Florida Courier, January 19, 2018 by Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC

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Remembering Edwin Hawkins, ‘Oh Happy Day’ singer See page B2

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JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

VOLUME 26 NO. 3

YOUNG, BLACK AND ‘ILLEGAL’ Black immigrants who are in America illegally battle against both fear and historic discrimination. BY MAKEDA EASTER LOS ANGELES TIMES / TNS

Things seemed to be looking up for the 28-year-old. He taught himself investment banking and day trading and got a job as a project manager for a mortgage company. But he is also in the country illegally – a situation further complicated by the color of his skin.

Hoping for the best

LOS ANGELES – The young Ethiopian dreamed of owning his own business. It’s what he had worked toward since moving more than a decade ago from Addis Ababa to Los Angeles.

When he accepted his job, he hoped his legal status wouldn’t come up. “I didn’t know if my direct manager knew about my status when he gave me that offer,” he

said, asking to be identified as “Mesfin” for fear of being targeted for deportation. “But we’ll see how that turns out.” There are approximately 575,000 Black undocumented immigrants in the U.S. By comparison, there are more than 1.4 million Asians and more than 8 million from Mexico and Latin America, the largest group of people in the country illegally. When angry debates blow up in online forums about illegal immigration and President Donald Trump vows to crack down on it See IMMIGRANTS, Page A2

KATIE FALKENBERG/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Jonathan Perez, an undocumented Afro-Colombian activist, is photographed at Los Angeles State Historic Park in California.

‘Tell Them We Are Rising’

WINTER 2018

Another cold snap

New film showcases FAMU, other HBCUs

SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

TALLAHASSEE – On Jan. 26, Florida A&M University (FAMU) will partner with WFSU Public Media (licensed through Florida State University) and Firelight Films to present a public screening of “Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities,” the latest film from Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director Stanley Nelson. The screening is part of a national Historically Black ColStanley leges and UniversiNelson ties (HBCU) Tour and a collaboration between public media stations and HBCUs. The screening will be held at 7 p.m. in FAMU’s Lee Hall Auditorium and will be followed by a panel discussion with representatives from the Larry creative team, FAMU Robinson, leaders, prominent Ph.D. alumni, and other invited guests to talk about the important issues explored See FILM, Page A2 CURTIS COMPTON/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION/TNS

SNAPSHOTS

A cold front moving through Georgia and Florida caused multiple tractor-trailers to jackknife, causing this traffic jam on Interstate 20 near Atlanta on Wednesday. Freezing temperatures hit the Sunshine State on Thursday.

FLORIDA | A3

Haiti supporters protest Trump near Mar-a-Lago

Citrus industry still ‘in crisis’ NATION | A6

BY SCOTT TRAVIS SUN SENTINEL / TNS

PALM BEACH – About 500 HaitianAmericans and their supporters used the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to protest derogatory comments President Donald Trump reportedly made about immigrants from majority-black countries. “What do we want? Apology!” the protesters chanted. Many wore shirts proclaiming, “I love Haiti,” while they carried Haitian flags, sang hymns and shouted chants in both English and Haitian Creole, including “Respect.” The protest, held on Southern Boulevard near the Intracoastal bridge, was in reaction to remarks calling Haiti and some African nations “shithole” countries, which were attributed to the president from a

ALSO INSIDE

SCOTT TRAVIS/SUN SENTINEL/TNS

Protesters gave Donald Trump an earful when he visited Palm Beach County on Monday. meeting on immigration last week. “If Dr. Martin Luther King were alive today, he’d be here marching with us,” said protest organizer James Leger, a local activist and radio show host. “We’re going to pray for America and pray for President Trump. People make mistakes. We’re not asking for impeachment. We just want an apology.”

Powerful move for Booker, Harris

Encouraging Trump

NATION | B1

Across the street from the hundreds of Trump protesters were Trump supporters, waving American flags and holding up signs proclaiming, “I love Trump” and “Trump 2020.” “I’m here to encourage my president

OBITUARIES | B2

RELIGION | B4

Two sorority presidents die on same day

Pot churches serving weed for sacrament

See PROTEST, Page A2

MLK Day sermons slam Trump

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 GUEST COMMENTARY: JOHNNY L. MCCRAY JR.: NO MORE FOXES GUARDING B-CU ‘HEN HOUSE’ | A5

FOCUS

JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

Let me tell you about the real ‘shithole’ Africans unite! Now is the time for Black people and all people of color around the world to rise up and clap back at the modern-day wicked pharaoh! The United States commander-and-thief has proven beyond a doubt that he is an ignorant, decadent, degenerate, clueless and classless racist!

He’s a fool Africa is the center of the world, the birthplace of civilization and the most mineral-rich continent on the planet. The president and anyone else that chooses to describe Africa and other Black nations as “shit-

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

hole countries” is a liar, a fool and an enemy to global unity and world peace! Proud of his Ku Klux Klan-influenced upbringing, Donald Trump has always had hatred for people of color. No one had to pull the sheet off of Donald Trump. He exposes himself every time he says things like “Haitians have AIDS” or “Nigerians live in huts”

Everyday attacks on Barack Obama, increased incarceration of Black youth and adults, systematic suppression of Black voting rights, daily disrespect of fallen Black soldiers and their families and the constant cutting of health care and social service programs that benefit Black and poor Americans must stop!

ger. This devilish idea and concept may have worked in Nazi Germany, but Americans cannot let it work here! The color of an immigrant’s skin has no more significance than the color of their eyes. Today, the United States is no longer a multi-colored melting pot. It is a pale hell hole!

for you. Too much hate is especially bad for you! We’ve been taken advantage of and taken for granted much too long. Everybody everywhere with hopes and dreams should stand up and fight against the racist devils with plots and schemes!

Time to stand

Nothing to say?

Rise up, Black people. Our future is at stake. Our community is under siege. Our children are being disenfranchised. Our future is being compromised! Many American people have been easily suckered into supporting the bidding of political devils. They were told they are being attacked by hard-working, honest people of color and that all non-White immigrants are criminals who lack patriotism and expose the country to dan-

Why haven’t all public officials on all levels denounced the vulgar and bigoted language used by the president of the United States to disparage everyone in the world that has one drop, or more, of Black blood in their veins? Is it because they agree with Trump? Are they afraid to speak out against racism? Do they not care about how the world feels about the United States? Perhaps, all of the above! Too much of anything is bad

No matter what country or continent you come from, if you’re a Black person, you’re an African! Africans unite. Silence the great Satan! Respect and protect yourself and your people!

FILM

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

the complex history of how HBCUs – havens for Black intellectuals, artists and trailblazers – offered a path of promise toward the American dream, educated the architects of freedom movements throughout the decades, and cultivated leaders in every field. The film also examines the impact HBCUs have had on American history, culture and national identity for more than 150 years.

from A1 in the documentary.

Critical understanding “Florida A&M University has had a tremendous impact on our community. It has provided opportunity and access for many to fulfill their dreams of an education,” said Kim Kelling, WFSU Public Media Director of Content and Community Partnerships. “There are FAMU graduates in many leadership positions throughout the area and nation. It is our hope (that the film) will help inform our audiences of the value of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It is so critical to understand the history and legacies of these schools, including FAMU.” FAMU President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., commended Nelson, Firelight Media, PBS, WFSU, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for recognizing and honoring FAMU’s impact and the contributions of all HBCUs by producing and showing the film to local, regional and national audiences.

Many don’t know

‘Dynamic legacy’ “FAMU, and our sister HBCUs, have a rich and dynamic legacy. FAMU alone has provided lifechanging educational experiences for more than 75,000 alumni that have gone on to become leaders and innovators who have strengthened our society and affected positive change in places near and far,” said Robinson. “We look forward to sharing our story with the world as we celebrate the life and legacy of HBCU graduate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this January and

‘Black’ is ‘African’

COURTESY OF FAMU

A new HBCU documentary will kick off a national tour showcasing their history and impact. pay homage to African-Americans in February in honor of Black History Month.” The screening and tour are a major part of “HBCU Rising,” the

IMMIGRANTS from A1 – including by building a “beautiful wall” – there is little question about which immigrants are front and center: Mexicans – and, by extension, many from Latin America.

No Black network This sense of constantly being under political siege has created fear, but also a large network of activists and politicians who advocate, not exclusively but most obviously, for the large number of Latino immigrants in the country illegally. Such a robust network doesn’t exist for other groups, especially Black immigrants. According to the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Black immigrants make up one out of five facing deportation on criminal grounds, even though they make up only about 7 percent of the noncitizen immigrant population. Zack Mohamed, an organizer for the alliance, said he is trying to counter a narrative that illegal immigration is overwhelmingly a Latino issue. The alliance “was created to basically have the dialogue and the narrative around that Black migrants do exist,” Mohamed said. “And that is true in L.A., as (it) is (in) all the nation.”

Fear magnified Patrice Lawrence, a coordinator for the UndocuBlack Network, invoked the term “driving while Black,” which is used to describe the racial profiling of Black motorists. But she said the feeling is magnified if you’re Black and in the country illegally. It’s like “the fear that you would have if you were to drive and you forgot your wallet at home and the cops pull up,” she said. “Except some of us feel that same level of anxiety every single day.” In addition to the fear of deportation, Black immigrants face the same systemic racism that has plagued Blacks in the U.S. for years.

yearlong, multi-platform engagement project designed to drive dialogue sparked by the film among a variety of audiences. Written, directed and pro-

“Black people in this country have historically been invisible in a lot of legislation, a lot of public policy,” said Abraham Paulos, communications director for the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. “That invisibility only gets amplified as an immigrant.”

Registered for DACA After graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in business, Mesfin was unable to find work in his field. He sought the help of an attorney when President Barack Obama issued the 2012 executive order for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The program gave an estimated 800,000 young people renewable two-year shields from deportation and eligibility for work permits. Through DACA, Mesfin got a job at a bank where he worked for 3 1/2 years, eventually managing more than 20 people. But when it was time to renew his work permit, delays in processing times stalled the arrival of his paperwork and his permit expired, leaving him out of a job. Though a new contract position seemed promising, in September Trump announced the end of DACA and set a date in March for permits to begin expiring.

Constantly studying Dressed in a salmon-colored buttondown shirt from work, Mesfin shared his story in the same place he spent nearly every evening the first year he arrived in the United States: a Starbucks near the Third Street Promenade in nearby Santa Monica. In 2005, he left Ethiopia to join his brother in Los Angeles. As a student at West Los Angeles Baptist High School, he would study nearly every day after school at the coffee shop, waiting for his brother to pick him up late at night and take him home to the one-bedroom Inglewood apartment they split among five people. It took him years, but he said he finally felt as though he had found his place in L.A. But the feeling that he never fully controlled his destiny never went away.

duced by Nelson (“The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution”) and produced by Firelight Films, “Tell Them We Are Rising” reveals for the first time

Another migrant story It was a late night when Jonathan Perez, his mother and siblings made their sprint across an open field into the United States. His family had flown from Colombia to Mexico before crossing the border to join Perez’s father in L.A., where he worked as a day laborer and sold textiles in swap meets. They settled into East L.A.’s Maravilla public housing projects, a majority Latino community. As an Afro Latino, Perez said he struggled with bigotry. He was often taunted in school for his curly hair and mercilessly teased after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because some assumed he was Arab. Latinos “can be super prejudiced, like anybody,” Perez said.

Special challenge From a young age, Perez had begun to get a sense that being in the country illegally – and Black – would present special challenges. His older siblings were told in high school that they couldn’t go to college because of their immigration status. “Being undocumented is always feeling like you’re going to be denied something,” Perez said. “Which goes hand-in-hand with being Black.” Some activists say that even within the immigration rights movement, Black people can feel like outliers.

‘Undocu-Black’ Denea Joseph, a community organizer, said that at one conference a fellow advocate surprised her by asking where Black people who are undocumented even come from. “People haven’t even come to terms with Latino immigrants, so imagine let’s push that a bit further and understand that … there’s undocu-Black people,” she said. Born in Belize, the 23-year-old left her mother, father and siblings when she was 7 on a visa to join her grandmother in South Los Angeles. Joseph said attorneys took advantage of her grandmother when she tried to remedy Joseph’s status. It wasn’t until she was in high school –

“We felt it was very important to showcase the film to students on HBCU campuses because this is a vital part of our AfricanAmerican and American history,” said director Stanley Nelson. “Many students and even alumni are not aware of the deep history of how and why HBCUs were created and the foundation for success they provided for African Americans. We appreciate the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s support and the partnership on the ground with local public television and radio stations to make this tour possible.” In addition to events on campuses, HBCU Rising features public and marquee VIP screenings in major cities across the country, StoryCorps audio stories, video shorts exploring HBCU life, and an all-generation, all-school HBCU Digital Yearbook. The 90-minute film will air nationally on the PBS series “Independent Lens” on Monday, February 19 from 9 p.m.-10:30 p.m. EST. The film will also be available for online viewing on PBS. org beginning February 20. To participate in the FAMU screening and discussion, interested attendees must RSVP at wfsu.org/ttwarscreening.

when her peers started getting driver’s licenses and jobs and applying for college scholarships – that she understood that her legal status would be a serious impediment.

‘Keep your head down’ Joseph received help in high school with the college application process and applying for scholarships that enabled her to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, where she majored in AfricanAmerican studies and became involved in the immigration rights movement. “Within the Black community as a whole, we learned to keep your head down, go through, push through, don’t tell anybody your business,” Joseph said. “We’re very protective about our status, about our identity, because we understand it’s already difficult to be a Black person in America.”

PROTEST from A1 and let him know he’s doing a good job, and just because he used a word doesn’t change that,” said Cindy Levegetto, of Boynton Beach.

No reaction Trump, who stayed at his private club Mar-a-Lago last weekend, went to the Trump International Golf Course on Monday. He looked out the window, but did not engage with the protesters as his caravan passed by them on Southern Boulevard on his way to Mar-a-Lago on Monday afternoon. He left for Washington, D.C., about 4:30 p.m. Monday. He has denied making the vulgar remarks.

JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

FLORIDA

A3 duction topping 200 million boxes most years between 1971 and 2005. In contrast, growers produced 68,750 boxes of oranges during the 2016-2017 season.

Major industry hit Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam’s department estimated in October that the citrus industry took a $761 million hit from Hurricane Irma. Since then, a number of lawmakers and Putnam said the damage estimate has grown to possibly more than $1 billion, as fruit continued to fall in flooded groves. Among the 77 recommendations that went before the Florida House Committee on Hurricane Response and Preparedness on Tuesday are proposals to create sales tax exemptions for the agricultural industry and for the state to continue lobbying for post-disaster funding from Congress.

Federal relief bill

CHUCK FADELY/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

A clipper is shown some years ago cutting down an orange tree infected with citrus greening in a Florida orange grove. Hurricane Irma came last year as the industry continued its decade-long battle against citrus greening disease.

Citrus industry remains ‘in crisis’ Growers still facing impacts from hurricane despite stable forecast BY JIM TURNER NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Forecast numbers for Florida’s struggling citrus industry held steady from December to January, the first month since Hurricane Irma that

the figures didn’t drop. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated on Jan. 12 that Florida will grow enough oranges to fill 46 million 90-pound boxes, the same as in December. Meanwhile, grapefruit production held at 4.65 million boxes for the third consecutive month. While the month-to-month numbers showed some stability, Florida Department of Citrus Executive Director Shannon Shepp said the industry – which, ac-

cording to private estimates, was looking forward to producing enough oranges to fill 75 million boxes – is still facing the impacts from the September storm.

Disease battle continues “Florida continues to face its lowest citrus forecast in more than 75 years,” Shepp said. “While the temporary comfort of a stable forecast gives us a moment to breathe it doesn’t hide the fact that this industry remains in crisis due to the impact of Hurricane Irma.” The seasonal forecast for oranges had fallen 15 percent since October’s initial estimate, following the September hurricane that uprooted trees and left many groves in standing water for up to three weeks.

The storm came as the industry continued a decade-long battle against citrus greening disease, which is deadly to the fruit.

Fewer boxes The January forecast stands 33 percent below production from the prior growing season, with Florida’s growers on pace for the lowest harvest since 1945. Growers are projected to produce enough Valencia oranges to fill about 27 million boxes, while the non-Valencia variety is expected to fill about 19 million boxes, according to the Jan. 12 estimate. Navel orange production accounted for 500,000 of the non-Valencia boxes. Florida growers had annually filled more than 100 million boxes of citrus since 1950, with pro-

The U.S. Senate is considering $2.6 billion in federal relief for Florida’s agriculture industry. The budget item is part of an $81 billion disaster-relief package the House approved Dec. 21. Putnam has said that Florida’s agriculture industry cannot fully recover “without the emergency assistance.” In addition to the citrus losses, Putnam’s office estimated that Irma inflicted $624 million in damage to the nursery industry, $237.5 million in damage to the cattle industry, $11.8 million in damage to dairy farmers, $383 million in damage to the sugar industry, and $180 million in damage to vegetable and noncitrus fruit growers.

Relief package sought Florida U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson have asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer to bring the disaster relief package for Florida, Puerto Rico and Texas to the floor for a vote. “Congress has delayed providing this aid for too long while our communities face the consequences of our inaction,” the Florida lawmakers wrote.

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EDITORIAL

JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

Trump’s Small Business Administration starts to take form One of the most important transition teams in a new presidential administration is that of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Since we started the National Black Chamber of Commerce in 1993, we have been observant when the SBA goes through the transition of new management. The Clinton administration was quite exciting. They gave us a role in providing input, résumés, referrals and opinions on our view of new and old managers. Do they stay or do they go? We made referrals that put persons in regional director positions. Also, we caused a deputy administrator to step down and forced transfers of some district directors.

Lost his job For example, there was a Dallas district director who was obviously biased, as he had no problem in stating the word “nigger” in his conversations. We nicknamed him the “Mark Furman of the federal administration” in written Congressional testimony. During my testimony, the chair of the House Small Business Committee declared that such an individual could no longer work for our federal government. The SBA’s deputy administrator came forward and notified us that they received his resignation that morning. We have “juice” and know how to use it!

Made progress The first two Clinton administrations were very active and exciting. Both Republicans and

HARRY C. ALFORD GUEST COLUMNIST

Democrats were eager to show that they were the most concerned about minority business development. When that happens, progress is made. The two George W. Bush administrations were equally exciting, as the White House knew what business was all about. There was much improvement in minority and Black contracting numbers as well as minority SBA lending. All numbers were going up. The Obama administrations brought in a new era. Their personnel were not too business-savvy nor had any appreciation of what minority business –particularly Black business was all about and the importance of its success.

Numbers fell The non-entrepreneurial characters were like a Shakespearian tragedy. The numbers in minority and Black lending and contracting shrunk noticeably. Black employment was heading to “life support” as a result. They were hostile to the NBCC. When they decide to “dis” the largest Black business association in the world, their success will become doubtful and it did. Another phenomenon was that the Congressional Black Caucus which was molded by people of the ilk of Parren J. Mitchell,

President Oprah? Don’t bet on it Are you kidding me? Oprah Winfrey makes one speech before a fawning audience at the Golden Globe Awards in the heart of “Blame America first” Hollywood, and she is being touted as a presidential candidate in 2020. Give me a break. In accepting the well-deserved Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award – the first Black woman to receive the coveted award – she gave a powerful speech touching on sexual harassment, press freedom, and racial injustice. She wore an elegant black dress in honor of the dress code of the evening to support women in the #MeToo anti-sexual harassment movement. I give her credit for knowing which Hollywood buttons to push.

Where was she? My question is, where has she been over the past 20-plus years

CLARENCE V. MCKEE, ESQ. GUEST COMMENTARY

on the issue of sexual harassment of women in her industry? I don’t recall her being a crusader on the issue or raising it on her very popular television show, a program ruling the ratings for decades. But that shows she does have good political instincts just like liberals, like Meryl Streep, who were also silent on the issue. They realize that now it is safe to speak out against all of those bad guys in her industry when there are no professional consequences. A “new day is on the horizon,” she said.

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 312 MLK – As my late former pastor, Dr. Mack King Carter, often said, “I never shall forget” my first MLK birthday march. It was in 1976 in Atlanta – before the official holiday – during my sophomore year at Morehouse College. Students from Morehouse, Clark, and Morris Brown had assembled at nearby Spelman College’s gymnasium the night before the march to discuss the plans. Coretta Scott King was speaking, and many of us were talking while she was talking.

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

She paused, looked directly at a gang of us sitting up front, and said, “Martin wouldn’t expect such behavior from Morehouse Men. He wouldn’t like it.” There was a collective groan

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: NO DRILLING IN FLORIDA

Adam Clayton Powell, etc. were now forced to support the “Black” president no matter how bad he was. Their influence on Black business was neutered for political correctness. Thank God, that horror story has now ended.

Good things coming Now it is “Trump Time” and Black employment is rising to heights we have not seen in decades. Black home ownership is rising to all time highs. The newly passed Tax Reform is a giant tide lifting all boats.” Something is happening and we all must confess it must be good. It was just announced that of the 10 SBA regional offices, six directors have now been hired. Once this is completed, the true personality of this administration will show its impact on business development. The regional administrator position is a straight-out political appointment. The success or failure of these individuals will directly impact on the small business development status of the Trump administration. SBA Administrator Linda McMahon states, “I am very pleased that we now have six new regional administrators in place that can help support me and the president in serving as a voice and goto resource for our nation’s 30 million small businesses. I will rely on them heavily as we move forward in 2018 and beyond and look forward to working closely with each one of them.” Region 1: Wendell G. Davis will control the operations in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,

New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. His background is business law. Seasoned Senator Susan Collins once held this position before she ran for Congress. Region 2: Steve Bulger will oversee SBA programs, offices and operations in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For the past six years, he oversaw all Congressional district operations across 15 counties in Eastern New York. Region 5: Robert Scott will oversee SBA programs, offices and operations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Scott has a law degree and has practiced within the state of Ohio. Region 7: Administrator Thomas J. Salisbury will oversee SBA programs, offices and operations in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Salisbury previously served the last six years under the leadership of Missouri Senator Roy Blunt. Region 8: Administrator Daniel P. Nordberg will oversee SBA

programs, offices and operations in Colorado, North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Mr. Nordberg is a threetime general assembly representative for the state of Colorado. He specialized in small business matters. Region 10: M. Jeremy Field will oversee SBA programs, offices and operations in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. For the last eight years, Field has worked as regional director and state grant coordinator under Idaho Senator James Risch. We will inform you about Regions 3, 4, 6 and 9 when they become filled. I will get on the road and personally meet these directors and develop positive relationships with them, just like we used to do.

Some unimpressed, fearful

dent in the foreseeable future, Oprah Winfrey included!

hood, environmental, Hispanic and LGBT constituencies.

As to Democratic presidential politics, you can bet that not all were impressed with Winfrey’s speech which spawned an avalanche of media speculation about her being a potential Democrat presidential candidate in 2020 – especially Democratic 2020 wannabees such as Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Many observers believe that White liberal Democratic females expect Black Democratic females to fall in line and support them as they so willingly do on Democratic issues such as lateterm abortions and choice in schools. But the real spear of fear of a Winfrey candidacy plunges deep into the hearts and ambitions of Black Democrat hopefuls such as Sens. Corey Booker, D-N.J. and Kamala Harris, D-Calif. They appear to believe they are entitled to inherit Obama’s mantle. My message to them is that the legacy of their hero has destroyed any chances that a Black liberal Democrat will be elected presi-

Corrupt and weak

Be careful, Oprah

His will most likely be remembered as having one of the most corrupt and failed administrations in history whose two Black attorney generals, FBI, and IRS took politicizing government to new levels. Something not too different from what we see in Third World countries; and whose foreign policy caused America to be disrespected by friend and foe alike globally. To be successful, they would have to convince White America that they would not be like Obama, and deceive them into thinking they are moderate and then follow the extreme dictates of the elitist coastal left, view them as “deplorables,” and cater to those groups supporting causes such as abortion on demand and open borders. They would have to convince Blacks that they will not, like Obama, “talk the talk” to Black voters and then totally ignore their issues and concerns in favor of those of Planned Parent-

Could and would Winfrey do that? Would she want to risk alienating millions of her fans and supporters in middle America in order appease the Democratic far left – who would chew her up and spit her out if she did not take the right positions on their issues? I think not. My message to Oprah Winfrey? Enjoy the adulation and speculation while you can. If you take the plunge into presidential politics and don’t mimic the views of the far left, those who gave you a standing ovation at the Golden Globes will turn on you in a nanosecond.

from all the brothers. Damn, she just played the MLK card on us! You could hear a pin drop from that point on. We all showed up the next day in bitterly cold weather and marched with many of MLK’s posse: Hosea Williams, Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, Mrs. King. Over time, I’ve done different things on MLK Day. I’ve marched, delivered speeches (both original speeches and MLK’s entire “Drum Major Instinct”) listened to speeches, done service days, even been to cookouts and parties. Lately, I’ve gravitated away from the public activities and use the day to listen to his recorded speeches, re-read his words, and meditate on his life and thoughts. The more you read and un-

derstand King, the more you understand why he was murdered. His ideas were revolutionary, in diametric opposition to contemporary and historical American capitalism, consumerism, militarism, and racism. He spoke about the condition of poor people and non-Whites in a way no one else had or has since. He was Public Enemy No. 1 of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, whose COINTELPRO (Counter-Intelligence Program) was focused on preventing “the rise of a Black messiah” in America. The focus on “The Dream” has always frosted me. The speech actually had three parts: (1) MLK’s indictment of America, which defaulted on its “promissory note” owed to Black America of “life, liberty and the pursuit

of happiness”; (2) the demand for change NOW, not gradually; (3) his aspirations for America, i.e., judgment by character and not skin color. Nobody talks about him cussing America out and making demands. It’s all about “the dream,” which was the “gravy” of the speech, NOT the meat. The surviving Kings do a great job of monetizing MLK’s “content.” But to truly impact the world, they should urge people to publicly read, perform and air MLK speeches everywhere (without charging them royalties or fees) on every MLK day. You can’t read his words or hear his voice without being changed.

STEVE SACK, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

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National Newspaper Publishers Association

Society of Professional Journalists

National Newspaper Association

Associated Press

Harry C. Alford is the cofounder and president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Contact him via www.nationalbcc.org.

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

I’m at ccherry2@gmail.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’.

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JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

No more foxes guarding the B-CU ‘hen house’ Following the abrupt and unexpected departure of former President Edison O. Jackson in August 2017 amid dire financial conditions at Bethune Cookman-University and the subsequent appointment by B-CU’s Board of Trustees of Hubert L. Grimes as interim successor, I have asked myself the following question repeatedly: If the employment of the president of University of Florida, Florida State University, Howard University or any other reputable educational institution was terminated – or if that president was to exit under clouds of financial mismanagement, possible criminal wrongdoing, apparent fraud, or other malfeasance – would any of those institutions replace the outgoing president with his personal legal advisor? I believe the trustees of any such respectable institution, especially those charged as stewards of over $200 million in assets, would not act to extend the beleaguered legacy of a past president. B-CU should be no exception.

Take immediate action As the casualties of Jackson’s administration remain unaccounted, the board must immediately move to fulfill its important task of selecting a permanent president who can restore the university’s academic and financial credibility and chart a new course for sustainability. In the wake of Jackson’s departure, it has already been reported by various news outlets that with Jackson at the helm of the university’s administration and Joe Petrock as chairperson of the board, not only has Fitch Ratings lowered B-CU’s credit ratings three times in recent years, the university has suffered years of increasing operating losses due to wayward spending and mounting debt. It has also been published that the infamous dormitory project originally slated to cost $72.1 million to construct actually came with a $85 million price tag and the related financing terms – approved without independent and disinterested financial advice– now calls for payments totaling a whopping $306M over 40 years. Reportedly cash-strapped, the school has already deferred payments. What’s more is that the budget surplus that greeted Jackson and his cronies when they rode into Daytona over four years ago has now devolved to operating losses of $18 million for the past year.

No real audit Interim President Grimes announced last October at a meeting of over 200 concerned alumni that the university had engaged an unnamed firm to conduct a forensic audit of the university’s fi-

review of the transaction, Jackson named Grimes as his personal leJOHNNY L. gal advisor – at the university’s expense. Once the former counsel’s MCCRAY, JR., contract expired, Jackson was cerESQ. tain to ensure that her contract was not renewed and that Grimes GUEST COMMENTARY was appointed as B-CU’s general nance, and that evidence of fis- counsel. cal mismanagement had already Serving two ‘masters’ been unearthed. As Grimes pondered, “God Now that Jackson has departknows what else they’ll find,” such ed and Grimes himself has pubnews came as no surprise to me. licly acknowledged evidence of As a member of the board during impropriety during Jackson’s most of Jackson’s tenure, I raised administration, to whom will significant concerns about the fi- Grimes’ allegiance lie? Having nancial health of the institution, served as legal counsel to Jackthe board’s reluctance to execute son, may Grimes become a witits fiduciary responsibilities, and ness in or subject of a future inthe administration’s lack of trans- vestigation, including a criminal parency. investigation? Ostensibly Grimes’ purported Already, Grimes has been forensic audit is of the very type called as a witness in the civil acof probing investigation that I ap- tion filed by Trustee Ray Brinson, pealed to the board to conduct, who sued to be returned to the and offered to underwrite costs board after a wrongful removal for, nearly three years ago – all stemming from Grimes’ legal adin an effort to determine the true vice. nature of the university’s finances Will Grimes be compelled to and ferret out wrongdoing. raise the attorney-client priviSeemingly, it would be the lege as Jackson’s legal advisor same such audit that then-Gen- and general counsel in the event eral Counsel Grimes, in an air of Grimes becomes a target in any hubris and condescension, chid- pending or future investigations ed me was unnecessary because concerning any of the questionlearned members of the busi- able transactions during Jackness community and judiciary son’s tenure? seated on the board had voted How can the board – that down the proposal of an attorney, should have at once been retiwith three generations of Wildcat cent to appoint Grimes as interblood coursing through my veins im president, given his close relaand 35 years of criminal law prac- tionship with Jackson – consider tice experience, including a fair elevating Grimes into the permashare of white-collar criminal de- nent post when the dust behind fense. Jackson’s chariot has yet to clear?

Widespread shock If Trump was shocked, he wasn’t alone. The Democratic Party establishment were certain they would prevail. The corporate media and the wealthy donors who backed Hillary Clinton did so in the belief that her victory was inevitable. But apparently none of them, Trump included, had a finger on the pulse of White Americans who knew they wanted this man, the reality show buffoon and huckster. While rich Republicans decided whether to support Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, or Chris Christie, the White masses had made their choice, irrespective

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

DARYL CAGLE, CAGLECARTOONS.COM

Grimes not credible

Wife also involved?

Back then, perhaps expediency commanded Grimes to overlook all indicia of impropriety and eschew principles of good corporate governance as he had ascended from being Jackson’s personal legal advisor to his chosen general counsel. Today, it seems Grimes bandies about talk of a forensic audit to broker credibility for a presidency for which both he and the school would be undeserving. Prior to being named general counsel and around the time of the dormitory deal, President Jackson selected Grimes to act as his personal legal advisor while the university had a general counsel. Like all corporate counsel, Grimes was charged with representing the interests of the university, and not that of any particular officer of the university, including its president. The only circumstance under which a university president would need personal counsel is when that president’s interest does not align with the university’s. As questions swirled about the dormitory deal and the university’s counsel pressed for outside

In addition to the potential conflicts of interest that Grimes’ personal involvement in the past administration raise, Grimes’ wife Daisy is inextricably tied to the Jackson administration. Essentially, Mrs. Grimes worked as special assistant to Hakim Lucas, former vice president of Institutional Advancement, who also scurried out of B-CU under his own dark clouds. Lucas was integrally involved in much of the spending at the university and the dormitory deal. How much does Mrs. Grimes know as to the questionable fundraising and excessive spending? What involvement may she have had working in the office with the surreptitious delving into the university endowment and its substantial reduction? With such unanswered questions, one can’t help but wonder if a Grimes presidency would not be yet another tool of obfuscation and obstruction to any meaningful fact-finding effort. If alumni and friends of the university are seeking greater engagement and transparency, Grimes has already demonstrated that he will be no friend to alum-

ni or their interest in participating its accreditation last year. in the governance of the school or In no way does such an alliance promoting transparency. place B-CU students on any path to excellence or deliver on the Reinterpreted bylaws promise of the high-caliber eduAs general counsel in a lawsuit cation Dr. Bethune conceived so brought by the National Alumni many years ago. The grave circumstances at BAssociation (NAA) to enforce its right to appoint an alumni rep- CU demand that the board apresentative to the board, Grimes point a trusted and competent reinterpreted the board’s bylaws president to lead the universiin contravention of its intent and ty. The appointment of the next past practices so as to exclude the president may well determine the duly-appointed NAA alumni rep- survival our beloved institution. resentative from being seated. As such, the board must now In Brinson’s litigation brought seize the opportunity to seek its to enforce the board to comply own redemption, restore credibilwith its bylaws, Grimes advised ity to our institution and begin to Michelle Carter-Scott, chair of the right the ship. Nominations and Governance Committee of the board, to recast Take action, or resign the very plain meaning of the byThe foxes can no longer guard laws to erroneously and prematurely terminate the service of the hen house. The exigencies of Brinson, a former NAA president. the day do not allow for on-theNotably, Brinson was removed job training. after he had become increasingIt is imperative that the board ly persistent in raising questions impanel a credible presidential about the financial position of the search committee to work diliuniversity under Jackson’s presi- gently and transparently in the dency. best interest of the university, Not only is Grimes a vestige of free of the influence of friends, Jackson’s administration, he lacks cronies and associates. Anything the requisite skills and experi- less than that greatly undermines ence to lead B-CU at this critical the school’s ability to remove the hour. While he has over 25 years dross of the past administration of experience on the circuit court and threatens its very existence. bench primarily handling juveI implore each member of the nile and family matters, he lacks board to reaffirm your commitmeaningful experience in academia, management and in fun- ment to discharging your statutorily required fiduciary duties. draising. If, however, you appreciate the Moreover, the track record he has accrued by publicly and cam- gravity of your role and find that paigning in support of an alliance the decisions are too weighty, between B-CU and Arizona Sum- the challenges too burdensome mit Law School is worthy of every or inconvenient, or the splendor ounce of derision it has received of placing your membership on your résumé has lost its shine, or in the media. that you are simply unable or unwilling to exercise the requisite Failed law school This alliance was intended as a care and loyalty to participate in means to diversify the legal pro- governing the university, I urge fession by allowing B-CU stu- you to abide by a moral and legal dents to receive law degrees from obligation to resign. Otherwise, our beloved B-CU is the much-maligned law school. The for-profit Summit Law suf- counting on you to do better and fered years of failing academ- to seize this opportunity to finally ic standards, being out of com- get it right. pliance with admissions stanJohnny L. McCray, Jr., a memdards and low bar passage rates that ebbed at 25 percent, until the ber of B-CU’s Class of 1978, is American Bar Association put it an attorney based in Pompano out of its misery and suspended Beach.

Didn’t tell anyone

The very thing

Don’t underestimate the power of Trump love The recently published book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” is an inside account of the Donald Trump campaign and presidency. One of its more stunning revelations confirms what informed people said about Trump in 2016. He did not think he would win; indeed, he had not intended to win. His campaign was a self-promotion extravaganza gone wrong. He went to bed early on Election Night because he thought the night would belong to Hillary Clinton.

EDITORIAL

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

of elite machinations or the musings of pundits. They chose the man who said he would represent them and their interests and they never took a serious look at anyone else.

Trump didn’t know Even Trump, who created his own persona of the White “everyman” president, didn’t see how much his campaign resonated. Trump famously said that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support. He certainly proved himself correct. He got away with firstperson accounts of sexual harassment and assault, crude language and ‘jokes,’ the open backing of White supremacists, and racist remarks. “Make America Great Again” was a shrewd campaign theme. It’s not overtly racist, yet appeals to the White desire for a time when their rule was complete and unquestioned.

While America may have been gob-smacked, his supporters were not. They kept their desire for supremacy to themselves. They didn’t let on with pollsters as they went about the business of wishing for a White president. They knew what few others did. They didn’t care about Republican Party orthodoxy very much. Tax cuts, deregulation, and interventionist wars were all side issues they went along with to support the White people’s party. Whiteness itself was their priority. From the time that their allegiance switched to the Republicans, their racism was used to cement voter support. In decades past, the plea for “neighborhood schools” was used to mask opposition to desegregation plans. Terms such as “small government” were understood to mean that no money would be allowed to slip into the hands of Black people. The panoply of Republican orthodoxy was always meant to convey the goal of keeping White people on top and Black people under foot.

Talking loud But Trump didn’t bother with code words. He said Mexican immigrants were rapists and murderers and that keeping them out would be a high priority. He threw a Latino reporter out of a press briefing. He claimed that the judge who presided over his Trump University fraud case couldn’t be impartial because he was of Mexican ancestry. Hillary Clinton and the Demo-

recent tax bill was long sought by Republicans, and they are unlikely to pursue the impeachthat makes him so ment which is presented as the answer to every anti-Trump repugnant to half of the prayer. The Democrats have failed to formulate a coherent mescountry gives him an sage that would defeat Trump. appeal with the other They are stuck where they started out because they are bought off themselves. So they refuse half. That is the fire to make even tepid reforms that gain them voter support. and fury that everyone would They hope that people will reject the man who tweets messages must acknowledge. against foreign governments, lets his son-in-law run foreign policy, crats thought that his awfulness and believes himself to be smartwould repel the public, so they er than he is. neglected the “get out the vote” efforts in key states. They be- Not going anywhere lieved that exploiting what would The book “Fire and Fury” ordinarily be problematic would won’t sink Donald Trump. Neiguarantee an Electoral College ther will revelations that would win. damage others. Yet more than 60 million peoIt is easy to make fun of someple witnessed the open racism one who calls himself a “stable and vulgarity and fell in love. That must not be forgotten even genius. But that same man won when Trump may seem to be on before when expert opinion said that he would not. the ropes. The very thing that makes him so repugnant to half of the counStill loved silently try gives him an appeal with the It is unwise to think of Trump as being vulnerable at this junc- other half. That is the fire and future. Supposed low approval rat- ry that everyone must acknowlings should be taken with high edge. degrees of skepticism. The same Margaret Kimberley is a copeople who silently loved him during the campaign haven’t founder of BlackAgendaReport.com, and writes a weekly changed. Now he benefits from his leg- column there. Contact her at islative successes with the right Margaret.Kimberley@BlackAwing of the ruling classes. The gendaReport.com.

TOJ A6

NATION

JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

Diversity on powerful congressional panel Louisiana Democratic Rep. Cedric L. Richmond, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Booker and Harris are committed to “21st century criminal justice reform” and bring experience and expertise to the panel that “will be beneficial for all Americans, especially those disproportionately targeted by the criminal justice system.”

Hot-button probes On the committee, Booker and Harris will have oversight of the Justice Department, Sessions, the special counsel probe into connections between Russian operatives and the Trump campaign, and a piece of the lawmaker investigations into the same issue. They also arrived on a committee with a narrowed majority for Republicans, 11-10. There had been an 11-9 advantage for Republicans, but the election of Alabama Democrat Doug Jones in place of appointed GOP Sen. Luther Strange last month meant a recalculating of all committee ratios. In January 2017, Booker was one of three Black lawmakers who testified forcefully against Sessions, then a Republican senator from Alabama, during his confirmation hearing to be attorney general.

Booker’s testimony

BILL CLARK/CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY/NEWSCOM/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Kamala Harris, D-Calif. was added to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. She is the second Black woman to serve on the panel.

Booker and Harris appointed to Senate Judiciary committee BY TODD RUGER CQ-ROLL CALL/TNS

WASHINGTON – The addition of Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California to the Senate Judiciary Committee this month gave the two potential 2020 presidential hopefuls a big platform, but also a spot in the panel’s history. Booker becomes the first Black man to sit on the committee, which oversees civil rights, vot-

ing rights, housing discrimination and other Justice Department enforcement efforts that are seen as crucial to AfricanAmericans. Harris, who is biracial, becomes the second Black woman to serve on the panel, after Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, who left the Senate in 1999.

More history In one move by Democrats, Booker and Harris become the second and third Black senators to serve on the committee and its first Black members in nearly two decades. It will be the first time two Black senators have been on the panel at

the same time, and it comes as minority communities express concern at moves by President Donald Trump and his administration, specifically those by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

eral of California, said she was “thrilled” in a Twitter post. “You have my commitment that I will fight for justice on behalf of Californians and all Americans,” Harris said.

A small club

Lauded by groups

To put the Booker and Harris appointments in context, only 10 African-Americans have served in the Senate in history. “As a new member of the Senate Judiciary Committee — I will make it my mission to stand up to Jeff Sessions & President Trump,” Booker said on Twitter. “And I won’t rest until there is liberty & justice for all.” Harris, a former attorney gen-

Civil rights groups cheered the news. “Previously, only 1 African American had ever served on this body during its 201-year history. This is an important step forward that brings needed diversity to this important Committee,” Kristen Clark, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, wrote on Twitter.

Booker, a lawyer before entering politics, said at the time that he knows “some colleagues aren’t happy I am breaking with Senate tradition” by testifying against a colleague, but he argued then that Corey he stood with his Booker conscience and country over Senate norms. Sessions “at numerous times in his career … has demonstrated hostility” toward civil rights, Booker said last year. He told reporters after Sessions’ confirmation hearing that it was “a time that whatever the outcome, you can’t be silent.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the committee’s top Democrat, is the first woman in that post. She was named to the ranking member slot in November 2016, before the start of the 115th Congress.

Racist Markle texts lead British leader to break up with girlfriend BY CHRISTOPHER BRENNAN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS/TNS

The married leader of Britain’s right-wing UKIP announced that he has broken up with his activist girlfriend over racist text messages she sent about the country’s future princess. Henry Bolton, 54, said on BBC’s Radio 4 Monday morning that he had split with Jo Marney, the 25-year-old model and journalist whose relationship with the UK Independence Party leader has captivated some corners of the British press in recent weeks. Text messages published by The Mail on Sunday showed Marney saying that Meghan Markle, the Black American actress set to marry Prince Harry in May, would “taint our royal family.” Meghan “This is Britain, not Africa,” she said, before reMarkle plying to an assertion that she was racist with “lol so what.”

Quick suspension She added that Markle had a “tiny brain” and she would never have sex with “a negro.” Marney was quickly suspended from the party, which made a name for itself by pushing against immigration and rallying support around the “Brexit” departure from the European Union that has had the British economy in turmoil since last summer.

The next step LUIS SINCO/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Workers were knee-deep in mud along a flooded stretch of U.S. Highway 101 in Montecito, Calif., on Jan. 13.

A week after the California mudslides, Trump sends condolences BY SARAH D. WIRE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – Nearly a week after horrific mudslides hit California’s Central Coast and killed at least

20 people, President Donald Trump sent his condolences to those affected in his first public statement on the disaster. The two-sentence statement was released by the White House press secretary on Monday. “The President has been briefed and will continue to monitor the mudslides in California. The President and First Lady extend their deepest sympathies to the families affected, their appreciation for the first responders saving lives, and their prayers for those who remain missing.” Trump’s belated response stood in contrast to his repeated statements and tweets of condolences and promises of aid after hurricanes slammed Texas, Louisiana and Florida last year — all states that, unlike California, backed Trump for president in 2016. The mudslides’ toll could go higher. Four people remain missing, and authorities said on Jan. 14 their focus has gone from search and rescue to recovery.

Questions also arose about whether Bolton would be forced out, an exit that would leave UKIP with five leaders in a year and a half. He told the BBC Monday that he found his girlfriend’s comments “appalling and insulting,” but had no plans to step down. UKIP’s executive committee will meet next weekend to decide on Bolton’s fate. Bill Etheridge, a Member of the European Parliament in Brussels from England’s West Midlands, tweeted after Bolton’s media appearance that he had resigned from the leader’s spokesman’s team and would push for him to be removed.

Not the first Bolton added in his interview that his wife, Tatiana, was already living in Vienna with their two young daughters before he started dating Marney in December. He noted that he told her about his new relationship just before the new year. The pair are not legally separated. Marney has said her remarks were taken out of context and also apologized for what she called “shocking language.” Some British outlets also have been accused of racism in their coverage of Markle, such as a Daily Mail piece claiming that the Los Angeles native was “(almost) straight outta Compton.”

IFE/FAITH ‘Black Lightning’ joins lineup of superhero shows See page B5

JAN. 19 – JAN. 25, 2018

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

Test kitchen shares some favorite dishes See page B6

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

SECTION

NO TURNING BACK FRANCINE ORR/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Pastor J. Edgar Boyd asked God to hold Trump accountable for “his words, his deeds and his actions’’ on Jan. 14 at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Los Angeles. BY JAWEED KALEEM, CINDY CHANG AND JENNY JARVIE LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

he Rev. Raphael G. Warnock had not planned to mention the words “Donald Trump.” It was the day before Martin Luther King’s birthday and Warnock was going to focus elsewhere. But after the president was said to call African countries, El Salvador and Haiti “shithole” places last week, Warnock changed his mind. He went all in. Trump is “a willfully ignorant, racist, xenophobic, narcissistic con man,” he said to a largely Black crowd of more than 1,000 that came to celebrate King at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. All races, he said, must stand up to the president and those he denigrates.

During MLK observances, pastors condemn Trump’s comments, urges congregants to pray and press on.

More disapproval More than 2,000 miles away in Los Angeles on Sunday morning, the Rev. J. Edgar Boyd was met with murmurs of disapproval when he urged his mostly African-American congregation to pray for Trump at First African Methodist Episcopal Church. But when Boyd asked God to hold Trump accountable for “his words, his deeds and his actions,” the crowd applauded. Trump’s words last week during a meeting on immigration have been widely condemned by world leaders and Republicans and Democrats at home. The president and some Republicans who were present have denied that he said them. But others have confirmed them, and they have particularly hit a nerve among AfricanAmericans, a group that has consistently shown low support for Trump and has been regularly insulted by the racially insensitive words that the president tends to casually mutter.

Worship, reflection On the Sunday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a time that typically rivals Christmas and Easter services at many Black churches across America, sermons often reflect broadly on the quest for justice in Black communities today in following the King tradition. But in two of the nation’s most historic congregations — a California community of 19,000 that’s among the nation’s largest Black churches and the Georgia house of worship

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS

President Trump holds a signed proclamation to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day during an event at the White House on Jan. 12. whose name is synonymous with King — the focus became laser sharp. Nearly a year into Trump’s presidency, it was time to take stock of Black communities’ needs and challenges in a nation many felt was getting worse, not better, for them.

‘In the same boat’ Trump shouldn’t get people down, pastors said. His words should instead spur them to fight on. “Some of us came on immigrant ships, others of us came on slave ships, but we’re all in the same boat,” Warnock told more than a thousand congregants — some dressed in long fur coats, others in vivid, patterned shirts and robes — who packed the wooden pews of Ebenezer’s airy modern sanctuary. Most of those who filled the room were African-Americans whose descendants, in most cases, came to the U.S. on slave ships from what’s now Nigeria, Angola, Ghana and Gambia. “We will not allow the politics of division to get in the way of the vision of a shared humanity, the vision of what Dr. King

references to the Bible and King’s speeches, and historical accounts of colonialism and slavery. That wasn’t unusual; what was new were references to statements from Trump.

Divisive comments The stories are well-known, and also hard to count. The president kicked off his campaign by calling Mexicans “rapists.” He vowed to ban Muslim immigration into the U.S., and immigration advocates say he achieved partial success with his travel bans. He railed against Black athletes who don’t stand for the national anthem in protest against social injustice. He described White supremacists as “very fine people.” He suggested Puerto Ricans were lazy when they requested more assistance from the federal government after a hurricane devastated the island. And he reportedly dismissed dozens of countries, and one entire continent, as essentially worthless. (On Sunday, while in Palm Beach, Trump declared, “I am not a racist” in response to a journalist’s question about the incident.)

Reflecting on past Archie Shackles, 65, who attends First AME in Los Angeles, said it was “really hypocritical” for Trump to commemorate King after the remarks he had made. Shackles grew up in Texas during segregation and recalls having to step off the sidewalk to let White people go by. Trump, he said, wants to put African-Americans in an even lower place than that. “He’d love to take us back all the way to slavery,” said Shackles, a librarian and member of the church choir.

AME inspiration FRANCINE ORR/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

A parishioner holds a program with an image of Dr. Martin Luther King during church service on Jan. 14 at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Los Angeles. called the beloved community, the vision of one nation under God,” Warnock said.

Plenty of ‘Amens’ The service, just across the street from the modest brick church where King delivered his first and last sermon, began with members of the church’s drama ministry wearing “I AM

A MAN” sandwich boards and reading excerpts from King’s final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” It ended with the congregation linking arms and singing “We Shall Overcome.” The crowd clapped, said “Amen,” and stood up as Warnock delivered a rousing, wideranging sermon peppered with

At First AME, the Rev. Charolyn Jones offered inspiration from the Jews who were held captive in Babylon and followed God’s advice to build houses, grow food and raise families. African-Americans should turn anger at Trump into action, she said. When people are “constantly subjected to racist, vile, offensive and divisive” remarks, they should continue to hope and look to the future, whether by speaking out against racism or by running for public office, Jones said. See PASTORS, Page B2

OBITUARIES

JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

STOJ

Edwin Hawkins, best known for ‘Oh Happy Day,’ dies at 74 BY FISHER JACK EURWEB.COM

Edwin Hawkins, the four-time Grammy Award-winning leader of The Edwin Hawkins Singers’ 1969 million-seller “Oh Happy Day” died Jan. 15 at his California home after a bout with pancreatic cancer. He was 74 years old. “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Edwin Hawkins –– a celebrated artist, innovator, and music icon. Though he will be greatly missed the world over, the message of love, life, and encouragement that he incorporated into his music gives us all the same hope that we’ll join him in heaven and sing `Oh Happy Day.’” the Hawkins family said in a statement.

An early start One of eight children, Hawkins was born Aug. 19, 1943 in Oakland, California, and raised in the Campbell Village projects. He discovered music early and began playing the keyboards in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) denomination at the age of 5.

He and his friend, Betty Watson, co-founded the 46-member strong Northern California State Youth Choir in 1967 so that they could attend the Edwin annual COGIC Hawkins convention. They recorded an album, “Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord’’ to finance the trip. The 500 copies they ordered didn’t come in time for the trip, but one of the LPs eventually fell into the hands of a rock music DJ Abe “Voco” Kesh at KSAN-radio. He began to play the ‘O Happy Day’’ in the Bay area and soon the song’s success spread east. “My mother had an old hymnal and I had a knack for rearranging hymns,” Hawkins once said. “`Oh Happy Day’ was an old hymn and I rearranged it. It was actually one of the least likely songs to become a hit. There were some much stronger songs on there.”

1970 Grammy award Record executive Neil Bogart picked up the song and distributed it through Buddha Records. “Oh Happy Day” reached No. 2 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and No. 4 on the Pop Singles chart in 1969. It won the singers a Grammy in 1970 for Best Soul Gospel Performance. The tune has sold over 7 million copies to date and it established Hawkins’ career. “I wasn’t planning to go into the music business and I wasn’t looking for a record deal,” he said in the book, ‘Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia.’ The record’s success decided my fate.”

More acclaim In 2001, The Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) ranked “Oh Happy Day” No. 63 on its top 365 songs of the 20th century. The song has been covered by dozens of artists, including Quincy Jones, Johnny Mathis, Glen Campbell, Aretha Franklin, Ja-

Two former Delta presidents pass away on same day FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is mourning the passing of two of its national presidents – Mona Humphries Bailey and Frankie Muse Freeman. Both died on Jan. 12, a day before the sorority’s 105th anniversary. Bailey, the sorority’s 17th president and a retired educator, died of cancer on Jan. 12 at age 85. Freeman, the 14th president and a retired attorney and civil rights activist, was 101. “While the date January 12th will always be remembered as day of unmatched sorrow in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority with the loss of two treasured leaders, this season in Delta’s life also gives us a greater determination to use our Founders Day as a time to recommit ourselves to what Sorors Freeman and Bailey fought so hard to preserve for future generations of Deltas,’’ stated Beverly E. Smith, the sorority’s nation-

Mona Humphries Bailey

Frankie Muse Freeman

al president and CEO.

Mona Humphries Bailey Bailey, who grew up in Apalachicola, Florida, was a longtime educator based in Seattle, Washington. In her 32-year career in public education, she taught junior and high school science teacher, was a high school counselor, middle school principal. She later became the personal administrator and deputy superintendent for Seattle Public Schools and the assistant state superintendent

PASTORS Warning from Warnock

Support for Dreamers Trump signed a routine proclamation declaring the King holiday on Jan. 12, a day after his remarks during the immigration meeting. “You cannot celebrate the dream if you will not liberate the Dreamers,’’ Warnock said. “Give these 800,000 young people who are in our colleges and in our neighborhoods a path to dignified citizenship,” he said, alluding to the president’s vacillating positions on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program. “Dr. King said a person who has not found something he’s willing to die for

First Miss FAMU Bailey earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Florida A&M University (FAMU). She also was the first Miss FAMU – 1953 to 1954. She received a master’s in Science Education from Oregon State University. She also was a candidate for the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and Administration at the University of Washington. She is survived by her husband, Pete Bailey, two sons, four grandchildren, and a host of other relatives, including her broth-

The Rev. Dr. Charolyn J. Jones preaches during the service at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Los Angeles on Jan. 14.

from A1

At Ebenezer, Warnock reminded congregants “of some 2,000 Bible verses that tell us to care for the poor and the widows, the immigrants in our midst.” Warnock railed against the “large sectors of the American church and their shameful complicity, even their active role” in putting Trump in the Oval Office. White evangelicals remain one of the president’s strongest groups of supporters, although recent polls have shown some weakening of that support. He condemned politicians who make “mild, pious pronouncements” in King’s honor while resisting his ultimate message of love and social justice.

in the Washington State Office of Public Instruction. Immediately after retiring, she served as a senior associate with the Institute of Educational Inquiry, a nonprofit Seattle-based organization focusing on educational renewal in partnership with the National Network for Educational Renewal.

FRANCINE ORR/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

is not fit to live,” Warnock told congregants. “Dr. King said the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but in time of challenge and controversy.”

‘A way to go’ Outside Ebenezer, a steady flow of locals and tourists braved the bitter cold to walk around the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site — upgraded to a national historic park last week in a new act signed by Trump. After watching a 30-minute video on King’s life and legacy, Quiyana Shipp, a 22-year-old supply specialist in the U.S. Army, said she appreciated civil rights pioneers’ impact on modern-day America. Growing up in Suwanee, Georgia, a suburban area of metro Atlanta, Shipp said she had not experienced overt discrimination. Yet she felt many Americans were not used to seeing educated Black women. “I’m told I’m so wellspoken — as if that’s unusual,” she said. “We’ve come a long way, but we still have a way to go.”

No surprise Back inside Ebenezer, Veronika Jackson, a 65-year-old musician from Decatur, scribbled notes throughout the service. A descendant of West African slaves, Jackson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. As a young girl, her school principal’s daughter was killed when members of the Ku Klux Klan planted a bomb in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church. While Jackson had not been entirely surprised by Trump’s remarks — “I already knew what kind of man he is,” she said — they left her disheartened. But as she left the sanctuary, passing under the threshold of an obelisk bell tower built in homage to the ancient Stele of Axum in modern-day Ethiopia, she said she felt fired up by the sermon. “I’m lifted up as a Black woman in my culture,” she said. “I’m walking with my head up.”

Staff writers Chang reported from Los Angeles and Kaleem from New York. Special correspondent Jarvie reported from Atlanta.

son Mraz, Susan Boyle, The Oak Ridge Boys and Elvis Presley. Hawkins often toured with his younger and equally successful singing brother, Walter, and Walter’s then wife, Tramaine, as The Hawkins Family in the 1970s. Their energetic stage show filled civic centers and concert halls across the world, including D.A.R. Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

Artist and educator Edwin Hawkins, with his group and as a soloist, continued to make gospel radio hits throughout the next two decades including, “Worship The Lord,” “God Will Take Care of You,” “Give Me A Star” and “To My Father’s House.” In recent years, Hawkins recorded occasionally and toured largely in Europe. He also sponsored the Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar to teach the next generation of musicians the business of music.

Hero and friend “This is a sad day in music,”

er Frederick S. Humphries, former president of FAMU. A funeral mass was scheduled for Jan. 19 at Monica Cathedral Catholic Church in Mercer Island, Washington. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is planning a memorial service in her honor on Jan. 28 in Tallahassee.

Frankie Muse Freeman She was born Marie Frankie Muse on Nov. 24, 1916, and was raised in Danville, Georgia. She attended Hampton University for undergrad and Howard University for law school where she dedicated her career to fighting to end Jim Crow. In 1952, Freeman was the lead attorney in the

Liz Black, midday radio host for WLIB, a gospel radio station in New York City, said about Hawkins’ passing. “I knew and loved Edwin Hawkins’ music even before I was in the church and I know that I’m not alone in that.” Grammy winning singer and producer Donald Lawrence said, “Edwin Hawkins was not only a musical hero to me but he came to be a mentor and a close friend.’’ His group also had a huge influence on gospel artist Richard Smallwood, who had known since Smallwood was 19 years old. “Edwin changed the face of gospel music and helped create a fresh sounding genre that spread around the entire world. He was a humble and kind spirit that not only encouraged others who were privileged to meet him, but also inspired millions to be daring in their creativity,” Smallwood stated. Hawkins is survived by his siblings Carol, Feddie, Daniel and Lynette.

landmark court case Davis v. St. Louis Housing Authority. The case led to the end of racial segregation in St. Louis public housing. In 1964, she became the first woman on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, which investigates discrimination complaints, collects data on discrimination and advises the president and lawmakers on issues of discrimination and equal protection. Her first trip was to Mississippi to investigate the bombing of four Black churches.

Statue at courthouse She also was an assistant attorney general of Missouri and staff attorney for the St. Louis Land Clearance and Housing Authori-

ties from 1956 to 1970. In 2017, as Freeman neared her 101st birthday, the city gathered to unveil a bronze statue of her erected just outside the courthouse where she argued the case. She also has a star on the Civil Rights Walk of Fame in Atlanta. Freeman’s funeral will be at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. Services are open to the public. She is survived by a daughter, Shelbe Patricia Bullock; and four grandchildren.

Reports from Essence, NBC News and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch were used in compiling this report.

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STOJ

JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

SAFETY

Fewer people in US being killed by lightning Improved medical care and more awareness of the dangers contributed to a record low number in 2017. BY DAVID FLESHLER SUN SENTINEL/TNS

Like most nonfatal lightning strikes, the one outside the Aventura Mall in Florida was not a direct hit. The bolt of electricity struck the victim’s umbrella, entered through his hand and left through his foot. “The gentleman holding the umbrella sustained significant electrical injuries, but his outcome was very good,” said Dr. Randy Katz, medical director of emergency services at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, who has treated about half a dozen lightning victims. “It’s very uncommon to see an entrance and an exit. In this case he actually had an exit through his shoe, so his shoe was torn open at the bottom.” Quick action by medical personnel prevented the victim from dying of cardiac arrest before he reached the hospital, Katz said.

2017: 16 deaths Such improved medical care, and more awareness of the dangers of lightning, has contributed to a record low number of U.S. lightning deaths in 2017. Lightning killed 16 people in the nation last year, far below the previous record low of 23 and well short of the 100-plus fatalities that were routine in the 1960s, according to the National Weather Service. The total includes five deaths in Florida, the perennial leader in U.S. lightning fatalities, which receives more lightning strikes per square mile than any other state. But Florida also has stricter lightning safety policies, mirroring those taking effect across the country. “If you go back 40 years or so, people would just simply hear the thunder and say, ‘Oh, I think the storm is some distance away,’” said John Jensenius, lightning safety specialist for the National Weather Service. “What they didn’t realize was that if you could hear thunder, you’re in striking distance of the storm. Lightning can strike outward 10 miles from a storm, which about the distance that you can hear thunder.”

More safety conscious Florida school systems have installed lightning detectors and

imposed strict safety policies. After lightning killed a student during a football game at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek in 2005, the Broward County School District adopted the WeatherBug monitoring system, which issues warnings of nearby thunderstorms. “If we have any alerts that go off, the athletes or the band or anyone else that’s out there practicing or competing immediately need to go inside,” said Shawn Cerra, athletics director for the Broward school district, who has worked in the school system for 24 years. “If there was a policy in place decades ago, it was really loose,” he said. “Not so much today. We’re pretty safety-conscious. I can remember back a couple decades when lightning would be cracking around us and then we’d be going in, but we wouldn’t detect it when it was five, eight, 10 miles away.”

Common threat With Florida’s stormy summers, the state averages nearly 21 lightning strikes per square mile per year, followed by Louisiana with 18 and Mississippi with 16.4, according to the monitoring company Vaisala, which produces data used by the National Weather Service. This high density of strikes helps account for the state’s leading position for fatalities. “It’s that combination of lightning and outdoor activities which make people vulnerable to a lightning strike,” Jensenius said. “In terms of lightning, Florida has the most lightning per square mile of any state in the U.S. and also a sizable population. In addition, Florida has many outdoor recreational activities that cause people to be vulnerable to a lightning strike. Finally, in Florida, lightning is a very common afternoon threat for those who work outside or are outside as part of their daily routine.”

Fatal strikes Since 2000 there have been nine deaths and 47 injuries from lightning in Broward County, seven deaths and 38 injuries in Miami-Dade County and six deaths and 29 injuries in Palm Beach County, according to the National Climate Data Center. Florida’s lightning deaths last year included a construction worker killed June 27 while working on the Pembroke Pines City Center project. Another construction worker was killed by lightning last May in Jensen Beach. But leisure activities account for the largest number of fatalities.

JOHN SLEEZER/KANSAS CITY STAR/TNS

Even when lightning doesn’t kill, it can cause serious, permanent injuries, including neurological problems. Pain is common. Leading the list is fishing, followed by beach activities, camping and boating, according to a 10-year analysis of lightning deaths nationwide by the National Weather Service. Of sporting activities, the leader was soccer, followed by golf.

Lifetime of pain Even when lightning doesn’t kill, it can cause serious, permanent injuries, including neurological problems such as distractibility, irritability, changes in personality, headaches, balance problems and difficulty sleeping. Pain is common. “When lightning goes through

a person, it’s following either the cardiovascular or the nervous system, and in the nervous system those tiny little nerve endings, which are used to transmitting tiny little impulses of energy, get completely overwhelmed by the amount of energy in a lightning strike,” Jensenius said. “The end result of that tremendous amount of energy is that the person is left in pain, and that pain can persist for a lifetime.”

Better care Dr. Craig Harrison, emergency medical physician at Broward Health Medical Center, said there has been improvement in medi-

cal care immediately after a lightning strike because of wider CPR training and the increased availability of defibrillators, which can restore a normal heartbeat. “We probably have better medical care in the field from first-responders and bystanders,” he said. “When you get those things started, you can often bring people back who may have lost their heartbeat or their ability to breathe, during those first few critical moments. When you look back to the 1940s, on average there were about 300 people dying every year from lightning. Now we’re below 30, and certainly this last year dropped a lot more.”

Health department: Reduce the time cell phone’s near your body BY BARBARA ANDERSON FRESNO BEE/TNS

Put your cell phone down — and keep it away from your pillow, the California Department of Public Health is advising. Smartphone use continues to increase in the U.S., especially among children, and the health department said some people and health professionals have concerns about the radio frequency energy emitted from cell phones. The scientific community has not reached a consensus on the risks of cell phone use, but the health department said research suggests long-term, extensive use may affect health. “We know that simple steps, such as not keeping your phone in your pocket and moving it away from your bed at night, can help reduce exposure for both children and adults,” said Dr. Karen Smith, state public health officer. Smartphones emit radio frequency energy when they send signals to and receive them from cell towers. KARL MONDON/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP/TNS

Media analysts take cell phone pictures of Google’s new Pixel 2 cell phones unveiled on Oct. 4, 2017 at the SFJazz Center in San Francisco.

Always nearby About 95 percent of Americans own a cell phone, and 12 percent rely on their smartphones for ev-

eryday internet access, the health department said. In addition, the average age when children get their first phone is now just 10, and a majority of young people keep their phones on or near them most of the day and while they sleep. “Children’s brains develop through the teenage years and may be more affected by cell phone use,” Smith said. “Parents should consider reducing the time their children use cell phones and encourage them to turn the devices off at night.”

More tips Other tips for reducing exposure to radio frequency energy from cell phones: • Keeping the phone away from the body • Reducing cell phone use when the signal is weak • Reducing the use of cell phones to stream audio or video or to download or upload large files • Keeping the phone away from the bed at night • Removing headsets when not on a call • Avoiding products that claim to block radio frequency energy because they may actually increase your exposure.

RELIGION

JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

STOJ

More churches offering pot as sacrament may not violate state law in some of these states. And if it does, legalizing recreational use but not religious use clearly discriminates against religion.”

Another legal issue In California, however, the Coachella Valley Church may not be able to offer its potent sacrament for much longer. The church operates in a 1925 San Jose mansion that formerly housed the Amsterdam’s Garden medical marijuana dispensary, which was shut down last year by San Jose city officials in a citywide crackdown on dispensaries. City officials have determined that some of the people who ran Amsterdam’s Garden now operate the Coachella Valley Church, Doyle said. Church leaders at first agreed to be interviewed but then did not respond to subsequent emails from California Healthline. A man who was videotaping the recent Sunday service said the church opened in May. The man, who gave his name as Dryden Brite, also goes by Xak Puckett, and has been described in media reports as a former director of Amsterdam’s Garden. “The message is really strong and powerful,” Puckett said of the church. “People are craving something new.”

Busy ‘gift shop’ BARBARA FEDER OSTROV/KAISER HEALTH NEWS/TNS

The Coachella Valley Church in San Jose, Calif., which offers marijuana as a “sacrament,” is among a growing number of similar churches nationwide.

Practice growing in states where marijuana is legal BY BARBARA FEDER OSTROV KAISER HEALTH NEWS/TNS

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Services at the Coachella Valley Church begin and end with the Lord’s Prayer. In between, there is the sacrament. “Breathe deep and blow harder,” intoned Pastor Grant Atwell after distributing small marijuana joints to 20 worshippers on a recent Sunday afternoon. “Nail the insight down, whether you get it from marijuana or prayer. Consider what in your own life you are thankful for.” A middle-aged man wearing a “Jesus Loves You” baseball cap piped up. “Thank you, God, for the weed,” he called out. “I’m thankful for the spirit of cannabis,” a woman echoed from the back. “I am grateful to be alive,” said another young woman, adding that she had recently overdosed — on what, she did not say — for the third time.

Rastafarian service The small room, painted black and gold and decorated with crosses and Rastafarian symbols, filled with pungent smoke after an hourlong service of Christian prayers, self-help slogans and inspirational quotes led by Atwell, a Campbell, California massage

therapist and photographer. Despite its mainstream Christian trappings, the Coachella Valley Church describes itself as a Rastafarian church, something that’s tough to define. Rastafari is a political and religious movement that originated in Jamaica. Combining elements of Christianity, pan-Africanism and mysticism, the movement has no central authority. Adherents use marijuana in their rituals.

Offered as sacrament The church’s leaders say they believe that religious freedom laws give them the right to offer marijuana to visitors without a doctor’s recommendation — and without having to abide by any other regulations. Some courts and local authorities beg to differ. As more states ease access to marijuana, churches that offer pot as a sacrament are proliferating, competing with medical marijuana dispensaries and even pot shops in the few states that have legalized recreational weed. While some of them claim Rastafari affiliation, others link themselves to Native American religious traditions. The churches are vexing local officials, who say that they’re simply dispensaries in disguise, skirting the rules that govern other marijuana providers, such as requirements to pay taxes.

A few shut down In California, which legalized

medical marijuana in 1996 and, as of New Year’s Day, now allows sales of recreational marijuana, churches tied to marijuana use have recently popped up in Oakland, Roseville, Modesto, San Diego County, Orange County, Los Angeles County and the Southern California desert city of Coachella (no connection to the San Jose church). A few have been shut down by law enforcement. “I’m not going to say they’re not churches, but to the extent that they’re distributing marijuana, they’re an illegal dispensary, in my view,” said San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle. Doyle has requested a permanent legal injunction to stop the Coachella Valley Church from providing marijuana, and a court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22. He recently got a court order to shut down operations of a similar church, the Oklevueha Native American Church of South Bay, he said.

Testing state laws Nationally, such churches have opened in Indiana, where marijuana remains illegal, and Michigan, where medical marijuana is allowed. Even in Colorado, which legalized pot in 2012, the “International Church of Cannabis” is testing the limits of state and city rules on consuming marijuana in public. Marijuana churches typically require people to purchase

a membership, then give or sell them marijuana and related products. They may ask for ID such as a driver’s license but don’t require a doctor’s recommendation or medical marijuana identification card. They’re relying on court rulings that made it possible for some groups, including Native Americans, to use federally banned drugs like peyote in their religious ceremonies. (A coalition of Native American churches has disavowed Oklevueha churches that claim marijuana as their sacrament.)

Claims for years Despite these rulings, courts have thus far rejected religious groups’ right to use marijuana, which is still illegal at the federal level, according to Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia Law School professor specializing in religious liberty issues. “Marijuana churches have brought religious liberty claims for years, and they have always lost,” Laycock said. “Marijuana is a huge recreational drug, and a religious exception … would make enforcement nearly impossible. So the courts have always found a compelling government interest in marijuana enforcement.” Yet, Laycock said, as more states legalize marijuana, courts may regard marijuana churches’ rights more favorably. “Legalization changes everything,” he said. “Religious use

He described the back room where marijuana products were sold to members as the church’s “gift shop,” then declined to answer further questions. About half of the churchgoers left the black-and-gold worship room immediately after receiving their sacrament, with some heading straight to the gift shop to stock up. Others remained to finish their joints and chitchat. The man sporting the “Jesus Loves You” cap lingered. He had brought along his dog, Spartan, and a shofar, a ram’s horn used in some Jewish ceremonies, which he blew loudly at the end of the service. “Anytime the word of God is being preached, it’s a good thing,” said Mark, a 57-year-old who declined to give his last name.

‘Life-affirming church’ Marco, a 29-year-old veterinary technician from San Jose who also declined to give his last name, attended with his husband. He has a medical marijuana card and said marijuana helps him with bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety. He grew up Catholic and felt that the Roman Catholic Church disapproved of his sexual orientation and marijuana use. “Honestly, this has been the most life-affirming church I’ve ever been to,” Marco said. “Here there are true believers in cannabis — if not the faith.”

Kaiser Health News is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Pope apologizes for sexual abuse by priests BY PATRICK J. MCDONNELL LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

SANTIAGO, Chile – Pope Francis on Tuesday opened his weeklong visit to Chile and Peru with a somber apology for sexual abuse by priests, a scandal that has roiled the Catholic Church. “I cannot help but express the pain and shame, shame that I feel over the irreparable harm caused to children by church ministers,” Francis said at the La Moneda government palace in Santiago, the capital, ahead of a meeting with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. “It is fair to ask for forgiveness,” he said. Later, Francis presided over a Mass with several hundred thousand pilgrims gathered under the blazing Southern Hemisphere summer sun at the capital’s O’Higgins Park.

Chilean scandal The sexual abuse crisis has divided the church in Chile. Francis was criticized for appointing a bishop, Juan Barrios, to head a diocese in southern Chile. Barrios was accused of protect-

ing a mentor, Father Fernando Karadima, whom the Vatican has accused of abusing teenage boys for years. Karadima has denied the allegations and Barrios has said he was unaware of any wrong-doing. The scandals, however, have eroded many Chileans’ faith in their church. Once a heavily Catholic country, Chile has seen numbers of churchgoers fall, and a recent poll showed only 45 percent of Chileans calling themselves Catholic.

Victims want meeting Francis chose his first public comments to address the crisis. Victims have sought a meeting with him though none has yet been arranged. The last papal visit to Chile was 30 years ago in 1987, by Pope John Paul II, when the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet still ruled. Early Tuesday, tens of thousands lined up in the predawn hours outside O’Higgins Park in anticipation of Francis’ arrival for the open-air Mass. “It’s a great honor to be here,” said Jacqueline Olguien, 48, part

ELVIS GONZALEZ/EFE/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Pope Francis and Chilean President, Michelle Bachellet attend a meeting with authorities, civil society and diplomatic corps at La Moneda Palace in Santiago de Chile on Tuesday. of a group of 15 from a parish in Santiago. “This pope speaks to us directly.”

Chile, then Peru Francis arrived in Chile on Monday evening and will continue to Peru later in the week. He is expected to preach on indigenous rights, environmental destruction in the Amazon and the

plight of immigrants. In an 11th-hour schedule shift, Francis stopped Monday evening in Santiago at the tomb of a Chilean prelate who was known as the “bishop of the poor” and who aided those seeking loved ones detained during Chile’s former military dictatorship. Francis was welcomed at Santiago’s international airport by the

Chilean president. The 81-year-old pope, known for his low-key style, took the passenger seat of a blue Hyundai sedan. The car traveled from the airport through the streets of the capital in a convoy of white SUVs as tens of thousands of well-wishers, many waving Vatican and Chilean flags, lined the streets.

STOJ

JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

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

A broader agenda for ‘Black Lightning’ ‘A legacy project’

New superhero show focuses on concerns facing AfricanAmericans

Williams, in a joint interview with Akil, said he was overcome with emotion when he watched the pilot. “This is a legacy project, not only for me as an actor but as an artist,” said the big- and small-screen veteran who has appeared on everything from “Beverly Hills, 90210” to “Friday Night Lights.” “This is a show I can hang my hat on. I’ve never wanted my art to be just about entertainment. I want it to touch, illuminate and inspire things.”

BY GREG BRAXTON LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

The new year isn’t even a month old, and a new superhero is charging onto the scene, smashing into the jam-packed universe already occupied by Superman, Batman, Thor, Wonder Woman and a seemingly endless parade of costumed crime fighters. But the producers of “Black Lightning,” the new CW series based on the DC Comics character launched Tuesday, have a broader agenda than creating another fantastic world where good battles evil. The drama, which joins the network’s superhero slate — “Arrow,” “Supergirl,” “The Flash” and “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” — aims to deliver a shock wave, injecting topical issues and a sharp cultural perspective focused on the concerns facing African Americans.

MLK quoted

‘Authentic Black voice’ “We want to have an authentic Black voice and a show that deals with what I grew up with and what I know,” said executive producer and showrunner Salim Akil. “This is personal to me,” said Akil, who wrote the pilot with his wife and fellow executive producer, Mara Brock Akil (“Girlfriends,” “The Game”). “I wanted to add something not only to Black culture but to American culture that can’t be taken away.”

Out of retirement Cress Williams (“Hart of Dixie,” “Living Single”) plays the titular hero, Jefferson Pierce, a scrupulous high school principal and divorced father of two

THE CW

Cress Williams plays Jefferson Pierce, a father and school teacher who reluctantly emerges from superhero retirement in the The CW’s “Black Lightning.” daughters living in the fictional city of Freeland. Nine years before the start of the series — after a near-fatal showdown with his nemesis Tobias Whale (Marvin Jones III) — Pierce retired his alter ego Black Lightning, a masked vigilante with the power to manipulate electricity. But superheroes rarely stay retired. Pierce resurrects Black Lightning to combat racist cops and a violent gang, led by Whale, terrorizing the community.

Black heroes matter The battle becomes personal when gang members target his daughters, activist Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and high-schooler Jennifer (China Anne McClain), who turn out to have special skills of their own. (Stay tuned for “Thunder” and “Lightning.”) One of the key goals for Akil, who grew up in Richmond, Calif., is to show that Black heroes matter. “In my community, I know who the good guys

and the bad guys are,” he said. “I’ve never seen Superman go to Chicago. I’ve never seen Batman go to Watts. There are no superheroes going into the neighborhoods I grew up in and fighting any kind of crime. So that was a must in terms of the world ‘Black Lightning’ would live in. “There are no more heroic people than those who live with the threat of gun violence and drugs. It’s not even about what race you are. It’s about socioeconomic status.”

Although “Black Lightning” features many familiar comic book touchstones — the reluctant hero, the snazzy suit, the complicated romantic life — they are filtered through a contemporary prism crafted by a predominantly Black writing staff. Characters quote Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer (“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”) The soundtrack ranges from contemporary hiphop to vintage R&B tunes like Isaac Hayes’ version of the pop classic “Walk on By” and Billy Paul’s socially conscious “Am I Black Enough for You?”

‘Mature superhero’ While the series hails from executive producer Greg Berlanti, the man behind the other D.C. shows on the CW, don’t look for any crossover episodes. “Black Lightning” is designed to stand on its own. “I saw the script, and it was different in so many ways but also fit the genre,” said CW President Mark Pedowitz. “It’s a DC character and property. It fits the lineup, but we made a decision that it doesn’t fit in the ‘Arrowverse’ because it has a unique perspective. “Black Lightning is a more mature superhero.

The show depicts an African-American family trying to exist and survive in this world. It’s about realizing that vision, not making (it like) everything else.” “I’d rather be here than that clubhouse,” agrees Williams of staying out of the “Arrowverse.” “We offer the audience for those shows the things they like to see, and more. It might add another dimension to their palette.”

Return for Akils The drama marks a triumphant return to the CW for the Akils. The couple departed in 2009 when the network axed “The Game,” the sports-world comedy created by Brock Akil. BET picked up the show, which not only became a hit but helped launch that network into the scripted series space. (Brock Akil also created BET’s first hourlong drama, “Being Mary Jane,” starring Gabrielle Union.)

More Black superheroes “Black Lightning” also plunges into a genre formerly dominated by White crime fighters, that is now seeing an increasing number of costumed superheroes of color, including Netflix’s “Luke Cage” and the Justice League’s “Aquaman.” Marvel’s “Black Panther” is already a hot property weeks before its Feb. 16 premiere. Akil said he has no concerns about competition from other Black superheroes. “‘Black Lightning’ is not ‘Black Panther.’ They’re not telling our story. ‘Luke Cage’ is not telling our story. All these stories are different, and they can all exist,” he said. “It shows that we can be just as diverse as White people.” A smiling Williams added, “Nobody ever asks if there are too many White superheroes.”

FOOD

JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 25, 2018

TOJ

DYNAMIC DISHES Test kitchen shares favorite recipes of 2017 BY SUSAN SELASKY DETROIT FREE PRESS/TNS

It was a year of plant foods, bowl foods and whole foods. With whole foods that meant preparing foods as simple as possible using foods with very few ingredients, it also meant Whole Foods Market chain being gobbled up by Amazon. Not only did Amazon stun the grocery world by buying Whole Foods Market, the grocery store industry changed, too. More and more stores offer online grocery shopping with curb side pick-up or delivered to your door. And stores offer everything from groceries to clothing and toys.

Sliders to kale In 2017, the Free Press spent our third year at the Great Lakes Culinary Cen-

ter testing recipes and hosting events. And it’s some of those recipes that were deemed stand-outs and ones we will make over and over. The Test Kitchen’s Favorite Recipe list includes Ham and Cheese sliders that are easy to put together and are crowd-pleasing. These baked sliders are versatile and should be at least in everyone’s Super Bowl party play book.

Riced cauliflower too For low-carb dieters, cauliflower continues its merry way especially with the help of the ketogenic diet. Riced cauliflower is now sold frozen and pearl cauliflower fresh, both are great for making faux mashed potatoes. One of today’s “Best-of” recipes using cauliflower in a simple form — thinly shaved in a salad with a yummy vinaigrette. And so, here are some of our favorites recipes from last year. We are sure you will enjoy them well into 2018.

SHAVED CAULIFLOWER SALAD Serves: 4 / Preparation time: 20 minutes / Total time: 20 minutes 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest 1/4 cup fresh lime juice 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon honey 1/4 cup olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 10 ounces cauliflower florets (from about 1/2 of a small head), very thinly sliced lengthwise on a mandoline 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast, divided 2 cups 1-inch-wide strips romaine

ERIC SEALS/DETROIT FREE PRESS/TNS

CEDAR-PLANKED SALMON FILLETS WITH BROCCOLINI Serves: 4 / Prep time: 20 minutes / Total time: 45 minutes 1 untreated cedar plank, 12 to 15 inches long and about 7 inches wide 1 skin-on salmon fillet, about 1 1/2 pounds and 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar 1 pound broccolini, stem ends trimmed and split lengthwise 1/2-inch below florets

2 cups torn frisée or any artisan lettuce like petite tango 2 ounces Parmesan, finely grated, divided In a large bowl, whisk lime zest, lime juice, mustard and honey. Whisking constantly, gradually add the oil until the dressing is emulsified. Season with salt and pepper. Add the shaved cauliflower and 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast to dressing; toss to combine. Add lettuce, frisée, and half of Parmesan and toss again; season with salt and pepper. Transfer salad to a platter and top with remaining Parmesan and sprinkle with remaining 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast. Adapted from Bon Appetit magazine, September 2016 issue.

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon grated orange zest Soak the cedar plank in water for at several hours or overnight. Prepare the grill for medium heat about 375 to 400 degrees. Cut the salmon into four equal pieces and generously season salmon with salt and pepper. In a small bowl mix together the mustard and brown sugar into a paste. Spread the paste all over the salmon. Toss the broccolini with the oil, salt and pepper to taste. Place the soaked cedar plank over direct medium heat and close lid. After 5 to 10 minutes when the plank begins to smoke and char, turn the plank over.

BAKED HAM AND CHEESE SLIDERS Serves: 6 / Prep time: 30 minutes / Total time: 1 hour 24 slider buns 6 to 8 tablespoons Dijon, coarse grain brown or yellow mustard 24 slices favorite ham or turkey (use more if the slices are very thin) 24 thin slices provolone or Swiss cheese Freshly ground black pepper to taste 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/4 cup finely chopped onion 2 tablespoons poppy seeds 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

You can use any type roll or bun for these sandwiches. If you use larger rolls, consider adding more than one slice of ham to each one. You can brush the sandwiches with the sauce, cover and refrigerate up to 1 day in advance. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange slider bun bottoms on a sided baking sheet or arrange in a baking dish (you may need 2). Brush some mustard on the bottom bun. Fold ham slices in thirds, and place 1 slice (or 2 if they are very thin) on each roll bottom. Fold the cheese the same way and then place over ham. Season with pepper. Brush the inside of the bun cap with more mustard if you’d like. Place bun cap on ham. In a small bowl, combine the butter, onion, and poppy seeds. Microwave

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Place the fillets, skin side down, in a single layer on the plank, leaving a little room between the fillets and place broccolini on the grates surrounding the plank. Grill the fillets and broccolini with lid closed until salmon is cooked to desired doneness and broccolini is crisp-tender, about 12 to 15 minutes, turning vegetables and checking salmon for doneness every 5 minutes. The broccolini will char a little on the floret ends. Transfer salmon fillets to plates. In a bowl, toss broccolini with orange zest and serve with salmon. Adapted from “Weber’s New Real Grilling” by Jamie Purviance (Sunset, $24.95).

until butter is melted and onion is softened, about 1 minute. Whisk in Worcestershire, garlic powder, and remaining 2 tablespoons mustard into butter mixture until combined. Generously brush tops and sides of the sandwiches with all of butter mixture. Spoon any remaining solids over sandwiches. Cover dish with aluminum foil and let sit for 10 minutes to allow sandwiches to absorb sauce. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until cheese is melted around edges and tops are slightly firm, 7 to 9 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Serve. Adapted from www.cookscountry. com.