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SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

VOLUME 26 NO. 38

NO ‘HIGH-TECH LYNCHING’

A generation after Clarence Thomas’ hearing, the Senate may again judge allegations of sexual misconduct. In the #MeToo era, this hearing will probably be different.

WASHINGTON – Twenty-seven years after nationally televised hearings into Anita Hill’s accusations against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas generated a national debate over sexual misconduct, the Senate plunged back into the issue.

The new fight burst into view with the allegation by Christine Blasey Ford, a psychologist and professor at Palo Alto University, that Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, assaulted her more than three decades ago when they were both high school students.

Finger-pointing On Monday, Republicans accused Democrats of waiting until the last minute to make public an unsubstantiated allegation against Kavanaugh. Democrats charged Republicans with trying

to rush the nomination to a vote without thoroughly considering the evidence.

Behind the scenes, Republicans debated how to respond.

Some held out the possibility that over the years, Ford might have confused Kavanaugh with someone else, a stance that would allow them to undermine her accusation at a public Senate hearing scheduled for Sept. 24 without directly attacking her account. Others quietly discussed whether the nomination could survive.

While much remained unclear, Ford’s claim has abruptly jeopardized a nomination that appeared on track toward a quick, albeit heavily partisan, confirmation. The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee had scheduled a vote for Thursday, Sept. 20, and the full Senate approval was expected soon after.

Higher pay for teachers?

Gillum, yes; DeSantis, maybe

ARNIE SACHS/CNP/ZUMA PRESS/TNS; FLORIDA COURIER FILES

In October 1991, both Anita F. Hill and Clarence Thomas testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during Thomas’ confirmation hearings to become an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Unwilling to appear?

Late Tuesday, Ford signaled that she would not testify about the allegations until after the FBI investigated the matter in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee sent from her attorney.

Republicans, who have rejected calls for an FBI inquiry, indicated that they would consider moving

forward with the hearing. Earlier in the day some Republicans suggested that Ford’s refusal to show up would raise questions about her credibility.

Even before the letter from Ford was released, plans for the Sept.

24 hearing were unclear.

Mark Judge, a high school friend of Kavanaugh who Ford

says witnessed the alleged assault, told the committee Tuesday he would not testify because he did not remember the incident.

Critical time Ford’s charge came in a year when accusations of sexual misSee HEARING, Page A2

HURRICANE FLORENCE / THE AFTERMATH

A long recovery ahead

TALLAHASSEE – The Democratic and Republican candidates for governor on Tuesday launched competing plans to improve Florida’s schools.

In a news conference in Tallahassee, Democrat Andrew Gillum defended his proposal, first announced in JanAndrew uary, to provide a minGillum imum $50,000 starting salary for teachers by increasing the state corporate-income tax by $1 billion.

Republican Ron DeSantis released a detailed education plan, including a measure that would require 80 Ron percent of school fundDeSantis ing to be spent in classrooms and not on administration. He said the plan could help boost teacher pay.

Corporate increase Republicans have been criticizing See TEACHERS, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3 ROBERT WILLETT/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER / TNS

Members of the Greenville (N.C.) Fire Department’s swift water rescue team went house to house checking flooded homes following Hurricane Florence in New Bern, N.C., on Monday. Much of the city will remain flooded for days as water continues to rise in some places.

Probe of nursing home deaths continue NATION | A6

Red Tide killing birds too HEALTH | B4

Report details charter school closures

BY LLOYD DUNKELBERGER NEWS SERVICE OF FLORDA

Skin color vs. identity

ALSO INSIDE

CDC: Get flu vaccines ASAP

TALLAHASSEE – A new report from a Tallahassee-based research group raises questions about the growing role of charter schools in Florida, including citing the closure of 373 charter schools since 1998.

Ben Wilcox, research director for the group Integrity Florida, said the closure of charter schools has averaged nearly 20 a year “and that comes with a cost to taxpayers.”

Taking financial hit “When a charter school closes, it is often difficult to get taxpayer funds back,” Wilcox said. “A closure can cause severe problems for a school district which must absorb the displaced students.”

As of the 2016-2017 academic year, some 284,000 students, or about 10 percent of Florida’s 2.8 million students enrolled in the pre-kindergarten through high school system, attended charter schools.

The 654 charter schools receive public funding, but can act more independently than traditional public schools.

Hundreds fail The report showed 160 charter schools failed between 2012 and 2017, with 35 closing in 2015-2016.

“Some have failed because they faced financial pressure due to overestimated enrollment, others because of financial mismanagement and others for academic reasons,” the report said.

Another trend cited in the report is the rise of for-profit companies that manage the schools and can also be involved in See SCHOOLS, Page A2

GUEST COMMENTARY: TIMOTHY M. PHELPS: I BROKE ANITA HILL’S STORY – WHAT WE MUST LEARN | A4 GUEST COMMENTARY: DANNY HAIPHONG: COLIN KAEPERNICK, WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE? | A5

A2

FOCUS

SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

Why are young White boys running Black campaigns?

In November, more than a few men and women of color will be seeking election to national and statewide political positions.

There are Black candidates, Hispanics, Native Americans, AsianAmericans and other men and women of non-European ancestry running for political offices.

Black candidates are getting significant public recognition, publicity and exposure in their efforts to make political history by becoming African-American governors in Florida, Georgia and Maryland, for instance.

Differences and similarities In many ways, Ben Jealous in Maryland, Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Andrew Gillum in Florida – who all won Democratic primaries – are somewhat different in their ideas, philosophies, strategies and political techniques.

However, they are similar in their political affiliations and perhaps their campaign staffing and purchasing transactions.

In all of the African-American

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

candidate campaigns, you will undoubtedly discover that each campaign has one, two, three or more young White boys in important decision-making campaign positions!

I told you For at least 25 or 30 years, I have been writing about the need for all candidates, especially the Black candidates, to consider increased utilization of Black political vendors and Black political professionals.

Why? Because I truly believe that there are people that look like the Black candidates who can to participate in the paid political process. They are just as qualified as the Black candidates that you love and desire.

I also know that political history is the best teacher. History sug-

gests that no matter how much you volunteer; no matter how much money you contribute; no matter how much or how many times you put Black candidates first; when it comes to patronage and spending money with the socalled “Black base,” Black candidates oftentimes put Black professionals last!

Who are they?

Who are these young White boys that hold such high decisionmaking positions in the campaigns of Black candidates?

They are primarily the friends, relatives, classmates and cohorts of Democratic Party leaders, campaign contributors, lobbyists or leaders of organizations like labor unions that support the candidacy of Black candidates.

Since you don’t know these young White boys, where do they come from? They don’t come from your community, your neighborhood, your city, your county or your state.

Some young White boys working in Southern states for Black candidates come from Iowa. They

come from Illinois. They come from Washington, D.C. and they come from other faraway lands!

They don’t know Southern voters. They don’t know Black voters.

They can’t turn out Black voters and they won’t even go to sleep and dream about hiring Black political subcontractors, because their message to Black candidates is basically, “Don’t spend money with Blacks because ‘N-word’ will vote for you anyway!”

They ain’t your friends Good luck to all African-Americans and other candidates of color in your bids to become public servants.

But don’t think that your Whiteboy campaign managers, campaign communications directors, campaign media producers and other campaign consultants are your friends for life.

After the 2018 elections, the young White boys you engaged or hired on your campaigns will not hang around and be buddies with you. They will go “ghost” and disappear from you just as quickly as they appeared with their for the Florida Republican Party.

“Gillum wants to hand over control to the teachers’ unions and put special interests and bureaucrats ahead of students.”

Meanwhile, DeSantis, a former congressman from Ponte Vedra Beach, released his plan calling for 80 percent of education funding to be spent in classrooms. His campaign policy statement said it would “cut bureaucratic waste and administrative inefficiency and ensure that money is being spent where it matters most.”

No guarantees for teachers

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

Gubernatorial candidates Andrew Gillum and Ron DeSantis are far apart on the issue of education in Florida.

TEACHERS from A1 Gillum’s plan to increase the corporate-income tax rate from 5.5 percent to 7.75 percent to raise $1 billion for schools, providing money for teacher pay and earlyeducation programs.

Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor, said only the largest corporations pay the tax because of exemptions, estimating his proposal would impact about 3 percent of the companies doing business in the state. He said the increase would be offset by more than $6 billion in reduced taxes the cor-

HEARING from A1 conduct have dominated national headlines. The #MeToo movement has led to the uncovering of assaults, harassment and threats by scores of prominent men in politics, entertainment, the news media, the clergy and other professions over the past year. Many powerful men have lost their jobs.

In contrast, Anita Hill’s allegations emerged when the legal status of sexual harassment – and the public’s definition of what constitutes acceptable conduct were still relatively new and very much up for debate.

The country “is in a much different place” than it was in 1991, said Susan Estrich, the Los Angeles lawyer and feminist legal scholar who is credited with inventing the phrase “nuts and sluts” to describe how Thomas’ defenders sought to portray Hill and women like her.

All-male panel The most notable evidence of the country’s change is a visual one. Among the most circulated images of the 1991 hearings was that of Hill facing a dais filled by 14 middle-age and elderly White men, who effectively put her credibility on trial, not Thomas’.

Thomas flatly refused to answer any questions about his alleged misconduct, denouncing the hearing as a “high-tech lynching” and a “national disgrace.”

porations are paying because of the recent cut in the federal corporate tax.

“I will not allow them to get away with miss-describing what it is that we are proposing. We are simply saying that we’ve got to invest in our next generation,” Gillum said.

“I want this state to be measured by the investment we make in kids, not into as many tax breaks as we can manage, but in our children. And I believe these are reasoned approaches.”

tional average.

He dismissed arguments that raising the corporate income tax would result in higher costs for consumers if companies passed on the tab through higher prices for goods and services. He noted the corporate tax rate was higher in Georgia, at 6 percent, yet “the 99-cent menu is the same in both our states.”

“I don’t buy that argument. It’s a red herring,” Gillum said.

But Republicans slammed the tax plan.

Scraping the bottom

‘Disaster’ for families

Gillum called it “an embarrassing indictment” of the state that Florida teacher pay ranks 45th among the states and that salaries are $12,000 below the na-

“No matter how he tries to spin this, raising $1 billion in taxes would be a disaster for hardworking Florida families,” said Meredith Beatrice, a spokeswoman

Judiciary Committee Democrats, some of whom had their own histories of sexual misconduct, effectively allowed Thomas to avoid close questioning, visibly cringing at Hill’s accusations.

Republicans repeatedly attacked Hill, accusing her of lying.

“Anita had compelling evidence, but the Republicans were acting as prosecutors and judges, and the Democrats were doing nothing,” said Susan Deller Ross, a Georgetown University law professor who represented Hill during the 1991 hearings.

naugh regardless of Ford’s allegations. The small number, perhaps as few as five, whose votes remain uncertain face questions that the Senate has never resolved, such as who has the burden of proof in the matter.

“We have to listen to everything there, but if that was true, I think it would be hard for senators to not consider who the judge is today,” Sen. Orrin Hatch said Monday, referring to Ford’s allegation.

“That’s the issue: Is this judge a really good man? …(B)y any measure he is.”

Other senators noted that the argument for treating the issue as a matter of juvenile misbehavior does not hold if Kavanaugh’s denials prove false.

“If Judge Kavanaugh has lied about what happened, that would be disqualifying,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of the few undecideds.

Senators routinely refer to the confirmation process as being akin to a job interview, and employers routinely disqualify job applicants based on evidence that falls far short of the proof that a court would need.

As the late Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said when he announced his opposition to Thomas, “no individual has a particular right to a Supreme Court seat.”

Women stepped up The treatment Hill received has been widely credited with prompting a surge of women’s political activism the next year, in which an unprecedented number of women were elected to high office, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who now is the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat.

Today, the committee dais has changed. The panel’s Republicans remain all White and male, but just five of the 10 Democrats are White men. The committee’s Democrats include four women and three non-White senators.

Moreover, the confrontation between Ford and Kavanaugh comes at a time when women’s participation has already hit historically high levels, said Margie Omero, a Democratic political consultant and pollster.

What’s next?

Most senators already have made up their minds about Kava-

Jack Dolan, Jennifer Abercorn, Maya Lau, and David Lauter of the Los Angeles Times; and Griffin Connolly of CQ-Roll Call / TNS contributed to this report.

After touring the Okaloosa STEMM Academy in Valparaiso on Tuesday, DeSantis said his plan could boost pay for teachers.

“As we’re moving away from bureaucracy and putting more of the percentage of money we spend into the classroom, to me, the primary beneficiary is going to be the teachers,” he told reporters.

DeSantis said he also wants to revamp teacher bonus programs and make them “more reflective of what you’re doing in the classroom.” He said he would support changing the current “Best and Brightest” program that has awarded bonuses based on teachers’ SAT and ACT college-entrance scores.

DeSantis also called for a review of curriculum standards now used in schools and said he wants to work on a provision that would require “constitutional principles” be taught as part of civics education. He also said he would support a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on local school board members.

Similar plan killed DeSantis’ “80 percent” plan is similar to a measure advanced in

SCHOOLS from A1 leasing school sites.

As of 2017, the report showed 294, or 45 percent, of the schools were being managed by for-profit companies. The for-profit schools have nearly doubled since 2010-2011, when there were 150 charter schools operated by for-profit entities.

‘Criminal corruption’ Wilcox said, “lax regulation of charter schools has created opportunities for corporate profiteering, financial mismanagement, fraud and criminal corruption.”

He cited a recent investigation of Newpoint Education Partners, where two executives who were involved in a company that managed more than a dozen charter schools were charged in a fraudulent billing and kickback scheme. One executive has been convicted, while the other will stand trial in Pensacola.

Grade differential On a positive side, the report showed charter schools outperformed traditional public schools on the state’s A-toF grading evaluation in 20162017. Some 65 percent of charter schools earned an A or B, compared to 55 percent of traditional schools. But 3 percent of the charter schools earned F

talk about how much better they would be than any Black political professionals.

What do we get?

How long will the politicians that claim to represent us, support us and help us continue to believe that White political ice is colder than Black political ice?

Black voters not only get what they vote for, they get what young White boys tell Black candidates to give you: little or nothing!

Don’t take my word for it. Contact the candidate of your choice.

Ask if you can be considered for a decision-making or a purchasingtransaction position on their campaigns.

The answer is, “Not in this life!”

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www. allworldconsultants.net. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response. the Florida House more than decade ago, with lawmakers setting the classroom percentage at 65 percent. But the proposal failed in the Senate, in part, because of the difficulty of identifying funds spent inside or outside the classrooms.

“Aside from the fact that the scheme flies in face of local control of schools, it is a political gimmick that other states have tried and abandoned,” Joanne McCall, president of Florida Education Association, the major teachers’ union, said in a statement.

McCall said DeSantis’ overall education plan provides “no large-scale proposals that would make it easier for districts to hire and keep qualified teachers and education staff professionals.”

Expanding vouchers In a clear difference with Gillum, DeSantis also said he would work to expand education “choice” programs, including the use of corporate tax credits that sent more than 108,000 students to private schools in the last year.

DeSantis credited the voucherlike programs for Florida’s recent success in national testing measures, including the National Assessment of Education Progress, and for its rising high school graduation rate.

Gillum vowed to end “the voucherizing of the education system” that began under former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.

“We’ve got to begin to bring that to conclusion,” Gillum said. “It’s been 20 years of the underfunding, the defunding of the public (school) system, which still educates over 90 percent of our kids.”

This report includes information from David Bishop of FLA News. grades, compared to 1 percent of the traditional schools.

The Integrity Florida report also raised a broader issue of the impact of the growth of charter schools on funding for the traditional school system.

“Inasmuch as charter schools can be an inefficient and wasteful option for ‘school choice,’ the Legislature should evaluate the appropriate amount of funding the state can afford to offer in educational choices to parents and students,” the report said.

‘Bad apples’ Erika Donalds, a Collier County School Board member who is a prominent supporter of charter schools, said the report “tries to use a few bad apples to define all charter schools.”

“The truth is, the majority of charter schools are great examples of student success and school resourcefulness,” Donalds said. “Charters are achieving results for students with fewer dollars – that’s not debatable.”

Donalds said “perpetually failing traditional public schools” should be held to the same performance standard as charter schools and should be closed if they fail to perform.

“Charter schools are in fact the most accountable type of public school in Florida, because parents can remove their children at any time, and if they fail two years in a row, they close,” she said.

SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

FLORIDA

A3 Levin said.

“They want justice to be done there,” he said. “They are still mourning the loss of their loved ones. They look forward to the day they can put this ugly nightmare behind them.”

Once the investigation is completed, it will be turned over to the state attorney’s office, which will determine whether to pursue criminal charges, Storey said.

The nursing home is no longer open, and an administrative law judge is reviewing the state’s request to revoke the operator’s license, said Mallory McManus, a spokeswoman for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

Scott’s office responds

PEDRO PORTAL/EL NUEVO HERALD/TNS

Messages are left on the sidewalk of the Rehabilitation Center of the Hollywood Hills nursing home in September 2017 after residents died there.

Year after Irma, nursing home probe continues 12 residents died from heat after hurricane

BY SKYLER SWISHER SUN SENTINEL/TNS

A year after Hurricane Irma rolled through South Florida,

detectives are still trying to determine whether anyone should face criminal charges for not preventing a dozen nursing home residents from dying from sweltering heat.

The Hollywood Police Department has not said when it will finish its investigation, city spokeswoman Raelin Storey said.

“These types of investigations take a long time,” Storey said.

“There is a lot of material to go through. We are being extremely careful and extremely thorough.”

Sept. 10, 2017, and the medical examiner ruled that 12 people died because of the sweltering conditions inside the nursing home. Temperatures reached as high as 99 degrees during the three-day power outage.

Albert Levin, a Miami lawyer who is representing the family of Miguel and Cecilia Franco, said the nursing home’s administration should be held accountable for not doing enough to save the lives of the Francos and the other 10 people who died.

99-degree temps

No longer open

Hurricane Irma knocked out power to the nursing home on

Family members are awaiting the investigation’s completion,

Numerous civil cases also have been brought against the nursing home.

Nursing home officials deny wrongdoing, saying calls for help went unanswered by Gov. Rick Scott.

The governor’s office countered that the nursing home staff didn’t follow instructions to call 911 if conditions worsened.

The nursing home is across the street from a hospital that never lost power.

Scott issued emergency rules shortly after the deaths at Hollywood Hills requiring backup power at assisted-living facilities and nursing homes.

Compliance extensions Only about a quarter of the state’s 684 licensed nursing homes are in full compliance with the state’s June 1 deadline to implement a permanent emergency-power plan, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration.

The rest received seven-month extensions, but state rules require that they have temporary measures available to keep residents cool.

Just under half of the state’s 3,075 licensed assisted-living facilities were in full compliance.

Most of the rest have filed for extensions.

Orlando, officer ask judge to dismiss Pulse victims’ lawsuit

The effects of red tide are seen at Pass-a-Grille Beach in St. Petersburg on Sept. 15 where hundreds, perhaps thousands of fish lie dead on the beach.

BY JEFF WEINER ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

ORLANDO – The city of Orlando is asking a federal judge to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit filed on the behalf of victims and survivors of the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub.

The suit was filed in June. It accuses Orlando police Detective Adam Gruler, who was working an extra-duty shift at the club, of failing to intervene to stop gunman Omar Mateen’s rampage.

The suit also claims that Orlando police unlawfully detained Pulse survivors for hours after the massacre was over.

MARTHA ASCENCIO RHINE/TAMPA BAY TIMES/TNS

Birds are latest victims of Red Tide

BY CRAIG PITTMAN TAMPA BAY TIMES

TAMPA – One recent morning, Elizabeth Forys saw a strange sight on St. Pete Beach.

The Eckerd College biology professor was visiting to check on the condition of certain seabirds as a Red Tide algae bloom rolled into Pinellas County’s iconic beaches.

She saw a laughing gull just sitting on the sand, and she walked up to it. Instead of flying away, it didn’t move, not even when someone came to pick it up.

As with other birds she’d seen staggering around as if they had vertigo, she suspects the gull was poisoned by Red Tide.

‘Lost his nerve’ When Mateen walked into the club and began shooting at 2:02 a.m. on June 12, 2016, Gruler fired at him from two different spots outside Pulse, but did not enter the club to pursue the shooter.

Additional officers arrived within minutes, but police didn’t enter the club until 2:08 a.m. — by which time Mateen had fired more than 200 rounds, according to Orlando police estimates.

“Entering the club to neutralize Shooter would have in fact been risking his life, but that was Gruler’s job,” the suit claims — adding Gruler “lost his nerve” and chose his own safety.

But a motion filed on Sept. 14 by lawyers for Gruler and the city argues Gruler’s reaction to the sudden violence at Pulse doesn’t constitute a violation of the victims’ right to due process.

Other cases cited The Constitution’s due process clause “simply does not require a lone police officer to enter a building and ‘neutralize’ an active shooter armed with an assault rifle,” the motion says.

Suffering too

JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Pulse nightclub owner Barbara Poma tends to the memorial in front of her club in Orlando on June 10, 2017.

The motion cites rulings from cases filed after the 1999 massacre of 13 people at Columbine High School, which sided with officers accused of failing to intervene before or during the killings.

“The situation at Pulse, like Columbine, was a ‘volatile emergency situation the scope and nature of which was unprecedented,’” lawyers for the city and Gruler argue in the motion to dismiss.

Dozens of plaintiffs Forty-nine people were killed and were dozens injured in the mass shooting at Pulse. Dozens of victims and survivors are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Orlando police Chief John Mina has defended Gruler’s response to the shooting, and a report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice said local authorities performed strongly.

Amid all the talk of the wildlife killed

by Red Tide this year — eels, snook, dolphins, manatees and sea turtles — seabirds and shore birds are frequently left out.

But they’re suffering as well, to the point that wildlife rehabilitation experts are on the lookout for ailing birds.

They are particularly searching for the ones that are supposed to be protected by state and federal law, such as black skimmers, least terns, snowy plovers, oystercatchers and red knots.

“We’re really worried about the red knots,” said Lorraine Margeson, an avid birder who monitors nesting behavior at Fort DeSoto. She noted that this time of year, more than a thousand often wind up on the beaches between St. Pete Beach and Sand Key.

Ate dead fish The birds that get sick appear to fall ill after eating the dead fish killed by Red Tide. The algae’s toxins collect in their avian bodies and affect their neurologi-

cal and digestive systems.

Sometimes the poison is fatal. Forys said four snowy plovers died on Lido Key near Sarasota, all apparently killed by Red Tide.

She said that’s an unheard of number of simultaneous deaths for that species, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

45 in one day The hardest hit area appeared to be Sarasota.

There, a wildlife rehabilitation facility called Save Our Seabirds took in 45 sick birds in a single morning, said Melissa Dollard, avian hospital director for the Seashore Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores.

Dollard said she’s hoping her facility doesn’t get that many Red Tide patients in such a short space of time.

“We’ve gotten about 20 birds so far that are presenting with Red Tide symptoms,” Dollard said.

Treating them The ones most commonly affected are the laughing gulls, she said, but the sanctuary has also cared for a pair of cormorants, a ruddy turnstone and a few pelicans, among other species.

Treating them involves giving them food that’s not tainted by Red Tide, providing fluids to flush out the toxins and sometimes treating them with activated charcoal, which helps purge the Red Tide, Dollard said.

Usually they’re fine after seven to 10 days of treatment, she said.

Some good news The sick ones are easy to spot, said Holley Short, project manager for bird stewardship for Audubon’s Tampa Bay chapter.

“They can’t support themselves,” she said. “They’re not behaving the way birds on a beach normally would. They’re not able to control their movements.”

The good news, Margeson said, is that all the wildlife rehabilitation workers and avid birders are working together to search the beaches and find victims before it’s too late. Most can be treated for their poisoning if they get care in time.

EDITORIAL

A4

SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

The tricks of false MBE reporting How many of these “Blackowned companies” are fictitious?

There are many.

Restaurant chains, movie theatres, food companies, construction firms, engineering firms – the shams go on and on.

When I became deputy commissioner for minority business development for the state of Indiana, I quickly found a cottage industry of fake minority businesses. I started to audit the minority participation reports for the new state office building. I was startled to learn that a Thomas Construction allegedly was performing a $2 million contract.

To perform a contract over $100,000, a firm had to be formally pre-qualified. I pulled the file on this company. To my shock, the pre-qualification file was empty.

Not one sheet of paper in it.

We stopped by Thus, we went to pay a visit to this Thomas Construction. It was a small office building with a couple of pickup trucks and a small amount of construction equipment.

We challenged Mr. Thomas about the validity of his work and capabilities. He was arrogant. He dismissed us by saying, “I am doing a $2 million contract – end of discussion!” There was just no way I was going to accept this.

After thinking about it, I came up with a solution. I contacted the Internal Revenue Service and reported that this company says it is doing over $2 million in work and my guess is that they are not reporting this on its tax forms.

number of alleged minority business activity was just a lie. It still goes on today.

HARRY C. ALFORD GUEST COLUMNIST

Shedding tears Two weeks later, an IRS agent visited my office. She reported that after Mr. Thomas stopped crying in front of her, he admitted to the fraud he was perpetrating.

He even had the scheme in writing.

He and Huber, Hunt & Nichols concocted the scheme to fool the public and state officials. It was a front operation replete with false banking records and a duplicate set of books for the real business and the fronting scheme. This was shocking.

Caught a break The state put the prime contractor on probation for five years.

The FBI stepped in to prosecute Mr. Thomas. We convinced them to back off as the sham was exposed, and if they were not going to prosecute this huge Whiteowned construction company, why would they single out this small family-owned business?

This made big news! Television channels and all the local newspapers reported on it. It was just the beginning.

I would audit minority business reports for each state agency and pull out all the “fronting” that was going on. It would not take long for me to realize that a very high

Don’t let them break her spirit!

Two very talented Black women went out to play a game of tennis a few days ago. I’m sure each of them looked forward to a great game.

Other than Venus and Serena Williams playing each other, we had not had a chance to have two Black women play such a match.

We’d grown accustomed to seeing Serena and Venus play each other. It didn’t matter which one won, because we were proud of both.

Who knows?

Naomi Osaka is a sister, too and showed her concern for the way Serena was treated. She may have Japanese blood, but it’s her Black side that the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, prevented her from enjoying her victory.

DR. E. FAYE WILLIAMS, ESQ. TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE.COM

She had won one set, but Serena was winning when the dastardly act of taking a game from Serena occurred. The question is still open as to who would have eventually won had Serena been given a fair chance.

Naomi knew that what happened to Serena was not right.

Through her own tears, she showed that she recognized her victory isn’t the victory she had hoped for in the way it came about.

Serena is definitely our sis-

I broke Anita Hill’s story: What we must learn When I first called Anita Hill in 1991 to ask her, out of the blue, if she had been sexually harassed by then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, she was very reluctant to give me any details.

For weeks Hill had been talking to Senate Judiciary Committee staffers after they received a tip from a former classmate of hers. She was unwilling to let the committee identify her by name.

Hill asked me whether I thought it would make a difference if she came forward and, indirectly, what the repercussions might be for her. I told her what she already knew: She would become the center of a firestorm and the focus of partisan attacks on her character.

Once again When my story detailing her

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: DONALD TRUMP AND PUERTO RICO

TIMOTHY M. PHELPS GUEST COMMENTARY

allegations appeared in Newsday, Anita Hill became a household name. Twenty-seven years later, Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh are unfolding in an uncannily similar fashion.

Like Hill, Ford was willing to talk to senators, but not to have her name revealed. In both cases, this reluctance led to delays, and ultimately to last-minute revelations after confirmation hearings were closed. As with Hill, Ford’s timing has exposed Democrats to charges that the accusations rep-

Beware ‘OINO’ One of the best indicators is “celebrity ownership” – or as it is called in business school, “Ownership In Name Only.” When you see an entertainer or more often than not a star athlete perpetrating business ownership, please realize that it may be fake. These NBA and NFL sports all-stars are faking their business management skills and ownership. There is a White operative behind the scenes.

They all want us to believe that because someone can sing, play football, basketball, etc. they are adept at business management and ownership. Don’t think that it is that easy. It is not, and most of it is a game they play on us to perk us up into thinking that Black business empowerment is a real thing.

It’s everywhere In every city, there is a certain amount of Black business fronting going on. I am sorry to break the news to you.

Take a list of Black businesses such as the Black Enterprise 100 and I can assure you that there are games being played. They will have you thinking that there are Black-owned oil companies, trucking fleets, food manufacturers, movie studios and billionaire entrepreneurs who have no formal education or expertise. They just have “the touch.”

How many of these Black ‘film

ter, and no matter what, she has proven to be an awesome sister.

She acknowledged Naomi’s victory, and though unhappy about how it came about, she hugged her and congratulated her.

Still the queen Serena is still the queen of tennis for those of us who love and admire her. As a Black woman, I am proud to have Serena represent Black people so well on the tennis court. We are blessed to have many Black women making us proud. Currently there is Stacey Abrams, candidate for governor of Georgia, and more.

The haters can do their thing in trying to belittle Serena, but we celebrate her for her entire history of bringing us victories. Say what you will about her calling out the chair umpire and throwing down her racquet, she’s still the best. Her male counterparts have done worse, and were never punished.

That’s something we Black women are accustomed to, but I

resent a desperate partisan attempt to derail the confirmation.

Hill was accused by Republican senators of “erotomania,” was called “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty” by the journalist David Brock, and weathered ridiculous allegations that she had enclosed pubic hairs when returning papers to her law students at the University of Oklahoma. All just to see Thomas confirmed anyway.

If Hill’s story had been handled properly earlier in the process, and she had been given time to prepare to testify, Thomas would not be on the Supreme Court.

Who can blame Ford for not wanting to go public after what happened to Hill? “Why suffer through the annihilation if it’s not going to matter?” Ford told the Washington Post.

Similarities and differences Both women are professors, people of standing. Both passed lie detector tests. But there are al-

JOHN COLE, THE SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE, PA

studios,’ car dealerships, retail chains, etc., are Black-owned?

Not many, and it is alarming how they “fake the funk” when it comes to Black entrepreneurship.

documents of a company. It is there that the real ownership will be divulged.

Check certain records

Sadly, I must declare that a sizeable portion of any city, state or federal minority business reports are inflated with false numbers.

From New York to Los Angeles and all points in between, there is a bunch of fronting going on instead of real deal inclusion.

When will the games stop?

That actor, Hall of Famer, singer or whatever type of celebrity who claims to be a big-time entrepreneur – they bear watching!

I would expose false construction projects reporting by evaluating the actual bonding of a project. There is no bonding company that is going to falsify bonding coverage on a project. Simply ask to see the bond certificate and verify the signature. The signor will be the true owner of the company. I would bust so many front operations by doing due diligence on that.

You can also check the payroll records that are submitted to the Department of Labor (EEO-1 reports). They will tell the true story about who is being paid and what race and gender they represent.

Another way is to check online with the applicable Secretary of State about the incorporation

write this message to ask that we not engage in the criticism others are doing about Serena. What she did was normal.

Sure, she was upset about the call against her. Any one of us would have responded the same way she did. Let’s protect and defend her legacy and never allow anyone to destroy it or the legacy of any Black woman who is achieving so highly. She is, after all, a 23-time Grand Slam champion!

Doesn’t know beauty As for that stupid cartoonist, Mark Knight, who drew the racist image of Serena, put him in the category of No. 45; he just doesn’t know real beauty when he sees it. He knew what he was doing and no explanation gives is acceptable.

One can assume he thinks because No. 45 tries to denigrate everybody he doesn’t like, he can do the same. Fortunately, people from around the world have condemned him and we should con-

so major differences.

Hill had several witnesses who testified that she had told them about harassment by Thomas around the time it occurred.

Ford, a teenager at the time she says the incident took place, says she was too afraid of getting in trouble to tell anyone, and kept it a secret until she was in therapy six years ago.

Hill was essentially accusing Thomas of violating civil laws against sexual harassment, at a time when Thomas was responsible for enforcing those laws.

Ford has accused a 17-year-old Kavanaugh of attempted rape.

What are the lessons?

The most important one is that the accuser must be taken seriously, treated with respect and, crucially, given time to prepare and obtain competent advice.

Hill was cross-examined in prosecutorial fashion. She was given just two days to prepare.

Her legal team was thrown together and not experienced in Senate procedure.

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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demn him. Let him know that Serena is talented and beautiful and his opinion does not even matter.

Thanks to Billie Jean King and others, the pushback on Knight’s racist depiction of Serena came immediately, as well as on the matter of the harsh penalty given to her by the chief umpire. On the other hand, certain umpires are considering a boycott of some of Serena’s matches.

We must stand I don’t think that threat will break Serena. Umpires are expected to be non-partisan. This threat alone shows their bias against Serena. That’s why I see it as our responsibility to stand up for Serena even as we celebrate another young Black woman being the victor from the chaos.

Dr. E. Faye Williams is national chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. Contact her via www.nationalcongressbw.org.

Both Ford and Kavanaugh are now scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. That should give Ford – if she appears – enough time to prepare, especially since she had already retained a top Washington lawyer, Debra Katz.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the Democrat from West Virginia who had initially intended to vote to confirm Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice, put it best during that confirmation process.

“If there is a doubt,” Byrd said, “I say resolve it in the interests of our country, its future. Let’s not have a cloud of doubt for someone who will be on the court for many years.”

Timothy M. Phelps is a former Washington legal reporter and editor for the Los Angeles Times and co-author of “Capitol Games: The Inside Story of Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, and a Supreme Court nomination.”

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SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

EDITORIAL

To Kaepernick: Where do you go from here?

Dear Colin Kaepernick, Since you initially sat out the national anthem over two years ago, I have stood by the position that your stand was just and your action principled.

Hardline White supremacists were not alone in attacking you.

The entire ruling circle in this country deemed your protest an insult to the mythical notion that the United States is an exceptional country.

As you will see in my upcoming book with fellow Black Agenda Report contributor Roberto Sirvent, the attacks you received were rooted in the myth of American exceptionalism and the defense of a system predicated upon an endless project of war, racism, and corporate plunder. And like others who have taken courageous stands against this system, the cost has been your career.

Selling out?

I can’t say that I am not disappointed in your decision to team up with the Nike corporation. It would be easy to call you a “sellout” and leave it at that.

However, we at Black Agenda Report are serious about politics. There is no easy way out of the political struggle for radical and transformative change. Every individual decision comes with consequences and every individual action is influenced by existing conditions, both historical and contemporary. This letter is not just for you, but for the people who look up to you and who remain committed to your original cause.

Political conditions in the United States offer little alternative to the use of corporate branding and careerism to further political objectives. There are few, if any, viable political organizations independent of corporate patronage in the U.S. capable of winning material gains for the people.

corporate oligarchs at

ers, and media pundits began to frame your protest as a fight for “free speech” against authoritarian Trump.

Your career no longer mattered nor did the structural racism that had originally informed the protest. Kneeling during the anthem was now a crusade to “save” the U.S. from “Trump’s America.” In a word, the anthem protest became one act of many in the theater of preserving the mythical exceptionalism of the United States.

Kneeling for the anthem is now a common practice in the NFL. Some players have maintained a principled stance and remain vocal opponents of the racist regime of mass incarceration. The grievance you filed with the union is ongoing and so is your work in the community. These are all good things.

the helm of the most

Questionable decisions

DANNY HAIPHONG BLACK AGENDA REPORT

It will be up to you to decide whether you want to stand for and with them or become a representative of “diversity” for the

monstrous social order in human history.

test. I paid close attention to the reaction from all sides of the political spectrum. Right-wing forces called you ungrateful to a nation that paid you handsomely for your NFL services. These are the same forces currently burning Nike shoes out of racist spite.

We cannot be fooled into thinking, however, that there were not many on the so-called liberal side of the spectrum who felt similarly to their right-wing brethren. You said you were protesting a flag and an anthem that represents the oppression of Black America.

And the establishment, regardless of its political persuasion, hated you for it.

All sides of the establishment despised you at that time because you challenged the mythology of American exceptionalism, which is the most prized ideologiSelf-criticism is cal weapon of the oligarchic ruling class. Your criticism of the animportant However, criticism and self- them and the flag not only targetcriticism remain invaluable to ed racism directly but also indithe development of such orga- rectly attacked U.S. militarism. nizations. Black Agenda Report is managed by activists and or- Monument to militarism ganizers on the Black Left. When The NFL, like most professional BAR editors critique my work, I sports leagues in the U.S., is a cordo my best to listen and correct porate-sponsored monument to myself each time. militarism. They spend millions BAR has been the only pub- celebrating wars carried out by lication to consistently oppose the trillion-dollar war machine. war, White supremacy, and capi- Your career was cut short to entalist exploitation even when it is sure that the interests of the corcarried out by Black leadership. porate NFL ownership and the This landed BAR in lonely territo- military industrial complex were ry during the Obama era and on protected. the anti-Russian blacklist in the After you were blacklisted Trump era. from the NFL, your cause beI closely followed your pro- came whitewashed. Players, own-

Kavanaugh-Ford ending may differ from Thomas-Hill I declared in a Sept. 5 commentary that only an act of God could derail Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. Well, this news from Good Morning America might qualify: A California psychology professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in high school wants to cooperate with federal lawmakers considering the nomination, but doesn’t want to be part of a Washington ‘bloodletting,’ her attorney said on ‘Good Morning America’ Monday.

Christine Blasey Ford wants to speak to investigators about her allegations, but she doesn’t want to become the next Anita Hill.

Didn’t she know?

Except that Ford saying she does not want to become the next Hill is rather like saying she only wants to be a little pregnant.

Frankly, this psychology professor had to have known that,by triggering this political fight against Kavanaugh, she would become just that. #Reverse Psychology?

That said, Ford has far more going for her today than Hill had back then, not least of course the zeitgeist of reckoning the#MeToo movement represents.

More directly, Ford shared the trauma of this alleged event with her therapist years ago. And she passed an FBI-administered polygraph just last month. These

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

There’s every reason to believe Kavanaugh’s confirmation is toast.

And I am willing to bet good money that it is.

It only remains to be seen if he withdraws his nomination before the Senate denies his confirmation. alone make her credibility on the merits virtually unimpeachable.

Meanwhile, Kavanaugh got 65 women to sign a letter saying that’s not the Brett they knew back in the 1980s, during communal hookups

However, it was clear before the Nike deal that your politics were beginning to become subsumed by the forces of the power structure.

Last year, you aligned your cause with a well-known child who has been used to promote U.S. funding and military support for the destabilization of Syria. This indicated that either you were unaware or simply disinterested in the ruthless war waged by the U.S. and its allies against that nation.

The truth is that there simply is no time to waver or remain ignorant on the question of war and peace. Workers, especially Black people, continue to see a decline in their economic conditions while the U.S. war machine gets fatter from U.S. tax dollars and stolen resources abroad.

The nation of Syria is embattled in a struggle to preserve its selfdetermination from the most violent and ruthless alliance of imperialists led by the United States. At any moment, the struggle to take back Idlib from foreign occupying forces could lead to a military confrontation between U.S. and Russian forces.

Message diluted I watched your Nike commercial and was struck that you found it principled to allow one of the most shallow and exploitative monopolies on the planet to sanitize your political message.

The commercial made no mention of police violence against Black Americans nor did it mention racism at all. All the commercial achieved was the erasure of Black struggle under the banner of “diversity” and the “American dream.”

You told viewers to “dream big,”

between his all-boys school and their all-girls school in Bethesda, Md. But their testimony has one obvious limitation, namely none of them can say today what happened behind closed doors back then between Ford and “stumbling-drunk” Kavanaugh.

So we await the inevitable hesaid, she-said hearing, during which he will play Thomas and she will play Hill.

I think it’s true For the record, I believe her. But his drunken hijinks in high school (alone) should not be disqualifying. In fact,I would have given him a pass if he had issued a statement apologizing for the trauma he never realized he caused when he tried to have drunken sex with her at a party in high school; and no other women come out of the woodwork to accuse him of similar, more recent assaults. But he “categorically and unequivocally” denied it.

Incidentally, Ford says there was another stumbling-drunk boy in the room when Kavanaugh (or both) attempted to rape her.

But in a New York Times report, “HeToo”denied it: “It never happened,” [Mark Judge] said. “I never saw anything like what was described.”

Of course, he (with his centralcasting name for any court scandal) has every incentive to do so.

And, let’s face it, their denials are all too understandable.

After all,16 women credibly accused Trump of sexual assault.

He denied each one and got elected president of the United States.

Only one woman is credibly accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Therefore, it’s reasonable for him (and Trump) to think he can deny this one and get con-

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: HURRICANE RESPONSE

DAVE GRANLUND, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

yet the police are ending lives of young Black Americans all over the country nearly every day. Nike is destroying the dreams of workers all over the world through the imposition of low-wages and putrid working conditions.

It is one thing to defend your humanity from the violence of White racists, but another thing entirely to ignore the fact that your decision to team with Nike deserves condemnation.

Movements are not defined by defense alone. Movements seize the time. They move people to change society. In the case of U.S. imperialism, the only hope for humanity is the revolutionary overthrow of the system and the oligarchs that control it.

Nike corporation is owned by such oligarchs and is part and parcel of the system of imperialism. Nike operates by the motive of profit alone and exploits athletics to enrich its shareholders and executives. No revolution or social movement has ever been born out of the good graces of a monopoly corporation.

Didn’t sell out Some athletes have taken political positions in recent years without selling their principles to a monopoly. Two that come to mind are Craig Hodges and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

Hodges, a laser accurate threepoint shooter for the Chicago Bulls, attempted to organize a boycott of the NBA finals between the Bulls and the Lakers after the brutal police beating of Rodney King. Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson banded together against Hodges to prevent a boycott and the NBA ensured that his career would never be the same.

Like you, Abdul-Rauf believed that the national anthem was a symbol of oppression and sat out numerous pre-game ceremonies in 1996 . He was fined heavily by the NBA and ruthlessly attacked and threatened by racists and the media. Even though he worked out a settlement with the NBA,

Abdul-Rauf never sold his protest to Nike or any other corporation and his career never recovered.

So where will you go from here?

The U.S. state apparatus will only become more and more repressive. Corporate endorsements cannot provide any relief for the millions of Black Americans terrorized, murdered, and incarcerated by the state. It won’t free the dozens of political prisoners encaged behind prisons walls due to their participation in the Black liberation movement and related movements of a generation ago.

U.S. imperialism continues to expand its trillion-dollar war chest to threaten global annihilation with Russia and China.

It seeks to destabilize Syria and Iran. It won’t allow socialist countries like Cuba and the DPRK to exist in peace.

Look at Nike Nike has no interest in allowing so-called “underdeveloped nations” to exercise the right of selfdetermination, economically or politically. And workers and poor people in the United States do not benefit from corporate endorsements.

These are issues that deserve urgent political attention. The system of U.S. imperialism must be brought down. A new system must be built.

While some may view your latest move to align with Nike as harmless, this is not reflective of the political reality of the current period. We have real heroes to free from prison and real heroes among the oppressed classes.

It will be up to you to decide whether you want to stand for and with them or become a representative of “diversity” for the corporate oligarchs at the helm of the most monstrous social order in human history.

Danny Haiphong is an activist and journalist in the New York City area. Contact him at wakeupriseup1990@gmail. com.

firmed to the Supreme Court of ham of South Carolina: He spent the United States. much of the past year making a mockery of his celebrated friendship with McCain by kissing up Credibility at issue This means that the issue is not to Trump – a man McCain clearwhat he did back then as a drunk- ly felt was making a mockery of en teenager; it’s his credibility to- the office. Graham could use this vote not only to emulate McCain day as a sober judge.

I watched the initial hearing on but also to seal his belated reverhis confirmation. Many Demo- sion to the days when he himcratic senators had just cause to self thought Trump was a certifiquestion his credibility even be- able “kook.” With Mueller’s noose fore Ford came forward. Some ac- tightening around Trump’s prescused him of perjury for trying to idency, Graham clearly has no conceal the nakedly partisan role reason to continue kissing his ass.

• The X factor: I suspect more he played on Special Counsel Ken Starr’s team and in George W. than a few Republican senators regret the partisan way Mitch Bush’s White House.

Therefore, the only question McConnell, the Senate Majority now is whether this allegation leader, refused for nine months to proves a tipping point for two or even hold hearings for Obama’s nominee,”Merrick more Republican senators. It will “consensus take them breaking ranks to tor- Garland. They might see this Ford pedo Kavanaugh’s confirmation, accusation as a reason/opportuemulating the way Senator John nity to break Washington’s partiMcCain famously did to torpe- san fever and make amends.

Given all the above, there’s evdo Republican efforts to repeal ery reason to believe Kavanaugh’s Obamacare.

As it happens,several senators confirmation is toast. And I am have every incentive t o do just willing to bet good money that it is. It only remains to be seen if he that, as follows: • The six female Republicans withdraws his nomination before in the Senate, most notably Su- the Senate denies his confirmasan Collins of Maine and Li- tion.

NOTE: Republicans are accussa Murkowski of Alaska: If they vote for Kavanaugh, in this age of ing Democrats of using Ford’s ac#MeToo, they risk being pilloried cusation to derail Kavanaugh’s as no better than the all-male, all- confirmation at the last minute.

White Republican senators who But these prevailing #MeToo facts chose to believe Clarence Thom- belie their accusation: Ford asked as over Anita Hill. to remain anonymous, and Dem• The retiring male Republi- ocrats had to honor that. It was cans in the Senate, most notably she who decided to finally come Bob Corker of Tennessee and forward.

Jeff Flake of Arizona: They can Anthony L. Hall is a native of finally back up their frequent criticisms of this mendacious, geni- The Bahamas with an internatal-grabbing president by deny- tional law practice in Washinging him this pick for the Supreme ton, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinCourt.

• The wild card, Lindsey Gra- ionsjournal.com.

TOJ A6

NATION

SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

STACEY WESCOTT/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Alvin Bernard Tillery Jr. is photographed at Scott Hall on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus on Aug. 21. He is the director of the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy.

A look at skin color vs. identity Study reviews ‘huge surprise’ in how Americans view race

BY DARCEL ROCKETT CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Race isn’t a black and white issue.

And it seems many Americans know that, according to a recent study by Northwestern University’s Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy (CSDD). The survey, conducted in collaboration with DNA testing company 23andMe, looked at people’s perceptions and attitudes regarding race and genetics.

It found 33.8 percent of Americans think biology totally determines racial identity; 18.8 percent think it somewhat determines race; 30.2 percent believe the two are related but not causal; 17.2 percent see no relation.

“I believed the numbers were going to be far worse,” said Alvin Tillery Jr., director of CSDD. “I expected two-thirds of every population group would believe that science or biology determines your

race. That was a huge surprise.”

3,000 participants The CSDD data, gathered from 3,000 adults this year, found White people to be the most committed to the idea that biology determines race (37.2 percent), followed by Latinos (27.1 percent), Asian-Americans (26 percent) and African-Americans (24.5 percent).

“To some extent, we can’t be too surprised by that,” Tillery said of the last statistic.

“Study after study in race relations research show Black Americans are the most committed to democratic personal choice — it’s this unwillingness to be defined by the system.”

Defining race Biologically, humans are 99.9 percent genetically identical, according to the Human Genome Project, completed in April 2003.

The CSDD study found that about half of Americans think skin color is the best way to identify a person’s race; 35 percent think culture and history play a role; 18 percent believe race is a

personal choice.

To be clear, CSDD defines race as a construct that human beings use to organize themselves and others into groups. This construct often, but not always, relies on phenotypical or gross characteristics, also known as outward appearance.

Genomic scan Tillery explores this in his NU classes. He shows students a genomic pie chart representing someone who is 26 percent Scottish/Irish/U.K. and 74 percent West/Central Africa.

He asks who they think the person is in the class. Most think the person must be able to pass for White. When it’s revealed that the genomic scan is Tillery’s, he said students are visibly shocked.

“The takeaway is we all got far more genetic complexity than we realize,” Tillery said. “Yet we still live in a society that demarcates us by race and that tiny, tiny sliver of our genetic code that is visibly different to others.”

Second study This is the second study that

CSDD has conducted since opening 18 months ago — the first, in 2017, looked at how Black Americans understand and perceive the Black Lives Matter movement.

Both are collaborative projects that Tillery said follows the mission of the center, which is to strengthen a multiracial and gender-equitable democracy.

Another goal of this year’s survey was to gauge whether DNA tests make our existing perceptions of race better or worse.

Tillery said the modern world is built on the misuse of these racial constructs to justify human rights violations (like genocide, slavery and colonialism) and the extraction and transfer of resources from certain populations to others.

Shifting races He mentioned scenarios in which White people, after discovering they have a 10 percent African genome, check the “person of color” box on elite college applications, believing it’s easier to get accepted if you’re Black or Latino.

“I don’t think we have thought about what possibilities there are, but we’ve certainly thought of the kind of situational identity problem in sociology where people choose what identity to stress as it suits their strategic and emotional goals,” Tillery said.

“People getting these scans back may shift races for a variety of reasons, so that’s something that we definitely want to understand.”

Next goal Fifty-six percent of those polled said race relations are getting worse, not better. But whether DNA testing contributes to that decline, has not been proved, Tillery said. That’s a concept he’d like to research next.

“When I did my ancestry test on Ancestry.com, they tell you who your closest kin who has also taken the test (is), and my closest kin is a White woman,” he said.

“Genetically she and I have almost identical genomic scans. …

We’ve known that these things can happen, but there’s never been a study to try to account for how the general population thinks about these issues. That’s what we’re doing with this project.”

Warrant: Daycare owner tied shoelaces around babies’ necks

BY DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR. FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/TNS

FORT WORTH, Texas — A daycare owner tied shoelaces around the necks of young children to limit their movement and gave Tylenol to each child to make them stop crying, according to an arrest warrant.

Rebecca Rebecca AnderAnderson son left the tiedup babies and toddlers in car seats for at least seven hours each day, according to the warrant.

In one incident, Anderson, 60, yanked a 6-month-old baby by his bib, which was around his neck, according to the warrant obtained Monday by the StarTelegram.

Caught on camera Anderson was arrested on Sept. 14 after police investigated complaints from parents about the treatment of their children at Becky’s Home Child Care in the 4300 block of Tamarix Court.

Mesquite is about 45 miles east of

Fort Worth.

One parent captured the alleged abuse on a camera mounted on his baby’s car seat, according to the warrant.

Police searched the daycare on Sept. 14 and shut it down, removing nine children. Detectives coordinated with doctors at Children’s Hospital in Dallas to have the toddlers and babies medically evaluated.

“The children’s parents were called to the scene,” police Sgt. Joseph Thompson said in a news release.

When confronted by detectives about leaving the children in car seats, Anderson acknowledged her actions were wrong and could have resulted in the death of one of the children, the warrant states.

One account The arrest warrant gave this brief account of the case: One parent found the daycare through the Dallas Family Protection Service, which listed the owner as Rebecca Anderson.

On Thursday, Sept. 13, the family dropped off their 6-month-old at 7:30 a.m. and picked up the child at 4 p.m. The family had mounted a camera on their son’s car seat.

DREAMSTIME/TNS

One parent captured alleged abuse on a camera mounted on a baby’s car seat, according to the warrant.

Once the family got home they watched the video and saw Anderson roughly yank their son out of a car seat and then feed him an unknown substance using a plastic syringe.

That family reported the incident to police on Friday (Sept.

14), handing over the video to authorities.

Confined in closet Detectives went to the daycare about 1:30 p.m. Friday with a search warrant. Anderson answered the door and told police there were five children in the home.

While police secured the home, detectives found three

children in the master bedroom closet, strapped into plastic car seats. The doors were closed, and the lights were off in the room.

Nine children were found in the home, all tied with ligatures around their necks. Police later described the ligatures as cotton shoelaces.

Changed story Initially, Anderson denied she used medication on the children, but she later changed her story when detectives showed the video evidence.

She told police she gave the children Tylenol to “maker her job easier,” according to the warrant.

When questioned about the ligatures, Anderson told detectives she used them to prevent the children from reaching the latching mechanisms and getting out of the car seats.

Nine counts After being interviewed, Anderson grabbed her keys, walked to her car and drove away. She was later arrested.

Anderson was moved to the Dallas County Jail on Sunday night, and remained there Monday in lieu of $45,000 bail. She is charged with nine counts of a charged described as “abandon, endanger child criminal negligence.”

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Robert Simmons Jr. and his kitten “Survivor” are rescued from floodwaters in New Bern, N.C., after Hurricane Florence dumped several inches of rain in the area overnight, on Sept. 14.

TRAVIS LONG/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

JEFF SINER/CHARLOTTE OBSERVER/TNS

A tree rests atop a home on Queens Road West in Charlotte, N.C. on Sept. 16. Tropical Storm Florence brought heavy rain and winds to the Charlotte area on Sept. 15 and 16 with trees falling throughout the city.

Hurricanes below a 5 can be highly dangerous

BY JENNY JARVIE AND MITCHELL LANDSBERG LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – As Hurricane Florence surged toward land last week, meteorologists and emergency agencies took notice. The storm was a Category 4 hurricane, the secondstrongest type, and it was drawing a bead on the Carolina coast.

By the time it made landfall on Friday, however, Florence had been downgraded to Category 1 — and it wasn’t long before it was further diminished to a tropical storm, and then a tropical depression. To some people in North Carolina and South Carolina, that sounded like good news.

The National Hurricane Center begged to differ. It repeatedly warned people that Florence remained highly dangerous, with the potential for catastrophic flooding.

“Do not focus on the wind speed category of #Hurricane #Florence!” the center tweeted, somewhat frantically.

That led some people to wonder: If it’s so dangerous, why doesn’t it carry a scarier designation? Here are some answers to key questions about the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

Q. How are storms rated?

A. Hurricanes are rated according to SaffirSimpson, which grades them from Category 1 (maximum sustained winds of 74-95 mph) to Category 5 (sustained winds of 157 mph or higher).

Ranking below those in wind speed are tropical storms and tropical depressions. The National Hurricane Center describes the damage expected from each category, with language that grows more apocalyptic with each higher number.

For a Category 1 storm, it warns that “very dangerous winds will produce some damage,” and describes it in relatively measured tones: “Well-constructed frame homes could have damage to roof, shingles, vinyl siding and gutters. Large branches of trees will snap and shallowly rooted trees may be toppled. Extensive damage to power lines and poles likely will result in power outages that could last a few to several days.”

By the time it gets to a Category 5 hurricane, the language is terrifying: “Catastrophic damage will occur: A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will

CHUCK LIDDY/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

Hundreds line up as a Harris Teeter opened its doors on Saturday, Sept. 15, in Wilmington, N.C., which remained mostly powerless as Tropical Storm Florence continued to pelt the area with rain and wind.

Capt. Steven Barker with the Spring Lake Fire Department helps evacuate residents from the Heritage at Fort Bragg Apartments in Spring Lake, N.C. on Monday.

ETHAN HYMAN/ RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

be uninhabitable for weeks or months.”

Q. Where did the scale get its name?

A. It was developed by wind engineer Herb Saffir and meteorologist Bob Simpson, who are said to have wanted to create an equivalent to the Richter scale for earthquakes.

Q. Are the most damaging storms always rated Category 5?

A. Hurricane Harvey, which caused devas-

tating flooding in Houston last year, was one of the two costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, along with Hurricane Katrina. And yet, it was not a Category 5 storm. It was rated Category 4 when it made landfall on the Texas coast, and was downgraded to a tropical depression long before it hit Houston, where it stalled and dumped vast amounts of rain. Water, not wind, See HURRICANES, Page B2

EVENTS & OBITUARY

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SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

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FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Miami Gardens: A Day of Remembrance for murder victims is Sept. 25 at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex. Details and RSVP: 786-623-4623 Miramar: The Stars of Trinidad and Tobago concert is Oct. 6 at the Miramar Regional Park Amphitheater. Performers include Blaxx, Anslem Douglas and the Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra.

Miami: The Miami Carnival season starts Sept. 29 with the Junior Carnival. Panorama is Oct. 5 and J’ouvert is Oct. 6. The parade of bands and concert is Oct. 7 at the MiamiDade County Fairgrounds. Details: www. miamibrowardcarnival. com.

Tallahassee: The Florida A&M Rattlers’ football team faces Savannah State at 6 p.m. on Sept. 22 at Bragg Stadium.

SNOOP DOGG

NICKI MINAJ

Tickets for his Dec. 20 appearance at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood are now on sale.

The rapper’s concert featuring Future is Oct. 19 at AmericanAirlinesArena and Oct. 20 at Orlando’s Amway Center.

FLORIDA CLASSIC

West Palm Beach: Edward Waters College’s football team vs. Keiser University at noon on Sept. 29.

The annual intrastate rival football game between BethuneCookman and Florida A&M is Nov. 17 at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. Details: FloridaClassic.org

Hollywood: The Off Color Comedy Tour stops at Hollywood’s Hard Rock Live on Oct. 6.

Performers include Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Tommy Davidson and David Alan Grier.

DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./ HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY. COM

Miramar: The White Party featuring Frankie Beverly and the Isley Brothers is set for Sept.

29 at the Miramar Regional Park Amphitheatre.

Orlando: Tamia’s Passion Like Fire Tour stops at the House of Blues Orlando on Oct. 11.

St. Petersburg: Tickets are on sale for a concert featuring Trick Daddy and Trina on Oct. 5 at Jannus Live.

Ken Smikle, founder of Target Market News, dies at 66 TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

A celebration of life will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 22 in Chicago for Ken Smikle, founder and publisher of Target Market

HURRICANES from B1 caused the damage.

There have, of course, been devastating Category 5 storms, including Hurricane Andrew, which rampaged through south Florida and Louisiana in 1992, killing 25 people and causing $25 billion in damage, much of it from explosively powerful winds.

Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, was a Category 5 storm, but it had diminished to Category 3 by the time it hit New Orleans, where it wreaked its worst damage.

Q. Should flooding be taken into account?

A. Actually, it once was. When the scale was developed in 1972, it included barometric pressure, flooding impact and storm surge — the rise in ocean water that can swamp low-lying coastal communities. But over time, all but wind speed was dropped and the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale became the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

According to a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the scale was simplified for two basic reasons: Wind measurements became more accurate, and there was a realization that storm surge was complicated and difficult to predict.

It can change based on the size of the hurricane, the depth of the coastal waters, the hurricane’s forward speed and its angle to the shore.

Thus, the report said, the scale was changed “to help reduce public confusion about the impacts associated with the various hurricane categories, as well as to provide a more scientifically defensible scale.”

That said, it acknowledged that wind speed is also not a perfect predictor of damage, which is “to some degree dependent upon the local building codes in effect and how well and how long they have been enforced.”

Q. Do categories matter?

News, a trade publication that reported on the Black consumer market.

The 66-year-old Smikle died on Sept. 12 from congestive heart failure.

As founder and editor of Target Market News, he appeared on ABC, CBS, Ken Smikle CNN, PBS and BET. Smikle also published “Buying Power of Black America,’’ an annual report that offered analysis of products and services most used by African-American consumers.

“Ken Smikle was a great man and a

warrior for economic justice with a vision that appeared well beyond his years,” said Hazel Trice Edney, founder of Trice Edney News Wire. “He sought to document the buying power of Black America through his publication by the same name.”

New York native Before starting his own publication, he was an editor at Black Enterprise.

He was born Jan. 3, 1952, in New York, to Mary Alice Dobbins Smikle and Dr. Kenneth Raymond Smikle, a college dean.

A celebration of his life will be held at First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington St. He is survived by his wife, Renee Ferguson, a former NBC 5 investigative reporter in Chicago, and their son. Survivors include his brother, the critically acclaimed photographer Dawoud Bey, a recipient of a Genius Grant from the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation.

This story is special to Trice Edney News Wire form NorthStar News Today.

A. Yes, at least from a psychological standpoint.

“I like the fact that people pay attention to the category because it gives them something to benchmark against,” said Michael Cramer, town manager for the island community of Carolina Beach in southeast North Carolina.

“Most people don’t pay much attention to the details, but they do pay attention to the category and as the categories go up, they get more scared. It helps focus people.”

There’s evidence to back him up. A study by Texas A&M University after Hurricane Rita in 2005 found that people were more likely to heed evacuation orders when they were told the category of the hurricane was higher.

Only about 10 percent of those surveyed said they would evacuate in the event of a tropical storm, but more than 90 percent said they’d evacuate in a Category 5 hurricane.

Q. So why not change the scale?

A. Some people have proposed doing just that.

Lakshmi Kantha, a professor of aerospace science at the University of Colorado-Boulder, published an article in 2006 arguing that it was time for the scale to “retire with dignity.” He proposed a new Hurricane Hazard Index that would have several components, including the size of the storm, the wind speed and rainfall potential.

That, in essence, is what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration argues it has been doing. NOAA has developed new online tools that show predicted rainfall and offer warnings about storm surges. “There are multiple threats with a storm — there is the wind, there is the inland flooding and the storm surge — and all of those various threats are depicted graphically through a variety of Weather Service products,” said NOAA spokesman Chis Vaccaro.

Chick Jacobs, a community writer who has covered weath-

CHUCK LIDDY/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

Rescue workers, police and fire department members wait to remove the bodies of a mother and child who were killed by a falling tree as Hurricane Florence made landfall in Wilmington, N.C. on Friday, Sept. 14. The father was transported to the hospital with serious injuries. er stories for the Fayetteville Observer for more than 20 years, is among those who believe more should be done.

“It would be nice in the offseason for everyone to get together and say, ‘OK, the last three big-damage hurricanes that hit the U.S. didn’t hit us with wind.

That means you’ve got to change something.’

“There’s got to be some way people can look at announcements and say, ‘Oh man, it’s going to be a Category 2, Rain 5.

Jeez, we better get out.’ ” But, he added, “That’s up to bigger minds than me.”

Jarvie reported from Fayetteville and Landsberg from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Molly Hennessy- Fiske in Conway, S.C., contributed to this report.

CASEY TOTH/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

Three days after Hurricane Florence made landfall in Wilmington, N.C., flood water still surrounded buildings in Trenton, N.C. on Monday.

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SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

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HEALTH

SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

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CDC: Get flu vaccines before season begins It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies that protect against flu to develop in the body, the federal agency states.

BY HOWARD COHEN MIAMI HERALD/TNS

MIAMI – The flu was “everywhere” last year. A Centers for Disease Control doctor cautioned that the last flu season proved to be one of the deadliest.

That’s why the CDC is urging people to act now, just before the October start of the 2018-19 flu season and get vaccinated. That advice comes even if you delayed a few months into the previous flu season and got vaccinated earlier this year.

Some of the age ranges for certain vaccines have been lowered and some vaccines were reformulated to better prevent currently circulating viruses.

Reduces death risk Among the benefits of getting vaccinated for the flu: Getting a vaccine doesn’t mean you won’t get the flu, but if you do get sick it could be less severe, experts say.

In addition, a 2007 CDC study found that the flu vaccination significantly reduced a child’s risk of dying from influenza.

The study analyzed data from four flu seasons between 2010 and 2014 and found that “flu vaccination reduced the risk of fluassociated death by half, or 51 percent, among children with underlying high-risk medical conditions and by nearly two-thirds, 65 percent, among healthy children.”

Vaccines at stores Vaccines to fight the flu can also protect women during and after pregnancy and protect a baby after delivery, the CDC said.

The push to take the flu seriously is especially relevant given the severity of the recent season. Vaccines are available at pharmacies, including those at Publix, Walgreens, CVS and most doctor’s offices.

“The 2017-18 season was the first season to be classified as a high severity across all age groups,” the CDC reported.

The influenza-like-illness activity ramped up in November, “reached an extended period of high activity during January and February nationally, and remained elevated through the end of March,” the CDC reported.

Children’s deaths Adult deaths from the flu are

ANTONIO PEREZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Kaiden Whittman receives a flu shot from medical assistant Gigi Hernandez at Advocate Children’s Hospital. not nationally notifiable, the CDC said, but children’s cases are tabulated. The number of pediatric deaths attributed to the flu, as of Aug. 25, numbered 180 — the worst since 171 died during the particularly severe 2012-13 flu season.

Of the 180 children who died in the last year, 80 percent, or 144 of them, did not receive the vaccine during the season, the CDC said.

At least five children died from flu-related illnesses during the 2017-18 season in Florida.

Seasons vary In addition, the duration of cases at or above the national baseline was 19 weeks, “making the 2017-2018 season one of the longest in recent years,” the CDC said.

According to the CDC, flu viruses are most common during the fall and winter months.

Influenza activity starts to pick up the pace in October and November. The peak of flu activity happens sometime between December and February, but it can last as late as May. So what will this flu season be

like into 2019?

The short answer, according to the CDC: “It is not possible to predict what this flu season will be like. While flu spreads every year, the timing, severity, and length of the season varies from one season to another.”

What’s new But the CDC reports that there are several new things this season.

Among them: Flu vaccines have been updated to better match currently circulating viruses. The B/Victoria component was changed and the influenza A(H3N2) component was updated.

For the 2018-2019 season, the nasal spray flu vaccine — or live attenuated influenza vaccine or LAIV, often a go-to option for young children who hate shots — starting at 2 years of age, is recommended. The vaccine is also approved for use in non-pregnant women up to age 49, unless your doctor warns against its use depending on your medical history.

All LAIV vaccines will be quadrivalent, designed to protect

against four different flu viruses: two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses. Most regular-dose egg-based flu shots will be quadrivalent. “All recombinant vaccine will be quadrivalent.

No trivalent recombinant vaccine will be available this season,” the CDC said.

Cell-grown flu vaccine will be quadrivalent. For this vaccine, the influenza A(H3N2) and both influenza B reference viruses will be cell-derived, and the influenza A(H1N1) will be egg-derived.

The intradermal flu vaccine, a shot injected into the skin instead of the muscle using a smaller needle than the regular flu shot and requiring less antigen to be as effective as the regular flu shot, will not be available this season.

The age recommendation for Fluarix Equivalent, which uses mammalian culture rather than chicken embryos, was changed from 3 years old and older to 6 months and older.

The age recommendation for Afluria Quadrivalent, an inactivated influenza vaccine, was changed from 18 years and older to 5 years and older.

Shots, jet injector According to the CDC, “flu vaccines protect against the three or four viruses that research suggests will be most common.”

This season health care providers will provide vaccines in various ways, such as standard dose flu shots given into the muscle via needle or, for some individuals ages 18-64, two varieties.

The Afluria and Afluria Quadrivalent can be delivered via jet injector, a medical device that uses a high-pressure, narrow stream of fluid to penetrate the skin instead of a hypodermic needle.

Also, shots made using a vaccine production technology that does not require the use of flu virus.

The CDC recommends that you get your vaccination now, on the eve of the 2018-19 flu season, before it picks up steam in October.

In other words, no later than the end of October.

For the most current influenza surveillance information, the CDC regularly updates its FluView Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report.

Does using extra oxygen really help football players recover? sures as the amount of time people were able to exercise until reaching exhaustion.

Arsh Dhanota, a sports medicine physician in the University of Pennsylvania health system who was not involved in the review, cautioned that the amounts of recovery time varied widely among the eight studies, making a firm conclusion difficult. Still, he said, pure oxygen might help.

“We can’t say definitively, but there appears to be a positive effect,” said Dhanota, director of Penn Medicine’s Regenerative Sports Medicine Program.

Depends on site

YONG KIM/PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/TNS

Eagles tight end Josh Perkins breathes oxygen while on the bench during a preseason game against the New York Jets on Aug. 30.

BY TOM AVRIL PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/TNS

In the steamy days of late summer, when large men in pads batter one another on the playing field, some try to speed their recovery on the sidelines by breathing pure oxygen.

Eagles tight end Josh Perkins did it during this year’s final preseason game against the New

York Jets, for example, when the temperature at 7 p.m. kickoff was a toasty 86 degrees.

Is the practice sound science or hot air?

Some physicians have ridiculed the use of 100 percent oxygen, noting that athletes recover perfectly well by breathing regular air, which is 21 percent oxygen. Few researchers have formally compared the two. But evi-

dence suggests that breathing the pure gas might, just might, provide players with a small edge.

A mild boost In a 2017 review of eight studies on the topic, Canadian researchers found that breathing 100 percent oxygen during recovery seemed to provide a mild boost in subsequent performance — going by such mea-

David Gealt, a sports medicine physician at the Cooper Bone and Joint Institute in South Jersey, is unconvinced.

“The only place where it may give you some benefit is if you’re playing in Mile High Stadium in Denver,” where the air is thinner, he said. “If you’re playing down in Philadelphia, it’s not a big deal.”

Saturation levels A key measure is oxygen saturation: how much oxygen is being carried by the iron-rich proteins in red blood cells called hemoglobin. An indirect reading of this vital statistic can be made with a device on the finger called a pulse oximeter.

Values in the high 90s are considered normal, but can drop below 90 percent during intense exercise.

In a 2010 study, researchers measured the oxygen satura-

tion levels in elite athletes who underwent intense workouts on rowing machines, both with breathing pure oxygen and regular air in between sessions.

The result When receiving pure oxygen, the athletes rebounded to normal oxygen-saturation levels in 36 seconds, on average, compared with 49 seconds with regular air.

Though the 13-second difference was statistically meaningful, it was nothing to get excited about, said lead author Peter Peeling, an associate professor at the University of Western Australia’s School of Human Sciences.

“The premise of the supplemental oxygen is to improve the saturation of the hemoglobin between bouts of exercise, however, the body naturally does this itself, and the time difference between doing it with supplemental oxygen or doing it via breathing ambient air is negligible,” he said.

‘Seconds matter’ Still, in professional sports, a team might conclude that a 13-second edge is worth it, said Dhanota, the Penn Medicine physician.

“You’re in between plays, there’s an intense game going on,” he said. “Seconds matter in whether you can get back in the game or not.”

The Eagles did not make a trainer or physician available for comment.

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SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

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‘Warriors of Liberty City’ features Campbell and his team Renowned Miami hip-hop pioneer Luther “Luke” Campbell’s latest television foray “Warriors of Liberty City” debuted Sept. 16 on Starz.

The unscripted six-part series chronicles a season of the Liberty City football club—an acclaimed youth sports program founded 28-years ago by Campbell and Sam Johnson. Johnson served as the club director until his death in 2011.

Dads ‘totally involved’ Miami has produced NFL stalwarts such as Chad Johnson, Andre Johnson, Antonio Brown, Teddy Bridgewater, Amari Cooper, Devonta Freeman, Duke Johnson, George “Buster” Rhymes, Lavonte David, Derrick Thomas and Sean Taylor.

Many began their football journey at Charles Hadley Park, home of the Liberty City Warriors.

Campbell asked: “You know how Hollywood likes to show White people saving Black people? Well, this is about Black parents— [in particular], Black fathers being totally involved with their kids’ education, sports, and well-being.”

LeBron a partner Sports is the focal point of the

series, but Campbell, who answers to Coach Luke, made sure that the docu-series details the lives of the athletes as well as adult volunteers who commit tirelessly their time, effort, emotions, dollars, and bridging a sense of community.

Business partners LeBron James, Maverick Carter, and Jamal Henderson of SpringHill Entertainment. Pam Healey, Dan Peirson and Ted Skillman of Shed Media; Campbell and Evan Rosenfeld executive produced the project.

Started on Viceland For Campbell and Rosenfeld, “Warriors of Liberty City” continues from an earlier production that aired on cable network Viceland titled “Vice World of Sports.”

It featured a 45-minute segment of youth football rivals Liberty City Warriors vs. Gwen Cherry Bulls. The two youth football powers are 2.2 miles apart.

Producer and director Rosenfeld’s desire and insistence to further feature the Warriors ultimately led him to SpringHill Entertainment, which already has a relationship with Starz.

New episodes of “Warriors of Liberty City” air Sundays at 8 p.m.

Luther Campbell is shown with his football team.

FLORIDA’S

finest

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

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

Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year before and during the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions. On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors. Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years. Click on www.flcourier to see hundreds of pictures from previous Carnivals.

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

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

FOOD

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SEPTEMBER 21 – SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

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EXQUISITE EATING Small plates to make for appealing dishes FAMILY FEATURES

Imagine treating yourself and your dinner guests to a delicious, restaurant-caliber meal without leaving your dining room or hiring a personal chef. Small plates, also known as tapas, are lighter, bite-sized indulgences that you can prepare and style seamlessly.

By putting your own artful, unique spin on small plates, you can indulge in a meal that appeals to the senses and conveys sophistication.

It can be easy to create delicious small plates: all you need are wholesome, seasonal ingredients to pair with an artisan-crafted, quality olive oil such as Carapelli.

The line, with three varieties to explore, brings a renaissance to the modern kitchen and is ideal for enWHIPPED RICOTTA AND GOAT CHEESE BEET SKEWERS Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 3 hours, plus cooling time Servings: 42 skewers Beets: 2 beets (about 1 pound), 3 inches in diameter, peeled and sliced into 3/4-inch chunks 1 tablespoon Carapelli Oro Verde Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus more for drizzling 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves 1 teaspoon sea salt arugula, for garnish flaked sea salt, for garnish Whipped Ricotta and Goat Cheese: 4 ounces goat cheese 1/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese

CARROTS AND FRESH HERBS WITH CHAMPAGNE-DIJON VINAIGRETTE Prep time: 10 minutes Servings: 6 Champagne-Dijon Vinaigrette: 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard 1 tablespoon clover honey 1/2 cup Carapelli Organic Olive Oil 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon fresh parsley, finely chopped 1 teaspoon basil, finely chopped 1 pound carrots, peeled and finely shredded 2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped 2 tablespoons chives, thinly sliced,

deavoring chefs looking to try new flavors and experiment with tastes or recipes. It embodies a true passion for the art of creating extravirgin olive oils and is designed to lift cooks out of the everyday cooking experience.

Keep in mind that when it comes to small plates, what’s important isn’t just the recipe, but the plate – and plating – of the cuisine itself.

Foods that appeal to the eye are likely to tempt the taste buds as well. Invest in appropriate-sized dishware for small plates that allows the food to take center-stage.

For a true multi-sensory indulgence, also take time to garnish your dishes, big and small, with edible enhancements that lend a subtle complement to the main attraction. A selection of fresh greens, sprinkling of herbs and even a light drizzle of olive oil can do the trick.

Plan how you’ll adapt your favorite dishes for size – and season – with more tips and recipes at carapelliusa.com.

1 tablespoon Carapelli Oro Verde Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest 1/8 teaspoon sea salt 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Heat sous vide water bath to 185 F. In mixing bowl, combine beets, olive oil, thyme and salt; toss to coat.

Remove beets from liquid and divide, placing them in single layer into two quart-sized vacuum-seal bags, leaving any excess liquid behind.

Use vacuum sealer to remove air and double-seal bag. To use zip-top bags instead, slowly dip slightly open bags into large container filled with water, allowing water to displace air.

Seal bags when air is removed.

Place vacuum-sealed bag into prepared water bath, placing heavy, heat-resistant bowl on top of beets to

keep them submerged, if necessary.

Cook 3 hours.

If you do not have a sous vide machine, bring large stock pot filled with water to rolling boil. Place vacuum-sealed bags in water. Reduce to gentle simmer, cover and cook 1 hour.

Carefully remove beets from water bath and cool in sealed bag until they reach room temperature, about 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes more before serving.

In mini food processor, cream goat cheese, ricotta and olive oil until smooth. Add zest, salt and pepper: stir to combine.

Transfer cheese mixture to piping bag fitted with star tip and refrigerate until ready to use.

To serve, remove beets from bag and arrange on serving platter. Pipe dollop of Whipped Ricotta and Goat

Cheese onto each beet. Drizzle with olive oil.

Garnish with arugula and pinch of flaked sea salt; place skewer through each beet to serve.

OLIVE OIL DRIZZLED PECORINO POPCORN Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 5 minutes Servings: 4 1/2 cup grated pecorino, plus more for garnish 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for garnish 3 tablespoons Carapelli Unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided 1/3 cup yellow popcorn kernels In bowl, combine pecorino and pepper; mix until well combined and there are no cheese clumps.

plus more cut into 3/4-inch pieces, for garnish 1/3 cup Champagne Vinaigrette fine sea salt, to taste freshly ground black pepper, to taste chive sticks, for garnish In medium mixing bowl, combine champagne vinegar, Dijon and honey.

Whisk constantly until well combined.

While whisking, slowly drizzle in olive oil to emulsify. Add garlic, salt, pepper, parsley and basil: whisk to combine.

In mixing bowl, toss carrots, parsley and chives. Add dressing.

Season, to taste, with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Garnish with chive sticks.

Notes: Vinaigrette can be stored in refrigerator up to five days. For zestier salad, add additional 2 tablespoons vinaigrette to carrots; serve with crusty bread.

In small saucepan over low flame, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil; keep warm.

Add remaining olive oil and popcorn to large Dutch oven. Stir until all popcorn kernels are coated in oil.

Cover Dutch oven with lid and cook over medium-high heat, shaking pot periodically. Once popcorn begins to pop, lower heat to medium and continue to shake pot approximately every 15 seconds. When popping slows considerably, remove Dutch oven from heat and allow to rest until popping ceases, about 30 seconds.

Remove lid and transfer popcorn to large mixing bowl. Drizzle warm olive oil over popcorn; toss to coat. Sprinkle cheese mixture over popcorn; toss to coat.

Divide popcorn into bowls. Sprinkle some freshly grated pecorino and dash of freshly ground black pepper over top; serve.

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You can help alleviate hunger right in your community. Just donate to Food for Sharing at checkout September 6–22, 2018, to help those in need. publix.com/foodforsharing