Democrats running for office? The nation is facing many morally relevant social, economic and political crises ‒ voter suppression, income and wealth inequality, criminal justice reform

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: DONALD TRUMP AND CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS

RICK MCKEE, THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE, GA

No departure This approach is not in any way a departure from the BushObama “African Growth and Opportunity Act,” which made similar claims and focused on extractive trade policies to exploit African natural resources It served as the basis of continued conflict over those resources in nations like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where more than six million Africans have died in resource-based conflicts. Bolton’s claim that it is Russia and China that “stunt economic growth in Africa,” and “threaten financial independence of African nations,” represents another example of either cynicism or the psychopathology of the White supremacist colonialist mind that renders it unable to cognitively apprehend objective reality. Therefore, Bolton’s speech and Trump administration policy was not so much a new strategy. It is a cruder reaffirmation of a political stance on Africa that has always put U.S. interests first, absent the flowery language and liberal pretentions of Obama’s Cairo speech earlier in his administration. From Obama’s “exceptional nation” to Trump’s “Make American Great Again,” it has always been about putting the interest of U.S. imperialism first. The people of Africa must not allow the African continent to be drawn into competing blocs during the last death throes of a dying neoliberal capitalist world system. We say to Bolton, Trump and the neoliberal democrats – U.S. out of Africa, shut down AFRICOM, Africa for Africans at home and abroad! Our radical imaginations can conceive of a world in which the choice is beyond the wolf and

and climate change ‒ that now pose an existential threat to the next generation. Why does the White church remain so silent in the face of these mounting crises and denial of justice and opportunity? In Birmingham in 1963, with dogs biting children, high-pressure fire hoses knocking down peaceful protesters, bombers blowing up churches and Dr. King in jail, many White church leaders chose to attack Dr. King’s nonviolent methodology rather than to fight for a non-discriminatory Public Accommodations Act. One would have thought when the four little girls were bombed in the 16th Street Baptist Church, White churches would have at least held prayer services or services of reconciliation. Instead, most attacked Dr. King as an outside agitator, as if he had set the bombs.

New and old South Recently in Alabama, I witnessed a stark contrast. One extreme was the excitement in anticipation of the Georgia/Alabama SEC championship football game. When a young African-American athlete, Jalen Hurts, replaced an injured Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback, ev-

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

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the fox. We are on the side of the majority of the world that is suffering the structural violence of global neoliberal capitalist/imperialist system.

Here’s our choice But Africans in the U.S. must make a choice. Malcolm said you cannot sit at the table and not have any food in front of you and call yourself a diner. Africans in the U.S. have been sitting at the table of U.S. citizenship and calling themselves “Americans” while our people are murdered, confined to cages in prisons, die giving birth to our children, die disproportionately before the age of five, live in poverty, are disrespected and dehumanized. A choice must be made. Do you throw in with this dying system, or do you align with the working class and oppressed peoples of the world? The people of the global South are clear. They can make intelligent distinctions between friends and enemies, between their national interests and the national interests of other nations and where those interest might converge, if only temporarily. The U.S. and Europe have nothing to offer for the new world that must be built. In fact, when Europe and the U.S. are reduced in power and influence globally, it will be one of the most important events for collective humanity in the last 1,000 years.

Ajamu Baraka is the national organizer of the Black Alliance for Peace and was the 2016 candidate for vice president on the Green Party ticket. Contact him at www. AjamuBaraka.com.

ery Alabamian of every political persuasion, right, left and center, was pulling for him. With Hurts’ remarkable display of skill, Alabama won the game. He not only won the game, he arguably beat George Wallace and the legislators who earlier locked Blacks out of the University of Alabama. He beat Bull Connor, who unleashed the dogs on demonstrators and the KKK on Freedom Riders. He beat the KKK bombers who watched as the church was decimated and four little girls were murdered. The other extreme was witnessed in Hoover, Ala., where E.J. Bradford was shot in the back by a policeman who is still on the payroll. The patterns and prejudices of the old South are hard to overcome. Once more, the White church has the opportunity and the responsibility to stand up, to serve as a Christian witness. White voices of moral authority and inclusive leadership are needed now as much or more than ever. That is why the silence seems so deafening.

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is president and CEO of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC, P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, publishes the Florida Courier on Fridays. Phone: 877-352-4455, toll-free. For all sales inquiries, call 877-352-4455; e-mail sales@flcourier.com. Subscriptions to the print version are $69 per year. Mail check to P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, or log on to www.flcourier.com; click on ‘Subscribe’.

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DECEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 27, 2018

Hillary 2020 is Malcolm X’s ‘American nightmare’ on steroids Black revolutionary Malcolm X famously said that Black America didn’t experience an “American Dream,” only an American nightmare. The so-called American Dream continues to be a nightmare. U.S. imperialism has successfully held Black America in political captivity in the Democratic Party, despite the self-proclaimed “lesser evil” party having played a vital role in every ill that befalls Black people.

Active partners Democratic administrations have been the architects of the mass incarceration regime in the United States, partners in the world incineration regime known as the U.S. military state, and active participants in the theft of nearly every dollar of Black wealth that existed prior to 1983. Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Party’s top sponsor of the American nightmare for Black Americans and she is once again making headlines in an apparent attempt to assert herself in the upcoming presidential election of 2020. It may only be 2018, but the divided and increasingly unpopular Democratic Party has been testing the presidential waters since Clinton lost in 2016. For Black America and all of humanity’s exploited and downtrodden, Clinton’s reemergence is a dangerous reminder of who she really is: a “too big to fail” parasite of finance capital and the war machine. In an interview with The Guardian, Clinton remarked that Europe must “get a handle” on its immigration problem to stop the march of the far right. What Clinton meant was that Europe should further militarize its immigration policy to appease racist Europeans.

Not the full story She didn’t mention, of course, that European imperialism, under U.S. leadership, is the real culprit in the refugee crisis. To do so would be an admission of guilt, as

DANNY HAIPHONG BLACK AGENDA REPORT

few others are more responsible for the massive displacement of peoples that has occurred worldwide since 2011 than Hillary Clinton. It is no secret that the U.S.-NATO invasion of Libya engineered the largest refugee crisis in human history. However, few in the United States remember Clinton cackling to the corporate press, “We came, we saw, he died,” after U.S.backed jihadists ruthlessly assassinated Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. What came after the destruction of Libya was anything but laughable. The Obama and Clinton-led U.S.-NATO-Zionist and Gulf States alliance quickly moved on to Syria and, as the Black Alliance for Peace explains, expanded their reign of terror in Africa by way of the U.S. African Command (AFRICOM). Millions of Syrians and Northern Africans from nations such as Mali have been displaced by jihadists armed with imperial military gear and a mission to sow political and economic chaos.

Slave trade As Black Agenda Report Editor Glen Ford stated in 2016, Turkey and Europe have been trafficking humans on a scale not seen since the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Still, Clinton stated that she wanted to gift the planet with more refugees in the 2016 election. Clinton called for a nofly zone in Syria, a code word for a massive bombing campaign that would surely have led to a military confrontation with Russia. Clinton’s comments are indicative of sheer ruling class arrogance and reveal the extent to which she will expand her big, nasty tent of ruling class “deplorables” to achieve political ends.

Trump’s Power Africa Initiative, part 1 Finally, we have a White House that has decided to call out China for the sleazy things it does while doing business in Africa. To the Chinese government, the African continent is a whore to be abused and pimped at every opportunity. You can travel to any nation within Africa and there will be one thing that is constant. China trading interests and influence is there at every airport, many construction projects, railways, dams and various other infrastructure projects.

Simple plan Their practices are plain and simple: “Rape, hustle, steal, swindle, corrupt at every opportunity that is presented.” Theirs is to take from Africa – not improve or advance it. If challenged – sling cash, be arrogant and keep on trucking. No one is going to stop them. It is a living nightmare. The more we complain and scream, the more we are ignored. What we heard during a conference call from the White House last week was simply sweet music

HARRY C. ALFORD GUEST COLUMNIST

Africa is our motherland. If we don’t get in there and call out these atrocities, who will? God is on our side, so let’s get busy. to our ears. A new, fresh policy towards the African continent is being implemented. America is going to set the example of how to do business via good, honest policy and strict standards. We are going to call out China and show the African gov-

Migrants prove ain’t no wall high enough No doubt you recall President Trump talking tough about stopping anyone from that migrant caravan from ever setting foot on U.S. soil. He even made a show of ordering the military to reinforce border guards, telegraphing his intent to keep them out by any means necessary: Well, like so many of his presidential initiatives, this one makes about as much sense as thinking a clenched fist can stop quicksilver from trickling out. Which explains this from the Associated Press on December 10: A steady trickle of Central American migrants has been finding ways to climb over, tunnel under or slip through the U.S.

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

border wall to plant their feet on U.S. soil and ask for asylum. In twos or threes ‒ occasionally by the dozen ‒ they arrive at the border wall and manage to get over. Often within minutes, border officers quickly arrive to escort them to detention centers and begin “credible fear” interviews.

EDITORIAL

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: FUNDING DONALD TRUMP’S ‘WALL’

The plight of refugees has no seat under this tent. But the far-right does as long as it behaves in sync with the real ruling class ‒ the finance capitalist class ‒ of which Clinton is a VIP member. The United States has perfected the art of inducing short-term memory loss in most Americans with regard to history and politics. Thus, it was forgotten that while Clinton may have lost the 2016 elections, she certainly did not lose her influence over the political direction of the imperialist system.

Will she try again? The American nightmare has continued for most Black Americans and workers generally, half of whom cannot afford an emergency fund of $500. With the 2020 election fiasco fast emerging, one has to wonder if Clinton hopes to try once again to win the highest seat from which to spread the American nightmare far and wide. There are some rumblings from Clinton’s former aid Mark Penn that a third run at the presidency may be in the cards. Clinton has already announced that she “would like to be president” and continues to shed her racist and imperialist wisdom on issues such as immigration and the death of Washington Post “journalist” Jamal Khashoggi. Some corporate outlets such as CNN would rather try their hand with a new neoliberal imperialist face such as Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, or Beto O’Rourke, the rich White boy wonder of Wall Street. O’Rourke has been called the “White Obama” by the 44th president’s former lackies.

Same agenda Clinton’s embarrassing defeat to Trump did not cause the ruling elites to disinvest from the Clinton machine. Clinton will have a hand in the 2020 election. Harris and Warren are ready to carry on her blood-soaked, finance capitalist agenda. The nomination of charter

ernments how good and productive honest business is. Africa – three times the population of North America and the richest natural resources land on earth – is overdue to take its natural place in the world. Believe it or not, President Trump has the vision, courage and confidence to make this happen. Brothers and sisters, the time has finally come.

On Ghanaian example We need to show you a few examples of what we are talking about. First, let’s go to Ghana and reflect on a major China disaster. President George W. Bush set up a program to reward African nations that displayed good governance. The reward was known as the Millennium Challenge Account. One of the first winners was Ghana under the leadership of President John Kufuor. Ghana was awarded $800 million for an infrastructure project. They proposed to build a new national highway system for the nation. It was approved, and the George W. Bush Highway was funded. Guess who got the contract to build it? It was China! Our program, our idea, our funding – and it went to Chinese interests. That was the beginning. Chinese firms entered the nation to build the highway. They hired Chinese engineering firms

Trump’s words help And, once in, even Trump knows most of them will be able to prove “credible fear” ‒ even using his words to do so. After all, nobody has spoken more apocalyptically about the gang and narco-violence that plagues most of Central America. For these migrants, it would seem like a sanctuary to settle in the worst parts of America’s most violent cities. Meanwhile, there was a red elephant in the Oval Office last week during an “Apprentice”-style meeting between Trump, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. That “Dumbo” was the failure of any of them to mention Trump’s most notorious campaign promise to not just build a wall to keep migrants out, but get Mexico to pay for it. This, despite their 17-minute bickering

DAVE GRANLUND, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

school sugar daddy and servant of finance capital Hakeem Jefferies to the Democratic caucus seat is a stark indication that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Clinton-wing of the party has no intentions of supporting even the mildest social democratic agenda like that put out recently by Bernie Sanders. Trump’s rule has been another chapter in Malcolm’s American nightmare, but not because Trump is a special case. His administration has been consistent in the escalation of imperialist wars by dropping more bombs on Afghanistan in one year than any other president prior. He has cut taxes for the rich and continued the bipartisan consensus of criminalizing immigrants. However, the ruling class will stop at nothing to paint him as a “Russian” regardless of how much his administration has increased sanctions against Russia and built America’s military presence along the Russian border. That’s because the ruling class is not satisfied until the entire planet is swallowed by capital and every vestige of social solidarity and protection is stripped from the people. Hillary Clinton and her wing of the Democratic Party are experienced in ravaging the planet and the people, especially Black people. Trump is occupying the

replete with their own subcontractors. The laborers were basically Chinese and apparently were prison inmates working off their sentences. As these foreign convicts would finish their sentences they would be let go right there in the outback of Ghana. Not being able to return to their homeland, they would blend into the “bush” and live near rural villages, pillaging the local population.

Steal the resources The Chinese construction companies would choose some of the roughest land to build the highway. When the path would go in front of a mountain, rather than go around the mountain, they would dig right through it. Why? The scheme was simple. Ghana’s land is full of rich precious minerals. Colonial traders nicknamed the country “The Gold Coast.” It was a big scheme to plunder the soil for its minerals; process them along the highways; load them on 747 tankers, and fly them to China for processing. China has a monopoly on the world’s richest minerals and this is how that happens – the pillaging of Africa. The highway was finally completed, but it came at great expense via the loss of precious metals and the social costs of having Chinese convicts settle in rural ar-

highest seat inside of Malcolm’s American nightmare on steroids, and he isn’t doing it to the liking of the most influential section of the ruling class in Wall Street and the Pentagon.

Blacks have led Malcolm’s American nightmare, then, cannot be transformed in a “resistance” against Trump. The people must be in motion against the entire ruling class and system. Black America has historically led whatever real resistance has arisen to the American nightmare. And the Democratic Party is the biggest obstacle in the way of ending the nightmare because it keeps Black America in political captivity. The Democratic Party needs the White Man’s Party to keep poor Black Americans and the entire working class chained to the Democratic arm of the imperialist system. Those chains must be broken, as Malcolm X said, “by any means necessary.”

Danny Haiphong has been involved in anti-war and anti-imperialist organizing and journalism since 2010. He is currently a graduate student in social work and lives in New York City. Contact him at wakeupriseup1990@gmail.com.

eas building “bootleg” gold mines by squatting on various properties and preying on the rural populations of the nation (rape was a common occurrence). This isn’t some novel we read in a book. It really happened, and we have pictures and news articles to prove it. If this happened in Ghana, imagine what goes on in the Congo, Uganda and other less developed nations around the continent. China is pimping Africa in ways that resemble Armageddon.

We must lead We, America, must begin to check such activity if we want to be a true world leader. Therefore, we have high hopes for this new Power Africa Initiative. We can set the example of good governance and stand up to the international bully and exploiter known as the Republic of China. Africa is our motherland. If we don’t get in there and call out these atrocities, who will? God is on our side, so let’s get busy.

Harry C. Alford is the cofounder and president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC). Kay DeBow is the NBCC co-founder. Contact them via www.nationalbcc.org.

over funding for his wall, which Trump ensured was televised for all the world to see. For the record, The Washington Post reports that as of this week, Trump had reiterated this promise over 190 times since launching his presidential campaign.

that he’s now breaking his promise. But kudos to the new Mexican government for picking up their slack. It seized this farcical meeting to reiterate its now-famous insistence that “Mexico will NEVER pay” for any wall.

Said nothing

They will get here

Of course, it’s understandable that Trump never mentioned this. After all, he’s all about the bait and switch. In this case, despite that promise, he’s now trying to get U.S. taxpayers to pay. And he’s so accustomed to getting his way, he is even threatening to shut down the U.S. government to extort payment. What is not understandable is that neither Pelosi nor Schumer bothered to remind Trump that he promised millions of baying supporters that Mexico would pay; that they all believed him with religious conviction; and

In any event, here’s what I warned in “DACA: Ain’t No Wall High Enough to Keep ‘Them’ from Getting to U.S.,” posted on September 16, 2017: Ain’t no wall high enough Ain’t no desert dry enough Ain’t no river wide enough To keep them from getting to U.S.

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

TOJ A6

NATION

DECEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 27, 2018

Lawmakers pushing anti-lynching bill again There have been 200 failed attempts to make it a a federal crime. BY JAWEED KALEEM LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

It was nearly a century ago that Rep. Leonidas C. Dyer, a Republican from Missouri, introduced a bill to make lynching a federal crime. With vigilante slayings of African-Americans rampant, it promised to force the federal government to prosecute lynch mobs for murder. The bill wasn’t the first in Congress to target lynchings. Others had tried to stop the killings carried out largely against Blacks by angry Southern Whites who nearly always got away without punishment. (The first attempt, in 1900, by Rep. George H. White, a North Carolina Republican and the only Black person in Congress, was defeated in committee.) But Dyer’s legislation was the first to have a serious chance of becoming law when it passed in the House of Representatives and made it out of committee in the Senate.

4,475 documented Southern Democratic senators filibustered to block the bill in 1922, with one, Sen. Lee Slater Overman of North Carolina, saying that African-Americans did not want the law and “do not need it.” It was one of more than 200 failed attempts to make lynching a federal crime. Bill after bill failed, even as the killings continued. Tuskegee University researchers documented 4,475 lynchings that took place in the U.S. between 1882 and 1968. Most occurred in the South and targeted Black people, though Mexicans, Native Americans and some White people were also victims. “Southern White federal officeholders repeatedly blocked anti-lynching legislation over the decades of the early 20th century, asserting that a federal role in thwarting lynching would violate ‘state’s rights,’” said Michael Pfeifer, a history professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Lynchings, he said, “performed a terroristic function, in the sense that they were intended to intimidate and create fear” among African-Americans and other minorities.

Presidents’ stance Dyer, who served in Congress until 1933, made several more attempts to pass a law and repeatedly hit the same opposition from Democratic senators. Even people later known as civil rights champions were against outlawing lynching. When President Harry Truman pushed Congress to pass laws against lynching and segregation in interstate transportation in 1947, then-Rep. Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas — who as president signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — called out the president

BOB MILLER/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Veric Lang, 19, visits the National Memorial For Peace And Justice on April 26 in Montgomery, Alabama. The memorial is dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people and those terrorized by lynching and Jim Crow segregation in America. for a “farce and a sham — an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty.”

ginia, last year, as another reason to codify the nation’s stance on lynching.

Another attempt

‘One step closer’

Now, Congress may add one more anti-lynching attempt to its list of shortcomings. Bipartisan groups of lawmakers introduced bills in the House and Senate over the summer to make lynching a federal hate crime, with the Senate text calling lynching the “ultimate expression of racism” after Reconstruction. The proposed laws are largely symbolic, as modern-day lynchings are rare and unlikely to go without punishment. Lynchings declined dramatically after the Justice Department, which long ignored them as “local matters,” began prosecuting them in the 1940s, Pfeifer said.

The law would also put more federal resources toward tracking and prosecuting future lynchings. “Only by coming to terms with history can the United States effectively champion human rights abroad,” the Senate bill says. The bill, introduced by the chamber’s three Black senators — Democrats Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey and Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina — passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in October. The House bill was introduced by Rep. Bobby L. Rush, D-Ill., and referred to committee. “After more than a hundred years of failed efforts, we are now one step closer to finally making lynching a federal crime and putting an end to a long period of congressional inaction and indifference,” Booker said in an October statement. He said the law would “send a very clear signal that we as a nation will not tolerate bias-motivated violence in any form.”

Overdue apology Yet lawmakers behind the bills and supporters including the NAACP said a new law would go a long way in correcting past wrongdoing by Congress and setting the record straight on where the country stands on racist violence. They also said the law would amount to a long-overdue follow-up to an apology the Senate issued 13 years ago for failing to advance anti-lynching laws. The Senate bill cited the recent rise in hate incidents, such as that of White supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Vir-

Not urgent But with a new session of Congress set to convene in early January, neither bill has made it to a floor vote. The reasons vary. For one, more than 5,000 bills are introduced in Congress each year.

Most don’t make it out of committee, and only a few hundred become laws. A symbolic law with bipartisan support is unlikely to be prioritized in Congress because it doesn’t need a certain party to be in the majority to pass. And an anti-lynching law, political science and African-American history experts say, isn’t seen as urgent because the crimes are viewed as being from a long-ago era.

Renewed interest But interest in that history is changing through new historical exhibitions and educational efforts, he said. When it opened two years ago, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture highlighted the history of lynching and displayed the casket of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old killed in Mississippi in 1955. His mother’s decision to hold an open-casket funeral showing his disfigured face shone a galvanizing light on lynchings. This year, the Justice Department reopened its investigation into the killing.

Lynching memorial In April, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened in Montgomery, Alabama dedicated in part to “people terrorized by lynching.” The central feature of the memorial, which spreads over six acres of land on a hill overlooking the city, is a collection of 800

hanging 6-foot steel monuments for each county in the U.S. where a lynching took place. Last month, Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy HydeSmith’s campaign was nearly derailed when a video emerged of her saying she would sit in the front row of a “public hanging” if invited by a supporter. The senator went on the defensive when critics said the remark invoked the state’s history of lynchings.

2016 reports There have also been reports of what have been described as attempted lynchings. In 2016, the family of a 12-yearold Black girl in Waco, Texas, accused a private school of negligence for not stopping bullying that a lawsuit said led to White students dragging the student after tying a rope around her neck. Last month, a jury ordered the school to pay $68,000 in damages. In 2016, four White students in Wiggins, Mississippi reportedly tied a noose around the neck of a Black football player in the locker room and pulled it. “No child should be walking down the hall or in a locker room and be accosted with a noose around their neck. This is 2016, not 1916,” Derrick Johnson, then the Mississippi State Conference NAACP president, said at the time. (Johnson became national NAACP president last year.)

Black males elected to leadership roles in Congress BY FREDERICK H. LOWE TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

For the first time, two African Americans will hold two top leadership positions at the same time in Congress, U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, recently announced. U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, was elected chair of Rep. Hakeem the Democratic Caucus, and AsJeffries sistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, was elected majority whip, the third most-powerful party member. Clyburn also is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “When the Congressional Black Caucus was founded in 1971, I know our 13 founding members dreamed of the day we would have more than one mem-

ber in our ranks competing for top leadership positions in Congress. Today is that day, and I know they are proud,” Richmond said.

Roles, goals The majority whip is a member of the dominant political party whose job is to keep voting members in line with the party’s ideology and goals. The majority whip ensures attendance at all important votes and legislative sessions. The 78-year-old Clyburn, who represents South Carolina’s 6th District, has been a member of Congress since 1993. Clyburn, also was majority whip from 2007 to 2011. The chair of the Democratic Caucus makes sure party members achieve a consensus and achieve their goals. The 48-yearold Jefferies has been a member of Congress since 2013. He represents the 8th Congressional District, which includes Brooklyn and Queens, New York.

ALLISON SHELLEY/MCCLATCHY/TNS

U.S. Rep. James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) has been elected majority whip, a position he also held from 2007 to 2011.

IFE/FAITH

Best films of 2018 See page B3

DEC. 21 – DEC. 27, 2018

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

Tips to combat cold and flu season See page B6

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

SECTION

PGA OF AMERICA

LOOKING TO DIVERSIFY

KIM GIBSON/FLORIDA COURIER

African-American golfers enjoy a round during the Elisha J. Strapp Golf Scholarship Tournament held annually in Daytona Beach.

The golf organization, that’s 91 percent White and nearly 96 percent male, is moving its headquarters from Florida to Texas. BY KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS DALLAS MORNING NEWS/TNS

There’s a catch in her voice when North Texas golf instructor Gladys Lee talks about trying to find a teaching position at local country clubs, beginning in the 1980s. After getting her Class A teaching credentials from the LPGA in 2012, Lee applied for work at eight local clubs. Actually, it was nine. No, 10. Nothing happened. “They would say they didn’t need help,” she said. “You would go back later and see new people. “I love golf with a passion,” she said, the emotion coming through in her voice. “But it’s hard when it comes to making a living in it … as a minority. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to make a living when it comes to us.”

Moving to Frisco The PGA of America, which announced this month that it was moving to Frisco, Texas says it wants to “look more like the nation” — meaning more diverse. Yet nearly six decades after the group removed the “Caucasianonly” clause from its bylaws, its membership remains stubbornly monochromatic. It’s 91 percent White and nearly 96 percent male. In North Texas, the group will continue its efforts to boost diversity — in its ranks, among its suppliers and across the sport. Golf experts see it as a matter of self-preservation. “With all the reports of a browning, so to speak, and females in America, I don’t know why any industry would not want to align itself with that changing face of the nation,” said Michael Cooper, chairman of a diversity task force launched by the World Golf Foundation, which promotes golf. “For any industry that’s trying to stay productive and … to be frank, make Michael money, why Cooper would you not want to avail yourself of that same changing demographic of America? It doesn’t make sense economically.”

29,000 members Founded in 1916, the PGA of America is one of the largest golf organizations in the nation. Its 29,000 members and those seeking membership are largely pro-

TOM FOX/DALLAS MORNING NEWS/TNS

Golf professional Gladys Lee, right, is pictured with her golf student, Dr. Sheron Patterson, at The Golf Club of Dallas. fessionals who make their living from the sport, from instructors and coaches to administrators and course managers. It is separate from the PGA Tour, a membership group of professional golfers that puts on more than 120 official tournaments. PGA of America officials tick off a list of recent diversity-related accomplishments, beginning with the election last month of the group’s first woman president — Suzy Whaley, who owns Suzy Whaley Golf in Cromwell, Conn., and is the PGA director of instruction at the Country Club of Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. “I would tell you,” she told The Dallas Morning News when asked to describe the makeup of her group, “it’s heavily and predominantly currently White male.”

More women As chair of the PGA’s board of directors, Whaley will help oversee the organization’s strategy for the next two years and help chart the future of the sport. “Our goal in diversity and inclusion is really to evolve the game, to evolve our workforce and to really evolve our supply chains to mirror our community,” she said. “Certainly we have put programming in place over the course of the last 10 years to grow the base that we have.” Some of the PGA’s efforts involve attracting more women.

PGA.COM

The PGA of America headquarters is moving from its Florida location in Palm Beach Gardens to Frisco, Texas. The agreement that will bring the association’s headquarters to North Texas in 2022 calls for two PGA Championships, two KPMG Women’s PGA Championships and potentially a Ryder Cup to be held in Frisco. The first women’s championship is set for 2025, three years after the scheduled opening of the 600-acre development that will include an Omni resort and a 127,000-square-foot conference center.

Junior league The group also has high hopes

for its PGA Jr. League, a program largely for players 13 and younger. This year, more than 50,000 boys and girls, a record, participated on 4,200 PGA Jr. League teams. At least 15 percent come from diverse backgrounds, and about 25 percent were young girls, the association said. “Those numbers aren’t where we would like them to be,” Whaley said. “We certainly want (female participation) to be at least 50 percent. We’re excited about the growth of PGA Jr. League. “And we’re thrilled to bring

that to the Dallas area and the surrounding areas.”Encouraging stats Whaley’s stats mirrored figures from the National Golf Foundation, a separate organization from the World Golf Foundation that does research and reports on the health of the industry. Of those who played on a golf course for the first time in 2017, about 33 percent were women, according to the national foundation. That’s higher than the 24 percent of current golfers overall who are female. See PGA, Page B2

“Golf has created a number of initiatives to bring more diversity and inclusion to the game and recently to the industry itself, and it still is not reflective of the demographic in America. We’re seeing some progress, but it still does not match.” Michael Cooper, chairman, World Golf Foundation diversity task force

EVENTS & OBITUARY

DECEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 27, 2018

STOJ

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

TONY! TONI! TONE!

The group performs Jan. 18 at the Miramar Cultural Center.

Tops perform Jan. 31 at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center.

Hollywood: Diana Ross is scheduled Jan. 6 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood and Jan. 8 at Barbara B. Man Performing Arts hall in Fort Myers. Daytona Beach: The legendary Johnny Mathis performs Jan. 31 at The Peabody.

TONI BRAXTON

Orlando: “Respect,’’ a tribute to Aretha Franklin, is 7 p.m. Dec. 21 at the House of Blues Orlando.

Toni Braxton and SWV make a stop at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on Jan. 29.

THE ROOTS

Tampa: The WWE’s Live Holiday Tour will be at Amalie Arena on Dec. 30. Start time: 7:30 p.m. Miramar: Gospel singer Marvin Sapp performs Jan. 25 at the Miramar Cultural Center.

Catch the band on Dec. 30 at the Jackie Gleason Theater.

Fort Lauderdale: Gladys Knight will be in concert Jan. 24 at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center. Hollywood: Smokey Robinson is scheduled Jan. 25 at The Event Center at Hard Rock Live. Fort Lauderdale: The Temptations and The Four

Pembroke Pines: A Christmas Fiesta is Dec. 24 at Café Iguanas featuring Kai, Harmonik and Rutshelle. Ticket info: 305-945-8814 Miami: George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker’’ continues through Dec. 24 at the Arsht Center. Details: www.arshtcenter.org Jacksonville: The music of Sam Cooke will be presented at the Ritz Theatre & Museum on Jan. 17: Showtime: 8 p.m. Tampa: The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival – Jan. 10-20 – will include performances by Klymaxx, Midnight Star, Rick Braun and Richard Elliott. Details: TampaBlackHeritage.org Miami Gardens: Tickets are on sale now for the March 9-10 Jazz in the Gardens. The lineup includes Lionel Ritchie, Bobby Brown, Stephanie Mills and the O’Jays. Details: Jazzinthegardens.com Sunrise: Tickets are on sale now for “An Intimate Conversation with Michelle Obama’’ on May 10 at 8 p.m. at the BB&T Center.

‘Song stylist’ Nancy Wilson dies at age 81 FROM WIRE REPORTS

Nancy Wilson, the legendary jazz singer who called herself a “song stylist, died on Dec. 13 at age 81. She died peacefully at her home in Pioneertown, California after a long illness, according to her manager, Devra Hall Levy. An Ohio native, Wilson initially focused on R&B music but later excelled at jazz ballads and torch songs. She made her debut with her 1961’s single, “Guess Who I Saw Today.”

Won three Grammys Wilson’s biggest hit came in 1964 with “(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am,” which rose through the charts to the #11 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles and earned her a Grammy Award for best R&B recording. She would win two more Grammy Awards, in 2005 and 2007. In the 1990s, Wilson became the host of National Public Radio’s “Jazz Profiles,” a documen-

PGA

from B1 About 25 percent who play junior golf are non-White, up from 6 percent in 1995. People of color make up about 18 percent of all golfers. More than a third of junior golfers are girls, up from 17 percent in 1995. Beyond encouraging growth and diversity in its membership, the PGA is looking to broaden its supplier base and workforce.

Workforce ‘balanced’ Sandy Cross, who’s been senior director of diversity and inclusion with the PGA of America since 2014, says the organization’s 260-member workforce is “quite gender-balanced” and “very generationally balanced.” About 52 percent of the association’s employees are women, she said. “And 38 percent are millennials, 35 percent are GenXers, 27 percent are boomers.” Since 2013, the proportion of racial and ethnic minorities on the staff has grown from 11 percent to 19.5 percent. “And all of the figures I just shared have been trending upward,” Cross said. “Intentional steps that we have taken have allowed us to really grow those numbers in a positive direction. “Being in a market like DallasFort Worth, I think that can be unbelievable for us,” she added. “I think the multicultural population there … really gives us such an opportunity to further increase the diversity, all dimensions of diversity on our staff. So I find that very exciting.”

tary series featuring jazz legends and the music legacy. After a musical and acting career spanning more than six decades, she retired from live performances in 2011. She wanted “to spend all of her time with her family, especially her grandchildren,” according to her website.

Legend, Waters reflect Singer and songwriter John Legend called her a “magical performer.’’ “So sad to hear about the passing of the great Nancy Wilson. She was a magical performer. I’m so glad I was able to spend time with her and hear her beautiful voice in person,” he said via social media. “I am heartbroken by the passing of my beloved friend, the legendary Nancy Wilson. Nancy was a ‘song stylist’ without peer. Her unmatched mastery of numerous genres of music, including jazz, R&B, gospel, blues, soul and pop, has etched her name in history as one of the most ‘formidable’ vocalists of all time. U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of

PGA officials said it’s too soon to know how many of the Florida workers will become Texans, but they said they see the diversity of Frisco and North Texas as a plus. More than a third of Frisco’s residents are members of a racial or ethnic minority group. The median age is a hair over 35.

Rough patch Even as the PGA seeks to diversify its ranks, U.S. golf has hit a rough patch. The number of people who participated in golf in 2017 was just under 24 million. That was on par with the previous two years but down from the all-time peak of nearly 31 million golfers in 2003. The run-up to 2003 coincided with the growing popularity of golf phenom Tiger Woods, a burst of enthusiasm that waned as his fortunes flagged. Golf courses are closing, which officials in the $84 billion industry describe as the correction of an oversupply. And off-course attractions such as Dallas-based Topgolf, in which players score points by hitting balls at targets, are luring increasing numbers of millennials.

Off-course attraction Off-course golf grew from 5.4 million participants in 2014 to 8.3 million in 2017, while on-course golf was relatively flat, according to a report from the National Golf Foundation. Darrell Crall, the PGA’s chief operating officer, allowed that the number of golf rounds played has been flat. He hopes enthusiasm about the new headquarters, with its “state-of-the-art education cen-

California, also reflected on her friend’s passing. “I am heartbroken by the passing of my beloved friend, the legendary Nancy Wilson. Nancy was a ‘song stylist’ without peer. Her unmatched mastery of numerous genres of music, including jazz, R&B, gospel, blues, soul and pop, has etched her name in history as one of the most ‘formidable’ vocalists of all time,’’ Waters stated.

Pioneer, trailblazer “Nancy is also a pioneer and trailblazer for women and entertainers of color. She hosted the National Public Radio program ‘Jazz Profiles’ for nearly a decade, won an Emmy for her starring role in NBC’s ‘The Nancy Wilson Show’, and served as one of the first African American spokeswomen for major national brands, including Campbell’s Soup,’ Waters continued. “Due to her brilliant talent, poise, and grace, Nancy was the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions including, three Grammy Awards, an NAACP

ter,” will help.

Golfing hurdles Golf expert James “JJ” Keegan sees lots of reasons golf has been slower to catch on with women and minorities. Hurdles include perceived costs, especially for the equipment, the time it takes to play 18 holes and access to courses in urban markets. “The older population continues to play significantly, but … the millennials have abandoned the game in large part,” Keegan said. “In the early ‘90s, the percent of participation between the ages of 21 and 42 was roughly on average 13 percent,” Keegan said. “Today, for that same group from 21 to 42, the participation rate is about 8 percent.”

Expensive sport Each of the major golf associations has been trying to push for more diversity, Keegan said. “For the past two decades, with the emergence of Tiger Woods, (they were) hoping that would be the catalyst for diversification within the sport,” he added. “But it has not occurred.” Why not? “It’s expensive, it’s difficult (to master) and it takes time.” A moving van will change none of that, he said. Cooper, the World Golf Foundation diversity task force chair, who began playing golf on the South Side of Chicago as a child, said there remains a perception about the reception awaiting some golfers. “Golf has created a number of initiatives to bring more diversity and inclusion to the game and re-

Nancy Wilson’s biggest hit came in 1964 with “(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am,” which rose through the charts to the #11 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles and earned her a Grammy Award for best R&B recording. Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Urban League’s Whitney Young Jr. Award. She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was recognized by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. In 2004, Nancy also received the coveted National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Fellowships Award, which is the highest honor granted to jazz musicians by the U.S. government.

My thoughts and prayers are with her three children, Kacy, Samantha, and Sheryl, five grandchildren, relatives and friends during this difficult time,” Waters added. Due to Wilson’s wishes, there will be no funeral service. Her family will hold a celebration of her life, most likely in February, the month of her birth.

cently to the industry itself, and it still is not reflective of the demographic in America,” said Cooper, 62. “We’re seeing some progress, but it still does not match.”

She focuses on teaching youth and attracting newcomers like Sheron Patterson, a Methodist minister and breast cancer survivor. She says she’s happy the PGA of America decided to move to North Texas. “I feel great about them coming,” Lee said. “I just hope there will be opportunity across the board. I want to see more diversity in the opportunities for women and people of color, for sure.” Cross, the PGA’s diversity officer, concedes that the group’s membership, the largest workforce in golf, is “not reflecting the demographic of America that we aspire to reflect.”

Cultural barriers The game “has some cultural barriers, in my opinion,” he added. “And I’m speaking now as Mike Cooper, African-American adult male. I think that there’s still some cultural barriers that exist, like is it welcoming?” Cooper says the PGA has to overcome its past. From 1934 to 1961, the PGA’s “Caucasian-only clause” was a part of the association’s bylaws and prevented non-Whites from membership, the association says on its website. The clause was removed at the 1961 PGA annual meeting, after a persistent campaign by Black golfer Charlie Sifford. “I think it has some lingering effect,” Cooper said. “Yes, I believe so.” Today, he said, the dearth of golf pros of color also adds to some golfers’ wariness. “You go to golf facilities and you don’t see a lot of brown faces in the business of golf. And so you wonder, is this something that I should partake in? I think that it’s relevant to see … people who look like you when you go to spend your money.”

Breaking in Without an official staff position at a club, Lee did not qualify to become an associate, which can lead to PGA membership. Instead, she worked out a deal with the Golf Club of Dallas in southern Dallas to offer lessons there.

An article on EURWEB.com was used in this report.

Important to ‘evolve’ Hastening that evolution, she said, is key. “We know that if we want to grow participation in the sport that we have to evolve that workforce, meaning the membership,” she said. “We have to evolve the composition of that workforce if we’re going to attract America’s diverse consumer base. So the whole idea (is) ‘If you can see it, you can be it.’ It’s important.” For Cooper, the importance can be measured in dollars and cents. “Think of all the opportunities that the industry has by becoming more diverse,” he said. “I mean, you look at the upside — if it did match the demographic of America, it would be an incredible transformation from an $80 billion industry to who knows what it would be?”

STOJ

DECEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 27, 2018

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

B3 ism and the PSTD a Black man experiences as a result, this very grassroots indie captured that feeling the best. Set in gentrifying Oakland, California, the ambitious script by lead actors Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal chronicles a time and place when inner city Black neighborhoods are disappearing and the inhabitants are stressed—every day. Wonderful direction by Carlos López Estrada.

‘BlacKkKlansman’ Leave it to filmmaker Spike Lee to find the most hard to believe but true story about a Black cop (John David Washington) who infiltrates the KKK with the aid of a Jewish police officer (Adam Driver). The undercover brother even hoodwinks David Duke. A nervy and very informative look at the dimwits who joined the Klan and the brave policemen who thwarted their moves. Considering the times we live in, the 1970s subject matter has a very contemporary appeal. PHOTO COURTESY OF MARVEL STUDIOS AND WALT DISNEY PICTURES

Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan, left) demands ritual combat to challenge T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) for the throne of Wakanda.

‘Black Panther,’ ‘Blindspotting’ among best films of 2018 BY DWIGHT BROWN NNPA NEWS WIRE

In 2018, the stories told, talent on view, compelling characters, emotions expressed, and genres stretched were just amazing. It was more than enough to make viewers track films from the theaters to streaming services. Or vice versa. Check out the year in movies.

‘Ben Is Back’ The plague of drug addiction

YEAR IN REVIEW hits the tony suburbs and writer/director Peter Hedges takes his audience to the front door of a home that is bearing the brunt. Julia Roberts soars as the distraught mom trying to save the life of a duplicitous son, expertly played by Lucas Hedges. Courtney B. Vance co-stars in this compelling and cautionary family/drama.

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

‘Crazy Rich Asians’ This jolly film is the first Asian/ American movie to get a major release in 25 years. A stellar cast—Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh and Awkwafina—turn a rags-toriches love story into the best romantic comedy of 2018. Director Jon M. Chu with writers Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim turn a golden opportunity into solid gold entertainment.

‘The Favourite’

PHOTO BY ROBBY BAUMGARTNER

Rafael Casal (left) and Daveed Diggs take a breather in “Blindspotting.’’

‘Black Panther’ The late Stan Lee left behind a key to the future. That key was “Black Panther,’’ as envisioned by the very intuitive director/writer Ryan Coogler. The African nation of Wakanda became the world’s No. 1 tourist destination ($1.3B at the box office). It’s supermen (Chadwick Bose-

man, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya) and superwomen (Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright) were artfully displayed (cinematographer Rachel Morrison) as they embodied Black power and pride.

‘Blindspotting’ Of all the films that tackled rac-

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

Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year before and during the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions. On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors. Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years. Click on www.flcourier to see hundreds of pictures from previous Carnivals. Go to www. miamibrowardcarnival. com for more information on Carnival events in South Florida. CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

The stodgy English period genre gets whacked by this demented take on an 18th-century triad of deceitful women: Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and a very ambitious and cunning palace interloper Abigail (Emma Stone). Eccentric director Yorgos Lanthimos finally gets a project that can withstand his very demented style of direction. Evocative cinematography (Robbie Ryan) and production design (Fiona Crombie) paint an astonishing portrait of palace intrigue.

‘Green Book’ A very unlikely story, based on true events, features the best acting duo of the year. The brilliant scholarly actor Mahershala Ali plays a concert pianist who is driven around The South, in 1962, by a burly Italian chauffeur/bodyguard played hysterically by Viggo Mortensen. The most unlikely director in the world, Peter Farrelly (‘Dumb and Dumber’), tells the tale with a nod and a wink and peppers it with social and racial themes, real drama and historical facts. An organic crowd pleaser.

‘Night Comes On’ Kids separated from their parents and relegated to foster homes and institutions should have their stories told. New actor-turned-director Jordana Spiro uses a script she co-wrote with Angelica Nwandu as a basis for her poignant ode to troubled youth. Dominique Fishback plays the train wreck of an 18-year-old older sibling in the process of leading her 10-year-old sister (Tatum Marilyn Hall) down the wrong path. Vulnerable characters you have to love.

‘Private Life’ Every 10 years, writer/director Tamara Jenkins makes a feature film. It’s worth the wait. A neurotic couple, nearing middle age, tries to have a child. Previously, they were so caught up in their lives that by the time they decided to have offspring, they had to scramble and hope IVF would pay of. Tough challenge for them. Great laughs for the audience. Kathryn Hahn plays the fretful wife with anxious humor and Paul Giamatti is the put-upon husband. A sweet, delicious adult comedy.

‘A Quiet Place’ This is the absolute best use of sound effects ever devised for a horror film. A very innovative but scary take on a post-apocalypse world where demons’ attacks are instigated by the slightest sound. Ingeniously concepted by actor/writer/director John Krasinski who guides his wife Emily Blunt into the performance of her career as the protective mom.

Dwight Brown is the film critic for the NNPA News Wire.

FOOD

DECEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 27, 2018

STOJ

Holiday pairing perfection Festive flavors and seasonal sips FROM FAMILY FEATURES

The holidays are the perfect time to gather with friends and family to celebrate the season. Take the stress out of hosting by shopping at a store like ALDI for your holiday must-haves, including everything from food and wine to holiday decor and even gifts for

GINGERBREAD TRIFLE Recipe courtesy of the ALDI Test Kitchen Prep time: 20 minutes Yield: 12 servings 1 package (3.4 ounces) Baker’s Corner Vanilla Pudding 1 3/4 cups Specially Selected Premium Eggnog 1/2 teaspoon Stonemill Pumpkin Pie Spice 7 ounces Café Bistro Soft Gingerbread, crumbled, divided 1 1/4 cups Friendly Farms Whipped Topping, divided 1 cup Berryhill Apple Butter, divided

nearly anyone on your list, helping you to save time and money. Toast to the holidays with an impressive appetizer spread, paired with award-winning wines, with recipes like Cranberry Shrimp Ceviche Cups paired with the creamy and tropical taste of William Wright Chardonnay. Or whip up quick and easy Party Poppers made with dates, Brie cheese and bacon to mesh with the fruit, vanilla and spicy fall

notes of Peaks & Tides Cabernet Sauvignon. Blue Cheese and Walnut Mousse provides a savory finish when matched with La Rue Côtes de Provence Rosé and its hints of lavender, rosemary and thyme. Finally, add a little something sweet to your spread by pairing the refreshingly ripe Landshut Riesling with a festive Gingerbread Trifle. Find more holiday recipes and shopping solutions at ALDI.us.

BLUE CHEESE AND WALNUT MOUSSE Recipe courtesy of Chef Scott, ALDI Test Kitchen Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Yield: 10 servings 2 tablespoons Simply Nature 100% Pure Avocado Oil 3 large yellow onions, sliced 5 ounces Happy Farms Preferred Blue Cheese Crumbles 8 ounces Happy Farms Cream Cheese Stonemill Ground Black Pepper, to taste 1 cup Friendly Farms Heavy Whipping Cream 8 ounces Southern Grove Chopped Walnuts, divided

5 cucumbers, thinly sliced In large pan, heat oil and saute onions until brown and caramelized. In food processor, combine blue cheese crumbles and cream cheese. Process until smooth. Season with pepper, to taste. In medium bowl, using hand mixer, whisk cream until soft peaks form. Fold in cheese mixture and 4 ounces chopped walnuts. Top cucumber slices with mousse, caramelized onions and remaining chopped walnuts. Finish by grinding black pepper over top for garnish. Pair each serving with glass of La Rue Cotes de Provence Rosé. Tip: Mousse can also be served as a dip with baguette slices.

PARTY POPPERS Recipe courtesy of Chef Alyssa, ALDI Test Kitchen Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Yield: 36 poppers 8 ounces Southern Grove Pitted Dates 4 ounces Specially Selected Brie Cheese Round 6 ounces Southern Grove Slivered Almonds 1 1/2 pounds Specially Selected Thick Sliced Hickory Bacon 2 teaspoons Stonemill Ground Black Pepper

Heat oven to 375 F. Cut dates in half, lengthwise. Cut brie into bite-size pieces, about the size of peanuts. Place one piece of Brie and four almond pieces on each open date half. Place other half on top. Quarter bacon slices, wrap tightly around stuffed dates and secure with toothpicks. Sprinkle with pepper. Line baking sheet with foil and place wrapped dates on top. Bake 15 minutes, or until bacon is crispy. Serve warm. Pair each serving with glass of Peaks & Tides Cabernet Sauvignon.

2 teaspoons Stonemill Ground Cinnamon Whisk vanilla pudding mix and eggnog. Add pumpkin pie spice and beat 2 minutes. Chill in refrigerator 10 minutes. In large glass bowl, layer onethird of gingerbread cookies, one-third of pudding, one-third of whipped topping and 1/2 cup apple butter; repeat two more times. The third layer will end with whipped topping. Garnish with cinnamon. Chill in refrigerator 2 hours. Pair each serving with glass of Landshut Riesling.

CRANBERRY SHRIMP CEVICHE CUPS Recipe courtesy of Chef Kates, ALDI Test Kitchen Prep time: 20 minutes, plus 1 hour chill time Cook time: 3 minutes Yield: 16 ceviche cups 1 1/2 teaspoons Stonemill Iodized Salt, divided 16 ounces Specially Selected Black Tiger Shrimp, thawed 1 cup Southern Grove Dried Cranberries 1/2 red onion, roughly chopped 1/2 cup fresh parsley 1/2 jalapeno, roughly chopped 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup fresh lime juice 1/4 teaspoon Stonemill Crushed Red Pepper or Ground Black Pepper 1 teaspoon Stonemill Oregano 13 ounces Simply Nature Organic Tortilla Chips, for garnish 2 limes, cut into wedges, for garnish fresh cranberries, for garnish (optional) Bring medium pot of water to boil. Season with 1 teaspoon salt. Add shrimp and cook 3 minutes. Immediately plunge cooked shrimp into ice water bath. Peel shrimp and place in flat dish. In food processor, combine dried cranberries, red onion, parsley and jalapeno. Pulse until finely chopped. Add cranberry mixture to shrimp. Add lemon juice, lime juice, remaining salt, pepper and oregano. Stir to combine thoroughly. Refrigerate 1 hour. To assemble: Spoon ceviche (about 4-5 shrimp each) into small clear cups or glasses. Garnish with tortilla chips, lime wedges and fresh cranberries, if desired. Pair each serving with glass of William Wright Chardonnay.

STOJ

DECEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 27, 2018

FOOD

PHOTOS COURTESY OF J.B. FORBES/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/TNS

Give the gift of homemade food for the holidays BY DANIEL NEMAN ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/TNS

When you care enough to send the very best, you know that the very best is often homemade. A box of candy is a lovely gift, and so is a big tin of flavored popcorn. But they just don’t have that personal touch. To show your friends and loved ones that you care, make them a gift yourself. Homemade food gifts are always appreciated, and they can be simply wonderful. The Slow Cooker Dulce de Leche is literally nothing more than pouring canned sweetened condensed milk into jars, placing the jars in a slow cooker, adding water and turning on the heat. Admittedly, this one gift does take time until it is done, but you can be off doing other things while it is cooking at a slow and even temperature. It takes about 11 to 12 hours on low heat — you can make it overnight — but I made it on high heat in six hours. And what I had at the end was honest-to-goodness dulce de leche. If you’ve never had it before, maybe you should make a jar for yourself, too. It’s impossibly rich, impossibly creamy, impossibly delicious. The flavor is sort of like caramel, but it’s somehow better and more intense than caramel.

Iced tea with extra zing Almost as easy to make as the dulce de leche is Winter Orange Pomegranate Iced Tea. It’s the perfect gift for an iced tea lover like me. It’s iced tea with extra zing and a holiday flair. WINTER ORANGE POMEGRANATE ICED TEA Yield: 6 servings 3 cups water 1 navel orange, cut into 1/4-inch slices 1 cinnamon stick, broken 6 whole cloves 4 orange-flavored or black tea bags (decaffeinated is fine) 1 cup orange juice cup pomegranate juice 2 to 3 tablespoons granulated sugar In a medium saucepan, combine water, orange slices, cinnamon and cloves. Bring just to boiling; remove from heat. Add tea bags. Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and discard. Strain tea mixture through a fine-mesh strainer; discard orange slices and spices. In a glass pitcher, combine strained tea mixture, orange juice, pomegranate juice and sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours. Serve over ice with wedges of orange and lime. If giving as a tightly sealed gift, it will keep in the refrigerator for three days. Per serving: 73 calories; no fat; no saturated fat; no cholesterol; no protein; 18 g carbohydrate; 15 g sugar; 1 g fiber; 11 mg sodium; 36 mg calcium Recipe by Midwest Living

The hardest part of making this iced tea gift is finding the bottles to put it in. I bought some shaped like soft-drink bottles for $2 apiece, and even as I was paying for them I was thinking “I could just buy soft-drink bottles for $1 and actually have the soft drink.”

Popcorn and peanuts I also made a big batch of Caramel Crunch, because it’s so easy and who doesn’t like it? It is the familiar blend of popcorn and peanuts coated in caramel. The popcorn is easy; I used a microwave. But the caramel, which is usually tricky to make, is also easy. You just melt butter with granulated and brown sugars plus some corn syrup, bring it to a boil and add a dash of baking soda. Simple, but it becomes light and crispy and does a terrific job of coating the popcorn.

Snowflake snack Finally, I made something called Snowflake Mix, which is just a different form of Chex Mix. This one begins with Rice Chex and Corn Chex, plus pretzels and honey-roasted peanuts. You coat it all with melted white chocolate, and then comes the ingredient of true, unadulterated genius: mint-flavored M&Ms. It’s like eating a beautiful snowfall, wintry and cool and refreshing. It’s got crunch, it’s got peanuts, it’s got pretzels. It has everything your friends and loved ones will want in a snack.

SLOW COOKER DULCE DE LECHE Yield: 56 servings 2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk Divide the sweetened condensed milk among 4 (6-ounce) canning jars or 3 (8-ounce) jars. Secure lids. Place in a slow cooker, adding enough hot tap water to cover by 1 inch. Cook on low for 11 to 12 hours or high for 5 to 6 hours, or until thick and richly colored, like dark copper. To check doneness, use tongs to remove a jar. If the color looks good but you aren’t sure it’s

SNOWFLAKE MIX Yield: 16 servings 3 cups bite-size rice square cereal, such as Rice Chex 3 cups bite-size corn square cereal, such as Corn Chex 1 1/2 cups small pretzel twists, squares or sticks 1 cup honey-roasted peanuts 24 ounces white chocolate chips or baking pieces 9 ounces mint M&Ms In a very large bowl, combine rice cereal, corn cereal, pretzels and peanuts. Set aside. Lay out

thick, you can open a jar to check consistency; if necessary, secure lid again and return to cooker. When fully cooked, remove jars with tongs. Cool to room temperature; store in refrigerator for up to three weeks. The cooking process does not create a vacuum seal, so the jars must be stored in the refrigerator. Per serving: 61 calories; 2 g fat; 1 g saturated fat; 7 mg cholesterol; 2 g protein; 11 g carbohydrate; 11 g sugar; no fiber; 24 mg sodium; 54 mg calcium Slightly adapted from Midwest Living

a large piece of waxed paper or parchment. Melt white chocolate in a metal bowl over simmering water, stirring constantly. Pour melted chocolate over cereal mixture. Stir gently to coat. Spread on waxed paper and sprinkle with mint M&Ms. Allow to cool, and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or in the freezer for 1 month. Per serving: 457 calories; 21 g fat; 11 g saturated fat; 11 mg cholesterol; 6 g protein; 63 g carbohydrate; 38 g sugar; 2 g fiber; 384 mg sodium; 132 mg calcium Adapted from Midwest Living

CARAMEL CRUNCH Yield: 24 servings 2 bags of microwaved light popcorn 21/2 cups salted dry-roasted peanuts 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter — no substitutions 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup packed light brown sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/2 teaspoon baking soda Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Lightly grease 2 rimmed baking pans or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place popped corn in very large bowl, discarding unpopped kernels. Add peanuts, and toss to combine. In a 3-quart pan over medium heat, cook butter, sugar, brown sugar and corn syrup, stirring frequently with metal or heat-safe spatula, until butter melts and sugars dissolve; about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda (the mixture will bubble vigorously) and pour over popcorn mixture. Stir immediately and continue stirring until all popcorn is evenly coated. Divide popcorn mixture between prepared baking pans; spread evenly. Place pans on 2 oven racks. Bake 32 to 40 minutes, rotating pans between upper and lower racks halfway through baking, and stirring occasionally. Cool mixture completely in pans on wire racks, about 1 hour. Break apart any large clusters of popcorn when cool. Store in tightly sealed containers at room temperature up to two weeks. Per serving: 259 calories; 16 g fat; 6 g saturated fat; 20 mg cholesterol; 5 g protein; 27 g carbohydrate; 20 g sugar; 2 g fiber; 73 mg sodium; 23 mg calcium Slightly adapted from Good Housekeeping

HEALTH

DECEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 27, 2018

STOJ

PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

Combattng cold and flu season FROM FAMILY FEATURES

When temperatures drop, the risk for illness, such as colds and the flu, rises. Each year, millions of Americans suffer from symptoms ranging from coughing, sneezing and congestion to aches, fevers and vomiting that can leave them feeling less than 100 percent. While you may not be able to avoid illness entirely, you can take steps to protect yourself from the common cold and more serious bugs like the flu. This cold and flu season, keep essentials on-hand from thermometers that can help you diagnose a fever quickly to humidifiers and heated blankets that can potentially help shorten your recovery time. If cold or flu viruses happen to strike you or a family member this winter, it’s important to consult a medical professional with any healthrelated questions. Find more tips for fighting illness at eLivingToday.com.

Easy, Accurate Temperature Readings Many parents place speed, accuracy and ease-of-use at the top of their list when choosing the ideal thermometer. Consider the Vicks RapidRead Digital Thermometer, which consistently delivers a professionally accurate temperature reading in Fahrenheit or Celsius in only two seconds. To help interpret fever, the Precision InSight feature provides site-specific, color-coded guidance, since temperatures register differently between oral, rectal or underarm readings. Find more information at VicksThermometers.com.

A Warm, Comfortable Night’s Sleep Sleep is essential for letting your body recover, especially when you’re feeling under the weather. A heated blanket or mattress pad can provide natural pain relief and help to relax sore muscles, ease tension, promote blood flow and increase body temperature to help fight fevers that often accompany colds and the flu. Often washer- and dryer-safe, featuring variable temperature settings and available in a variety of sizes to fit nearly any bed, a heated blanket can help you get a good night’s sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

Combat Dry Winter Air

Reduce Airborne Germs

The cold, dry winter air is an ideal breeding ground for the flu virus. However, using a humidifier can add moisture to the air, help fight cold and flu symptoms and aid in preventing dryness and irritation in many body parts, such as skin, nose, throats and lips. Available with a multitude of tank sizes and features to fit nearly any room in your home, some humidifiers even offer smart functions, rotating mist nozzles, programmable timers and automatic shut-off when they run out of water.

As the flu virus can survive for up to 48 hours outside of the body, good personal hygiene can play an important role in preventing the spread of germs. One way to do so is by coughing or sneezing into facial tissues, which can help reduce the amount of germs released back into the air. There are even antibacterial, aloe vera and eucalyptus varieties available, which offer added cold and flu fighting benefits while helping prevent dry skin from the excess nose blowing that often accompanies illnesses.

Warm Up with a Hydrating Beverage Hydration is a key part of recovering from nearly any illness, and warm drinks like tea can help relieve a cough or sore throat by simulating salivation and secretions, which can help soothe and lubricate your throat. Having a high-quality tea pot on-hand that alerts you when your hot water is ready can ensure relief from a warm beverage is never more than a few minutes away.