Florida Courier, March 22, 2019

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MARCH 22 – MARCH 28, 2019

VOLUME 27 NO. 12

HBCU AWAKENING Howard University was a major influence that shaped Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ identity.

BY EVAN HALPER LOS ANGELES TIMES / TNS

WASHINGTON ‒ The war on drugs had erupted, apartheid was raging, Jesse Jackson would soon make the campus a staging ground for his inaugural presidential bid. Running for student office in 1982 at Howard University ‒ the school that nurtured Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison and Stokely Carmichael ‒was no joke.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Ca-

lif., has been known to break the ice with voters by proclaiming the freshman-year campaign in which she won a seat on the Liberal Arts Student Council her toughest political race. Those who were at the university with her are not so sure she is kidding.

It was at Howard that the senator’s political identity began to take shape. Thirty-three years after she graduated in 1986, the university in the nation’s capital, one of the country’s most prominent historically Black institutions, also serves as a touchstone in a campaign in which political opponents have questioned the authenticity of her Black identity.

No assumptions “I reference often my days at Howard to help people understand they should not make assumptions about who Black peo-

COURTESY OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY

Howard University, located in Washington, D.C., is one of America’s leading historically Black college or university. It educates students from around the world. ple are,” Harris said in a recent interview.

Her Indian-born mother and Jamaican father separated when Harris was 5, and she attended high school in Montreal, where her mother was a cancer researcher at McGill University.

But, Harris said, as a teenager, there was no question about her decision to return to the U.S. to attend Howard.

“My mother understood she was raising two Black children to be Black women,” Harris said in the interview, a line she has of-

ten used to settle questions on the subject. Shyamala Gopalan Harris encouraged her daughter to go to Howard, a school her mother knew well, having guestlectured there and having friends on the faculty.

See HBCU, Page A2

Voting restoration drama

SPRING BREAK 2019

Enjoying it while they can

Legislators fight over details

BY DARA KAM NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE ‒ Ex-felons would have to clear up any financial obligations, including court costs, fees and fines, before having their voting rights restored, under a House proposal castigated by critics Tuesday as a modern take on Jim Crow-era poll taxes designed to keep Black voters from participating in elections.

In a strict party-line vote following heated testimony, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee signed off on the measure aimed at clarifying parts of a constitutional amendment approved by voters in November.

The amendment, which appeared on the ballot as Amendment 4, granted “automatic” restoration of voting rights to felons “who have completed all terms of their sentence, including parole or probation.” The amendment excluded people “convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense.”

Guidance requested While some proponents maintain the measure does not require any legislative action, state and local elections officials, clerks of courts, prosecutors and others have asked the Legislature for guidance in interpreting what specific crimes qualify as exceptions and what is required for felons to have completed their sentences.

Under the House plan, felons convicted of first- or second-degree murder or about three dozen sex-related

Large crowds, traffic problems, public drunkenness and nudity have upset Miami Beach residents.

The city may begin strict enforcement of city ordinances and traffic laws as Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach did in years past to get Spring Break under control.

See VOTING, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

“We have extended the Rebuild Florida registration deadline to allow as many homeowners as possible to register for assistance and I encourage anyone who still has damage from Hurricane Irma to visit RebuildFlorida.gov to get help.”

SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Miami man gets 40 years for torching girlfriend Everglades oil drilling plan wins legal fight

ENTERTAINMENT | B2

Peele’s ‘Us’ expected to outdo ‘Get Out’

ALSO INSIDE

Deadline close for Hurricane Irma damage grants TALLAHASSEE ‒ If you are a homeowner with damage remaining from Hurricane Irma, you can still register for assistance from Rebuild Florida. The deadline is Friday, March 29. Registration is the first step in the process and it can be completed in 15-30 minutes.

Rebuild Florida is a long-term recovery effort with nearly $350 million in federal funding dedicated to repairing, rebuilding or replacing the homes of Florida families that were significantly damaged or destroyed

by Hurricane Irma.

“Governor Ron DeSantis is dedicated to helping Florida families still in need after Hurricane Irma,” said Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) Executive Director Ken Lawson.

Ken Lawson

State, federal partnership

Rebuild Florida is a partnership of DEO and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Rebuild Florida Housing Repair and Replacement Program helps eligible homeowners impacted by Hurricane Irma.

See GRANTS, Page A2

COMMENTARY: MARGARET KIMBERLEY: PAUL MANAFORT AND THE BLACK INCARCERATION CRISIS | A4 GUEST COMMENTARY: ANTHONY HALL: ‘VERY FINE’ NATIONALISTS MASSACRE 50 IN NEW ZEALAND | A5

FOCUS

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MARCH 22 – MARCH 28, 2019

Everyone must condemn Trump’s sly encouragement of violence Racism is not natural. Babies ‒ Black, Brown, White ‒ explore the world and each other with wonder, not hate.

Racism has to be taught. It is learned behavior. To assume that a person is inherently superior or inferior to another based upon race is unnatural and ungodly.

Manipulates and exploits Racism is used for political manipulation and economic exploitation. In a land founded on the belief that all men are created equal, slavery could not be justified without a racism that depicted slaves as sub-human. These basic truths need restating in this terrible time.

Across the world, we see the rise of racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and its violent expression. Congregants in a Black

REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR. TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

church in Charleston, S.C., are gunned down. Worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue are attacked and killed. Now the murders in the mosques in New Zealand.

Christians, Jews and Muslims must now stand as one and resist the rise of hate, and the hatefilled propaganda that feeds it. In this, Donald Trump can no longer duck responsibility. When an American president speaks, the world listens.

When Barack Obama was elected, it sent hope across the

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world. Blacks were elected to parliaments for the first time across Europe. Some hoped a new era of peace and reconciliation might begin. Yet his election incited a harsh reaction as well, a new trafficking in hate, fear and violence.

Nothing new for Trump Donald Trump used his celebrity to claim that Obama was illegitimate, literally un-American.

He had relished spreading racial fears before. When five young men were falsely arrested in New York City, Trump took out newspaper ads calling for the death penalty, inciting fear of young African-American males. When DNA testing proved their innocence, Trump simply denied the truth.

His campaign for president was stained by his racebait politics: slurring immigrants as rapists and murderers, promising to ban Muslims, denouncing a judge of Mexican descent (born in Indiana) as too biased to rule on the case involving students defrauded by Trump University.

As president, Trump has used his position to continue to foster hatred and racial division: the Muslim ban, “the wall,” and the continued slander of immi-

grants, African nations as “shithole countries.” In Charlottesville, he equated Nazis marching through the streets with tiki torches chanting, “Jews will not replace us,” with those protesting Nazism and racism. “Good people,” he said, “on both sides.”

He’s also fanned the flames of violence. He told his followers at a campaign rally in 2016 that if they beat up a young protester, he’d pay their legal fees. He talked about “Second Amendment people” ‒ gun owners presumably ‒ taking care of liberal judges or of Hillary Clinton, if she appointed them. He encouraged police officers to rough up suspects.

Getting worse Now, as he appears more and more unhinged, he did an interview with the right-wing Breitbart News in which he suggested that his people “play it tougher,” intimating that if he didn’t get his way, brown-shirt violence might follow: “I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump. I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough ‒ until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.”

VOTING

We must act Now is the time for citizens of conscience to act. Church and community leaders, responsible mothers and fathers, pundits and editorialists, scholars and celebrities, those who ride in limousines and those who take the early bus ‒ all now have the responsibility to speak out against racism, to condemn the spread of hate, the sly encouragement of lawless violence.

When our president acts irresponsibly to divide us, citizens must act responsibly to bring us together. Our freedoms ‒ of speech, of assembly, of religion ‒ can save us from misrule, but only if we exercise them.

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

GRANTS

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crimes, including cyberstalking, would be excluded from the automatic restoration of rights.

But an even-more controversial part of the House bill (PCB CRJ 19-03) dealing with felons’ financial obligations drew rebukes from civil rights advocates, Democrats and others who claim the plan disenfranchises voters.

Civil judgments included Under the House plan approved by a 106 vote, felons would have to pay off all restitution, court fines and fees, including those that have been continued through civil judgments, such as liens. “Returning citizens,” the term used by backers of the constitutional amendment, would also have to pay “any cost of supervision.”

And before inmates are released, the proposal would require the Department of Corrections or county jail staff members to provide “an accounting of all outstanding financial obligations imposed by a court, the department, or the Florida Commission on Offender Review” for each felony conviction.

But Neil Volz, political director of a com-

STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL

Candidates’ signs line the street outside a polling place at the Leesburg Public Library on Election Day 2018. mittee that backed the amendment, said the Florida Commission on Offender Review currently does not take into consideration court costs, fees or fines when considering applications for clemency.

HBCU from A1

No conflict “There was nothing unnatural or in conflict about it at all,” Harris said. “There were a lot of kids at Howard who had a background where one parent was maybe from the Philippines and the other might be from Nairobi,” she added. “Howard encompasses the diaspora.”

The campus during her time was a cauldron of activism and Black pride at a moment in history, like now, when most Black Americans were feeling alienated and unrepresented by the White House. Running for student office “was hard core,” said Sonya Lockett, a college friend of Harris. “It was not like, ‘If I win, we’re going to get a water fountain for the student center.’

“Students demanded to know how you feel about what is going on in this country, and where is our place in it,” said Lockett, now an entertainment industry executive. “We saw ourselves as integral to the city and the country and the world. If you did not have an idea of where we were in that ecosystem, you weren’t getting far.”

Campus politics were not always gentle. There were fights over where voting machines would be placed, and the hours they would be open. Student leaders tangled over how aggressively to confront a college administration perceived as too cozy with the Reagan White House.

With the campus located in a Washington neighborhood with a high crime rate and student safety a major issue, the student council race also marked the first election in which Harris, who would go on to become a prosecutor, had to confront the nuances of criminal justice.

While the Reagan administration pushed for expanded prosecutions, “we took a more … holistic look rather than demonizing people at a time when all of us kids were right there in some

The American president is fanning the flames of racism, religious intolerance and vigilante violence. Denial ‒ “He doesn’t mean it,” “It’s just his way of talking,” “Just New York bluster” ‒ is simply not credible.

We can argue about whether Trump is a racist or an anti-Semite or a wannabe authoritarian dictator. But there is no question about the hatred he is stoking here and across the world.

Kamala Harris at Howard (left) and as California attorney general (right). very impoverished surroundings,” said Jill Louis, a line sister of Harris’ when the two pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority during Harris’ senior year.

People are ‘owed’ Ta-Nehisi Coates, the writer, attended Howard a decade after Harris. At a campus event this month, he remarked that the school’s history weighed on him every moment he was there and continues to this day.

“You owe people things,” he said after rattling off an intimidating list of alumni who preceded him. “I will owe Howard until the day I die.”

Harris, whose parents took active roles in the civil rights movement through the 1960s and into the 1970s, was familiar with the spirit of activism. But not on the scale of Howard, with so many Black intellectuals and activists and future leaders all in the same place.

“We are talking about thousands and thousands of people,” she said. “It was extraordinary.”

When you go to Howard, said longtime Howard political science professor Alvin Thornton, your particular ethnic makeup was irrelevant.

Responsibility for change “You were Black,” he said. “Not physically. You were Black in terms of your sense of responsibility and social relations of what we were trying to overcome. It was a sociological phenomenon as much as a physical phenomenon. It represented change and one’s commitment to it, or not.”

The House proposal would “move the line” of what completion of sentence means and “will restrict the ability to vote for thousands of Floridians, especially people who are poor, especially people of color,” he argued.

“I very much see Howard in her,” Thornton said of Harris.

“These young people come into a culturally and academically reinforcing environment that enables them culturally. They can feel comfortable. They don’t have to question their identity, only grow into it.”

At her freshman orientation, Harris recently told a group of Black female entrepreneurs, she was overwhelmed by the sense of possibility upon walking into a giant auditorium packed with overachieving people of color.

“You then are in an environment where everything tells you that you can be great, and you will be given the resources and expectation to achieve that, and the only thing standing in the way of your success will be you,” she said. “You don’t have to be limited by other people’s perceptions of who you are.”

Not a ‘big woman’ Harris was known on campus, but she was not among the most prominent student leaders. Many of her classmates have more vivid memories of Christopher Cathcart, the hard-charging football player, now a communications consultant, whose tenure as student government president was defined by confrontation with the school administration.

Thornton, who headed the political science department’s undergraduate program, now jokes that he is frantically searching his records and jogging his memory for anecdotes to allow him to claim credit for nurturing the political acumen of Harris, who majored in his field, along with economics.

Much the same Those who knew her then say much about Harris on the campaign trail is familiar. Ever since she became omnipresent on the television news, said Louis, her own father has remarked that the senator seems to laugh a lot.

“I told him, ‘That was her,’” Louis said. “She was always the person who seemed serious while not taking herself too seriously. … Before the bright lights,

she was the exact same person we see today.”

Harris would take ribbing one moment about her cropped haircut and coat with the pointy collar that called to mind Peter Pan, then would be tearing an opponent to shreds on the debate floor the next.

“The one thing I can always remember about Kamala is that she was always friendly and the nicest person, but in a debate, it was almost like a switch was turned,” said Charles Boyd, a Detroit surgeon who attended Howard with Harris.

Career path certain Others recall her certainty about her eventual career. Harris entered Howard wanting to follow in Marshall’s footsteps and never wavered in her pursuit of going to law school.

“There was no question about whether or not she would go,” said Shelley Young Thompkins, the fellow student council rep whom Harris calls out in her biography as the toughest opponent she ever faced. “There was zero wavering on that.”

It was not always an easy path.

Harris got recruited for the maledominated debate team by the one woman who was on it at the time, Lita Rosario.

‘She had spunk’ “It was a very tough crowd,” said Rosario, now an entertainment lawyer in the Washington area. “I was one female who got through, and I thought she might be able to as well. She had spunk.”

As for campus activism at the time, Rosario said, “There were people who were more militant and wanted to do more extreme things, and others who felt taking over the administration building and asking for the university president’s resignation were not necessary, but still felt the need to do things.”

Asked where she landed on that spectrum, Harris sidestepped, as she often does with politically fraught biographical questions. She talked instead in more general terms about the high calling of student activism.

Rebuild Florida helps repair, rebuild or replace damaged homes across the hardest-hit communities of the state, with priority funding for those lowincome residents who are elderly, disabled, families with children under the age of 18 or persons displaced from Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands who are permanently resettling in Florida as a result of Hurricane Irma or Maria.

Nine Rebuild Florida centers will remain open across the state to serve as local resources for homeowners to begin the disaster recovery process. Centers are open Monday through Saturday with case managers available to help homeowners complete the registration process.

Homeowners can also visit RebuildFlorida.gov or call the Rebuild Florida customer center at 844-833-1010 to receive assistance.

Protested apartheid It is unclear, for example, the extent to which Harris was involved when students successfully demanded the reinstatement of a student newspaper editor who was expelled after raising uncomfortable questions about a sex discrimination complaint filed against the school.

She was undeniably in the mix, however, when busloads of students went regularly to the South African embassy and the National Mall for protests demanding an end to apartheid.

“It was outrageous,” Harris said. “Mandela was in jail, and there were huge atrocities happening. The (Reagan) administration was not engaged in any meaningful way.”

Protesters were constantly arrested, including Jesse Jackson’s daughter, Santita, who studied at Howard when Harris was there.

She was hauled off to jail the year after Jackson electrified the campus with his first presidential run in 1984.

All-in for Jesse “When Jesse ran, I would say the entire campus was behind him,” said Cathcart. “This was the first time many of us were voting in a presidential election, and for the first time there was a Black candidate who we thought had a chance.” There were registration drives, canvassing events and viewing parties when Jackson spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

During those years, Harris’ classmate Boyd recalls, he “literally felt that I was at the center of Black political thought. Anyone who was of note came to Howard to speak.”

And when Harris announced she was running for president, her first stop on the campaign trail was Howard. She has since framed the Howard legacy as a relay race of Black achievement.

The question that has weighed on her during and since those years, she said in a recent campaign stop in Las Vegas, “is what are you going to do with the time in which you are carrying the baton?”

MARCH 22 – MARCH 28, 2019

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FLORIDA

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Miami man gets 40 years for torching girlfriend to death

BY DAVID OVALLE MIAMI HERALD/TNS

MIAMI – A Miami man pleaded guilty Monday to torching his girlfriend to death, but continued to insist “she pushed me to do something like that.”

That prompted an extraordinary exchange between Jesus Alvarez, 49, and an incredulous judge.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t mean to do this,” Alvarez said.

“Mr. Alvarez, when you put gasoline on someone and you light a match, it’s generally not a good outcome,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzer said.

Doused with gas

KATHERINE RODEGHIER/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Airboats skim over the Florida Everglades, a vast wetland flowing from Lake Okeechobee south to the tip of Florida’s mainland.

Court refuses to block Everglades oil drilling plan

BY DAVID FLESHLER SUN SENTINEL/TNS

FORT LAUDERDALE – A plan to drill for oil in the Everglades again won a major legal victory Tuesday, one day after a false alarm in which an appeals court issued an ordering affirming the proposal and then withdrew it as “issued in error.”

The First District Court of Appeal announced that its decision in favor of the plan would stand, despite a request by the state of Florida, Broward County and the city of Miramar to rehear the case.

Kanter Real Estate LLC, which owns about 20,000 acres in the Everglades, plans to drill

Insured losses from hurricane top $6 billion NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

With Northwest Florida continuing to try to recover from Hurricane Michael, estimated insured losses have climbed to more than $6 billion, according to numbers posted on the state Office of Insurance Regulation website.

As of March 15, the insured losses had hit $6,098,845,241. In all, 144,116 claims had been filed from the Oct. 10 storm, which

an exploratory well about six miles west of Miramar. Although the Florida Department of Environmental Protection refused to issue a permit, the company challenged the denial and won a series of court victories.

Motion denied A three-judge panel of the First District Court of Appeal found in favor of the company last month, ordering the state to issue a permit.

Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state had asked the full court to rehear the case, arguing that it was of high public importance.

Joining the state in the request were Broward County, the city of Miramar and the South Florida Wildlands Association.

But the court on Tuesday refused the request.

“Motion for rehearing en banc filed by the appellee, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, on February 20, 2019, is denied,” stated an announcement posted on the court’s website.

‘Moving forward’ John Kanter, the company’s president, said the court’s decision again showed that the company’s plans complied with the law.

“Our focus on being responsible applicants and operators has been validated once again by yet another judicial proceeding,” he said. “We are happy to be finally moving forward.”

His defense lawyer, Amy Agnoli, interjected, pointing out that Alvarez immediately tried to put the flames out. “All of his hands were burned as a result,” Agnoli said. “I’m not saying it’s OK, but I’m just saying he understood. … ” Alvarez thundered over her.

“If I would have had that woman burn to death, I would have left right there.”

“She did burn to death!” Venzer cried.

“OK. I turned the fire off,” he said.

Courtroom observers were stunned at the exchange. Venzer shook her head.

“I’ve seen a lot in 25 years,” she said. “Your lack of empathy is astounding.”

PEDRO PORTAL/ MIAMI HERALD/ TNS

More than 70 lawyers meet students at FAMU event

COURTESY OF FAMU

Stinging exchange

The rubble in Mexico Beach is photographed days after Category 4 Hurricane Michael devastated the small coastal town just outside of Panama City in October.

made landfall in Mexico Beach as a Category 4 hurricane and caused massive damage before roaring into Georgia.

Also as of March 15, 79.7 percent of claims had been closed.

The largest number of claims, 86,606, had been filed in Bay County, where 75.2 percent were closed. Also, 13,803 claims had been filed in Jackson County; 9,866 claims had been filed in Leon County; 8,150 claims had been filed in Gulf County; 6,082 claims had been filed in Gadsden County; 4,024 claims had been filed in Calhoun County; 3,454 claims had been filed in Washington County; 2,275 claims had been filed in Franklin County; 1,391 claims had been filed in Wakulla County; and 1,153 claims had been filed in Liberty County.

Attorneys speak to students about entering the legal profession.

Alvarez agreed to serve 40 years in prison for the 2011 murder of Margarita Blanco at a trailer home in Northwest Miami-Dade. County police said Alvarez beat her inside her home, then doused her with gas and ran off.

She died of severe burns at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Alvarez, a habitual offender with a long history of crime, blamed his drug use and Jesus claimed he walked Alvarez in on his girlfriend cheating on him.

“Sir, you lit her on fire!” Venzer said.

“Yeah, you know, you’re right.

I recognize that. I didn’t meant to do it like that,” Alvarez said.

Said Venzer: “So, you’re the victim?”

“No, I’m not the victim,” Alvarez stammered.

The Florida A&M University (FAMU) College of Law hosted its first Careers in the Law networking and career exposure event on March 14. More than 70 lawyers or legal representatives from a wide-range of legal disciplines participated in the event, which attracted nearly 175 law students.

“Careers in the Law was designed to give our students an opportunity to speak directly with lawyers to learn about various practice areas as they make important decisions about entering the legal profession,” said FAMU College of Law Interim Dean LeRoy Pernell. “Our students enjoyed interacting with the legal community and getting their questions answered.”

Some of the legal participants included Greenberg Traurig, Baker Hostetler, DSK, Mateer Harbert, Legal Aid, Public Defender’s Office of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, State’s Attorney’s Office of the Ninth and 10th Judicial Circuits, several judges from the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and many others. Dozens of FAMU Law alumni who are practicing attorneys also participated in the event.

“The inaugural Careers in the Law was a huge success with a great turnout,” said Bettina Tran, a third-year FAMU College of Law student. “I reconnected with professionals I met years ago and established an even stronger connection now that I’ve come near the end of law school. They gave me tips on how to approach interviewers and insight on their field of law.”

Careers in the Law was coordinated by FAMU Law’s Career Planning and Professional Development Office and was held on campus at 201 Beggs Ave., Orlando.

For more information about the FAMU College of Law, visit law.famu.edu.

EDITORIAL

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MARCH 22 – MARCH 28, 2019

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Are your local utilities contracting with MBEs? Utility companies are licensed monopolies. They are authorized to provide services such as water, heating, phone and cable services.

These services are virtually necessary, and we have no choice but to utilize some or all those licensed within our communities.

You select them to provide the necessary services, then they bill you and you must pay them ‒ or get your service terminated with no recourse. “They gotcha!” as the saying goes.

Must use MBEs Most of you don’t realize that these monopolies have a responsibility to the minority business enterprises (MBEs) located in your designated areas. They must include in their contracting activities enough amounts of subcontracting to local MBEs within their territories. Most of you do not know this and thus have little concern about the issue. That is so unfortunate!

Minority citizens pay billions of dollars to these firms and when it comes to how diverse is their procurement practice, they don’t have a clue. Thus, in most cases, these utility firms are not being monitored in their procurement activities.

These utilities contract with the federal government via the General Services Administration.

The services they provide the public are contracted. The services they pay to vendors in the performance of those contracts are subcontracts. We have a vest-

HARRY & KAY ALFORD GUEST COLUMNISTS

ed interest in knowing who those subcontractors are and how many of them represent the businesses located in those applicable areas, including ethnic MBEs. For example, the city of Indianapolis has a population that is 40 percent minority. The utilities that service the marketplace should be subcontracting with MBEs to the amount totaling 40 percent of those subcontracts.

Obviously, this isn’t happening. That is our fault! We aren’t policing it and it will not become a reality until we do. So, to Indianapolis and every other populated area, LET’S GET BUSY!

Our legal authority The official publication and federal guideline is entitled, “GSA Procurement – Public Utilities’ Plans for Small and Small Disadvantaged Subcontractors, GAO/GGD-93-44.” Here’s what it says: “Under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, GSA is authorized to enter into contracts with public utility firms for a maximum term of 10 years for the purchase of utility services for federal agencies. Contracts may be either areawide (providing service for several agencies

Paul Manafort and the Black incarceration crisis Now that Trump’s sleazy associates are facing prison, lots of Democrats that never gave a damn about mass Black incarceration are self-righteously blasting the criminal injustice system.

By every measure, Black people are the most oppressed of any group in the United States.

We consistently rank last in every positive outcome and first in every one that is negative.

The mass incarceration system exemplifies this dynamic more than any of the other woes we face. Black people are a mere 13 percent of the population, yet make up half of those held behind bars. Incarceration is the norm for minor offenses, and sentences are usually as draconian as possible.

Understandable outrage So, it is understandable that the 47-month sentence handed down to Paul Manafort would elicit so much outrage. The man who briefly served as chairman

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

of Donald Trump’s presidential chairman was found guilty of tax and bank fraud. Robert Mueller recommended a 19-year sentence; Judge T.S. Ellis decided otherwise.

Ellis can be taken to task because he is the hanging, maximum-sentence judge for Black defendants. He sentenced former Congressional Black Caucus member William Jefferson to 13 years for bribery, the longest sentence ever handed down to a member of Congress for crimes committed while in office.

Manafort did not lead “an exemplary life,” as Ellis claimed. He was a hired gun who worked all over the world to further the corrupt interests of United States

B-CU must learn that perception is everything Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) has hired a new chief financial officer to help save the school from millions in operational debt and hundreds of millions potentially tied to a bad dorm deal. Here, the word “save” means someone who can find money to stash away, expenses to cut, and line items to hide or reclassify from trained auditors.

Still making trouble But the new hire is the latest chapter in B-CU officials’ apparent inability to stop making

J. L. CARTER, SR. HB-CU DIGEST

trouble for the school. John Pittman, a former University of Central Florida (UCF) vice-president, will come to B-CU accompanied by a Daytona Beach News-Journal article outlining how he was nearly fired from his previous school for being part of a team which misappropriated public

in a service territory) or single point (providing service for one facility). GSA’s policy is to obtain services under a formal, written contract if the estimated annual cost of the services will exceed $25,000.

“In addition, the Small Business Act, as amended, generally requires that federal contracts exceeding $500,000 ($1 million for construction contracts) that have subcontracting possibilities contain subcontracting plans providing for the maximum practicable opportunity for small business concerns and small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

Under the Act, failure to comply in good faith with subcontracting plan requirements will be considered a material breach of contract.

“Further, legislation stipulates that when a contractor fails to make a good faith effort to comply with a subcontracting plan, the contractor must pay damages to the government. Based on legislative history, overall congressional intent for the subcontracting plans was to improve opportunities for small and small disadvantaged businesses to do business with the federal government.”

It gets better!

“Noncompliance with subcontracting plan requirements does not necessarily mean that utilities are not subcontracting with small and small disadvantaged

foreign policy.

But the response to Manafort’s sentence should not go unexamined, either. Manafort has become synonymous with Trump and much of the anger directed at him is not based on the seriousness of the offense he committed. Instead, it is based on a need to punish someone ‒ anyone ‒ for Trump becoming president in the first place.

‘Russiagate’ hoax Most of what the public have been told about Manafort is untrue. The anger is misplaced.

His consulting firm operated in Ukraine, not Russia. Like every other lobbyist doing business there, his goal was to pull Ukraine away from Russian influence and toward Western Europe. He advised president Viktor Yanukovych to do just that and to seek out membership in the European Union.

Manafort didn’t give polling data to Russians. He gave it to Ukrainians, and he was hoping to drum up business by showing them that his guy was going to win.

His business partner Konstantin Kilimnik is said to have connections with Russian intelligence agencies, but that charge is unproven. However, Kilimnik does have a proven relationship

funds for a construction project.

Pittman retired before the firing, and state auditors found he committed no crime or wrongdoing in the incident.

Pittman could be a more than capable financial wizard for BCU at a time where the existence of the school may depend on his expertise. He could be a man of high character, who was potentially directed by higher-ups at UCF to play funny with money.

Higher education has a funny way of painting people in a bad light at one campus. But earning another opportunity elsewhere can reveal their true talent and leadership capacity.

We’ll find out Those are things we will learn

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: NEW ZEALAND’S LEADERSHIP

STEVE SACK, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE, MN

businesses. However, without the plans, GSA can neither confirm that utilities have plans to use small and small disadvantaged businesses nor monitor compliance with such plans.”

So, when we ask a utility to submit their subcontracting plan to us, we expect to get it. This is public information. A bigger request would be, “Do you have a plan?” If they don’t submit a copy of the plan and a subsequent report on their success, then you must go to the GSA and ask for enforcement. They are in violation of federal law!

Back in the 1990s, we had great success in making these utility companies do the right thing.

Perhaps it is time to awaken them and put them in good compliance. At our 27th annual conference in Atlanta, Ga., July 2427, we will give technical support to our participants on how they

can implement the proper actions within their local areas and with their applicable utility companies.

Expect big fun! The companies will be caught sleeping and out of compliance. In the end, we will help bring millions of dollars to local minority firms. That money will recycle many times within their community and create new jobs. This is what a Black Chamber of Commerce is about – bring economic empowerment to African-American communities via entrepreneurship.

with the United States intelligence state. He worked for the International Republican Institute (IRI), an organization founded by the late John McCain ‒ which among other things is dedicated to bringing about pro-Western regime change to Ukraine.

The virtue-signaling created by the Manafort sentence should be called into question. White people suddenly claiming concern about the racist criminal justice system should have to prove their sincerity. Are they willing to make the necessary political demands on their own people in order to tear down mass incarceration? Social media posts directed against a Trump crony are a poor substitute for the hard work of ending this worst and most durable manifestation of White supremacy.

the public. Perhaps it is time to finally dissect Democratic Party wrongdoing and missteps which led to the Trump presidency.

This examination will be particularly difficult for Black people.

The justifiable fear of Republican Party rule distorts our politics and turns us into dupes. The supposedly inevitable Hillary Clinton victory led us down the path to Trump, a man the Democrats determined was the easiest to beat.

Manafort isn’t out of the woods in any case. He still faces sentencing for conspiracy and witness tampering after his plea deal was nullified when Mueller accused him of lying to investigators.

But regardless of how much time he spends in jail, there are larger issues that must be faced. Mass incarceration cannot be treated as a subject for debate only when liberals don’t get their way. If they are going to talk about this issue, they must put up or shut up. They have a lot of work to do.

Don’t be fooled As for Black people, we should not allow ourselves to be fooled, not by Russiagate and not by liberals crying crocodile tears. Anyone using our suffering in order to make the case for their own political agenda is a questionable ally at best.

The anger at Manafort and the other Trump-affiliated charlatans and crooks should instead be directed at the people who brought this dangerous farce to

in the future through Pittman’s tenure at B-CU. But today, we know that a university sinking under the perception of its own executive impropriety just hired a CFO ‒ their eighth in four years ‒ who left his previous job under the same cloud of scandal.

For several years now, B-CU has broken almost every rule in the crisis management playbook. It has been less than transparent. Instead of galvanizing its stakeholders, its bad decisions on board memberships and executive appointments has turned supporters into near-saboteurs.

Most of the story of its struggle is being told by the News-Journal, which is selling newspapers and web hits on B-CU’s public failings. Then the school hires a guy tied to a financial misappro-

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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priation scandal at a school in the same state.

No accountability As a private school, B-CU executives know that they don’t have to be accountable to anyone but themselves. But if they are depending upon public support to save it in the form of increased enrollment, individual and corporate donations and positive media press, they have to stop doing what has become a natural course of business for them ‒ the exact opposite of what makes the most sense in a historic, totally non-sensical drama.

Jarrett L. Carter, Sr. is publisher of HB-CU Digest (www. hbcudigest.com).

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MARCH 22 – MARCH 28, 2019

STOJ

A ‘very fine’ White nationalist massacres 50 in New Zealand You have every reason to fear that another White nationalist might be in your midst, lying in wait to do the same. I explained why in commentaries like “New Normal Comes to New York City…,” October 21, 2017, and “Norway’s Timothy McVeigh Perpetrates National Massacre,” July 23, 2011. The latter includes this excerpt: What far too many of us forget is that long before al-Qaeda terrorists struck the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in D.C., a good ol’ American boy named Timothy McVeigh struck a government building in Oklahoma.

This should have made it painfully clear that, when it comes to terrorism, we have as much to fear from domestic/Christian terrorists as from foreign/Muslim ones.

Well, it seems this domestic form of terrorism has come to Norway.

For preliminary reports are that a man as native to Norway as McVeigh was to the USA perpetrated what is being described as that country’s 9/11. …

But let this be a reminder that we do not need al-Qaeda when one of ‘our own’ can visit such devastating terror – the worst gun rampage by a single man in history ‒ upon us.

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

compassion, a home for those who share our values, refuge for those who need it…You may have chosen us, but we utterly reject and condemn you.”

As usual, world leaders rushed to phone in (or tweet) condolences and support. But it is self-evident that, for the first time in history, such an offer coming from the president of the United States rang hollow, and might even have seemed insulting. Not least because President Trump has shown time and again that he’s only concerned about violence and hate crimes when non-Whites (particularly illegal immigrants) perpetrate them against Whites.

It would have been understandable, even fitting, if Ardern had made a public show of snubbing Trump. But I suspect she’s too polite.

The more salient point, though, is that everyone would’ve expected every one of Trump’s predecessors to offer the defiant and reasWhites vs. Muslims Of course, the massacre in Las suring words Ardern did.

Vegas heads a list of the many other massacres non-Muslim terror- Trump stands for HATE ists have perpetrated since then.

Instead, we must face the trouI duly commented in “Target Las bling fact that the motivation for Vegas: Another Mass Shooting in this terrorist attack is an ideologGun-Crazy USA,” October 2, 2017. ical and logical extension of so The point is that these massa- much of what motivates Trump to cres make a mockery of Western “HATE” – an acronym for: efforts to distinguish between hate • Hailing White nationalists crimes/mass shootings, which pur- (like the terrorist who perpetrated portedly only Whites perpetrate, this mass murder) as “very fine” and terrorist attacks, which pur- men. portedly only Muslims perpetrate.

• Advocating a travel ban to This is self-deluding and deadly, keep Muslims out of this country. and I have decried it in many com• Talking about a border wall to mentaries. keep Hispanics out of this counI can think of no better com- try. mentary on or response to this lat• Elevating anti-immigrant est massacre than these defiant rhetoric that demonizes migrants and reassuring words New Zea- and asylum seekers as diseased, land. Prime Minister Jacinda Ard- murdering “invaders” to the point ern offered, according to CNN: of provoking and justifying vio“We were not chosen for this lence against them. act of violence because we conThis trademark HATE is why the done racism [or] because we’re an blood of the Muslim victims of this enclave for extremism. We were White-supremacist terrorist atchosen for the very fact that we tack is on the hands of this presiare none of these things: because dent of the United States.

In any event, it’s only a matter we represent diversity, kindness,

Let’s call the White terrorists out An Australian White nationalist man who says he hates immigrants acted out his hate by murdering at least 50 people and seriously injuring at dozens more. He directed his ire at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, after posting a hate-filled manifesto that was replete with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim ranting.

It is important to know that it was a WHITE man, not a person of color, who perpetrated the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand.

It is essential to call out the WHITE terrorists that too many are too timid to call out by name.

It’s called ‘terrorism’ They are called “nationalists,” but when they go on gun-toting rampages ‒ especially in places of worship ‒ this is not nationalism.

It is terrorism, plain and simple.

Why are so many so willing to put adjectives around heinous acts,

JULIANNE MALVEAUX TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

and to describe these terrorists as mentally ill. Why are so many willing to soft-pedal the abhorrence of these acts?

To his credit, the 45th president did acknowledge the “horrible massacre” in New Zealand, which is much better than he did when Heather Heyer was murdered in Charlottesville, and No. 45 said that there were “good people on both sides” of that insanity.

The Charlottesville murder of Ms. Heyer is relevant because the man who slaughtered 50 people in New Zealand embraced our president as a symbol of “renewed White identity and common purpose.”

Had No. 45 a speck of sense, he

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 330 The latest White supremacist atrocity ‒ I’ve seen the murderous real-time video. (Yes, you can still find it online.) I’ve read the whiny long-winded ‘manifesto.’

My analysis? These White boy separatists are NOT crazy. They know EXACTLY what they are doing. They have their own language and jargon, and they are skillfully utilizing mainstream and social media to digitally spread their pathology.

To call them “evil” and “disturbed” lets them off the hook for committing first-degree, premeditated murder which they use to terrorize anyone who doesn’t agree with their warped, fearful,

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

“shoot first” worldview. Christian ministers especially do them a favor by blaming it all on Satan, rather than blaming the misnamed ‘human beings’ who pull the triggers.

My fantasy? That these White boys voluntarily move (or could somehow get deported) to the ra-

of time before New Zealand begins the gun-control debate that invariably follows these massacres. Unfortunately, in America, they are always too partisan to be constructive, as I have decried in commentaries like “This GunControl Debate Is Insane,” April 5, 2013. But New Zealand’s will be all the more interesting given this, according to The Seattle Globalist: “NZ has a firearm-related death rate of 2.66 per 100,000 people, per year [;] the U.S. is almost five times that. And unlike in the States, gun legislation rarely becomes mired in the political fog, despite the fact that the country has a similar frontier mentality and outdoorsy culture to the U.S. [including pride in unfettered ownership of all kinds of guns]. [The application process for getting a gun is] a tremendous pain in the ass. But it’s a pain in the ass that appears to be saving lives.”

Change will come In other words, no country seemed as able and willing to manage the rabid proliferation of guns without suffering the ravages of gun violence. But this massacre will surely cause New Zealand to undergo the kind of national soulsearching sister country Australia underwent after a similar massacre in 1996.

Australia’s reaction resulted in banning all kinds of guns pursuant to the National Firearms Agreement (NFA) ‒ perhaps wittingly trolling the infamous National Rifle Association (NRA) with its initials. Whatever the case, the effect of the NFA remains indisputable, according to the Harvard Bulletins: “While 13 gun massacres (the killing of 4 or more people at one time) occurred in Australia in the 18 years before the NFA, resulting in more than one hundred deaths, in the 14 following years (and up to the present), there were no gun massacres.”

I’ve said it before With that, I will only add two recurring laments, which I fully appreciate are becoming like trees falling in the woods…The first is from “Massacre in Omaha,” posted December 7, 2007: I don’t know why the media always reward these psychopaths by giving them the fame they covet;

EDITORIAL

TOJ

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: WHITE SUPREMACY

DALE CUMMINGS, CANADA, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

that is, by plastering their pathetic mugs all over television and reporting pop psychology about why and how they did their dastardly deeds? Isn’t it clear to see, especially in this age of instant celebrity, why some loser kid would find this route to infamy irresistible?

You’d think that – given the record of these psychotic and vainglorious episodes since Columbine – we would have figured out by now that the best way to discourage them is by focusing our attention on the victims and limiting what we say about the shooter to: May God have mercy on your soul as you burn in Hell!

Nothing vindicates this lament quite like this Christian terrorist livestreaming his massacre of Muslims on social media, and the mainstream media recklessly propagating it – complete with readings from his White-nationalist, anti-immigrant manifesto as if it were the friggin’ Holy Bible.

Ratings and eyeballs Trust me, no matter their feigned outrage, news anchors are all too happy to stoke the fear which images, videos, and rantings related to these massacres invariably cause. They know that nothing boosts revenue-generating ratings quite like doing so.

(Nothing is better for gun sales too, as the NRA touts unashamedly.)

And, of course, boosting revenue-generating hits is the reason social-media companies do so little to block these images, videos, and rantings, despite their claims of doing all they can to do so.

But this vindication also ex-

tends to the way New Zealand authorities are holding news conferences to do little more than pat themselves on the back, as well as to the way news organizations there are featuring lucky survivors regaling us with tales of their harrowing heroics.

The point is that the record is clear: Wallowing, wall-to-wall media coverage does nothing to stop these attacks. It only incentivizes the next loser to plot his day of infamy.

My second lament is from “London 7/7 Terrorist Attacks,” posted July 8, 2005: It must be understood that, no matter their collective resolve, there’s absolutely nothing law-enforcement officials can do to prevent such attacks.

Could have been me God bless those in New Zealand who have been affected. But let us not forget that there but for the grace of God go you and me.

And beware the galvanizing effect this attack will have on Muslim jihadists. It is bound to continue the march of folly towards the Huntingtonian Clash of Civilizations (a theory that people’s cultural and religious identities, rather than sovereign countries, will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world).

Anthony L. Hall is a native of The Bahamas with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier. com to write your own response.

Call it by its name

The New Zealand terrorist also referenced Dylan Roof in his manifesto. Roof, of course, was the man who has been convicted for his attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. The way that law enforcement chose to coddle Roof, and the way the media sought to “explain him,” is a textbook case in how White privilege works, even for terrorists.

Upon his arrest, Roof was taken to get a fast-food meal. Perhaps his blood sugar was low, and someone hoped to attribute his terrorism to the fact that he may have forgotten to eat! In any case, when have you know an African-American perpetrator of ANYTHING to be fed BEFORE he gets to jail? There is,

of course, a professional courtesy that ‘law enforcement’ officials treat WHITE terrorists, while the FBI stirs up anti-Black sentiment with their bulletins about “Black Identity Extremists.”

The word “TERRORIST” has rarely been applied to Dylan Roof.

Instead, he is described as a murderer and White supremacist. But his massacre of nine Black people in church was nothing less than terrorism. However, if we call Roof a terrorist, we must also look at the police who coddled him as terrorist-enablers. We have to look at the media who rushed to explain his background as terrorist-explainers. We have to ask WHITE people why such terrorism is acceptable.

Let’s consider the massacre at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh last year. The assailant killed 11 people and wounded several others, including four police officers. For all the talk of the antiSemitism that supposedly comes from Muslims, African-Americans and others, it was a WHITE terrorist who killed all those people at the Tree of Life Congregation. But for all the talk we hear about terrorists, we rarely experience people calling terrorists just what they are!

cially Whitest part of the world, Eastern Europe (including, but not limited to, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic). They can try to build a White supremacist “caliphate” there by having plenty of White babies ‒ and leave the rest of the planet to everyone else.

But they won’t leave America, France, Great Britain, or Australia. Why not?

• Because NO self-respecting Eastern European country wants entitled, disgruntled, unaccomplished, underemployed Westernized White boys with highschool educations who are currently living in Mommy’s basement or attic.

• Because most only speak their “mother language” at a basic sixth-grade-level and couldn’t (or wouldn’t) learn another language if they wanted to.

• Because they can’t take their guns with them. They’ll be disarmed before they set foot in any of these countries.

• Because they know they’ll find blond-haired, blue-eyed devout Muslims everywhere they go. (Would they then shoot “their own” like they want to slaughter non-Whites worldwide?)

• Because they don’t have the capabilities of doing what their ancestors did: take over a land mass after committing genocide against the people who occupied the land before them. (Do you see young White supremacists taking over Russia?)

• Because no Eastern European woman, as desperate as she may be, would allow any ‘man’ fitting the description above to freely access her womb to build a “White nation.”

• Because Vladimir Putin and

other Eastern European ‘strongmen’ would never put up with their BS (unless it was in their strategic interests to do so), and the young, disarmed, horny, uneducated, linguistically challenged White boy supremacists would have no constitutional right to bear arms, to free speech, to associate with whomever they wish, or to whine about how badly White Europeans will treat them.

So, we are stuck with them.

Let’s stay “gunned up” and be ready to defend ourselves, while simultaneously trying to mutually and respectfully solve some of our deep-seated cultural and racial challenges. Meanwhile, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition until we run these White boy supremacists back into their ratholes…

might have addressed his inclusion in the shooter’s manifesto and condemned it. But how could No. 45 actually condemn the actions of a White nationalist when heretofore he has embraced them, riled them up, supported them, and even used the word “nationalist” himself when it has suited him?

How White privilege works

A White man kills 49 at two mosques. A White man kills 11 at a synagogue. But the people who are being accused of hate are Black and Brown. What if Black, Brown (Muslim, Palestinian, Latino) and Jewish people decided to fight the White supremacy that permeates our nation? Then, do you think, we could all get along?

We may not all agree, but we must call out the WHITE TERRORISM that leaves too many dead or maimed. We must say “enough” to a president who fans the flames of White nationalism ‒ thus, White terrorism ‒ for sport and to inflame his base.

When will he stop? When will it end? And, equally importantly, when will some folks call White nationalism for the TERRORISM that it is?

Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer. Her latest book, “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy,” is available at www.juliannemalveaux. com. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

I’m at ccherry2@gmail.com.

TOJ

A6

NATION

MARCH 22 – MARCH 28, 2019

STOJ

poorest: Remittances in 2016 accounted for nearly one-third of its gross domestic product.

No dual citizenship Other plaintiffs include a nursing assistant in Minnesota who fled Liberia during the civil war after family members were jailed, disappeared, shot and attacked; and a health care worker in Massachusetts who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years and has six children who have never visited their father’s home country.

The children of Liberians face an unreasonable decision, lawyers say.

Liberian law forbids dual citizenship, so if forced to leave with their parents, the children would have to renounce their U.S. citizenship to legally work and access other rights granted to Liberian citizens.

“For these U.S. citizen children, the Trump administration has set up an impossible and unconstitutional choice: lose your parents or lose your citizenship,” the lawsuit says.

Still working

KENT NISHIMURA/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Yatta Kiazolu poses for a portrait at her home on March 15 in Los Angeles. Kiazolu, a UCLA student, testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the Deferred Enforced Departure program, which is set to end March 31.

Deportation to Liberia deadline nears Trump’s move to end humanitarian program impacts thousands in U.S.

BY ANDREA CASTILLO LOS ANGELELES TIMES/TNS

After this month, Yatta Kiazolu will be eligible for deportation to a country where she had never lived.

The 28-year-old doctoral candidate in history at UCLA was born in Botswana to Liberian parents. She has lived in the U.S. since she was 7 and since 2002 has maintained legal authorization under a humanitarian relief program.

President Donald Trump moved to end deferred enforced departure for Liberians last year, saying that the country is no longer mired in armed conflict and has sufficiently recovered from the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

More than 350,000 Liberians were displaced by civil war and fled the country.

Trump sued The program is set to end March 31, leaving an estimated 4,000 people vulnerable to de-

portation. Though DED bears a strong resemblance to temporary protected status — another humanitarian program facing termination that would affect about 400,000 immigrants — it has largely been left out of the national conversation.

Civil rights advocates sued the Trump administration this month over the program’s termination, calling it racially motivated. Kiazolu, one of the plaintiffs, testified to Congress about how the program’s end would affect her.

Plea to legislators “My grandmother used to say, ‘When you do good, you don’t do it for yourself — you do it for God.’ And with that philosophy as my personal mantra, though the majority of my family are now permanent residents and U.S. citizens, I’m here for all the working-class immigrants on DED, TPS and (who) are also ‘Dreameligible,’” she told the House Judiciary Committee March 6, referring to protections for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

“I’m here for all the young people like myself who have anxiety about their futures.”

TPS or DED Liberia had two civil wars from 1989, the year before Kiazolu was

born, to 2003. Since 1991, the country has been designated for either TPS or DED at alternating points by Democratic and Republican administrations alike.

It’s also the only country designated for DED, though citizens of China, El Salvador, the Persian Gulf region and Haiti have all previously been eligible.

Like TPS, the program allows people from countries devastated by natural disasters or war to work legally while they remain in the U.S. But unlike TPS, which is designated by the secretary of Homeland Security, DED is designated at the discretion of the president.

Declined to comment The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 15 Liberians, their U.S. citizen children, and two advocacy organizations for Black immigrants.

Lawyers called the termination of protections unconstitutional and asked that the court prevent Trump from ending the program for Liberians.

“At every turn with this administration, we have seen immigration policies that are driven by racial animus,” said Kristen Clarke, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the groups suing.

The Homeland Security and Justice departments declined to

comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Racism cited Lawyers cited Ramos v. Nielsen, the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco over the Trump administration’s termination of TPS for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan.

Lawyers in that case similarly alleged that government officials approached their decision to end TPS with a political agenda, ignored facts and were motivated by racism.

Liberia’s history is rooted in U.S. slavery and colonialism. Thousands of freed slaves were sent to Africa before the Civil War. Many settled in what would become Liberia. Kiazolu, the UCLA student, has ancestors who were enslaved in South Carolina.

Killings, mutilation Lawyers said conditions in Liberia justify an extension of DED, referencing a 2017 State Department report detailing human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, police abuse, official corruption, female genital mutilation, criminalization of samesex conduct and a culture of impunity.

The country is one of the world’s

Kiazolu is set to graduate this fall. Administrators haven’t been able to tell her what could happen to her research funding or whether she’ll even be able to remain a student. Without permission to work, she doesn’t know how she’d pay back her student loans.

Unsure of how to prepare, she has continued her regular routine, spending most days working on her dissertation about how Black women in the U.S. and in Africa collaborated in the 20th century on issues of women’s and civil rights.

Sent to Georgia Kiazolu’s father was working for the United Nations in Botswana when she was born, a year after the war started. When he got a job in Liberia in 1997, the war was still raging. Fearing for their safety, her mother sent her to live with her grandmother in Decatur, Georgia, and followed her soon after.

Kiazolu has no other paths to legal authorization.

At 21, she aged out of qualifying for permanent residency through her U.S. citizen grandmother.

Her stepfather, also a citizen, applied for her in 2016, but there is a years-long wait.

No visas Her application was never chosen for a diversity visa, which is granted randomly for people from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. She also doesn’t qualify for a student visa, for which applicants must demonstrate strong ties to their home country.

Her dream is to graduate and become a teacher in the country she knows as home.

“It’s hard to think about,” she said of her potential deportation. “I’m obviously proud of my heritage and family, but what are people really asking of me in this situation? It’s just wild and immoral.”

Nielsen connects New Zealand shooting with racist attacks in US

BY DANIEL FLATLEY BLOOMBERG NEWS/TNS

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen connected the March 15 New Zealand mosque attacks with acts of racist violence in the U.S., calling the perpetrators “domestic terrorists” and saying they’re an increasing concern for her agency.

Nielsen drew a line on Monday between the New Zealand attacks, in a which a gunman who espoused hatred of Muslims killed 50 people at two mosques, and three attacks in the U.S. that authorities have blamed on racism or bigotry.

“We, too, have seen the face of such evil with attacks in places such as Charlottesville, Pittsburgh and Charleston,” Nielsen said in a speech at George Washington University in Washington.

Trump response One counterprotester was killed at a White supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. Attacks at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 and a predominantly Black church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015 killed 11 and nine people, respectively.

Nielsen’s remarks connecting the New Zealand attack and incidents of racial violence in the U.S. contrasted with the reaction of her boss, President Don-

ald Trump. He told reporters on March 15 at the White House that he doesn’t consider “White nationalism” to be a growing threat.

“I don’t really,” Trump said. “I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems. I guess if you look at what happened in New Zealand, perhaps that’s the case.”

He has previously equivocated about violence by American White supremacists. After the Charlottesville incident, he drew public outrage by saying that there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Nielsen’s pledge Nielsen on Monday pledged that her department would seek to prevent attacks like the New Zealand incident.

“They are using the same doit-yourself, mass-murder tactics as we saw with the horrible assault last week in New Zealand against Muslim worshippers,” Nielsen said. “Attacks on peaceful people in their places of worship are abhorrent.”

“We spend more and more of our time talking about domestic terrorism,” she said in an interview following her speech.

Nielsen also said that her department is working with private companies to take down extremist content online and to provide “off ramps” for people who might be susceptible to persuasion by such material.

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen speaks before President Donald Trump signs the first veto of his administration to reject a bipartisan resolution that sought to block his declaration of a national emergency at the border on March 15 at the White House.

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ON THE MOVE

ONYX Magazine honors trailblazing women across Florida who have made significant strides in their professions and communities.

Some of the state’s most ambitious and creative women were honored earlier this month during an awards luncheon presented by ONYX Magazine.

The magazine’s fourth annual Women on the Move (WOTM) luncheon was presented on March 1 at the Alfond Inn, Winter Park.

The energy from the more than 300 guests was unmatched as each speaker stepped to the podium, starting with a powerful prayer by Pastor Shirley Riley of Agape Perfecting Praise Worship Center.

She was followed by keynote speaker Angela Suggs, president and CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation. In her speech, Suggs incorporated the talent and accomplishments of each honoree bringing the crowd to their feet.

5 Keep going.”

The audience stood during her entire speech and hung on to her every word. Freeman has been heralded by numerous organizations and has inspired interviews with Robin Roberts on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the BBC and other networks.

Salmon and sax

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‘A king maker’ ONYX Magazine founder and CEO Rich Black thanked the guests for their continued support and recalled why he was moved to establish ONYX Magazine’s Women on the Move.

“As my siblings and I were talking about the significant accomplishments of my father, my mother said, your father was a king because I am a queen and a king maker.”

Her words prompted him to elevate all women who take pride in supporting their husbands, children, communities and industries.

ONYX Magazine celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans and those of the African Diaspora throughout Florida.

Along with ONYX, the luncheon was made possible through the assistance of founding partner Orlando

1. Dr. Paulette Walker, left, and Attorney Carolyn House Stewart

2. Women on the Move co-chair Nancy Port Schwalb, Dancia Penn, chair Dee Parker

Health and presenting sponsor Samuel B. Ings, Commissioner District 5, City of Orlando.

Doctor’s wisdom One of the most moving moments of the two-hour event happened when 92-year-old Melissa Freeman gingerly stepped up to take her place at the microphone.

Tears of joy accompanied the outpouring of cheers for the doctor who is the first in the nation to treat women with opioid addiction using a methadone maintenance modality of treatment.

Freeman regaled the audience with stories of her journey and encouraged them, “as long as you have breath in your body, don’t stop.

3. BethuneCookman’s Cliff Porter, Rich Black, Melissa Freeland and Orlando Health’s Marisol Romany

Each of the 22 women honorees received an engraved glass award, a wall certificate, and a swag bag full of decadent gifts from area merchants.

Attendees noshed on salmon, herb chicken, vegetables and delectable desserts handcrafted by the Alfond Inn chefs.

While they dined, guests listened to the jazz sounds of Lady Smooth Sax, JoAnna Fleming, a saxophonist in Orlando. They got up on their feet and danced while also snapping pictures and videos of friends.

‘Visionary Champions’ The theme, “Visionary Champions,” highlighted women who have shattered the glass ceiling in their professions and persevered against all odds.

ONYX Magazine was excited to collaborate with its sponsors to present these women – trailblazers who are leading major businesses to succeed on national and international levels in several professional disciplines.

4. Pastor Shirley Riley of Agape Perfecting Praise Worship Center

5. Angela Suggs, Rich Black and U.S. Rep. Val Demings

6. Lady Smooth Sax (Joanna Fleming) performs.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ONYX MAGAZINE

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list of honorees Ann A. Ashley-Gilbert, M.D. OB/GYN, Altamonte Women’s Center, Altamonte Springs Eloise Abrahams, R.N. Administrator, Guardian Care Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Orlando

Nikki Lewis-Simon Director of Client Development and Corporate Social Responsibility, Greenberg Traurig, P.A., Miami Novlet Mattis Chief Information Officer, Orlando Health

Sherri T. Brown Director of Multicultural Business Development, Visit Tampa Bay

Vickie Oldham President, Vickie O! Heritage Productions, Sarasota

Cathy Brown-Butler Bank of America, Senior Vice President, Local Markets Organization, Orlando

Dancia Penn, OBE, QC Dancia Penn & Co., Managing Partner, International Woman on the Move, British Virgin Isles

Chloe Juanita Evans Coney Tampa Corporation to Develop Communities, founder, Tampa Rep. Val Demings Congresswoman, U.S. House of Representatives, Orlando

Elizabeth A. Dooley, Ph.D. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Central Florida, Orlando Melissa Freeman, M.D. Physician, Beth Israel Hospital, Woman of the Year, Harlem, NY Carolyn House Stewart, Esq. 28th International President, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Tampa Linda S. Howard, C.P.A. Chief Financial Officer, Florida Municipal Power Agency, Orlando Jacqueline Jones Entertainer, BusinessOrlando

Clemmie Perry Women of Color Golf, Executive Director, Tampa Victoria Siplin Commissioner, District 6, Orange County Government, Orlando Rep. Geraldine Thompson Legislator, Florida House of Representatives, Orlando Riva Tims, Th.D. Founder and Pastor, Majestic Life Ministries, Orlando Paulette C. Walker, Ed.D. 25th National President, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Tampa Melanie Williams Senior Vice President, Operations Southeast Region, Frontier Communications, Tampa Tonjua Williams, Ph.D. President, St. Petersburg College

ENTERTAINMENT & FINEST

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FLORIDA’S

finest

MARCH 22 – MARCH 28, 2019

STOJ

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

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

Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year before and during the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions. On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors.

Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years. Click on www.flcourier to see hundreds of pictures from previous Carnivals.

Go to www. miamibrowardcarnival. com for more information on Carnival events in South Florida.

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

INDIA.ARIE The singer performs April 30 at the Florida Theatre Jacksonville.

BISHOP T.D. JAKES

The pastor of the Potter’s House in Dallas brings his International Pastors and Leadership Conference to Tampa from April 25-27. Details: Pastorsandleaders.org

‘Us’ expected to have bigger opening weekend than ‘Get Out’ LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Two years after the runaway success of “Get Out” turned Jordan Peele into one of the hottest writer-directors in the entertainment business, Hollywood is seeing double.

Peele’s follow-up effort, “Us,” about a family terrorized by freaky doppelgangers, is poised to become another box office hit for the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

FC

FLORIDA COURIER

JOHN P. KEE

Miami: The Kaya Fest is April 20 at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater.

Featuring the Marley Brothers.

Boca Raton: Saxophonist Eric Darius performs April 20 at The Funky Biscuit.

Orlando: The Marcus King Band & North Mississippi Allstars will be at the House of Blues Orlando on March 24.

cultural and commercial sensation by combining Peele’s humor and love of horror cinema to tap into American racial tensions.

It grossed $255 million worldwide, scored a best picture Oscar nomination and introduced “the sunken place” into the lexicon (Peele won the Oscar for original screenplay).

“Get Out” producers Jason Blum and Sean McKittrick rejoined Peele to produce “Us,” which stars Lupita Nyong’o as a woman who returns to her beachside childhood home with her husband played by Winston Duke (“Black Panther”).

FLORIDA’S ONLY BLACK STATEWIDE NEWSPAPER More than 182,000 readers weekly

Catch the gospel artist at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Miami Gardens on April 2 for a 7 p.m. show.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

The highly anticipated “Us” is expected to gross $35 million to $45 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada Friday through Sunday, according to people who’ve read prerelease audience surveys.

A debut in that range would exceed the $33-million launch of “Get Out” in February 2017, and could be enough to unseat Walt Disney Co.’s blockbuster “Captain Marvel” from its perch at No. 1 on the domestic charts.

Normally, inviting comparisons to a film like “Get Out” would be a movie’s worst nightmare. That earlier film became a

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM Ranked by Google as Florida’s #1 Black newspaper website

St. Petersburg: Santana performs April 18 at Al Lang Stadium, April 19 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood and April 20 at The Amp in St. Augustine.

Tampa: DMX is scheduled April 11 at The Ritz Theater in Ybor City.

Miami: The Miami Black Arts Workshop For information, call 305-904-7620; 786-260-2973; or 305-200-9495.

Tampa: An educational forum for teens and their parents is 6 p.m.

April 10 at Barksdale Adult Activity Center in Macfarlane Park.

More info: 813-274-5909 or molly. biebel@tampagov.net.

1 of only 5 ethnic papers worldwide selected by the Poynter Institute for Obama election front-page coverage and design TO ADVERTISE STATEWIDE OR IN A SINGLE ZONE call 877-352-4455 or email Sales@flcourier.com

Winner of numerous journalism awards from Associated Press, National Association of Black Journalists, Florida Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/flcourier/ Follow us on Twitter @flcourier

GOT NEWS, EVENTS, OR COMMENTARY? E-mail to news@flcourier.com

MARCH 22 – MARCH 28, 2019

STOJ

SPORTS

STREETER LECKA/ GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Duke’s Zion Williamson (1) dunks against North Carolina during the semifinals of the ACC Tournament at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., on March 15.

68 reasons to root for 68 teams in NCAA Tournament

BY DAVID WILSON MIAMI HERALD/TNS

MARCH MADNESS 2019

The field of 68 is out, but if you’re a fan of one of the 285 teams that didn’t qualify for the 2019 NCAA Tournament you’re probably trying to figure out who to root for in March Madness. Let this be your guide. Here are 68 reasons to root for each of the 68 teams in the bracket:

Ivy League player drafted into the NBA since 1995 and he was at one point committed to Division III Williams College.

Louisville Cardinals: Jordan Nwora is averaging more than 17 points per game this season after averaging only 12 minutes per game last year. The star forward is one of the nation’s best success stories.

Minnesota Golden Gophers: With bushy hair, a patchy beard and a devastating array of post moves, forward Jordan Murphy has a spectacular old-man game.

Michigan State Spartans: Guard Cassius Winston, better known as Cash Winston, was Big Ten Conference Player of the Year. Cash is money.

Bradley Braves: Some hometowns on Bradley’s international roster: Douala, Cameroon; Abyei, South Sudan; Helmond, Netherlands; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; London, England; Gosford, Australia.

EAST Duke Blue Devils: With AllAmerican power forward Zion Williamson, perennially hateable Duke has the most likeable oneand-done star since Anthony Davis. Gross.

North Carolina Central Eagles: Senior guard Larry McKnight Jr. has an adorable relationship with coach LeVelle Moton’s son.

North Dakota State Bison: North Dakota State started off 2-7 before winning the Summit League tournament. Why not root for a No. 16 seed?

VCU Rams: VCU might have to make a run without its best player after guard Marcus Evans suffered a knee injury in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

Central Florida Knights: Tacko Fall, the 7-6 Senegalese center whose name is pronounced like “taco,” is actually really good!

Mississippi State Bulldogs: After a disaster season for the UCLA Bruins, it would just feel sort of right for coach Ben Howland, perpetually underappreciated at UCLA, to make a run.

Liberty Flames: Liberty will be a popular upset pick in the 5-12 matchup.

Virginia Tech Hokies: Remember that time coach Buzz Williams led the Marquette Golden Eagles to an upset against the West Virginia Mountaineers, then celebrated by dancing to John Denver’s “Country Roads?”

Saint Louis Billikens: Saint Louis has four players who shoot at least 40 percent from 3-point range.

Maryland Terrapins: Star center Bruno Fernando possesses a bizzaro blend of post passing ability and rim-running athleticism.

Belmont Bruins: Senior guard Dylan Windler averages a doubledouble while shooting 42.0 percent from 3-point range.

Temple Owls: Shizz Alston Jr. Great name for a great guard.

LSU Tigers: The NCAA is definitely rooting against them.

Yale Bulldogs: Star shooting guard Miye Oni could be the first

SOUTH Virginia Cavaliers: Right now, Virginia’s biggest claim to fame is being victim of the sport’s two biggest upsets, first against Division II Chaminade University in 1982 and last year to the UMBC Retrievers. The Cavaliers have a real chance to rebound with a championship for the ultimate redemption story.

Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs: Gardner-Webb is in the tournament for the first time.

Ole Miss Rebels: When a proConfederacy rally was happening at Ole Miss, several Rebels decided to take a knee during the National Anthem.

Oklahoma Sooners: Without Trae Young, Oklahoma has turned a team of former role players into a tournament team.

Wisconsin Badgers: All-American forward Ethan Happ is a truly old-school player, who averaged 17.5 points per game despite being physically incapable of scoring outside the paint.

Oregon Ducks: Oregon underachieved all year, then got in by winning the Pac-12 Conference tournament. With former McDonald’s All-American freshman small forward Louis King, the Ducks could make a run.

Kansas State Wildcats: Forward Makol Mawien was born in a refugee camp in Egypt after his parents fled South Sudan.

TOJ

B3

Kansas is now the talented underachiever who could put it all together.

Northeastern Huskies: All-conference guard Vasa Pusica found his way to the United States by reaching out to Jonathan Givony when Givony was running DraftExpress.com.

Iowa State Cyclones: No school does the rotund wing better than Iowa State and Talen HortonTucker is the latest in a line which also includes Royce White, Melvin Ejim, Georges Niang and Deonte Burton.

Ohio State Buckeyes: Ohio State’s hopes hinge largely on forwards Kaleb and Andre Wesson, brothers who are following in their father’s footsteps playing for the Buckeyes.

Houston Cougars: Houston was almost Cinderella last year, but the Michigan Wolverines escaped a first-round upset with a buzzer-beater. The Cougars came back and won the American Athletic Conference.

Georgia State Panthers: Forward D’Marcus Simonds is a potential NBA player who trails only R.J. Hunter on Georgia State’s scoring list.

Wofford Terriers: Star shooting guard Fletcher Magee broke Stephen Curry’s Southern Conference record for career 3-pointers.

Seton Hall Pirates: Guard Myles Powell is Seton Hall’s only returning starter, so he’s averaging 22.9 points per game out of necessity.

Kentucky Wildcats: The Blue Devils are loaded with one-anddones and Kentucky is building a team “the right way” by recruiting players who stay multiple years.

What a world.

Abilene Christian Wildcats: Abilene Christian is in the Tournament for the first time despite dismissing its leading scorer in February.

WEST

ROBERT WILLETT/THE NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

Virginia’s Jack Salt (33) hangs on the rim above with North Carolina State’s D.J. Funderburk (0) after a dunk on March 13 during quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

ROBERT WILLETT/THE NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

North Carolina State’s Markell Johnson (11) puts up a shot during the first half against Virginia on March 13 during quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

UC Irvine Anteaters: UC Irvine will be a popular upset pick after a dominant 15-1 Big West Conference season.

Villanova Wildcats: Villanova might be America’s favorite dynasty. Villanova plays beautiful basketball, develop players over multiple seasons and put guys in the NBA. Now it looks for its third title in four years.

Saint Mary’s Gaels: Like usual, Saint Mary’s is Team Australia with five players from down under.

Purdue Boilermakers: For a lot of this season, Purdue has just been the Carsen Edwards show.

The All-American point guard takes almost 20 shots per game.

Old Dominion Monarchs: Jeff Jones has coached all season despite an ongoing battle with prostate cancer.

Cincinnati Bearcats: Jarron Cumberland, the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, is the type of do-it-all guard who can singlehandedly win games in March.

Iowa Hawkeyes: Guard Jordan Bohannon takes more than 70 percent of his shots from 3-point range.

Tennessee Volunteers: Small forward Admiral Schofield has probably the best name in college basketball and is a legitimate star.

Colgate Raiders: A long drought

is over for Colgate, which is in the tournament for the first time since 1996.

MIDWEST North Carolina Tar Heels: Coby White’s hair might be the best thing about the guard, who earned all-conference honors.

Iona Gaels: Iona’s only NCAA Tournament victory in 1980 was vacated, so the Iona is technically the team with the most tournament appearances without a win.

Utah State Aggies: Guard Sam Merrill averages 21 points while hoisting up 6.5 3s per game.

Washington Huskies: Still think defense wins championships?

Roll with Washington because coach Mike Hopkins, a former Syracuse Orange assistant coach, is running the 2-3 zone even better than Syracuse.

Auburn Tigers: Star center Austin Wiley missed the entirety of last season because of the FBI investigation, but decided to come back to school for his junior year to help Auburn make a run.

New Mexico State Aggies: Guard AJ Harris is a driving force for New Mexico State’s offense and he’s just 5-9.

Kansas Jayhawks: Somehow, they’re an underdog? After losing the Big 12 for the first time since George W. Bush was president,

Gonzaga Bulldogs: At this point, Gonzaga might have the best program that has never won a national championship and this really could be the year.

Fairleigh Dickinson Knights: Fairleigh Dickinson has an assistant coach named Bruce Hamburger.

Prairie View A&M Panthers: Prairie View A&M ended a long drought with its first tournament appearance since 1998.

Syracuse Orange: Coach Jim Boeheim, 74, uses freshman guard Buddy Boeheim mostly as a designated 3-point shooter. Who doesn’t love a father-son duo?

Baylor Bears: Remember when Yale upset Baylor in the first round in 2016? Well, Makai Mason, Yale’s star point guard from the game, is now the Bears’ best player.

Marquette Golden Eagles: AllAmerican point guard Markus Howard averages 25 points per game, the most for any player outside a mid-major conference.

Murray State Racers: Ja Morant.

Florida State Seminoles: Like usual, Florida State has a legitimate giant at center with 7-4 Christ Koumadje and the Seminoles’ best guy is 6-10 power forward Mfiondu Kabengele. Just a comically tall team.

Vermont Catamounts: Ernie, Everett and Robin Duncan are only the fifth trio of brothers to play together.

Buffalo Bulls: Coach Nate Oats was a math teacher at a Michigan high school just six years ago.

Now he has Buffalo ranked for 18 straight weeks.

Arizona State Sun Devils: Shooting guard Luguentz Dort, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, might be the most overlooked freshman in the country.

St. John’s Red Storm: Star point guard Shamorie Ponds has singlehandedly won more than a few games in his day.

Texas Tech Red Raiders: Texas Tech shared the Big 12 title with Kansas State because of AllAmerican shooting guard Jarrett Culver, who could be a top-five pick in the 2019 NBA draft.

Northern Kentucky Norse: Senior forward Drew McDonald, a Northern Kentucky legacy, picked the Norse as they transitioned to Division I and quickly became the best player in program history.

Nevada Wolf Pack: Nevada is “Transfer U.” All five starters are transfers.

Florida Gators: Florida’s spectacular run through the Southeastern Conference tournament only ended when controversy struck against the Auburn Tigers.

Michigan Wolverines: Guard Zavier Simpson owns the most preposterous shot in college basketball, the same running hook shot your uncle used to own you in the driveway at family reunions when you were in middle school.

Montana Grizzlies: Montana might have to win without its best player. Forward Jamar Akoh hasn’t played since February.

FOOD

B4

MARCH 22 – MARCH 28, 2019

STOJ

GRILLED BUTTERMILK CHICKEN Recipe courtesy of Lori Yates of Foxes Love Lemons on behalf of Milk Means More Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 16 minutes Servings: 4 1 1/2 cups buttermilk 1 tablespoon mustard powder 1 tablespoon Sriracha 2 teaspoons minced garlic 2 teaspoons paprika 4 chicken drumsticks, bone in, skin on 4 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on vegetable oil, for grill 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

FAMILY FEATURES

Refreshing, dairy-infused dishes for warm days GRILLED PIZZA WITH ARUGULA PESTO, CORN AND HAM Recipe courtesy of Rachel Gurk of Rachel Cooks on behalf of Milk Means More Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Servings: 6 Arugula Pesto: 2 cups fresh arugula, tightly packed 1 clove garlic 1 tablespoon lemon juice pinch red pepper flakes, (optional) 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil salt, to taste pepper, to taste Grilled Pizza: 2tablespoons flour, divided

1 pound pizza crust dough (at room temperature if using refrigerated dough) vegetable oil, for grill 1/2 cup Arugula Pesto 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese 1/2 cup diced deli ham 1/2-3/4 cup fresh corn kernels (about 1 cob) 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese Heat grill to medium heat (350400 F).

To make Arugula Pesto: In food processor, combine arugula, garlic, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and Parmesan. Pulse until combined then, with food processor on, drizzle in olive oil until pesto forms, scraping down sides as needed. Taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Keep your kitchen cool and comfortable with grilled meals that banish the heat to the outdoors. Crisp, fresh greens and a perfect blend of spices and savory ingredients make each of these refreshing dishes perfect solutions for toasty days.

Featuring ingredients across the food groups, these dairyfueled recipes from Milk Means More are ideal for wellrounded meals filled with nu-

1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional) In medium bowl, whisk buttermilk, mustard powder, Sriracha, garlic and paprika.

Place chicken in large zip-top bag; pour buttermilk mixture over chicken. Seal bag and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

Heat outdoor grill for direct grilling over medium heat. Remove chicken from marinade, shaking off excess; discard marinade. Lightly oil grill grates. Transfer chicken to grill and cook, turning occasionally, 16-18 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 165 F. Transfer chicken to serving platter. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

tritious flavor. Zesty mustard, spicy Sriracha and rich buttermilk lend a marinated flavor upgrade to traditional grilled chicken, while homemade pesto, fresh corn and ham create a perfect harmony for a cheesy grilled pizza. Or make a salad the star of your dinner table with a simply seasoned sirloin steak, plenty of veggies and a tart twist on a creamy dressing made with yogurt and milk.

Find more refreshing meal solutions at milkmeansmore. org.

To make Grilled Pizza: Flour pizza dough lightly and stretch or roll to about 1/2-inch thickness (14-16-inch diameter).

Sprinkle remaining flour on large rimless baking sheet, pizza peel or pizza stone. Transfer dough to baking surface.

Clean grill grate and grease with oil-soaked paper towel and tongs.

Slide dough off baking surface onto grill. Cover and cook until dough is bubbling on top and golden brown on bottom, 2-3 minutes.

Carefully flip dough over using peel or tongs. Remove crust from grill to add toppings. Spread Arugula Pesto over dough. Top with ricotta, ham, corn kernels, onion and Parmesan.

Return pizza to grill, cover and cook until toppings are heated through and bottom of crust is crispy, 5-7 minutes.

Remove from grill, slice and serve.

GRILLED STEAK SALAD WITH CHIVE YOGURT DRESSING Recipe courtesy of Kirsten Kubert of Comfortably Domestic on behalf of Milk Means More Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Servings: 6 Dressing: 1 cup plain yogurt 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (3 small limes) 2 tablespoons milk 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper Steak: 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic 20 ounces boneless petite sirloin steak Salad: 3 cups baby spinach 3 cups chopped romaine lettuce hearts

1/2 cup sweet red pepper rings 1/2 cup sweet yellow pepper rings 1 cup avocado chunks 1/4 cup thinly shaved red onion To make dressing: In blender, combine yogurt, lime juice, milk, chives, garlic, salt and pepper. Blend on low until smooth consistency forms and chives are completely incorporated.

Transfer dressing to jar with tight-fitting lid and refrigerate until serving.

Heat grill to medium.

To prepare steak: Combine kosher salt, black pepper and granulated garlic to create rub. Sprinkle half of seasoning mix over one side of steak, pressing it into meat. Repeat with remaining seasoning on opposite side of steak.

Grill steak over direct medium heat to desired level of doneness, approximately 4-5 minutes per side for medium pink center. Remove steak from grill and let rest 7-10 minutes on cutting board.

To make salad: Toss spinach and romaine on large platter. Scatter red and yellow peppers, avocado and onion over greens. Slice grilled sirloin thinly against grain. Arrange meat slices along center of salad.

Drizzle dressing over salad just prior to serving.