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MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
VOLUME 27 NO. 10
‘I’M NOT LUCIFER’ Maybe not, but R. Kelly is a deadbeat dad, according to a Chicago judge. The embattled singer is now back in jail for the second time in two weeks. COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS
CHICAGO ‒ It’s been a bad month or so for Chicago-based musician R. Kelly. Some two weeks, Kelly put up $100,000 to be released from custody on criminal sexual abuse charges. On Tuesday, Kelly angrily denied accusations that he has had sex with underage girls and holds women against their will in his first TV interview since being charged with sexual abuse last month. His emotional response immediately went viral online. On Wednesday, he was taken into custody after failing to comply with a judge’s order that he pay more than $161,000 in back child support.
Denies allegations Kelly, 52, was indicted last month on
10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Cook County prosecutors allege he abused four victims, three of them underage girls, over a span of 12 years. Kelly and his attorney have vehemently denied the accusations. Each of the felony counts carries a maximum of seven years in prison upon conviction, but also could result in probation. Bond was set at $1 million on the criminal charges, but Kelly was unable to post the necessary $100,000 until after he spent a weekend in custody. Court records indicate a 47-year-old Illinois woman posted his bail, identifying herself on the bond slip as Kelly’s “friend.”
Suspected for decades Accusations of predatory sexual behavior have dogged the singer for years. Cook County prosecutors charged him in 2002 with child pornography, saying he made a sex tape with his teenage goddaughter, but a jury acquitted him in a sensational trial in 2008. In the latest charges, prosecutors allege Kelly tried to force oral sex on his 24-yearold hairdresser in 2003 ‒ while he was free on bond on the then-pending child pornography charges.
CBS/LAZARUS JEAN-BAPTISTE/TNS
“CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King sat down with R&B singer R. Kelly Tuesday in Chicago for his first television interview since he was arrested on 10 sexual abuse charges. The interview aired this week. Prosecutors also alleged that Kelly solicited an underage girl outside his 2008 criminal trial and later sexually abused her; that he carried on a yearlong sexual relationship with a girl he had met in 1998 when
STEPHON CLARK, 1995-2018
No justice, no peace
she was celebrating her 16th birthday; and that he videotaped himself having sex with a young girl at his home in the late 1990s. See KELLY, Page A2
Medical marijuana updates coming House, Senate close to a deal BY DARA KAM NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
TALLAHASSEE ‒ With plenty of breathing room before a March 15 deadline set by Gov. Ron DeSantis, House and Senate leaders have neared completion of a measure that would do away with a state ban on smoking medical marijuana. Sen. Jeff Brandes and Rep. Ray Rodrigues confirmed Wednesday they’ve reached an accord on a proposal that would allow patients to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana for smoking every 35 days, ban smoking of medical marijuana in public places and allow terminally ill children to smoke the treatment, but only if they have a second opinion from a pediatrician.
Gubernatorial deadline
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS
Activists disrupted the Sacramento (Calif.) City Council meeting on Tuesday after California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that his office would not criminally charge two Sacramento police officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed Black man. The day before, more than 80 protesters were arrested during a march through Sacramento city streets.
After taking office in January, DeSantis gave the Legislature until March 15 to eliminate the smoking ban. If lawmakers don’t act, DeSantis has threatened to drop the state’s appeal of a court decision that found the prohibition ran afoul of a voter-approved constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, filed an amendment late Tuesday that’s a blueprint for the repeal of the smoking prohibition. He predicted the full Senate could amend its smoking-ban legisSee WEED, Page A2
SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3
Lawmakers seek list of reform school victims
Trump tries to restrict food stamp rules BY ALFRED LUBRANO THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER / TNS
NATION | A6
Sacramento denies wrongdoing in Clark’s death
ALSO INSIDE
WASHINGTON ‒ The Trump administration is proposing a change in how food stamps are distributed to some recipients ‒ a modification that had been rejected by Congress when it voted on the benefits program at the end of 2018. “This is contrary to congressio-
nal intent,” Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., write in a letter being prepared for Sonny Perdue, the secretary of agriculture, whose department oversees food stamps. The letter is circulating among other members of Congress for review. Perdue said in a statement last week that the rule change would focus on work requirements for non-disabled adults between 18 and 49 with no dependents who receive food stamps, now known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The idea, Perdue said, is to preclude low-income people on SNAP from a “lifelong dependency” on benefits.
Like ‘the wall’ Anti-hunger advocates have denigrated the move as an overreach by the executive branch, with familiar undertones. “I liken this to the wall,” said Kathy Fisher, policy director of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, referencing President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring an emergency that would allow him to shift funds to build a wall at the border with Mexico, circumventing Congress. “The administration wants to change things by fiat rather than follow what Congress has set out.” The proposal could eliminate See RULES, Page A2
COMMENTARY: ANTHONY L. HALL: TRUMP THINKS KIM IS EQUALLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO IDLE FLATTERY | A4 COMMENTARY: MARGARET KIMBERLEY: EXPLORING RUSSIAGATE HOAX AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY | A5
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MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
Showing up for Black America means more than symbolic marches If any of us doubted that history repeats itself, we had only to watch Democratic presidential contenders gather in Selma, Ala., last week to commemorate the 1965 march known as Bloody Sunday. The original march, in which Alabama state police brutally beat protesters as they demonstrated for Black voting rights on Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, was a televised spectacle that showed America the viciousness of Jim Crow.
Dems show up On Sunday, Democratic presidential hopefuls Sens. Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Sherrod Brown, along with former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, and dozens of others crossed that same bridge. It was a reminder that Democrats, led by President Lyndon B. Johnson, pushed the Voting Rights Act through Congress after 17 people were injured in the violence at Selma. It was a reminder meant to show that Democrats still stand with Black people. It is a strong message. But in many ways it rings hollow, be-
SOLOMON JONES GUEST COLUMNIST
cause the conditions Black people faced during the civil rights movement are making a comeback today. For those of us too young to remember the victories that came with the sacrifices of men such as Rep. John Lewis, who was on the bridge that day, 2019 might as well be 1965. Even as I was writing this column, I watched California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, announce that no charges would be filed against two Sacramento police officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed Black man, in his grandmother’s backyard.
Shot in the back Becerra told reporters that an 11-month investigation found that Clark did not obey officers’ commands, that Clark had broken a neighbor’s sliding glass door, and that Clark had ad-
vanced to within 16 feet of the officers. For that, the officers unleashed a hail of 20 bullets. Clark was hit eight times, with six of the bullets striking him in the back. Police shootings of unarmed Black men such as Clark are not new. Neither is the fact that officers are rarely charged in such incidents. This phenomenon is but one reason why 2019 might as well be 1965. Just as Clark’s shooting death at the hands of police has gone unpunished, a police shooting just a few weeks before the 1965 march in Selma initially went unpunished, too. On Feb. 18, 1965, in Marion, Ala., just 27 miles from Selma, a peaceful march was disrupted when state troopers attacked demonstrators. One of those protesters, Jimmie Lee Jackson, ran into a nearby restaurant, where state police followed and began beating restaurant patrons. Trooper James Bonard Fowler shot Jackson, who tried to shield his mother from the blows. Jackson later died from his injuries.
Killed again In 1965, a grand jury de-
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clined to indict Fowler in Jackson’s shooting death, thus allowing Fowler to shoot and kill another Black man a year later. It wasn’t until 2010 ‒ after Fowler confessed his crime to a journalist and a Black district attorney won an indictment ‒ that Fowler was found guilty of manslaughter and served a paltry six months in prison. Not much has changed since then. Dangerous cops who unjustly shoot or kill African-Americans are still allowed to remain on the force to continue doing harm. Former Philadelphia Police Officer Ryan Pownall, who shot Carnell Williams-Carney in the back in 2010, leaving him paralyzed ‒ remained on the force until he shot David Jones in the back, killing him. Black voting rights are still under attack as well. In 2013, after years of trying to overturn the Voting Rights Act, conservative Republicans won a victory in Shelby v. Holder, a Supreme Court case that effectively gutted the law that rose out of the 1965 protests in Selma. Within hours of the Shelby decision, Texas implemented a new voter ID law ‒ although such laws have been shown to be disproportionately suppress the votes of Blacks and Latinos who are less likely to have the kind of ID such laws require. Georgia closed polling plac-
WEED
Face the issues That’s why, if presidential candidates truly want to address Black issues, they must face the fact that we don’t need them to visit the site of past struggles. We need them to address what’s happening right now because 2019, in many ways, looks just like 1965. So rather than posing for a photo op in Selma, I want to see our politicians fight for civil rights right now. Go out to Sacramento and get justice for Stephon Clark. Go to Long Island and get justice for Eric Garner. Come to Philadelphia and get justice for Jeffrey Dennis. Only then can we have serious conversations about supporting anyone for president, no matter which party they represent.
Solomon Jones is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. how much doctors can order for their patients. The Senate plan for smoking would keep the doctor-visit timeline, but patients would be restricted to filling a single, 35-day order for smokable marijuana at a time. The maximum for a 35day order would be 2.5 ounces of smokable marijuana, and patients would not be allowed to have any more than 4 ounces of marijuana at any time.
from A1
lation (SB 182) and take a floor vote as early as Thursday ‒ after the Florida Courier’s Wednesday night press time. Rodrigues, R-Estero, said Brandes’ amendment “is what we’ve agreed upon.” Both legislators said a few “glitches” remain to be worked out. House Speaker José Oliva, RMiami Lakes, had balked at doing away with the smoking ban, which was included in a 2017 law aimed at carrying out the 2016 constitutional amendment. But after DeSantis delivered the ultimatum, the House made a series of concessions to reach a compromise with the Senate, which historically has taken a less-restrictive approach toward medical marijuana.
Packaging requirements
‘Excess amount’ “The House’s concern is that we believe the people voted for medical marijuana. We do not believe the people voted for recreational marijuana, and if there’s no limit, then the concern is there could be an excess amount of product that’s out there. We believe that would be
es in Black communities and purged thousands of people from its voter rolls. North Carolina passed a series of laws that a federal appeals court said targeted Blacks “with surgical precision.” Though the laws in North Carolina and Texas were challenged and watered down, the intent remains clear. Black and Brown voters are under attack, just as they were in 1965.
ANTONIO PEREZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS
In Florida, medical marijuana like this could soon be more readily available. diverted for recreational purposes,” said Rodrigues, who has long been a House leader on medicalmarijuana issues. Rodrigues said the House
KELLY from A1
‘Y’all killing me’ The first part of the interview, which was taped Tuesday in Chicago, aired Wednesday on “CBS This Morning.” More footage was scheduled to air Thursday ‒ after the Florida Courier’s Wednesday night press time ‒ on the morning show. “I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me! I’m fighting for my (expletive) life!” Kelly told “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King. “Y’all killing me with this (expletive). I gave you all 30 years of my (expletive) career! Thirty years of my career! And y’all trying to kill me. You killing me man. This is not about music. I’m trying to have a relationship with my kids, and I can’t do it. Y’all just don’t want to believe the truth.”
‘My girlfriends’ King also chats with Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage in an emotional interview set to air Friday morning. The women’s parents have alleged that Kelly is holding them against their will. He told King he is in a relationship with them and “it’s like they’re my girlfriends.” “I will tell you this: People are going back to my past, OK? That’s exactly what they’re doing. They’re going back to the past, and they trying to add all of this stuff now to that. To make all of this stuff that’s going on now feels real to people,” Kelly told King. The charges came weeks after the Lifetime network aired a six-part docuseries that traced the singer’s Chicago South Side roots, his rise to fame with songs such as “I Believe I Can Fly,” and the allegations that he has had sexual relationships with underage girls and runs a so-called “sex cult.”
would “most likely” take up the Senate measure early next week if the bill clears the Senate. Under current law, doctors are allowed to order three 70-day
Victim becomes predator? The series ‒ which featured interviews with nearly 50 people ‒ was inspired by years of reporting by Chicago journalist Jim DeRogatis. Kelly, who said he was sexually abused as a kid, dismissed the women who shared their stories on the Lifetime series as liars. “If you really look at that documentary, which I’m sure you have, everybody says something bad about me. Nobody said nothing good. They was describing Lucifer. I’m not Lucifer. I’m a man. I make mistakes, but I’m not a devil, and by no means am I a monster,” Kelly said. He told King: “The problem is that I’m likable, and (the women) can’t be around me ‘cause certain things didn’t work out. And if things don’t work out, Lifetime ‒ these girls were older. They were 20 years ago, 15 years ago. Why now? Why would they come out now?”
Fan and industry backlash DeRogatis reported in a 2017 BuzzFeed story that some parents told police that Kelly was keeping their daughters against their will. His reporting sparked the #MuteRKelly movement to end the singer’s career and protests that helped lead to the cancellation of a performance Kelly had scheduled last year in Chicago. Some artists, including Lady Gaga, recently apologized for past musical collaborations with Kelly. He addressed Gaga in particular in his interview with King. “John Legend. Lady Gaga. The interesting thing about this is the fact that working with Lady Gaga, she’s a very great talent, you know, and it’s unfortunate that her intelligence go to such a short level when it comes to that. You know, I have nothing against none of these artists, but I think it’s not professional for them to do that because something like this can happen to any artist. Anybody famous. Anybody famous can get accused of so many different things,” he said.
supplies of medical marijuana for their patients, effectively requiring patients to see doctors every 210 days. There are no caps on daily doses and no limits on
King, who said she briefly met Kelly about five years ago, said the interview lasted about 80 minutes. She said she visited Kelly’s home at Trump Tower in Chicago and spoke to him by a Christmas tree he keeps up year-round. King said she thought she “might get accidentally clobbered, but I never felt in danger talking” to the emotional Kelly.
Back at the courthouse Kelly, who didn’t say anything audible, pulled off the shades as he walked into Judge Lori Rosen’s courtroom on Wednesday. More than an hour after Kelly entered the closed court hearing, he was led away in handcuffs, accompanied by Cook County sheriff’s deputies. Judge Rosen last month warned Kelly that he faced jail time unless he paid the child support. During Wednesday’s hearing, Kelly was found in contempt and ordered into custody, according to Cara Smith, chief policy officer at the sheriff’s office. Kelly must pay $161,663 to be released from jail, she said. His next court date is March 13.
Three children Records connected to Kelly’s divorce case have been kept secret, but paperwork on the back child support was made public in Kelly’s criminal court file. Kelly and his ex-wife have three children together. Kelly’s publicist, Darryll Johnson, said the musician showed up with $50,000 or $60,000, but the judge wanted the full amount paid. Kelly was “happy” when he arrived for the hearing, not thinking he would be jailed, Johnson said. But now he is “depressed, deflated and upset.” One man heckled Johnson as he spoke to the media.
Megan Crepeau, Rosemary Sobol and Tracy Swartz of the Chicago Tribune / TNS contributed to this report.
Marijuana for smoking would have to be packaged “in a sealed receptacle” with a warning label stating that “marijuana smoke contains carcinogens and may negatively affect health.” The packages must be “plain, opaque, and white without depictions of the product or images” other than state-approved logos for the marijuana businesses and “the marijuana universal symbol.” Some critics have complained about requiring patients to get their marijuana orders filled every 35 days. But Brandes pointed out that Florida law allows medical-marijuana operators to deliver cannabis products to patients. That means that, if their doctors approve smokable marijuana, patients wouldn’t have to travel to a dispensary every month.
RULES from A1
SNAP eligibility for 755,000 people, according to the coalition.
Work/school requirement Since 1996, people aged 18 to 49 without a child under age 18 have had to work at least 20 hours a week or be in school or job training to receive SNAP benefits. Anyone not following the rule would be limited to three months of benefits within a three-year period. States, however, have been permitted to waive the time-limit rules in places of high unemployment. This is in recognition of the reality that, although most working-age SNAP participants have jobs, many sometimes fall below 20 working hours a week through no fault of their own, Fisher said. She added that so many jobs these days are part-time and subject to unstable schedules and fluctuating hours.
Restricts states The proposed Trump administration rule would take away state flexibility to dispense waivers and “make it much harder for states to serve the target population,” according to the Washington-based FRAC, the Food Research & Action Center, the nation’s leading anti-hunger lobbying group. The Senate wound up supporting the bill that allowed waivers on an 87-13 vote. In the House, the vote in favor was 369 to 47.
Boxes of food? Trump has often called for drastically limiting SNAP benefits. At one point last year, his administration suggested replacing half of SNAP benefits with boxes of pre-selected nonperishable food items and no fresh food. Advocates and food experts said it would have been logistically impossible to send actual food to people, as opposed to SNAP benefits, which are loaded onto cards similar to bank cards. The federal government will collect public comments on the rule until April 2.
MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
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FLORIDA
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Florida lawmakers seek list of reform school victims NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Two Democratic lawmakers have filed proposals that would lead to compiling a list of living victims
from two notorious reform schools as a possible step toward providing compensation. The proposals (SB 1374 and HB 1077), filed by Sen.
Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, and Rep. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, seek to have the Department of State certify the names of juveniles sent to the former
Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna and the Florida School for Boys at Okeechobee. More than 500 former students have alleged beat-
ings, mental abuse and sexual abuse at the schools. In 2017, the Florida Senate and House passed resolutions formally apologizing for the abuse of juveniles
Sen. Darryl Rouson
“We’re delivering a cleaner energy future while keeping bills low, and that’s what I love most about my job.” Geoff West Senior Project Manager
Tracie Davis
sent to the schools. The abuse at the Dozier school, which closed in 2011, has drawn widespread attention in recent years, in part because of the discovery of unmarked graves on the site. “The identification process (in the bills) is a crucial part of helping those affected by the atrocities that occurred at Florida’s Dozier School for Boys,” Rouson said in a prepared statement. “It will allow us to ensure that those who endured the mental and physical anguish of attending Dozier are duly compensated for the harm inflicted upon them by the state of Florida.”
Parental consent abortion law proposed NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Nearly 30 years after the Florida Supreme Court struck down a similar law, a Senate Republican has proposed a measure that would require minors to receive the consent of their parents or guardians before having abortions. Sen. Kelli Stargel, RLakeland, filed the proposal (SB 1774) for consideration during the legislative session that started Tuesday. The bill, filed on March 1, would be more restrictive than a current law requiring minors to notify parents or guardians before having abortions. The proposal would allow minors to go to court to try to avoid having to obtain consent from parents or guardians. Judges could approve such requests if they find, “by clear and convincing evidence, that the minor is sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy,” according to the bill.
Heavily litigated issue Judges also could approve such requests in circumstances such as minors being victims of child abuse or sexual abuse inflicted by parents or guardians. Parental consent has long been a controversial – and heavily litigated – issue in the debate over abortion restrictions. The Florida Supreme Court in late 1989 struck down a parental-consent law, finding that it violated state constitutional privacy rights. The Supreme Court in 2003 also struck down a parental-notification law. But voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment that cleared the way for lawmakers to pass a new notification law.
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EDITORIAL
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MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
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Trump thinks Kim is equally susceptible to idle flattery According to the Washington Post, “(S)ince their historic first meeting in Singapore last June, the two leaders (Donald Trump and Kim Jung-un) have adopted a strategy of playing to each other’s ego with gushing and gratuitous adoration in pursuit of their aims.” They actually take pains to show how much they’re in love. But, after Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga showed what that looks like at the Oscars, nobody’s buying what Trump and Kim are selling.
ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST
The assbackwardness of the tail wagging the dog does not fully
‘Fell in love’
capture the perversity
Last year at a rally in West Virginia, Trump announced that, while exchanging letters and holding their Singapore summit, he and Kim “fell in love.” As I wrote in October 2018, “Nothing betrays [the delusional, existential recklessness Trump’s protestation of love reflects] quite like North Korea’s foreign minister declaring mere hours before that rally that, no matter how much he strokes Trump’s ego, Kim will never go all the way. …In other words, Trump has a greater chance of getting Mexico to pay for that wall than he has of getting North Korea to even think about giving up its nukes.” Sure enough, here’s what happened last week, according to the New York Times: President Trump and Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, abruptly ended their second summit meeting on Thursday after talks collapsed with the two
and ramifications of Trump’s ignominy. leaders failing to agree on any steps toward nuclear disarmament or measures to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. … The premature end to the negotiations leaves the unusual rapprochement between the United States and North Korea that has unfolded for most of a year at a deadlock, with the North retaining both its nuclear arsenal and facilities believed to be producing additional fissile material for warheads.
Touring Vietnam While Trump flew off to take a cold shower back in America, Kim was smoking a cigarette and planning sightseeing tours around Vietnam. Who do you
Defunct HBCUs must stop defrauding Blacks The Oregon College of Art and Craft, Hampshire College and Green Mountain College are three of a growing group of colleges and universities nationwide which have closed or will be closing in the next year. All three are part of a shared institutional DNA: small liberal arts schools with falling enrollment, rising debts and few partnerships or academic prospects which can easily reverse the trends of their demise. Trustees at Green Mountain have been up front about the challenges leading to the school’s inoperability. They took the extra step of addressing how closure meets the moral obligation of serving their students, faculty and alumni.
Can’t continue School trustees have said they can’t in good conscience continue to operate and collect future tuition payments knowing that they can’t pay their bills. The group trying to save the school
J.L. CARTER, SR. HBCU DIGEST
has raised about $200,000, but keeping the doors open would require quadrupling all the donations that have come in during the last two years. And then there’s Morris Brown College (MBC), which this week announced Kevin James as its interim president. (Editor’s note: This is not the Rev. Kevin James, who is a well-known Floridabased minister.) There is a line between Black defiance and defrauding Black people. While it is difficult to pinpoint which year that MBC transitioned from one to the other, the school is firmly engaged in the latter. MBC, Knoxville College, Barber-Scotia College attract support with the currency of a
All about the tax surprise The mainstream news has been covering an interesting story. People who were expecting significant tax refunds are, in very large numbers, either getting a minimal refund, no refund or having to pay the IRS. This, after the man Spike Lee has named “Agent Orange” ‒ Donald Trump ‒ promised a massive tax benefit for middle-income people. When I first starting reading and seeing these stories, I wondered why anyone was surprised. After all, in the lead up to Trump’s tax bribe, economists across the board were warning that this was
BILL FLETCHER, JR. NNPA COLUMNIST
a scam to benefit the rich. They were telling the average taxpayer that this was not going to work to their benefit. And while the majority of the public has generally opposed the tax bribe/reform, it was still the case that the actual implications of the tax bribe took too many people by surprise.
think is zooming who in their “Brokeback” bromance? Hint: One of them has now flown halfway across the world twice just to be “catfished.” You might wonder why this master of “The Art of the Deal” had no clue. But the greater wonder might be why commentators, conservatives and liberals alike, are hailing him for “walking away from a bad deal.” Sadly, the latter merely reflects Trump’s Orwellian dumbing down of political debate around the world. These are the same commentators who bought into his self-aggrandizing folly of demanding praise for lowering nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula, which he himself was responsible for raising in the first place. Remember “fire and fury?” Now they’re buying into his self-aggrandizing folly of demanding praise for walking away from this deal. No president with half a brain would have flown halfway across the world to (try to) ‘consummate’ it in the first place.
Trump got nothing It’s cringe-inducing to watch Kim jerking Trump around so much. Most notably, he got this chump to scale back joint U.S.South Korean military exercises. And Trump made a mockery of U.S. intelligence agencies (again) by swallowing Kim’s line that he knew nothing about the infamous torture of Otto Warmbier hook, line, and sinker.
comeback story, knowing well that there will be no reclamation of sustainability for either of these campuses. And then there’s Rutgers University Professor Marybeth Gasman, whose habit of providing bad advice, incomplete insight and sparse research on HBCUs leads her to an unsurprising endorsement of Black hope exploitation for the sake of saying, “We won’t give up.”
Blocking progress But while we aren’t ‘giving up,’ other Black people and organizations who could potentially invest in the land and facilities of these ghost HBCU campuses are being blocked from recreating jobs and learning opportunities for Black people, while international businesses yield the short-sale benefits. In the last two years, Saint Paul’s College and Concordia College of Selma’s properties and assets were respectively sold to Chinese and Korean companies, with neither offering plans to extend their use as educational assets to Black communities. The actions of White colleges and White people are not the standard for how Black institu-
Here’s what I think After more than 40 years of listening to right-wingers call for tax cuts and watching the public’s reaction I have come to a few conclusions. First, when it comes to taxes, much of the public hears what it wants to hear. If someone says that there will be a cut and they can provide minimal evidence to that effect, such an argument can be a winner. Even when one demonstrates that it is a lie, the possibility of tax relief serves as a seductive song that softens the brain. Second, there are those who wish to believe that tax cuts for the rich really are positive because they themselves, despite not being rich, may at some point be rich. I realize that this sounds completely convolut-
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE TRUMP-KIM SUMMIT
MCKEE / CAGLE CARTOONS
And all Trump can say is that he got Kim to stop testing nukes that no longer need testing. (Reports are that Kim is actually increasing his arsenal. He figures that as long as he continues stroking Trump’s ego, Trump won’t care how many nukes he develops.) Kim might agree that he would stop calling Trump “a dotard” if Trump stops calling him “Rocket Man.” The assbackwardness of the tail wagging the dog does not fully capture the perversity and ramifications of Trump’s ignominy.
Trump a ‘moron’ Regarding having a brain, Trump fixer Michael Cohen testified last week that Trump ordered him to threaten the heads of every school Trump attended with dire consequences if they ever released his transcripts. This from the “con man” who
ple. It is the exception. Other schools should not point to it to bolster false narratives of their own survival, particularly when they know they are not able or willing to do even a portion of what Sorrell and the Quinnite Nation was willing to do to build the school’s brand and functionality. Hundreds, if not thousands, of colleges around the country are facing closure. But three of the most vulnerable in the HBCU sector ‒ three percent of the sector at large ‒ are hanging on literally for the sake of showing people “we’re hanging on.” There are many other HBCUs which are about one to three years away from being the next Morris Brown. They too will likely mislead the public about their institutional end-of-life strategic planning. Do we want to be misled about the certain demise of some of our HBCUs, or are we willing to do the hard work of rebirthing our once-proud HBCUs into something we can again develop for our own racial and economic autonomy?
Exception, not rule
Jarrett L. Carter, Sr. is publisher of HBCU Digest (www. hbcudigest.com).
Paul Quinn is not the exam-
ed, but it turns out that there are those who believe that they will at some point in the future be rich and they do not wish to be penalized. This is called “magical thinking.”
Race is an issue Third, there is a disconnect in the minds of many people between public services and taxes. There is also a racialized element here, by the way. A friend of mine told me a story about arguing with some Trump supporters and they were suggesting that they only wanted to pay for the things that they needed and not pay “…for someone else…” He asked them whether they drove on roads, pointing out that those roads were paid for by the taxes of many people who may or may not use particular roads. The discussion came to an
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Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1928-2004), Founder Julia T. Cherry, Senior Managing Member, Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Cassandra CherryKittles, Charles W. Cherry II, Managing Members
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.
tions and Black people should conduct business, but all are part of a shared ecosystem of higher education as an industry. They all face similar challenges in enrollment and finance and have but a few options in addressing these challenges. We look to schools like Paul Quinn College (PQC) as the model for a school that can grow out of the depths of financial despair. But what is missing from the narrative is how much latitude was given to the PQC President Michael Sorrell in the early days of his tenure to do the tough things which today position the school as “America’s HBCU.” Few boards will allow a president to cancel football, convert athletic space into agriculture space, and kick out underperforming students by the dozens. Few presidents are willing serve as campus CEO, director of admissions and recruitment, director of development, athletic director and dean of students for years until the college reaches a point of self-sustaining operation.
Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher
Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.
insisted that the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s presidency depended on him showing his birth certificate and his school transcripts. That trademark hypocrisy aside, Trump clearly fears the public having documentary evidence that shows what is so plain to see: that he’s a friggin’ moron. It is practically impossible to write about Trump without denouncing him as an international laughingstock. But whenever I do, I concede that the joke is on us because he’s the president of the United States and leader of the free world.
Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor Angela van Emmerik, Creative Director Chicago Jones, Eugene Leach, Louis Muhammad, Lisa Rogers-Cherry, Circulation Penny Dickerson, Staff Writer Duane Fernandez Sr., Kim Gibson, Photojournalists
MEMBER
Florida Press Association
National Newspaper Publishers Association
Society of Professional Journalists
National Newspaper Association
Associated Press
abrupt halt. Many of us act as if ‘things’ happen on their own and that they need not be funded. Or worse, that our tax money is being used for allegedly undeserving populations. Thus, there is a willingness to go for the rightwing arguments for tax cuts even when such tax cuts may cut one’s own throat. Welcome to another day in the United States of Agent Orange. Make sure that you test that bridge before you cross it. There may not be enough tax money to keep it standing.
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the former president of TransAfrica Forum. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and www.billfletcherjr.com. He is the author of the mystery “The Man Who Fell From the Sky.”
Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC, P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, publishes the Florida Courier on Fridays. Phone: 877-352-4455, toll-free. For all sales inquiries, call 877-352-4455; e-mail sales@flcourier.com. Subscriptions to the print version are $69 per year. Mail check to P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, or log on to www.flcourier.com; click on ‘Subscribe’.
SUBMISSIONS POLICY SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS TO NEWS@FLCOURIER.COM. Deadline for submitting news and pictures is 5 p.m. the Monday before the Friday publication date. You may submit articles at any time. However, current events received prior to deadline will be considered before any information that is submitted, without the Publisher’s prior approval, after the deadline. Press releases, letters to the editor, and guest commentaries must be e-mailed to be considered for publication. The Florida Courier reserves the right to edit any submission, and crop any photograph, for style and clarity. Materials will not be returned.
MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
STOJ
The Russiagate hoax and the Democratic Party The Russiagate investigation is as much a witch hunt as the despicable Donald Trump always insisted. The charge that Trump colluded with the Russian government in the 2016 election has been abandoned even by the people who turned the allegation into a well-paid cottage industry. The Mueller investigation has come up empty, and Democrats are scrambling to keep their creation alive in order to make themselves politically relevant. They should be planning how to go about giving the people what they need and want. But Medicare for All and any other proposals that would benefit the masses are off the table for them and their corporate donors.
A circus The House Oversight Committee presided over a surreal circus as former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s testimony revealed absolutely nothing useful about Trump. Calling him “a liar” and “racist” is old news to all but dead-ender Trumpists. Despite the intense media coverage of his every word Cohen made only one worthwhile statement. “He never expected to win the primary. He never expected to win the general election. The campaign – for him – was always a marketing opportunity.” So the Democratic Party raised more than $1 billion, but lost to a con artist whose swindle went awry. The Democrats were anxious to deflect blame for their self-inflicted calamity after carrying out one of the worst political debacles in history in 2016. They pointed fin-
MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT
Democratic Party voters are no better off now than they were in November 2016. Their so-called leadership are determined to change nothing; yet they promise a different outcome. gers at Bernie Sanders, the Green Party, Vladimir Putin, and even leftist celebrities after the day of reckoning exposed them as corrupt and inept frauds. Michael Cohen gave them the opportunity to continue the farce and use it as a dubious election issue.
Foolish behavior Congressional Black Caucus members joined in behaving as foolishly as the rest of their colleagues. A Republican put a Black female Trump staffer on display in an effort to claim that he is not a bigot. But the CBC couldn’t
How evil are we becoming? We must begin to wonder. What is the condition of the mentality of America? That must be determined by the morals, customs and positions that we take on various cultural topics. Much of that can be guided through our spiritual interpretations. In other words, our behavior can be guided through our interpretation or degree of belief in the Scriptures. Whether devout or casual, our opinions or morals are guided through the degree of seriousness taken when it comes to following our formal principles. Resources such as the Bible, Koran, Torah, etc., help build upon our laws and customs ‒ moral, ethical or legal.
HARRY & KAY ALFORD GUEST COLUMNISTS
even make hay out of a political gift. Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings excused the modernday auction block with soothing words for his cracker colleague. He finished the proceedings with maudlin comfort for Cohen. Cummings wasn’t alone in creating stupid spectacle. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was forced to resign as Democratic National Committee chair after she and others were caught rigging the primary against Bernie Sanders. Yet without a hint of irony, she posed questions about non-existent Russian meddling. One by one, the Russiagate allegations are falling by the wayside. Michael Cohen never went to Prague to meet Russian hackers or to do anything else. He never heard of any collusion plans or Trump vulnerability to blackmail. Of course the proceedings were farcical. The only collusion was between the corporate media and the Democratic Party to spin a phony tale.
Won’t follow evidence The Democrats insist that Wikileaks accessed their emails with the help of Russian hackers. While Wikileaks announced every email release beforehand, Cohen was allowed to pontificate about Trump’s supposedly secret knowledge of what was already public. There is even evidence that a DNC staffer leaked the material to Julian Assange and Wikileaks, but the media make certain that this plausible hypothesis never sees the light of day. Running against Trump as villain absent policy change gave him the Electoral College victory
our daily lives and most of us tend to ignore or do nothing about it. At least one presidential candidate not only finds nothing wrong with it; she proposes the legalization of prostitution. We can’t make this up! Are we as a people being reduced to the acceptance of moral debauchery? When prostitution comes into our political debate, we have truly lost our religion. Selling your flesh for profit is truly a one-way ticket to Hell.
Weed, abortion
loyal to a country, organization, etc.; the degree to which something matches or copies something else.” The opposite of this would be “philanderer.” The Cambridge definition of philanderer is: “A man who enjoys having sex with a lot of different women without becoming emotionally involved with any of them.” Of course, a woman can do this also. It is evil and violates our Judeo-Christian faith. It violates all religions, when Problems with morality Our morals appear to be in you get right down to it. However, jeopardy. Let’s take the subject of it is widespread through our daily lives and no one seems to cry fidelity. “Fidelity” according to the Mer- “foul!” riam Webster dictionary is “the quality of being faithful to your Widely ignored This is an indictment of our culhusband, wife, or sexual partner; the quality of being faithful or ture. It is permeated throughout
This joins legalized marijuana in our current political debate. Also, stepping into this 2020 political season is the killing of newborns. State legislatures are debating whether a so-called mother’s decision to murder her newborn for convenience should be made legal. Pretty soon it is going to be dealt with in Congress and through our court system. Is this an indictment of our current moral ground? Are we indeed becoming that evil? When you casually elect to kill your own, Armageddon has truly arrived. May God save our country! I guess that request is asking God to do something that we won’t do for ourselves. What Nazi Germany did against Jews was truly evil and must nev-
Doctors’, lawyers’ money motives cause painful decisions
These law firms often use overseas telemarketing callers in countries such as India and the Philippines to contact women known to have had the mesh surgery with offers to join in lawsuits to sue the mesh manufacturers.
Women, especially women of color and poor women, tend to suffer disproportionately in our healthcare system. The problem is growing worse now that there’s a group of trial lawyers eager to exploit female victims under the guise of offering help. Take for instance that roughly one-quarter of U.S. women suffer from pelvic floor disorders, and according to the Washington Post, about 3-4 million of them have been treated with transvaginal mesh. Pelvic organ prolapse, a medical issue sought to be treated by the transvaginal mesh, is one of the most common reasons for women to have surgery. It is ranked among the top three reasons that women have hysterectomies.
Some side effects The vast majority of these women receive repairs using transvaginal mesh without complications, but a significant minority experienced serious problems.
GLENN ELLIS TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE
After the publicity surrounding this issue hit the fan, the lawyers pounced. It has come to light that a collaboration involving some law firms, doctors, and finance companies are pressuring women into unnecessary surgeries to remove the mesh. Giving new meaning to the term “insult to injury,” this phenomenon, according to the New York Times, is leading unsuspecting women to the operating table ‒ even in cases when the removal could worsen the symptoms. If that’s not enough, some unscrupulous hedge funds are financing companies connected with law firms specializing in suing manufacturers of the mesh.
Making money The New York Times highlighted a growing problem that tends to target women: the industry grown out of medical device settlements. For example, a court-ordered charitable fund, the Common Benefit Trust, was established out of the Dow Corning breast implant settlement fund ‒ which also resulted from a faulty medical device. The Common Benefit Trust appears to have used some of this money to fund policy centers, advocacy groups, and a conference on litigation. Then there are racial disparities. Compared with AfricanAmerican women, Latina and White women had four to five times higher risk of symptomatic prolapse, thought to be in large part due to the lower rates of African-American women reporting the condition as a problem to doctors. Researchers see this pattern as part of a culture where African-American and/or poor women will not typically see the
EDITORIAL
TOJ
A5
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: TRUMP, PUTIN, AND THE MEDIA
ADAM ZYGLIS, THE BUFFALO NEWS, NY
in 2016, but the failed strategy is already in use for the 2020 race. They hope that this time they can pull off by getting the votes they need without proposing even incremental change. It is sad to see the Democratic Party rank-and-file hang on desperately to fluff about who asked the sharpest questions or who was most photogenic at the hearing. For more than two years after their party failed them, they refuse to dump the losers. But the losers are cynical, and plan to continue the farce as long as they possibly can.
Trump’s a crook After two years, they will now investigate Trump’s activities that were always the most obvious impeachable offenses. Trump was a tax-cheating crooked businessman, so it shouldn’t be hard to find evidence of wrongdoing. Even so, Nancy Pelosi is steadfast in saying there will be no impeachment, regardless of what
er be repeated. However, our national legislature, Congress, is now dealing with anti-Semitic rhetoric on the floor of our Capitol building. Why is this an issue in 2019? Our legislature should not tolerate this in any form.
Zero tolerance Having bigots on highly sensitive and very important committees does not make a good government. This kind of trash coming out of one of the highest chambers in our land is not only embarrassing – it is frightening. We should have zero tolerance on this matter. Perhaps we should return to faith or religion in the classroom and the rest of mainstream society. There is a decline in Sunday school and other religious instruction of young people within the houses of worship in the U.S. and Canada. The percentage attendance of children and youth of school age is a small fraction of what it was two generations ago. The percentage of adults who regard themselves as Christian is currently dropping about one percentage point per year. Many older teens and young adults are leaving the faith group in which they were raised, and apparently not coming back.
condition as a problem requiring them to consider surgery. Issues like the transvaginal mesh that has revealed disparate treatment of women are not new. All patients ‒ but especially women patients and minority patients that have traditionally been marginalized ‒ deserve better than to be exploited in some of their most vulnerable times, including childbirth and other areas of maternal health.
Black female ‘crisis’ Dr. Niva Lubin-Johnson, president of the National Medical Association, which represents more than 50,000 AfricanAmerican physicians on issues of health disparities and justice, says, “There is a crisis for African-American women that is related to maternal mortality‒and that’s across any economic level and educational level for AfricanAmerican women. We are losing in that area,” she says. As for the transvaginal mesh, Lubin-Johnson says women must take extreme precaution when contacted by anyone about removals of that or any other device. “No, you go talk to your own physician about that and not to someone who is doing a cold call because of some possibility of joining a law suit...Talk to your
these investigations uncover. Democratic Party voters are no better off now than they were in November 2016. Their so-called leadership are determined to change nothing; yet they promise a different outcome. In the aftermath of their defeat, this columnist wrote, “Victory is ours if we dump the Democrat Party and their Black misleaders.” The upcoming election season is an opportunity to plan how to replace them with a truly progressive party. Any other course of action only validates their corruption and continues the suffering of millions of people.
Margaret Kimberley is a cofounder of BlackAgendaReport.com, and writes a weekly column there. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@BlackAgendaReport.com. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier. com to write your own response.
Non-affiliated increase The percentage of “None Of The Aboves” ‒ adults who are not affiliated with any religion ‒ is increasing by almost one percentage point per year. The percentage of U.S. adults who are affiliated with Protestant churches recently became a minority for the first time in centuries, according to Religious Tolerance. Of course, there will be fights and resistance to returning formal prayer to the classroom. So in the meantime, we will need to follow the Golden Rule to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We should believe in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”
Harry C. Alford is the cofounder and president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC). Kay DeBow is the NBCC co-founder. Contact them via www.nationalbcc.org. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
own physician first; even if they were not the one who put the mesh in.” Since The New York Times began shining a light on these bad behaviors, federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York have begun investigating the allegations of unnecessary and unneeded vaginal mesh removal surgeries. According to reports, doctors, lawyers, financiers and others who may have been involved in the sham have been subpoenaed. So, if you’re considering medical treatment, be an informed consumer. Be sure to have your health care provider explain all of your options, as well as their possible risks and benefits. Though if these risks are not avoided, by all means, beware of financial lures to have surgeries that you do not need and that could leave you in a condition far worse than before.
Glenn Ellis is a Harvard Medical School Research Bioethics Fellow and a health columnist and radio commentator who lectures, nationally and internationally, on health-related topics. He is also the author of “Which Doctor?” and “Information is the Best Medicine.” Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
TOJ
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NATION
MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
STOJ
Sacramento denies wrongdoing in Clark’s death Mayor apologized for Stephon Clark’s killing by officers BY SAM STANTON SACRAMENTO BEE/TNS
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Minutes after Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert announced on March 2 that she would not file criminal charges against the police officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark, Mayor Darrell Steinberg appeared at City Hall and apologized profusely to the Clark family for his death, the latest in his message that Clark should not have died. One day before that appearance, however, the city attorney’s office filed an answer to the Clark family’s $20 million wrongful death lawsuit and denying virtually all of the allegations in it. The filing in federal court, made on March 1 by Senior Deputy City Attorney Andrea M. Velasquez, in essence denies a number of claims lodged against the city in the lawsuit, including that Clark was unarmed and carrying only a cell phone, that Clark posed no threat to the officers and that Officers Terrence Mercadel and Jared Robinet “did not show a reverence for human life.”
City’s answer Such filings are routine in civil suits, with defendants regularly denying claims initially as cases proceed through the system and answering lawsuits paragraph by paragraph by writing that “defendants deny each and every allegation contained therein.” But the city’s 16-page answer to the Clark family claim illustrates the difficulty officials face as they seek to calm emotions in Sacramento with apologies for Clark’s death while balancing the city’s potential financial exposure over the March 18, 2018, shooting of Clark, an unarmed 22-year-old Sacramento man who was carrying a cell phone that police say they mistook for a gun.
Millions sought Dale Galipo, an attorney for the family, said Sunday that such filings are not unusual and that with a March 12 status conference on the case pending, the city had two options: file a mo-
SHAY HORSE/NURPHOTO/SIPA USA/TNS
Protesters marched for Stephon Clark on March 28 in New York City. tion to dismiss the suit or file a motion denying the claims in it. “What they’re saying is, they’re denying our allegations, which is pretty standard,” Galipo said. “But, regarding the timing, it is pretty interesting.” The Clark family originally filed a $35 million claim against the city on Sept. 4 seeking damages for his wrongful death, funeral and medical expenses and punitive damages.
‘Unreasonable force’ “The City of Sacramento Police Department’s involved officers unjustly shot and killed Stephon Clark and used excessive and unreasonable force against Stephon Clark while he was in the backyard of his family home,” according to the claim forms. “Stephon Clark never verbally threatened anyone and he
was unarmed when he was fatally shot multiple times, including numerous shots to his back, shots while he was going to the ground and shots after he had already went down to the ground. “At the time of the shooting, Stephon Clark posed no imminent threat of death or serious physical injury to either the involved officers or any other person.” The city rejected the claims on Oct. 19 after some preliminary discussion about settling the matter, Galipo said. “There were early on general discussions about whether this matter could be resolved,” he said. “There were no numbers exchanged, there were no commitments on either side, but there was never any followup from the city so eventually we filed the lawsuit.”
Seeking millions The Clark family’s suit was filed Jan. 28 and seeks at least $20 million. It names the city and the two officers as defendants. Since then, Schubert completed her legal review of the shooting and released her determination on March 2 that the officers had reason to believe their lives were in danger and had not committed a crime. Galipo, who is nationally known for winning millions of dollars for clients who were victims of police uses of force, said Schubert’s finding will not impact the civil suit, adding that he has seen many cases in which a district attorney rules that officers did not commit a crime but civil juries award large verdicts for the plaintiffs.
Suicide rejected Galipo also rejected the no-
tion that Clark was suicidal and was seeking to have police shoot him, a suggestion that some took from Schubert’s presentation about him being in despair and conducting internet searches on how to commit suicide before his death. “What really bothers me about the presentation or the suggestion that Stephon Clark wanted to be killed by the police,” Galipo said. “That to me is totally without merit. “I get it. A lot of people do and say silly things. But does that mean they actually want to kill themselves? And does that mean they want to be killed by the police? “I don’t believe there’s any evidence of a suicide attempt, and if he wanted to be killed by police he did it in a weird way. He went to his grandparents’ house and was knocking on the door trying to get let in.”
The mantle
JOHN J. KIM/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS
A stone wall separates street level and a downslope to Glencoe Beach on Feb. 9, 2019, in Glencoe, Ill. The bluff overlooking Lake Michigan at Glencoe Beach is a land formation from the last ice age when glaciers deposited soil at the end of their reach.
Slowly but surely, Chicago is sinking Here’s what that means for Lake Michigan and Midwest BY TONY BRISCOE CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS
CHICAGO – The sightlines at Wrigley Field, the panorama from Navy Pier, the vantage points at the Adler Planetarium observatory — all structures built more than 100 years ago — are at least 4 inches lower now. In the northern United States
and Canada, areas that once were depressed under the tremendous weight of a massive ice sheet are springing back up while others are sinking. The Chicago area and parts of southern Lake Michigan, where glaciers disappeared 10,000 years ago, are sinking about 4 to 8 inches each century.
‘A slow process’ One or 2 millimeters a year might not seem like a lot, but “over a decade that’s a centimeter. Over 50 years, now, you’re talking several inches,” said Daniel Roman, chief geodesist with
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “It’s a slow process, but it’s a persistent one.” While Chicago’s dipping is gradual, this dynamic could eventually redefine flood plains and work against household sewer pipes that slope downward to the sewer main. The greatest impact of this imperceptible phenomenon likely won’t be inland, however. The contour separating the part of the continent that is rising from that which is falling bisects the Great Lakes.
Tilting effect In Lake Michigan, that line passes from Death’s Door at Green Bay in Wisconsin to Grand Traverse Bay in Michigan, signaling that the far northern end is rising while the rest of the lake is lowering. Over time, that has created a
tilting effect, generally translating into higher lake levels for the southern end of the lakes and lower watermarks for the northern shorelines. Assuming Lake Michigan’s overall water level stays the same, Chicago’s lakefront will be about 4 inches higher in the next century.
Other cities too The slow-motion, seesaw effect is also happening in other cities on the southern end of the lakes: Cleveland could see a 4-inch swell in Lake Erie’s levels and Milwaukee is projected to see a rise of 5½ more inches. Places such as Canada’s Hudson Bay, which was covered by glaciers up to 9,800 feet thick, are rising up to 3 feet per century. While Earth’s surface may appear to be rigid, it actually reacts similarly to a tube of toothpaste that’s pressed in the middle.
When pressure is applied to the planet’s lining, known as the crust, that energy is transferred to the gelatinous layer of smoldering rocks called the mantle. The mantle, which behaves like a liquid, caves under the weight and moves to neighboring areas that bulge. When the hefty ice sheet melted and the pressure was lifted, the mantle began to flow back to areas where it had thinned out. Chicago, on the fringe of the last glacial intrusion, rebounded for a time after the glaciers disappeared. But now the city is slowly submerging because more of the mantle is returning to Canada, where the thickest part of the ice sheet bore down on the landscape. “We can still see the land moving now even though the ice came off Chicago 10,000 years ago,” said Seth Stein, professor of geological sciences at Northwestern University.
Water movement This shift will also affect the movement of water between the lakes. In Lake Superior, the eastern end that lets out into lakes Michigan and Huron is rising, while the far western edge is slumping. Researchers suggest that could slow Superior’s outflow while causing lake levels to surge 10 inches per century near Duluth, Minn. “If you’re tilting one direction, the water flows might change direction or water might accumulate in a way different than you expected in the past,” NOAA’s Roman said. “That’s important for on-land and near-shore environments. You might get more water, but not where you want it.” How that will magnify changing water levels is hard to say. In the past six years, Lake Michigan’s water levels have fluctuated wildly, hitting a record low before rising 3 feet to well above the historic average.
HEALTH | FOOD | TRAVEL | SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS COURIER How Marian
IFE/FAITH
Anderson prevailed despite racism See page B2
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MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE
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Cancer roars back At age 76, Dad’s gotta face a recovery from major surgery; his chest had been cracked open, and a vein stripped from his leg. That means he can’t get the chemotherapy treatment that kept his cancer at bay. Without the chemo, the cancer turns aggressive and kills him relatively quickly. He’s missed so much over the past 15 years ‒ from world events, to Morehouse College homecomings with his classmates who would start drinking Hennessey watching the Saturday morning parade ‒ that it’s hard for me to list it all. America’s first Black president. One grandson playing high school basketball, going to prestigious schools, and working on an oil rig in Alaska. Another grandson becoming a talented public speaker and playing trumpet in his high-performing high school band. (Dad was a saxophone player.) A granddaughter becoming an allstar volleyball player and scholar in her own right. Dad never saw any of that. That’s one of my motivations to live. I don’t want to miss a damn thing.
Every five years
BROTHERS, WHAT’S YOUR MOTIVATION? I want to live so I can help my children Charles III and Chayla navigate the ups and downs of life, and help them live happy and successful lives.
In this series of first-person articles, Florida Courier Publisher Charles W. Cherry II describes how he’s facing health issues common to Black men. This week: colon cancer. BY CHARLES W. CHERRY II FLORIDA COURIER
My father, Charles W. Cherry, Sr., was one of the strongest men I’ve ever known. As far as I know, he had few fears (other than drowning. He survived a neardrowning incident as a child and another one later as an adult). Daddy was an old-school “race man” who was all about Black advancement “by any means necessary.” And when you combine a “Black-first” mindset with fearlessness; multiple cash-flowing businesses and no personal debt; a devoted wife holding things down at home; and an appreciation of the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms ‒ you end up with a free Black man who’s so vociferous and radical that he scares even Black people.
Cancer victim But it was colon cancer ‒ not the Ku Klux Klan, radical White supremacists, or his handkerchief-headed, jealous Negro haters ‒ that killed him in 2004 at the relatively young age of 76. He had known risk factors. According to the American Cancer Society, these factors include age (older is riskier); polyps (growths inside the colon and rectum) that may become cancerous; a high-fat diet; a family history of colon cancer or polyps; inflammatory bowel diseases involving the colon; a sedentary lifestyle; diabetes; obesity; smoking; and alcohol use. Blacks have the highest rates of colon cancer (also known as colorectal cancer), which is the third-leading cause of cancerrelated deaths in the Black community. We face a 20 percent higher risk of developing colon cancer and a 45 percent higher mortality rate than any other race. And it’s highly preventable. According to BlackDoctor.org, “The American College of Gastroenterolo-
CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER
I’m chilling before the procedure in a fashionable backless hospital gown. gists recommends Black men be screened starting at age 45 – five years earlier than Whites. The reason? Colon cancer is often diagnosed in African Americans at a younger age…(and) the current compliance rate for colonoscopies is at a mere 38 percent.”
Typical ‘Black’ diet Dad was a meat eater. As a Black son of the South who grew up in south central Georgia, he was used to having hearty Southern breakfasts every day: bacon, eggs, grits, sausage, coffee. He was a pork ribs aficionado and could go through a slab during a typical weekend. He didn’t care much for fresh vegetables (except pork-flavored collard greens boiled to death), nutritious salads, or fibrous foods. He’d be considered obese for his size, didn’t exercise, and had hypertension (high blood pressure), among some other medical issues. He found the cancer when a spot appeared on a routine X-ray. My brother Glenn moved quickly to get Dad examined at Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center, where he was prescribed chemotherapy (he hated it because ironically it killed
his taste buds). The treatment shrunk the cancer to the point doctors thought it could be surgically removed.
Another obstacle It was during a routine pre-surgery exam that Dad was told he had severe heart blockages that would make any surgery risky. He got three second opinions, and each was different. One doctor said, “No cancer or heart surgery. Too risky. Take your chances of dying of a heart attack. Your cancer is under control.” Another said, “It’s a tossup. The cancer could come back after surgery ‒ or maybe it won’t. And if you don’t want the cancer surgery, you don’t need the heart surgery.” But the third doctor is the one Dad listened to. “Get the heart surgery and when you recover, you’ll be set to get the cancer surgery and be done with all of this.” Long story short: Dad, being the risktaker he is, swings for the fences and gets the heart surgery. While he’s on the operating table, the surgeon discovers Dad’s heart blockages are less severe than everyone was led to believe.
That’s why last week, I had my fourth colonoscopy since the year of my father’s death. That’s why I’ll continue to have them for as long as I live. Fellas, one thing you have to get used to is talking about something that’s especially uncomfortable in American culture: having a bowel movement, or “taking a dump,” in the common vernacular. Everything that eats, from bacteria to elephants and whales, has to eliminate the waste that’s not consumed by the body. That’s the way life is built here on Planet Earth. Think of your fantasy dream girl. Could be your wife or girlfriend, a high school squeeze, an ex, somebody you just saw walking down the street, or some babe twerking on YouTube. Man, as fine as she is, she’s taking dumps too! So fellas, we have to get over it. Taking a dump is NATURAL. EVERYONE does it. And our unwillingness to talk about our bowel movement habits, or have someone touch our bootyholes other than ourselves, is literally killing us. Also, please forgive in advance any ass jokes I may tell.
Working with my team I have a small team of Black female health care professionals who take care of me. The two most important team members ‒ my primary care physician and my dentist ‒ are Black females by choice. Why sisters? They aren’t scared of me, don’t mind touching me, and you can’t BS them. They keep up with current research. They are keenly aware of the racial differences with regard to health care information and outcomes in America. (I won’t give names of the various health care workers involved to protect their privacy.) Sister Doc, as I’ll call her, knows that given Dad’s history, I’m at higher risk for colon cancer. I must undergo a colonoscopy more often rather than every 10 years after the age of 50 as current medical practice recommends. From the Mayo Clinic: “A colonoscopy is an exam used to detect changes or abnormalities in the large intestine (colon) and rectum. During a colonoscopy, a long, flexible tube (colonoscope) is inserted into the rectum. A tiny video camera at the tip of the tube allows the doctor to view the inside of the entire colon.” Generally speaking, a healthy colon is smooth, wet and shiny. But a “sick’’ colon could have sores, blisters, and other marks on it that indicate there’s a problem. If left alone, these lesions can develop into cancer. But if they are removed before they can become cancerous, the problem is solved and the cancer never happens. If your colon gets “sick’’ with lesions, sores, etc. that are allowed to fester, it can become cancerous. Worst case is that it spreads throughout your body and kills you.
The process While you are in a pleasant, drug-induced dreamless sleep, a doctor inserts a colonoscope and examines your guts, so to speak. The most important (and somewhat unpleasant) part of the whole process is the preparation. You have to clean your body’s “pipes” out over a 24-to 48-hour period so the doctor can get a good look. That means not eating solid food and taking laxatives that make you run to the toilet for about a day. Even that process has improved in the 15 years or so that I’ve been getting this procedure done. The first time involved giving myself an enema ‒ sticking a tube up my rectum and flushing it out with water. I couldn’t do it myself ‒ it made me too queasy to insert something going the wrong way ‒ so I had to get female help. Talk about embarrassment…
Quick cleaning Nowadays, the process has been somewhat streamlined. Rather than enemas, See MOTIVATION, Page B3
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ENTERTAINMENT & FINEST
MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
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Marian Anderson: Operatic prowess prevailed through discrimination BY RAISA HABERSHAM ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION/ TNS
Draped in fur, outfitted in a long-sleeve orange sweater and black skirt (seen in black-andwhite photos as a gray ensemble) and with eyes tightly closed, Marian Anderson let the first verse of “My Country ’Tis of Thee” roll off her tongue before a crowd of 75,000 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. On April 9, 1939, “genius (drew) no color line” — proclaimed then-Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes — as the rendition became one of the contralto singer’s most famed performances. This year marks 80 years since the operatic songbird stood just feet away from the marble, seated Abraham Lincoln statue. The Easter Sunday performance set the stage for Anderson to eventually become the first Black person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera.
Born in Philly Anderson was born Feb. 27, 1897, in South Philadelphia. Her singing career began in Union Baptist Church, where she sang in the junior church choir at 6 at the urging of her aunt. From there, the songstress performed at local events and later joined several other singing groups, including People’s Chorus, a prestigious African-American ensemble in Philadelphia. Anderson began formal singing lessons at 15, according to The New York Times. Anderson would eventually perform in a New York Philharmonic voice competition, where she won first prize. The young singer saw
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH small success, but recitals and concert opportunities dwindled. Anderson instead performed abroad, garnering fame in Europe, most notably after her Wigmore Hall concert in London in the early 1930s. Howard University had hosted Anderson numerous times, but as her popularity outgrew their venue size, they searched for larger venues such as Constitution Hall to hold her concerts.
Constitution Hall ban Despite her stature, Anderson wasn’t allowed to perform at Anderson wasn’t allowed to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization devoted to historic preservation and patriotism. Constitution Hall was (and remains) the biggest performance venue in D.C., seating 4,000 people, but did not have segregated bathrooms at the time. Howard University requested an exception to their rule but was denied. In a sternly worded resignation letter from the DAR, member and then-first lady Eleanor Roosevelt voiced her disappointment with the organization. “I am in complete disagreement with the attitude taken in refusing Constitution Hall to a great artist,” Roosevelt wrote. “… You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed.”
More achievements After public outcry, Roosevelt
GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES/TNS
American opera singer Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was the first Black singer to perform at the New York Metropolitan Opera House. She is shown on Nov. 16, 1936 on her arrival in London for a concert at the Queen›s Hall. arranged for Anderson to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Anderson would go on to more prestigious stages, such as her 1955 performance as the fortuneteller Ulrica in Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi’s “Un ballo in maschera” at the Metropolitan Opera. It was the only time the singer sang in an opera role. It would also be the only time she performed at the Met. Anderson retired from singing in 1955 and would go on to receive many prestigious awards,
including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the Congressional Gold Medal in 1977, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the National Medal of Arts in 1986 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.
Musical legacy Anderson was also the first recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award of the City of New York and was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from T:4.625" UniHoward University, Temple versity and Smith College.
Her musical legacy would live on in her nephew James DePreist, one of the few renowned Black conductors. Anderson lived with him and wife Ginette DePreist until her 1993 death. (James DePreist died in 2013.) In a 2014 interview with Smithsonian.com, Ginette DePreist described Anderson as “a very humble, very sweet lady.” “She always said, ‘All I want to be remembered for is the voice the Lord gave me, (which) hopefully made people happy,” DePreist said.
finest
FLORIDA’S 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
IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY
TO INVEST IN A GOOD THING. Introducing Better Futures —a whole new kind of investment with a greater return than money. When you invest, it helps kids go to college. Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste but a wonderful thing to invest in. TM
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Invest in Better Futures at UNCF.ORG/INVEST
MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
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HEALTH
MOTIVATION
Time to go After about 24 hours of drinking liquids and taking multiple squishy dumps, it’s time for me to go to the outpatient facility where all this magic is gonna happen. You aren’t allowed to drive yourself to or from the procedure. Thoughtfully, my doctor’s office has someone pick me up and drop me off. My driver arrives at 7:45 a.m. for the 20-minute drive. I bring nothing but my insurance card and identification. No cash or credit cards. (Hey, health care workers sometimes steal too!) I go up to the waiting room, where there are maybe 10 other people, only one of whom is a Black male. This whole thing is down to a science. The workers are all very friendly, but very businesslike. They don’t waste time. I sign a bunch of forms, they give me a restaurantstyle beeper, and they tell me to “go through that door on the left” when the beeper goes off ‒ which it does about 10 minutes later.
That backless gown I go through the door, where a friendly male nurse meets me and walks me down a corridor that looks like an emergency room, with privacy curtains and hospital beds. After confirming who I am and determining I’m in my right mind, I get the proverbial hospital gown with the split up the back. (They’ll need to medically access your ass, so there’s no need to cover it.)
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‘Good and clean’ The doctor strolls in and summarizes what he’s seen: “Good and clean. A small 2-millimeter polyp” ‒ essentially a pimple ‒ “removed. Slight benign diverticulitis (a fold in the intestine). A small hemorrhoid. See you in five years.” The nurse hands me a full narrative report, complete with color pictures. We’re done here! As I’m waiting for my ride, I chat with a 58-year old brother getting his first procedure. He told me how prostate cancer was killing men in his small, predominately Black church congregation. Three had died over the past year, all under the age of 60. (I’ll discuss that in a future story.) The rest of the day went as normal. Took a nap, picked up Charles III from school (contrary to medical advice not to drive the remainder of the day), ate solid food (it was glorious), then worked as usual. No rest for the weary.
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pills that take longer to work, and laxatives you have to mix, the doctor prescribed a concoction called ClenPiq. (Not cheap $140 from Walmart, without insurance, before a $40 discount coupon.) I took just two six-ounce bottles with a total of eight cups of water about eight hours apart. And since I scheduled my procedure for 9 a.m. on a Monday morning (when hopefully the doctor is fresh and rested after a good weekend), that meant I was up at 3 a.m. drinking the second bottle and running to the toilet. The goal is for your bowel movement to become as watery as possible and to clear all the solid waste out so the doc can get a good look. You have to drink clear liquids; nothing red, blue or purple. Think of it as a high-pressure wash for your innards, something most of us never do but a few times in a lifetime. The preparation is an opportunity to clean out a longneglected part of the body. Maybe you can finally get rid of that first Happy Meal you ate as a kid. But I digress…
TOJ
Another choice FLORIDA COURIER FILES
Dad didn't play. Here he speaks to Capt. John Van Tronk of the Daytona Beach Police Department during a 1970 street protest. We chit-chat as the nurse takes my pulse and blood pressure. We are both pleased that both measurements are well within the normal range. I’m happy that I didn’t suffer from “white coat syndrome” in which your measurements spike because you are nervous about being in a doctor’s office or a hospital. (I’ve learned to relax by picturing myself sitting on Daytona Beach with a drink in my hand.) As the nurse puts an IV needle in my arm, the anesthesiologist strolls by, confirms who I am, cracks a few jokes, and leaves. I learn that the anesthesia will be light, meaning I will be breathing on my own rather than having a doctor or a machine “breathe” for me during the procedure.
Instant sleep Finally, I’m wheeled into a small room with lots of lights and equipment everywhere. The gastroenterologist who’s doing the procedure confirms with his two assistants that everyone’s ready to go. I lay on my left side with my left arm stretched out and my head on a pillow. Somebody clips an oxygen tube to my nose. I see the needle going into the intravenous tube in my arm, then I feel my whole body relaxing from toes to head. There was no “100, 99, 98” countdown. I just went to sleep instantaneously. I woke up what seemed to be about two seconds later, but in one of those ER-curtained rooms. My ass didn’t feel any different than normal, and surprisingly, it wasn’t
Brothers, now you know why I’ll consent, for the rest of my life (or until the technology improves), to have a stranger insert a tube with a camera up my rear end and leisurely look around. For those of you who are ass-phobic, can’t afford it, or still don’t get it, there’s another option. Again, from BlackDoctor.org: “Cologuard is an at-home stool test that detects certain genetic markers associated with colon cancer. It’s recommended for anyone over the age of 50 that doesn’t get the prescribed colonoscopy every five years. Users who test positive for these genetic markers are referred to get a colonoscopy at their doctor.
‘Poop in a cup’
CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER
ClenPiq, Gatorade and water did the job for me efficiently and effectively. greasy. A nurse gave me some cranberry juice, the first of five or six sharp gas pains hit, and I started to fart. (That’s normal, as air enters the rectum during the process.) I felt surprisingly good, considering I hadn’t slept much the night before, and the anesthesia drugs were still swirling around in my body. The nurse and I conversed, mostly for her to determine if I was still in my right mind, I think. After about 10 minutes, I slowly put on my clothes ‒ I was still slightly woozy, like after having a few glasses of wine ‒ and she walked me to a recliner.
“Cologuard is poised to change that low compliance rate by screening more people. Unlike other screening options ‒ patients take Cologuard in the comfort of their own home, with no prep (drinking of that solution), no invasive procedure, no sedation, no time off of work. Literally, all you have to do is provide a sample (poop in a cup that clips on to your toilet) and mail it to the lab for analysis (UPS will pick it up for you). “Cologuard is a first of its kind test that looks for both blood and DNA in a person’s stool, flagging cancerous and precancerous cells (if pre-cancerous cells are found and removed, cancer is prevented from ever forming). A New England Journal of Medicine study found that the test identified 92 percent of colon cancers with 87 percent specificity.” I know my motivation to live. What’s yours?
Next story: Sleep apnea ‒ snoring ain’t funny anymore.
$65.3 MILLION TO UNITED WAY! A special thank you to Publix associates and Publix Super Markets Charities for helping our communities by generously supporting United Way in 2018. Publix associates pledged $38.7 million, and Publix Charities donated $26.6 million. Learn more at publix.com/community.
WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
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MARCH 8 – MARCH 14, 2019
July 7, 1981: Sandra Day O’Connor is nominated as the first woman Supreme Court Justice. July 12, 1984: Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, D-N.Y., is chosen as the first female to run for vice president. She joined Walter Mondale, D-Minn., on the Democratic Party ticket. July 19-20, 1848: The Seneca Falls Convention, the country’s first women’s rights convention, is held in Seneca Falls, N.Y.
J A N U A RY Jan. 5, 1925: Nellie Tayloe Ross is inaugurated as governor of Wyoming, becoming the first female governor in the U.S. Jan. 7, 1896: Fanny Farmer’s first cookbook is published with standardized cooking measurements. Jan. 8, 1977: Pauli Murray becomes the first female AfricanAmerican Episcopal priest. Jan. 25, 1980: Mary Decker became the first woman to run a mile under 41/2 minutes, coming in at 4:17.55.
Janet Reno
Toni Morrison
AUGUST
F E B R U A RY Feb. 4, 1987: The first National Women in Sports Day is celebrated. Feb. 15, 1953: Tenley Albright becomes the first American woman to win a World Figure Skating championship. Feb. 24, 1967: Jocelyn Bell Burnell makes the first discovery of a pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star. Feb. 27, 1922: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing women’s right to vote.
Aug. 9, 1995: Roberta Cooper Ramo becomes president of the American Bar Association. She is the first woman to hold that office. Aug. 26, 1920: The 19th Amendment of the Constitution is ratified granting women the right to vote. Aug. 26, 1970: Betty Friedan leads a nationwide protest called the Women’s Strike for Equality in New York City on the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage. Aug. 30, 1984: Judith A. Resnick joins the maiden flight of the space shuttle Discovery, becoming the second U.S. woman in space.
Sally Ride
MARCH March 4, 1917: Jeannette Rankin, R-Mont., becomes the first female member of Congress. March 11, 1993: Janet Reno is confirmed as the first woman U.S. Attorney General. March 13, 1986: Susan Butcher wins the first of three straight, and four total, Iditarod dog sled races. March 20, 1852: “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” by HarN AT I O N A L A R C H I V E S riet Beecher Harriet Beecher Stowe Stowe, is published. It becomes the best-selling book of the 19th century.
APRIL April 7, 1805: Sacagawea begins work as an interpreter for Lewis and Clark on their expedition. April 7, 1987: The National Museum of Women in the Arts opens in Washington, D.C. It’s the first museum devoted to women artists. April 19, 1977: Fifteen women in the House of Representatives form the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. April 28, 1993: The Ms. Foundation sponsors the first “Take Our Daughters to Work” day. In 2003, the day was changed to “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work” day.
SEPTEMBER
By Wendy Zang, McClatchy-Tribune
It wasn’t until 1987 that Congress declared March Women’s History Month, in celebration of women’s contributions and achievements. The month was a step up from Women’s History Week, which had been recognized, first in Sonoma, Calif., in the late 1970s, and then a few years later nationally. While March provides some time to focus on female accomplishments, great women should be celebrated for more than 31 days. Here’s a look at some important dates in women’s history to recognize all year long.
M AY May 5, 1938: Dr. Dorothy H. Andersen presents results of her medical research identifying the disease cystic fibrosis. May 8, 1914: President Woodrow Wilson signs a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. May 21, 1932: Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to complete a solo transatlantic flight, flying 2,026 miles from Newfoundland to Ireland in just under 15 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS hours. Amelia Earhart May 29, 1977: Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman to qualify for and complete the Indy 500.
JUNE June 9, 1949: Georgia Neese Clark is confirmed as the first woman treasurer of the United States. June 10, 1963: Equal Pay Act is enacted prohibiting discrimination based on gender in the payment of wages June 18, 1983: Dr. Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space. June 25, 1903: Madame Marie Curie announces her discovery of radium.
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Rosa Parks
Mary McLeod Bethune
Geraldine Ferraro
Sept. 12, 1910: In Los Angeles, Alice Stebbins Wells becomes the first woman police officer with arrest powers in U.S. Sept. 20, 1973: Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in the battle of the sexes tennis match. Sept 26, 1973: American Baptist minister Capt. Lorraine Potter becomes the first woman U.S. Air Force chaplain. Sept. 29, 1988: Stacy Allison becomes first U.S. woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.
OCTOBER Oct. 4, 1976: ABC’s Barbara Walters becomes the first woman co-anchor of the evening news. Oct. 4, 1993: Ruth Bader Ginsburg becomes second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. TNS Oct. 8, Ruth Bader 1993: Toni Ginsburg Morrison wins the Nobel Prize for Literature; the first African-American woman to do so. Oct. 23, 1910: Blanche Stuart Scott becomes the first American woman pilot to make a public flight.
NOVEMBER Nov. 1, 1848: The New England Female Medical School opens becoming the first medical school for women. In 1874 it merges with Boston University and becomes one of the world’s first coed medical schools. Nov. 11, 1993: The Vietnam Women’s Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., honoring the 265,000 women who voluntarily served during the Vietnam era. Nov. 14, 1946: Emily Greene Balch, co-founder of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Nov. 28, 1881: The first organizational meeting is held for the predecessor group to the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
DECEMBER
LEARN MORE Check out these sites to learn more about women in history: n Library of Congress — www.womenshistorymonth.gov n The National Women’s History Project — www.nwhp.org n National Women’s Hall of Fame — www.greatwomen.org/home.php n The Biography Channel — www.biography.com/womens-history
J U LY July 2, 1979: The Susan B. Anthony dollar is released.
STOJ
SOURCE: NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY PROJECT, THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ERIC GOODWIN/TNS
Dec. 1, 1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white person. Dec. 5, 1935: Mary McLeod Bethune creates the National Council of Negro Women. Dec. 7, 1941: Capt. Annie Fox becomes the first woman awarded the Purple Heart for her service while under attack at Pearl Harbor. Dec. 17, 1993: Judith Rodin becomes the first woman to head an Ivy League school, as president of the University of Pennsylvania.