Florida Courier, January 18, 2019

FC

EE FR

PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID DAYTONA BEACH, FL PERMIT #189

www.flcourier.com

READ US ONLINE

Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/ flcourier

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. See Pages A5, B1, B2, B3

Follow us on Twitter@flcourier

www.flcourier.com

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

VOLUME 27 NO. 3

JUST THE BEGINNING B-CU employees will endure pay cuts, unpaid furloughs, and layoffs as Interim President Hubert Grimes ‒ who is supposed to resign next month ‒ takes drastic action.

See a related guest commentary on Page A4.

BY ANDREAS BUTLER FLORIDA COURIER FLORIDA COURIER FILES

After almost 90 years of continuous operation as Bethune-Cookman College (now University), the institution is now facing an existential threat to its continued existence.

Shutdown drags on

DAYTONA BEACH ‒ Bethune-Cookman University, which is facing multi-milliondollar lawsuits, the possible loss of its accreditation and dissention within its governing Board of Trustees, released a let-

ter on Tuesday and a video on Wednesday featuring Interim President Hubert Grimes announcing pay cuts, unpaid furloughs and layoffs at the beleaguered institution.

The four-minute, 25-second video opens with a shot of a digital newspaper with “BCU Good News Report” as its headline, with “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” playing in the background.

In it, Grimes describes what he calls “definitive steps” to correct deficiencies that led to B-CU being placed on probation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, popularly referred to as SACS.

Key to institutional health Accreditation can determine eligibility for federal financial aid and whether See B-CU, Page A2

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

MLK commemorated around America

Other workers feel the effects

BY BARRINGTON M. SALMON TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

WASHINGTON D.C. ‒ While the focus of the media has centered primarily on the 800,000 federal employees who are currently sidelined without their paychecks because of the squabble over a wall on the southern border, the residual effects are being felt among people far removed from the federal government.

John E. DeFreitas began driving a taxicab when he was in college 40 years ago.

The self-described “transportation specialist” said he has watched what is now the longest federal government shutdown in U. S. history unfold and swallow up the lives of significant numbers of people.

‘Things have died’ “Things haven’t slowed down, they have died,” DeFreitas said, referring to the pulse of the taxicab business on and well beyond Capitol Hill in the wake of the shutdown.

“There are no people on the street. I usually go to the Watergate where business is usually brisk, but now it’s at about 30 percent of capacity. I wait two or three hours before somebody comes out, and the few people coming out use cheap transportation. Unless they’re doing business, they won’t take taxis.”

DeFreitas said doormen’s hours have been cut back, others have been sidelined temporarily until business picks back up, and the numbers of maids, servers and cooks in restaurants in the Washington metropolitan area is being reduced or increased depending on demand.

“All the others outside of the federal government who’re being affected have lost wages and may never recoup them,”

PATRICK FARRELL/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

In this file photo, Nathaniel Everett and Nathaniel Everett Jr., then 4 years old, enjoyed the annual MLK Parade on Jan. 16, 2017 in Miami. MLK parades are occurring around the country this weekend.

Read some of MLK’s most famous speeches and learn more about him on Pages A5, B1, B2, and B3.

See SHUTDOWN, Page A2

Hotel dishwasher awarded $21 million for working Sundays

BY MARCIA HEROUX POUNDS SUN SENTINEL / TNS

MIAMI ‒ A jury has awarded a Miami hotel dishwasher $21.5 million, concluding that her employer failed to honor her religious beliefs by repeatedly scheduling her to work on Sundays, then ultimately firing her.

The jury also awarded $35,000 in back wages and $500,000 for emotional pain and mental anguish.

Civil rights violations Marie Jean Pierre, a dish-

ALSO INSIDE

washer at the Conrad Miami, sued Virginia-based Park Hotels & Resorts, formerly known as Hilton Worldwide, for violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in 2017. The jury found for Pierre and the award was filed on Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Miami.

“You can’t discriminate when someone has a religious belief,” said Pierre’s Miamibased lawyer, Marc Brumer, citing the federal law. “You have to accommodate them.”

Pierre, a 60-year-old mother of six children, is a mem-

ber of the Soldiers of Christ Church, a Catholic missionary group that helps the poor.

Brumer said Hilton argued in court that it never knew Pierre was a missionary, or why she always wanted Sundays off.

Told her bosses Pierre said she notified her employer from the beginning that she couldn’t work on Sundays due to her religious beliefs, according to the lawsuit.

But in 2009, the hotel began scheduling her on Sundays.

Pierre told her employer she

would have to leave her job.

The hotel then accommodated her request until 2015.

But then late that year, Pierre’s schedule was changed again to include Sundays, and she sought a letter from her pastor.

In 2016, Jean Pierre was fired for alleged misconduct, negligence and “unexcused absences,” according to the lawsuit.

Hilton ‘disappointed’ “We are very disappointed by the jury’s verdict, and See DISHWASHER, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS

FLORIDA | A3

NATION | A6

Hastings battling pancreatic cancer

Q&A on Russia investigation

Jewish judge named to Supreme Court

Second man dies in Dem donor’s home

COMMENTARY: JOHNNY MCCRAY JR.: B-CU PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH HALTED IN JUDGES’ SELF-INTERESTS | A4 COMMENTARY: BRUCE DIXON: AN ANALYSIS OF THE GREEN PART OF THE ‘GREEN NEW DEAL’ | A4

A2

FOCUS

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

Low wages, rising housing costs fuel senior homelessness PHILADELPHIA ‒ If current trends continue, the number of aging homeless people will more than double in three major metropolitan areas, straining social and medical services, a report released this week concluded. It said that improvements in housing plus services aimed at preventing medical crises could sometimes save cities money.

The report was the work of researchers from several universities, including the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware and was funded by four foundations. Data from New York, Boston, and Los Angeles County were analyzed.

signed and staffed to handle. The city is working with area hospitals to provide better transitional care for homeless patients who no longer need hospital treatment but are too sick to live safely in most city shelters.

The report said the coming boom in aging homeless people stems from younger, less educated baby boomers who faced economic challenges in their youth: falling wages and rising housing costs. A disproportionate number wound up homeless, an effect that has persisted for decades.

Now in their 50s and 60s, they are biologically older than most people their age and already facing the medical problems of aging.

Older and sicker

Substantial increase

Philadelphia’s homeless shelters also are struggling with an influx of older homeless people who have complex medical problems the shelters are not de-

The report projected that the number of homeless people 65 and up will grow from 570 in 2017 to 1,560 in Boston by 2030, from a little above 5,000 to 13,900 in Los

BY STACEY BURLING THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER / TNS

BRIAN VAN DER BRUG/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Homeless people set up tarps and tents in downtown Los Angeles in May 2016.

Angeles, and from 2,600 to 6,900 in New York.

The national population of people 65 or older experiencing homelessness is estimated to grow from 40,000 to 106,000 by 2030. The predicted spike is based on 30 years of existing census data.

New York spends an average of $25,000 on homeless people age 55 to 59, a figure that rises to more

than $28,000 in people aged 70 and up. That includes the cost of shelter, emergency department visits, inpatient hospitalization, and nursing-home stays. Costs hovered around $20,000 in the other cities.

Major savings possible The researchers said the cities likely could save money, espe-

SHUTDOWN

al shutdown in U.S. history. Economic experts say if it lasts two more weeks, the cost to the economy will exceed the price of the wall.

Diane Stevens, owner of the Cole Stevens Salon, and Clayton Lawson, an area barber, said the apprehension is palpable.

Stevens’ company has 49 employees and two locations, one on Capitol Hill and the other in Greenbelt, Md. She said they are just beginning to feel the effects of the shutdown, but she still expects a spike.

“The beginning of the year is the time to do a splash of highlights, get a new haircut or different style for workouts. (But) we’ve been looking at the numbers and we’ve seen a decrease, probably around 25 percent,” she said.

from A1

he said. “Nobody is saying how it directly and indirectly affects other people.”

Closing up early Fela Sekou Turner, a hairstylist located in the heart of the nation’s capital, caters to clientele who work for federal and D.C. governments.

“More of what we’re seeing is the experiences people are going through,” said Turner, a 23-year veteran and owner of Hair by Fela. “For example, we’re wrapping up our last clients at 5 on Friday when usually we’re not getting off ‘til 10 p.m. or 11. Our salon, and those of our friends, have really been affected by this.”

By “this,” Turner means a partial shutdown of 11 federal agencies initiated by President Donald Trump on Dec 22. He made that move because he’s upset congressional Democratic leaders have refused to agree to give him $5.7 billion for a wall to be constructed on America’s southern border – the wall that he repeatedly, during his campaign, said that Mexico would pay for.

Evidence-free warnings For months, Trump has issued warnings about the influx of thousands of Central and Latin American migrants who he has wrongly branded murderers, drug dealers and terrorists.

The wall, he contends – despite evidence to the contrary – will keep out tens of thousands of Central and Latin American migrants from entering the country.

The president has threatened to declare a national security emergency, though none exists. He is

B-CU from A1

B-CU graduates would be qualified to take licensing exams for varied professions such as law and medicine.

Last year, SACS flagged B-CU’s lack of performance in what it called “core values and standards” including integrity, governing board characteristics, financial resources and control of finances, and gave the university a limited time to fix those issues.

An interim review of B-CU’s accreditation status is expected to happen in the next 90 days.

“I assure you that we are wholly committed to implementing the necessary corrective actions to address these areas of concern,” Grimes said.

“B-CU wasn’t put on (SACS) probation because of our academic programs. Our students remain eligible for financial aid, and 200 graduates continue to be prepared for graduate programs and ready to compete in the work force,” stated Grimes.

Blame and accomplishments In answering his own question “How did we get there,” referring

cially in the oldest, sickest group, by helping older homeless people find permanent housing and providing them with adequate medical and social support. They estimated that costs would rise in Boston, but that New York and Los Angeles County could save $20 million to $33 million a year by providing more housing and medical services.

BARRINGTON SALMON / TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

On Jan. 10, Lavette Lightford and Lori Mac, members of the National Treasury Employees Union, joined the AFL-CIO rally against the government shutdown and marched to the White House. using hyperbole and misleading statements about the criminality of brown-skinned immigrants to bolster his case, even though statistics show that immigrants commit less crimes than natural-born Americans.

Contrary to Trump’s characterizations, most of the migrants are running from gangs, violence and economic privations in their countries of origin.

Trump has stirred up fear among his base – majority White Americans. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have refused to budge.

Trump is promising to keep the federal government closed ‒ for years if necessary ‒ until Democrats accede to his demands.

As a consequence, approximately 800,000 federal workers have missed their last paycheck.

Approximately 420,000 workers

deemed essential employees are working without pay, and an additional 380,000 are on furlough ‒ forced to stay home without pay.

to the school’s precarious situation, Grimes mentioned a disastrous dorm deal that wasn’t properly vetted; an overstatement “or misinterpretation” of student enrollment numbers that were actually lower than what the university disclosed; and the university operating at a deficit for the last three years.

Grimes then went through a list of what seemed to be accomplishments with regard to meeting SACS’s core values and standards under his administration.

These include implementing zero-based budgeting; reducing personnel costs; reorganizing and reclassifying key positions in Fiscal Affairs and aligning them with what he called “core functions of financial management.”

ees the day before.

Most changes are expected to take place today, Jan. 18. Staffing levels, departments and operations are also being restructuring, and more cuts may be coming

Hiring consultants He also cited revised fiscal policies, processes, and controls, as well as the school hiring “marketleading advisory services” to help manage its mound of debt, restore its formerly high credit ratings, develop a financial restructuring strategy, and train trustees.

Grimes also mentioned implementation of campus-wide costsaving measures, including an operational budget freeze. He cited “reduced personnel costs,” but did not specifically mention pay cuts, furloughs, and layoffs that he set out in a letter to B-CU employ-

Permanent loss Meanwhile, tens of thousands of federal government contractors who are not full-time federal employees are not being paid and may never receive back pay, according to the Associated Press and other reports.

Fear, uncertainty and frustration is simmering as people try to figure out how to pay rent, mortgages, school fees, tuition and childcare, make car payments, determine what to cut back on, surmise what to eliminate ‒ and still take care of utilities and other facets of modern life that demand their money.

“I didn’t anticipate that it would last this long because of

More to come “While we have made adjustments to the university’s organizational makeup over the past several months, there is a need to make additional and substantial changes in order to save and restructure the university for longterm sustainability,” Grimes wrote in Tuesday’s letter.

Grimes didn’t detail how many jobs would be eliminated or the extent of pay cuts. In the video, he states, “These actions move us closer to regaining compliance and a stronger operating Bethune-Cookman University overall.”

Meanwhile, Grimes asked for support while changes are being made. As a flying drone shoots aerial video of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s statute on the campus, Grimes intones, “My friends, I hope that you will join us in prayer, join us in believing and having faith that we can get through this particular season.

“Has it been a challenge? Yes. Have we learned from this process? Absolutely. And we will continue to grow stronger provided that we have the support of Wild-

the optics. I thought it would last a week,” said Nurel Storey, vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 22 and a 33-year employee of the Internal Revenue Service.

Hard-hit households “There is fear and anxiety.

There are a lot of single mothers, households where both parents work for the federal government, people with kids. They still have to eat, deal with bill collectors, take care of their homes.”

A recent Business Insider story points out that affected federal workers have more than $400 million in mortgage and rent payments due this month. That could cause turmoil in the U.S. housing market.

Yet, there’s no resolution or end in sight for a shutdown that on Jan. 12 became the longest federcat Nation in so doing,” he concluded.

The video ended with B-CU asking for help to raise $7.5 million by June 30, 2020 to keep its doors open, with “more details to come” according to the video.

Major challenges B-CU is now more $150 million in debt and facing several lawsuits. Its Fitch ratings, which give a measure of its creditworthiness, has been downgraded to junk-bond status, with the last rating just a month ago marking the third straight year of a downgrade.

Grimes’s update comes amid a bitter rift between himself and Board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman Dr. Michelle Carter-Scott, and of protests and recrimina-

Discounts, free meals Meanwhile, restaurants and an assortment of eateries have been offering affected workers free coffee, pizzas, burgers and other meals, according to published reports. Churches in and around D.C. have appealed for contributions to their food banks to assist furloughed federal workers and others during the hard times.

Establishments are offering entrance into activities at community and fitness centers and private museums.

Turner, a Pittsburgh native, says this outpouring of support he’s seeing from regular people is unprecedented.

“I’ve never seen people come together as much as they have.

On Facebook, people are giving groceries and discounts on business services,” he said. “So many people are saying, ‘No, we won’t let this happen.’ When people pull together, a great deal can be done.

This will bring a certain unity we haven’t had before. I think people will learn to take care of each other.” tions from other B-CU stakeholders.

Just days earlier, B-CU’s National Alumni Associated marched and protested, calling for all members of the BOT to resign.

Alumni also want to see a forensic audit alleged commissioned by the BOT which has never been publicly released.

A day before the NAA protest, Trustee Belvin Perry, a retired circuit court judge, also called for Carter-Scott’s resignation. Perry blasted Scott for allegedly hindering Grimes from doing his job.

Last year, Grimes agreed to stay at B-CU as interim president until February, when a national search of the university’s next president is expected to be completed.

DISHWASHER from A1

don’t believe that it is supported by the facts of this case or the law,” a Hilton spokeswoman said. “We intend to appeal, and demonstrate that the Conrad Miami was and remains a welcoming place for

all guests and employees.”

Brumer said while there’s a $300,000 cap on punitive damage awards in federal court, he expects Pierre to receive between $300,000 to $500,000.

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

FLORIDA

A3 Praise for DeSantis Luck noted comments in DeSantis’ inaugural speech last week that justices should not “legislate from the bench” and should make the state and federal constitutions their “supreme” guide.

“I swear to you governor, I will keep that oath today, tomorrow, and God willing, for the next 35 years,” Luck said, referring to his taking the oath to uphold the state and federal constitutions.

Luck also praised DeSantis for his support of moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and for his support of funding Jewish day schools across the state.

On faith and job

CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, names Judge Robert Luck, third from the left, to the Supreme Court. Luck is shown with his parents, Joey and Susie Luck, his son and daughter, Jacob and Julia, and his wife, Jennifer Luck, who is not seen, inside the media center at Scheck Hillel Community School in Miami.

DeSantis names Jewish Miami judge to Supreme Court Luck, at 39, could serve as justice until he’s 75.

BY LLOYD DUNKELBERGER NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday appointed a second Miami-Dade County appellate judge to fill a vacancy on the Florida Supreme Court.

DeSantis tapped Robert J. Luck, a 39-year-old judge on the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal, to fill the second of three vacancies on the high court. Last week, DeSantis appointed Barbara Lagoa, who had served as chief judge of the Miami-based appellate court, to the Supreme Court.

Filling the court vacancies, which is taking place because three justices faced a mandatory retirement age, is one of the most-important early tasks for DeSantis, who became governor last week.

Another appointment

‘Formidable force’ He is expected to announce the appointment of a third justice from the remaining field of nine candidates shortly.

“Really across the board, people who know him, like him and respect him. So I think not only will he be a formidable force on the Florida Supreme Court, I think he will immediately have the respect of all his colleagues on that court and beyond,” DeSantis said about Luck.

Luck, a graduate of the University of Florida Law School, will be the youngest member of the Supreme Court and could potentially serve until he is 75 years old.

But despite his relative youth, Luck has a broad legal resume.

Jobs, references A native of Miami-Dade County, he has served as a law clerk to a federal appellate judge. He worked about five years as a federal prosecutor in Miami.

But Luck made a distinction between his deep Jewish faith and his role as a judge. He said he and others use their faith “to guide their moral principles and their ethical decision-making.”

“But I think it’s very different from my job as a judge,” he said, adding his judicial role would be guided by constitutional principles.

Luck also noted he is the first Jewish justice to be appointed to the Supreme Court in more than 20 years. Justice Barbara Pariente, who is Jewish and was first appointed to the court in 1997, retired Tuesday along with justices R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince.

Judge Robert Luck, center, is congratulated by well-wishers while standing next to his family inside the media center at Scheck Hillel Community School.

Gov. Rick Scott appointed him to a circuit court seat in MiamiDade in 2013, and Scott elevated him to the appellate court in March 2017.

His references included former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero, U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and Edward Carnes, chief judge for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

DeSantis, a Harvard Law graduate, noted Luck’s skills as a legal writer. “He was born to be a judge. There’s just no doubt about it,” DeSantis said.

Touted humble roots The announcement was made at the Scheck Hillel Communi-

ty School, a Jewish day school in Miami-Dade where Luck started kindergarten more than three decades ago. He and his wife, Jennifer, have a son and a daughter who now attend the school.

In accepting the appointment, Luck talked about the workingclass roots of his family members and their deep ties to the MiamiDade community.

“Two generations after my grandfather sliced brisket at a deli, one generation after my fatherin-law slept on the basement floor of his boss’ T-shirt shop, so he could save as much money as possible, I am here having been sworn in as a justice of the highest court in the state,” Luck said.

Once completed, DeSantis’ appointments to replace the three retiring justices are expected to establish a solid conservative majority on the court, more likely to uphold decisions by the Republican-led Legislature and the GOP governor.

House Speaker Jose Oliva, RMiami Lakes, said Luck’s appointment should help bring about more “judicial restraint” on the state’s highest court.

“Justice Luck’s vocal repudiation of judicial activism and opposition to legislating from the bench is both a refreshing and reassuring judicial philosophy,” Oliva said in a statement.

No Black finalists But state Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, noted that DeSantis’ appointments are likely to leave the court without a Black justice for the first time since 1983.

Although six African-Americans were among 59 judges and lawyers who applied for the three court vacancies, the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission did not advance any Black applicants in its list of 11 finalists to DeSantis.

Thurston called upon DeSantis “to maintain diversity” on the court.

“We know there are candidates not being considered that are highly qualified and represent Florida’s diversity,” he said in a statement.

Florida congressman battling pancreatic cancer Hastings is the first Black elected to Congress from state since reconstruction

gress in 1992, the first elected African-American congressman from Florida since reconstruction. He represents a left-leaning majority-minority district that includes Miramar, Fort Lauderdale and parts of West Palm Beach.

He was a federal judge from 1979 through 1989, losing his seat after being impeached for bribery and perjury by the House of Representatives and convicted by the U.S. Senate.

Hastings easily won re-election in 2018 after defeating a little-known primary challenger and a write-in candidate.

BY DAVID J. NEAL AND ALEX DAUGHERTY MIAMI HERALD/TNS

MIAMI – Democratic U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, the longest-serving member of Congress from Florida, announced Monday afternoon that he has pancreatic cancer and is undergoing treatment in Washington at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Hastings, 82, said he feels optimistic about his prognosis.

“I was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and in the midst of this traumatizing news, I found myself wondering not only if I would survive this disease, but also if it would impact my ability to perform my duties,” Hastings said in a statement.

“Now that I have begun treatment, I feel hopeful about survival and about my ability to continue serving my constituents of Florida’s 20th Congressional District and the nation.”

No missed vote The recent diagnosis hasn’t affected his attendance in Congress.

Hastings has showed up for every recorded vote since the new Congress began on Jan. 3.

‘Battle worth fighting’

TONG WU/MCCLATCHY WASHINGON BUREAU/TNS

“I have been convinced that this is a battle worth fighting, and my life is defined by fighting battles worth fighting,” U.S. Rep. Alcee L. Hastings said about cancer diagnosis.

“The people of South Florida have been fortunate to have @ RepHastingsFL fighting for them for decades,” Rep. Ted Deutch, DFla., tweeted. “Now let’s be there for him in this fight.”

In an interview with the Miami Herald on Jan. 11, Hastings, known for his colorful criticism of President Donald Trump, blasted the president’s handling of the ongoing government shut-

down.

At odds with Trump He also talked with Florida Republican Rep. Francis Rooney about bringing climate change experts to testify in Washington before Florida’s congressional delegation.

“Do the visual of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands losing their hospitals, do the visual of

a whole town obliterated in fire and now he’s going to come and say because a handful of people are trying to come to this country that’s a national emergency?”

Hastings said when asked about Trump reportedly considering disaster relief funds to build a border wall. “Come on.”

Former federal judge Hastings was elected to Con-

According to the Mayo Clinic website, “Pancreatic cancer typically spreads rapidly to nearby organs. It is seldom detected in its early stages.”

The National Institutes of Health’s statistics show that 8.5 percent of men and women diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the U.S. survived 5 years or more from 2008-14.

“My doctors have stated that the advancement in the treatment of cancer is evolutionary and the success rates continue to climb resulting in a dramatic decrease in the number of cancerrelated deaths,” Hastings said.

“I have been convinced that this is a battle worth fighting, and my life is defined by fighting battles worth fighting. Should it become clear that this cancer which has invaded my body cannot be defeated, I will tell you so.”

EDITORIAL

A4

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

B-CU presidential search halted in judges’ self-interests Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) has been victimized enough by greed, selfinterest, incompetence, and cronyism.

On Jan. 11, Belvin Perry, a member of the BCU Board of Trustees (BOT) cohosted a press conference with his longtime friend, colleague, and confidante, Interim President Hubert Grimes. It is painfully apparent that Perry and Grimes ‒ both retired circuit court judges ‒ are working in lock-step to avert the hiring of a new president.

Who empowered Perry to speak on behalf of the BOT in a press conference? Why did Perry choose to deliver his public remarks as a capstone to Grimes’ anemic “State of the University” address?

What Perry wants As Perry addressed the press, he prefaced his self-righteous pronouncements as being occasioned by an obligation to speak out due to the “cloak of darkness” that has befallen B-CU as a result of several attempts by the BOT to terminate Grimes.

He stated his intention to seek the removal of BOT Chair Michelle Carter-Scott for alleged bylaw violations stemming from her efforts to add three new members to the BOT following the resignation of several members in recent months, which dwindled the BOT down from 35 members to 10.

Also, Perry is calling for a halt to the current search for a president to replace Grimes.

The search is being conducted by a committee convened by the BOT, which engaged AGB Search, a nationally reputed firm specializing in executive searches exclusively for higher education institutions.

Didn’t reveal self-interest What’s most troubling about Perry’s press conference is the “cloak of darkness” draped over his self-righteous public revelations. Perry failed to disclose that he, without resigning from the BOT, injected himself into the search process as a candidate to become B-CU president,

JOHNNY L. MCCRAY, JR., ESQ. GUEST COMMENTARY

For B-CU to have any hope of survival, the presidential search must continue and the BOT must be reconstituted. Let us exercise diligence and prudence in selecting qualified stewards who can restore the values upon which B-CU was founded. To do so, we must start afresh. but his candidacy was summarily rejected by the search committee. Perry failed to make the first cut and was never granted an interview.

Does Perry now have an ax to grind, since the search committee aborted his efforts to lead the B-CU? Is Perry’s decisionmaking self-serving, or can he be trusted to make objective decisions in the best interests of BCU after his failed and surreptitious bid to become its next president?

Conspicuously absent from Perry’s public diatribe against Carter-Scott is his failure to reveal his beneficiary status, as he stands to gain from Carter-Scott’s removal. Perry is the vice-chair of the BOT. He would assume Carter-Scott’s leader-

Raising the bar on the ‘Green New Deal’ There’s a lot of talk lately about the Green New Deal.

The phrase was first used in the U.S. by Howie Hawkins, the Green party candidate for governor in New York state in 2010, 2014 and 2018. Howie says he stole it from the European Greens who’d been intrigued by the old American New Deal of the 1930s under Franklin Roosevelt.

What it means European Greens wanted to regulate the banking sector, something we can’t seem to do here. They wanted to raise wages, to shorten working weeks, to stimulate the economy with massive infrastructure upgrades and repair, and to pay for the whole thing with higher taxes on the rich ‒all of that straight out of the playbook of the 1930s ‒ plus putting the economies of their countries on a path to zero emissions.

Their vision included giving away the new green technologies, enabling such a transition to the Global South as reparations. Altogether it was a really ambitious and humane extension upon the old New Deal.

Some American Greens told Howie Hawkins that this was Democrat stuff; he replied that it was stuff rank-and-file Dem-

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

ocrats still wanted. Democratic politicians, being who and what they are, had never been willing or able to deliver.

It’s possible There was a wealth of reputable studies asserting that given the political will, it should be possible to get the U.S. economy to zero emissions by 2030, so that became the package upon which Hawkins based his 2010 NY gubernatorial campaign. Economic human rights, guaranteed jobs at living wages, decent housing for all, Medicare for All, curbing military spending, and an absolute ban on fracking ‒ which all the corporate-funded environmental organizations in 2010 in the Obama era were saying was “the bridge to the future.”

When Howie Hawkins was polling at 15 percent in 2014, Democrats put Zephyr Teachout in the governor’s race to bring him back down to 5 percent, but the fracking ban and some other

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: DONALD TRUMP AND VLADIMIR PUTIN

ship role if he is successful in his campaign to have her ousted.

We still remember Perry’s sophomoric antics clearly suggest he thinks alumni and supporters of the University are gullible or suffering terrible amnesia.

In addition to pushing his agenda to halt the presidential search, among other things, Perry called upon the BOT to conduct open meetings and allow the student government president voting rights. Suddenly, he has become an advocate for student government voting rights on the BOT and the restoration of the National Alumni Association (NAA) membership on the BOT. Why is Perry just now giving support to these issues after having been a trustee for at least the past four years? When the NAA had to wage a legal battle for its rightful place at the BOT’s table, where was Perry’s support?

When Grimes was first named interim president, I publicly stated that his appointment was ill-advised. Grimes does not possess the experience to make him qualified to serve as a university president, and he played an integral role in former President Edison Jackson’s administration at B-CU. Simply put, he was too close to Jackson, whose tenure at B-CU is marred by the now-infamous dorm deal, mismanagement and the continuing financial fallout.

A half-truth Grimes is correct in his repeated declarations that he was not the University’s general counsel during the dorm deal. However, the truth he fails to disclose is that Jackson appointed Grimes to represent his position during the negotiation of the dorm deal once B-CU’s then-general counsel, Darlene Bell Alexander, engaged an outside law firm to review the terms of the proposed transaction.

The thought of a diligent review of the transaction guided by the interests of the University so angered Jackson he brought

elements of the Green New Deal were also borrowed by some Democratic politicians. Eventually, New York adopted a statewide fracking ban.

Nationally known Howie Hawkins was part of the team which adapted the Green New Deal proposals to the campaign of Jill Stein, the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2012 and 2016. Stein was able to get on the ballot in all but three states. although she was banned from the debates and most corporate media coverage, her campaign did more to popularize the notion of a Green New Deal than anything that happened before.

Insurgent Democrat congressional campaigns all over the country were mouthing the words “Green New Deal.”

Though nearly all of them who had actual opposition from established Democrats lost, except Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and a couple others, the notion in some form or other is now part of the political language.

Even in the mouths of Democrats, the Green New Deal includes Medicare For All, a living wage, raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, and increased spending on infrastructure and education. Most Democrats ‒ even the so-called progressive ones, as we noted last year in Black Agenda Report ‒ refuse even to mention the military or the U.S. overseas empire, as if those things don’t exist.

DAVE GRANLUND, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

in Grimes to help get the deal off the ground. With Grimes at the helm to broker the deal, Jackson sought the removal of Bell-Alexander and moved to have the BOT confirm Grimes as general counsel.

While Grimes is beleaguered with his own baggage, Perry now stands as his convenient surrogate to rewrite the history of the dorm deal and Grimes’ intimate involvement in its negotiation and approval.

No personal knowledge At Friday’s press conference, Perry went so far as to dismiss what he described as “rumors” that Grimes was involved in the dorm deal. Shame on him!

Perry was neither on the BOT nor otherwise associated with B-CU when Jackson engaged Grimes to advance the dorm deal; he has no first-hand knowledge. Perry does, however, have ample motive to go to great lengths to ensure Grimes continues as interim president, especially with his own ambitions for presidency having been short-circuited.

My concerns about Perry and Grimes should in no way be construed as a pass for Carter-Scott.

She should also give way to new leadership and step down as chair of the BOT. Once a proud supporter of Jackson and the dorm deal, she has been caught in a power struggle with an ineffective interim president whom she once championed.

They’re all over the map too on the green part of the Green New Deal, with many supporting fracking bans and others not.

But that too is to be expected. Democrats are not so much united around policy positions as they are united behind their presidential candidates or their president ‒ when they have one in the White House ‒ or against the president, when a Republican occupies that office.

Jobs, other issues When Greens talk about a Green New Deal, they include jobs and affordable housing for everybody ‒ words you scarcely hear out of any Democrats’ mouths. Greens support a national fracking ban and placing the economy on a transition to zero emissions in the short run by leaving the oil, coal and gas deposits in the ground, finding other ways to generate the power we need, and guaranteeing the jobs of people in the transition ‒ also something you don’t hear from Democrats.

Greens also support drastic cuts in the military budget, the cessation of support for apartheid Israel, closing the empire of 1,000 U.S. military bases around the world, and more.

The New York Greens even have a state-level climate bill with multiple legislative sponsors which would commit local governments and the state’s agricultural, energy, transportation and other sectors to specific goals on the road

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.

Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Sales Manager

W W W.FLCOURIER.COM

Dr. Valerie Rawls-Cherry, Human Resources

Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1928-2004), Founder Julia T. Cherry, Senior Managing Member, Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Cassandra CherryKittles, Charles W. Cherry II, Managing Members

Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor Angela van Emmerik, Creative Director Chicago Jones, Eugene Leach, Louis Muhammad, Lisa Rogers-Cherry, Circulation Penny Dickerson, Staff Writer Duane Fernandez Sr., Kim Gibson, Photojournalists

MEMBER

Florida Press Association

National Newspaper Publishers Association

Society of Professional Journalists

National Newspaper Association

Associated Press

Diversionary tactic Perry and Grimes have strategically attempted to coalesce alumni and student leadership to mount an aggressive campaign to target Carter-Scott, while diverting attention away from Grimes, who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the University. Perry, fully aware that Grimes has no meaningful game plan to save the University, spoke without specifics about the good things Grimes has accomplished.

Nonetheless, he blames Carter-Scott for Grimes’ inability to bring stability to the University.

Let’s face it. Grimes is out of his league in running a multimillion-dollar educational institution, as is his longtime friend, colleague, and confidante, Perry. Both selfserving former judges must go!

For B-CU to have any hope of survival, the presidential search must continue and the BOT must be reconstituted. Let us exercise diligence and prudence in selecting qualified stewards who can restore the values upon which B-CU was founded. To do so, we must start afresh.

Johnny L. McCray, Jr. is a Pompano Beach-based attorney. He graduated from Bethune-Cookman University in 1974 and served on its Board of Trustees from 2007 to 2016.

to zero emissions. If other Green parties on the state level are even minimally serious about pushing a Green New Deal, this is something we should expect to see them emulate and imitate in other states. It’s how we raise the bar.

Moving our state I’m in Georgia, and we expect to have a Georgia Green Climate Bill ready to walk the legislature with this session. We’ll be inviting legislators to sponsor and introduce it, or to borrow or steal provisions from it as they choose.

When our party achieves ballot access for 2020, our state legislative candidates will be running on its provisions, including a statewide fracking ban and a bar to imported fracked gas, job guarantees for displaced people in the energy sector, and the creation of milestone targets for sectors of our state’s economy on the road to zero emissions by 2030.

State level action like this is a vitally important part of building the constituency for and the sense of possibility around a Green New Deal and a just transition.

Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport. com. Contact him at bruce. dixon@blackagendareport. com.

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

Subscriptions to the print version are $69 per year. Mail check to P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, or log on to www.flcourier.com; click on ‘Subscribe’.

SUBMISSIONS POLICY SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS TO NEWS@FLCOURIER.COM. Deadline for submitting news and pictures is 5 p.m. the Monday before the Friday publication date. You may submit articles at any time. However, current events received prior to deadline will be considered before any information that is submitted, without the Publisher’s prior approval, after the deadline. Press releases, letters to the editor, and guest commentaries must be e-mailed to be considered for publication.

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

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

EDITORIAL

A5

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ ”

‘I HAVE A DREAM’ Here is the entire text of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

America’s promissory note In a sense, we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, – yes, Black men as well as White men – would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check – a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give FILE PHOTO us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of jus- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. waves to the massive crowd on Aug. 28, 1963, at the March on Washington. There, he delivered his fatice.

mous " I Have A Dream'' speech.

Now is the time We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of ‘Now.’ This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

No bitterness But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst

for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all White people, for many of our White brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?"

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has

nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Go back I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities – knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification” – one day right there in Alabama, little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little White boys and White girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day – this

will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that – Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, Black men and White men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Source: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ mlkihaveadream.htm

TOJ A6

NATION

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

MARK REINSTEIN/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Donald Trump, left, and Rick Gates are shown on stage during the sound checks in Quicken Arena for the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.

What don’t we know about Russia investigation?

Here’s where the case stands and some answers for inquiring minds

BY CHRIS MEGERIAN LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

WASHINGTON – Sometimes it feels as though the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has been one bombshell after another.

He has successfully prosecuted some of President Donald Trump’s closest aides and provided a detailed blueprint of Moscow’s attempts to interfere in U.S. politics.

But there’s still a lot we don’t know about the investigation, and some of the biggest questions of the case remain unanswered. Here’s where major issues in the case stand and what we’re still waiting to learn.

Question: What exactly was Moscow doing during the 2016 campaign?

Answer: This story line is the clearest part of Mueller’s investigation at this point since his team has used indictments to outline in detail a two-pronged effort by Russia to interfere with the U.S. election and boost Trump’s candidacy.

Robert Mueller

Paul Manafort

Michael Cohen

Rick Gates

The first involved the Internet Research Agency, a so-called troll farm based in St. Petersburg, Russia, that spread misinformation on social media.

The second utilized officers of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. They hacked Democratic Party emails and, posing as a Romanian hacker, provided them to WikiLeaks.

The messages were released at

several points during the campaign, starting shortly before the Democratic National Convention and continuing into the final weeks before the election, dominating news coverage at key moments.

Q. Was there a connection between WikiLeaks and Trump?

A. It’s clear that Trump was eager to capitalize on WikiLeaks during the campaign, even though considerable evidence existed at the time that the emails being released by the organization had been hacked by Russian operatives. Whether a more conspiratorial connection existed is an open question.

Most attention has centered on Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump, who may have tried to contact WikiLeaks. According to a draft court filing prepared by Mueller’s office, Stone asked Jerome Corsi, a right-wing writer, to reach out to the organization.

The filing does not say whether that effort was successful, and Corsi and Stone have denied any wrongdoing. But Mueller appears to have been building a criminal case involving WikiLeaks, including grand jury testimony from Stone’s associates.

Q. What was Paul Manafort trying to do?

A. An important and unex-

pected revelation became public last week when defense lawyers for Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, inadvertently disclosed that prosecutors believed he provided polling data to a Russian colleague in Ukraine.

The colleague, Konstantin Kilimnik, has been accused of having ties to Russian intelligence.

Manafort, who was convicted last year of bank fraud and tax evasion involving his work as an overseas political consultant, has denied any wrongdoing related to the election.

But we know prosecutors began investigating him because they suspected he might have served as a back channel to Russia during the campaign. And we know Manafort was working for Trump for free at a time when Manafort was deeply in debt.

Did the polling data find their way into the hands of Russian military intelligence or the Internet Research Agency? And was that Manafort’s intention in providing the information to Kilimnik? He hasn’t explained his actions.

Q. What else is Rick Gates telling prosecutors?

A. Gates worked for Manafort in Ukraine and later served as his deputy on Trump’s campaign. He testified against Manafort during his trial last year, providing the jury with detailed information on a scheme to avoid taxes and obtain fraudulent mortgages.

But prosecutors haven’t moved forward with sentencing Gates, who pleaded guilty to lying and conspiracy. That suggests Gates’ cooperation with the investigation hasn’t ended.

It’s unclear what he’s been telling the special counsel’s office, but Gates could shed light on a variety of issues. Not only did he serve at top levels of Trump’s campaign, but he also worked for Trump’s inaugural committee, which is reportedly under investigation as well.

Q. Could the Trump Tower meeting lead to charges?

A. One of the most infamous episodes to come to light during the investigation was a meeting at Trump Tower in New York a few weeks before the Republican convention.

It involved top campaign officials and a Russian lawyer who had promised to provide damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Before accepting the meeting, Donald Trump Jr. was told by an intermediary that the offer was backed by the Russian government.

“I love it,” he responded.

But the encounter has not been referred to in any of the court filings from Mueller’s office, and no one has been charged in connection with it. (The Russian lawyer has been charged with obstruction in a separate investigation involving money laundering.)

Among the investigation’s unanswered questions: Will Mueller determine that any laws were broken with that meeting? And will he confirm that the meeting actually represented a quasi-offi-

cial outreach by the Russian government?

Q. What about that plan for a Trump Tower in Moscow?

A. Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his pursuit of a Moscow real estate deal that had been a goal of Trump’s for decades.

He admitted to speaking with a Russian government office about the proposal, which he previously had denied, and downplayed how often he discussed the initiative with Trump or his family. Cohen had claimed the idea was abandoned before the Iowa caucuses in January 2016, when it actually remained in the works until after Trump secured the Republican nomination.

The disclosure shed new light on Trump’s push for closer relations with Moscow while he was a presidential candidate _ his personal business would have benefited.

But it’s unclear how the proposal might factor into other questions involving the election: Did Russians wield some kind of financial leverage over Trump?

Was the project discussed in conjunction with Moscow’s support for Trump’s candidacy?

Q. Did anyone else lie to Congress?

A. Cohen’s guilty plea could be an ominous sign for others who have testified on Capitol Hill.

Democrats say they believe some people who appeared before the House Intelligence Committee weren’t honest with lawmakers, and they want to provide the full transcripts to Mueller.

Since the special counsel has already proved willing to press charges when people lie to Congress, more charges could be on the way if prosecutors decide there are additional crimes.

Q. Did the president obstruct justice?

A. We know that Mueller has been examining whether Trump obstructed justice by trying to influence the outcome of the Russia investigation. So far that review hasn’t produced any criminal charges or public statements from the special counsel implicating the president.

This part of the investigation could end up being one of the most serious threats to Trump’s presidency. Obstruction was one of the charges against President Bill Clinton when he was impeached. President Richard Nixon was expected to face the same charge before he resigned, avoiding impeachment.

Some of the key episodes that could factor into an obstruction case are already public knowledge, most notably Trump’s decision to fire James B. Comey as FBI director and his subsequent explanation that “this Russia thing” was on his mind at the time.

White House lawyers argue that a president can’t be accused of obstruction for acts that fall within his constitutional powers, including firing senior officials.

Man who died in Dem donor’s home was second in two years

BY HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS, HANNAH FRY AND RICHARD WINTON LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County coroner’s office on Thursday identified the man who died last week in the home of Ed Buck, longtime Democratic donor, as 55-year-old Timothy Dean of West Hollywood.

Dean worked at the department store Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills and was active in a religious group, according to law enforcement sources. He also once worked in the adult film industry, one law enforcement source said.

Buck’s West Ed Hollywood apartBuck ment has been the scene of the apparent overdose deaths of two Black men in the last two years, authorities said.

Law enforcement officials have placed a security hold on the case and will release no further details, said Sarah Ardalani, a spokeswoman for the coroner’s office.

Apparent overdose Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide detectives are investigating Dean’s death. His body was found just after 1 a.m. Jan. 7 in Buck’s Laurel Avenue apartment.

Buck’s attorney, Seymour Amster, said Dean died of an apparent overdose.

Buck, a 64-year-old White man, previously was investigated in the July 2017 death of Gemmel Moore, 26, a Black man who died of a methamphetamine overdose in Buck’s apartment, which was littered with drug paraphernalia, according to a Los Angeles County coroner’s report. Prosecutors this summer declined to file charges.

Donated to Obama Buck is a one-time West Hollywood City Council candidate and well-known figure in LGBTQ political circles.

In the past, Buck has donated money to President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, former state Sen. Kevin de León, West Hollywood city council candidates and numerous other politicians.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., announced he would donate more than $18,000 in cam-

WALLY SKALIJ/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Friends, family and supporters gather for a candelight vigil outside the West Hollywood Sheriff’s station on Aug. 18, 2017 in West Hollywood, Calif. Gemmel Moore was found dead of a drug overdose in the home of prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck. Another man’s body was found last week at Buck’s home. paign contributions he received from Buck to LGBTQ and African -American civil rights organizations.

At both deaths The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Buck was present at the time of Dean’s death — as he was when Moore died — and that there would be a secondary review of the Moore case.

Amster said Dean was an “old friend” of Buck’s who ingested a substance at another location and “came over intoxicated.”

Buck, he said, was not arrested in either case and was cooperat-

ing with authorities.

Nana Gyamfi, a Los Angeles attorney, released a statement on behalf of Moore’s mother, LaTisha Nixon of Texas, saying Dean’s death is the “direct result of the failure of law enforcement and District Attorney Jackie Lacey to charge and prosecute Ed Buck for the murder of Gemmel Moore and the crimes he committed against all of his victims.”

‘White privilege’ In 2017, Gyamfi told the Los Angeles Times she represented at least three Black men who complained about Buck and that she was seeking a way for them

to speak to law enforcement with immunity from prosecution for other potential crimes, such as drug use or prostitution.

Gyamfi said last week that “deputies continually and consistently ignored every witness,” including those with screenshots of communications with Buck.

“We know that Ed Buck has escaped any level of discomfort as a result of Gemmel’s death because of White privilege,” Gyamfi said in the statement.

“If a young White man was found dead in a wealthy Black man’s apartment with syringes and drugs all around, that Black man would have been handcuffed and taken directly to jail.”

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

IFE/FAITH

among celebs performing in state next month See page B4

JAN. 18 – JAN. 24, 2019

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

High school stars showcase talents in Under Armour game See page B4

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

|

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

SECTION

B

S

“Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream….’’

“And so we still have a long, long way to go before we reach the promised land of freedom.’’

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Editor’s note: The question Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. posed decades ago still resonates in 2019.

Here is an edited excerpt of the annual report he delivered at the 11th convention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Aug. 16, 1967 in Atlanta.

In spite of a decade of significant progress, the Negro still lives in the basement of the Great Society.

He is still at the bottom, despite the few who have penetrated to slightly higher levels. Even where the door has been forced partially open, mobility for the Negro is still sharply restricted. There is often no bottom at which to start, and when there is there’s almost no room at the top. In consequence, Negroes are still impoverished aliens in an affluent society. They are too poor even to rise with the society, too impoverished by the ages to be able to ascend by using their own resources.

Left behind And the Negro did not do this himself; it was done to him. For more than half of his American history, he was enslaved. Yet, he built the spanning bridges and the grand mansions, the sturdy docks and stout factories of the South. His unpaid labor made cotton “King” and established America as a significant nation in international commerce.

Even after his release from chattel slavery, the nation grew over him, submerging him. It became the richest, most powerful society in the history of man, but it left the Negro far behind.

And so we still have a long, long way to go before we reach the promised land of freedom.

Yes, we have left the dusty soils of Egypt, and we have crossed a Red Sea that had for years been hardened by a long and piercing winter of massive resistance, but before we reach the majestic shores of the promised land, there will still be gigantic mountains of opposition ahead and prodigious hilltops of injustice.

We still need some Paul Revere of conscience to alert every hamlet and every village of America that revolution is still at hand. We need some North Star to guide us into a future shrouded with impenetrable uncertainties.

In order to answer the question, “Where do we go from here?,” we must first honestly recognize where we are now.

SHABAN ATHUMAN/DALLAS MORNING NEWS/TNS

Frederick Douglass Haynes III talks to protesters during a protest on Sept. 10, 2018 at the Jack Evans Police Headquarters in Dallas, Texas over the shooting of Botham Shem Jean in his own home. Jean was killed by an officer on Sept. 6 when she went to the wrong apartment on her way home. the “black sheep.”

Ossie Davis has suggested that maybe the English language should be reconstructed so that teachers will not be forced to teach the Negro child sixty ways to despise himself, and thereby perpetuate his false sense of inferiority, and the White child 134 ways to adore himself, and thereby perpetuate his false sense of superiority.

Free your mind

Not a whole person When the Constitution was written, a strange formula to determine taxes and representation declared that the Negro was sixty percent of a person. Today another curious formula seems to declare he is fifty percent of a person.

Of the good things in life, the Negro has approximately one half those of Whites. Of the bad things of life, he has twice those of Whites. Thus, half of all Negroes live in substandard housing. And Negroes have half the income of Whites.

When we turn to the negative experiences of life, the Negro has a double share: There are twice as many unemployed; the rate of infant mortality among Negroes is double that of Whites; and there are twice as many Negroes dying in Vietnam as Whites in proportion to their size in the population.

In other spheres, the figures

JESSICA GRIFFIN/PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/TNS

Niani Marz protests inside Starbucks at 18th and Spruce Streets on April 16, 2018 in Philadelphia. Protestors were inside the Starbucks protesting the arrest of two AfricanAmerican males from the coffee shop a week prior after an employee called police. are equally alarming. In elementary schools, Negroes lag one to three years behind Whites, and their segregated schools receive substantially less money per student than the White schools.

One-twentieth as many Negroes as Whites attend college. Of employed Negroes, seventy-five percent hold menial jobs.

What should we do?

First, we must massively assert our dignity and worth. We must no longer be ashamed of being Black. The job of arousing

manhood within a people that have been taught for so many centuries that they are nobody is not easy.

In Roget’s Thesaurus there are some 120 synonyms for blackness and at least sixty of them are offensive, such words as blot, soot, grim, devil, and foul. And there are some 134 synonyms for whiteness and all are favorable, expressed in such words as purity, cleanliness, chastity, and innocence. A white lie is better than a black lie. The most degenerate member of a family is

forces of power dedicated to the preserving of the status quo.

Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, and economic change…Now a lot of us are preachers, and all of us have our moral convictions and concerns, and so often we have problems with power. But there is nothing wrong with power if power is used correctly.

As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery. No Lincolnian Emancipation Proclamation, no Johnsonian civil rights bill can totally bring this kind of freedom.

And with a spirit straining toward true self-esteem, the Negro must boldly throw off the manacles of self-abnegation and say to himself and to the world, “I am somebody. I am a person. I am a man with dignity and honor. I have a rich and noble history, however painful and exploited that history has been. Yes, I was a slave through my foreparents and now I’m not ashamed of that. I’m ashamed of the people who were so sinful to make me a slave.”

Yes, yes, we must stand up and say, “I’m Black but I’m Black and beautiful.” This self-affirmation is the Black man’s need, made compelling by the White man’s crimes against him.

‘Anemic’ love

Economics, politics

Now we must develop a program that will drive the nation to a guaranteed annual income.

We realize that dislocations in the market operation of our economy and the prevalence of discrimination thrust people into idleness and bind them in constant or frequent unemployment against their will. The poor are less often dismissed, I hope, from our conscience today by being branded as inferior and incompetent.

Now another basic challenge is to discover how to organize our strength in to economic and political power.

The plantation and the ghetto were created by those who had power, both to confine those who had no power and to perpetuate their powerlessness.

Now the problem of transforming the ghetto, therefore, is a problem of power, a confrontation between the forces of power demanding change and the

What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.

Now what has happened is that we’ve had it wrong and mixed up in our country, and this has led Negro Americans in the past to seek their goals through love and moral suasion devoid of power, and White Americans to seek their goals through power devoid of love and conscience. It is leading a few extremists today to advocate for Negroes the same destructive and conscienceless power that they have justly abhorred in Whites. It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our times.

Employment or income

See MLK, Page B4

REMEMBERING MLK 2019

B2

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

STOJ

A LONG AND DIFFICULT PATH TO FREEDOM

BY JEAN NASH JOHNSON THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

Martin Luther King Jr.: The name is universal, etched into the American psyche.

Ask any schoolchild and he probably can recite Dr. King’s many civil rights accomplishments.

But long before there was a March on Washington, a Memphis sanitation workers’ strike, bus boycotts, sit-ins, freedom rides and an MLK holiday, champions not often found in U.S. history textbooks were making their own marks for freedom.

Dating back to the pre-Revolutionary War period, slavery, abolition and the Jim Crow-era of segregation, other lessknown Americans fought the good fight.

Here is a celebration of centuries of unsung heroes who paved the way for the modern civil rights movement. Pre-1700s • When Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón moved from Spain to settle in what is now Jamestown, Va., he brought Africans with him. He founded a colony that thrived until the mid-1520s, when he died and was replaced by a more repressive leader.

Africans fought the new regime, and many fled and established their own colony in Virginia.

The 1700s • Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave, is believed to be the first American to die in the Revolutionary War. On March 5, 1770, Attucks was at the head of a crowd of rowdy Bostonians taunting British soldiers.

He was believed to have provoked the attack by striking one of the soldiers. The soldiers shot Attucks and 10 other Americans, killing or fatally wounding five of them.

• In 1730, 96 slaves aboard the ship Little George gained control of the vessel from the crew. Some White crew members were thrown overboard, and others were sequestered. The Africans successfully navigated the ship back to Africa, where they escaped to freedom.

• Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was born about 1742 and worked for Col. John Ashley, one of Massachusetts’ wealthiest merchants.

Her face was badly scarred when she took a blow from a hot kitchen shovel intended for her sister. Freeman later fled the Ashley house, vowing never to return. Col. Ashley attempted to recover her legally, but Freeman sought help from attorney Theodore Sedgwick, insisting that she could argue for her freedom. The law said that all were born free and equal, and she said she was certainly included.

Sedgwick took the case and won. The jury even awarded Freeman damages.

Her case set the precedent in Massachusetts that the Bill of Rights in fact abolished slavery.

The 1800s • Black nationalist Henry Highland Garnet was one of the more militant antislavery leaders in the early 19th century.

Along with Frederick Douglass, he was a major player in the abolitionist movement. He argued in 1864 at the National Convention of Colored Citizens in Syracuse, N.Y., that Black people should be equal to Whites and live separately. He had said this to one resistance group: “Brethren arise, arise. Strike for your lives and liberties.

Now is the day and the hour: Let every slave throughout the land do this, and the days of slavery are numbered.”

• On July 2, 1839, the most famous slaveship rebellion took place aboard the Spanish vessel La Amistad.

While the ship was transporting cap-

People throughout history helped pave the way for King and civil rights

tured Africans along the Cuban coast, the slaves, led by Joseph Cinque, tried unsuccessfully to redirect the ship to Africa.

The USS Washington captured the ship, and the slaves were taken to New London, Conn.

The mutiny case went before the U.S. Supreme Court, where Cinque and his fellow Africans were represented by former President John Quincy Adams and won the right to return to Africa.

• In the mid-1800s, Harriet Tubman was one of the formidable conductors of the Underground Railroad, the system that helped slaves, mostly in the South, escape to freedom. Tubman was the most famous, but other Blacks and Whites played pivotal roles in the system’s success.

Levi Coffin, a Quaker, helped nearly 2,000 runaway slaves, and Washington, D.C., cab operator Leonard Grimes used his cab not only to taxi wealthy Whites, but also to carry slaves to freedom.

Tubman was never captured, but Grimes was apprehended on one of his trips to Virginia and spent two years in prison in Richmond. Coffin and other Whites who risked their lives were rarely arrested.

• Abraham Lincoln called author Harriet Beecher Stowe the little woman who started the Civil War. With the publication of her “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1852, she denounced slavery with her sympathetic portrayal of the slave Uncle Tom. Her characterization of Tom as a human being set off a new attitude among Northerners toward slaves. The book became a play, which toured the North.

• John Brown is one of the most widely known White abolitionists. He believed he was sent by God to abolish slavery.

With funding from New England antislavery organizations, he and his followers raided several of Virginia’s established plantations. In 1859, with fewer than 50 men, he raided an arsenal at Harpers Ferry,Va., to get ammunition to level an attack on Virginia slave owners. He was captured by Robert E. Lee and hanged after a trial, where he was convicted of “treason, conspiracy and advising slaves and others to rebel and murder in the first degree.”

Brown was urged by his lawyer to plead insanity, but he refused.

Of the five Blacks who also were caught, two were killed fighting U.S. troops, two were hanged, and one escaped.

• J In 1800, Denmark Vesey was allowed to buy his freedom for the $600 he won in a Charleston, S.C., street lottery.

The West-Indian-born Vesey was familiar with the Haitian slave revolt of the 1790s and became dissatisfied with his second-class citizenship. He also was aware that others with no freedom were worse off. In 1822, a frustrated Vesey planned an uprising ofcity and plantation Blacks.

The plan was recorded as the most extensive slave revolt in U.S. history, calling for the radicals to seize guardhouses and arsenals, take arms, kill all Whites, burn and destroy Charleston and subsequently free the slaves.

Though it is a disputed figure, it was believed that 6,000 to 9,000 Blacks were involved.

A Black house servant warned White authorities of the insurrection plan, and because of the massive military preparations to counterattack, Vesey’s plan remained stalled for two months. During that period, 130 Blacks were arrested, and in the trials that followed, 67 were convicted of an attempted insurrection.

Vesey was among about 35 of that number hanged. Four White men also were sent to prison for encouraging the plot.

• Many students of Black history are familiar with the great abolitionist Sojourner Truth, a popular speaker in the 1840s during the revival movement in the Northeast. Her folk manner and wry humor were disarming to many anti-abolitionists. What is probably not as wellknown is Sojourner Truth’s active role in equal rights for women. In the 1850s, she was one of the first Black women to participate in the women’s rights movement.

During one speech on women’s rights, a man questioned her gender and she bared her breast at great embarrassment to him.

• Pennsylvania abolitionist and physician Martin Delaney was one of the few educated Blacks of his time, and he used his intellect to launch a militant opposition to slavery. In the 1840s he started a weekly newspaper, the Mystery, which printed grievances of American Blacks and also championed women’s rights. The newspaper had an outstanding reputation, and its stories often were reprinted in the mainstream White press. In the late 1840s, Delaney worked with abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass in Rochester, N.Y., where they published another weekly, the North Star.

Delaney also was one of the first Blacks to be admitted to Harvard Medical School. He later helped recruit troops for the renowned Civil War 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, which he served as a surgeon. In February 1865, the doctor was made a major, the first Black man to receive a regular Army commission.

The 1900s • There’s no disputing Booker T. Washington’s place in Black history. But his behind-the-scenes operating style is not as commonly known. For instance, on Oct. 16, 1901, President Teddy Roosevelt broke with segregationists and invited the Black leader to dine at the White House. This infuriated Southern Whites but created pride in the Black community, in spite of opposition among some Black Americans to Washington’s moderate style.

Washington did not favor public political resistance by Blacks, but he constantly defended Black social and political rights.

He secretly helped finance efforts to end discrimination on Pullman railroad cars, and he contributed money to lawyers who fought to overturn Texas and Alabama laws that excluded Blacks from participating in juries.

• Trade unionist and civil rights leader Asa Philip Randolph was a strategic champion of fair labor practices for Blacks. In the early 1910s, he and activist Chandler Owen organized an employment agency for Black workers. In 1917, the two started The Messenger, a magazine that called for more positions in the war industry and the armed forces for Blacks. Randolph also established the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and began organizing Black workers groups. (Half the affiliates of the American Federation of Labor barred Blacks.)

When Randolph warned President Franklin D. Roosevelt that he would lead thousands in a protest march on Washington, the president issued an executive order June 25, 1941, that barred discrimination in defense industries and federal bureaus and created the Fair Employment Practices Committee.

After World War II, Randolph established the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation, which resulted in an executive order

by President Harry S. Truman banning segregation in the armed forces. The seed planted in 1941 led Randolph to help lead the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963.

• Social activist and writer Mary Church Terrell was co-founder and first president of the National Association of Colored Women, founded in 1896. Terrell was an advocate for women’s suffrage and Blacks’ rights. As a member of the integrated National American Woman Suffrage Association, she particularly fought for the concerns of Black women.

She was named to the District of Columbia Board of Education in 1895, the first Black woman to hold such a position. At the suggestion of W.E.B. Du Bois, she was made a charter member of the NAACP. In her final act as activist, Terrell led a successful three-year fight to end segregation in public eating places and hotels in Washington, D.C., in 1953.

• Newspaper editor and activist Charlotta Spears Bass argued so boldly for civil rights that many believed she was ahead of her time.

Her influential words and style were later used in the early days of the 1950s-’60s civil rights movement.

When she became editor in 1912 of the California Eagle, the oldest Black West Coast paper in the country, the paper directed its focus to political and social issues important to its constituency.

The paper often wrote about unfair treatment of Blacks in education, employment and politics. In doing so, Bass had to face down a strong Ku Klux Klan presence in California in the ’40s and ’50s.

She later went into politics, and in 1952 she became the first Black woman to run for vice president, campaigning for the Progressive Party.

• In the 1940s, actor/athlete Paul Robeson epitomized the use of celebrity influence against racism. The Rutgers graduate was best known for his dynamic theater portrayals in Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones” and “All God’s Chillun Got Wings,” and Shakespeare’s “Othello.”

He stirred his greatest controversy in the late ’40s when he publicly denounced U.S. policy against the Soviet Union, proclaiming that Blacks would not fight against a government that was free of racism and prejudice.

He was Blackballed from acting and targeted by the U.S. government. He was not granted a passport.

He also was stripped of his honors as an athlete. His name was removed from the list of All-Americans for the years he played for Rutgers, and he was refused membership in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Robeson never relented and insisted that he had the right to free speech against racism in America.

• It was the vision and influence of Ella Baker, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, that led to the creation of the pivotal Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Baker organized the group in 1960, insisting that students needed a voice and organization of their own. In a ’60s climate of rising Black anger, the committee criticized the conference and other groups such as the Congress of Racial Equality for their lack of immediate leadership in Black communities, and it later spun off, offering a more direct small-group approach to community involvement.

The group elected Stokely Carmichael as its leader in 1966. He coined the phrase “Black power” and led the group away from its original commitment to integration and toward the goal of separate community building.

STOJ

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

REMEMBERING MLK 2019

B3

HONORING AN ICON Celebrating the legacy of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr.

BY STACEY HOLLENBECK MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his mark on history during the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Motivated by his faith, King fought against the oppression of his fellow African-Americans by protesting segregation. His efforts to combat the injustices were met with hostility and hatred, and eventually led to his early death. But King’s drive to achieve harmony among the races led to the desegregation of the country and set America on the path toward racial equality.

NIKKI KAHN/MCT

Coretta Scott King, pictured here in 2003.

History of the day In 1986, nearly 18 years after his assassination, Americans celebrated the first Martin Luther King Day, a holiday established to pay homage to the preacher and inspirational leader. By this time, 17 states already had established holidays to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Coretta Scott King, his widow, worked hard to make the national holiday a reality.

In 2003, the theme of Martin Luther King Day became, “Remember!

Celebrate! Act! A day on, not a day off.” Although some professionals and students see the third Monday in January as a day off from work or school, others see it as an opportunity to volunteer their time. By working to improve their communities and help those in need, these Americans are acting on behalf of King’s generous spirit.

Famous quotes Through his eloquent speeches, sermons and writings, Martin Luther King Jr. inspired a nation. Here are a few of his most memorable and moving quotations: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

— “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963 “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

— King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Aug. 28, 1963 “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

— King’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Dec. 10, 1964 “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life — longevity has its place.

But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.

And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”

— King’s “I’ve Been to The Mountaintop” speech, April 3, 1968

Remember!

Celebrate! Act! To truly celebrate Martin Luther King Day and honor its “Day of Service” theme, Americans can work to improve the lives of those in need or help out in their communities. Here are some ways to celebrate the day through community service: • Bring meals to homebound neighbors • Shovel elderly neighbors’ walkways • Serve meals at a homeless shelter To find a volunteer opportunity near you, go to www.mlkday. gov and click “Find A Volunteer Opporutnity Now.''

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT DR. KING? How well do you know Martin Luther King Jr.? Test your knowledge about the civil rights leader whose legacy is celebrated every year.

1. How many children did King have?

A. 1 B. 3 C. 4 D. 5 TONY SPINA/DETROIT FREE PRESS

2. How old was King when he was assassinated?

A. 35 B. 39 C. 42 D. 50 3. King gave his famous, “I Have a Dream” speech Aug. 28, 1963, in front of what landmark in Washington, D.C.?

A. The Washington Monument B. The White House C. The Jefferson Memorial D. The Lincoln Memorial

On June 23, 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. led more than 125,000 people on the “Walk to Freedom” down Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

4. King was named president of what influential civil rights group in 1957?

A. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee B. Southern Christian Leadership Conference C. Congress of Racial Equality D. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

5. Which president signed the bill establishing the third Monday of every January as the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday?

A. Ronald Reagan B. Lyndon B. Johnson C. John F. Kennedy D. George H.W. Bush Answers: 1-C; 2-B; 3-D; 4-B; 5-A.

KARL MONDON/CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Martin Luther King Jr.’s portrait hangs over an Oakland, Calif., roadway renamed in his honor.

BOOKS ABOUT THE CIVIL RIGHTS ICON Below are some resources for kids and teens who want to learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy.

Good reads for kids • “A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr.” by David A. Adler and illustrated by Robert Casilla (Holiday House, $6.95) • “Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King Jr.” by Jean Marzollo (Scholastic Paperbacks, $5.99) • “My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” by Christine King Farris (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, $17.95)

MCT

“My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

• “Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Doreen Rappaport (Jump At The Sun, $6.99)

Good reads for teens • “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and edited

by Clayborne Carson (Grand Central Publishing, $15.95) • “A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and edited by Peter Holloran and Clayborne Carson (Grand Central Publishing, $20) • “A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” edited by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard (Grand Central Publishing, $14.95)

ILLUSTRATION BY EARL F. LAM/MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS SOURCES: THE KING CENTER; DOCUMENTS FROM THE KING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INSTITUTE AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY; WWW.MLKDAY.GOV.

Martin Luther King Jr. devoted his life and career to protesting injustice. The following timeline identifies the times and places in King’s short life where he significantly influenced the civil rights movement and the future of America.

• Jan. 15, 1929: Martin Luther King Jr. was born to the Rev. and Mrs. Martin Luther King Sr. in Atlanta, Ga. • 1947: King became licensed to preach.

• June 18, 1953: King married Coretta Scott in Marion, Ala. Coretta Scott King continued her husband’s legacy as a civil rights activist until her death on Jan. 30, 2006.

• June 5, 1955: King received a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston University.

• Feb. 21, 1956: King and other demonstrators were arrested for participating in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In December of that same year, the federal government ordered Montgomery buses to integrate.

• Feb. 18, 1957: Martin Luther King Jr. appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

• February 1959: King and his wife spent a month in India studying Mahatma Gandhi’s technique of nonviolence. King was an avid fan of nonviolence, a strategy where demonstrators, instead of using violence, protest peacefully.

• Oct. 19, 1960: King was arrested for trespassing while taking part in a sit-in demonstration at a lunch counter in Atlanta, Ga. Sit-ins were nonviolent anti-segregation protests where Black demonstrators refused to leave restaurants and public places that were designated as White-only.

• Dec. 16, 1961: While protesting segregation in Albany, Ga., King was arrested.

• July 27, 1962: King was again arrested in Albany, Ga., after taking part in a prayer vigil. He was charged with failure to obey a police officer, obstructing the sidewalk and disorderly conduct.

• April 16, 1963: After being arrested in Birmingham, Ala., for participating in a sit-in, King wrote “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” The letter is now one of King’s most famous statements about injustice.

• Aug. 28, 1963: King delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech in front of the thousands who gathered for The March on Washington. Afterward, he and other Civil Rights leaders met with President John F. Kennedy in the White House.

• Dec. 10, 1964: King received the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Aug. 5, 1966: King was stoned in Chicago as he led a march through crowds of angry Whites.

• April 4, 1968: King was shot while on the balcony of his second-floor motel room in Memphis, Tenn.

He later died from a gunshot wound to the neck. A day earlier, King gave his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top.” • March 9, 1969: James Earl Ray plead guilty to killing King and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary.

• Jan. 20, 1986: The first national King holiday was observed.

EVENTS & SPORTS

B4

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

MIDNIGHT STAR

The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival will feature Midnight Star and CeCe Peniston on Jan. 19 and Rick Braun and Richard Elliott on Jan. 20 at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. Details: www. tampablackheritage. org

PATTI LABELLE

Miami Gardens: A Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service painting event is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday. Participants will meet at Miami Gardens City Hall. Info: 305-6228000 ext. 2583.

Tampa: StayWhole Foundation will present “Our Minds Matter,’’ a panel for coaches, parents and athletes at 3:30 p.m.

Jan. 19 at the John F. Germany Library. Panelists will include psychologists, coaches and a professional. RSVP at www. staywholefoundation.org/ events.

Patti LaBelle is scheduled Feb. 6 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach and Feb. 9 at the Times-Union Center in Jacksonville.

Miami Beach: Meek Mill: The Motivation Tour stops at the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater on Feb. 19.

WINSTON DUKE

“Black Panther’’ actor Winston Duke, will speak at the University of South Florida on Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. as part of a free lecture series. Details: www.usf. edu/uls.

STOJ

the “Me Too” Movement will speak at 8 p.m. Jan. 22 at the University of South Florida as part of its MLK Commemorative Week.

Miramar: Brian Knight performs Feb. 1 at the Miramar Cultural Center.

Hollywood: Smokey Robinson performs Jan. 25 at Hard Rock Live.

Orlando: Alice Walker will speak on Feb. 2 at the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities program at UCF. Festival details: Zorafestival.org Miramar: Marvin Sapp performs Jan. 25 at the Miramar Cultural Center.

Fort Lauderdale: Catch Gladys Knight in concert Jan. 24 at the Broward Center.

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

Miramar: Tony! Toni!

Tone! will be at the Miramar Cultural Center on Jan. 18.

Tampa: Tarana Burke of

Orlando: Lyfe Jennings

Florida high school football stars showcase talents during Under Armour game

BY JAMES P. HILL SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Twenty high school seniors participated in the Jan. 3 Under Armour All-America game on at Camping World Stadium.

Team Ballaholics defeated Team Flash 28-27. The Ballaholics were coached by Fort Myers native and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. Team Flash was coached by former NFL Head Coach Steve Mariucci.

Tyler Davis was one of the seniors playing in the 12th annual game.

Clemson bound He signed with Clemson University on Dec. 19 and maintains that the school provides a family atmosphere, great academics, and championship level college football.

“I felt more at home there.

Great program, they have great players,” Davis said. “I felt better

MLK from B1

Our emphasis must be twofold: We must create full employment, or we must create incomes. People must be made consumers by one method or the other. Once they are placed in this position, we need to be concerned that the potential of the individual is not wasted. New forms of work that enhance the social good will have to be devised for those for whom traditional jobs are not available.

Work of this sort could be enormously increased, and we are likely to find that the problem of housing, education, instead of preceding the elimination of poverty, will themselves be affected if poverty is first abolished. The poor, transformed into purchasers, will do a great deal on their own to alter housing decay. Negroes, who have a double disability, will have a greater effect on discrimination when they have the additional weapon of cash to use in their struggle.

The dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life are in his own hands, when he has the assurance that his income is stable and certain, and when he knows that he has the means to seek self-improvement. Personal conflicts between husband, wife, and children will diminish when the unjust measurement of human worth on a scale of dollars is eliminated.

Stay committed to nonviolence We must reaffirm our commitment to nonviolence. One sees screaming youngsters and angry adults fighting hopelessly and aimlessly against impossi-

During the game, highly coveted wide receiver Arjei Henderson out of Sugarland, Texas, made his commitment to the University of Florida.

After the game, Henderson sported his blue and orange Gators cap with a big smile.

ble odds. And deep down within them, you perceive a desire for self-destruction, a kind of suicidal longing.

Occasionally, Negroes con tend that the 1965 Watts riot and the other riots in various cities represented effective civil rights action. At best, the riots have produced a little additional anti-poverty money allotted by frightened government officials and a few water sprinklers to cool the children of the ghettos. It is something like improving the food in the prison while the people remain securely incarcerated behind bars. Nowhere have the riots won any concrete improvement such as have the organized protest demonstrations.

And when one tries to pin down advocates of violence as to what acts would be effective, the answers are blatantly illogical. Sometimes they talk of overthrowing racist state and local governments and they talk about guerrilla warfare. They fail to see that no internal revolution has ever succeeded in overthrowing a government by violence unless the government had already lost the allegiance and effective control of its armed forces.

Violent U.S. revolution impossible Anyone in his right mind knows that this will not happen in the United States. In a violent racial situation, the power structure has the local police, the state troopers, the National Guard, and finally, the Army to call on, all of which are predominantly White.

Furthermore, few, if any, violent revolutions have been successful unless the violent minority had the sympathy and support of the non-resisting majority. It is perfectly clear that a violent revolution on the part of American Blacks would find no sympathy

Jacksonville: “We Shall Overcome,’’ a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is Feb. 5 at the Ritz Theatre & Museum.

Fort Lauderdale: The Temptations and The Four Tops perform Jan. 31 at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center.

Tampa: Andrew Gillum will speak at the Hillsborough NAACP’s Freedom Fund Dinner on Feb. 1 at the Hilton Tampa Downtown. Details: NAACPHillsborough.org Miami Gardens: Tickets are on sale now for the March 9-10 Jazz in the Gardens. The lineup includes Lionel Ritchie, Bobby Brown, Stephanie Mills and the O’Jays.

Details: Jazzinthegardens. com

More signees

Several Florida State committed players also showcased their talent during the game.

They include Akeem Dent, a defensive back from Palm Beach Central High; Travis Jay, a defen-

The University of Miami was represented by Jeremiah Payton, a wide receiver from Jacksonville Fletcher High. Payton is 6 foot 5 with a 32- inch vertical leap.

“It’s just a legacy,” Payton said.

“I got to go in there and make plays, make a name for myself, and my city. That’s really it.”

During the game, Tre’Mon Morris-Brash, a defensive end out of St. John’s College High School in Washington D.C., committed to UCF. Rian Davis, a linebacker from Wekiva who signed with Georgia, did not play due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury rehabilitation.

Marcus Washington earned MVP for the Ballaholics after making seven catches for 89 yards. Jerrion Ealy won MVP for Team Flash after rushing for 119 yards and scoring two touchdowns.

And therefore, they will exploit them and poor people generally economically. And a nation that will exploit economically will have to have foreign investments and everything else, and it will have to use its military might to protect them. All of these problems are tied together.

What I’m saying today is that we must go from this convention and say, “America, you must be born again!”

lamb shall lie down together, and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid, and men will recognize that out of one blood, God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth.

Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout, “White Power!” when nobody will shout, “Black Power!” but everybody will talk about God’s power and human power.

‘Be dissatisfied’

‘Walk on’

‘Great opportunity’

Gator signees

Daytona Beach: The legendary Johnny Mathis performs Jan. 31 at The Peabody.

sive back from Madison County; Raymond Woodie III from Florida State University School in Tallahassee; Brendan Gant, a safety out of Lakeland Kathleen High; Jaleel McRea, a linebacker from IMG Academy; and Kalen DeLoach, a linebacker from Islands High School in Savannah, Georgia.

connected with the players, that’s why Clemson,’’ he said.

The Tigers are winners of two out of the last three college football national championships.

Davis says he’s played under excellent coaches so far and really looks forward to being coached up at the next level.

“It’s a great opportunity to play for [Dabo Swinney] one of the best coaches in college football right now,” Davis said. “My D line coach – [Brent Venables] great guy, is going to teach me a lot.

Can’t wait,’’ he added.

will take the House of Blues Orlando stage on Feb. 1.

JAMES P. HILL/SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Jaleel McRae plays linebacker for IMG Academy and signed with Florida State. Keon Zipperer, a tight end out of Lakeland High School, signed with the University of Florida. They were two of the 20 players at the Under Armour All America Game.

“I’m extremely excited, I can’t wait to get to work,” said Henderson. “It’s been a long process, it’s been a roller coaster. I’m excited we’re at the finish line.”

Florida Gators signees from the FHSAA Class 7A state championship team in Lakeland who played in the Under Armor game include tight end Keon RaZip-

and support from the White population and very little from the majority of the Negroes themselves.

Change the structure We must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. We must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” You are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth.

But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that questions must be raised. You begin to ask the question(s), “Who owns the oil?”

Who owns the iron ore? Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that’s two-thirds water?”

When I say questioning the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem(s) of racism, of economic exploitation, and of war are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated.

‘Born again’ One night, (someone) came to Jesus and he wanted to know what he could do to be saved. Jesus didn’t say, “Now Nicodemus, you must stop lying. You must not commit adultery. You must stop cheating if you are doing that.”

Jesus realized something basic – that if a man will lie, he will steal.

And if a man will steal, he will kill.

So instead of just getting bogged down on one thing, Jesus looked at him and said, “Nicodemus, you must be born again.” In other words, “Your whole structure must be changed.”

A nation that will keep people in slavery for 244 years will “thingify” them and make them things.

perer and offensive guard Deyavie Hammond.

FSU commits

Let us go out with a divine dissatisfaction until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds; until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice; until those who live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security.

Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history and every family will live in a decent, sanitary home; until the dark yesterdays of segregated schools will be transformed into bright tomorrows of quality integrated education; until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity.

Let us be dissatisfied until men and women, however Black they may be, will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not on the basis of the color of their skin; until every state capitol will be housed by a governor who will do justly, who will love mercy, and who will walk humbly with his God. Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream; until that day when the lion and the

The road ahead will not always be smooth. There will still be rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. And there will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair. Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. We may again, with tear-drenched eyes, have to stand before the bier of some courageous civil rights worker whose life will be snuffed out by the dastardly acts of bloodthirsty mobs.

But difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way, and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.

This is our hope for the future, and with this faith we will be able to sing in some not too distant tomorrow, with a cosmic past tense, “We have overcome! We have overcome! Deep in my heart, I did believe we would overcome.”

S

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

B5 or simply having a history of inappropriate behavior.

The fallout from “Surviving R. Kelly” continues with numerous celebrities joining the chorus of millions on social media and other platforms who’ve called for Kelly’s arrest.

A Georgia prosecutor is reportedly looking into potential charges and, in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago, a district attorney has publicly called on “victims” to come forward.

CNN last week reported that R. Kelly’s former manager, James Mason, has been accused of threatening to kill the father of Jocelyn Savage, one of the women featured in the documentary. The case was presented to a magistrate judge who issued a warrant in July, citing “terroristic threats and acts.”

Defending Jackson

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“I’d slit my wrist before I’d hurt a child,” Michael Jackson once said in an interview.

New film threatens to expose Jackson as child predator

BY STACY M. BROWN NNPA NEWWIRE

First R. Kelly. Now it’s the late King of Pop. After the scathing and gutwrenching Lifetime Television documentary, “Surviving R. Kelly” shed more light on the alleged crimes of the R&B crooner, a new film about Michael Jackson threatens to do the same to the late “Thriller” singer.

The Wrap reports that the 2019 Sundance Film Festival has added a documentary that will focus on two men: (presumably) choreographer Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who say they

were sexually abused by Michael Jackson.

Following Jackson’s death in 2009, Robson, who has worked with Brittney Spears, Nsync and others filed a lawsuit against the “Thriller” singer’s estate claiming that handlers of the superstar essentially helped run a child-sex ring.

Testified at trial Robson claimed in a lawsuit, that was later tossed because a California judge said he waited too late to file, that Jackson raped him.

Safechuck, who at 7 years old

FLORIDA’S

finest

was befriended by Jackson and traveled extensively with the singer, also sued Jackson’s estate.

While neither Robson nor Safechuck previously made complaints, Robson testified in Jackson’s defense at the singer’s 2005 trial which resulted in an acquittal for Jackson who was charged with 13 counts of molesting a teen cancer patient.

made by prepubescent boys and their families.

A sheriff’s deputy at his 2005 trial claimed that, when factoring in settlement cash, attorney’s fees, private investigator costs and other fees, Jackson spent more than $200 million to quiet abuse allegations.

The synopsis for the Jackson documentary titled “Leaving Neverland,” states: “At the height of his stardom, Michael Jackson began long-running relationships with two boys, aged 7 and 10, and their families. Now in their 30s, they tell the story of how they were sexually abused

by Jackson, and how they came to terms with it years later.”

Millions paid

Fallout since film

Jackson had always maintained his innocence.

However, many have argued that Jackson admittedly settled at least three multimillion claims

The report notes that the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have resulted in some of Hollywood’s biggest names being outed as predators, abusers

As for Jackson, the late hitmaker often publicly said he simply enjoyed the company of children because of their innocence.

“I’d slit my wrist before I’d hurt a child,” Jackson once said in a broadcast interview.

His defenders have always pointed out that Jackson’s accusers were after money or fame themselves and could not be trusted.

It was that theme that helped attorney Tom Mesereau successfully defend Jackson in his 2005 case in California. Mesereau famously referred to the accuser and his family as “grifters,” looking for a handout.

No one in the Jackson camp returned messages for this story.

Later admission It should be noted that the accuser in that case has always maintained he was molested and, despite financial hardships, his family never attempted to sue Jackson.

The accuser went on to graduate college and get married.

Ironically, Robson who defended Jackson in 2005, said it was only after he had gotten married and had a child of his own that he began to come to terms with what Jackson had done to him years earlier.

“I have never forgotten one moment of what Michael did to me,” Robson told the Today Show in 2013. “But, I was psychologically and emotionally completely unable and unwilling to understand that it was sexual abuse.”

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

B6

JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2019

S