Florida Courier - March 11, 2016

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CELEBRATING OUR 10TH YEAR STATEWIDE!

Rodney King’s daughter reflects on 25th anniversary of dad’s beating See Page B4

Democrat Hillary Clinton

Democrat Bernie Sanders

Republican Donald Trump

NONE OF THE ABOVE ‘Shacking’ ban headed to history books

Seniors shacking, too Stark said the issue affects seniors, as well as younger singles. “I represent communities of seniors, where a lot of them are technically not married,’’ he said. “They are living together, but it makes more sense financially or for whatever reason like Social Security to not be married. I don’t think that they want to be considered to be violating the law.�

House and Senate staff analyses said the law originally went into effect in 1868 and makes it a second-degree misdemeanor for men and women to “lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together� without being married.

The analyses said Florida, Michigan and Mississippi are the only states that make cohabitation illegal. Seven other states – Arizona, Idaho, Maine, New Mexico, North Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia – have repealed similar laws in recent years, while a court struck down a North Carolina law, the House analysis said.

See Publisher Charles W. Cherry II’s related “No Chaser� column on Page A4.

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

In our Sept. 1, 2006 issue analyzing the state primary election, we wrote this:

FLORIDA COURIER / 10TH STATEWIDE ANNIVERSARY

Calling it as we see it Analysis on Amendments

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Test your knowledge of athletes turned politicians B1 OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2010

VOLUME 18 NO. 44

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FOR GOVERNOR, IT’S A JUMP BALL r (07&3/03 -5 (07&3/03 /0 3&$0..&/%"5*0/ Rick Scott is a rich former chief executive officer of Columbia/HCA, the hospital chain that paid $1.7 billion in fines and settlements to resolve federal charges of Medicare and Medicaid fraud three years after he left the company. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself 75 times in a lawsuit involving the company 10 years ago. He refused to release a deposition involving another health clinic chain he founded, taken just six days before he entered the governor’s race.

Scott has relied chiefly on television advertising in introducing himself as a first-time candidate to voters, spending $60 million of his own money on the campaign – mostly on TV.

Why take money now?

But it surprised and disappointed us that immediately upon winning the Republican primary – and after spending $50 million of his own money – he began to “make nice� with the same state Republican establishment that he harshly criticized. He took GOP money, despite the fact that he can completely finance a multimillion-dollar race on his own.

Thus, he sacrificed his independence. He’s shown he’ll follow the same old right-wing Republican playbook in state government.

The Florida Courier makes recommendations for all statewide races and proposed constitutional amendments – except the gubernatorial race, where neither candidate is suitable.

Successful businessman We like the fact that Scott is a successful entrepreneur, despite his checkered past. State government would benefit from a sharp business mind that will examine the organizational status quo with an eye toward efficiency and effectiveness. We like the fact that Scott selected Jennifer Carroll – who is fully qualified in her own

‘I still need your help’

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER EDITORIAL STAFF

ers. During her tenure, the state made risky investments in secretive Wall Street hedge funds that lost hundreds of millions in value – including deals with her former employer, Bank of America. (Sink says the state was defrauded.)

But no bank was prosecuted.

No lawsuit was filed, by either Sink’s office or by Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum – himself a former bank lobbyist.

Sink’s office hasn’t released a full accounting of a financial debacle that could cost Florida taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Sink: ‘I know nothing’ But Sink, like Charlie Crist, wants Alex Sink is a rich former pres- a promotion for a job half-done. ident of NationsBank Florida.

The bank’s parent company paid Where are the a $6.7 million fine for rewarding employees for steering custom- African-Americans?

We believe Sink has a weak ers into high-risk securities. (Sink commitment to employee diverclaims she had no knowledge.)

Sink has been Florida’s chief fi- sity in business, administrative, nancial officer since 2007, and is and campaign leadership. Wellresponsible for managing Flor- qualified Black attorneys have ida’s “bank account,� including told us that, as Bank of AmeriSee VOTE, Page A3 pension funds for retired teachright to be an excellent governor – as his running mate.

Scott has retained qualified Black political consultants, who obviously advised him to meet the Black community on its own terms, and to make his case through Black-owned- and-operated media. Win or lose, Scott’s outreach, with Carroll as a wellrespected advocate, will build on Charlie Crist’s success in making Republicans competitive, over time, in Black neighborhoods.

EARLY VOTING / ELECTION DAY 2010

Marching to the polls

Black Press hears Obama’s request for assistance

After nearly two years in office and his support within the Black community still high but dropping, President Obama held his first press conference via telephone with Black newspapers.

The 25-minute teleconference on Oct. 18 gave the nation’s first African-American president the opportunity to speak to the demographic that supported him the most during his 2008 victory and request the help of Black-owned media to get out the vote for midterm elections.

‘Still hurting’ “People are still hurting out there,�

Obama began. “Despite the economy showing signs of growth, there are still too many Americans unemployed or underemployed.�

The president said he expects to be in a battle with Congress to get many of his new initiatives passed. However, he said he is still willing to work with Republicans to get things moving forward. But, he added, based on the political climate, he thinks it will be easier to get things done with more Democrats in Congress.

Danny Bakewell Sr., chairman of the National Newspapers Publishers Association, a conglomerate of African-Americanowned newspapers, asked Obama why the Democratic Party is not advertising with the Black press when it is the one mass medium that has carried his messages from the beginning.

‘Not appropriate’ “As president of the United States, I can’t have a call with newspapers focusing on See OBAMA, Page A2

CHARLES FOX/PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/MCT

President Obama has been in full campaign mode this month.

Republican Marco Rubio

‌Too often, we as Black people allow ourselves and our services to be devalued because we have become so used to working with little, and making something out of nothing.

No more. Candidates and political parties are products to be advertised.

We have no legal or moral obligation to recommend, endorse, praise, supSee NONE, Page A2

Legislators sign off on abortion bill

BY JIM SAUNDERS AND TOM URBAN THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – In the latest round in Florida’s abortion battles, lawmakers Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that would increase clinic regulations and bar public funding for organizations associated with abortion clinics.

The bill (HB 1411) created familiar divisions in the House and Senate, with supporters saying stepped-up clinic regulations are needed and that tax dollars should not go to organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, that provide abortion services.

But critics said the bill was an attempt to limit the ability of women to have abortions and would lead to a costly legal challenge. “This decision (about having an abortion) is personal for a woman, her family and her faith ‌ a truly personal decision,’’ Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood said in opposing the bill. “Many women and men believe that the government has no right to interfere with this personal decision.â€?

76-40 vote

BY J. COYDEN PALMER SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE CHICAGO CRUSADER

‘Fear God’ Such laws have rarely been used to bring criminal charges, but the House analysis said the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation used the law in 1979 during a civil proceeding to suspend a liquor license.

None of the opponents of the bill commented on the House floor Wednesday. But during a committee meeting in September, Van Zant pointed to religious objections to the repeal. “Who are we to say that we do not at least fear God?� he asked.

The Florida Courier editorial staff cannot recommend ANY of the candidates in the state presidential primary. Here’s why.

Republican John Kasich

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TALLAHASSEE – It soon could be safe to cohabitate in Florida.

The state House on Wednesday approved repealing a law dating to 1868 that makes it a crime for men and women to live together if they are not married.

With the Senate passing the bill (SB 498) last week, the measure is ready to go to Gov. Rick Scott. The House approved the bill in a 1125 vote, with five Republicans – Janet Adkins of Fernandina Beach, Brad Drake of Eucheeanna, Mike Hill of Pensacola Beach, Jennifer Sullivan of Mount Dora and Charles Van Zant of Keystone Heights – dissenting. “When you take a look at the state of Florida, and the nation in general, as to how many people live together while not married, to have a law on the books that says it’s illegal just doesn’t make good sense,� said Rep. Richard Stark, a Weston Democrat who is one of the sponsors of the repeal.

Republican Ted Cruz

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BY JIM SAUNDERS AND TOM URBAN THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

ALSO INSIDE

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MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

VOLUME 24 NO. 11

COURTESY OF B-CU

Hundreds of Bethune-Cookman University students marched past downtown Daytona Beach to cast their votes early as Election Day approaches statewide.

State legislator, attorney fight to replace Meek in Congress

BY STARLA VAUGHNS CHERIN FLORIDA COURIER

MIAMI-DADE – Florida’s Congressional District 17, the seat Kendrick Meek is leaving to run for the U.S. Senate, pits well-known, hat-wearing State Sen. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat, against no-party-affiliated Attorney Roderick Vereen.

Wilson, an educator and administrator, was elected to the Florida House in 1998, serving until 2002 when she ran for the state Senate seat, vacated by Meek when he ran for Congress. Though District 17 has a large Haitian population, Wilson won the Democratic primary after the Haitian vote was split among four credible Haitian-American candidates.

Since then, Wilson has been a heavy favorite to win the general election. But media reports that she advised Democratic gubernatorial candidate

Alex Sink to bypass last week’s NAACP candidates’ forum in Miami, and the fact that Wilson herself decided not to show up, has given Vereen a chance make himself better known and possibly to pull an upset.

Legal background A graduate of Miami Carol City Senior High, Vereen holds a B.S. from Florida State University and a law degree from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, La. A former Tallahassee prosecutor, Vereen later became the first African-American assistant federal public defender for the Northern District of Florida.

He returned to Miami to open a solo law practice concentrating on criminal defense, often working for free for those unable to afford legal representation.

Vereen says he wants to cre-

ate an economic infrastructure for jobs; overhaul education; reduce crime; advocate for more social agency oversight, accountability and transparency; provide proper health care for the elderly, and proper aftercare for combat veterans. “My opponent called me an apprentice and a neophyte,� he said. “I am hardly an apprentice when it comes to law.

My opponent has no legal experience or training and although she has served in the Florida House of Representatives and the State Senate, she has no substantial legislation to her credit that has positively affected this district during her tenure. “This district is in an abusive relationship with its leaders, and it’s time to bring this domestic violence to an end,�

Vereen exclaimed. “The only way to do it is by electing leadership that works.�

SNAPSHOTS NATION | A6

But Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, said he was speaking for “sweet innocent babies� whose lives could be threatened if the bill did not pass. “You have killed a living soul.

That is what abortion really is.

It’s murder,’’ Hays said. “We, as a state, need to do everything that we can to not sanction murder.�

The Senate voted 25-15 to approve the bill, with Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, the only Republican to cross party lines and vote against the measure.

The House initially approved the bill last week but had to vote again Wednesday after the Sen-

Man gets 14 years for plot to kill Obama

See BILL, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS HEALTH | B3

FLORIDA | A3

Dolphins host cancer research challenge

Exhausted? Here’s what to do about it FINEST | B5

Meet Fiona

Dealth penalty fix signed into law

READ IT ONLINE Sharing Black Life, Statewide www.flcourier.com

Free Download Reaching Florida’s

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ALSO EDITORIAL | CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 INSIDE COMMENTARY | BLACK AGENDA REPORT: WHY DEMOCRATS ARE RUNNING SCARED | A4

NATION | A6

Obama will stay in D.C. after leaving office ENTERTAINMENT | B2

In the November 2010 gubernatorial election, the Florida Courier refused to chose between Democrat Alex Sink or Republican Rick Scott. Former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll’s hard-charging outreach to Black voters delivered a close victory to the Scott-Carroll ticket.

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: JULIANNE MALVEAUX: WHERE IS TODAY’S MADAME C.J. WALKER? | A5

Najee among top artists at Miami jazz fest

FOCUS

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MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

Let me tell you about ‘inherited ignorance’ One of the reasons that African-Americans and many other people of African descent cannot progress at the rate that some ethnic groups do is that we have succumbed to “inherited ignorance.”

Too many Black people are afraid to be knowledgeable, scared to be wise, fearful of being smart, and reluctant to do the right things!

We don’t want to determine our own destiny. We don’t like to create our own paths.

We lack the confidence to do what we need to do to improve our lives, better our communities, or simply do what is necessary to live the lives that we can and should be proud of.

What do we do?

We do what we think is safe.

We do what we think is least troublesome. We do what we are told to do, and we act how we are shown to act.

We’ve all heard the phrases “like mother, like daughter” or

well that we can be better, act better and do things better!

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

“like father, like son.”

Sometimes, if Mom and Dad fight each other, sisters and brothers will fight each other. If Mama dresses half-naked and promiscuously, daughter will also wear low-cut, tight dresses. If Daddy drinks a lot of liquor and consumes a lot of drugs, son may turn into an alcoholic or junkie, too.

If parents prefer to bow down, scratch their heads and buck dance every time they interact with a devil, oftentimes the children will behave in the same fashion.

The devil is quick to tell you that you are not qualified, you can’t make it or you can’t do it.

Too many of us believe that satanic talk when we know very

Doing wrong anyway

Parts of the bill deal with reg-

ulatory issues, including adding a requirement that the Agency for Health Care Administration conduct annual inspections of abortion clinics and review at least 50 percent of patient records. Also, the bill would require arrangements between clinics and hospitals.

For example, clinics that provide first-trimester abortions would be required to have written patient-transfer agreements with hospitals or the clinic physicians would be required to have admitting privileges at hospitals “within a reasonable proximity.”

One of the most heavily debated parts of the bill deals with barring public funds for organizations affiliated with abortion clinics. While such funds don’t go for elective abortions, they can be used for other services

provided by the clinics.

House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, said the bill would prevent women from receiving preventive health services from Planned Parenthood.

“This bill is a vicious attack on women in this state,” Pafford said.

But Sen. Rob Bradley, RFleming Island, said tax dollars should not go to facilities that perform elective abortions.

“The idea that my taxpayer dollars, and my family’s taxpayer dollars and the taxpayer dollars of individuals who feel like we do about this issue … the idea that those taxpayer dollars would go to an organization that performs abortions, that is simply intolerable,” Bradley said.

rules for her own convenience – a decision that may yet result in a federal criminal indictment (and make Bernie Sanders the Democratic nominee, something he probably won’t win outright given the undemocratic “superdelegate,” “good-old boys and gals” system the Democratic Party has in place for its insiders.)

Democrat Bernie Sanders: Given his stand on issues such as free trade and income inequality, Sanders should be a natural for substantial Black support. But there are few experienced and qualified Black consultants advising him, evidently because Sanders’s all-White brain trust did not feel it was necessary to reach out to Black voters. He wasted his prodigious fundraising that gave him the financial resources to target Black American “super voters” – people 50 years old and above – who don’t trust Hillary Clinton.

That has cost him dearly. And like Donald Trump, Sanders is short on specifics.

Clinton claims to be a “practical” politician, while Sanders is more aspirational. It doesn’t matter. Both can expect the same entrenched Republican opposition that bogged down Barack Obama unless Democrats can win back the U.S. House and the Senate – a major hill to climb, given the Democrats’ traditional Black voter turnout incompetence (with the exception of Obama).

Republican Donald Trump: If we were to judge Trump strictly by his supporters, he wouldn’t be worth a mention. He has vocally castigated Mexicans and other so-called minority groups. He nods and winks at Ku Klux Klan and White supremacists. His supporters have thrown Black protesters – and occasionally prospective Black supporters – out of his public rallies.

Despite that, Trump does have limited support among disaffected Black Republicans and Democrats who are either fed up with the existing political gridlock; who are dead-set against illegal immigration, which they see as an economic threat to Black America; who saw their good job “shipped overseas” by trade agreements signed by both Democratic and Republican presidents; or who want Trump to lead a hostile takeover of the current Republican establishment.

We have heard from prominent Black Republicans in Florida that Trump has aggressively reached out to them, has hired high-level Black staffers in the state, and has

set a goal of attracting 25 percent of the Black vote – something no serious modern GOP presidential candidate has ever done.

Don’t be surprised if he receives the personal endorsement of some well-known Black Republicans in Florida, perhaps before next Tuesday.

The potential for race-based violence and disorder at his rallies are Trump’s responsibility and no one else’s. Watch and see if he denounces racially profiling non-Whites who come to his rallies, or if he continues to egg his supporters on and turn his back to possible violence against protesters.

A key question: Who is this guy? Trump’s contributed to both Democrats and Republicans alike. He’s been pro-choice and pro-life. He wants universal health care and to raise taxes on the rich.

And at some point, Trump must come up with policy specifics assuming he’s the GOP nominee. “Making America great again” is not a strategy.

Stay tuned.

Republican Ted Cruz: Cruz has not availed himself of opportunities to take his Christian conservatism to Black churches – something that could have served him well in his battle as the last and best alternative to Trump.

As an evangelical Christian president, we believe Cruz would turn the Republican Party into the American version of the Taliban, a throwback to the 1950s pre-civil rights era. (Yes, there are some Black churchfolk that would love that.) And the possibility of him appointing multiple ultra-conservative Supreme Court justices is panic-inducing.

Republican John Kasich: The Ohio governor is as moderate as a Republican gets these days, and he brings the legislative deal making experience Trump does not have and that Cruise or Rubio refuse to learn. Kasich’s executive experience running a state with a substantial Black population, and his ability to negotiate on both size of the political aisle and get things done doing his tenure in Congress, makes him an attractive candidate. However, he has not reached out in any meaningful way to Black voters, especially Florida’s Black Republicans.

Republican Marco Rubio: The former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives has been a man on a mission from

the time he served as a bored, restless South Florida city commissioner. As Florida’s junior U.S. senator, he didn’t show up for work, and as such, we don’t understand how he holds himself out as a “expert” in foreign relations.

His refusal to defend his own immigration proposal – a reasonable bipartisan compromise that gave illegal immigrants a “path to citizenship” – indicated to us that he’s a typical politician using a weather vane as his roadmap.

And in this wacky Republican election cycle, a vote for Rubio is a vote for Trump.

Doesn’t respect you The wicked and evil bossman will say, “That Black man or that Black woman is a troublemaker. If you help me get rid of him or her and testify against him or her in an employment hearing, I’ll give you a promotion or a raise.” Most Negroes will testify against their brothers and sisters in a heartbeat to please the workplace devil.

After the snitches get a minimum raise and a new title, they keep it for a short time. When you look around, they get fired too, because the devil doesn’t respect them and the devil doesn’t trust them.

The devil will never stop being a devil just because you are willing to do the devil’s bidding. Lucifer will respect the Black man or woman that stands up more than he does the puppet that lies down!

Black and African people have

from A1

PAUL VIDELA/BRADENTON HERALD/TNS

NONE from A1

port, or approve any candidate or political party. Effective immediately, we will not consider… candidates for endorsements who do not use Black-owned media outlets to seriously solicit votes from Florida’s Black communities.

Does that mean we are “selling’’ endorsements? Hardly. The credibility of our media was earned too dearly, and can be impaired too severely, for us to sell out our heritage for “a mess of pottage’’ in any amount.

What we demand, and what you as an educated voter and a smart consumer should demand, is a quid pro quo. That’s just a fancy Latin term that means “something for something,’’ whether that something is your money, your time, your talents, or your energy.

We recognize who we are.

We urge you, our readers, to judge the parties – especially the Democratic Party, which still receives 70 percent to 95 percent of all Black votes cast in America – and their candidates by their actions as well as their rhetoric and their stands on the issues.

Given the fact that the Black voters are the backbone of the Democratic Party, expectations are justifiably higher that “diversity” there includes doing business with Black-owned businesses.

How many of these multimillion-dollar campaigns have hired Black political consultants? How many have employed small Black businesses: printers, caterers, transportation companies, etc.?

How many have African-American paid (not volunteer) campaign staffers in decision-making positions? How many are using Black-owned media to spread their messages?

Decade after decade, these questions are posed to Democratic candidates and the Democratic National Committee – now led by Florida’s own Debbie Wasserman Shultz.

It’s always the same answers: Virtually NONE. Election after election – with the notable exception of Barack Obama – Democrats do the same thing and expect different results.

As a result, we recommend to you NO candidates: Democrat or Republican – during the crucial state primary.

Our individual analysis This year, there’s a wide range of candidates fitting every voter’s desire.

There are bombastic bomb throwers fighting the political establishments, Donald Trump – and to a lesser extent, Bernie Sanders.

There are experienced, calculating establishment politicians – John Kasich and Hillary Clinton – who go “conservative” or “progressive” as polls and events dictate.

There’s a born-again neoconservative, Ted Cruz, who ironically is universally reviled by the same Republican establishment he’s trying to save.

There’s even a Republican version of Barack Obama – a youthful, smooth-talking lawyer, the ambitious (and inexperienced) Marco Rubio, husband and father of a picture-perfect young family.

Democrat Hillary Clinton: The former Secretary of State wants to be judged on her own merits, while at the same time extolling the accomplishments of her husband’s administration.

She can’t have it both ways. If she wants to take credit for the golden days of the Bill Clinton administration and “Hillarycare before it became Obamacare,” she must also take the blame for draconian “three strikes you’re out” laws, massive Black incarceration, which built the prisonindustrial complex, and destroying welfare “as we know it” without a transition to entry-level jobs training.

She must take the blame for disregarding the rise of Al Qaeda, ignoring America’s crumbling infrastructure, and for wrecking locally owned and Black-owned radio by passing the 1996 Telecommunications Act. That law allowed Wall Street-funded companies to purchase an unlimited number of radio stations and, by operating illegally as local monopolies, drive local broadcasters into ruin.

If Clinton only wants us to consider her record after she was elected to the U.S. Senate, let’s consider her poor judgment afterward, especially in voting to go to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As Secretary of State, she advocated and celebrated the murder of Moammar Qaddafi, which helped destabilize the Middle East and prevented the ascension of the “United States of Africa” that Qaddafi was leading.

She flouted national security

Voting without thought

er plan to get ahead in life.

Even when we are told the right thing to do, we do the opposite. Even when we read about a better approach or a better way to progress, it appears we don’t understand what we should do.

No one has to tell Black voters to vote for Democratic candidates. They will do it on their own, no matter how many Democrats vote on and pass laws to wrongly lock them up for lengthy time periods for non-violent crimes. They vote for who they’ve been voting for, regardless of how they are treated by political liars.

Negroes will endorse and give money to politicians and never even consider changing their political support, even when the party they back refuses to hire Black workers or patronize Black political vendors or does nothing to help the Black community – because they have voted the same way time and time again.

Yes, our people like to inherit ignorance. We like to march, sitin and pray just because those tactics were utilized 50 or 60 years ago.

God willing, one day we will be brave enough to take a stand. We have to fight for what is right. We have to speak up and write about inequality and injustice if we ev-

BILL

Planned Parenthood supporters wage a protest at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park in Tampa on Aug. 29, 2012, during the Republic National Convention. State legislators voted on a bill this week that would defund Planned Parenthood.

to be willing to stand up for what is right. They have to be willing to fight for what is right. At the end of the day, we have to be willing to die to have the good lives that we deserve!

ate made a change. House members voted 76-40 to give final approval, with Rep. Daphne Campbell, D-Miami, and Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, crossing party lines to support it. Six Republicans - Tom Goodson of Titusville, Bill Hager of Delray Beach, Mike Miller of Winter Park, Ray Pilon of Sarasota, Rene Plasencia of Orlando and Holly Raschein of Key Largo – voted against the bill.

The measure now goes to Gov. Rick Scott, who is an abortion opponent.

‘Attack on women’

We’re like two-year-old babies that are told not to touch the hot stove – but they touch the stove and get burnt anyway. The baby knows what “no” or “don’t” means, but they proceed to do the wrong thing anyway!

We can love our parents and other ancestors and still do things different than they do. Our parents want us to be better and do better. We must recognize and respect a better mousetrap, so to speak, if we ever want to get the demonic rat out of our house and our communities!

Don’t ever be scared to do the right thing or take the best advice!

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

No ‘wasted’ vote In our Nov. 3, 2006 issue of election analysis, we wrote this: We don’t have to vote for the lesser of the two evils between the established political parties, and we don’t believe that a vote cast for anyone other than a Republican or a Democrat is a wasted vote. We can vote for third-party candidates, for candidates listed with no party affiliation (NPA), or even vote for yourself or someone you admire as a write-in candidate, to send a message to Republicans and Democrats. If a Republican and a Democrat are in a one-on-one battle, we can choose not to vote for either.

Experts who track voting statistics will understand exactly what we are doing if, in a one-on-one race between a Republican and a Democrat, there is a drop-off in the total number of votes cast when compared with the total cast for other races. What would it say to the experts and the political parties if elections supervisors around the state recorded 1,000 write-in votes in various counties for Nelson Mandela for governor?

As Malcolm X often quoted, when it comes to the uplift of Black people, we should have “no permanent friends or no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.’’ It’s time for Republicans, Democrats, the Reform Party, and every candidate to understand and believe that Black Floridians are ready to vote our interests.

Let’s keep this in mind in every election. And if not Nelson Mandela, what about Stevie Wonder?

PHOTOS BY OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS; BOB BOOTH/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/TNS; IRFAN KHAN/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS; RODGER MALLISON/ FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/TNS

MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

FLORIDA

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Governor signs death penalty fix into law

BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott on Monday signed into law a measure designed to fix the state’s death-penalty sentencing process after it was found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the new law will almost certainly be challenged.

The Jan. 12 Supreme Court ruling – handed down on the opening day of the legislative session – found that Florida’s system of giving judges, and not juries, the power to impose death sentences was an unconstitutional violation of defendants’ Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury.

“It is my solemn duty to uphold the laws of Florida and my foremost concern is always for the victims and their loved ones.

I hope this legislation will allow families of these horrific crimes to get the closure they deserve,” Scott said in a statement.

Flurry of appeals With the death penalty effectively on hold in Florida, lawmakers hurried to come up with a solution before the legislative ses-

sion ends March 11. Scott signed the bill (HB 7101) into law just days after the Senate approved it.

While the new law establishes a revamped system for defendants charged with capital crimes who have not yet been sentenced, it is unlikely to have any impact on the cases of Florida’s 390 Death Row inmates. The Florida Supreme Court is sorting through some of the cases now, after lawyers for the inmates filed a flurry of appeals in the wake of the ruling.

The 8-1 U.S. Supreme Court decision, in a case known as Hurst v. Florida, dealt with the sentencing phase of death-penalty cases after defendants are found guilty, and it focused on what are known as aggravating circumstances that must be determined before defendants can be sentenced to death.

A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in a case known as Ring v. Arizona, requires that determinations of such aggravating circumstances must be made by juries, not judges.

10 jurors needed While the Supreme Court rul-

ing focused on aggravating circumstances, nearly all of the legislative debate centered on whether Florida should require unanimous jury recommendations about whether defendants should be put to death.

The new law, which went into effect immediately, would require at least 10 jurors to recommend death for the penalty to be imposed – a compromise between the House and the Senate, which had originally favored unanimous jury recommendations. Prosecutors, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, pushed for the 10-2 recommendation, arguing that unanimity would allow a single juror to hijack the process.

Of the 31 states with the death penalty, Florida is one of only three that do not require unanimous jury recommendations for death to be imposed. The others – Alabama and Delaware – require at least 10 jurors to recommend death. Until Monday, Florida law had allowed majorities of juries to recommend death.

The Hurst ruling did not specifically address unanimous jury recommendations to judges, a process that happens after jurors

determine whether sufficient aggravating factors exist. Death penalty experts advised lawmakers that failing to require unanimous jury recommendations could make the state’s death penalty law vulnerable to future court decisions.

Aggravating circumstances Although both chambers overwhelmingly approved the measure, a key component is expected to prompt a legal challenge.

The new law would require juries to unanimously determine “the existence of at least one aggravating factor” before defendants could be eligible for death sentences. Florida law lists 16 aggravating circumstances – such as whether a crime was committed for pecuniary gain or if a victim was under 12 years of age – that juries could consider.

Defense lawyers argue that the list is so broad that virtually any murder could be considered a capital crime.

Allowing a single aggravating circumstance – even with a unanimous jury finding, as the proposed law would require – to

determine whether a defendant is death-penalty eligible could run afoul of the Supreme Court’s consistent view that capital punishment should be reserved for a narrow class of offenders who commit the worst crimes, the lawyers contend.

Confident in law Because of that, the proposed law could violate Eighth Amendment protections against cruel or unusual punishment, Rex Dimmig, public defender in the 10th Judicial Circuit, told The News Service of Florida last week.

But lawmakers remained confident that the law would pass muster.

“I would have felt more comfortable if it (jury recommendations) had been unanimous, but the way it is right now, I feel like we’ve got a good death penalty bill. I feel like it will hold up in court,” Senate Criminal Justice chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker, said.

Scott presents his ‘Shine Award’ to six educators in state SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

TALLAHASSEE – During a meeting of Florida’s Cabinet on March 2, Gov. Rick Scott recognized six outstanding educators with the Governor’s Shine Awards. The Shine Award is presented to teachers and administrators in Florida who make significant contributions to the field of education.

“Florida’s hardworking teachers have helped our state become one of the best places in the nation for students to get a great education and be prepared for jobs in the global market place. I am honored to recognize six outstanding educators today with the Governor’s Shine Awards for providing students with every opportunity to succeed in the classroom,” Scott said.

The following six teachers were awarded the Governor’s Shine Award:

Darlene Jackson, Bay County Jackson teaches VPK at Cedar Grove Elementary incorporates the latest techniques in preschool teaching in her classroom and her mission is to guide parents through the learning process so they can support their children.

COURTESY OF FLORIDA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE

Gov. Rick Scott, center, presents the Governor’s Shine Awards at a Florida Cabinet meeting this month.

Kesia Blenn Milner, Bay County

Abria J. Harris, Gadsden County

Milner teaches K-5 Art at Springfield Elementary and was named the school’s 2015 Teacher of the Year. She organizes “Fine Arts Night” for students to display their artwork at school, and she has also painted murals throughout campus. Milner volunteers as a board member in a non-profit youth football program.

Harris teaches Pre-Algebra and Algebra I at Havana Magnet School. He was named Rookie Teacher of the Year in 2014 at Havana Middle School and in 2015 at Havana Magnet School. This year, he was named the Gadsden County School District’s Rookie Teacher of the Year. All of Harris’ Algebra I students also passed the

2015 spring administration of the Algebra I End- of- Course Assessment.

Erica Farmer, Gadsden County Farmer teaches U.S. History and U.S. History Honors at East Gadsden High School and coordinates the school’s after-school program. She was selected as Rookie Teacher of the Year in

2006 and Gadsden’s Teacher of the Year in 2011 and 2016. She is a member of the Faculty Leadership Team, the Faculty Advisor for Student Government Association, and a mentor to beginning teachers and at-risk students.

es Head Start/VPK at T.R. Jackson Pre-Kindergarten Center.

She was named the school’s 2016 Teacher of the Year.

Stephanie Shelton, Santa Rosa County

Taylor teaches Head Start/VPK at Central School and incorporates real-life experiences seen in the community to teach her students.

Shelton has been a teacher for 20 years and currently teach-

Deborah Taylor, Santa Rosa County

More than 3,300 participate in Miami Dolphins Cancer Challenge SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

The Miami Dolphins capped another successful Dolphins Cancer Challenge (DCC) on Feb. 20. This sixth annual community endeavor boasted more than 3,300 cancer fighters who biked, ran, walked, volunteered and donated throughout all of South Florida with a goal to tackle cancer.

The event culminated with a concert presented by Pepsi at Sun Life Stadium by singers Sheryl Crow and Melissa Etheridge.

“The Dolphins Cancer Challenge is about everyone working together to fight cancer,” Miami Dolphins President and CEO and DCC VI Chair Tom Garfinkel said. “One hundred percent of participant fundraising goes directly to Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center for essential cancer research that changes lives.”

Participants included Grand Marshals and Dolphins Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannen-

baum and Head Coach Adam Gase as well as Dolphins players and alumni such as Dan Marino, Nat Moore, Dick Anderson, A.J. Duhe, Kim Bokamper, Chris Conlin, John Offerdahl, Mark Duper, Michael Thomas and Ndamukong Suh.

100 percent donation “We are tremendously grateful to everyone who participated in the Dolphins Cancer Challenge today,” said Sylvester Director Dr. Stephen D. Nimer.

“We are so excited the community has embraced and supported this remarkable event to raise critical funds for cancer research at Sylvester. Finding new treatments and cures for cancer is a challenging task and every dollar makes a difference in helping us to develop more pinpoint diagnostic tests and targeted treatments.”

The Dolphins Cancer Challenge will donate 100 percent of the participant-raised funds to innovative cancer research at Sylvester. Funds are still being collected through March 31. As the

COURTESY OF MIAMI DOLPHINS

Bikers help raise money for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami.

DCC’s beneficiary, the University of Miami had a team of more than 800 participants, which included Head Football Coach Mark Richt to kick off the Hurricanes Hundred loop. (More than $4 million was raised last year.)

The Dolphins Cancer Chal-

lenge will continue raising funds for cancer research with its inaugural DCC Celebrity Golf Tournament hosted by Turnberry Isle Resort & Golf Club on April 4.

Co-Chaired by Don Soffer and James Caan, the tournament will offer cancer fighters a chance to

golf and interact with athletes and other celebrity guests. All of the funds raised from the golf tournament will benefit Sylvester.

For more information, visit www.DolphinsCancerChallenge. com.

EDITORIAL

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MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

Defending Farrakhan: New lies about Trump The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) – an old liar – is pushing a new lie.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has never “admired,” “supported,” “endorsed,” or “commended” GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump, despite reports from Politico.com, News One, U.S. News & World Report, WHIO, Tablet Magazine, The Fiscal Times, The Hill, Gawker, Forward, Newsmax, The Inquisitr, Root.com, Grio.com or any of a number of so-called news organizations spreading false narrative.

These articles seek to portray the minister as a supporter of the man who has shaken the Republican establishment – and freed White Republican voters who flock to his banner – from any notion of political correctness. They fully embrace his often racist and demeaning diatribes.

What endorsement?

It is incredible that a man who has warned candidate Trump could take America “to hell on a rocket ship” is cast as one backing the billionaire businessman. With an “endorsement” like that, who needs repudiation?

The beginning of the media deluge was essentially a piece on Politico.com headlined, “Louis Farrakhan praises Donald Trump.” “Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan praised Republican front-runner Donald Trump for refusing donations from Jewish groups,” Politico.com said online March 1. At least Politico was honest enough in its report to include a link to ADL anti-Farrakhan-anti-Nation-of-Islam-propaganda and cite the ADL as the source. Some later incarnations of the story dropped the ADL reference altogether.

In journalism, the source of information is just as important as the story. The source shapes, verifies, discredits, clarifies or provides information about the subject of the story. A basic question: What is the motivation of the source, how credible is the source

RICHARD B. MUHAMMAD GUEST COMMENTARY

and what is the interest that the source has in the story?

What’s the connection?

The less personal involvement or personal connection the source has to the story, the stronger the testimony from the source becomes. The stronger the personal connection or personal interest in relation to the story, the more suspect the testimony and the greater the need to verify and corroborate what the source says.

The ADL hates Louis Farrakhan and hates the Nation of Islam. How can this group, – which has spied on and targeted Black leaders and groups and backed the death of affirmative action – be seen as pro-Black, neutral or truthful? It can’t.

Another basic tenet of journalism? Go to the original source.

None of these so-called stories go back to the original source cited by the ADL, which was a major speech Feb. 28 at Mosque Maryam in Chicago entitled, “Divine Instructions: Commands For 2016, Part 2.” The message was a powerful follow-up to the minister’s annual Saviours’ Day address delivered in Detroit.

And despite a national press release, and another 500 outlets invited separately to attend or cover the speech in Chicago, not one media outlet showed up. Not one media outlet wrote about the speech itself, which was about three hours and available online.

Didn’t listen Anyone who wanted to tell the truth and anyone with respect for journalism could have listened to the webcast. Perhaps in this day of instant journalism and borrowfrom-here-repeat-from-there-unoriginal-reporting, ethical behav-

Reaping the dividends of entrepreneurship Sarah Breedlove was born to sharecroppers on a plantation in Louisiana. Breedlove – later known to millions as Madam C.J. Walker – died on her beloved 4 ½-acre estate overlooking the Hudson River in Irvington, N.Y. At the time of her death, Madam Walker’s estate was worth close to $6 million in today’s dollars, making her one of the most successful self-made business women of the 20th century.

Betting on herself Asked how she got her start, Madam Walker is said to have famously answered, “I got my start by giving myself a start.”

Entrepreneurship is deeply embedded in our American DNA. It can take a woman from the Jim Crow era cotton plantations of the South to the pinnacle of American business success.

And entrepreneurship’s bene-

MARC H. MORIAL NNPA COLUMNIST

fits extend further than the heart and mind of the man or woman possessed with the dream of owning his or her own business.

Entrepreneurship is an inspiration and an opportunity that can be shared. It is a driver of the American economy and has the potential to provide new economic opportunity to local – and even distressed – communities.

Nationally, the number of firms owned by people of color is on the rise. According to the latest small business survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, minority-company ownership is up from 5.8 million in

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 275 QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

Stay focused! Today, politics is a reality-show distraction – the bright shiny object.

America is capitalist. It’s all about the economics. If conscious Black people pooled our cash, we could “buy” politicians who would do our bidding.

Don’t fool yourself. Wall Street

ior has been discarded. Or maybe this is example of the power of America’s Zionist forces to shape and create media coverage and produce slanted reporting.

These false reports try to paint the minister as obsessed with Jews and their power. The opposite is true.

The ADL and its Zionist cronies have tried to destroy the minister and the Nation since 1984 when the Minister defended Rev. Jesse Jackson, who referred to Jewish power in New York as “Hymietown” in an off-the-record conversation with Black writer Milton Coleman of the Washington Post.

Mr. Coleman turned the information over to a White colleague.

“Ruin Jesse Ruin!” and death threats followed from the Jewish side after a Post article was published.

Death threats Min. Farrakhan called for cooler rhetoric, but warned harming Rev. Jackson would not be tolerated. Soon he was branded the “New Black Hitler” and Jewish groups took to streets chanting, “Who do you want? Farrakhan! How do you want him? Dead!”

At Mosque Maryam, the minister repeated some observations about the Trump political phenomenon and noted the candidate’s lack of dependence on outside money potentially frees him from the grip of special interests. While the Zionists were mentioned in this context, his observations have been consistent, noting that if Big Money does not control Mr. Trump, he may be freer to act.

Act how? Act in ways that deal with the problem of Black and White and the need for Blacks to have a separate state or territory of our own.

It doesn’t matter if Negroes agree or disagree, or if Black political leaders shilling for the next White Political Messiah accept it as realistic. This is the minister’s position and the position of 2007 to 8 million in 2012. This includes a 46 percent increase in Hispanic ownership; a 34 percent rise in the number of African-American-owned businesses; an almost 24 percent increase for Asians; and a 27 percent increase in firms owned by women.

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: IPHONE SECURITY

BOB ENGLEHART

the Nation of Islam. Take it or let it alone.

None worthy The minister also said, again, none of the candidates running for office are worthy of the Black vote at this point – and none can be trusted to fulfill their promises.

“None” would undoubtedly include Mr. Trump.

The minister noted that Mr. Trump told the Israel First lobby in America he did not want nor need their money, which means they cannot control him.

He then recited some of the history of candidate Hillary Clinton, including her role in the destruction of Libya and killing of Muammar Gadhafi, and her calling Black youth “super-predators” in 1996. Add her condemnation of Min. Farrakhan and pushing candidate Barack Obama to denounce the Minister in 2008.

“I don’t blame you for wanting a female president, but that is a wicked woman,” said Min. Farrakhan. “Mass incarceration came about under the Clintons. Don’t forget that. They called my young gangbangers ‘super-predators’ and Black Lives Matter put it to her, and she didn’t know how to handle that. Called you a superpredator that has no conscience, no sensitivity like you’re a dog, or you’re an animal. Got to bring you to heel my young brothers! This is what she said about you!

“And she didn’t just say it. It became law and policy of the U.S. government under Bill Clinton and his wife, and now she

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

No justice The Republicans are no better, said the Minister. Neither Mr. Trump, nor any candidate, can solve America’s problems unless they deal with the problem of justice for Black people in America, he said. Watch the weather because more calamities will strike as God punishes America for her evil done to Black people, Min. Farrakhan added.

“Let’s build our own political machine. Anybody that feels that the government has not given them justice, then we’re going to form the Justice Party,” said Min. Farrakhan. “We’re going to do it this year. Let’s come out of the Democratic plantation.”

Don’t be mad at Farrakhan or twist his words. Try being bold enough to tell the truth and see what happens. That’s what real journalists would do.

Richard B. Muhammad is editor in chief of The Final Call newspaper. Contact him via www.finalcall.com and at editor@finalcall.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

And as the growth in minoritycompany ownership booms, so do its job numbers. It is estimated minority-owned companies provide 7 million jobs and companies owned by women employ up to 8 million workers.

To save our struggling cities, we cannot solely rely on getting jobs. To strengthen our streets, we must be on the forefront of creating jobs and economic opportunities.

The National Urban League has created the Entrepreneurship Center, a signature program to foster the growth of minorityowned businesses and offer business owners the resources they need to grow their bottom line.

Through counseling, mentoring and training services, the National Urban League’s Entrepre-

neurship centers work with owners to develop management skills that will help their businesses obtain financing that supports job creation and preservation.

By improving their strategies, the centers have helped more than 10,000 business owners experience increased competitiveness and profitability, start their businesses with higher survival rates and break out to new markets and higher growth. To date, the center has helped entrepreneurs create or save close to 1,200 jobs and get more than $73 million in new contracts and capital.

As women and people of color continue to create and own record numbers of businesses, the buying power of communities of color continues to grow exponentially. According to the latest Multicultural Economy Report from the Selig center, Hispanic buying power leads all groups at $1.3 trillion and Black buying power has seen an 86 percent increase with their buying power rising to $1.1 trillion.

Yet, how many of those trillions of dollars stay within our eco-

nomically disadvantaged communities? It has been reported – and questioned as unverifiable – that a dollar circulates in Asian communities for 30 days, as opposed to six hours in Black communities. Only two cents of every dollar African-Americans spend supposedly goes to Black-owned businesses.

One researcher estimated if Black consumers spent at least one dollar out of every 10 with Black businesses, it could generate 1 million jobs for AfricanAmericans. Minority buying power can do far more than purchase; it can become an investment in stronger, local communities.

When you buy Black you help assure Black business growth.

And when you shore up Black business growth, you play your part in helping to revitalize the communities where those businesses reside.

owns BOTH parties and ALL the other candidates, except for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders – who both have the possibilities of throwing symbolic bricks through the plate glass windows of their respective parties.

Even Bro. Prez himself is a Wall Street tool. His Justice Department refused to jail the arrogant Wall Street “gods” who in 2007-08 singlehandedly destroyed Black middle-class wealth in America.

Now the GOP establishment is attacking Trump. The Dem establishment has stacked the vot-

ing deck against Sanders using their “superdelegate” scheme.

WHY are BOTH parties targeting their “outsiders?” To maintain a dysfunctional “binary” two-party political system, with Black people stuck on the Dem side – and no leverage to negotiate for ourselves when the GOP is in power. That should cause us all to pause, think, and let this play out before deciding to support anyone.

Start looking out for yourself.

Reject leadership by corporately-owned “Black” organizations

and the zombified Congressional Black Caucus, which quit boldly advocating for Black America in exchange for VIP event seating, corporate donations, and a job interview – assuming there’s another Clinton administration.

“No permanent friends, no permanent enemies; just permanent interests,” said Malcolm X (Shabazz). That’s my political Bible verse. What’s yours?

Creating jobs

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

is apologizing, but apologizing can’t bring back the broken families. Apologizing can’t bring back those that have been destroyed in prison life,” he added.

Minister Farrakhan said Vermont political leader Bernie Sanders, running opposite Ms. Clinton for the Democratic nomination is trying to be decent and is a true Jew. Yet no one reported that.

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MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

Goodbye, Melissa Harris-Perry!

When Melissa Harris-Perry publicly announced her resignation from MSNBC – the cable network that serves as the Democratic Party’s house organ – she vowed not to be tokenized or silenced.

But of course, the rich owners can silence whoever they want with the flip of a switch Harris-Perry, the one-time hot property, is now absent from the MSNBC network roster of talking heads. All seemed to be well until the Harris-Perry show was preempted in recent weeks by election coverage.

When Harris-Perry received no response to her questions from the higher-ups at MSNBC, she reacted angrily – which was understandable but unwise if she wanted a better exit strategy. In response to the pre-emptions and the lack of communication, Harris-Perry fired off a letter to her staff (which of course made its way to the New York Times).

A problem Black people like Melissa Harris-Perry are always problematic for the rest of us. It seems natural to come to her defense as we remember our own experiences with workplace humiliation and insult.

On the other hand, Harris-Perry is not in the same class as the great unwashed masses. She was not only well compensated for her work, but she used it to silence Black people if doing so suited the purposes of the system in general or the Obama White House in particular.

Harris-Perry was happy to carry water for Barack Obama and that is hardly surprising. She and Joy Reid and Al Sharpton and Touré and Michael Eric Dyson all benefited from his very presence in the White House. The corporate media needed Black faces on screen, and Harris-Perry was among those tapped for the honor. She was already wellplaced at The Nation magazine and as such was a headliner on the Black spokesperson A-list.

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Like Obama, HarrisPerry marketed herself as a progressive. But she spoke against the interests of Black people in order to keep the rulers from feeling uncomfortable.

No longer needed But Obama will be out of office in less than one year and there is no longer any need for her services.

MSNBC is also in the midst of a reorganization. Its ratings are well below those of Fox News and CNN, so who needs the face of Black liberals when there are White viewers to be had? If a Republican wins the presidential election, there may not be any liberal talking heads at all.

Like Obama, Harris-Perry marketed herself as a progressive. But she spoke against the interests of Black people in order to keep the rulers from feeling uncomfortable.

While doing a story on the closing of public schools in major cities like New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, she and her guests debated the role of race in this policy. They did so without ever mentioning the elephant in the room: charter schools The very goal of the Obama administrations’ “Race To The Top” initiative demanded that public schools be closed and replaced

Where is today’s Madam C.J. Walker?

Women entrepreneurs have a powerful role model when they consider Madam C.J. Walker.

One of our nation’s first female self-made millionaires, her story of combining herbs to develop and manufacture a hair pomade; of empowering tens of thousands of women as sales agents for her products; and of establishing a beauty school to teach beauty techniques (and provide economic empowerment for even more women) are the stuff of legend.

She was not only an entrepreneur, but also a philanthropist.

She “lived large,” owning two cars and a sprawling estate, Villa Lewaro in Irvington, New York.

(Black millionaire Harold Doley purchased Villa Lewaro in 1993. It is a National Historic Landmark).

DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

Madam C. J. Walker”; “Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur” (Chelsea House, 1991; revised 2008); “Madam Walker Theatre Center: An Indianapolis Treasure” (Arcadia Publishing, 2013).

Madam was a character! She changed her name from Sarah Breedlove to Madam C.J. Walker to provide herself with a “classier-sounding name,” and to help prevent White people from calling her “Aunt,” as they called so many African-American women.

She also didn’t want the patronizing attitudes of Black men to affect the way she went about her Shared her wealth She was possessed with an business. amazing self-confidence that served her well in business and Couldn’t speak in life.

For years, she sought the opShe is called “Madam” by her portunity to speak at Booker T. great-granddaughter, A’Lelia Washington’s National Business Bundles, the keeper of the fam- League, but was denied. As legend ily history and author of books goes, she went to one of the meetabout her ancestor: “On Her Own ings and took the mic and made Ground: The Life and Times of her speech, despite official denial.

Michigan’s corporate crimes must be terminated This week, Steve Conn and Nicole Conoway are scheduled to appear before a Michigan judge to explain why they should not be legally prohibited from urging Detroit teachers to stage sickouts and an eventual citywide strike to halt the state’s methodical destruction of the city’s public schools.

Ms. Conoway is a teacher and Mr. Conn was elected president of the Detroit teachers’ union, before the union’s butt-kissing national leadership deposed him.

Conn and his allies at the activist organization BAMN, By Any Means Necessary, spearheaded a series of teacher sickouts that focused national attention on the appalling conditions in Detroit’s

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

schools, which have been literally ground into the dirt by the state for 16 of the past 17 years.

No constitutional rights The state of Michigan will try to prove that Conn and Conoway must be silenced – their First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly snatched away – because the sickouts have sup-

EDITORIAL

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: DONALD TRUMP & FULL DISCLOSURE

by charters. The woman who now says that she isn’t a “token” was very happy to be one if doing so would relieve the president of any blame.

Obama ‘cheerleaders’ Harris-Perry and her MSNBC colleagues are all shameless cheerleaders for Obama. The worst performance on her part was the attempt to silence Edward Snowden, Wikileaks, and the First Amendment in one fell swoop.

Snowden was stranded in a Moscow airport while fleeing the long arm of Obama’s revived Espionage Act and awaiting a Russian government decision on his asylum application. While the Obama administration intimidated nations into denying Snowden his right to asylum, Harris-Perry made snide remarks urging him to come home.

She and her colleague Joy Reid were particularly disgraceful in trying to double-team a Wikileaks spokesman. They took turns trying to badger him and defame his organization and Snowden.

Despite the fact that whistleblowers face more persecution and prosecution under Obama than any other president in recent history, Harris-Perry insisted that Snowden should turn himself in and face a long prison sentence. The two women didn’t even pretend to be journalists when Obama faced a serious threat to his legitimacy as a progressive.

Attacked West

RJ MATSON, ROLL CALL

ego of the self- appointed Black leadership class that has been largely supplanted in recent years.”

West later fired back at Perry and the whole MSNBC crew.

“Everything is up for sale. And he (Michael Eric Dyson) and Brother Sharpton and Sister Melissa and others, they have sold their souls for a mess of Obama pottage. And we invite them back to the Black prophetic tradition after Obama leaves. But at the moment, they want insider access, and they want to tell those kind of lies. They want to turn their back to poor and working people. And it’s a sad thing to see them as apologists for the Obama administration in that way, given the kind of critical background that all of them have had at some point.”

Harris-Perry’s role in infamy should not be forgotten now that she has the pink slip of unemployment. West is gracious in wanting to bring her back into the fold, but that nobility need not apply to anyone else.

Snowden was not Harris-Perry’s first victim in the Obama protection racket. When Cornel West began to speak out against Obama, she rushed to the president’s defense faster than any Secret Service agent. She diminished West with words like these: “In a self-aggrandizing victimology sermon deceptively wrapped in the discourse of prophetic wit- Used and discarded If you live by the sword, you die ness, Professor West offers thin criticism of President Obama and by it too. Harris-Perry was naïve stunning insight into the delicate when she wrote that she wanted Why should she not have spoken? She was one of the most successful business people of her generation. She was one of the most generous philanthropists.

She financially sponsored the anti-lynching campaign.

Perhaps Booker T. Washington was being a sexist, or perhaps (it is sometimes said) he had an ideological opposition to a woman whose product was perceived as straightening hair.

By the way, Walker did not invent the straightening comb. Annie Malone – who preceded Madam Walker in making her fortune with beauty products and a beauty school that Walker attended – invented the straightening comb.

Spoke anyway Whether Washington wanted Madam Walker to speak, she had the audacity to take the mic and say her piece. She noted that she had promoted herself from a washerwoman to a businesswoman, speaking to the fact that few were available to help her to achieve her goals and the goals of tens of thousands of other women.

Madam’s audacity, her selfpossession, and her activism were notable during a time when few women, regardless of race, promoted themselves. Instead, most chose to walk softly and speak quietly. Today, women like Cathy Liggins Hughes (TV/Radio One), Sheila Johnson (co-founder posedly subjected the schools to “irreparable harm.”

It is, of course, the state of Michigan itself that has done “irreparable harm” to the schools and people of Detroit, through the exact same mechanism that the state used to inflict irreparable harm on the bodies and brains of the children and community of Flint.

Both were targeted by Gov. Rick Synder’s dictatorial emergency financial manager system, whose mission in Flint was to privatize the water supply, and in Detroit, to convert what’s left of the public schools to privately-run charters.

Depraved indifference Recently-released email records show that Gov. Synder’s underlings knew for a full year that potentially irreparable harm was being done to the majority Black population of Flint. Yet, the state made no attempt to deal with high levels of lead and other poisons in the city’s water – proof of the Snyder administration’s depraved

her show back. It was never hers to begin with. It always belonged to MSNBC. Just as they found her convenient at one juncture, she became inconvenient at another.

Harris-Perry and Touré are gone. Al Sharpton and Joy Reid are only on air on the weekend. The corporate media giveth and also taketh away.

Harris-Perry realized that once her missive became public. She backtracked like Michael Jackson doing a moonwalk dance step.

“I don’t think anyone is doing something mean to me because I’m a Black person,” she said. That doesn’t sound like the same woman who said she was not a “token, mammy or little brown bobble head.”

No matter. She has now lost one of her gigs; hopefully, she and others have learned a hard lesson. In the meantime, there is only one thing to say.

Bye, Melissa!

Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@BlackAgendaReport.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

of BET), and Oprah Winfrey stand on her shoulders.

And today, in time for Women’s History Month, Madam C.J. Walker’s products are making a comeback. Her historic formulas have been modified for contemporary use, with four formulas made available based on hair texture.

A’lelia Bundles has been supportive of the line which, as of March 4, is exclusively available at the Sephora cosmetics stores. I’ve not tried the products yet, but I can’t wait to shampoo my hair with a little bit of history, with a product that derives from the formulas of Madam C.J. Walker.

The Madam C.J. Walker story takes on a special significance in these economic times. You may have heard that there has been an economic recovery, but if you are like most people in these United States, you haven’t felt it.

Incomes have hardly risen since 2009, when our current president took office. Not his fault – but that’s not the point. The point is that too many people are hurting, and some of the pain is joblessness.

Barriers to employment entry are high especially for some young African-Americans who, despite similar qualifications to their White counterparts, take much longer to find meaningful and remunerative work. If the labor market won’t absorb these young people, African-American entrepreneurs – the inheritors of Madam C.J. Walker – must.

Where is she?

indifference to human life, the same depraved indifference that it showed to the students, teachers and parents of Detroit.

As Pamela Pugh, treasurer of Michigan’s elected Board of Education has written, “After more than six years of a failed state takeover, Detroit Public Schools have deteriorated into a destabilized education system....” She continued: “Just as Flint’s water crisis occurred under emergency management, so did the demise of the Detroit school district.”

In Michigan, the “predicate crime,” as lawyers would call it, was theft of democracy in the state’s Black cities, from which all the other crimes flowed. But the only people that are at risk of losing their liberties are Steve Conn and Nicole Conoway for attempting to organize their fellow teachers, parents and community members for the survival of public education in Detroit.

Michigan is showing that the corporate and financial classes of the United States can no longer coexist with democratic institutions, especially when Black people’s rights are at issue. Either we get rid of them, or they get rid of us.

‘Killer for hire’ Darnell Earley was the Black henchman for Gov. Snyder’s crimes against humanity in both Flint and the Detroit schools – a killer for hire with the title of emergency financial manager.

Under corporate rule, high finance is the motive for the highest of crimes, while the exercise of free speech and assembly and other fundamental democratic rights are criminalized.

Where is the business leader who can create tens of thousands of sales agents and provide entrepreneurship opportunities for so many?

While our colleges teach some educational fundamentals, they ought also to be encouraged to teach entrepreneurship. If job market continues to generate an official Black unemployment rate of around ten percent, and an employment population ratio of sixty percent (which means that just 60 percent of the adult population is working – it is closer to 70 percent for Whites, then the need for Black entrepreneurs is critical.

African-American women are increasingly likely to take up the mantle of Madam C.J. Walker and start businesses. Younger women, especially, are motivated by job markets that they perceive to be unwelcoming.

In the name of Madam C.J. Walker, let’s keep our entrepreneurial gene thriving!

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

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Email him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

NATION

TOJ A6

MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

Obama plans to stay in D.C. after leaving office

BY CHRISTI PARSONS TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Joseph Sledge, center, talks with his sister Barbara and brother Oscar during a break as a three-judge panel takes up Joseph Sledge’s claim of innocence at the Dempsey B. Herring Court House Annex on Jan. 23, 2015 in Whiteville, N.C. The judges agreed to exonerate Sledge in a 1976 double murder. Sledge, now 71, had been proclaiming his innocence for more than three decades.

75 Blacks exonerated in 2015 for crimes they didn’t commit of the homicide exonerees were minorities, including half who were African-American.

BY FREDERICK H. LOWE TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

The National Registry of Exonerations at the University of Michigan Law School reported that 71 Black men and four Black women were exonerated in 2015 for crimes they didn’t commit.

Last year, a record 149 individuals from 29 states, the District of Columbia, the federal court and Guam were exonerated, reported the white paper “The National Registry of Exonerations: Exonerations in 2015.”

Since 1989, 1,733 individuals have been exonerated as of Jan. 27, 2016. The paper reported that 58 defendants were exonerated for homicide cases in 2015. The exonerees came from 25 states and the District of Columbia. More than two-thirds

False confessions The study reported 47 defendants were exonerated in 2015 for drug possession. A record 42 of those exonerated had pled guilty in Harris County, which includes Houston.

Twenty-seven exonerations last year were for convictions based on false confessions, also a record. More than 80 percent of these false confessions were in homicide cases, mostly by defendants who were under 18 or developmentally disabled or both.

Official misconduct played a role in 65 exonerations, another record number. Three-quarters of homicide exonerations in 2015 included known official misconduct. Some of the offi-

cers who commit official misconduct are African-American, according to Samuel R. Gross, editor of the National Registry of Exonerations.

Little attention The story reported that 65 exonerations were convictions based on guilty pleas. The majority were for drug cases and eight were homicide convictions based on guilty pleas that turned out to be false convictions.

Finally, a record 75 exonerations in 2015 were based on confessions in which no crime had been committed. Gross noted the nation averages three exonerations per week, but most get little attention.

This story is Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he plans to stay in Washington after the end of his presidency so that his younger daughter can finish high school with her class, a rare disclosure about his family’s personal plans for the future.

During a visit with voters in Milwaukee on March 3, Obama said he wasn’t sure where he and wife Michelle Obama would settle down for the long term, but added that they’re putting off the decision until daughter Sasha finishes at Washington’s Sidwell Friends School in the spring of 2019.

“Transferring someone in the middle of high school — tough,” he told a group of people gathered to have lunch with him at a local restaurant. Then he quickly asked a group of White House reporters to step away while he finished his lunch.

No specifics Obama said in an interview with Barbara Walters three years ago that he and his family might decide to live in Washington after they leave the White House, at least as long as Sasha Obama remained still in school. Sasha, 14, is now in ninth grade. Malia Obama, 17, will graduate from Sidwell this spring.

Fiercely protective of her family’s privacy, though, first lady Mi-

chelle Obama’s office has declined to discuss specific plans. The Obamas have also refused to talk about where they will live after their daughter graduates, spurring speculation that they might not return to her hometown of Chicago, where Obama began his political career.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune last month, when asked if he planned to move back to Illinois, Obama said only that he’ll “certainly be spending time here.”

Asked at lunch In Milwaukee, Obama was relaxing a bit as he met with people who have written him letters to talk about what Obamacare has meant in their lives. They also talked about the weather and life in the Midwest, prompting Obama to remark that he “always feels good being closer to home.”

A woman at the table asked where he would live after he was through being president. Most presidents move back to their home states after they leave office, while some start new lives elsewhere; President George W. Bush went back to Texas, but President Bill Clinton moved to New York so his wife could run for Senate.

“We haven’t figured that out yet,” he said.

“We’re going to have to stay a couple of years so Sasha can finish.”

He then urged the pool of reporters to move along, saying, “Get out of here.” It was unclear whether Obama intended to disclose the family’s plans so publicly.

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MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

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JAZZ IN THE GARDENS

Jazz great Najee is scheduled to perform Saturday, March 19, at the 11th annual Jazz in the Gardens in Miami Beach. His performance repertoire primarily will be a 30-year anniversary tribute to “Najee’s Theme. He’ll also be joined on stage by Regina Belle and Alex Bugnon.

Najee among top artists at 11th annual music festival in Miami Gardens

BY PENNY DICKERSON FLORIDA COURIER

Three days of soulful and sultry music returns to the City of Miami Gardens March 18-20 for the 11th Annual Jazz in the Gardens (JITG) Music Festival at Sun Life Stadium.

Festival organizers expect crowds to surpass last year’s 73,000 fans who trekked from all points of the globe to attend one of the music industry’s most celebrated and renowned multi-day concert events.

Comedian and nationally syndicated radio personality Rickey Smiley will once again serve as host and segue the audience with humor through a starstudded line-up representing genres from jazz to soul to gospel.

Performers are Aretha Franklin, Usher, Janelle Monae, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Michael McDonald, Average White Band, Kool & the Gang, Fred Hammond, Brian Culbertson, The Jazz in the Gardens All Stars featuring Najee, Alex Bugnon and Regina Belle. Local artists include CriStyle Renae, April Raquel and thee Kouture Funk Band, and Lavie.

A mayoral welcome

The March 19 lineup includes “Queen of Soul’’ Aretha Franklin, Kool & the Gang, Michael McDonald, and the Average White Band,

Usher is scheduled to take the stage on March 20. Also scheduled that date are Janelle Monae, Kenny “Babyface’’ Edmonds, Brian Culbertson, and Fred Hammond.

Contemporary jazz keyboard player Alex Bugnon will perform on March 19.

Miami Gardens is a burgeoning 20 square miles of cultural diversity located mid-way between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Incorporated on May 13, 2003 as the 33rd city in Miami-Dade County, it is the third largest city in Miami-Dade, after Miami and Hialeah, and boasts a population of more than 110,000.

It is conveniently accessed by I-95, the Palmetto Expressway and the Florida Turnpike and called home by residents who are among the working and middle class. The city ranks as the largest predominantly African-American municipality in Florida, many who also are of Caribbean descent.

“The Jazz in the Garden festival gives us a wonderful opportunity to not only have fun, but also showcase Miami Gardens as a destination,” said Mayor Oliver G. Gilbert III. The Sun Life Stadium, located in Miami Gardens, is the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins.

“Any other time people are coming to the city it’s for a football game, so this is something that expands the tourism venue and also allows our residents to interact with one another. It’s extraordinary and not just a benefit to the city, but we partner with the Miami-Dade and Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, so when people come, they stay in area hotels and also patronize other restaurants,” Gilbert added.

Najee will perform numbers from his new album, “You, Me and Forever.’’

“It’s always great to come back to Miami,” said Najee. “I’ll be joined by Regina Belle and Alex Bugnon and it’s going to be a blast.”

Attendees will be delighted to know that his 65-minute festival performance repertoire will primarily be a 30-year anniversary tribute to “Najee’s Theme” with a few selections from his new release, “You, Me and Forever.” His new single “Fly with the Wind” has been No. 1 for two weeks in a row on Billboard.

A jazz classic

Jazz in the Garden is set to deliver a triad of days filled with fun and ethnic foods, including conch salad scooped-out of pineapples from festival favorite Keith Reed (Reed & Sons Catering) and dryrubbed barbecue spare ribs from Bone-na-fide.

“This event also helps our local business who serve as [festival] vendors,” said Gilbert. “People plan their fiscal year around Jazz in the Gardens because it’s that much boom for them and people who attend are able and willing to spend money.”

From the jerk chicken to Fruitzen Delite all-natural frozen desserts, Gilbert and the city welcome jazz fans new and old to the “Gardens.”

Najee continues to reign as an iconic, industry trailblazer 30 years after the release of his awardwinning album, “Najee’s Theme,’’ the latter of which blessed radio sound waves with the signature hit “Najee’s Theme” along with “Sweet Love” and “Betcha Don’t Know.”

Well, we betcha fans don’t know the back story of how a native New Yorker with boyish good looks broke barriers by ingeniously fusing the sounds of R&B and Jazz. Call it a 1980s risk, but the results have produced two Grammy nominations, two platinum and four gold albums. And we’d be remiss to not give volume to his multiple Soul Train Awards and recognition by the NAACP Image Awards.

“I never, ever plan in my mind when I make a record that I want a Grammy nomination. My mind doesn’t work that way,’’ said Najee in a recent Florida Courier interview. “I love when a group of people get together and decide you’ve been chosen to win this award or whatever, and I am always grateful because I understand the nature of my business and recognize that there are so many talented people out here. It humbles me.

Accolades aside, the journey of how Najee staked claim on the jazz scene in the mid-1980s is a narrative with its own impressive lyrics. Moreover, he has unequivocally earned a legend’s status with zero hints that his longevity will cease.

Najee in the Gardens

Conservatory roots

Economic boost

Performing at Jazz in the Gardens is an experience jazz impressario Najee always looks forward to as the audience is generally comprised of his early fan base who also bought his albums and supported the career climb.

Jerome “Najee” Rasheed could have been just another fun-loving kid roaming the streets of Jamaica-Queens, New York but fate found him and See FESTIVAL, Page B2

For complete details on Jazz in the Gardens 2016, visit www.jazzinthegardens.com.

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FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Orlando: Chris Tucker performs March 25 at Hard Rock Live Orlando. The show is at 9 pm.

Tampa: The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists will host a free Getting Your News in the News forum at 7 p.m. March 24 at the Seminole Heights Library, 4711 N. Central Ave. More information: www.tbabj.com.

CALENDAR

MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

STOJ

TONY ROCK

The Festival of Laughs featuring Mike Epps, Tony Rock and Cocoa Brown is March 19 at the University of South Florida Sun Dome.

Miami Beach: Catch Kirk Franklin at the Jackie Gleason Theater on March 15.

FAITH EVANS

Funk Fest 2016 takes place April 16 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds. Performers will include Faith Evans, New Edition, Kenny “Babyface’’ Edmonds, Jagged Edge, Uncle Luke & the 69 Boyz. More information: www.funkfesttour.com.

Hallandale: An award reception for area women is at 4 p.m. March 12 at Greater Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Hallandale. It’s sponsored by the Divine Divas of S. Florida, a Red Hat Society chapter.

Miami Gardens: Jazz in the Gardens takes place March 18-20. Artists include Najee, Aretha Franklin, Janelle Monae and Usher. Details and complete lineup: www. jazzinthegardens.com.

Estero: Nick Cannon presents “Wild N Out’’ at the Germain Arena on March 15.

The show is at 8 p.m.

Tampa: The Gasparilla Music Festival on March 12-13 will include Steven “Ragga’’ Marley, Erykah Badu and Talib Kweli. The event is at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, 600 N. Ashley Drive. Tickets: GMFtickets.com.

Jacksonville: Rihanna: Anti World Tour 2016 makes

JB SMOOVE

Catch the comedian and actor at The Palladium in St. Petersburg on March 26.

stops on March 12 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Amalie Arena in Tampa on March 13 and AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami on March 15.

Tampa: The Legends of

Southern Hip Hop show is April 23 at the USF Sundome.

Performers include Juvenile, Too Short, Trick Daddy along with 8 Ball & MJG. Miami: Beyonce’s Formation World Tour stops at

Marlins Park on April 27 and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on April 29.

Orlando: A Ladies’ Tea Party takes place April 23 at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 4851 S. Apopka-

Edward Waters president receives ‘Solid as A Rock’ Award Edward Waters College (EWC) President Dr. Nathaniel Glover has been named the 2016 recipient of the 18th annual Thompson S. Baker “Solid as a Rock” Award presented by the Junior Achievement of North Florida.

The award was presented during the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame ceremony on March 8 at the University of North Florida’s Herbert University Center.

COURTESY OF EDWARD WATERS COLLEGE

President Nathaniel Glover, right, receives About the award the award from Harry Frisch, founder of The “Thompson S. Baker ‘Solid as a Rock’ Beaver Street Fisheries.

29th EWC president Glover is a 1966 graduate of Edward Waters College where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Science. He later earned a Mas-

FESTIVAL from Page 1

God’s gift of music bloomed in his soul. Along with his younger brother Fareed, whom Najee admits to being “tied by the hip,” the talented instrumentalists attended the prestigious New England Conservatory of music.

The latter laid the foundation for a stellar performance and recording career.

“New England at that time had a strong jazz department that competed with the Berkley School of Music which was right up the street,” said Najee.

“There was a teacher there named Joe Allard who had taught John Coltrane and I wanted to study with him, so I auditioned and got in.”

Najee added a caveat: He studied and learned classical musical but his

Fort Lauderdale: The Dillard Center for the Arts and the Old Dillard Museum

South Carolina senator to keynote Broward GOP dinner

SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Award” is given to an individual who has influenced business and education in the Jacksonville community.

The award recognizes individuals who have dedicated themselves to bettering our community through leadership, hands-on involvement and philanthropic deeds. Since 1999, this annual award has been named for Thompson S. Baker, the founder of Florida Rock Industries.

On April 11, 1995, Dr. Nathaniel Glover, Jr. made history by being elected as the first African-American sheriff in Florida in more than 100 years, since Reconstruction. He served twoterms and retired from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on June 30, 2003.

Vineland Road. The event begins at 1 p.m. RSVP: www. st.lukes.org/tea or call 407876-4991.

ter of Education Degree from the University of North Florida (UNF).

He is a graduate of the 130th Session of the FBI National Academy and a graduate of the 1989 class of Leadership Jacksonville. Glover has been presented with honorary Doctorate of Law Degrees from both Edward Waters and the University of North Florida.

He is the 29th president of Florida’s first private college and became EWC’s president in February 2011.

Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices.

natural inclination has always been jazz and R&B. “As a performer, jazz is more in my soul and heart,” said Najee.

Embracing soprano The tenor saxophone and flute shared Najee’s affection, but a slight, sibling dispute with Fareed over Najee also learning to play the soprano saxophone proved prosperous.

The smaller woodwind instrument produces higher notes, but is known to challenge intonation; however, Najee’s mastery of breathing technique serves as the capstone of his professional performance delivery.

“I additionally studied with flutist Harold Jones as part of a youth program at the Manhattan School of Music; Jones was one of the first African-Americans to play with the New York Philharmonic,” said Najee, whose mentoring, influences and collabora-

tions include some of the industry’s legendary greats including Quincy Jones, Stanley Clarke andGeorge Duke.

According to Najee, the tenor, soprano and flute collectively “make up my musical personality, and the instrument I use depends on the composition.’’

The sexiest name Playing in local bands in and around New York marked the early beginnings for Najee and Fareed, who played guitar. Jerome, as his family and inner circle knew him, was now branded to the world as simply, “Najee.”

“It was that era where everyone was using one name: Sade, Prince, Luther, Whitney,” Najee explained. “So, I went with the marketing trend and the name that was sexiest!” he quipped.

The breaks came quick,

Congressman Tim Scott will be the featured speaker at the Broward GOP Lincoln Day Dinner on March 12 at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale.

“I am excited to announce that South Carolina Senator Tim Scott will be the featured speaker at our Broward GOP Lincoln Day Dinner, March 12th at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina,” Broward County Republican Executive Committee Chairman Robert Sutton said in a statement. “Senator Scott endorsed Marco Rubio for president last month which was pivotal to Marco’s success in the South Carolina primary. The two of them have worked together in the U.S. Senate to expand the opportunities of the American Dream for everybody Scott went from a single working-parent household in poverty to the UnitSen. Tim ed States Senate.

Scott After serving 12 years on the Charleston County Council and one term in the South Carolina General Assembly, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 with Tea Party en-

beginning with invites by Chaka Khan and Freddie Jackson, but it was the signing with Capital EMI records that launched his first album in 1986, and the rest is jazz history.

“I gotta be honest. When I recorded ‘Najee’s Theme,’ I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. I knew I wanted to do a commercial record, but what I recorded, in my mind, was an R&B record with a saxophone. The critics and everybody called it jazz because they heard a saxophone voice,” Najee unabashedly shared.

“I pursued R&B because I knew that’s where the buying public was and, of course, you take a little criticism for that, but it was a good decision in hindsight because we had a $60,000 budget and were fortunate that we took that little $60,000 and recorded what turned out to be a platinum record,” he added.

will present a tribute to poet Langston Hughes at 4 p.m. April 10 featuring the Ron McCurdy Quartet. The concert will be at Dillard High School Auditorium, 2501 NW 11 St. Details: www.olddillardmuseum.org.

dorsement – the first Republican African-American Congressman from that state since 1897.

In 2013, he was named by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jim DeMint and was victorious in a special election for the final two years of DeMint’s second term becoming the first African-American senator elected from the South since 1881

Others on program The March 12 program will feature remarks by Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, State Rep. George Moraitis, State Rep. and Republican Party of Florida Chairman Blaise Ingoglia, Republican National Committee CoChair Sharon Day, National Committeeman Peter Feaman and candidates for local, state and federal office.

In a statement, Scott said: “I am excited to join so many conservative grassroots leaders in Broward County. It is because of the hard work of conservatives at the local level that Republicans control the House and the Senate and ultimately will win the White House in November.”

The VIP and general reception begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $225 for general and $325 for VIP and may be purchased at TheBrowardLincolnDay.com.

A brother’s keeper While legions of music industry artists suffer the ill report of financial loss from bad management, Najee has been blessed with having his most trusted companion at the leadership helm of his career: his brother Fareed is also his manager.

“Me and Fareed collaborated on most of my early work and producing albums, but over time, he didn’t like the road anymore and wanted to be closer to home to raise his kids,” offered Najee. “He produced Tokyo Blue (and others) and I would have to say, that project is one my most endearing because we did it together, front to back, which established us and allowed us to stay in the game this long,” he noted.

According to Najee, the brothers made an early career decision that they were going to invest their

money into their own recording studio and when the record industry takes its turn – “as it does for all artists,” adds Najee – that they would be able to ride the wave.

“Our goal was to still have a good life, put our kids through college, and not stress over having to do something because money is necessary,” Najee explained and added that having a brother wise enough to see the future, not living above his means, and putting money where it belonged for marketing, all attributed to success.

“I am a studio musician who loves performing live and in the studio,” said Najee. “My career for the past 30 years has been a combination, and I am blessed to have access to both worlds.”

For more on Najee’s career and tour season, visit www.najeeofficial.com.

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MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

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HISTORY

MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

STOJ

JAY L. CLENDENIN/LOS ANGELES TIMES

Rodney Glen King looks at a picture of himself from May 1, 1992, the third day of the Los Angeles riots, which hangs in the living room of his home on March 25, 2012 in Rialto, Calif. King passed away in 2012.

A human being, not a symbol Rodney King’s daughter reflects on 25th anniversary of dad’s beating

BY ANGEL JENNINGS LOS ANGELES TIMES TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

LOS ANGELES — For as long as Lora King could remember, she had to share her father with the world.

Everywhere Rodney King went, people swarmed him for autographs or asked to take pictures with him. They offered words of encouragement at the local pharmacy. Others heckled him as he shared meals with his three daughters.

All of them, it seemed, wanted to know one thing: What did you do with the money?

“You don’t have to talk to them,” Lora told her dad once when he was confronted in his SUV. “Just roll the window up.”

But it was hard to roll the window up on King’s notoriety, which was based on one of the most searing images in Los Angeles history.

Twenty-five years ago last week Rodney King became the public face of police brutality when his beating by three baton-wielding LAPD officers was broadcast in living rooms across America.

The videotape of the beating transformed the unemployed construction worker into a symbol.

To some, he was a criminal who deserved the beating that he got. To others, King was a “Black everyman” who epitomized the brutality that police visited on the African-American community.

‘More than him’ Who he was as a flesh-andblood human being almost didn’t matter — unless you were his child.

“Rodney King as an individual was never really the point,” said Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles.

“People were angry for him and identify with him, but with that they are uplifting their own brutality stories. People rose up not for Rodney King. It was more than him. It was us seeing ourselves in him.”

Kerman Maddox, a public affairs consultant who launched a recall effort against then LAPD Chief Daryl Gates after the beating, said that at best King “became a figure that people felt sorry for.”

“He was not a person like Rosa Parks. … She was the perfect symbol for the civil rights movement,” he said. “Rodney King was not without flaws. He just happened to be the right guy at the wrong time and wrong place — a perfect symbol to highlight the issue of police brutality.”

‘Looked like a monster’ Lora King was 7 years old on March 3, 1991, when her dad, on parole and drunk, was famously beaten in Lakeview Terrace.

Days later, King limped toward his daughter. His face was still swollen. One eye was protruding out of its socket. He talked from the side of his mouth like Popeye.

“I was terrified,” she recalled.

“He looked like a monster, but he had a big smile on his face like it was no big deal.”

Lora had seen George Holliday’s grainy video of baton blows raining down on her father on the evening news. “I’m fine,’’ King told her.

Many years would go by before father and daughter truly reckoned with the emotional scars left by the beating.

“I purposely never brought it up because I always felt that he couldn’t escape it,” said Lora, 32, an administrative assistant at a Glendale accounting firm. “I tried to stay in a happy place.”

ROBERT GAUTHIER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Rodney King’s middle daughter, Lora King, 32, at home on March 2, 2016 in San Pedro, Calif. tion, like I’m a fool for believing in peace.”

Dead at 47

Weekends with dad She remembered a father who spent Fridays crisscrossing Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties to pick up his three daughters.

On the long rides, he would map out the plans for the weekend. Sometimes, it was skiing at Mount Baldy, surfing in Venice, a day at Raging Waters. He also liked to go to places where famous people, including Black celebrities and artists, would draw attention away from him.

In school, she tried to keep her father’s identity secret. But he would show up during “Back to School” nights or cheer her from the audience during school plays.

Then everybody would know that Lora was Rodney King’s daughter.

One time, he used his celebrity to charm his way into a school camping trip with his daughter.

“I can’t be a normal kid,” she remembered saying with a hint of annoyance.

Now she’s a parent. She understands why her father wanted to spend time with her.

Run-ins with law Lora stopped looking at her father through the eyes of a child years ago.

In the years after the beating, King continued to have troubles with the law. In 1993, he crashed into a wall while driving drunk.

Two years later, he served 90 days in jail after being charged with a hit-and-run for knocking his wife down with his car. He got hooked on PCP. Lora saw a broken man who carried the guilt for the lives lost during the rioting that broke out after a jury in Simi Valley cleared the Los Angeles Police Department officers charged in his beating.

He faced real demons, she said.

King’s frequent run-ins with the

Twenty-five years ago last week Rodney King became the public face of police brutality when his beating by three baton-wielding LAPD officers was broadcast in living rooms across America. law after the beating continued to make him a divisive figure — and a less than perfect role model. In 1996, the Rev. Cecil Murray of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, told the Los Angeles Times he prayed with King about what role he could play in the world given his fame.

“When we get higher visibility, then we have a double obligation to put our best foot forward, because we represent not only ourselves but a larger cause,” he said.

54 related deaths Rodney King had been drinking the night cops pulled him over on a darkened stretch of Foothill Boulevard. He was acting erratically when he stepped out of the car. Officers surrounded him, shot him with Tasers and struck him more than 50 times in the head and body with 2-foot solid pieces of aluminum.

They stomped on him with the soles of their boots.

Holliday, a neighbor roused from sleep by the whir of helicopters overhead, captured the scene.

Four officers faced trial for the beating. A jury with no Black people on it acquitted all of them on April 29, 1992. Anger spilled out into the streets, and protesters set fire to entire blocks, stormed police head-

quarters and looted businesses.

There were 54 riot-related deaths and nearly $1 billion in property damage.

In the mayhem, Rodney King made an emotional plea before television cameras: “Can we all get along? Can we get along?”

Won $3.8 million Over the years, King’s words famously turned into something he never said: “Can’t we all just get along?”

The next year, the four officers acquitted in state court were tried in federal court on charges of violating King’s civil rights.

Two were convicted and went to jail. Gates stepped down as LAPD chief. Over the generation that followed, the Los Angeles Police Department began to implement reforms recommended by the Christopher Commission.

Rodney King sued the city and won $3.8 million in damages.

He told the Times that half went to lawyers. He bought a house for himself and his mother, then started a now-shuttered hip-hop record label.

“I sometimes feel like I’m caught in a vise,” he said. “Some people feel like I’m some kind of hero. Others hate me. They say I deserved it. Other people, I can hear them mocking me for when I called for an end to the destruc-

On Father’s Day in 2012, Rodney King was found dead at the bottom of his backyard pool in Rialto. He was 47.

On a wall, etched in the tile, he inscribed the dates of both the beating, 3/3/91, and the start of the riots, 4/29/92. He had mulled marking the wall with another number: Of those who died during the riot.

“Rodney King has a unique spot in both the history of Los Angeles and the LAPD,” Police Chief Charlie Beck said after King’s death. “What happened on that cool March night over two decades ago forever changed me and the organization I love. His legacy should not be the struggles and troubles of his personal life but the immensely positive change his existence wrought on this city and its police department.”

Lora King takes solace in that.

Her daughter Jailyn is just two years older than Lora was when her father was beaten. The little girl shared the story of her family, and of her grandfather, with her class.

Sentimental reminders Lora keeps reminders of her father throughout the home in San Pedro she shares with her mother and her child — including a painting with the words he uttered during the riots near the entrance.

A life-sized childhood photo of Rodney King hangs in the dining room. A gold mirror that adorned his living room wall is perched atop the fireplace.

“There are a lot of positive and negative that come with the ring of my dad’s name,” Lora said.

She said she feels blessed that her daughter got to know her grandfather “at his core before the world told her who they think he was.”

STOJ

MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

GARY FRIEDMAN/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

‘The BET Honors,’’ taped March 5 at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., recognizes some of the biggest names in entertainment, business and politics. This year’s honorees include Academy Award-nominated director Lee Daniels, creator of the hit television show “Empire.’’” The BET Honors’’ will air March 14 on BET Networks at 8 p.m.

B5

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.

“The BET Honors’’ will recognize Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments, one of the largest African-American-owned moneymanagement and mutual fund companies in the U.S. Hobson. She and others will be honored on March 14 on BET Networks.

Robert L. Johnson, the man who founded BET, poses for a portrait at The London Hotel on April 12, 2012 in West Hollywood, Calif.

risks the progress in recent years by cable and satellite companies in offering more diverse content.

Opening up the set-top box business to technology companies such as Google would threaten copyright and licensing payments that fuel program development, Liggins said. Those firms could mine viewer data and insert targeted ads in and around TV One shows and listings in program guides that would reduce the network’s revenue, Liggins warned.

“It costs millions and millions of dollars to create quality content,” said Liggins, whose network is home to the annual NAACP Image Awards show and the only daily newscast targeted at African-Americans.

“If an advertiser can get our audience for a lot less money with a lot more data … then that devalues our business and devalues our content and puts us in a really precarious situation,” he said.

GLENN KOENIG/ LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Formal inquiry

Black TV execs split on FCC’s proposed set-top box change

BY JIM PUZZANGHERA LOS ANGES TIMES TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON — Robert Johnson and Alfred Liggins are good friends who share a unique bond: Each launched a successful cable TV network targeting AfricanAmericans, a rare achievement that makes them influential voices in the world of minority programming.

But as federal regulators consider new regulations for pay-TV set-top Alfred boxes that could Liggins dramatically reshape that world, the two Black media titans have staked out polar opposite positions.

The fight between Johnson, the founder of BET, and Liggins,

chairman of TV One, highlights the major role of Black, Latino and other minority groups in a high-stakes debate playing out before the Federal Communications Commission that could rattle the cable and satellite industry.

The sparring has intensified since the agency voted Feb. 18 to begin drafting rules to spur competition in the market for the decoding boxes that most pay-TV subscribers rent from their provider.

Easier access The proposal from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler promises to rattle the industry. It would allow technology firms, such as Google, easier access to pay-TV programs that they could package into new multipurpose devices that Americans could buy to watch those shows along with streaming Internet shows.

The result, depending on who

you talk to, could be a new model that allows more diverse content to reach Americans’ TV screens — or one that short-circuits hardwon gains by Black, Latino and other minority programmers and leads to fewer quality shows.

“There’s no question this is a potential paradigm shift in how service is delivered in the industry, so there’s a lot of nervousness,” Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., said. Last month, he joined with 24 other House members in writing to Wheeler raising concerns about the effects of the plan on minority-owned and independent content creators.

Johnson’s argument Wheeler’s plan pits pay-TV providers and major content producers, such as the top Hollywood studios, against high-tech firms and consumer groups. And in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, the minority program-

ming issue is a key battleground in the broader debate over the future of the set-top box.

Johnson and Liggins, two of the most respected African-Americans in the TV programming universe, are leading the charge from opposite sides — and taking some personal shots at each other in the process.

Wheeler’s plan would disrupt the relatively closed pay-TV ecosystem. Liggins benefits from that ecosystem because his network has a coveted slot in most cable and satellite programming packages.

For more than two decades, Johnson also was one of those insiders. But he sold BET to Viacom Inc. in 2003 and now chairs an online streaming company. As an outsider, he backs Wheeler’s plan.

“The universal set-top box pumps you straight to the big TV screen, where most AfricanAmericans, most Americans in general, want to watch their TV,” said Johnson, chairman of RLJ Entertainment. “The universal set-top box would open up tremendous opportunity for minority programming.”

Liggins’ warning But Liggins said the FCC plan

Minority organizations are taking positions, with most so far siding with the pay-TV industry. And lawmakers, such as members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have been lobbied for their backing.

Wheeler said his proposal would not alter licensing and copyright agreements with cable and satellite providers. And he promised that the final rules would prohibit third parties from placing ads in or around pay-TV shows when viewers watch them so that “the sanctity of the content” would be preserved.

“Nothing changes minority programmer relations with the cable company,” Wheeler said.

“But it sure does create more opportunities for minority programmers to reach consumers over the Internet.”

But Wheeler’s vow was not included in the draft rules and he did not address the question of ads in program guides. The proposal says there was no evidence that the new devices would “replace or alter advertising, or improperly manipulate content,” although the FCC is asking for public comment on those points.

Both sides agree there needs to be more minority programming available to American viewers.

The FCC has launched a formal inquiry into “the state of independent and diverse programming.”

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FOOD

MARCH 11 – MARCH 17, 2016

S

EASY BRUNCH OMELET Makes: 4 portions Toppings: mushrooms chorizo, bacon or ham cherry tomatoes spring onions herbs Omelet: 8 eggs 8 tablespoons water or milk salt, to taste pepper, to taste 2 tablespoons butter 8 slices Jarlsberg Cheese 8 slices ham Prepare toppings. Fry mushrooms and chorizo, bacon or ham; cut cherry tomatoes and spring onions.

To make omelet, crack eggs in bowl and add water, salt and pepper. Whisk eggs until they turn a pale yellow color, about 25-35 whisks.

Heat frying pan on medium heat and melt butter. When butter is bubbly, add about one quarter of the egg batter. This will make one of four omelets. When batter starts setting, move hardened parts toward the middle, enabling the rest to get direct heat as well. Use a gentle hand to avoid scrambled eggs. When batter starts to look cooked, add cheese and meat and flip omelet over. The omelet should be slightly golden on fried side and a little runny and soft in the middle.

Finally, put omelet on plate and add garnish before serving.

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

If you’ll be hosting friends and family to honor Easter this year, make your gathering as simple as it is scrumptious with a deca­dent brunch menu.

If you’re daunted by the diversity of dishes a brunch menu demands, remember that quality ingredients – not complex preparation – is what makes dishes truly stand out. Fresh produce and superior products instantly elevate a recipe from good to great.

These brunch staples all start as basics, but get a boost with the right combination of quality ingredients: Made-to-order omelets are always a hit because they guarantee you’re serving up exactly what your guests enjoy. Use a few winning ingredients to create an easy and quick omelet base, then offer an array of toppings, including unexpected flavors such as Jarlsberg Brand Cheese. Best known for its classic wedge, this nutty, mild cheese is also available in slices – perfect for the ooey-gooey factor everyone loves in an omelet.

A classic French quiche combines fresh and flavorful ingredients, is easy to make and tastes delicious hot or cold. The quiche is simple enough to make that you can prepare several varieties, giving guests plenty of options and handily filling a buffet spread.

Simply prepare your crust and filling base then mix in fresh, crisp veggies that are steamed or lightly browned.

Or create a savory, meaty quiche with your favorite sausage or bacon. Add some cheese before filling the crust and sprinkle some more cheese on top before baking.

Finger foods bursting with flavor simply make brunch better. This recipe uses ready-rolled puff pastry sheets, rosemary and the distinctive taste of Jarlsberg Brand Cheese for a mouthwater­ing dish that can be featured at a tasting station or as part of a larger meal.

Find more recipes for your Easter brunch at jarlsberg.com.

MAKE BRUNCH A BREEZE

Skip the stress this Easter with these tips to make preparing your holiday brunch simply delicious.

1. Choose several make-ahead dishes that you can prepare well in advance, such as quiche or a breakfast bake.

2. Skip time-intensive pancakes and instead serve up a French toast casserole.

3. Prepare recipes using the highestquality, freshest ingredients for the best results.

4. Give your meal a boost with unexpected but impactful touches, such as specialty butters, homemade jams and delicious cheeses.

5. Create beautiful and tasty accents for your buffet in minutes with pretty bowls or platters filled with colorful, seasonal fruit.

CHEESY BACON QUICHE Makes: 4 portions Crust: 1 cup butter 1 cup flour 2 tablespoons water salt Filling: 1 cup bacon, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 1 leek 4 eggs 1/2 cup Jarlsberg Cheese, plus additional for topping, grated 3 tablespoons parsley 4 tablespoons cream

Heat oven to 400 F. In large bowl, mix butter, flour, water and salt together. Knead thoroughly to make firm dough.

Pack dough in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Press dough into full surface of pie plate and cover with aluminum foil.

Prebake in oven 10 minutes, then remove aluminum foil and bake another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in frying pan on medium heat, saute bacon. Add leek at end of cooking time.

In bowl, whisk eggs and cream together and add grated cheese, parsley, bacon and leek. Pour filling into crust and top with grated cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until edge is golden brown and center is set.

Tip: To save time, use premade pie crust and bake according to package directions.

PUFF PASTRY SWIRLS Makes: 4 portions 4 ready-rolled puff pastry sheets 1 cup grated Jarlsberg Cheese 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped pepper Heat oven to 400 F. On lightly floured work surface, roll out pastry sheets into 8-by-4inch rectangles. Mix grated cheese, rosemary and pepper. Spread mixture over puff pastry. Roll up each pastry rectangle from short end. Press edges firmly together to seal roll.

Slice each roll into 2-inch thick slices. Place face down on baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Tip: To make swirls rise more, don’t roll out pastry with rolling pin.