Florida Courier, July 19, 2019

FC

EE FR

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

www.flcourier.com

NOW UPDATED DAILY! Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/ flcourier

Teen gets check for her homeless charity See Page A6

Follow us on Twitter@flcourier

www.flcourier.com

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

VOLUME 27 NO. 29

HISTORY ON THE AUCTION BLOCK The bankruptcy sale of Johnson Publication’s priceless collection of Ebony and JET magazine photographs highlights the end of a media empire.

COMPILED FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

CHICAGO – It has been a rough week for what used to be Black America’s leading media outlet.

First, the entire photo archive – estimated at more than four million prints and negatives – compiled by Ebony magazine and its sister publication, JET magazine, was scheduled to be sold at a private auction on Wednesday (after the Florida John H. Courier’s press time) Johnson at the office of a Chicago law firm.

In April, Johnson Publishing Company (JPC), the original corporate owner of Ebony and JET, filed for

Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.

JPC sold the magazines years ago, but held onto the photo archive.

In 2015, the photo collection was appraised for $46 million, but an auction was never held.

Protesting for pay Second, Ebony and JET magazine – now under new ownership after JPC sold them both – may be closing their doors for good.

Former employees of the company took to Twitter last week using the hashtag #EbonyOwes to air their frustrations with the company, as it has fired all of its employees with little to no notice.

According to USA Today, members of Ebony magazine’s digital team say they’ve been fired and haven’t reSee AUCTION, Page A2

Millions of photos chronicling Black life in 20th-Century America as depicted in Ebony and JET magazines will go to the highest bidder.

It’s gonna get hotter

50th ANNIVERSARY / APOLLO 11

Mankind travels to the moon

Climate change heats Florida up

MIAMI – Miamians are already used to stifling heat waves that leave them sprinting from air-conditioned cars to air-conditioned buildings or flocking to the beach to cool off. Or so they think.

But if a new report on climate-change induced global warming is right, residents could feel the heat a lot more by the middle of the century.

Scientists from the climate advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists are predicting that the city could go from a couple weeks a year that feel like 100 degrees to nearly four months of scorching hot days, with the rest of Florida not far behind.

conditions to exacerbating mental health issues.

In South Florida, almost a dozen elderly people died when the air conditioning went out after Hurricane Irma.

Soaring thermometer readings have already forced some outdoor workers to shift their labor earlier or later in the day.

“Florida really tops the charts on so many different metrics,” said Erika SpangerSiegfried, lead climate analyst for the group. “The southeast region leads the nation, and Florida is the state within that region that will be most affected.”

Spanger-Siegfried and her team analyzed historical heat records from 1970 to 2000 to come up with historical averages for cities, counties, states and regions in the lower 48 states, and used 18 different climate models to project temperatures into the future.

Serious concern

30-year timeframe

BY ALEX HARRIS MIAMI HERALD / TNS

High temperatures are linked to all kinds of health problems, from heart and lung

What they found: with no action to cut carbon emissions, See HEAT, Page A2

Judge withdraws from Amendment 4 lawsuit

BY DARA KAM NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

NASA

This photo of Apollo 11’s takeoff was taken on July 16, 1969 from atop the launch tower on Pad A, Complex 39 of the Kennedy Space Center. Read a related Apollo 11 story on Page B1.

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

‘Black snow’ in Glades creates health problems

ALSO INSIDE

FLORIDA | A6

No more kids to be taken to Homestead center

BOOK REVIEW | B4

‘World’s Fastest Man’ tells story of pioneer cyclist

TALLAHASSEE – A federal judge who has routinely ruled against the state in election-related lawsuits has withdrawn from overseeing a challenge to a new state statute aimed at carrying out a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to Floridians convicted of felonies.

U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker on Wednesday filed an order disqualifying himself from the case, saying his wife works for the same law firm as an attorney who recently signed up to represent two of the defendants, including Secretary of State Laurel Lee. George Meros of Holland & Knight LLP filed a notice with the court Tuesday, saying he would represent Lee and Broward County Supervisor of Elections Pete Antonacci. Meros has represented numerous

COMMENTARY: GLEN FORD: BERNIE SANDERS NEEDS A GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT | A4 COMMENTARY: BOBBY E. MILLS: AMERICA SHOULD DO THE RIGHT THING | A5

Republican legislative leaders, and the lawyer also represented the Florida House during court battles over redistricting several years ago.

Walker’s wife Karen also works for the firm.

‘Troubling’ move In his order Wednesday, Walker, who serves as the chief judge of Florida’s Northern District, hinted that the move to hire Meros may have been intended to force Walker off the case, writing that “the conduct at issue here is deeply troubling.”

Walker pointed to a 2015 lawsuit in which defendants hired Holland & Knight midway through the judicial proceedings. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit accused the defendants of “judge shopping” by intentionally hiring a lawyer from the firm where Walker’s wife worked so another judge would be asSee LAWSUIT, Page A2

FOCUS

A2

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

STOJ

Don’t be bamboozled by the political ‘cracker jack’ I believe so-called big issues the national Democratic Party will focus on to generate votes in upcoming elections are Obamacare, gun control, war in the Middle East, an increase in the minimum wage and immigration reform.

I have no personal problem with that strategy because the current minimum wage is too low, and new and improved immigration and other polices need to be legislated and enacted.

What about higher prices?

Regarding minimum wages, however, it doesn’t matter how much the minimum wage is increased if the government allows sellers of necessary products and services to merely raise prices as high as they can and whenever they want to raise prices!

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

The stupid political idea to suggest wage raises to get votes and at the same time call for tax breaks for beast bankers, insurance crooks and other financial criminals is discredited. Also, the support of corporate and business deregulations that will allow people to be robbed by greedy corporate executives must be abandoned!

As far as immigration goes, the politicians that you love have no intention of making any fair changes in immigration policies.

They will put something together to please the Cubans or

please the Mexicans. But try to come to the USA on an inner tube from Haiti or via a long walk from Central America, and see how much love the people of color seeking to immigrate to this country get!

Light is right The lighter you are, the righter you are. You will have zero problems if you try to come to the United States if you come here from Europe. If you are not Black, not only can you already come here when you desire, you can come here and work and no one will make fun of you.

Where in the world do you think many of the White NBA players come from? They come from Germany, France, Russia, European Georgia. Other nonBlacks come from Japan, China, Argentina, and no one says

a mumbling word. And no one talks about hockey players coming here from Canada and many other countries.

Some believe anything Black people in the United States tend to believe anything that is said in Washington, D.C. No one needs to show African Americans anything. There’s no need to prove anything. And no politician ever has to point to Black businesses that he has helped or Black people that he has served.

How many rivers will we have to cross before we stopped being tricked by the devilish boss?

Make them prove it What is best for political parties sometimes is not necessarily what is best for us. If politicians want to help Black people, they

should patronize Black companies and give more contracting opportunities to Black entrepreneurs.

To increase jobs for Blacks in 2019-20, politicians have to understand that Black businesses hire Black workers! We need to patronize each other. We need to hire each other.

One day you’ll stop falling for the political BS and you’ll declare that you’re tired of being misled, bamboozled, tricked and trapped by the political “cracker jack!”

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.

HEAT from A1 temperatures could soar to harmful, even deadly, levels by mid-century.

High temperatures are historically most common in the Southwest, where it got so hot in 2017 that airplanes couldn’t take off. But it’s not temperature alone that matters for physical well-being. As most Floridians already know, it’s not the heat – it’s the humidity.

“Our bodies can cope with high temperatures if we can sweat,” said Spanger-Siegfried.

“But as the humidity rises, it gets harder for our body to cool.”

‘Feels like’ increase The heat index is a combination of temperature and humidity that results in a “feels like” temperature.

Right now, there are about 25 days a year that feel like they’re above 100 degrees in Florida, like the heat wave last month.

Without action to change emissions, scientists estimate there will be 105 of those 100 degree plus days a year in Florida in a few decades, around 2036 to 2065. By late century, that number could climb to 141 days.

Predictions for MiamiDade County are worse. Instead of the statewide average of 25 days where it feels like 100 degrees, MiamiDade already has 41 and

BRUCE R. BENNETT / PALMBEACHPOST.COM

A sign at the Palm Beach County municipal beach cautions visitors about hot sand and temperatures and advises them to stay hydrated. by the middle of the century, that could be 134. That’s more than any other county in the state.

The researchers created an interactive tool to show how hot it might get in specific cities and counties depending on how much climate change is slowed, or if it’s not slowed at all.

Making adjustments More hot days spells trouble for outdoor workers, who don’t always have strict guidelines for breaks.

AUCTION from A1 ceived their final paychecks in the latest controversy to hit the struggling publication that has chronicled Black life in America for decades.

No comment Michael Gibson, co-chairman and founder of Austin, Texas-based Clear View Group, which now owns Ebony, declined to comment to USA TODAY on the digital team’s dismissal, citing a “policy of not commenting on any employment practices or issues.”

The Chicago Tribune previously reported how Ebony was being pressed by the National Writers Union to pay more than $200,000 it alleged the magazine owed to freelance writers who contributed stories back in 2017.

Both events signal an ignominious end of the Black-owned media empire built by Ebony and JET’s founder, the late John H. Johnson.

The history Johnson, an Arkansas native, moved with his family to Chicago during Black America’s Great Migration from the South to northern cities.

He started his first magazine, the Negro Digest, in 1942 after his mother allowed him to use her furniture as collateral for a $500 loan.

The Negro Digest was similar to the Reader’s Digest, but it reprinted positive articles by and about Black America. Within six months of its start, circulation had reached 50,000.

Pictorial essays Johnson’s subsequent publication, Ebony, was started in 1945. Ar-

More than half of agricultural workers in Homestead surveyed by the organization WeCount! last year reported they weren’t allowed to rest in the shade, and 69 percent said they had experienced symptoms of heat-related illness.

It doesn’t help that the natural instinct when the temperatures rise is to crank up the AC, which Spanger-Siegfried pointed out consumes even more electricity and burns even more fuel.

ticles in Ebony were designed to look like those in Life or Look magazines, both of which were popular at the time.

Ebony emphasized the achievements of successful African Americans, and included photo essays about current events and articles about race relations. Initially focused on the Black rich and famous, Johnson expanded the reporting to include more serious topic issues such as racism and discrimination, politics, Black militancy, and socalled Black-on Black crime, among many others.

Professional scholars such as Lerone Bennett, the noted author and social historian were recruited for the magazine’s staff. Ebony served as Bennett’s base for the publication of a steady stream of articles on AfricanAmerican history, with some collected and published as books, including “Before the Mayflower-A History of Black America.”

Everything in the magazine was focused on the Black consumer. Black models were used in Ebony’s advertisements, and the magazine made conscious efforts to portray positive aspects of African American life and culture – the critical factor that Johnson maintained was the key to Ebony’s success.

On to JET Johnson started publishing JET magazine in 1951 as a weekly smallformat publication that could be held in one hand. It was initially billed as “The Weekly Negro News Magazine.”

JET kept track of the civil rights movement from its earliest years, including the murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, and the activities of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Weekly ‘Beauty’ One of its most notable features

“If we use dirty sources of fuel to keep our indoor areas cool, we’re making our outdoor areas warmer,” she said.

Not that everyone even has AC. Federal rules for public housing don’t require air conditioning, leaving low-income residents to buy their own or suffer without one.

On a hotter planet, people who use public transit will also bear the brunt of the higher temperatures.

While Miami often reaches intense temperatures, the

was the JET Beauty of the Week, a picture of a weekly assortment of Black female stars, starlets, models, college students, and other women in swimsuits.

JET printed in all or mostly blackand-white until 1999, when it went to color. In 2009, JET added a double issue published once each month to its regular weekly issue. JPC published the final print issue under its ownership on June 23, 2014.

Although all of the magazines achieved a measure of success, Ebony was the flagship. After 40 years of continuous publication, in 1985, Ebony had a circulation of 2.3 million copies a month and was the primary reason that Johnson was listed as one of the 400 richest Americans at the time.

Later JPC publications included African American Stars and Ebony Jr., a children’s magazine.

Other ventures During Johnson’s long entrepreneurial career, JPC owned Fashion Fair Cosmetics, which became the world’s top makeup and skin care company for women of color.

JPC’s Ebony Fashion Fair, supervised by Johnson’s wife Eunice, became the world’s largest traveling fashion show and donated millions to local charities. Every year, the show would visit more than 200 cities in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

JPC also owned a book division, three radio stations, and a television production company.

John H. Johnson died on August 8, 2005.

Information from the Trice Edney News Wire, the New York Times, and Wikipedia was used to prepare this report.

county installed its first – and what appears to be its only – air-conditioned bus stop in 2016.

Trees can help A cheaper way to cool down urban areas, which are usually hotter than rural areas thanks to all the metal, glass and pavement, is nature’s original solution: trees.

Miami-Dade did a tree canopy survey in 2016 with the University of Florida and Florida International

LAWSUIT from A1 signed to the case.

Walker did not recuse himself, but asked for an opinion from another judge in the matter. Senior District Judge Maurice Paul instead disqualified Holland & Knight from the case, allowing Walker to remain in charge of a contentious legal battle over a fuel surcharge fee being charged by a waste removal company.

Judicial system ‘manipulation’ In his April 2016 decision keeping Walker as the judge in the case, Paul wrote that Holland & Knight “should be disqualified because of the potential for manipulation of the judicial system, the lack of need by defendants for this particular counsel, and the potential delay and loss of judicial activity,” a finding Walker referred to in Wednesday’s order.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals “has outlined a process to differentiate legitimate judicial recusal necessary under federal law from frivolous recusals brought on by unscrupulous shenanigans,” Walker wrote.

While Walker asked another judge to weigh in on his recusal in the fuel surcharge case, the fed-

University and found that the county has about 20 percent of its land covered by trees, out of a possible 44 percent.

Researchers found the trees were clustered in wealthier, Whiter neighborhoods like Coral Gables and were lacking in lower-income neighborhoods primarily occupied by people of color. The county began the Million Trees Miami program to solve the problem and bring the total average canopy in the county up to 30 percent by 2020.

They’ve since scrapped the deadline, said Gabriela Lopez, community image manager for Neat Streets Miami, and instead just focus on adding trees wherever they can.

“We have been able to record the planting of approximately 300,000 trees.

However, we know that more trees have probably been planted since the initiative began,” she said.

It’s up to us But while trees can help cool down a neighborhood, soak up flood waters and even raise property values, the ultimate solution to stop rising temperatures at their source is to emit less into the atmosphere, said Spanger-Siegfried.

“We need to start and end with thinking about making emissions cuts,” she said.

eral judge said he “will not employ that process” now.

“Although the conduct at issue is deeply troubling, I am relieved of those concerns by confidence in my colleagues on this court to preside over the remainder of this case and judge it fairly and wisely,” he wrote.

Court action reassigned The elections complaint, comprised of four lawsuits consolidated

by Walker into a single case earlier this month, was filed less than three weeks ago. It has been reassigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle and is centered on provisions in a new law that went into effect July 1.

A number of plaintiffs – represented by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund – are challenging parts of the law that will require Floridians convicted of felonies to pay financial obligations related to their crimes before they are eligible to have voting rights restored.

The plaintiffs allege the legislation unconstitutionally “creates two classes of citizens,” depending on their ability to pay financial obligations that many don’t even know about.

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

STOJ

FLORIDA

TOJ

A3

The case against ‘black snow’ dustry already green harvests in small amounts each year. Other countries around the world have been phasing out of burning altogether because of the negative health and environmental impacts of pre-harvest burning but also because of the many benefits associated with green harvesting as well,” Ferguson said.

Because of the pre-harvest burning, the Glades communities have suffered economically as well. Abruzzo said whereas Palm Beach county and the state of Florida have seen an increase in real estate values, property values for the Glades community remain stagnant.

“Everybody knows if you move out there, you’ll have to deal with four months of black snow over your home,” Abruzzo said.

U.S. Sugar response

Patrick Ferguson with the Sierra Club’s Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign said, "Exposure to pre-harvest sugar field burning pollution has been linked "via medical research to many negative health impacts including respiratory diseases, cancer, cardiac disease, and poor infant health outcomes.''

Ferguson says the black snow and air quality affects not only health issues, but the community’s quality of life.

“You’re talking about the harvesting season lasting from October to May, some of the best months to be outside and enjoy the Florida weather and during days when large amounts of toxic burning takes place, people in the region are often forced to stay indoors,” he said.

Unreasonable options

A lawsuit alleges that due to the burning, harmful pollutants are released into the air. It creates “black snow” during burn season, or ashes that fall down such as seen on the car above.

Chronic health problems force residents to take a stand against Florida’s sugar industry.

BY J.S. ADAMS THE FINAL CALL/NNPA

Thick black smoke plumes from sugarcane fields near Belle Glade, a predominantly Black community west of West Palm Beach and just south of Lake Okeechobee. Residents watch as red-orange flames engulf the sugarcane fields as the industry prepares for harvesting season.

These annual burnings, which take place from October to March, May or June, make it easier for farmers to harvest the sugarcane.

However, the side effects leave the residents of Belle Glade, South Bay and Pahokee with respiratory problems and a poor quality of life.

While these burnings have been going on for several years with groups rising up to combat them, a recent lawsuit against the Florida sugar industry has brought it to national light, bringing attention to an issue that has forced residents to take a stand.

Biden joins lawsuit The lawsuit, filed by the Berman Law Group in June, seeks to permanently end the pre-harvesting burning, obtain economic and property damages, and health monitoring, particularly for children, the poor and elderly.

“The firm has been working on this issue for a long time prior to me joining,” said Joseph Abruz-

zo, director of government relations for the Berman Law Group.

“What put them on track was several clients alerting them to what was occurring with them and that spawned the investigation into hiring the experts (and) finding what was in the air of the Glades community.”

Joining the fight in this lawsuit is Frank Biden, the younger brother of presidential candidate Joe Biden, and former NFL player Fred Taylor, who grew up in the Glades community. In a video produced by the Berman Law Group, both agree the burnings need to stop.

The sugar industry burns about nine million tons of sugarcane foliage on 400,000 acres each year. EarthJustice, a legal group for environmental organizations, says the burning puts out more than 2,800 tons of hazardous pollutants into the air annually.

Cancer link too According to the Sierra Club, an environmental non-profit organization, the sugarcane is burned in order to rid the plant of its outer layer so that the sugar stalk will remain.

Patrick Ferguson, the organizing representative for the Sierra Club’s Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign, said health issues due to the burnings are a major concern.

“Exposure to pre-harvest sugar field burning pollution has been linked via medical research to many negative health impacts including respiratory diseases, cancer, cardiac disease, and poor infant health outcomes,” he said.

“Many of the campaign volunteers either themselves suffer from respiratory issues or have family members who do.

Some of our volunteers have young children who have to use breathing devices during the 6-8

months long harvesting season when sugarcane is burned.”

Ash on everything The lawsuit alleges that due to the burning, harmful pollutants are released into the air. It creates “black snow” during burn season, or ashes that fall down onto the Glades communities.

Because of this, children in the Glades communities use breathing machines at night and walk to school with trash bags over their head to protect them from the black snow.

“There’s a lake, they have issues,” Abruzzo said. “I wasn’t too long ago out at one of the churches and multiple ladies had on white dresses. They know when the ash falls on your dresses ... . You can’t swipe it away because it will create a black line.

You blow it. The black snow is right in front of their faces, on their car, over their homes and worst of all, it’s in the lungs of the children and elderly.”

The Poor People’s Campaign held an event in Belle Glade where residents, pastors and activists had the chance to share their experiences about the burnings.

Dying ‘at crazy rate’ Steve Messam, a pastor born and raised in Belle Glade, shared how his father came to the United States from Jamaica as a contracted migrant worker hired to cut the sugarcane. The pastor got involved with the Sierra Club’s campaign because he noticed many of the people he knew were suffering from breathing difficulties.

“They were suffering from a lot of respiratory issues, whether it was asthma or allergies,” he said during Poor People’s Campaign gathering. “A lot of people were also dying from cancer at a crazy rate.”

Ferguson believes that a shift towards green harvesting can help improve the economic condition of the community. “[It] can create more economic opportunities which are important especially for the lower income Glades communities,” he said. “What the sugar industry considers as trash can be used to generate more electricity, create mulch, biochar, biofuels, and can even be used to create tree-free paper products.”

Florida sugar companies have caught wind of the Berman Group’s lawsuit and say that they believe in their practices.

“The health, safety and jobs of our communities all are vitally important to U.S. Sugar,” spokeswoman Judy Sanchez told Treasure Coast Newspapers in a statement.

“We are American farmers and stand behind the safety and integrity of our farming practices, which are highly regulated and legally permitted on a daily basis by the government. Our farming practices are safe, environmentally sound, highly regulated and closely monitored.”

‘They just can’t burn’

Alina Alonso, director of the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County, said the health department uses a website called airnow.gov to monitor air quality within the region.

She said air quality counts remnants that come from ash and into the air. The website measures air quality ranging from good to hazardous.

“Only those who are sensitive to the smoke or burnings will be affected by moderate,” Alonso said. “But if it gets above 100, then that’s unhealthy for everyone.”

Ferguson said many doctors in the area suggest options for residents that aren’t always reasonable.

“One common thread that we continue to hear is that doctors tell residents from the communities heavily impacted by preharvest sugar field burning that the best long term solution for their health issues is to move to an area with better air quality, which many residents don’t have the resources or the will to do so, nor should they have to do so,” he said.

Sanchez also said company officials “live in these Glades communities and raise our families here—our children and grandchildren—in the neighborhoods, schools and churches throughout these small, close-knit farming towns.”

Abruzzo said he’s looking forward to the company providing the names of those officials who live in the area.

“One of the most disappointing things since the lawsuit was filed is the propaganda that the sugar companies are helping lead that we are well aware of and without question will be discussing in depositions, primarily, that the lawsuits are trying to put sugar out of business. That could be anything but the truth,” he said.

“The sugar companies profit in the billions of dollars per year. I’m sure they wouldn’t even notice on their balance sheets doing it a proper way and not harming an entire community.

This would create more jobs if they do it by hand. At the end of the day, they just can’t burn.”

‘Minimal protections’

Spreading the word

Back in 2015, the Sierra Club filed a legal action asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the burnings.

“The way sugarcane burning is regulated makes it an environmental justice issue as well.

Regulations in place are based off wind speed and direction that prevent burn permits from being issued when the winds would carry the smoke and ash toward the more affluent in eastern Palm Beach County,” Ferguson said.

“However minimal protections are in place from the toxic smoke and ash when they blow toward the lower income rural communities within the Everglades Agricultural Area. This leads the predominantly African-American and Hispanic population of the Glades communities of western Palm Beach County that are surrounded by over 75 percent of the total sugarcane acreage in Florida to disproportionately bear the negative impacts of pre-harvest sugar field burning.”

Ferguson and volunteers that work with him have spent the past four years pressing this issue. He said it’s something that must be known all around the country.

“There’s no reason the sugarcane industry should continue to put short-term profits ahead of the long-term health and welfare of the surrounding residents, especially when there are so many benefits that can be gained from transitioning to green harvesting,” he said. “It’s time for the industry to become better neighbors to the surrounding communities by stopping the burn and switching to green harvesting.”

“I believe it’s a very good thing that attention is being paid to this very important issue. The Glades has been suffering for a very long time.” Abruzzo said.

“Ultimately, I do believe that the law will be with the people. Once this is corrected, I believe the Glades will stop being one of the poorest places in the country. It will be vibrant and flourishing.”

Abruzzo said the first step after the legal filing is to immediately get the sugar industry to stop burning while the case is going on. This case is federal, but they also plan to file state and individual claims.

Economic impact The alternative that’s offered to the sugarcane industry is green harvesting.

“The Florida sugarcane in-

EDITORIAL

TOJ

A4

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

STOJ

Bernie Sanders needs a grassroots movement Corporate Democrats have had great success in smothering Bernie Sanders’ challenge to the capitalist austerity regime that has eroded U.S. working class incomes and economic security for two generations.

Just two years ago, in the wake of his astounding bid to deny Hillary Clinton the Democratic presidential nomination, the Vermont senator was the most popular politician in the country.

Although some Democrats blamed Sanders for Donald Trump’s even more surprising 2016 election, by the next year the septuagenarian Medicare for All champion’s favorability ratings exceeded all others – including among Black voters.

‘Socialism’ redeemed Most astonishingly, Sanders had almost single-handedly removed the stigma from the word “socialism” – an amazing feat for a New Deal Democratic reformer who has never advocated anything remotely resembling the overthrow of the rule of capital, and who remains an “imperialist pig” in foreign affairs.

As the 2020 campaign season approached, a great sense of foreboding was evident within the U.S. ruling class.

Sanders was by now associated with a whole menu of issues – Medicare for All, free public college, a $15 an hour minimum wage, and more – that had become popular with majorities of all voters and super-majorities of Democrats. With the Clinton machine in tatters and Sanders’ supporters presumably eager for another shot at seizing the commanding heights of the Democratic Party, 2020 was looking like a very problematic year for capitalist duopoly politics.

Corporate Democrats were confident – just as they were in 2016 – that they could win the White House by making Trump, himself, effectively the sole issue of the campaign. But first they had to neutralize Bernie and his austerity-busting, super-majority issues, to clear the way for an economic issues-less anti-Trump crusade – the corporate Democratic ideal.

Everyone in the race So they simply threw everything into the game, simultaneously mobbing and co-opting Sanders with the biggest, most

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

multi-colored crowd of Democratic politicians ever assembled for a presidential race – even larger than the horde that Republican moneybags financed in hopes of derailing Donald Trump, four years earlier.

Dollar-drenched corporate hacks like Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris claimed to endorse Sanders’ signature Medicare for All legislation, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, once considered anathema by corporatists, was suddenly a darling of party leaders and media.

Sanders has gotten lost in the slosh, as intended.

The corporate strategy was to ensure that the super-majorities of Democrats that support Sanders’ issues were split among the “progressive” pretenders, while Joe Biden soaked up the nervous-Nellie voters that are desperate to beat Trump with someone – anyone – “electable.”

The corporatists’ nightmare scenario – that Sanders would rev up his highly energized and youthful 2016 machine, funded by tens of millions in small-contributions, and smash his way to a first-ballot victory at the convention – seems far less likely.

Harris attacks In their desperation to blunt Bernie, the Lords of Capital gave Kamala Harris permission to ambush Old Man Biden, who personifies Barack Obama’s partially successful Grand Bargain with Republicans, as well as an earlier accommodation with Dixiecrats.

Harris’ strategy to diffuse the Sanders vote is much like the “close as a man’s belt” battle doctrine employed by the Vietnamese, who would attack the Americans from such close quarters that it was impossible for the U.S. to effectively deploy its awesome artillery and air power without hitting their own troops’ positions.

Harris hung around Sanders belt on Medicare for All, even raising her hand when the corporate debate instigator/moderator asked who among the candidates would abolish private health insurance. (Naturally, she reneged

Blacks win as Trump repairs Obama’s damage I am getting pretty fed up with the constant “fake news” barrage from Democrat presidential candidates and their fellow party and media sycophants arguing that Obama is responsible for the Trump booming economy. What a lie.

BET founder and billionaire Robert Johnson said it well.

President Trump deserves credit for a “great” economy and low Black unemployment: “I think the economy is doing absolutely great, and it’s particularly reaching into populations that heretofore had very bad problems in terms of jobs, unemployment and the opportunities that come with full employment, so African-American unemployment is at its lowest level.”

Praise for Trump Johnson gives “the president a lot of credit for moving the economy in a positive direction

CLARENCE V. MCKEE, ESQ. GUEST COMMENTARY

that’s benefiting a large amount of Americans” and “the tax cuts clearly helped.”

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board went even further in its July 4 editorial, “A Tale of Two Economies.” Among its excellent points: •The jobless rate for Blacks is 6.2 percent, which is only 2.9 percentage-points higher than for Whites versus a 4.6 percentagepoint difference before the start of the 2008 recession.

•Unemployment has fallen twice as much among Blacks as Whites since December 2016.

•Nearly one million more Blacks and two million more His-

afterwards.)

As the emerging Great Corporate Black Hope (Booker is clearly hopeless), Harris offers the African American supermajority that supports Medicare for All a Black face (and a woman) to vote for. At the end of the process, Harris will revert to corporate form.

There is only one escape from this fetid and flooded corporate swamp for Sanders. He must very quickly get serious about building a grassroots movement-type politics on the ground that creates issue-based events that cannot be ignored, involving tens of thousands of people, and that disrupts the corporate-managed pace, coverage and content of the primary season.

In short, Sanders must subvert the corporate process and start acting like he really is leading a “revolution,” as he tells his supporters. Otherwise, he will be effectively marginalized, despite the super-majorities that support his issues and the transparent dishonesty of his mimics.

Don’t get it twisted If you think this column is supportive of the Sanders candidacy, then you haven’t been reading BAR all these years. We are socialists and Black liberationists who do commentary and analysis, and have never backed corporate parties or candidates. The Democratic Party serves its ruling class financiers, and is the main agency of their control over Black America, where the Republicans are irrelevant.

As one of the two parties of capitalist governance in the U.S., the Democratic Party will selfdestruct before it bucks its corporate bosses. That’s why purported “socialists” like Sanders, or the Democratic Socialists that always wind up supporting Democrats, are delusional if they think they can usurp control of the devil’s machine – or they are trying to fool the rest of us.

However, Bernie Sanders’ nonsocialism isn’t really important at this juncture in history. The ruling class isn’t scared of his socialist pretensions, but will viciously resist New Deal-type reforms that threaten their austerity regime, a global Race to the Bottom that ruthlessly diminishes the living standards and economic security of the masses of people, so that they will accept any job, under any conditions of employment.

panics are employed than when Barack Obama left office.

•Minorities account for more than half of all new jobs created during the Trump presidency.

•Unemployment among Black women has hovered near 5 percent for the last six months, the lowest since 1972.

•A mere 3.5 percent of high school graduates are unemployed.

Wait, there’s more Even more evidence of how the Trump economy has benefitted Black and Hispanic Americans was pointed out in a July 8 communications/research memo by Rapid Response Director for the Republican National Committee Steve Guest, outlining how the Trump economy and polices “are helping workers more than Obama’s did.” Among the significant points: •“Wages are rising at the fastest rate in a decade for lower-skilled workers.”

•“Unemployment among lesseducated Americans and minorities is near a record low.”

•“Nearly one million more Blacks and two million more His-

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: DONALD TRUMP AND IMMIGRATION

KEVIN SIERS, THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, NC

Taking anything offered Capitalist austerity is designed to provide working people with no options but to take what the bosses offer. Austerity regimes gut the social safety nets, not to save money, but to impose abject desperation on working people, so that they will accept the “shit jobs” that are now the norm even in the “most-developed” capitalist countries.

The Lords of Austerity are creating a global precariat, defined as “a condition of existence without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare.”

The Lords of Capital oppose single-payer health care, not so much in solidarity with their capitalist brethren in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, but because single-payer erases the connection between employment and health care, eliminating medical precarity and reducing the bosses’ power.

Thus, capitalists oppose single-payer even though it would dramatically reduce the costs of labor for most businesses. That’s why corporate Democrats resist Sanders’ menu of reforms despite the fact that 80 to 90 percent of Democratic voters support them.

The same agenda The ruling class agenda for the future is quite simple: endless war and austerity. Since they have no other vision, and have done fabulously well for themselves over the past 40 years of austerity and war, they tolerate no deviation from the corporate order and will lash out lethally against those that threaten their war-making and austerity-imposing prerogatives.

panics are employed than when Obama left office.”

•“Minorities account for more than half of all new jobs created during the Trump Presidency.”

Guest rightly states in his “Bottom Line” that, “It is clear that the Democrat talking points on the economy are as phony as a $3 bill. President Trump’s America First policies are delivering higher wages and lower unemployment for more Americans.”

Trump’s positive impact on the Black economy is not the only issue on which Democrats are deceiving America. The citizenship question issue on the 2020 census is another.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCa., said that the president wanting to have a question on citizenship on the 2020 census is an effort to “Make America White Again.”

This is just another example of just how much she and Democrats’ race baiting, like their false Obama economic claims, are out of touch with average Americans, especially Blacks and Hispanics.

Ask the question A Harvard University Center for

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

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

Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Sales Manager

W W W.FLCOURIER.COM

Dr. Valerie Rawls-Cherry, Human Resources

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

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

MEMBER

Florida Press Association

National Newspaper Publishers Association

Society of Professional Journalists

National Newspaper Association

Associated Press

It is unthinkable that the rulers would allow one of their governing parties to fall into the hands of austerity busters. Rather, the Lords of Capital would be compelled to destroy such a party – and govern from another platform – rather than surrender the institution to folks that actually want to give the people what they want.

The people need to see that contradiction played out in the Democratic Party, the duopoly party whose constituencies are actually eager to make substantive demands on the state. (Republican rank-and-file Whites desire only that their government affirm White supremacy.)

Make Dems steal it It would have been a great political lesson if Sanders’ momentum was such that corporate Democrats have to steal the nomination from him in broad daylight, hopefully prompting a mass exit from the party and creation of a new social democratic formation (or a much bigger Green Party). Or, if somehow Sanders won the nomination, we could all watch the corporate players pick up their marbles to form a new “centrist” party, leaving leftish Democrats encamped in the hollow shell.

As things stand at this early stage in the process, Sanders may simply wind up an also-ran – allowing the corporate spinners to write the obituary on his “farleft” escapades. Or maybe Bernie will catch fire again, and propel us to the next contradiction.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Email him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

American Political Studies/Harris poll found that 67 percent of all registered U.S. voters say the census should ask the citizenship question, including 88 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of independents, 52 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of rural voters and most notably 59 percent of Black and 55 percent of Hispanic voters.

Pelosi and Democrats seem to think that fabricating economic facts, race-baiting, and a socialist agenda offers Black and Hispanic Americans a political “Stairway to Heaven.”

However, they will find that Black and Hispanic voters will realize that the Democrats’ “stairway” is nothing but a mirage and will see how Trump’s economy is repairing the damage that Obama did to their communities.

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.

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

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

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

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

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

STOJ

America should do the right thing America has spiritually seen and physically experienced the devastating consequences of the 2016 presidential election.

The Party of White Privilege (the GOP) was fearful of losing its demonic control over governmental processes and resources, and out of fearful reaction, overacted. Now, we have been experiencing a horrible nightmare grounded in lies, lies, and damn LIES in the White House that seemingly is unending.

All about money To the dismay of Christ-like Christians, so-called Christian right evangelicals say “Amen” to the unrighteousness emanating from the White House. From politicians rather than statesmen, unrighteousness is the order of the day because the mother’s milk of politics is money, not integrity.

However, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

(2 Chronicles 7: 14).

America, know this. Democratic elections are about the future and national unity of purpose, the future of our children and coming generations of Americans.

What the world needs now is peace, peace and more peace!

Because: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5: 9). The past was imperfect, and therefore it belongs to the devil.

But we should always remember our past in order to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

BOBBY E. MILLS GUEST COLUMNIST

thing, America should do the right thing, because a democratic society requires: • A legislative body that works for all Americans regardless of race, creed, religion, political party identification, sex-status or sexual orientation.

• Moral, spiritual, visionary presidential leadership, because without a vision the people will perish spiritually and morally.

Moreover, it is spiritually written: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29: 18).

• Religious leaders that can spiritually unify Americans in God-like-character, not in devilish destructive mindsets, and societally destructive behaviors.

• A culture that honors family as designed by God, since God is the designer of family, not the U. S. Supreme Court. Moreover, the foundation of every society is the two-parent nuclear family structure (male and female) as designed by God. • A culture that honors individual freedom of godly choices. Every individual that seeks to immigrate to American society must understand that failure is individual responsibility, not collective responsibility.

EDITORIAL

documents. Yet, these documents recognize that morality cannot be legislated, even though negative behaviors have negative consequences both according to God’s laws as well as manmade laws of society.

For Christian Americans know: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9: 27). Because: “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” (Psalms 7: 11). Hence, Christians know that there defense is in God, because: “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.” (Proverbs 30: 5).

Greed, envy and jealousy are spiritual problems. They will always exist until the second coming of Jesus Christ, The Righteous One. Thus, the question is how do democratic nations minimize the negative devastating societal effects of these spiritual problems, especially upon national conscience and societal unity?

In 2007, this columnist declared that Nancy Pelosi is our enemy.

She was the new speaker of the House after Democrats emerged victorious in the 2006 elections.

But they didn’t oppose George W. Bush and the Republicans the way their voters wanted them to.

Little has changed since that time. Democrats mobilize in order to defeat the Republicans, but still end up with snake in the grass leadership like Pelosi.

Dividing line Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar dissented and voted against the latest compromise with Republicans to fund Trump’s immigration enforcement. Immigration is supposed to be a litmus test issue which sharply differentiates Democrats from Republicans. But that is not how the game is really played.

Pelosi trashed her members in an interview with the New York

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Times. “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”

Like a true gangster, Pelosi conducted the beatdown in public.

When Ocasio-Cortez truthfully stated that the remarks were disrespectful and showed a pattern of attacking women of color, Pelosi, the corporate media, Democratic party propagandists, and lapdog Congressional Black Congress (CBC) members all sprang into action.

Gregory Meeks joined in ganging up on his colleagues and threatened Ocasio-Cortez with a primary challenge. Kamala Harris weighed in with a seal of approval for Miss Nancy.

Breast cancer – Black women’s biggest health issue Though Black women get breast cancer at a slightly lower incidence rate than White women, Black women are 42 percent more like to die of breast cancer than White women. That is an astounding number and indicative of a variety of factors, many reflecting racial disparities.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Black women, and an estimated 33,840 new cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2019. An estimated 6,540 deaths from breast cancer are expected to occur among Black women in 2019.

RICKI FAIRLEY GUEST COMMENTARY

for breast cancer diagnosed is 81 percent for Black women versus 91 percent for White women. And 54 percent of breast cancers in Black women are diagnosed at a local stage, compared to 64 percent in White women.

To add more fuel to the fire, Black women under age 35 get breast cancer at two times the Longer survival rate of White women and die from Women do not need to die from breast cancer three times as often breast cancer. It can’t be prevent- as White women. ed, but early-stage breast cancer (meaning it has been localized within the breast) has a 99 percent What’s the problem?

Why are Black women dying 5-year survival rate.

Note the inequity here. The unnecessarily? Higher death rates overall 5-year relative survival rate among Black women reflect the

Support from Trump The bottom feeders’ attack was supported by none other than Donald Trump. “Cortez should treat Nancy Pelosi with respect.

She should not be doing what she’s doing. She is not a racist,” said the man with very questionable credibility on the subject.

Trump knows that Pelosi is his friend. She is in no way part of an opposition to his administration. She is the rainmaker for the Democratic Party and the wielder of discipline against progressives.

The two tasks are linked, of course.

The very wealthy speaker brings in the cash from her equally wealthy friends. They give with the expectation that nothing even vaguely resembling progressive policy will ever see the light of day. That is why she took the time to disparage the four members. If she doesn’t, others might get the idea that they too can show a little bravery and the entire rotten enterprise would be at risk. Independent minded members are not what Pelosi wants to see.

Trump then helped Pelosi with a racist rant against the progressives. He used everything from love it or leave it, to go back to your shithole country (when only Omar is foreign-born) and exhibited the

following: • Black women are not taking action. While 92 percent of Black women agree breast health is important, only 25 percent have recently discussed breast health with their family, friends, or colleagues. And only 17 percent have taken steps to understand their risk for breast cancer.

• Black women lack information about the severity of breast cancer, breast cancer symptoms and the need for screening.

• Black women take care of others at the expense of their own health.

• Black Women are often at a more advanced stage upon detection.

• Black women may not have access to health care or health insurance so may have lower frequency of and longer intervals between mammograms. Because they may not have health insurance, Black women may not follow up on abnormal mammogram results because they can’t afford the diagnostic testing.

• Black women often don’t have access to the same prompt highquality treatment that White women have. They express that they are often feel disrespected by physicians and staff.

• Black women face logistical

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: TRUMP’S RACISM & THE GOP

RICK MCKEE, THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE, GA

do what is right than to correct a wrong.

This is why democracy as a governing philosophy is grounded in spiritual notions about universal human rights and individual human dignity. This is why the Preamble begins with the sacred godly moral truths “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that Making things worse among these are Life, Liberty, and America electing a worldly, ma- the Pursuit of Happiness…” terialistic, ungodly male as president only exacerbated the spiri- Right, not might tual problem of national unity.

President Trump, in his deHence, before a democratic na- monic misguided notions about tion state such as America de- America, believes that might cides to build a physical wall, a makes right. This is why he loves spiritual and mental wall already military dictatorships. But we all exists in the minds and hearts – know that President Trump will in the spiritual consciences – of send your sons and daughters insome individuals. to war, but he did not go (“bone Life is about priorities. That spurs”). is where individuals place their It appears to be the case in hope, trust, dreams and spiritu- America that Black lives do not al aspirations. Priorities dictate matter. But God has forever devalue choices, and choices have clared that all lives matter, beSpiritual documents moral consequences. Above all, cause: “Thou art worthy, Oh Lord, The Preamble to the U. S. Con- values dictate relationships, so- to receive glory and honor and National requirements stitution and the Constitution it- cial processes, and institutional power: for thou hast created all If America can do the right self are almost perfect spiritual structures. It is more desirable to things, and for thy pleasure they

The Donald TrumpNancy Pelosi lovefest

TOJ

are and were created.” (Revelation 4: 11).

President Trump’s spiritually misguided notions of militarism as salvation rather than as a physical deterrent to war was the reason for his vulgar militaristic display of physical and military might on July 4.

But know this: “By grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2: 8-10).

Take heed, America, especially Christian right evangelicals.

“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14: 34).

Bobby Mills has a Ph.D. in sociology from Syracuse University and a professional degree in theology from Colgate Rochester Divinity School. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier. com to write your own response.

full gamut of race-baiting. Pelosi cold, hard strategy.” only issued a mild rebuke about xenophobia.

Should be defended Why shouldn’t Democrats dePelosi slides fend their members? What’s Trump’s remarks let Nancy Pe- wrong with people who are slightlosi off the hook and protected the ly progressive being emblematDemocratic Party enforcer. The ic of the party? The questions are Democrats have their theatrics, rhetorical. and Trump has his. Pelosi probAll of the Democratic Party leadably rose in his estimation when ership are committed to shutting she dismissed her Brown-skinned down anyone who strays from the caucus members. fold. Their attacks are worse than Of course, Trump’s rant was vig- Trump’s. He is a known race-baitorously attacked as it should have ing provocateur, but the Demobeen. But the offended progres- crats pretend to be the party of insives didn’t question Pelosi, the clusion. Yet they always end up person responsible for the ugly firmly in the right wing. episode. Anyone paying attention Anyone who is outraged by could see the fake outrage in ac- Trump’s appeal to the racist tion. hordes ought to extend their anUnnamed Democratic Party ger to Nancy Pelosi as well. She sources suddenly claimed to have and Trump are birds of a feather. evidence that the woman popular- She hides her animus a bit better, ly known as “AOC” is a drag on the but not well enough that percepparty and will doom Democrats to tive people can’t see how the duodefeat. poly works.

Obama hatchet man David AxelMargaret Kimberley is a corod took to Twitter, a la Trump, to complain about the Democrats founder of BlackAgendaRewho have gotten out of line. “With port.com, and writes a weekhis deliberate, racist outburst, @re- ly column there. Contact her at alDonaldTrump wants to raise the Margaret.Kimberley@BlackAgprofile of his targets, drive Dems to endaReport.com. Click on this defend them and make them em- commentary at www.flcourier. blematic of the entire party. It’s a com to write your own response.

barriers to accessing care (such as transportation issues or not being able to miss work or arrange for child care).

• Black women fear a cancer diagnosis.

• Black women have the highest odds (two times more likely) of getting Triple Negative Breast Cancer, a kind of breast cancer that often is aggressive and comes back after treatment. It has the highest mortality rate and is the only breast cancer sub-type that does not have a therapy to prevent recurrence. Note that younger women and women diagnosed at later stages are more likely to get Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

Stop the silence!

Early detection saves lives. Black women of all ages need to check their breasts monthly. We need to know what our “normal” feels like so if there is some abnormality, immediate action can be taken.

Black women need to understand the severity of this health crisis. We need to be talking about our health, our family histories, and educating all of the women in our lives. The ongoing conversations in this country around access to affordable health insurance must include acknowledgement and action regarding the inequi-

ties for Black women.

Black women need to demand the attention and care of health care professionals. We at Sisters Network, Inc., a sisterhood of survivors and thrivers, will continue to fight like girls and be the voice of Black women. We are committed to increasing local and national attention to the devasting impact that breast cancer has in the African American community.

We are working diligently to reduce the mortality rate of breast cancer among Black women by generating awareness, garnering attention, providing access to information and resources, and supporting research efforts in the ecosystem.

Ricki Fairley is vice president of Sisters Network, Inc., the only national African American breast cancer survivorship organization in the United States and a leading voice in the fight against breast cancer in the African American community.

Membership includes over 20 survivor- run affiliate chapters nationwide. For more information, log on to www.sistersnetworkinc.org or call 1-866-7811808. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

TOJ

A6

FLORIDA

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

STOJ

at approximately 1,300, Weber said. He couldn’t say if the agency would stop dispatching children to their families at the same pace once they reach 1,200, or if the speedy reunifications would continue.

In late May, the Herald reported that the center did not have a hurricane plan ready despite the coming hurricane season.

Months later, the federal government has yet to provide the plans to the Herald and members of Congress, or their strategy for a Category 2, 3, 4, or 5 storm.

Other facilities?

PHOTOS BY CHARLIE ORTEGA GUIFARRO/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

With word that immigration raids were to start this morning, no activity was seen at this immigration center in Miramar on July 14.

No more kids to be taken to Homestead center The government told a delegation that it needed to shrink its population from 2,700 to at most 1,200 to be considered “safe” in case a hurricane hits.

BY MONIQUE O. MADAN MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Carlos Naranjo, right, gives Michael Cruz a know-your-rights flyer in Pompano Beach on July 14. The handout explains what rights undocumented immigrants have in case they encounter ICE officials. Cruz is not undocumented.

MIAMI – The Homestead detention center is no longer taking in new children at its facility, government officials say.

The hold on the placement of unaccompanied minors began at least two weeks ago alongside the efforts of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to downsize its child population by more than half, to 1,300 from 2,700.

“There are no plans to close

Homestead at the moment,” an HHS spokeswoman told The Miami Herald in a text Monday.

‘Fantastic news’ Since the suspension on new kids was launched, about 1,000 children have been either reunited with sponsors or transferred to other shelters — which the government didn’t name Monday.

“I can tell you that the majority of those kids were united with a sponsor, which is fantastic news,” said HHS spokesman Mark Weber. “Where some of the other kids are being transferred if they didn’t have a sponsor— that I would have to look into.”

Weber noted that the children transferred from Homestead were definitely not taken to Carrizo Springs, in Texas, the government’s newest influx center for unaccompanied minors.

3,200 beds Last week, the government told a touring delegation that it needed to shrink its population from 2,700 to at most 1,200 in order to be considered “safe” in case a category 1 hurricane hits South Florida. Homestead has a capacity for 3,200 beds.

Monday’s population was

Whether or not the Homestead center will close has been on the minds of immigration advocates for months. For months, advocates from across the country have camped out outside in hopes that the facility will shut down, but government officials say it isn’t happening — at least not yet.

Last week Weber told the Herald that the agency is currently seeking to eliminate emergency shelters altogether, but that it could at least take two years before that happens.

“The agency is looking at Atlanta, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix to stand up permanent state-licensed shelters that will serve as influx facilities if we need them,” Weber said.

“The current strategy, temporary influx shelters, it’s just not feasible.”

Goal: 500 or less Weber said the permanent facilities would be more cost effective and would be smaller, housing 500 unaccompanied minors or fewer.

“The reason the kids are being reunited way faster today and in recent weeks is because of the newest policy changes,” Weber said. “Not because Homestead is shutting down.”

Last year, the Trump administration came under heavy criticism over its treatment of people seeking to become legal guardians of the minors.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement was sharing guardianship application information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which would then go after undocumented sponsors identified in the paperwork, as well as all members of their household, who were required to be fingerprinted. That changed months ago when only the sponsor had to get fingerprinted.

Now, grandparents and adult siblings don’t need to get fingerprinted in order to apply to be a sponsor for a child, which makes for a speedier process, Weber said.

Teen receives $15,000 check for homeless charity

BY KATE SANTICH ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Serenity Gary was 5 when she began tagging along with her grandmother to feed Central Florida’s homeless and hungry.

“But the organizations and churches that we would help thought that I was too young, and they said I couldn’t come back,” she said. “So I decided to do it myself.”

Now 14, the Oak Ridge High School student, her grandmother and some faithful fellow members of the Taft branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida help run Serenity’s Grace, the charity the girl launched when she was 7.

That first year, they served 1,100 people. Now they average 1,100 people a week, providing groceries, toiletries, clothing and even furniture for formerly homeless people who’ve just moved into housing.

Inspiration to company At a national Boys & Girls Clubs of America conference in Orlando recently, Serenity humbly shared her story with an audience of young leaders and an appreciative corporate sponsor, Aaron’s, Inc., which surprised her with a $15,000 check for her charity.

“We’ve been inspired by the work we’re seeing being done here in Orlando by Serenity and (her) organization … and we thought, ‘What can we do to continue to move this movement for-

ward?’ ” said Michael Dickerson, a vice president for the lease-toown retailer. “Thank you for all the hard work.”

‘Grandma needs help’ Dickerson would have said more but was drowned out by the cheers of a couple hundred other members of the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Keystone leadership program who had come to hear Serenity speak.

“We’re going to get a box truck, right?” Serenity asked of her grandmother, 58-year-old Karlette “Koko” Karras, after the cheering finally quieted and the two dabbed away tears.

“Grandma needs help (with transporting large donations), and I’m not the strongest person in the world.”

Karras said the charity, which has its own warehouse space, has had to turn down donations in recent months — despite being unable to keep pace with demand — because it doesn’t have a way to haul the goods.

Food and more On Wednesdays and Sundays, Serenity’s Grace operates a food pantry, one in Parramore and the other off Lee Road, giving away produce, bread, eggs and milk donated by local grocers to families that are living on the edge of homelessness.

It prepares food and hygiene kits to hand out to people who are living in rent-by-the-week hotels, in homeless camps and on the streets. It partners with other

KATE SANTICH/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Serenity Gary, 14, poses at a recent national Boys & Girls Clubs conference in Orlando, where she spoke about her charity, Serenity’s Grace. nonprofits to help people get gently used professional attire for job interviews and new jobs.

And when a family is able to move into housing, it helps find furniture.

Perhaps most important, Serenity and her helpers offer kindness and a smile to people who aren’t often greeted with either.

“She sees no difference in you being homeless,” Karras said.

“She sees you just as a person. It’s a judgment-free zone.”

Getting it done Her nonprofit organization already has had a lasting impact.

“With the help of Serenity’s Grace, I was able to get up and go back into the workforce, so that my children could have an example to better themselves,” said Samantha Walker, now the assistant teen program director at the Taft Boys & Girls Club. “If (Serenity) sees a need, she’s going to find a

way to get it done.”

That always has been the case, her grandmother said. “When she was turned away (from volunteering), she wouldn’t let it go,” Karras said.

“For her birthday (that year), I said, ‘What do you want to do?’

And she said, ‘I want to feed the homeless.’ ”

‘A big heart’ It’s not that the girl has ever suffered homelessness herself. It’s just an innate compassion nurtured by her family and club.

“Her charity donated something like 30 bicycles to our kids,” said the Taft club’s service director, Anna Dieuveuil. “Then they did our holiday party where each kid received three presents. She just has a big heart.

“And that’s something we try to teach our kids — you know, somebody is always giving to them, so it’s important for them to give

back. But with Serenity, I think it’s just the way she was born.”

National dream Serenity appealed to local merchants for the bicycles and gifts, but much of the $5,000 annual revenue for the nonprofit comes through selling gently used thriftstore donations on the online social commerce marketplace Poshmark.

Serenity does the packaging; Karras does the shipping.

Serenity said she has learned a lot about business through her work, but she has learned more about humanity.

“My dream for Serenity’s Grace is to be all over the country,” she said.

“I want to be able to supply jobs to people, get them housing, get their GEDs, make sure their mental health is where it should be … and to follow up with them … to help them not be homeless again.”

HEALTH | FOOD | TRAVEL | SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS COURIER R. Kelly now

IFE/FAITH

facing federal charges See page B3

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

A better sandwich for balanced diet See page B4

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

|

SECTION

B

S

Turned 100 in January

She helped get man on the moon

Mary Factory turned 100 years old on Jan. 17. A birthday celebration was held for her in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which was attended by her family and friends.

She was born Mary Matilda Johnson on Jan. 17, 1919 in Blocker, Oklahoma, the oldest of seven born to Melvina and Jess Johnson.

Mrs. Factory married John Lewis Factory in 1941 and the couple had seven children.

She worked for North American Rockwell – now Boeing – in McAlester from 1964 until 1975. While working there, she received the highest honor from NASA – the Apollo Achievement Award.

Information about Mrs. Factory is from the McAlester News-Capital, which serves Southeast Oklahoma.

Black woman who worked on the Apollo 11 craft reflects on her job as an electric assembler.

BY ISAIAH MITCHELL THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS/TNS

When the Apollo 11 spacecraft blasted off to the moon 50 years ago this month, one African-American woman watched from the manufacturing facility that worked on the spacecraft.

Her name is Mary Matilda Factory.

The story of how she earned her seat in that historic spot begins in 1964, when Factory joined an aviation company called North American Rockwell in Oklahoma as an electric assembler.

“I got a letter from the president of NASA. I got a beautiful letter from them, NASA, how they appreciate my work, you know. helping us get a man to the moon.’’

– Mary Matilda Factory

100 this year A talented solderer, she was the first Black woman hired by the company, which later merged with Boeing.

Factory worked to build the Minuteman missile cables and the Apollo crafts, for which she received an Apollo Achievement Award as a member of the team to put the first man on the moon.

After celebrating her 100th birthday this year and appearing at the annual 2019 Women’s Leadership Summit in Dallas, she spoke to The Dallas Morning News about working behind the scenes on spaceships in the segregated 1960s.

Q: How did you get your first job?

A: Well, I put in the application, and they called me for an interview, and then they called me back for the job. And I had to go through tests, you know. I did my 40 hours of school, and I passed that. I passed my oral work. And then I went on to doing my work.

I was on the line, and I had my own station. I had to pass a physical because I had to be in condition. Your nerves had to be in condition.

They wouldn’t really want to hire you unless you had a real steady hand. Well, I had no trouble or nothing. I passed all of that.

Q: What was the work like?

A: I had to really fight during segregation coming up and all. I had a hard time sticking, but I fought it out. I was the only Black woman in that round room, the television room, when the ship was landing on the moon.

Other guys would come from different companies, different cities, hunting for somebody with a steady hand.

With my tests and my grades and helping with blueprints, I used my own mind and my brain to do a lot of stuff like that.

Routing and reworking cables and things coming in, reworking them and putting them back in condition.

Supervisors would come in and give me work to do like routing cables and the Minuteman cable and all of that, and they didn’t know how to route it on the board.

And they found out I could do that.

Well, the guys would come in, and I would tell them, “Will you find a hamburger or something and give me two hours and come back? And then you’ll have it done.” I was the only Black woman in that television room because I had my work up to par.

Q: What made you want to work in

COURTESY OF NASA/TNS

Above: This March 30, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows the crew of the Apollo 11, from left, Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, module pilot; Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to the surface of the moon. Top photo: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. that job in the first place?

A: Well, I was trying to get a better job paying more money. I have six children and I needed ways for them when they got out of high school to have enough money to save for college, you know.

And I always liked the plane rides anyway. And that made me think, “Well, I’ll go out there and work on them and I’ll know how to fly one.”

Q: Do you want to see America make it onto the moon again?

A: Well, yes. I would like to see it, if I could be that lucky. I would like to see the spaceship go to the moon again. They sent me a replica of the last one that went to the moon — the Starliner.

I got a letter from the president of NASA. I got a beautiful letter from them, NASA, how they appreciate my work, you know. Helping us get a man to the moon.

Q: Besides NASA equipment, what else did you work on?

A: I worked on the Minuteman cable.

And I worked on chassis and reworking wiring. You know, if they come in off the work that they’ve torn up and blown up, they bring rework in, and I could put it back together, reroute, and put it back in

with no flaws in my work.

They kept me even after I was laid off, you know. We had jobs, or at least I did, anywhere I wanted to go to work at another plant in a different city. That’s why I retired, you know, because I have a family and I didn’t want to go away from home.

But I had a job anywhere I wanted to go.

You know, I didn’t have any flaws in my work. I worked in connectors and wirings and reworked stuff blown up and torn up and I put it back together and saved the company a lot of money.

The others would work two weeks on something when I’d get mine out in maybe a week, you know. And I was always ahead of time, and when I put it up, it passed. It had to pass.

Q: Did you ever get in trouble for anything?

A: I went to the office once on paperwork. My supervisor said, “Mary you have to go up to the office.” I said what do they want? He said he didn’t know, but they wanted me up there.

So I went up to the office, sat there talking to them, to tell me what they wanted, and they wouldn’t get around to it. And I said, “Well, I’m going on back and getting on my job, because I’m wasting time up

here with y’all. Y’all can’t tell me what you want with me.”

And they said, “Mary, we’re getting your work, and everything’s good, but you don’t have it recorded on your worksheets.”

I said, “Is that what y’all got me up here for? Boss, we’re going to have a good time now because I was taking 30 minutes to talk to y’all. Y’all done wasted 30 minutes up here, and y’all ask me if I want a cigarette and a drink of water and to go back to my seat, but I ain’t going back.

I’ve been wanting to talk to you all like this.” They said, “What is it, Miss?” When I got through, they were saying, “Take her back — Mary, go back to your station and get to work!”

You see, I had baskets of my work done — wiring and routing, chassis, and reworking all the time, but I wasn’t putting down my work on the paper. But my work was on time.

Q: Any memorable experiences?

A: My work that I did had big ducks coming from other cities, other companies.

They would come hunting somebody with a steady hand to do the jobs they wanted done because they couldn’t find enough of them in that company. You couldn’t have a tremor in your hands, soldering 14 karat gold pins in the connector.

In 1965, the supervisor said, “Mary, I might get you to make a speech down to the McAlester Hotel.” Why, it wasn’t a hotel then, just a motel, just a little junkedup place.

He said, “I want you to make a speech down there about how much North American Rockwell means to you and your family.” I said, “No, I can’t do that.” And someone said, “No, this is your chance.”

So I took it. I said, “Who am I making the speech to?” And they said, “Guys coming from different states. The big ducks are coming down there for a meeting.” And I went on down there and made my speech and ate my T-bone steak sitting up there by the big boys, saying what North American Rockwell meant to me and my family.

I enjoyed my job. Yeah, I loved my job.

But I just had to save — I had six kids, you know.

Q: What was the hardest thing about the job?

A: Well, let me get it together, because I didn’t have a hard time. Passing my work, getting my work done, having it tested and it passed.

If it weren’t right, they’d just clip it off, throw it in the trash and keep walking.

You had a board, and you pasted on that board every connector that you made, and wiring and all, and you had to put it in shape and have no corrosion and no flaws on your pins. You had that gold messed up, you walked out that door.

That’s how hard it was.

Many of them walked out crying, they couldn’t pass that test. But I stayed on that line until I left.

Yeah, my story’s so long and big and hard, oh my God, but I made it. I made it.

ENTERTAINMENT & FINEST

B2

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Casselberry: The book release of “Who is Nyla Nova” by Nakeisha and Nyla Denae is 2 p.m. July 20 at Amaya Papaya.

Details: nyladenae.com Tampa: Mayor Jane Castor’s back-to-school swim challenge at city pools is underway for children. Details: www.tampagov. net/pools.

Jacksonville: Auditions are being scheduled for the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus for grades 2-12. More info: www.jaxchildrenschorus.org/audition Fort Lauderdale: Lionel Richie performs July 27 at Hard Rock Live and July 28 at Tampa’s Amalie Arena.

Plantation: Judah Worship Word Ministries will host a pastoral appreciation service for Apostle Willett L. Mitchell on July 21 at 8:15 a.m. More info: 954791-2999 West Palm Beach: Lil Wayne will be at the Coral Sky Amphitheatre with blink-182 on July 25, July 26 at Tampa’s MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre and

Orlando: Catch Beres Hammond on Aug. 24 at Hard Rock Live Orlando and Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center on Aug. 25.

Miami Gardens: Join Mayor Oliver Gilbert for a free handsonly CPR course from 10 a.m. to noon on July 26 at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex.

Sign up at the complex.

Orlando: Khalid performs at Amway Center on Aug. 16 and Aug. 17 at Miami’s AmericanAirlinesArena.

The Motowners will be at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center on Aug. 10.

Coconut Creek: Catch Kool & the Gang on Aug. 15 at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.

Tampa: The Tampa Bay Chapter of the National Alumnae Association of Spelman College will host its first golf tournament on Sept.

29 at Top Golf. Sponsorships and more info about the scholarship fundraiser: www.naasctampa@ gmail.com

In the 1890s, millions of Americans became “bicycle crazy.”

While horses plodded through city streets, towing a buggy at a gait of around four miles an hour, cyclists could go where they pleased at three times that speed or more, free from the stench of manure. And suddenly, bicycle races became America’s most popular spectator sport.

In a nation dominated by Jim Crow segregation, Marshall “Major” Taylor somehow became an internationally recognized champion of cycling and our nation’s first Black sports hero.

In “The World’s Fastest Man,’’ Michael Kranish, an investigative reporter for the Washington Post, tells the story of this long-forgotten racial pioneer who deserves a place of honor beside Jack Johnson, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson and Arthur Ashe.

A marked man Throughout Taylor’s career, Louis “Birdie” Munger, a White former champion, served as his mentor. That said, Taylor encountered racial prejudice every step along the way, in Europe and Australia, as well as in the United States.

He was excluded from the Indianapolis branch of the YMCA. Contending that “the presence

FLORIDA’S

finest

FLORIDA COURIER

THE MOTOWNERS

Fort Lauderdale: Iyanla Vanzant’s Acts of Faith Remix Tour stops at the Broward Center on Aug. 1 and Jacksonville’s Florida Theatre on Aug. 2. Details: iyanlavanzantlive.com

BY DR. GLENN C. ALTSCHULER SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II /

STOJ

July 29 at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville.

‘World’s Fastest Man’ tells life story of pioneer Black cyclist

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.

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

STEPHANIE MILLS & THE WHISPERS

Tickets are on sale for the legendary performers for an Oct. 4 concert at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center.

of this little negro would not be right,” Kranish reveals, race promoters at several venues, including Madison Square Garden, refused to grant Taylor a license.

Instead, they suggested that he “shine the Fifth Avenue gentlemen’s shoes.”

When he was permitted to race, Taylor became a marked man; his competitors tried to box him in, cut him off, make him crash, knock him off his bike.

‘Whiter’ experiment Convinced that he would be barred from the sport, Munger convinced Taylor to apply ointment over his entire body to make him look “four or five shades whiter.” Taylor writhed in pain, his hair turned red, and his skin burned.

Although he seemed to be turning whiter, Munger and Taylor stopped the “experiment.”

Fortunately, as promoters

found that White versus Black contests attracted large audiences, Taylor was permitted to “break the color barrier.”

Man of discipline “The World’s Fastest Man’’ highlights Taylor’s discipline, dignity and integrity. Taylor’s exercise, nutrition, and training regimen, Kranish indicates, was remarkable.

An early riser, he began the day with stretches; ate high-protein meals; alternated between a rolling pace and a sprint (to increase aerobic capacity) on his bike; used pulleys and punching bags to enhance upper body strength and sharpen reflexes; and did not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol.

A devout Christian, Taylor refused to compete on Sundays. “It isn’t as though I had lots of money,” he told reporters, but “I’m sure if the general public knew

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.

REVIEW “The World’s Fastest Man: The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America’s First Black Sports Hero’’ by Michael Kranish. Scribner.

365 pages. $30. my heart as God knows it, they would appreciate what I am doing even better than they do.”

Racism response Not surprisingly, racism took its toll on Taylor.

“I am a Negro in every sense of the word and I am not sorry that I am,” he emphasized. Taylor acknowledged the assistance he had received from White people, especially Birdie Munger.

Nonetheless, he had “no great admiration for white people as a whole,” because they had “no great admiration for me or my group.”

He continued to live by a precept of Booker T. Washington: “I shall allow no man to narrow my soul and drag me down, by making me hate him.”

Following his retirement, Major Taylor struggled, personally and financially. He invested in several businesses and watched his savings disappear.

Died in charity ward Wondering how he would be remembered when “I am finally run off my feet and flattened by Father Time,” Taylor wrote an autobiography but could not find a publisher.

Estranged from his wife and daughter, Taylor moved from Worcester, Massachusetts to Chicago. He died on June 21, 1932, in the charity ward of the Cook County Hospital.

When no one claimed his body, the 53-year-old world champion was buried in Mount Glenwood Cemetery, a final resting place for Blacks.

But now, thanks to Michael Kranish, we can remember him as a “larger part of history, not just the narrow world of cycling records,” who became a transformative figure in the battle against racism.

Dr. Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He wrote this review for the Florida Courier.

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

STOJ

CELEBRITY

TOJ

B3

‘Sweeping’ federal charges against R. Kelly Singer’s road through criminal woes become much tougher as feds join forces against him

BY MEGAN CREPEAU CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

CHICAGO – For nearly two decades, R. Kelly was hounded by whispers: persistent accusations that the R&B legend abuses, controls and sexually exploits teenage girls.

In recent years the whispers have grown to shouts, leading to mass boycotts of his music, an explosive TV docuseries and four pending Cook County sex-crime cases.

But two blockbuster federal indictments unveiled on July 12 promise to eclipse all of his recent troubles — and could potentially put Kelly behind bars for the rest of his life.

“For the federal government at this point to become involved in two separate, very serious cases, they must absolutely believe that they have the goods on him,” said Steven Block, a former federal prosecutor who also served as head of special prosecutions for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

“The Department of Justice does not want to swing and miss on a case like this.”

More recent charges Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York charged Kelly under an anti-racketeering law, alleging that the singer was the head of a criminal enterprise that systematically abused victims across the country.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in Illinois allege Kelly, his former manager and a former employee, among other staff, schemed to cover up extensive video evidence of Kelly sexually abusing young girls, and persuaded witnesses in his 2002 child-pornography case to lie to grand jurors. Kelly eventually

E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/POOL/TNS

R. Kelly pleaded not guilty to a new indictment before Judge Lawrence Flood at Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on June 6. was tried and acquitted.

The singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, has strenuously maintained his innocence throughout his recent legal woes.

Facing 195 years He and his lawyers “look forward to his day in court, to the truth coming out and to his vindication from what has been an unprecedented assault by others for their own personal gain,” his attorney Steven Greenberg said in a statement on July 12.

But federal charges ratchet up the legal pressure on Kelly significantly. Not only do the new cases carry considerable penalties — he faces a maximum 195 years in prison in the new Illinois indictment alone — they allege

overarching patterns of abuse, rather than individual, discrete criminal acts.

“The federal charges are, I would use the term ‘sweeping,’” said Sabra Ebersole, a former Cook County sex-crimes prosecutor now in private practice. “(They are alleging) a much broader course of conduct.”

The state charges are a chapter, Ebersole said, but the federal indictments are a book.

Plethora of tips Kelly faces four separate indictments in Cook County alleging that he sexually abused four victims — three of whom were underage girls — over more than a decade. But experts said the state cases will likely be put on

hold or slowed significantly now that federal indictments have come down.

In a statement, Foxx did not address whether the federal charges could affect the singer’s pending county cases, but noted that her office worked with federal authorities to obtain the new indictment.

Foxx in January publicly called for Kelly’s accusers to come forward, and the office was inundated with tips — which helped lead to Kelly’s federal charges, Foxx claimed on July 12.

“As a prosecutor and a survivor of sexual assault, I recognize the courage it takes to come forward, and I understand the trauma of doing so,” the statement read. “ …

We will remain a compassionate

Voicing ‘Lion King’ hyena no laughing matter for Key

BY RICK BENTLEY TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

LOS ANGELES – Keegan-Michael Key is living the acting dream by being part of two major movies hitting theaters only weeks apart.

He’s not only a part of the much-loved “Toy Story” franchise with the recently released “Toy Story 4,” but Key will be going head-to-head with himself in theaters when the live-action version of “The Lion King” is released.

In “Toy Story 4,” Key’s the voice of the not-so-lovable stuffed toy Ducky, while in “The Lion King” he speaks for the hyena Kamari.

On voice training The two big voice work jobs are just the latest recording work for the Michigan native. His long list of credits with animated projects include “SuperMansion,” “American Dad!,” “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation,” “The Star” and “Bob’s Burgers.”

The ability to handle voice work goes back to the training Key got while attending Pennsylvania State University. He credits his study of 17th century restoration theater for his skill behind a microphone.

“That is a very archaic style and a little baroque,” Key says.

“In classical theater, especially when you are reading prose, there’s lots of syntax you have to

Plea deal?

Legal experts told the Tribune it is likely that all three prosecutors’ offices will maintain contact as the cases progress. And if Kelly decides to take a plea deal, he would likely want a “global resolution,” said former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Cramer — that is, a deal that will resolve his cases in all three jurisdictions.

Any such agreement would still carry significant prison time, he said. “(There are) three offices after him,” Cramer said. “Depending on what the judges, plural, do on bail, he could certainly never see the light of day again.”

Frozen food line next for LaBelle

BY TANAY HUDSON BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM

‘Watershed moment’ “It feels satisfying. You can ask any journeyman actor, someone who works their whole career, sometimes you are doing it for the love and sometimes you are just doing it for the money,” Key says. “But, you hit pinnacles and right now is a pinnacle moment for me.

“It is a watershed moment for me in my career to have been asked to what is ostensibly an American tradition — two American traditions. When you can say two words like ‘Toy Story,’ ‘Lion King,’ and it evokes something in people, you are doing something special. I feel blessed.”

resource for survivors as they regain their power and heal.”

ANTHONY BEHAR/SIPA USA/TNS

Keegan-Michael Key has voice roles in the new “Toy Story’’ and ‘’Lion King’’ movies. try to manage in specific parentheticals.

“It’s being able to run into the parentheticals, hit the semicolon, back up, small pause to the period. That’s where the voice work training came from.”

Well-known work Key’s well known for his voice work, but he has an equally impressive list of jobs where he’s performed sketch and improvisational comedy from “MADtv” to “Whose Live is it Anyway?” and “Key And Peele,” where he worked with his “Toy Story 4” recording buddy Jordan Peele, who is the voice of Bunny in the Pixar production.

Key found over the 16 years he did nothing but improvisational and sketch comedy that style of working has a much more organic feel than he needed to be able to do voice work.

But the experience he gained by having to modulate his voice to play so many different characters was an element that helped him, especially in “Toy Story 4.”

Back with Peele Both “Toy Story” and “The Lion King” required Key to go in and out of recording studios for years.

He found the experiences of getting his lines recorded for the projects to be quite different.

In “Toy Story 4,” he and Peele were in two recording booths that faced each other. Being close enough to see Peele’s eyes made the recording sessions feel more like the days when the pair were working together on their sketch-comedy show.

“The Lion King” director Jon Favreau went for a different approach having Key and Eric Andre, who speaks for the hyena Azizi, work in a room that felt more like they were working on a stage production.

‘Extremely organic’ The pair were fitted with microphones so they could move around the room while delivering their lines.

“Jon sat at a small table with a bottle of water and he would just watch us,” Key says. “He would

tell us to start from the beginning, invade his space, we are finding something here. It was extremely organic.

“Sometimes he would not be getting the line read that he wanted and Jon would then act with us. If you have seen the move ‘Made,’ with him and Vincent Vaughn, it’s that dynamic.

I’m him and Eric Andre is Vince Vaughn.”

Working with Faverau Key got to show off his improvisational skills as in the early recording sessions. Faverau would allow the actors to come up with their own material to go with what was in the script. With each session, the process got more refined until the hyenas had their voices.

The freedom Key felt when recording came from having a director like Favreau, who has worked on both sides of the camera.

He says working with Favreau was getting the opportunity to work from “a fellow soldier” who knew what it was like to work in the acting trenches.

Besides being one of the most respected and iconic R&B singers, Patti LaBelle is also known to be quite the cook. The last time she gave us a taste of her cooking, her Patti Pies created a frenzy and sold out across America.

Now she is giving us a taste of her soul food. The Philly native has partnered with Walmart again for a frozen food line of her soul food.

“Coming soon to a Walmart near you, you’ll have my savory foods,” LaBelle told a crowd at the Essence festival in New Orleans last weekend, MSN reports.

“There will be foods like macaroni and cheese. It’s greens, it’s brisket, it’s chicken and biscuits, and five more I can’t think of them.”

‘Eat healthier’ LaBelle warned fans to eat her rich, savory foods moderately because she has to do the same because of her diabetes.

“Health is important, I’m a diabetic,” she told the crowd. “And when I make macaroni and cheese I don’t usually eat it, I taste it, because I am a diabetic for 25 years. Ladies and gentlemen, you have to take care of yourselves and eat healthier. But eat.”

LaBelle and Walmart have partnered before when she released her famous sweet potato pie, chocolate, caramel and red velvet cakes, buttermilk pies and cobblers.

She announced in April that she teamed up with restaurateur Stratis Morfogen to launch a line of frozen Chinese foods as well.

Patti LaBelle

B4

FOOD

JULY 19 – JULY 25, 2019

STOJ

PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

Building a balanced diet with a

BETTER SANDWICH FROM FAMILY FEATURES

Fad diets come and go, and as many Americans find, so do the pounds they lose. Most experts agree that eliminating, or drastically reducing, any of the major foods groups from your diet can be detrimental to your health and prevent you from achieving long-term healthy eating goals.

Each of the food groups plays a distinct role in fueling your body and providing it with the vitamins and nutrients it needs. Attempt a wellrounded approach to eating, such as one that includes more nutritious choices for popular dishes like sandwiches. In general, pay attention to the variety, amount and nutrition of the foods you consume.

Consider these ideas for creating a balanced diet and a nutritious sandwich to help ensure you get enough of each food group:

Start from the Outside There are two groups of grains: whole grains and refined grains.

Whole grains contain the entire grain kernel, while refined grains have been milled for a finer texture and are required to be enriched per government mandate to help the population make up for nutrient shortfalls.

Grains should account for about one quarter of each meal, but at least half of them should be whole grains – a fact that may surprise some people.

“Many health professionals mistakenly encourage consumers to skip the bread when trying to improve diets,” said Yanni Papanikolaou from Nutrition Strategies Inc., who completed a study to assess the energy and nutrients contributed from sandwiches in diets of children and adolescents. “Americans need to think twice before cutting bread from their diets. In fact, bread packs more of a nutrient punch than a caloric one.”

The ingredients inside a sandwich, not the bread itself, are the most significant drivers of calories, fat and sodium, according to Papanikolaou’s research. A separate study published in the journal “Nutrients” shows grain foods contribute less than 15 percent of all calories in the total diet, while delivering greater than 20 percent of three shortfall nutrients – dietary fiber, folate and iron – and greater than 10 percent of calcium, magnesium and vitamin A. Consumers can significantly and positively impact their caloric, fat and sodium intake by making more deliberate decisions about sandwich

ingredients, including choosing either whole-grain or enriched-grain bread. Find more information about the role of grains in a healthy diet at GrainFoodsFoundation.org.

Rethink the Ingredients Making more nutritious choices with sandwiches and positively impacting your consumption of calories, fat and sodium is oftentimes a matter of changing the way you stack ingredients between the bread. Consider this sample sandwich: two slices of whole-grain or enriched bread, 2-3 slices of lunchmeat, two slices of cheese, a few spinach or lettuce leaves and a slice of tomato.

Contrary to popular belief, research shows that sandwich eaters who choose either whole- or enriched-grain bread can consume less calories, fat and sodium compared to the typical sandwich consumed in the American diet. This demonstrates the need to focus on the ingredients between the bread for a better (more healthful) sandwich.

Try a different take on a lunchtime favorite by adding spicy horseradish to this Roast Beef and Arugula Sandwich, or make packing a lunch even simpler with this Ultra-Thin Pastrami Sandwich Lunchbox.

Protein According to the USDA, most Americans get about the right amount of protein in their diets, but could do better at choosing leaner options and adding more variety to their menus.

Incorporating more variety doesn’t have to mean sacrificing convenience. For example, while prepared meats like deli meats, hot dogs and jerky are sometimes a target of critics, numerous studies and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans affirm they can be part of a healthy, balanced diet. Prepared beef products provide a convenient source of protein, vitamins and minerals. Because most prepared meats are precooked, they offer consumers easy, on-the-go access to the nutrient density in meat.

The prepared meats category is diverse and offers choices to meet nutrition needs, tastes, budgets and personal preferences. Thousands of products are available in the meat case, including low- and reduced-sodium products, low- and reduced-fat products, American Heart Association-certified, organic, Kosher grassfed options and more. Learn more at meatpoultrynutrition.org.

ROAST BEEF AND ARUGULA SANDWICH Recipe courtesy of the Grain Foods Foundation Prep time: 5 minutes Servings: 2 1 tablespoon low-fat mayonnaise 2 teaspoons horseradish 4 slices whole-wheat bread

4 slices tomato 4 ounces lean roast beef, thinly sliced 1 cup arugula or wild greens Spread mayonnaise and horseradish evenly over two bread slices.

Layer tomato, roast beef and arugula on top of mayonnaise and horseradish.

Top with remaining bread slices.

ULTRA-THIN PASTRAMI SANDWICH LUNCHBOX Recipe courtesy of the North American Meat Institute Servings: 1 2 slices thin whole-wheat sandwich bread 2tablespoons low-fat garden vegetable cream cheese 1ounce ultra-thin pastrami 1 ounce unsalted pretzels 1 apple 1 squeezable low-fat yogurt 1water bottle (8 fluid ounces) Using knife, spread bread slices with cream cheese.

Layer pastrami on bottom slice and top with second slice.

Fill lunchbox with sandwich, pretzels, apple, yogurt and water bottle.