Florida Courier, December 22, 2017

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A tribute to first Black astronaut See page B1

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DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

VOLUME 25 NO. 51

STILL IN RESISTANCE MODE The National Alumni Association of Bethune-Cookman University wins another key legal battle against B-CU as efforts to dump the school’s leadership continue.

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF

DAYTONA BEACH – For the second time, a Volusia County (Daytona Beach) state circuit court judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) and its board of trustees of violating its own rules when it terminated or refused to seat trustees designated by the university’s National Alumni Association (NAA).

Circuit Judge Christopher France’s Dec. 7 order denying B-CU to kill the alumni lawsuit was followed up days later by a demand in a Dec. 15 letter from another group of B-CU alums calling themselves the Concerned Constituents Committee for Bethune-Cookman University (CCC/B-CU) that B-CU’s top

leadership group, the Executive Committee of its Board of Trustees, resign “as soon as possible.”

According to the university’s website, the Executive Committee includes board chairman Dr. Joe Petrock; 1st Vice Chair Dr. Nelson L. Adams; 2nd Vice Chair Joyce Anne Hanks Moorehead; 3rd Vice Chair Bishop Kenneth H. Carter Jr; Secretary Joyce Odongo; Chaplain Rev. Annette Stiles Pendergrass; Parliamentarian John A. Rogers; Dr. J. F. Bryan IV; Dr. Linda F. Wells; Dr. Michelle Carter-Scott; Rev. Thom Shafer; and Rufus L. Wilson.

Lawsuit history This year, the Florida Courier provided front-page coverage of court actions filed against the university.

Both stemmed from the unwillingness of B-CU’s trustees and former university President Dr. Edison O. Jackson to adequately address questions and concerns plaguing a dormitorybuilding project that was originally set to cost $72 million, was built for $85 million and is now estimated to cost the university more than $300 million over 40 years – the time it will take for BCU to own the buildings.

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

B-CU alumni are calling for mass resignations of the school’s leadership as the impact of a dorm construction project costing hundreds of millions of dollars continues to reverberate.

Concerns from 2015 The dorm project began in earnest in 2013, but public questions were first raised in 2015.

Press reports questioned the hiring and sudden resignation of

then-Chief Financial Officer Emmanuel Gonsalves, who left his last two jobs under professional clouds.

The Florida Courier’s reporting also continued, and was highlighted by an October 2015 front-

page story detailing one trustee’s ultimatum demanding that the board bring in forensic auditors to probe the school’s finances for fraud and fiscal mismanagement See B-CU, Page A2

Housekeepers say, ‘#MeToo’

2017 CHRISTMAS SEASON

Joy for kids in Florida and Haiti

City considers panic button proposal

BY CHABELI HERRERA MIAMI HERALD / TNS

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY – Miami Beach, where the majority of Miami-Dade’s estimated 11,500 housekeepers and other hotel workers are employed, may soon be the nation’s next city to enact laws aimed at protecting hotel workers from assault or improper advances by hotel guests.

The move follows a national reckoning against sexual harassment that has exposed alleged offenders in politics, entertainment, and mainstream media.

The Miami Beach proposal is modeled after mandatory practices in other cities, including Chicago and Seattle, that arm staff with panic buttons in case there is an incident. The portable panic buttons would be connected to hotel security or management, allowing them to act quickly if a worker is harassed or assaulted.

The laws also create a framework for reporting incidents, including allowing workers to contact police, prohibiting hotels from firing workers who speak out and monitoring guests who act improperly toward staff.

Ordinance may come SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Chef Creole restaurants located in Miami-Dade County and Little Haiti Optimist Club Community Center served as drop-off locations for the eighth annual Little Haiti Optimist Club & Chef Creole Toy Drive.

Some of the toys collected were distributed to orphans and children living in Haiti.

Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez wants to see similar rules in Miami Beach. She says she will ask the city commission to refer discussion of a potential sexual harassment ordinance to the Neighborhood/Community See #METOO, Page A2

Harassment allegations doom Florida state senator

SNAPSHOTS CULTURE | B3

FROM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Fight against mugshot sites brings little success FLORIDA | A3

Where Irma claims stand NATION | A6

More than 37,000 Cubans in US face deportation

ALSO INSIDE

FOOD | B4

Christmas favorites around the world

TALLAHASSEE – While continuing to maintain his innocence, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, submitted his resignation Wednesday from the Senate after the release of a report finding probable cause that he had sexually harassed a Senate aide.

The special master’s report, released Tuesday, spurred leaders including Gov. Rick Scott to call for Latvala to resign. The report also said Latvala might have violated public corruption laws because of allegations that he told a lobbyist he would support legislation if she engaged in sexual acts.

Latvala said in a letter

Wednesday to Senate President Joe Negron that he has “maintained that the charges in the original complaint are fabrications and say that still today.”

The letter, posted online by the Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau, said the res- Sen. Jack ignation is effective Jan. 5, Latvala four days before the start of the 2018 legislative session.

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: HARRY C. ALFORD: GET READY FOR SERIOUS BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT | A5

A2

FOCUS

DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

Some holiday love for Black media icons It’s the December 2017 holiday season and around the time of year when I thank all of the readers and supporters of The Gantt Report, one of America’s most informative, provocative and controversial independent opinion columns.

Thank you!

But this year, it’s important for me to recognize, remember and thank several of the founders, mentors and icons of modern-day Black media and how they helped get The Gantt Report started.

Welcomed, supported When The Gantt Report came on the scene in Florida 37 years ago, Lucius Gantt was immediately welcomed and supported by the Sunshine State’s legendary Black media owners. My boys and girls – Ike, Marilyn, Levi, Cleve, Les, Eric, Beasley, Stucks, Lee, Gwen and others – gave me a platform to share my opinions that started in Florida and went worldwide!

I want TGR readers to know

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

that when The Gantt Report started, it was modeled after The Kiplinger Report and was a four-page newsletter.

Nearly 40 years ago, that fourpage newsletter about AfricanAmerican economics and politics had a cost of $50 for only 12 issues a year.

First subscriber My friend, Garth Reeves of The Miami Times, was the very first person to purchase a subscription. In a way, Garth Reeves started something that can’t be stopped. I love you, Garth. The honors and recognitions you are getting these days are well-deserved.

Garth started something. But the Collins family, publishers

of The Orlando Times; and the Cherry family, publishers of The Florida Courier and The Daytona Times; are the reason why The Gantt Report is available in some newspapers and on several Internet sites around the world today.

You see, it takes a lot of time, it takes study and it takes a lot of research to write The Gantt Report.

Others try to imitate TGR, but they can never duplicate the opinion column that once broke the record for Internet hits, the column that is the No. 1 column read in prisons and correctional facilities and the No. 1column written by a Black man read in the halls of local and state government. It’s the only column that has been endorsed by members of the Bush family and members of The Nation of Islam!

A lifesaver The Collins family and The Orlando Times have supported TGR pretty much from day one. Even more important than that, Dr. Collins probably saved my life.

Years ago after a media meeting in Orlando, I had breathing issues and Collins demanded that I be rushed to a hospital. There he treated me for severe hypertension and got my pressure down so I could live on to write more.

Thank you Dr. Collins, your wife, son and staff at the Times.

Mama Julia Cherry and her late husband Charles, Sr., said when they laid out their newspapers in the old days, The Gantt Report was always the first thing to go into the newspapers.

Over the last three or four decades, I have threatened to quit writing The Gantt Report for a variety of reasons.

Not appreciated I don’t think many of the children and family members that inherited the media companies from their iconic parents value strong, talented writers, hard-hitting editorials or responsible, dependable columnists that they and their readers can depend on to give them the truth about every subject or issue.

Well, if you like TGR, call Julia Cherry and thank her. Every time I’m ready to quit, Mrs. Cherry would ring my phone and say, “Lucius, you can’t quit!”

Charles Cherry, Sr., also known as “The Boss,” bailed me out more times than not in a lot of ways and I helped him whenever I could. I’ll never forget when Cherry nominated me to become president of the Southeast Black Publishers Association.

#METOO

DREAMSTIME

Hotel workers say sexual harassment is common in their workplaces. develop an ordinance requiring hotels to offer panic buttons; failing to do so would cause denial of the business tax receipt needed to operate.

Behind closed doors Wendi Walsh, secretary-treasurer of Unite Here Local 355, said she has “absolutely no doubt” that a survey of hotel workers in South Florida will yield results similar to those in Chicago.

B-CU from A1 – or he would file lawsuits against individual board members and request a state and federal criminal investigation.

Dismissed and amended Delancy’s lawsuit was dismissed on June 14 by Judge France, who gave him 30 days to correct and refile it. In the order, the judge wrote that the NAA was the proper party to bring the lawsuit.

The NAA subsequently joined the lawsuit, which was amended and refiled by Fort Lauderdale-based attorney Nathaniel E. Green, Jr. B-CU once again tried to get

Thanks to my readers and supporters and thanks to all of the publishers that value writers and columnists that can deliver, generate advertising, lobby government about your concerns, and inform your readers about topics they enjoy and are concerned about!

Have the happy holiday of your choice!

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.

‘Fig leaf’

Research to come

The first lawsuit was filed in February 2017 by Robert Delancy, chosen by the NAA as its appointee to the board.

The court action asserted that B-CU’s trustees refused to accept Delancy, a B-CU alumnus and a retired Internal Revenue Service special agent, allegedly in retaliation for his aggressive questions about the school’s finances and the dorm deal.

In a second lawsuit filed in March, former B-CU trustee A. Ray Brinson claimed he was terminated from the board in October 2016 without notice or warning, and in violation of B-CU’s bylaws that provide a formal process for removal of trustees.

Brinson, a Jacksonville resident, is a retired former insurance executive and a B-CU alumnus who served as NAA president for four years. Like Delancy, Brinson accused the university of retaliating against him for asking questions about the dorm deal.

Thank you again!

Walsh said the ordinance could alter what she calls a pervasive hotel practice of keeping incidents of sexual harassment quiet, with hotels often trying to solve them internally instead of seeking police involvement.

“A lot of time these (acts are committed by) regular guests or VIPs. The same guest comes back the next day or month or year,” Walsh said. “So it tells the housekeeper that their experience is less important than the guest.”

Affairs Committee, the first step in what could become an ordinance similar to one passed in Chicago in October.

For now, the Miami Beach ordinance would likely require hotels to provide employee panic buttons; develop, maintain and comply with a sexual harassment policy; and create an anti-retaliation provision that protects employees who report incidents of sexual harassment. The ordinance is still in the early stages of development, Rosen Gonzalez said in an interview.

Two lawsuits filed

Finally, TGR doesn’t get distributed every week to every media company anymore, because it primarily goes to newspapers and Internet sites that feel The Gantt Report has value. If editors and publishers don’t think readers read the column or that it’s not worth a tiny amount of money, they don’t get it on a regular basis.

I guarantee, however, as long as TGR is written, it will always appear in the Florida Courier and the Orlando Times. We look out for each other in every way!

Conspiracy of silence

from A1

“We have to find out what is the rate of sexual harassment and find out if this is necessary,” she said. “Once we have that survey research, we are going to move forward.”

There is no research in Miami Beach on the subject, but a survey by Unite Here Local 355, which represents about 200 housekeepers at the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach and a handful of other hotels in MiamiDade, is due for release before the ordinance is drafted.

If the survey finds a pervasive problem — and Rosen Gonzalez expects it will — she will move to

Limited distribution

A. Ray Brinson

Nathaniel E. Green, Jr.

Robert Delancy

Dr. Joe Petrock

“I had someone tell me a story just yesterday who is a server in a restaurant where the guest grabbed their hand in a public area and licked their hand and arm and did not get banned from the hotel. Housekeepers coming into a hotel room where a man is fully exposed is incredibly common.

And of course these housekeepers are knocking on the door, announcing themselves,” Walsh said. “(I’ve heard) things that are

far more serious where women are being sexually assaulted in the rooms.”

Earlier this year, Fontainebleau hotel housekeeper Gerdine Verssagne told the Miami Herald that when a naked male guest entered a room she was cleaning and she reported the incident, the hotel doubted her story, checking first to see whether she was supposed to be working at the time.

fide dispute between Plaintiff and Defendant and there is a bona fide need for a declaration of rights. Therefore, dismissal of the complaint is improper,” France ruled.

The NAA’s critical court victory sets the stage for Jackson, current interim president Hubert Grimes – who was also on the university’s legal defense team – Board Chairman Petrock, and others in the school’s leadership group to be questioned under penalty of possible perjury about the dormitory building project.

It will also force the university to produce documents long sought by critics, including construction contracts and financial statements that B-CU, a private university, has traditionally refused to make public.

After beating back B-CU’s efforts to dismiss his lawsuit, Brinson had the chance to demand to get documents and ask questions about the dorm deal, but he did not. Brinson settled his lawsuit with the university and will be reinstated to the board next year.

Jackson leaves

More alumni criticism Dr. Edison O. Jackson

Hubert Grimes

the lawsuit dumped. But France refused to dismiss it a second time.

Dismissal ‘improper’ “Upon oral argument on November 9th, 2017, the Plaintiff (NAA) was able to articulate a variety of conflicts within and interpretations of the bylaws that had previously escaped the court,” France’s order states. “…(T)here exists a dispute on the meaning of the bylaws…The court finds that there is a bona

In the midst of the two legal actions, a growing group of concerned alumni continued their years-long effort to persuade BCU’s trustees to fire Jackson after press reports in June painted a dismal picture of the school’s financial condition, including an approximately $18 million operating loss that was not publicly disclosed.

Jackson was also criticized for what many alumni considered to be a heavy-handed, clumsy political outreach to powerful Republican politicians – Gov. Rick Scott and US Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos – who had no history of supporting HBCUs, but were bestowed the university’s highest honors.

In July, Jackson retired after years of news reports in the Florida Courier and investigative journalism by the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Daytona Beach’s daily newspaper, as well as longterm alumni dissatisfaction with lack of operational and financial transparency.

Grimes was appointed interim president by B-CU’s trustees. But his appointment hasn’t calmed the waters at B-CU.

Alumni formalize concerns According to the CCC/B-CU letter signed by co-chairs Sumner Hutchinson of B-CU’s Class of 1972 and Sheila FlemingHunter of the Class of 1971, respectively, some 200 B-CU “constituents” met during the university’s October Homecoming week because of “concerns about the negative circumstances that surround the university.”

According to the letter, the organization’s goals are as follows: • to advocate for reform of BCU’s Board of Trustees; • to encourage financial transparency from the administration and board, including an independent forensic audit and publication of board meeting minutes; • to ensure an “inclusive process” in the upcoming search for a permanent university president to replace Grimes; • to appoint three alumni members of the NAA without being subject to evaluation by the board of trustees; • to allow NAA alumni trustees to advocate and represent the sentiment of the NAA body and membership to the full board.

‘Trajectory change’ The letter also takes hard shots at current board members. “…(I)t is our belief that the tra-

Nationally, the American Hotel and Lodging Association has opposed the panic button measure, calling it a “fig leaf” for other regulations unions want to push, like higher minimum wages and caps on workloads, according to documents acquired by HuffPost.

“The hotel and lodging industry has made and continues to make the safety of its employees and guests a top priority. We have incorporated safety standards on our properties, industry employees receive comprehensive and ongoing trainings, and AHLA has partnered with nationally recognized groups to develop tailored trainings. We will continue our focus on ensuring America’s hotels are secure places for those who work and visit,” American Hotel and Lodging Association spokeswoman Rosanna Maietta said in a statement.

jectory of B-CU needs to change and that the change should begin with you as members of the BOT (Board of Trustees). Given the track record of your leadership in the implementation of your roles and responsibilities that caused our beloved university to be in this precarious situation, reform of the BOT is urgent.

“Reform of the BOT means there should be some introspection by all the members of the BOT to determine what you did and/or did not do to allow the university to be so challenged in every aspect of what you are indeed responsible…The outcome of such introspection should lead to every board member taking responsibility for the questionable status of the university and make yourselves accountable. Accountability then should lead to reform, including change in the leadership of the board.

“We are therefore recommending that the leadership of the BOT, the Executive Committee, resign as soon as possible.

By doing so, you will demonstrate that you are taking responsibility for your lack of astute and professional oversight and holding yourselves accountable.

Without the change in the leadership, vis a vis the resignation of the Executive Committee, these same mistakes may occur in the future. This is unacceptable and unsustainable.”

No change coming When reached for comment, CCC/B-CU co-chair FlemmingHunter stood by the organization’s request for resignations.

“There is no evidence from the Board of Trustees that what they have done in the past will change.

So, if not now, when?” she asks.

B-CU did not respond to a request for comment by the Florida Courier’s press time late Wednesday night.

DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

FLORIDA

A3

Hurricane Irma insurance claims top $6.55 billion

BY JIM TURNER NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Estimat-

ed insured losses from Hurricane Irma have topped $6.55 billion, with the number of claims approaching 866,000, according to infor-

mation released Monday by the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

The latest report showed that 865,974 claims from

the September storm had been filed with insurance companies as of Dec. 15, with 719,512 involving residential properties.

While people have several years to file claims, the numbers indicate a slowing in reported damages, as numbers posted

by the state office on Dec. 4 showed 853,356 claims with estimated losses of $6.3 billion.

‘Waiting for this’ Lynne McChristian, spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, said Irma could have been “much worse” for homeowners and the industry.

“The insurance companies have been well-capitalized,” McChristian said.

“They have been waiting for this. There may be some claims that will continue to be filed, but insurance companies know that this is what happens when you are dealing with Florida’s hurricane risk.”

While figures are not available from individual private insurers, statebacked Citizens Property Insurance reported earlier this month that it had received 63,500 claims from Irma. Most were in MiamiDade, Broward and Monroe counties.

Citizens anticipated its number of Irma claims will grow to 70,000, with $1.2 billion in damages, over the next year.

Most in Miami

It takes a very special source of energy to wake up in the morning and want to make each day better. At FPL, we’re committed to doing our part. We’re using U.S.-produced natural gas and our state’s very own sunshine to help create a better tomorrow for all of us. See how at FPL.com.

Citizens President and CEO Barry Gilway also said that he expected the storm to increase Citizens’ policy count from “about 442,000 policies back up to 500,000” in the next year.

In the overall industry, Miami-Dade County has the largest number of Irma-related claims, with 114,078 as of Dec. 15, according to the Office of Insurance Regulation numbers. Other counties with large numbers of claims included Broward, 71,970; Orange, 68,306; Lee, 65,311; Collier, 63,644; and Polk, 50,180.

Irma made landfall Sept.

10 in Monroe and Collier counties, causing widespread destruction and at least 84 deaths in Florida. The insurance industry has closed 48 percent of Irma claims with some payment. Another 31 percent were closed without any payments.

Potential changes In most cases where money did not change hands, the damages failed to meet policyholders’ deductibles, McChristian said.

To reduce risk in Florida, the House Select Committee on Hurricane Response and Preparedness has received a number of potential housing changes – as part of the more than 140 recommendations – for lawmakers to consider during the 2018 legislative session, which begins in January.

Among the proposals, Rep. Holly Raschein, RKey Largo, suggested the state identify areas where rebuilding after disasters might be high-risk and to consider options for not rebuilding, including the possible purchase of the properties. The land, she suggested, would be used to create additional open space and natural buffers.

Flood insurance bill

This advertising is paid for by FPL shareholders, not our customers.

Meanwhile, Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, and House Minority Leader Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, introduced a proposal (SB 1282 and HB 1011) that would require insurance companies to disclose to homeowners when coverage lacks flood insurance.

“I’ve met many constituents who had no idea that their hurricane coverage did not include protections when their homes flooded,” Taddeo said in a prepared statement. “This is especially problematic in South Florida as we face sea level rise and stronger storm surges from climate change.”

EDITORIAL

A4

DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

I’m tired of weak White women Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Well, because I believed White women when they voted a racist, narcissistic, self-professed sexual predator into the White House.

Their huge level of support for Alabama senatorial candidate Roy Moore came as no surprise.

Here’s what else I believe. I believe the women who voted for Donald Trump and/or Roy Moore are weak and so disconnected from their true power they vote against their own interests.

Inexplicable votes How else do you explain women voluntarily choosing to elect a man who was accused of making advances against several teenagers when he was in his 30s, one of whom he allegedly raped? Or a man they actually heard bragging about sexually assaulting women, boasting about grabbing women by their vaginas?

I’m tired of weak White women. Exhausted even. It takes too much brainpower and emotional energy to try to understand where they’re coming from. To preserve my sanity and reduce the stress that comes from trying to control things I can’t, I was ready to banish them from my consciousness.

Just before I did, however, the sacred part of me that knows we’re all one despite my sisters’ ignorance led me to do a little research to find some courageous White women capable of caring for someone other than themselves and the men who dominate them. It didn’t take me long to discover the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching (ASWPL).

Only solution Jessie Daniel Ames, a White woman, founded the organiza-

MICHELLE HOLLINGER GUEST COMMENTARY

tion in 1930 after she heard Nannie Helen Burroughs, a Black woman, say that lynching was carried out for the protection of White women and “…when White women were ready to stop lynching, they’d stop it, and it wouldn’t be stopped before.”

Burroughs, a brilliant, courageous, African-American educator, activist and businesswoman, also called out President Woodrow Wilson for his silence about lynching. She was promptly placed under government surveillance.

Weak White women responded to Burroughs’ challenge by carrying on with their marginalized lives as spectators to – and excuses for – the lynchings of Black men by their husbands, fathers, brothers and neighbors.

Women’s responsibility Ames had a different reaction.

She believed it was the responsibility of women’s organizations to try and solve racial problems.

She was about lifting the oppressed, so she got busy convincing other like-minded women to join her anti-lynching campaign.

Ames and other Southern White women went into the community and persuaded law enforcement officials to sign a pledge to do everything in their power to protect their prisoners from being lynched. (Let that sink in a minute. White women asked police officers to stop killing Black men.)

The ASWPL members took a stand and spoke up in a way only they could: “Lynching is an indefensible crime. Women dare no longer al-

Alabama and the two-party trap The electoral process has changed very little for Black people. At this late date in history, our highest political expectations still amount to little more than keeping hardcore racists out of office. Any other victories are negligible. Even when we win, we still lose.

All Americans live in a political world constrained by control of one far-right party and one center-right party. The system creates a lack of choice, and yet we are constantly told that small electoral changes are fraught with great meaning.

Case in point Such was the case in Alabama, where a Democrat unexpectedly prevailed in a special election for the U.S. Senate. Alabama is a lynchpin of the now 50-yearold Southern strategy which switched the party of White racism from the Democrats to the Republicans.

The Republicans should have won easily but instead they lost by the closest of margins. Instead

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

of choosing a bland, safe candidate, they decided to nominate racist, red-meat firebrand Roy Moore.

Moore was a caricature of the far-right where one was not needed. Not only did he speak of the era of enslavement as a time when America was great, but he was also revealed to be a serial molester of underage girls. Black Alabamans were highly motivated to get out the vote, enough Whites were demotivated, and Democrat Doug Jones won in a squeaker.

Joyful reaction The lingering trauma of Donald Trump’s victory created a state of surreal ecstasy for Democrats after the Alabama election.

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 310 QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

Getting what you pray for – Republicans will eventually pay the price for their tax ‘reform’ package, accurately described by one Democratic senator as a “ransom payment to big Republican donors.”

There’s a provision in it that will finish the gutting of Obamacare.

Millions of folks won’t be able to get insurance. Those of us with insurance will pay more.

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: GOP TAX PLAN

low themselves to be the cloak behind which those bent upon personal revenge and savagery commit acts of violence and lawlessness in the name of women. We repudiate this disgraceful claim for all time.”

They stood up These were women of integrity. Women of principle. Women who understood that human dignity begins with the self, but does not end there. They got sick and tired of being exploited by White men who lied pathologically about them being assaulted

by Black men.

From Facing South, an online magazine of the Institute of Southern Studies: “This ‘Southern rape complex,’ the Association argued, had no basis in fact.

On the contrary, White women were often exploited and defamed in order to obscure the economic greed and sexual transgressions of White men.

“Rape and rumors of rape served as a kind of folk pornography in the Bible Belt. As stories spread, the ‘victim was described in minute and progressively embellished detail: a public fantasy which implied a group participation in the rape of the woman almost as cathartic as the lynching of the alleged attacker.”

Grassroots effort Recognizing the strength in numbers, Ames and her ASWPL members recruited local churches, social clubs and politicians to sign pledges condemning lynching. They held lectures, published anti-lynching pamphlets and spoke at colleges and fraternal organizations.

Don’t think they didn’t face opposition. They did. But because they were led by their souls and believed that right is right, they persisted, ultimately gaining the support of 109 women’s groups The failing Democrats have managed to lose control of most state legislatures, both houses of Congress and the presidency. But now they act as though they have found the magic key to victory because they got lucky in one red state.

Of course Jones won because of the Black vote, but that is the case in elections throughout the country. Republicans deliberately gerrymander for the express purpose of creating districts free of Black voters and ensuring victories for themselves.

It was somewhat amusing to watch White liberals expressing deep gratitude to Black people.

The newfound respect and devotion doesn’t amount to much, because they don’t understand why their party has failed so badly.

Voting with GOP

RJ MATSON, ROLL CALL

which endorsed the anti-lynching campaign, and 44,000 individuals who signed anti-lynching pledges.

Ames and ASWPL also used sisterhood to save lives. They went, via Baptist and Methodist missionary societies, into small rural communities to connect with the wives and daughters of the men who lynched, enlightening and empowering their sisters to do the right thing.

Their efforts were successful.

In 1940, there were no recorded lynchings of African-Americans – a first since the end of the Civil War. (Black people know just because there were none recorded does not mean no one was lynched, but still, this was progress.)

Local vs. federal Ames and the ASWPL made a difference. Surprisingly though, will create a huge giveaway to the richest people and begin the right-wing dream of dismantling the federal government by defunding it.

Jones perfectly exemplifies the two-party trap. No one should have been shocked by his traitorous words. But most of his voters probably understood that they had a very bad choice on their hands.

The Black people who marshaled themselves around a Jones win live in greatest fear of rule by the segregationists. Having another two-faced Democrat in the Senate isn’t as dangerous to them as living in a world run by the Trumps and Moores of the world. Moore was an existential threat, a clear and present danger that they could not dismiss.

Rational reaction

But in a period of a few days, Jones revealed why that is the case. He immediately announced that he might “vote with Republicans on some issues.” The great White hope for Democrats went further.

He wouldn’t denounce the Republicans new tax plan. He would only say that he favors tax cuts for middle-class people but also for corporations. This plan

People are right to fear rule by old-school racists. When they are given any platform of legitimacy, they encourage and embolden the people who would otherwise closet themselves. An open racist is a very dangerous person.

The Jones victory will not end mass incarceration, bring living wage jobs to his state, stop police murder, or do any of the things that Black people need to have done. Black Alabamans are

Some folks are gonna die without insurance. Some of them or their loved ones will be diehard Trump supporters. What’s gonna be their reaction when they can’t afford to see a doc under King Don’s rule, but could do so after Obama? Good luck with that, Republicans. And that’s just one provision of this monstrosity…

Law enforcement and intelligence communities under attack – Democrats are screaming that the GOP now has the Federal Bureau of Investigation under attack and is trying to destroy its ‘credibility’ to kill Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation into King Don’s presidential

campaign. Dems are also standing firmly with the Central Intelligence Agency against Trump’s constant criticism.

To some of us, the FBI’s reputation as “America’s premiere law enforcement organization” has always been a hypocritical lie. Are we to forget J. Edgar Hoover’s rabid racism and anti-communist paranoia that led to the infiltration and eventual destruction of Black organizations, and the organization’s Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) whose goal was to “prevent the rise of a Black messiah” in America?

(Think MLK, Malcolm, Elijah Muhammad, Huey Newton, James

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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she opposed federal anti-lynching legislation, a decision that seemed to contradict her beliefs. She apparently thought, based on what she and the ASWPL members had accomplished, that eradicating lynching from the state level was more effective than a watered-down federal mandate.

Ames died in 1972 at the age of 88 in Austin, Texas. Where are the descendants of Ames and the other ASWPL members? Wherever they are, I would love to meet them and ask them if, like their ancestors, they would try to talk some sense into their weak sisters for the good of us all.

Michelle Hollinger is the publisher of The Sisterhood and the author of upcoming book, “Worthy.” Contact her at michelle@thesisterhoodmagazine.com. themselves aware of this conundrum that caused them to wage a fight that gained them very little.

But Jones didn’t arrive at his polling place on horseback as Moore did. That seemingly silly gesture was lost on no one. The overseer/slave patroller image is just what Moore intended to convey to his people. Black voters saw it clearly too, but reached a very different conclusion. The ancestral memory elicited by overseer Moore was just one more source of encouragement for any fence-sitters on Election Day.

Bad choice Donald Trump has brought the reality of Black voters into stark relief. He epitomizes everything we have fought against, and yet the people we look to for salvation won’t lift a finger on our behalf.

Old-school hatred or useless corporate Democrats. The year 2017 ends as it began – with the political vicious cycle very much in place and Black people still losing.

Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@ BlackAgendaReport.com.

Brown. Yes. Soul Brother No. 1 was targeted!)

Are we to forget the CIA’s uninterrupted history of covert international terrorism, coups, and assassinations, particularly throughout the continent of Africa?

I know too much to deify flawed government institutions that for decades, left Black America to the tender mercies of violent racists, enshrined White supremacy in legislation, or destroyed our attempts to rise in America or in our original homeland. No sympathy from this former prosecutor.

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DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

‘Russia-gate’ and the collapse of Obama’s war on Syria “Russia-gate” is the scream of a wounded U.S. empire – a military colossus that can destroy the planet many times over but was defeated in its war of regime change in Syria, despite killing half a million people and displacing a third of its population.

Barack Obama was packaged as a “peace” candidate, but his real objective was to reverse the humiliation of his predecessor’s forced withdrawal from Iraq and thus maintain the image and substance of U.S. “primacy” in the world.

No more war U.S. public opinion, however, would not tolerate another massive mobilization of American ground forces in the region. Instead, Obama and his secretary of state and would-be successor, Hillary Clinton, partnered with the monarchies of the Persian Gulf – the most backward regimes on the planet – to transform the various flavors of al Qaida into a pro-Western foreign legion: foot solders of imperialism.

The nature of the obscene alliance – although impossible to fully conceal, and rooted in U.S. policy since Jimmy Carter’s presidency – could not be spoken. Americans are conditioned to hate and fear all things Arab and Muslim (and, indeed, all peoples not sufficiently “White”).

How could a U.S. administration align itself with the same forces that were blamed for 9/11?

The same people that the CIA claimed had been harbored by Saddam Hussein? The same madmen that, we are told, want to kill Americans because they hate “our freedoms”? That’s way too much boggling for most American minds.

Crazy idea The very insanity of the idea helped to cloak the truth. The corporate media eagerly provided a full-blown counter-reality to suit imperial purposes.

When the U.S. and its NATO and royal Arab allies became the

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

air force for regime change in Libya, in 2011, the Western press extolled the democratic virtues of the “rebels” on the ground even as these heavily jihadist militias lynched and massacred Black Libyans and immigrant African workers by the thousands. Lynching was the imperially-sanctioned order of the day, as Hillary Clinton confirmed on news of Muammar Gaddafi’s mutilation and murder. “We came, we saw, he died,” she said.

Many tens of thousands more Africans would die as captured Libyan arms found their way to jihadists throughout the northern tier of the continent, destabilizing much of the region and providing many future “missions” for the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), established just three years earlier.

Libyan jihadists were already showing up in Syria shortly after the U.S.-NATO bombing campaign ended, in October 2011, joining other “freedom fighters” from around the world. The eastern part of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, fell to Islamist forces in 2012.

Caliphate formed

Something was taken for granted with the Trump transition team. It was assumed that Omarosa Manigault was the point person for African-Americans. Just about everyone thought that. As time went on it became apparent that she didn’t know it.

I remember the first transition meeting of Black national organizations the Trump campaign held. I was invited and felt it safe that my charge would be to provide advice on Black business development. It shocked me to see that the Black chamber created

by President Obama’s administration to oppose our National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) was also invited.

Wrong group This was the group that propped up Obama’s cabinet to be pro-Black when it came to capitalistic items even though the progressive left was no proponent of capitalism let alone, Black capitalism. It was funded by Hillary Clinton cronies. How could

HARRY C. ALFORD GUEST COLUMNIST

someone make that mistake?

I didn’t get insulted. It was clear to me that Ms. Manigault wasn’t clear about the whole deal of left vs. right. Her agenda, in the minds of everyone else, was about African-American outreach. No one else had that title.

She made snafus like arguing with the Congressional Black Caucus. Anyone knows that you aren’t going to win friends in Washington, D.C., with that strategy.

As time went on, she made other false steps. When word came out that that leadership of Historically Black Colleges and Universities were upset with the treatment she was dishing out to them, it all came to a head.

Africans selling Africans as slaves – again The sale of African migrants at auctions in Libya has sparked outrage across the continent.

A CNN report published earlier in November obtained footage of an auction, at which migrants stranded in the North African country were sold for as little as $400.

According to Newsweek, “For thousands of migrants from across sub-Saharan Africa, Libya is the last stopping point in Africa before making a perilous journey across the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching Europe.”

Tragic history No doubt this is as heartrending for you as it is tragic for these migrants. But I am all too mindful that Africans killing Africans has become a defining feature of this “Dark Continent.”

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

Frankly, it seems whenever Western eyes are on Africa we see tribal conflicts causing everything from famine to genocides and all manner of human suffering in between.

I have bemoaned it all in commentaries like “Help! Ethnic Cleansing and Forced Starvation Persists in Africa,” posted December 1, 2005; “Yes, Save Darfur! But What about Zimbabwe?”

February 8, 2008; “RwandanStyle Violence Erupts in Congo … Again,” October 29, 2008; “DR

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: MODERN TERRORISM

was on the roll again in the Mideast, with the two al Qaida factions – al Nusra and the Islamic State – by far the most effective fighters.

This is Barack Obama’s grotesque legacy.

Three years later, it was Vladimir Putin who forced the U.S. to deploy its massive bombing power against the “rogue” Islamic State faction of al Qaida when the Russian leader denounced Washington’s double-game before the 2015 annual meeting of the United Nations general assembly.

“No one but [Syrian] President Assad’s forces and Kurdish militia are truly fighting the Islamic state and other terrorist organizations inside Syria,” said Putin.

OSAMA HAJJAJ, JORDAN

ISIS makes money The Islamic State’s profitable sale of captured Syrian oil to Turkey was conducted in broad daylight, immune to U.S. airpower.

ISIS oil tankers traveled freely under open skies.

“The motorcade of refueling vehicles stretched for dozens of kilometers, so that from a height of 4,000 to 5,000 meters they stretch beyond the horizon” [to Turkey” said the Russian president, who called for creation of “a genuinely broad international coalition” to bring to defeat the jihadist terrorists and bring peace to Syria.

Putin had exposed the U.S. alliance with al Qaida on the world stage, and intervened with his own air force at the request of the legitimate and recognized Syrian government, in full accordance with international law.

A little over a year later, in late 2016, when Aleppo was liberated from the jihadists, the Western corporate media cried and fumed over the terrorists’ withdrawal from the city, as if the United States and its allies had been routed – which was, in fact, the case.

er the U.S. to shut the Russians (and Chinese) out of the Middle East – was in ruins. U.S. imperialism was, indeed, in acute crisis – worse than when Bush was forced out of Iraq. The eclipse of United States “primacy” in the world was now painfully palpable.

Further complicating this historic debacle, the Republican president-elect was an unpredictable outsider who had rhetorically questioned the bipartisan ruling class consensus on regime change, economic warfare (“free trade” treaties, crippling sanctions) and relentless hostility toward Russia. He would have to be contained, co-opted, or neutralized.

Fortunately for the War Party –now decisively Democratic – Donald Trump is eminently demonizable, and truly deserving of almost any insult.

“Russia-gate” was invented, almost out of whole cloth, in near panic and without benefit of evidence, to create the political climate to sustain the military offensive begun by Obama back in 2011.

Having lost their jihadist war option in Syria and Iraq – and with less “soft” power by the day – U.S. imperialism feels it must now more aggressively deploy its stra-

She was gone

Munisteri, deputy assistant to the president and principal deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison, was the moderator.

It was one of the best White House meetings I have ever attended. We were all pumped up about the tax reform legislation being voted on and the prospects of making it historical in success and the future of our great nation.

The U.S. and its European, Turkish and royal Arab allies poured so much money and arms into the Syrian cauldron that a faction of al Qaida was empowered to declare a caliphate in the territory it captured from the Syrian army – just as was predicted in 2012 by analysts of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The DIA memo, revealed three years later , said the emergence of a caliphate – the Islamic State – seemed to be “exactly what the Obama’s scheme foiled Washington’s alliance with jisupporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the hadists – the Obama-Clinton scheme to reverse George Bush’s Syrian regime.”

The U.S. imperial war machine humiliation in Iraq and empow-

Get ready for serious Black economic empowerment

EDITORIAL

Boom! White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly gave her the boot. Word has it she was escorted out of the White House. Word spread like wildfire throughout D.C. like the flames in Southern California.

Before I could figure it out, I received an email inviting the NBCC to a meeting at the White House concerning the tax reform legislation. The day after that, Kay received an invite. We hadn’t received invites like that before in years.

Dozens of Black conservative leaders received identical invites sent out on Thursday and Friday for an urgent meeting to be held at the White House Monday afternoon.

A substantial change When we walked into the meeting, we saw dozens of people of similar ilk. Black conservative business leaders such as Herman Cain filled the room.

We received presentations about the upcoming legislation from White House Economic Council Director Gary Cohen, Chief of Staff Kelly, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Senator Tim Scott, and others. Stephen P. Congo’s Heart of Darkness Gets Even Darker,” December 4, 2012; “South Sudan Continues Descent into Heart of Darkness,” April 25, 2014; and “#BringBackOurGirls Lost in the Dustbin of Public Consciousness,” April 18, 2016, to cite just a few.

This is why I’m not sure what to make of this “outrage across the continent” over Africans selling Africans.

Could be worse Indeed, if you’re a Nuer living in South Sudan, you’d probably consider it a blessing to be sold into slavery in neighboring Ethiopia. The way the Dinkas are trying to ethnically cleanse the Nuers in South Sudan is eerily reminiscent of the genocidal way the Hutus tried to ethnically cleanse the Tutsis in Rwanda. Thus, the outrage over slavery in Libya smacks of the dramatic shock over gambling in the movie “Casablanca.”

Suffice it to know that Africans were selling (and enslaving) Africans long before Europeans induced and/or forced them to be-

All boats lifted General Kelly made it very clear to us that the act was critical to the economic future of our great nation and that this “rising tide” was going to lift all boats. He stated that diversity was very important. That is the bottom line to this legislation. It is going to take America to new heights and give us an economy that is robust and inclusive of all segments. Already Black home ownership is reaching the greatest heights in the history of the nation.

President Trump will not stop until all segments of the nation are at its highest economic achievement. They made it clear to us that this is not poetic.

It is the real deal and they are extremely serious about making it happen.

As with Presidents Kennedy

tegic/nuclear throw-weight and its powers of economic strangulation, or lose the ability to dictate global affairs.

Bogus threat The U.S. public must be made to see the threat to U.S. global supremacy as existential – as do the imperialists. Thus, the Russians have invaded “our democracy”; their interventions in U.S. internal affairs amount to a “Pearl Harbor”; or, as Morgan Freeman, the God-poser, intones, “We have been attacked. We are at war.” It follows that anybody that says differently should be silenced or locked up.

“Russia-gate,” the howling disinformation machine, is a lie born of many lies – most immediately, the criminal U.S. partnership with al Qaida in Libya and Syria, perhaps the biggest lie and mass media cover-up of the 21st century: the Mother of all Fake News.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Email him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response. and Reagan during their administrations, tax reform will be a signature event of this administration. This time, Blacks will certainly be included at all segments.

It is easy to see when the creators of it throw it all down at the start and hold themselves accountable.

Great things happening The stock market is already recording unprecedented levels just at the prospect of this tax reform. Corporations will be coming home to build new facilities and create new jobs by the millions. Our treasury is going to mushroom by the trillions and the thought of “recession” will fade away.

Our allies are excited as we are, and our enemies are starting to retreat or turn “nice.” America is being made great again! This time we will be included.

Get ready America! A change is going to come.

Harry C. Alford is the cofounder and president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Contact him via www.nationalbcc.org. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

come complicit in the Transat- disassociated, dangerous, and ullantic slave trade. Hell, even the timately dysfunctional mess. “more civilized” races on the continent practiced slavery. Notably, Glad to be here the book of Exodus chronicles the Accordingly, I have often contale of human bondage that had Egyptians enslaving Israelites. ceded that, notwithstanding slavery and its racist legacy, Blacks Africans are ashamed born in America and the CaribbeThat said, it is noteworthy that an should thank their lucky stars the Africans being sold today are that neither Abraham Lincoln nor desperate migrants. I suspect some of the reported outrage is Marcus Garvey succeeded in “remasking continental shame over patriating” us to Africa. In other the scourge African migration is words, thank God we are here and posing to Europe. not there!

I just hope the damning irony is This is admittedly harsh, pernot lost on any proud African that, haps even heartless. But there’s 50 years after decolonization, hundreds of African men, wom- no denying it’s calling a spade a en, and children are risking their spade. lives, practically every day, to subAnthony L. Hall is a native of jugate themselves to the paternal mercies of their former colonial The Bahamas with an internamasters in Europe. tional law practice in WashingI have often lamented that ton, D.C. Read his columns and post-colonial Africa seems fatdaily weblog at www.theipined to loom amidst the continents of the world as a dark, destitute, ionsjournal.com. Click on this diseased, desperate, disenfran- commentary at www.flcourier. chised, dishonest, disorganized, com to write your own response.

NATION

TOJ A6

DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

More than 37,000 Cubans in US face deportation orders

BY NORA GAMEZ TORRES EL NUEVO HERALD/TNS

MIAMI — Some arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border only a few hours after the sudden change in immigration policy on Jan. 12.

Others have been in the United States since much earlier. The majority face possible deportation.

According to official figures, the number of Cubans with final orders of deportation has increased this year. Through Dec. 9, there were 37,218 facing final deportation orders.

Meanwhile, the number of Cuban migrants currently in detention centers now exceeds 1,600.

“As of December 9, 2017, there were 1,686 Cuban nationals in ICE detention,” Brendan Raedy, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, stated in an email.

New reality That is an increase from the 1,453 Cubans who were in detention as of Sept. 30, when the fiscal year ended.

Detention or deportation is the new reality for most Cubans who try to enter the United States without visas, following the elimination of a policy known as “wet foot, dry foot” under former President Barack Obama.

Announced simultaneously by the U.S. and Cuban governments, the policy change halted special entry permits known as “parole” given to Cubans who managed to make it onto U.S. soil by land, air or sea.

Uncertain fate Effective Jan. 12, undocumented Cubans lost their special status and can only gain entry if they request asylum, an option that takes them directly to a detention center for immigrants.

The likelihood of being granted asylum is slim and most end up joining the long list of “de-

J. ALBERT DIAZ/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Beachgoers look at inner tubes, which were part of a raft that carried Cuban rafters to shore at Lauderdale by the Sea on March 25, 2004. The U.S. deported twice as many Cubans in 2017 as 2016. portable aliens.”

The Cuban government has promised to receive those who arrived after Jan. 12. But the fate of those who had previous orders of deportation is more uncertain.

Cuba said it would analyze each case and focus on those who have been deemed as “priority for return.”

the United States regards Cuba as a “recalcitrant” country that refuses to accept its nationals back. D During recent migration talks in Washington, the U.S. delegation raised the need for increased Cuban cooperation in the return of Cubans with final orders of removal from the United States.

to arrive by sea — although attempts by Cubans to cross the Straits of Florida in flimsy vessels or via organized smuggling trips continues albeit in much lower numbers.

In fiscal year 2017, the Coast Guard intercepted 1,468 Cubans at sea, compared to 5,396 in fiscal year 2016.

‘Recalcitrant country’

Lower sea attempts

Meetings suspended

In fiscal year 2017, the U.S. deported 160 Cubans, but the ICE spokesman said it would be difficult to determine whether the deportees arrived before or after the policy change.

Despite the migration accords,

The new policy has reduced by 64 percent the irregular immigration of Cubans arriving in the U.S., according to the State Department.

It has also drastically reduced the number of those attempting

Perhaps more illustrative of the decrease in migration attempts by sea are figures for the current fiscal year 2018, which began on Oct. 1.

Through Monday, the Coast Guard intercepted 44 Cubans.

TIME TO CASH IN!

Diplomatic relations between the two countries have taken a toll after the hardened rhetoric and new restrictive measures taken by President Donald Trump since he took office on Jan. 20.

Several bilateral meetings have been suspended, Josefina Vidal, the main negotiator with the United States in the Cuban foreign ministry, said at an event earlier this week.

However, Vidal highlighted the end of the policy of granting parole as one of the achievements of the process for normalizing relations under the former Obama administration.

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HEALTH | FOOD | TRAVEL | SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS COURIER

IFE/FAITH

Macy Gray among celebs performing this month in Florida See page B2

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

DEC. 22 – DEC. 28, 2017

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

Review of ‘The Last Jedi’ See page B5

|

SECTION

B

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PHOTO BY ERICK JOHNSON/CHICAGO CRUSADER

Members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity join NASA in marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Major Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on Dec. 8.

REMEMBERING PIONEER ASTRONAUT’S ULTIMATE SACRIFICE NASA celebrates the legacy of Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his death.

BY ERICK JOHNSON NNPA NEWS SERVICE

Fifty years ago, a tragic accident ended the groundbreaking career of Major Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., a Chicago native and stellar Air Force pilot who became America’s first Black astronaut.

On Dec. 8, 2017—the 50th anniversary of his death—NASA honored his oftenignored legacy and contributions to the agency.

Earlier this year, the Chicago Crusader reported about the lack of visibility of NASA’s first Black astronaut and helped to raise awareness about Lawrence’s incredible journey.

In planning a story for its annual Black History Month edition, Chicago Crusader staffers discovered that little was being done to honor Lawrence, while NASA held memorials to mark the 50th anniversary of three, White astronauts who perished in a fire aboard the Apollo 1 space module, during a preflight test.

The Crusader story lauding Lawrence’s achievements was published in dozens of Black newspapers after the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) carried it on its newswire.

Ahead of his time Born in 1935 to Gwendolyn Duncan and Robert H. Lawrence Sr., the future Air Force pilot was a man ahead of his time.

Long before magnet and STEM programs were part of the high school curriculum, Lawrence excelled in math and science.

At 16, he graduated with honors from Englewood High School and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bradley University. He married Barbara Cress from the prominent Chicago Cress family and entered the Air Force at age 21 before earning a doctorate in physical chemistry from Ohio State University, becoming the first astronaut at NASA to earn a doctorate degree.

As a United States Air Force pilot, Lawrence accumulated over 2,500 flight hours. In June 1967, Lawrence graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (Class ‘66B) at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. In that same month, he was

In June 1967, Lawrence graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. In that same month, he was selected by the USAF as an astronaut for their Manned Orbital Laboratory program. selected by the USAF as an astronaut for their Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) program, thus becoming the first Black astronaut.

Memorial campaign Lawrence died while training another pilot, Major John Royer, to perform the “flare” maneuver – an operation that Lawrence had already mastered – in the F-104 Starfighter.

According to NBC News, “Lawrence’s memory languished in obscurity” partly due to the fact that the Pentagon only recognized someone as an “astronaut” if they actually flew to an altitude above 50 miles.

However, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Va.) mounted a campaign that forced NASA to put Lawrence’s name on the Space Mirror Memorial in 1997 – 30 years after

ASTRONAUTSMEMORIAL.ORG

Robert Lawrence logged more than 2,500 flight hours during his career. His Air Force honors included the Commendation Medal and the Outstanding Unit Citation.

Lawrence’s death.

“On Dec. 8, 1997, on the 30th anniversary of his death, Lawrence had his name unveiled on the Florida memorial,” NBC News reported.

Omegas among guests The ceremony recognizing Lawrence, earlier this month – although spirited, at times – was a somber one for the 300 guests that included decorated NASA astronauts, dignitaries, relatives, and friends, who had flown and driven miles across the country to honor Lawrence at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

Lawrence’s older sister, Dr. Barbara Lawrence, attended and spoke. Another prominent Chicago resident who was present was E. Dawn Griffin, the oldest daughter of Ernest Griffin, founder of

Griffin Funeral Home in Bronzeville. The Griffin Funeral Home, which closed in 2012, handled the funeral arrangements for Lawrence.

Members from Lawrence’s college fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, also attended to honor one of their own.

Celebrated astronauts attend On the sprawling grounds of the NASA facility, they participated in a twoand-a-half-hour ceremony that began at the Center for Space Education and culminated with an emotional wreath-laying ceremony at the base of the national Space Mirror Memorial, a massive black granite structure where Lawrence’s name is among those of 20 astronauts who either died in flight or in training.

The ceremony brought out some of See ASTRONAUT, Page B2

CALENDAR

B2

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Jacksonville: Keyshia Cole & Friends will be at Veterans Memorial Arena on Dec. 29. With K-CI & JoJo, Ja Rule, 112, Doug E. Fresh, Carl Thomas and the 69 Boyz.

Hollywood: Tickets are on sale for a Chris Rock show on Jan. 5 at Hard Rock Live.

Miramar: The Miami Funk Fest is 5 p.m.

Dec. 30 at the Miramar Regional Park Amphitheater. Performers: Keith Sweat, Anthony Hamilton, 112, Uncle Luke and Trina.

Orlando: Kevin Hart’s Irresponsible Tour stops at the CFE Arena on Dec. 31.

Jacksonville: The African Village International will host a Kwanzaa celebration from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 26 at the Ritz Theatre and Museum, 829 N Davis St. More information and other Kwanzaa events: www. africanvillageintl.org Boca Raton: The

DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

STOJ

Rock the Block New Year’s Eve Party is at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. Performers: Salt N Pepa, Wang Chuck and A Flock of Seagulls.

ANITA BAKER

Tickets are on sale now for Jazz in the Gardens, March 17-18 in Miami Gardens.

Performers include Anita Baker, Smokey Robinson and Chaka Khan. Details: Jazzinthegardens.com

Coconut Creek: The Village People will perform Dec. 31 at the Seminole Casino.

Tampa: A “Jingle Jam’’ will be held at seven of the City of Tampa’s Parks & Rec Centers for kids during the holiday break. The camp activities are free or at a reduced cost. Details: www.tampagov.net Fort Lauderdale: The Carlton B. Moore exhibit on display at the Broward County African- American Research Library and Cultural Center continues through Dec. 30. The former commissioner and NAACP president died in 2014.

Miami Gardens: Free one-one business consulting sessions are available through December for Miami Gardens residents.

Call M.D. Stewart & Associates for an appointment at 305-8904984.

SENSERE

Just Blessed Productions will present “This Christmas,’’ a free concert featuring Sensere, Pastor Avery Jones, Rebecca “Butterfly’’ Vaughns and other South Florida performers at 6 p.m.

MACY GRAY Dec. 23, Mt. Zion AME Church, 15250 NW 22nd Ave., Miami The singer performs Dec. 29 at the Faena Theater in Miami Beach. Gardens.

ADOPTIONS

A home for Marquele SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

URBAN MOVIE CHANNEL

“World Wide Nate” follows Nathan Fluellen on his African adventures.

Urban Movie Channel’s travel series focuses on Africa BLACKNEWS.COM

The Urban Movie Channel (UMC) is airing an original travel series, “World Wide Nate: African Adventures.’’

The reality travel show follows Chicago native Nathan Fluellen, a thrill seeker with a magnetic personality and penchant for pushing himself outside of his comfort zone.

The international travel vlogger (worldwidenate.com) hikes the Democratic Republic of the Congo mountains to the world’s largest lava lake, rappels alongside a 630-foot-tall waterfall in Lesotho, and treks through the Rwandan jungle alongside silverback gorillas, and more.

Series viewers will either pack their bags to replicate Nate’s exploits or settle back in their

ASTRONAUT from B1 NASA’s astronauts and biggest officials.

Charles Bolden, America’s first Black NASA chief administrator, and Stephanie Wilson, the second Black female astronaut, attended the service.

Another Black astronaut, Winston Scott, played the trumpet in

chairs to experience Africa and the world vicariously through this charming host’s adventures.

“I’m excited to share World Wide Nate: African Adventures with audiences everywhere and to use this series to change the narrative of how Americans view Africa,’’ said Nathan Fluellen, “World Wide Nate’’ host and executive producer.

“I look forward to taking viewers along with me on my actionpacked adventures through Africa and enlightening them on the amazing cultural experiences that span across the continent,’’’ said World Wide Nate host and executive producer Nathan Fluellen.

The first episode premiered on Dec. 15 with new ones airing weekly on UMC through Jan. 5.

New episodes also will air in the spring.

‘Fabric of a Man’

a band that performed various jazz songs, including “Fly Me to the Moon.” Reportedly, jazz was one of Lawrence’s favorite musical genres.

cently, Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio renamed a dormitory in Lawrence’s honor.

Bolden, who piloted the space shuttles Columbia and Discovery, praised Lawrence for his spirit.

“He took that first step,” Bolden said. “If he had lived, he would have been flying on that space shuttle also.”

Col. Robert Cabana, who flew on four shuttle missions, agreed.

“Major Robert H. Lawrence

Honored as hero Dr. Herman B. White Jr., a physicist and lecturer at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, Lawrence’s alma mater, gave a presentation where a memorial scholarship and a conference room bear Lawrence’s name. Re-

Also showing on Dec. 29 is David E. Talbert’s “Fabric of a Man.’’ Winner of three NAACP Theatre Awards, “The Fabric of a Man’’ is a crown jewel among the Talbert collection of romantic musical stage plays.

One of Talbert’s three earliest plays, this classic title tells the story of Dominique Majors (Tammy Townsend), an up-andcoming fashion designer in love with Blair Godfrey (Clifton Powell), a self-centered stockbroker who wishes she’d focus less on her career and more on him.

One night Dominique stumbles into an old-school dry cleaner, where she meets Joshua King (Darren DeWitt Henson), a good-looking young tailor who takes interest in more than just

her dry cleaning.

Torn between the comfort of finance and the potential of new romance, Dominique is forced to decide which fabric of which man best suits her. UMC will add more of Talbert’s classic plays in early 2018.

About UMC Created by Robert L. Johnson, chairman of RLJ Entertainment and founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), Urban Movie Channel (UMC) is the first subscription streaming service created for African-American and urban audiences in North America that features quality urban content and showcases feature films, documentaries, original series, stand-up comedy, and other exclusive content.

UMC is available on iOS, Apple TV, Amazon Channels, Roku & Roku Stick, Amazon Fire TV & Fire TV Stick with Android launching soon.

At www.UMC.tv, UMC offers a free seven-day trial and thereafter is $4.99/month or $49.99/ year.

truly was a hero,” said Cabana.

“He set the stage for what was to come.”

Sister reflects too Dr. Barbara Lawrence shared her experiences with her brother as they grew up on the South Side of Chicago. She said, when Robert was young, he was a very disciplined student and dedicated to learning.

“I’m truly proud to have been his sister,” she shared. “He wasn’t

One Church One Child of Florida is reaching out to families and individuals in communities across the state in efforts to help find permanent homes for children.

Children featured in this spotlight are waiting for a permanent home and/or mentor.

Marquele is a charismatic young man with a big heart.

He loves science, and wants to become a chemical engineer when he grows up. He has an insatiable curiosity, and once he latches on to an idea or interest, he’s determined to follow it through.

Marquele is a good and loyal friend, and a diehard Seahawks fan! Although he’s been through a lot in his young life, Marquele still has the simple desire of any kidto be special to someone. He will thrive in a home with one or two loving, understanding parents, and will do best as the youngest or only child.

Churches also are asked to partner with One Church One Child in sharing information with congregations and extending Watch-Care Ministries to children.

For more information about becoming an adoptive or foster parent, mentor, partner or volunteer, call 888-283-0886 or send an email to info@ococfl. org. The website is www.ococfl.org.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHILDREN’S BOARD HEART GALLERY/ ERICA CSATIOS

interested in being the first Black astronaut. He was only interested in being given the opportunity to do what he wanted to do. I’m sorry he wasn’t here a little longer, but I think his job was one that was well done.”

Erick Johnson is a reporter for The Chicago Crusader, which is a member publication of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).

STOJ

DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

CULTURE

B3 posted, and lawsuits are no small undertaking, particularly for those who cannot afford an attorney.

Cases stalled A Stateline review of federal court dockets showed about 10 lawsuits in five states, many of which have come from people defending themselves in court.

Several cases taken on by bigger law firms have stalled in court, complicated by an inability to get class certification or fears the firm would not ultimately see much money from the case, lawyers involved in the cases said.

Gabiola’s suit in Illinois is one of the first using a state law that bars mugshot websites from charging people to remove their photo from the site. Among others upset at the website is Terrill Swift, who spent 15 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit and whose photo is still on Mugshots.com five years later.

“They should do the right thing and take our pictures off those websites,” Swift told the Chicago Tribune earlier this year.

‘Extortionate practice’

PHIL VELASQUEZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Jacques Rivera is shown on March 1 in the shipping and receiving department of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Rivera spent 21 years in jail for a crime he did not commit and was exonerated and released from prison in 2011. But as of March 10, Mugshots.com still listed Rivera as being in custody for murder.

Battle against mugshot sites brings little success Since their business practices came to light in 2013, the websites have drawn the ire of state lawmakers who criticize them as exploitative.

BY REBECCA BEITSCH STATELINE.ORG/TNS

WASHINGTON — Mike Anderson was an 18-year-old freshman at Texas State University when he was busted with less than a gram of weed. Police arrested him, took his mugshot, and he spent the night in jail.

The legal consequences for being caught with such a small amount of marijuana — just enough for a joint or two — were minimal, but expensive.

Prosecutors offered to drop the charges if he attended a drug program and did community service, and he could later get the record of his arrest expunged for about $500, wiping the history of his arrest from public view.

“After I got it expunged I thought it was pretty much a done deal,” he said of the order granted earlier this year.

STACEY WESCOTT/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Terrill Swift spent 15 years in an Illinois prison for a crime he didn’t commit and still has his photo on Mugshots.com. Illinois is one of 18 states with laws cracking down on mugshot websites by banning them from charging removal fees, stemming the flow of mugshots from law enforcement agencies, or requiring that the postings be accurate.

Laws to restrict internet mugshots

Eighteen states have laws that restrict websites that post mugshots.

Has a mugshot law WA

MT

OR

ID

Far from over But the next time he Googled his name, he realized the ordeal was far from over. His arrest photo was posted on Mugshots.com.

The page was one of the top results for anyone who might be looking for him. And as Anderson applied for internships — a graduation requirement for mechanical engineering majors — recruiters who initially seemed interested would offer the spot to someone else.

“It wasn’t right,” said Anderson, a junior, who asked that his real name not be used for fear of drawing further attention to his mugshot.

“I called (Mugshots.com) on the phone, and they told me basically the only way I could get the mugshot to come down was to pay a certain fine. Proof of expunction wasn’t valid.”

Target for sites At a time when personal information can end up online and rocket around the globe in seconds, the estimated 78 million Americans with criminal records are a rich target for websites that collect mugshots from police departments and sheriffs’ offices across the country and typically charge hundreds or thousands of dollars to have the photos removed.

Even people who are arrested but never charged have their photos on the sites.

Since their business practices came to light in 2013, the websites have drawn the ire of state lawmakers who criticize them as

CA

NV

WY UT AZ

ME

ND

CO

MN

SD

KS OK

NY

MI

PA NJ OH IL IN WV VA MO KY NC TN SC AR MS AL GA

IA

NE

NM

WI

VT NH MA RI CT DE MD DC

LA

TX

FL

AK HI

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures Graphic: Stateline/TNS

exploitative.

Texas is one of 18 states with laws designed to help people like Anderson, cracking down on mugshot websites by banning them from charging removal fees, stemming the flow of mugshots from law enforcement agencies, or requiring that the postings be accurate.

Laws not working But so far, the laws have been largely ineffective in providing relief to those whose photos are featured on the sites.

“They haven’t worked,” said Eumi Lee, a law professor at University of California-Hastings who has spent three years studying the effectiveness of mugshot laws for an upcoming legal review article to be published

by Rutgers. “But they’ve had a bunch of unintended consequences.”

Mugshot websites have ignored the laws or quickly figured out ways to work around them,

Lee said. In places where people can no longer pay to have photos deleted, they often have no remedy to get them removed. And once law enforcement releases the photos, they have little control over where they end up.

Mugshots.com, one of the biggest purveyors, has entries for nearly 30 million people, including people in states that hoped to make it easier to have mugshots removed.

Georgia’s dilemma A Stateline review found evidence across the country of the laws’ inadequacy: Georgia twice tried to get mugshots off websites, first blocking sites from charging arrestees who were never convicted to have their pictures removed, and then requiring affidavits from any entity requesting law enforcement copies of mugshots.

Still, Mugshots.com claims to have 2.3 million records from Georgia on its site, including en-

tries for those arrested after the law took effect.

Illinois lawsuit In Illinois, where the law similarly bans fees to remove mugshots, Mugshots.com is being sued for charging arrestees.

One of the plaintiffs in the Illinois suit, Peter Gabiola, said he can’t escape a criminal past — despite time served — because his face keeps popping up on Google searches. Gabiola said Mugshots.com told him it would cost $15,000 to have his information removed from the site.

He contends he’s repeatedly been fired shortly after starting new jobs, even when he disclosed his criminal past, because Mugshots.com incorrectly insists he is still on parole.

“I made my life hard enough making some of the decisions I made in the past as a knucklehead, so I don’t need some worldwide company or whatever making it harder by publishing incorrect information,” Gabiola said.

Sheryl Ring, Gabiola’s attorney, said that’s part of the company’s business model — people who are already struggling because of a criminal record will be more likely to pay if the listing makes things look worse than they really are.

New Florida law Despite the laws’ dubious track records, states keep enacting them. This year Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and South Dakota all enacted laws targeting mugshot websites. {A law approved this year in Florida prohibits the websites from charging people for removing their jail photographs. The law takes effect on July 1, 2018.} To be sure, trying to rein in mugshot websites is a challenge.

In most states, mugshots are a public record.

First Amendment cited The companies can digitally scrape the photos from law enforcement websites, uploading them to their own sites in just hours, or put in public information requests to get others.

When they’ve been sued, the sites’ attorneys have repeatedly argued their work is protected under the First Amendment.

Among those who defend putting mugshots online are newspaper publishers, whose sites often feature local mugshots in crime coverage.

Defending their use David Ferrucci, an attorney for Mugshots.com, said people featured on the site are being harmed not by the website but rather by their own criminal history.

“If your claim is that the publication of public records has hurt your reputation, then you’re complaining about the publishing of public records,” Ferrucci said.

Most of the state mugshot laws include some sort of criminal component, typically making it a misdemeanor offense for not complying. But it’s not clear that police have ever filed charges against a mugshot website.

The onus falls almost entirely on the person whose photo is

Both the lawyer for Mugshots. com and supporters of the law say it puts arrestees whose photos are on the site in a bit of a Catch-22 — they can no longer be charged to remove photos, but they don’t have a legal avenue to get them removed from the site.

So Mugshots.com can keep them up.

“Perhaps the cruel irony of the Illinois law is that people who previously were able to have the information removed can no longer do so,” said Ferrucci, the Mugshots.com attorney.

Mugshots.com tried to get the case dismissed on First Amendment grounds, but a U.S. district judge denied the request. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, intervened in the case in favor of Gabiola, saying Mugshots.com was engaged in an “extortionate practice” not protected by the First Amendment.

Little change Ring, Gabiola’s attorney, says it’s already clear that mere passage of the laws does little to change the companies’ business practices.

“In terms of whether these statutes are effective, we’re going to need to find out if courts will actually enforce them,” Ring said.

If the suit gets class certified, the $1,000 in damages provided by state law could require Mugshots.com to pay out millions.

In Texas, Mugshots.com refused to take down Anderson’s photo without a $300 payment, even though state law requires that mugshot sites jibe with the state’s criminal records — and according to Texas, he doesn’t have one.

More pressure?

Kelvin Bass, an aide to Democratic state Sen. Royce West, who helped craft the state’s mugshot law, acknowledged it doesn’t have a good enforcement mechanism.

He’d like to amend the law to put more pressure on the attorney general or local law enforcement agencies to take action.

“This guy’s a college student,” Bass said. “Why should he have to sue to get someone to follow the law when he’s already notified this business that they’re in violation? It should be easier.”

Working around system Sponsors of mugshot laws in several states say they haven’t kept a watchful eye on the laws’ effects, but they’ve been contacted by people who say they’ve been helped by their passage.

They say the laws aren’t intended to shut down the websites, just to curb their extortive practices.

But they also say mugshot sites have found workarounds: Attempts to block payment are often ignored, and sites can still make money off ad revenue. Even when mugshots aren’t released, the websites use old arrest photos or mugshots from when people are booked in prison.

The private sector has tried to step in; Google tried to change its analytics so mugshot websites aren’t among the first to surface in a name search, but the mugshot sites can game the new algorithms.

Lee, the professor studying mugshot laws, thinks the only way to stop improper use of the photos is to stop releasing them at all, even to the media, ceasing their designation as a public record.

“It completely undermines the efficacy of those efforts,” she said of the laws.

FOOD

B4

DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

PHOTOS BY LAURIE SKRIVAN/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Christmas foods

from around the world From KFC in Japan to saffron buns in Sweden

BY DANIEL NEMAN ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/TNS

Apparently, this is true: In Japan, Christmas is celebrated with a bucket of fried chicken from KFC. Only about 1 percent of the Japanese population is Christian, but the holiday there is widely celebrated. Stripped of its religious and historic significance, it is observed for its own sake, like Mardi Gras in this country, or Cinco de Mayo.

It all began in 1974, when the chain then known as Kentucky Fried Chicken launched a massively successful advertising campaign in Japan that equated chicken with Christmas. It worked beyond any advertising person’s wildest dreams.

KFC chicken is so popular for the secular Japanese tradition of Christmas now that some people order it weeks in advance, while others stand in lines for as long as two hours to pick it up.

Roast goose in Europe Christmas is celebrated in many ways around the world, with each culture adding its own particular spin on the holiday. I decided to look at some of the most popular international Christmas traditions — the ones not specifically involving fried chicken.

Across much of Europe, the Christmas meal means roast goose. The other popular dinner is turkey, but I figure we just did that for Thanksgiving. In France, incidentally, they eat a lot of oysters for the

holidays. It’s a lovely idea, but goose just seems more Christmassy.

Swedish saffron buns I next turned my attention to Sweden, which makes the most wonderful saffron buns for the Christmas season. Actually, they are traditionally made for St. Lucia’s Day, which is Dec. 13, but they are so beautiful and impressive that they should be baked throughout the holidays.

Lucia Buns — Lussekatter — are yeast rolls that are light and airy, infused with the perfume of saffron. The saffron also turns them a gorgeous shade of yellow, which only increases their attractiveness when they are formed into a an extrafancy S shape. A raisin, preferably golden, goes into the center of each curlicue.

Russian potato salad

they all ended up raving about it.

Germany’s stollen One dessert tradition that spans much of the Northern Hemisphere is a sweetened bread filled with dried and candied fruit. Our fruitcake is Italy’s panettone is Germany’s stollen.

I decided to make stollen, which is probably the best-known version, internationally. Stollen is not as dense as fruitcake, and not as airy as panettone. It’s a happy medium, plus it has lots of powdered sugar — and powdered sugar makes everything better.

It takes a fair amount of work to make stollen, so I made a double recipe. Not only do they keep for a few weeks, which makes them an excellent gift, they are also said to taste even better when they have had a couple of weeks to mature.

For a Christmas side dish, I happened to come across a recipe for Russian potato salad, Olivye, that I couldn’t wait to try.

You cut cooked potatoes into a small dice, along with carrots, pickles (I used Russian half-sour pickles, but dill would be fine), eggs, cucumber and peas, all mixed together with mayonnaise and dill to taste.

Olivye has one more ingredient, diced pieces of doktorskaya kolbasa, which is said to be like bologna. In fact, it was actually created (in 1936) to be a leaner, Russian version of American bologna. I couldn’t find any doktorskaya kolbasa, so I just used bologna.

I know what you’re thinking: “Bologna in a potato salad? Ick.” Everyone says that.

At least a dozen of my colleagues said it just before trying it, and without exception

SWEDISH HOLIDAY SAFFRON BUNS Yield: 16 rolls 1/4 cup hot water 1/2 cup warm milk 1/4 teaspoon crushed saffron threads 1/4 cup granulated sugar 3 tablespoons butter 11/4 teaspoons salt 2 large eggs, one of them separated 1 tablespoon instant (rapid-rise) yeast 3 cups all-purpose flour Central Market Pearl or coarse sugar, optional 32 golden raisins Combine the hot water, warm milk and saffron, and let sit for 10 minutes to soften the saffron.

Mix and knead together — by hand, mixer or bread machine — the saffron mixture, sugar, butter, salt, 1 egg, egg yolk (reserve the egg white), yeast and flour to make a soft, elastic dough.

Set the dough aside to rise until puffy (but not necessarily doubled in bulk), about 60 to 90 minutes. At this point you can place the

covered bowl in the refrigerator and chill the dough overnight. It will continue to rise in the fridge, but much more slowly.

Gently deflate the dough, and divide into 16 pieces. Gently shape and roll each piece to form short logs, about 4 inches long. Let them rest, covered, for 15 minutes. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line it with parchment.

Roll each log into a 12-inch rope; they will fight back and shrink a couple of inches — that’s OK. Shape each into an S, with the ends tucked in nicely.

Lay the buns on the prepared pan. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap or a tea towel (not terry cloth) and let rise about 1 hour, or until they are puffy. Dough that has been refrigerated will probably need to rise for about 90 minutes. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the remaining egg white with 1 tablespoon of water, and brush the buns with it. Sprinkle them with pearl or coarse sugar, if desired. Bake for 20 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool on wire racks, tucking a golden raisin into the end loops of each S. Per serving: 148 calories; 3 g fat; 2 g saturated fat; 18 mg cholesterol; 4 g protein; 27 g carbohydrate; 8 g sugar; 1 g fiber; 191 mg sodium; 18 mg calcium Adapted from King Arthur Flour.

STOJ

DRESDEN STOLLEN Yield: 24 servings 2 1/2 cups raisins, preferably a mix of regular and golden 1/2 cup rum 8 cups all-purpose flour 1 to 2 cups milk 2 packages (11/2 tablespoons) dry yeast 1 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 pound unsalted butter, softened 3 1/2 ounces almonds, ground or finely chopped 4 ounces candied lemon peel, finely chopped 4 ounces candied orange peel, finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg Zest of 1 lemon 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for coating Confectioner’s sugar, for coating Note: This recipe makes 2 stollen.

Recipe may be halved if you want just 1 stollen.

Soak raisins in rum overnight. Drain before using.

Combine flour, milk, yeast, sugar, salt and butter to form a smooth yeast dough.

A stand mixer may be too small to contain all the ingredients if you are using the full recipe; they can be mixed by hand in a very large bowl (use a pastry blender if the butter is not soft enough), kneading the dough to make it smooth.

Add almonds, followed in turn by candied fruit peels, mace, zest and drained raisins; knead dough to mix ingredients thoroughly after each addition. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for 1 hour. While it is resting, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Knead the dough once more and divide into 2 halves. Shape each half into a rectangle about 12 to 15 inches long. Fold one end of the short side over itself to the middle, as if you are making the first fold in a letter. Press down on the seam to seal. Place loaves on a parchment paper-lined (or greased) baking sheet — they will spread, so keep them far apart. Bake for 1 hour.

Cool on a wire rack. Melt 2 tablespoons butter and brush over loaves. Dust generously with confectioner’s sugar. Stollen will keep, wrapped, for several weeks.

Per serving: 421 calories; 19 g fat; 11 g saturated fat; 44 mg cholesterol; 6 g protein; 55 g carbohydrate; 19 g sugar; 2 g fiber; 10 mg sodium; 43 mg calcium Adapted from GermanFoods.org.

GORDON’S CHRISTMAS ROAST GOOSE Yield: 5 to 8 servings 1 (8- to 12-pound) goose 4 lemons 3 limes Salt and pepper 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder Small handful parsley sprigs Small handful sage sprigs Small handful thyme sprigs, plus 1 teaspoon thyme leaves, divided 3 tablespoons honey Calculate the cooking time: The goose should be cooked for 10 minutes at 425 degrees, then at 350 degrees for 9 minutes per pound for medium rare or up to 14 minutes per pound for more welldone meat, plus 30 minutes’ resting time.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Check the inside of the goose and remove any giblets or pads of fat.

Using the tip of a sharp knife, lightly score the skin all over in a criss-cross pattern. This helps to render the fat more quickly during roasting.

Grate the zest from the lemons and limes. Mix with 2 teaspoons fine salt, fivespice powder and pepper to taste. Season the cavity of the goose generously with salt, then rub the citrus mixture well into the skin, sprinkling some inside the cavity.

Stuff the herb sprigs inside the bird and set aside for at least 15 minutes. This can be done up to a day ahead and kept refrigerated.

Place the goose, breastside up, on a rack in a roasting pan. If the goose extends over the sides of the pan, place the pan on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the honey and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Roast for the calculated time, turning the heat down after 10 minutes to 350 degrees. Cover the goose with foil if it is starting to brown too much.

Every 30 minutes or so, baste the bird with the pan juices, then pour off the fat through a coffee filter set in a strainer into a large heatproof bowl.

You will end up with a quart or more of luscious fat — save this for roast potatoes, sautéing vegetables, cooking eggs and even for spreading on toast.

At the end of the cooking time, leave goose to rest at least 30 minutes, covered loosely with foil.

The bird will not go cold but will be moist and much easier to carve.

Per serving (based on 8) 817 calories; 65 g fat; 22 g saturated fat; 194 mg cholesterol; 44 g protein; 12 g carbohydrate; 8 g sugar; 2 g fiber; 137 mg sodium; 42 mg calcium Recipe by Gordon Ramsay via bbcgoodfoodshow.com

OLIVYE (RUSSIAN POTATO SALAD) Yield: 10 servings 3 medium potatoes 3 medium or large carrots 3 large pickles 1/2 English cucumber, or 2 small cucumbers 6 eggs, hardcooked 3/4 pound bologna or doktorskaya kolbasa 1 medium sweet onion 1 cup frozen fresh peas 11/2 cups mayonnaise, or more to taste Fresh dill Salt and pepper Peel potatoes and carrots. Place in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook about 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife pierces easily to

the middle. Do not overcook. Drain and cut into a small dice.

Cut the pickles and cucumber into a dice the same size as the potatoes and carrots. Place them in a strainer set over a bowl to catch the liquid that comes out. Cut the eggs, bologna and onion into the same size dice.

If making this salad the night before serving it, keep the pickles and cucumbers in the strainer apart from the other ingredients. Otherwise, add all the diced ingredients into a large bowl, along with the peas and mayonnaise. Stir in dill to taste, mixing all ingredients together. Add more mayonnaise, if desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Per serving: 430 calories; 33 g fat; 7 g saturated fat; 138 mg cholesterol; 10 g protein; 22 g carbohydrate; 8 g sugar; 3 g fiber; 604 mg sodium; 73 mg calcium Adapted from Valentina’s Corner.

STOJ

DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

B5

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

relate to his central theme that divisions between light and dark can be superficial. The filthy rich customers at the gambling tables made their fortunes by selling weapons to both sides of the never-ending hostilities.

Fun moments

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” the eighth installment in the “Star Wars” saga, took in an estimated $220 million during its debut weekend.

‘The Last Jedi’ dazzles with twists rivaling the classic trilogy

BY COLIN COVERT STAR TRIBUNE/TNS

Making a movie like “The Last Jedi” takes a special blend of deep respect for the mythology of “Star Wars” and a strong impulse to keep the 40-year-old material fresh.

There are few franchises this closely cherished by its fans (or its production studio), which makes any radical reinvention out of the question. Yet a series that doesn’t evolve eventually will waste away.

So kudos to writer/director Rian Johnson (who created clever genre twists on detective work in “Brick” and time travel “Looper”) for the newer, more adventurous film he has accomplished.

Feels familiar Yes, it opens in deep space as always, with the familiar yellow text scrolling into the distance, setting us up for the events we are about to witness. Yes, ominous spacecraft scream across the screen ad infinitum.

Yes, classic characters appear (and sometimes disappear). Of course there is a machine at the heart of an enemy base that has

to be destroyed. And there are scenes here that closely echo moments in earlier movies, perhaps most notably “Return of the Jedi.”

But the boundaries between heroic and evil figures are blurrier. This film climbs well beyond nerd-approved material, carrying us into a changed future without insulting Lucasfilms’ holy writ.

Premise of story The general outline of the story is that Rey (Daisy Ridley), left behind as a toddler by her parents on the lawless desert planet of Jakku, has been searching for her family and her place in the galaxy ever since.

As she says, “I need someone to show me my place in all of this.”

A scrappy scavenger gifted with extraordinary Jedi powers, she has become a key member of the Resistance against the totalitarian First Order. Given a map to the obscure planetary hideaway of secluded Jedi master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), she hopes for him to become her mentor and to return to the ongoing battle.

Characters return Across the galaxy, sinister Supreme Leader Snoke (played by motion capture virtuoso Andy Serkis) plots to develop a henchman equal to the legendary Darth Vader.

Exactly where Luke, Rey and villainous Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) are going is deliberately, and quite effectively, kept mysterious until we are well into the breathtaking third act.

Everyone you enjoyed meeting in “The Force Awakens” returns here in fuller form.

Resistance and romance Oscar Isaac as hotshot Resistance pilot Poe Dameron deepens and develops.

John Boyega’s storm trooper turned “rebel scum” Finn spends a lot of personal time with Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), a technician turned warrior, creating a nice subplot merging resistance and romance.

The smart and loyal rolling robot BB-8 has scene-stealing moments that will surely kick up its toy sales. Disney doesn’t release this series every year before Christmas by accident, boys and girls.

New heroes, villains Johnson does excellent world-building here, both in physical locations and in terms of battles for power between and among new heroes and new villains.

He generates a nasty ongoing rivalry between Kyle and General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), First Order competitors trying to outdo each other to win Snoke’s favor.

As Resistance Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, Laura Dern plays a similarly dubious role.

Perhaps she is stepping up loyally when Leia (Carrie Fisher in a touching and deep farewell performance) is unable to hold onto her command. Possibly she is pursuing a hidden agenda.

The upper class The film also works intriguing novelty into its world hopping, introducing us to the rebel base Crait, where speeders slicing the thin layer of salt on the surface shoot out blood-red plumes of the mineral crystals beneath.

We also get our first introduction to the wealthy upper class of the “Star Wars” universe on Canto Bight, an extravagant casino world of florid design where the elite meet to gamble away their riches.

Both sides of Johnson’s work

What’s particularly good here is not just that the film is a delightful amount of fun, finding legitimate reasons for injecting big laughs into an essentially tense and dark story line.

Out of many wonderful exchanges, my favorite came when Luke calls Rey a nobody from nowhere. She proudly replies that she comes from Jakku and Luke replies, “That’s pretty much nowhere.”

While the familiar scenes of foes swinging lightsabers have their best fight choreography ever, playing like lethal Samurai dance scenes, that’s not this film’s secret ingredient, either.

Nor is its frankly excessive 152-minute running time.

Unexpected surprises There is no excuse for a long, inessential stampede of runaway space horses that has zero value beyond the sheer “BenHur” spectacle of the thing.

What makes Episode VIII outstanding is that since “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” no other movies in the “Star Wars” universe have hypnotized audiences with such unexpected surprises and didn’t-see-that-coming plot twists.

Many games, tricks It delivers developments like pieces of a puzzle that seem at first unrelated and later join together seamlessly.

Never before has something that seems like a random makeup mistake turned into a key plot point.

Johnson’s layered storytelling is a profusion of Jedi mind tricks, with as many crafty con games snaring unsuspecting viewers as the characters onscreen.

As Luke tells Rey, “This is not going to go the way you think!”

It goes much better than that.

B6

DECEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 28, 2017

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