Florida Courier - March 20, 2015

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MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

VOLUME 23 NO. 12

WHY AMERICA’S RACE PROBLEM WON’T GO AWAY Scholars and activists say that racism is woven into the cultural fabric of America, and that the Obama administration has done little to help change that fact.

BY CHARLENE MUHAMMAD NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT THE FINAL CALL

SELMA, ALA. – In remarks commemorating the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., President Obama declared racism and intolerance unmasked in Ferguson, Mo., no longer exists on the same wide scale and in the same way – though America’s race problem remains.

a tree, but he can never sign with me,” young White male voices rang out on a bus trip. They have since apologized.

“We can’t shake the problem of race in this country, because race is intrinsic to what America is. America will be racist for probably the rest of the time the United States is the United States,” said Dr. David Horne, professor of Critical Thinking and African History, and former chair of the Pan African Studies Department at Cal State University-Northridge.

Revelations of racist chants by members of a college fraternity and police shootings of unarmed Black men clearly show hatred for Blacks remains deeply woven into the fabric of America, activists and scholars said.

Fallout continues over the University of Oklahoma chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity since a video of members American as apple pie The University of Oklahoma singing a racist song about lynchdisbanded the fraternity, expelled ing Blacks went viral.

“There will never be a nigger two members, and the national in S-A-E. You can hang him from chapter revoked its charter.

Coming up short – again

Amidst continued struggles to maintain voting rights, protests to end shootings of unarmed Black males by police and a constant press to lower the jobless rate for African-Americans, a new report this week announces that Black America is still not receiving nearly half of its economic fair share.

“The State of Black America,” issued annually by the National Urban League, unveils statistical indexes comparing the AfricanAmerican and Latino communities to the White community.

FLORIDA | A3

Crist won’t run for office in 2016 NATION | A6

Students suing Tennessee over voter-ID law Famous walker dealing with drama over money, ex EVENTS | B3

The Kinsey Collection: Re-Discovering America

ALSO INSIDE

See PROBLEM, Page A2

Jazz in the Gardens has become one of Black Florida’s largest events and celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Florida Courier photojournalist Kim Gibson was there in 2011 when Ron “Mr. Biggs” Isley of the Isley Brothers took the stage. Tickets are still available at www.jazzinthegardens.com or via Ticketmaster.

Annual evaluation

SNAPSHOTS

duct tape and zip ties. He was blindfolded and given so much alcohol that he died within a few hours of the hazing, according to media reports.

“Race and racism are intrinsic to America. They are as American as apple pie,” Dr. Horne told The Final Call. “Any way she’s sliced, whether it’s a theoretical look at

Miami Gardens marks 10 years of ‘Jazz’

FROM THE TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE

See STATE, Page A2

Although condemnation was swift and the school and fraternity leaders said racism would not be tolerated, news surfaced that 19-year-old Charles Desdunes’s mother filed a $25 million lawsuit against SAE at Cornell University, after it allegedly hazed the aspiring doctor to death in 2011.

According to reports, the son of Haitian immigrants died after his hands and feet were tied with

JAZZ IN THE GARDENS 2015

‘State of Black America’ issued this week

For the last 39 years, the National Urban League has issued a such reports. Every report finds a different way to tell the same story: that the quality of life of Blacks, and now Latinos, is consistently lower than that of White Americans, particularly with regard to economics, income, jobs, and wealth.

The 2014 report, “One Nation Underemployed: Jobs Rebuild America,” noted that both unemployment and underemployment were multiple times higher for both Blacks and Hispanics.

“Underemployment” is defined as those who are jobless or working part-time jobs but who want to work full-time.

The 2015 report – scheduled to

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT

President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder attended the 32st Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service in Washington, D.C. in 2013.

PHOTO BY KIM GIBSON / FLORIDA COURIER

State Senate committee OKs online voter registration take effect Oct. 1, 2017 –instead of Jan. 1, 2016, months before a presidential election in which Florida is again expected to be a key swing state.

FROM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee approved legislation Tuesday that would allow Florida voters to register online – but only after the looming 2016 presidential election.

The bill (SB 228) would allow Floridians with driver’s licenses or state-issued identification cards to submit applications online, using signatures on file with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, as long as the voters’ names and dates of birth match the agency’s records.

Otherwise, the system would fill out a form that could be printed and taken to the office of the local supervisor of elections.

More secure Sen. Jeff Clemens, a Lake Worth Democrat who is spon-

Not political

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

Online voter registration may happen in Florida if bipartisan support holds during this year’s legislative session. soring the bill, said the new system would actually be more secure than the current process for registering to vote, especially when compared to registration drives.

“If you think about it, these applications now go directly from your computer to a supervisor of elections through the DHSMV

instead of, again, being handed to a third party that’s out doing voter registration, where we don’t really actually know what happened to those applications,” Clemens said after the meeting.

The panel approved the measure on a bipartisan, 7-2 vote.

Following an amendment by the committee, the legislation would

Clemens brushed off questions about whether the change was politically motivated, noting instead that Secretary of State Ken Detzner is set to update the state’s voter rolls, and the DHSMV is also expected to overhaul its technology system.

“The fact that we’re able to move the bill out of committee in a pretty positive way, I think, is a good thing,” Clemens said. “I take the secretary of state at his word that they have a lot of irons in the fire right now and they’ve got to make sure we have the correct amount of time in order to be sure we establish a secure system.”

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: DR. SINCLAIR GRAY: THE DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF RACISM | A4

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FOCUS

MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

STATE

Among excerpts from their essays, Crump says of the killings of unarmed Black males, “The symbiotic relationship between the prosecuting attorney and law enforcement, as well as the unbridled autonomy of the prosecuting pttorney in the secrecy of a grand jury proceeding, often bar access to justice for people of color in these cases. We cannot afford to continue to trust their discretion.”

Liggins, the son of media mogul Radio and TV One founder Cathy Hughes, predicts that business ownership will ultimately pull African-Americans out of the economic slump.

“I believe that business ownership is a must to truly dictate the long-term success and trajectory of one’s life, family and generations to come,” Liggins writes. “In fact, it is African-American business ownership that will save our communities by stimulating the economy, generating jobs and decreasing crime. In short, the true color of freedom is green.”

from A1

be released after the Florida Courier’s press time late Wednesday night – is focused on economic equity.

Unfair share In the category of economics, the Black community only gets between 54.4 percent and 55.8 percent of what Whites get, the report states. Latinos receive 61.7 percent of the economic pie – approximately 5.9 percent more than Blacks.

“Imagine if we were to summarize how well African-Americans and Latinos are doing, compared to Whites, in the areas of economics, health, education, social justice and civic engagement, and represent that by a pie,” explains the executive summary of the report, officially released during a press conference led by NUL President/CEO Marc Morial on March 19.

“The Equality Index measures the share of the pie that African-Americans and Latinos get.

Whites are used as the benchmark because the history of race in America has created advantages for Whites that persist in many of the outcomes being measured.”

Still pervasive

Missing ‘pie’ When combining economics, health, education, social justice, and civic engagement, the overall equality index for Blacks comes to 72.2 percent.

“That means that rather than having a whole pie (100 percent), which would mean full equality with Whites, African-Americans are missing about 28 percent of the pie,” the report explains. The overall equality index for Latino-Americans is at 77.7 percent; which means Hispanics are missing 22.3 percent. This means overall, the overall equality index for Latino-Americans is

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

Cleveland, Ohio residents put their best feet forward at a 2014 jobs fair.

5.5 percent higher than AfricanAmericans.

The following are other indexes in the report summary: • Health–79.8 percent for African-Americans and 106.9 percent for Hispanics.

• Education – 76.1 percent for African-Americans and 74.6 percent for Hispanics.

• Social Justice – 60.6 percent

for African-Americans and 72.7 percent for Hispanics.

• Civic Engagement – 104 percent for African-Americans and 71 percent for Hispanics.

The report, which comes in the wake of recent social unrest in Black America, also features es-

says by Benjamin Crump, lawyer for the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, unarmed teens killed by gunfire; Alfred Liggins, president/CEO of Radio One, a publicly traded media company; Sacramento, Calif.

Mayor Kevin Johnson, president of the U. S. Conference of Mayors; and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

internal colonialism or structured functionalism, doesn’t matter,” Dr. Horne said.

Racism isn’t going anywhere and part of the problem is people aren’t even progressing in understanding its consequences, what to do about it, or how to make it less onerous, Dr. Horne said.

aimed at someone else, he said.

“People are tired of being pushed around. They’re tired of being taken for granted,” Dr. Horne said.

He recommended Ferguson residents organize themselves politically and take command of the system.

“Change only comes when people decide that they’ve had enough and they are willing to organize themselves away from what the situation has been,” Dr. Horne continued.

Culture of racism

Readin’, ritin, racism

2015 message titled “The Intensifying Universal Cry for Justice,” Min. Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam reiterated Elijah Muhammad’s warning that God will mete out justice to Whites who have terrorized Blacks in her midst. “ ‘These people,’ he was talking about White people, ‘have been the worst people to us (the Black Nation) since they have been on the face of the earth. They were created and made for just the purpose of destroying our peace as well as our lives,’ ” Min. Farrakhan stated, reading from page 49 of the Elijah Muhammad’s groundbreaking book, “Message to the Black Man in America.”

“They have destroyed 600 million of the Black Nation since they have been on our planet.

This averages 100 million every thousand years of their rule.

They have affected nine-tenths of the total population of the Black man under their rule, including the Brown, Red and Yellow races,” Min. Farrakhan continued.

The best and only true solution is Blacks having their own land, where they can build their own society, free from tension, hatred and violence endemic to living in White America, Elijah Muhammad taught.

God is making a way for Blacks to gain the knowledge of self to build a civilization of their own, but today, too many are afraid and doubtful, Min. Farrakhan said.

curate historical claim that White women were involved in everybody’s movement.

“Black people were involved in everybody’s movement, but not everybody’s involved in the movement for Blacks to be empowered and liberated,” Prof. Delices said.

Ms. Arquette received thunderous applause when she said women’s salaries should be equal to that of men, but when singer John Legend spoke on the problems of Black male incarceration during his acceptance speech with hip-hop artist/actor Common, one could hear a pin drop, Prof. Delices pointed out.

“That speaks to the theme and the reality that we have in this country, because race matters, but Black lives don’t matter,” he said. Whites aren’t interested in empowering Blacks, but maintaining their power at any cost, which they’ve proven time and time again, with the killings of Michael Brown, Jr. in Ferguson, Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y., and many others, he charged.

Police killings of Black males aren’t just happening in a vacuum, Prof. Delices said. “…There is an institutional process in the United States of America to displace Black males from raising their families the way they need to be raised. And that stems from the country’s history of slavery, which disallowed Black males to be with their families to begin with,” he stated.

Colorblind society?

‘Racism without racists’

PROBLEM from A1

Black students charged the SAE incident reflects other racial incidents at the University of Oklahoma. They said complaints to school officials about a culture of racism on campus have gone unanswered. Dr. Horne argued actions were taken against the fraternity only because frat boys got caught, not because of benevolence toward Black students.

The racist chant video surfaced the day after national civil rights leaders, President Obama, and a diverse coalition of politicians, preachers, and activists commemorated the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday March 6-8.

It came on the heels of the Justice Department’s scathing indictment of the Ferguson Police Department, which it investigated following Officer Darren Wilson’s shooting of unarmed Black teen Michael Brown, Jr. It also followed the March 9 fatal police shooting of naked and unarmed Anthony Hill, a 27-year-old Black man in Georgia, and the fatal police shooting of 19-year-old Tony Robinson.

He was killed inside his home in Madison, Wis. on March 6 after an officer forced his way inside, after hearing a disturbance, according to police.

Getting tired Part of the whole consequence of race and racism is disrespect, noted Dr. Horne.

“When you disrespect people for a long enough period of time, they do respond. They do react. People don’t like being disrespected, and that’s what we’re seeing now,” he continued.

The March 11 shooting of two police officers during a protest at the Ferguson police station raised serious concerns.

Twenty-year-old Jeffrey Williams of St. Louis has been arrested for the shootings. He’s been charged with two counts of firstdegree assault, a count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal activity. Bullets that struck police were

In certain matters, things are getting worse, according to Professor Patrick Delices, former research fellow and assistant for Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Dr. Manning Marable at Columbia University. He now works for a college in New York.

“The United States of America is what it is: a nation founded on the basis of White supremacy.

It is a system that prides itself on White privilege, White superiority and Black inferiority, so it is up to us to tap into our resources to create a nation of our own,” Prof.

Delices told The Final Call.

Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam was absolutely correct in directing Blacks to pool their resources to build a nation, the professor said.

Redirect our money If Blacks make up about 14 percent of America’s population, yet are the majority of those incarcerated, being killed, who are homeless, who are unemployed, yet spend $1.2 trillion, Blacks must redirect spending habits to strengthen families and communities, said Prof. Delices.

The answer lies in using Black spending power to create employment and educational institutions, instead of sending Black children to be taught by people who have a history of being violent towards them, and who have no vested interests in truly educating them, Prof. Delices said.

And it’s all happening under a president who identifies himself as Black, but who doesn’t have the interests of Black folks at heart, said Prof. Delices.

“In other words you, have a Black face that promotes White supremacy. You have a Black face in a position of power that serves in the best interest of White supremacy and White America and doesn’t serve in the best of interest of Black folks,” he told The Final Call.

‘The worst people’ In part 2 of his Saviours’ Day

Includes essays

“There’s this notion that we live in a colorblind, race-neutral society when people understand that race matters, and the very young folks who are chanting these racist slurs as it pertains to AfricanAmericans, they’re the ones that are going to be the CEOs of these major companies that are not going to hire us. They’re the ones that are going to hold that system of power over us … even though they know we’re more qualified than the White person that they hire,” Prof. Delices said.

In cases where Blacks may get the job, racism in America is so rampant, it also plays out when companies neglect to hire Blacks in senior executive or leadership or managerial positions, but at lower positions with lower salaries, Prof. Delices noted.

‘Black lives don’t matter’ In addition, he argued, there’s a running theme throughout America that was revealed when during the 87th Academy Awards ceremony, Patricia Arquette, a White female actress, took to the stage and championed the inac-

According to L.A.-based human rights Attorney Nana Gyamfi, one reason for America’s race crisis is the system’s refusal to hold people accountable. The system just refuses in cases of police brutality to pursue cops criminally and actually charge them with federal crimes, or to sue civil rights violating police departments such as Ferguson, she said.

“It’s significant, for example, that the (Justice Department) found all this racism, but then turned around and decided not to indict Wilson with any federal crime, so it’s like racism without racists,” Atty. Gyamfi said.

“There’s all these people doing stuff that’s racist, but there’s no racists. Where are the racists, because you’re not holding any individuals accountable,” she said.

Ultimately, it’s up to the community to hold police and society accountable, but people need to change their strategies, she said.

“We have to admit that our attempts to go through the government, to meet with the police as

The report also focuses at length on educational gaps and school system successes and failures. Overall, it concludes that while many of NUL’s findings are positive, the overwhelming reality is that racial inequality is still pervasive nationwide.

“President Obama opened his January 2015 State of the Union address touting a lower unemployment rate than before the financial crisis, more children graduating than ever before and more people insured than ever before,” the report states.

“While each of these milestones is reflected in the 2015 National Urban League Equality Index, it also tells a less popular, though all too familiar, story of persistent racial disparities in American life.”

The full articles and report can be found in the 2015 State of Black America e-book or at www. stateofblackamerica.org.

some groups have been doing regularly here in L.A., to try to figure out who are the good cops, who are the bad cops, we have to admit that those strategies have not worked. And it’s okay,” she said.

Seize, exercise power Certain tactics worked before because Blacks were united, seized power and exercised power, she argued.

“We’re not together. We’re not thinking about this as a power struggle. We’re thinking about this still in a position in which we are asking, in which we are begging, in which we are the powerless, seeking that hope from the powerful, and we have to stop that,” Atty. Gyamfi insisted.

Until and unless Blacks recognize the need to take personal responsibility for solutions, things won’t change, she said.

“You just can’t sit and see that this is a terrible thing and do locker room talk about it. We know that there are people obviously that are up in arms, that are in the streets, that are doing the work to seize power but it’s not enough people, and they don’t have enough support,” she said.

Dr. Boyce Watkins, writer, organizer, and academic, told The Final Call that federal action on Ferguson wasn’t the best the government could do and the Obama administration is a big part of the problem.

“The Obama administration has been incredibly weak on most issues that relate to racial justice. In fact, his presidency has been a huge setback for the African- American community,” Dr. Watkins stated in an e-mail interview from Botswana in southern Africa.

‘Not our friends’ “White people are angry, which puts us all in danger. The key is that we might need to get angry too,” said Dr. Watkins.

He’s unsure if police ever felt that it was open season on Blacks, because many of them have been truly trained to believe Blacks are threats.

“In fact, some of them think they are doing the right thing when they kill a young Black man. What has to happen now is for Black people to make our voices heard and to realize that many of these White folks are NOT our friends. Once we realize that our sons have always been in danger, we might gain the will to fight back,” Dr. Watkins said.

MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

FLORIDA

A3

Governor touts privatesector job growth Unemployment rate holds steady at 5.7 percent

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Meet Major General Michael Calhoun On March 6, Adjutant General Brigadier General Michael A. Calhoun was officially promoted to the rank of major general. He will assume the role of Adjutant General of Florida on March 29. “I am proud today to officially promote Brigadier General Michael Calhoun to the rank of major general.

General Calhoun has selflessly served our country for more than 30 years, and held many leadership positions in the Florida National Guard. I am confident he will do a great job as the Adjutant General of Florida and that the Florida National Guard is always ready to respond to any emergency that may affect our state,” said Gov. Rick Scott during a promotion service at the Florida National Guard headquarters in St. Augustine. Calhoun received his bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University and a master’s degree from the U.S. Army War College.

TALLAHASSEE – With the state’s unemployment rate holding steady as Gov. Rick Scott’s second term got underway, he focused Tuesday on private-sector job growth since he first took office.

The jobless rate stood at 5.7 percent in January, equaling a revised unemployment mark for December, the state Department of Economic Opportunity said Tuesday.

The December figure had initially been posted at 5.6 percent. The national unemployment rate stands at 5.5 percent.

The January figure represents approximately 551,000 Floridians qualifying as unemployed from a work force of 9.7 million.

800,000 privatesector jobs added In announcing the monthly numbers, Scott pointed to more than 800,000 private-sector jobs that have been created in

No changes to state pensions this year

BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – The House has abandoned plans to overhaul the state pension plan for public

employees, at least for this year, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli said Monday.

In a statement issued by his office, the Merritt Island Republican said he would not push the issue after getting new reports

from Milliman, a consultant, about projected savings that would come from making changes to the Florida Retirement System.

FRS provides retirement plans for employees who work for the state, counties

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and school districts.

Crisafulli said the House had asked Milliman to revisit its earlier study of a pension bill that died in the Senate last year, expecting similar results.

“However, the results from the most recent study of the very same bill changed from several billions of dollars in savings to millions of dollars in costs,” he said. “Given the unexpected and puzzling report, we believe it is important to pause and understand what factors caused such a dramatic shift.”

2016 change possible The speaker did not rule out taking another run at FRS reform in 2016.

The prospects of passing changes to the pension plan this year have always seemed questionable.

The 40-member Senate, which has for years resisted House proposals to revamp FRS, is essentially unchanged from 2014, meaning that a majority of

Florida since he first took office in January 2010.

“Florida’s exceptional economic turnaround makes it clear that we are enacting policies to help businesses grow and giving families opportunities to achieve their dreams in Florida,” Scott said in a prepared statement.

Scott went to Feld Entertainment in the Manatee County community of Ellenton to announce the latest monthly figures.

In the jobs release, Scott reiterated his plans to capitalize on recent labor disputes at California ports by traveling to the West Coast on April 12 to try to entice businesses to relocate or expand to Florida.

Largest gains in Miami, Orlando Over the past year, the fields in Florida with the largest job gains have been professional and business services, followed by leisure and hospitality.

The regions with the largest number of new jobs in the past year were Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall and Orlando-KissimmeeSanford, both growing by 42,900 positions. TampaSt. Petersburg-Clearwater added 32,000 jobs, while senators would likely once again vote down any significant legislation.

Last year’s plan would have put workers who don’t choose between the pension plan and a 401(k)style investment plan into the investment plan; those employees are usually sent into the traditional pension by default. It also would have increased the vesting period from Steve eight years Crisafulli to 10.

‘Serious problems’ In his statement, Crisafulli suggested that the House could afford to wait because FRS “is not in crisis today.” But he said the House would push to overhaul local pension plans for police officers and firefighters. Those retirement plans are funded in part by state insurance premium taxes.

“In contrast, we do have serious problems with local pension plans in Florida. It is for this reason that I

Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach went up 30,300 positions.

Across Florida, the lowest county unemployment rates continued to come from the Florida Keys – Monroe County is at 4.1 percent – and parts of North Florida.

St. Johns County stands at 4.4 percent, Wakulla County is at 4.9 percent, and Alachua, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties are all at 5.1 percent

Putnam highest at 8.4 percent Many of the counties with the lowest unemployment rates have relatively high proportions of state and federal government employees.

In contrast, Putnam County in Northeast Florida has surpassed Southwest Florida’s Hendry County with the state’s highest unemployment mark. Putnam stands at 8.4 percent to Hendry’s 8.3 percent. Next highest is Citrus County at 8.1 percent.

The state employment numbers for February are scheduled to be released March 27. have asked Chair Caldwell to focus this year solely on local pension reform,” Crisafulli said, referring to House State Affairs Chairman Matt Caldwell, RNorth Fort Myers.

The Senate has been more far more supportive of addressing the shortfalls in many local pension systems, though the Florida League of Cities is now balking at a deal hammered out between cities and unions last year. That compromise died during the 2014 session in the crossfire over state pension legislation.

Rep. Dwayne Taylor, a key Democrat on pension issues, praised Crisafulli’s move in a statement Monday.

“I thank Speaker Crisafulli for his decision, given the results of those studies, to focus this year on other pressing matters,” said Taylor, D-Daytona Beach. “We look forward to working together with our Republican colleagues to allow municipal pensions the flexibility they need.”

• How low expectations of Black students’ achievements can get them higher grades; • Want a great grade? Prepare to cheat!

• How Black students can program their minds for success; • Setting goals – When to tell everybody, and when to keep your mouth shut; • Black English, and why Black students must be ‘bilingual.’ …AND MUCH MORE!

JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

www.excellencewithoutexcuse.com

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist thanks supporters at a hair salon in Tampa on Nov. 4, 2014, the last event of his campaign

Download immediately as an eBook or a pdf Order softcover online, from Amazon, or your local bookstore ISBN#978-1-56385-500-9 Published by International Scholastic Press, LLC

Crist says he won’t run in ’16

Contact Charles at ccherry2@gmail.com

Facebook ccherry2 excellencewithoutexcuse

for info on speeches, workshops, seminars, book signings, panel discussions.

Twitter @ccherry2

THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

After losing a bid to unseat Republican Gov. Rick Scott in November, Democrat Charlie Crist ended speculation Monday that he would run for the U.S. Senate in 2016.

“As members of the Florida Democratic Party, we stand for something – fairness, growing the mid-

dle class, and policies that strengthen future generations,’’ Crist, who lost a 2010 Senate bid to Republican Marco Rubio, said in a Facebook post.

“I will not be seeking office in 2016, but I will be working alongside you.

Too much is at stake for our beautiful Florida to be on the sidelines.”

The 2016 Senate race is drawing heavy speculation

as Rubio weighs whether to run for the presidency or to seek re-election.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., has emerged as a potential Democratic candidate, but questions swirled around Crist, who was elected governor as a Republican in 2006 and later became an independent before running last year as a Democrat.

EDITORIAL

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MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

The double-edged sword of racism The recent actions by some members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon that went viral has sparked outrage. Watching and listening to students chant racial slurs was disheartening. What’s even more problematic is the fact than an apology was given by the perpetrators and for some reason, we are supposed to accept their apology. Okay, let’s deal with it this way. We can accept their apology but a real problem exists is that an apology would not have been given, if they were not videotaped, caught, and exposed.

Just to pretend that racism doesn’t exist is plain dumb. In addition to that, whenever we focus on the person and not the institution of racism we are neglecting what’s wrong with this country. Pointing fingers at people and somehow overlooking what’s been inherently wrong with this country simply covers

DR. SINCLAIR GREY III GUEST COLUMNIST

up what many people have perpetrated for so long – a lie.

‘No personal responsibility’ In the aftermath of what transpired with the students, the media has strategically placed the blame on rap music. That’s right; whenever there’s violence, it’s easy to blame the music kids listen to. No personal responsibility or accountability – blame it on music. The students who chanted those racial slurs knew exactly what they were doing. I would dare to say that you would never

hear these students utter a word against Jews. Why? Because people know consciously and even subconsciously if you say anything negative against Jews you are labelled anti-semitic. But if you say something against Blacks, you are thoughtless and inconsiderate.

As African-Americans we must stand up and proclaim that no one is permitted to say anything against us. Not any race, culture, or ethnicity. Even our own people should not receive a pass to do such an atrocity. We cannot tell other people it’s off limits for them but not for us. Whenever people don’t value who they are, they will allow others to define them which will eventually confine them.

Call to action

MONTE WOLVERTON, CAGLE CARTOONS

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 250 Why the terrorists continue to win – In 2003, I began to write that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda were winning what was known then as “the war on terror” because the Bush administration had overreacted to the 9/11 attacks and was spending billions of dollars waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wrote then that we played directly into the hands of bin Laden, who wanted America to exhaust itself physically, emotionally, and financially.

Unfortunately, I was right. A Harvard University study says taxpayers have paid $2 trillion in war costs thus far – with most of it borrowed from China. The final bill will be $4-6 trillion, including decades of medical and disability payments for military veterans over the next 30-40 years.

The U.S. military says 4,493 service members have been killed to date, with more than 32,000 injured. Reliable estimates are that 1.4 million Iraqis have been killed since the 2003 invasion.

Even as Bro. Prez is winding the two wars down, ISIS – Al Qaeda’s crazier younger jihadist brother – is successfully reprising the same strategy by ginning up fear of beheadings, torture, etc.

It’s had its effect. According to some polls, seventy percent of Americans think it’s time to put U.S. “boots on the ground” to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq – with no re-

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

quirement that countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or Jordan put their military at risk first.

The jihadists aren’t dumb. They know that politicians will use them as effective “boogie men” to focus citizens on using military rather than diplomatic responses.

Nobody wants to deal with one of the elephants in the room: modern Israel’s refusal to negotiate with Arabs (Palestinians) who were displaced in 1948 after victorious World War II allies pushed the United Nations to carve out land for European Jews, who then established a nation in a hostile Arab “neighborhood.”

Clearly, Bro. Prez understands all this.

Though he’s made mistakes in the Middle East, especially regarding America assisting the murder of Libya’s Muammar alQaddafi, he hasn’t stumbled to date into a full-on military invasion – despite what the polls say. Bravo for that…

Contact me at ccherry2@gmail.com.

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.

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Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1928-2004), Founder Julia T. Cherry, Senior Managing Member, Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Cassandra CherryKittles, Charles W. Cherry II, Managing Members Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Sales Manager Dr. Valerie Rawls-Cherry, Human Resources Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor Angela VanEmmerik, Creative Director Chicago Jones, Eugene Leach, Louis Muhammad, Lisa Rogers-Cherry, Circulation Ashley Thomas, Staff Writer Delroy Cole, Kim Gibson, Photojournalists MEMBER National Newspaper Publishers Association Society of Professional Journalists Florida Press Association Associated Press National Newspaper Association

‘Enough is enough’ Think about this underlying thought. Say something negative

Here’s what we must do:

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: HILLARY EMAILS AND IRAN LETTER

• Take charge of the information that’s being disseminated about us • Continue to challenge those who don’t look like us to have us represented in discussions about race and racism • Use social media to promote our ideals. Because social media is influential, we must use it to talk about justice, equality, and fairness • Become serious about our progress as a people. Diversity is good, but diversity doesn’t mean a thing if we neglect empowering our people • Own our own businesses.

When we control our own businesses, we control the finances and politics of our community

against Gays – Hate Speech. Say something negative against Latinos – Hate Speech. Say something negative against Jews– Hate Speech. Say something negative against Blacks – Free Speech.

When will we come together and say enough is enough?

I leave you with this – the next time someone decides to disrespect the African-American race by a racial slur, let’s make them pay financially.

Dr. Sinclair Grey III is an activist, speaker, writer, author, life coach, and host of The Sinclair Grey Show heard on Mondays at 2 p.m. on WAEC Love 860am (iHeart Radio and Tune In). Contact him at drgrey@ sinclairgrey.org or on Twitter @drsinclairgrey. Click on this article at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Quit being suckered into spending your hard-earned money The offers can be tempting. Get $1,000 cash now to go on a vacation or catch up on bills. Apply for a line of credit to get a discount and avoid using your hardearned cash now. Companies have creative ways of masking debt to make it more appealing for you to fall deeper into a hole.

Taking on more debt is only going to hurt you more if you are doing so bad financially that you need $1,000 to catch up on your bills or to afford a vacation.

People make the mistake of treating credit as if it’s free money, so they get suckered by the continual offers of fast cash and promotions to apply for credit to pay for simple transactions. I know because I used to fall for it, too before I decided enough is enough and if I want to achieve my financial goals, easy credit will delay me.

Green temptation You have to resist the temptation to accept new credit offers. Recognize that they are tricks to sink you further into debt and farther away from your financial goals.

How will you ever achieve financial security if you are constantly choosing credit over cash? That credit comes at a cost, daily interest accruing on your balance to make creditors richer and you poorer.

So not only do you have to pay back the amount of what you charged, but you have to pay back the interest, which could be an additional 13% interest on a credit card and more than 100% interest on a payday loan, and if you carryover the balance because you can’t afford to pay it all off, you continue to pay even more interest.

Meanwhile, what do you think this is doing to your savings goals? Money you could be stashing into savings and investment accounts for an emergency fund and

TENESHIA LAFAYE MISS MONEY SENSE

retirement is fattening the coffers of multimillion dollar creditors.

Delayed gratification So delay your instant gratification to avoid long-term debt stress. Exhibit willpower and just say, “no” to credit offers unless you are financially stable, meaning caught up on your bills, and you have ample savings, at least six months of living expenses. When you are financially stable with plenty of cash stashed, you are in position to sometimes take advantage of the various points, discounts and rewards associated with applying for new credit as long as you can easily pay off your balance without any stress.

However, most people use credit as a way to get out of a hole or to avoid spending their actual cash so they can stretch it to pay for something else, only to suffer the consequences of mounting debt.

So recognize the games creditors play to get your money and decide today to stop playing and start paying cash (or debit) unless you can afford to play in the credit game.

Teneshia LaFaye is a former awardwinning newspaper journalist and a nationally certified financial education instructor. Click on this article at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Pressuring us towards war I never cease to be surprised by the racist audacity of the Republicans in Congress. In clear violation of international protocol, they arranged for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak before Congress. The established practice has been that this is done always in consultation with the Executive Branch. This time the Republicans decided to snub that branch.

Wonders never cease. Forty-seven Republican Senators then signed onto one of the strangest letters in the history of international relations. The letter is addressed to the leadership of Iran and, in essence, says that whatever agreement Iran comes to with the Obama administration will be voided by the next President of the United States.

This is remarkable on so many levels, not the least being that no agreement has been reached–at the time of this writing– and that the Republicans are telling another country that there is no point in their negotiating with the incumbent administration.

Wonder why Like many people, I have been curious as to whether these Senators actually broke a law. I am hoping that this can be quickly clarified. Deciding that they are appendages of the Israeli state instead of representatives of the people of the United States, the Republicans are suggesting that if Iran does not surrender to the terms established by Israel that there will be war.

Yes, Netanyahu and his sycophants in Congress do not use the term “war.” They speak of increasing sanctions and other pressure, but most knowledgeable observers recognize that the intent is to create a military crisis that will result in actions being taken by the United States against Iran.

The results would probably be catastrophic.

Let us all remember that it was Prime Minister Netanyahu who sought to assure the people of the USA that by attacking Iraq in 2003 that it would change the

BILL FLETCHER, JR. NNPA COLUMNIST

region for the better. Netanyahu was, of course, half right: the region has changed.

He got the second part wrong, however: it changed for the worse, with the spread of Al Qaeda and, more recently, the Islamic State, and with the corresponding instability.

Unanswered questions There are questions that need to be asked of these Republican members of Congress. Let’s start with the matter of war. Are they prepared for yet another war? These are the same people who are insisting on cutting the budget and not taxing the rich, so where do the resources come from for a war? And, of course, what happens if the Iranians, attacked by the US and Israel, shut the Straits of Hormuz where so much of the world’s oil travels?

What is the Republican answer?

The answer for the Republicans seems to always be the same. Bully until you win…or until someone stands firm…and then start alleging anything that will discredit that government or social movement as supposedly standing in the way of peace. The longer that this goes on, the more that this feels like we are living George Orwell’s “1984,” where there is eternal war and that eternal war is considered peace.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the host of The Global African on Telesur-English. He is a racial justice, labor and global justice activist and writer. Click on this article at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

Obama’s Selma song: America is not racist – it’s just Ferguson Barack Obama returned to Selma, Alabama, last Saturday, with an updated version of his speech on race delivered eight years ago, during another commemoration of the 1965 march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Back then, presidential candidate Obama told the crowd at Brown Chapel AME Church that Blacks had already come “90 percent of the way” to racial equality.

He was implicitly predicting that the election of himself as the first Black president would propel African Americans to 100 percent equality, completing the journey and marking the end of racial politics in the United States. It was a bald-faced lie, by any statistical measurement. Blacks had never earned more than 66 cents on the White dollar, and would fall much further behind before Obama set foot in Selma, again. Catastrophically, Black median household wealth would collapse to onetwentieth that of Whites under his watch.

A year after his first Selma speech, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright affair would force candidate Obama to give a widely acclaimed presentation on race, in Philadelphia. Obama trashed his former pastor for harboring a “profoundly distorted view of this country — a view that sees white racism as endemic” – a term defined as “belonging or native to a particular people or country.” He denied that racism had ever been endemic in the U.S.

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

jority of Whites, including youngsters, that now believe White people are the most discriminatedagainst class in America. If endemic racism has been all but eliminated and Black people have already achieved near-equal status, then Black protestations to the contrary are baseless and maliciously racist in intent. The real problem, therefore, is “reverse racism”: that Black Lives Matter too much. As anti-racist white scholars Paul Street and Tim Wise warned in the run-up to the 2008 election, many whites interpret Obama’s ascension as having removed any residual legitimacy from Black complaints. Obama’s rhetoric and behavior buttress that twisted worldview.

Before going to Selma, Obama took care to preserve the impunities of killer cops. He stands firmly

by Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision not to indict former Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on civil rights charges in the death of Michael Brown. Wilson, “like anyone else who is charged with a crime, benefits from due process and a reasonable doubt standard,” the president told a largely Black crowd in South Carolina. “If there is uncertainty about what happened, then you can’t just charge him anyway because what happened was tragic.”

For Obama and Holder, the routine killing of unarmed Blacks by police is “tragic,” but not evidence of anything endemic in American society – certainly, not something for the U.S. Justice Department to worry about.

and custom; and before the Civil Rights Movement, it most surely was,” he told the huge throng in Selma. Obama now admits that racism had once been endemic to the country but, apparently, the marching of Black feet had stamped it out, so that it is now limited to Ferguson-like localities.

“We do a disservice to the cause of justice,” he said, “by intimating that bias and discrimination are immutable, or that racial division is inherent to America.” How dare they malign the world’s first apartheid nation, a country that rose to superpower status on stolen land and labor, in such cruel fashion!

Obama tries to split the U.S. historical time-line in two: Before Civil Rights (BCR) versus After Civil Rights (ACR) – an exercise that allows him to dismiss today’s racial realities by dumping the endemic variety into the era before voting rights and scraping the leftovers into benighted places like Ferguson, Missouri. Obama’s 2015 Selma paradigm meshes with his 2007 fiction that Blacks had already traveled 90 percent of the road to equality and were one presidential vote away from completing the process – which is another way of saying that the Dem‘No longer endemic’ Last weekend, Obama returned ocratic Party will set you free.

Minimizing the struggle to the subject of endemic racism.

“What happened in Ferguson may ‘Reverse racism’ The division of U.S. history inThe president’s reasoning also to pre- and post-Selma eras is also not be unique, but it’s no longer endemic, or sanctioned by law gives aid and comfort to the ma- a way of delegitimizing the strug-

EDITORIAL

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VISUAL VIEWPOINT: SUNSHINE WEEK

NATE BEELER, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

gles that continued after passage of civil rights legislation: the battles against domestic and global social injustice and the fight against what the Black Panther Party for Self Defense called the police “army of occupation.” Five years after the events on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the national policy of mass Black incarceration had become fully operational. Over the space of two generations, an entire people would be criminalized by the Mass Black Incarceration State – what Michelle Alexander calls “The New Jim Crow” – a system so pervasive and unremitting that one out of every eight prison inmates in the world is now an African American. This is the system that Obama and Holder so vigorously defend.

Atlanta Black Congressman John Lewis, who was beaten senseless by the Alabama Highway Patrol on Edmund Pettus Bridge, told last weekend’s crowd: “If someone told me 50 years ago I’d be back on this bridge introducing a black president of the

United States, I’d have said you’re crazy.”

Maybe. And, if someone had said, back in 2007, when Barack Obama spoke at Brown Chapel AME Church, that he would surpass George Bush in fomenting war and chaos in the world, including a 7-month bombing campaign against an African country; exempt “too big to jail” bankers from all criminal penalties; pass legislation effectively nullifying due process of law (except, apparently, for killer cops); and subvert public education in favor of privatized charter schools – in short, that the first Black president would become the “more effective evil” – few would have believed it. But now we know.

It is a bridge that Black people had to painfully cross, to arrive at the other side of the illusion.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.

Ford@Black AgendaReport . com. Click on this article at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Why isn’t Sen. Kirk’s threat national news?

On March 2, Illinois Senator Mark Kirk plainly threatened the people of Chicago. If Rahm Emanuel was not re-elected mayor, he declared, banksters and bond market investors concerned about the city’s mountain of debt would see that Chicago went the way of Detroit.

Given that Chicago is the nation’s third largest city, and finances itself pretty much like every other big U.S. city, a threat like this has potential implications for scores of other cities and ought to be national news. But it wasn’t it made a local Chicago headline and dropped down the memory hole, out of sight. Why? The threat wasn’t national news because the plain facts beneath it, might have made Chicagoans and people in your city as well even more disturbed.

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

is pension debt. Pensions are deferred wages which employees agreed to allow the city or state to deposit into prudently invested pension funds so they would be available for payout years later upon their retirement. But public officials in Chicago, in Illinois and in cities, counties and whole states across the US broke these agreements, frequently violated the law and didn’t make these payments, sometimes for decades. Now that the payouts are due, they need to blame it on “greedy teachers” or anything that Broken agreements will keep them from taxing the A great deal of Chicago’s debt rich, which is the only place that

kind of money can be had.

In Chicago, and very likely in your town too they doubled down on their dishonesty by investing hundreds of billions in pensions and other funds as well in exotic investment devices, credit default swaps, derivatives, real estate and stock market schemes which their investment advisors and ratings agencies assured them were sound and lucrative, but turned out to be black holes.

City workers and the public got screwed, but everybody else made out like, well... bandits.

A debt trap And the bandits are good friends of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, of Illinois Senator Mark Kirk, of the mayors of Atlanta, Philly, Sacramento, the governors of California and New York and everyplace in between. Kwame Kilpatrick didn’t snort Detroit’s

Words in the wind The coming together of understanding has never been separated by physical boundaries. Wisdom and the wise have always traveled the air paths and burrowed deep into the underworld to learn, to see, to restore life to the shattered ones upon the Earth, our mother.

Aug. 20, 2014 I needed to hear other voices deeply involved in reconciliation work. Online from New Zealand, Ngaronoa Mereana Taki put into the wind: “When other original or indigenous or first nations peoples reach out to each other, try your very best not to blast them with the rage you feel for your oppressors and dominators. The world is already far too violent without tribal peoples (or whatever you prefer in the English medium we are using) shooting each other in the foot because we haven’t developed enough spiritual calm and necessary wisdom before we start lighting the fires of our oft’ legitimate rage for the situations we are facing. Let us not become the very dynamics and negative communicators of our predators and would-be destroyers by doing the job for them. Step back and think before you open your mouth if this is what you want to send into the future for your descendants!”

The commonalties of brethren From Harlem, New York my friend, Adruma Victoria wrote, “The deep seated unawareness that blankets the planet makes it extremely difficult to see from our common parents perspective, thus

GREGORY E. WOODS KEEPER OF STORIES

the default to ignorance, fear, hatred and resentment is common as we pursue becoming beings free of antagonism. You will be lonely as you embrace the light within and share. Our common parent is the loneliest of all, 7 billion sons and daughters, who don’t behave like our loving parent. How must that feel for a parent?”

And from Georgia, Dr. Sinclair Grey III, another friend posted on Facebook these words: “If the people within your inner circle aren’t encouraging you, then you need to find a new inner circle.”

This is how it worked for our ancients. There are voices in the air we are responsible for. What we say feeds killers and children.

Sometimes one word, one feel is enough of an impression to be made. Those voices are real. What do you say into the wind? –

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories, is Native American & African. He works as a community activist and as a ceremonial leader in the Washington DC area facilitating in the reconciliation processes between races. He can be reached at crowcreekndn@yahoo.com. Click on this article at www.flcourier. com to write your own response.

pension funds up his nose, he gave them to the same folks Rahm gives Chicago’s to. Wall Street gave Kwame Kilpatrick a medal for that, and Rahm’s friends who do business with the city have put millions in his campaign coffers.

Thanks to them, Chicago to some extent is already Detroit.

Getting out of the city’s debt trap will require some real creativity, but there are answers.

The state of North Dakota, with maybe 30% of Chicago’s population, has its own bank, where state funds are exclusively deposited. There’s no good reason why Chicago can’t do the same, and have its own funds in its own bank, available for investment in the region’s own economic future. A city-owned bank could invest those funds in job-creating green technologies that might put large numbers of young Chicagoans, now out of the labor force altogether, to work. It could do what

private banks refuse to do and invest in refitting and construction of affordable housing, and transit, and job-creating municipal broadband, like the city of Chattanooga has already successfully deployed.

Senator Kirk’s threat isn’t national news because staring it down lays bare the predatory habits of our politicians and their funders, and might even lead us to real solutions. But the next step, at least in Chicago, is to fire Rahm Emanuel on April 7.

Bruce Dixon is a Chicagoan living in exile in suburban Atlanta. He’s managing editor at Black Agenda Report, a member of the state committee of the GA Green Party and a partner in a technology firm. Click on this article at www.flcourier. com to write your own response.

The Chicago reckoning Why is Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a neck and neck runoff for re-election? He enjoys national press attention, advertises the endorsement of hometown favorite, President Obama, brandishes a $30 million-plus campaign war chest, largely funded by 100 or so major donors, and mobilizes wall-to-wall advertising and a professional campaign team. Yet he has not only been forced into a run-off, but polls show him still unable to win majority support.

No faith

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

down 50 neighborhood schools with no community consultation. He waged war on teachers, privatized janitorial services, and too often scorned public employees. Public housing has been shuttered even as private homes are foreclosed. When the schools close, neighborhoods lose resources and hope. Drug stores close; grocery stores close.

And as a Chicago Sun Times report revealed, Whites continue to hold a disproportionate number of the highest paying jobs in the administration, particularly those that the mayor controls himself. When the highest paid aides closest to the mayor are White, no matter how dedicated, the concerns of impoverished Black and Latino neighborhoods are not likely to get priority.

The reason Emanuel is in trouble is a widespread loss of faith across the city’s Black and Latino neighborhoods. Faith, the Bible tells us, is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is what sustains hope in political leaders even when times are bad. Faith is what makes voters believe that a leader feels their pain, even if he or she does not live in their neighborhoods.

And in large numbers, working families in Chicago, particularly those struggling with low wage jobs that provide no ben- Possible turn around efits and little security, have lost Like any good politician, the faith in the man now dubbed the mayor has reacted as his polls Mayor of the 1 percent. plummeted and his re-election stopped being a sure thing, Downtown priorities pushing through an increase As mayor, Emanuel has fo- in the minimum wage. He’s alcused resources downtown, not so worked to extend pre-k and on neighborhoods in need. The make two years of communilights are bright downtown, but ty college affordable. He’s now the poor neighborhoods live touting his Neighborhoods Now in the shadows. Emanuel shut program as a development pro-

gram for seven neighborhoods, but as WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio exposed, the fund is a hodgepodge of private and public projects. In fact, one-fourth of the public money is focused on projects around McCormick Park Convention Center, including two hotels and a big stadium for DePaul – hardly a program for neighborhood reconstruction.

Rahm’s challenger, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia has an underfunded campaign, but a rich message. He has the experience to deal with Chicago’s budget challenges, but he has the commitment to focus on urban reconstruction, on rebuilding neighborhoods, on putting the young to work. Against the odds, he has run a campaign that will take this race down to the wire.

When people lose faith, they lose hope. Sadly, they too often give up on politics. What is stunning about the rise of challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is the movement behind him – citizens, teachers, organizers, union members, church goers unwilling to succumb to despair, unwilling to assume that nothing can change. Whatever happens in the April run-off, that movement has given people a reason to believe once more.

Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is founder and president of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Click on this article at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

NATION

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MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

Black groups take issue with suit against Sharpton Media, business and civil rights organizations urge Allen to ‘redirect’ criticism TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

Three national AfricanAmerican organizations have issued a joint statement in response to the $20 billion lawsuit filed by television producer Byron Allen charging Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network, and former FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker with racial discrimination.

In the lawsuit, Allen alleges that his production company, Entertainment Studios, is “being denied the same opportunity to contract with Comcast as White-owned channels.

Comcast is intentionally treating 100 percent African-American-owned media differently on account of race.”

The lawsuit further claims “Comcast has paid Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network over $3.8 million in ‘do-

Michael Grant

Jim Winston

nations’ and as salary for the on-screen television hosting position on MSNBC that Comcast awarded Sharpton in exchange for his signature” on a Memorandum of Understanding saying that Sharpton would not challenge Comcast’s proposed merger with NBC Universal in 2010.

Bought off?

In radio and TV interviews, Allen has said Sharpton was “bought off”

by Comcast because he was the “least expensive Negro,” and that “President Obama was bought and paid for.”

The National Asso-

ciation of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB), National Bankers Association and U.S. Black Chambers have issued a joint statement on Allen’s lawsuit, urging the producer to “redirect” his criticism of civil rights leadership and focus on encouraging corporations to increase their business commitments to African-Americans.

The three groups had come together in 2010 to raise concerns about the Comcast/ NBCU merger.

“We have joined together to issue this statement, because we believe this lawsuit needs to be discussed, but not for the reasons it has drawn so much media attention,” said Jim Winston, president of NABOB, which for 40 years has represented AfricanAmerican radio and TV owners.

“The media should be focusing on the underlying issue, the lack of business being done with AfricanAmerican-owned businesses by major corpora-

tions. In particular, Comcast missed a huge opportunity to advance that goal when it failed to sell any of its cable television systems to companies owned by African-Americans.”

Defending Sharpton “Rev. Sharpton and the organizations attacked by Mr. Allen do important and extensive work on behalf of the African-American community,” said Winston.

“We hope that the Byron Allen lawsuit will get the discussion ... focused on business and not personal attacks against the leadership of America’s foremost civil rights organizations.

“Our organizations have always worked closely with these civil rights organizations in the past, and we look forward to doing so in the future,” said Michael Grant, president of the National Bankers Association.

“We hope that Mr. Allen will redirect his attention to the corporate practices he highlighted and not to

the civil rights organizations.”

Reverend, Comcast responds Sharpton and the National Action Network responded to the lawsuit with the following statement: “National Action Network has not been served with any papers and considers this claim frivolous. If in fact we were to be served, we would gladly defend our relationship with any company as well as to state on the record why we found these discriminatory accusations made by said party to be less than credible and beneath the standards that we engage in.”

Comcast issued the following statement in response to the lawsuit: “We do not generally comment on pending litigation, but this complaint represents nothing more than a string of inflammatory, inaccurate, and unsupported allegations. We are proud of our outstand-

ing record supporting and fostering diverse programming, including programming from African-American owned and controlled cable channels. We currently carry more than 100 networks geared toward diverse audiences, including multiple networks owned or controlled by minorities.

“Diversity organizations from across the country, including numerous diverse programmers, have supported our transaction with Time Warner Cable.

That deal will extend our industry-leading commitment to diverse programming to even more homes across America, one of the reasons so many groups in the African American community have supported it.

“Comcast has engaged in good faith negotiations with this programmer for many years. It is disappointing that they have decided to file a frivolous lawsuit. We will defend vigorously against the scurrilous allegations in this complaint and fully expect that the court will dismiss them.”

Drama follows man who gained notoriety for long walk to work EURWEB.COM

James Robertson have a new place to live, but drama still follows him.

The 56-year-old Detroit man attracted attention and headlines for supposedly walking 21 miles to and from his job as a plastic-molding operator at an auto parts factory each day after his car stopped working in 2005 and bus service in the city was cut back.

Upon hearing of Robertson’s plight from a story in the Detroit Free Press, $360,000 in donations came via an online campaign started by a local college student, in addition to a new $35,000 Ford Taurus from an auto dealership.

According to the Free Press, Robertson now calls Oakland County’s Troy home. The relocation from his old neighborhood near Detroit’s New Center comes amid Robertson’s newfound fortune as people started asking him for money.

Protective order Although he still works at the Rochester Hillsbased factory, Robertson chooses to keep his current

whereabouts unknown to people. To help him manage his money, Robertson is receiving assistance from financial experts who are donating their services. As it stands now, the Free Press mentioned that most of the money is in a trust “that has a principal amount of $351,000.”

The newspaper goes on to mention that Robertson pays $800 a month in rent for his one-bedroom apartment in Troy, compared to the $880 a month he paid at his previous residence in Detroit, which had less space.

Nevertheless, Robertson’s past continues to trail him as his former landlord and ex-girlfriend Tanya Fox claims he owes her a lot of money.

The Free Press reports that Robertson was granted a protective order against Fox.

Moving on A statement provided in his personal protective order request reveals Robertson’s claim against Fox, which details his bosses contacting the police when she showed up to his job.

“I can only say I wish her

RYAN GARZA/DETROIT FREE PRESS/TNS

James Robertson of Detroit walks toward Woodward Avenue to catch his morning bus to Somerset Collection in Troy before walking to his job at Schain Mold & Engineering in Rochester Hills on Jan. 29. the best,” Robertson told the Free Press, which Fox reportedly communicated with via text messages.

From the looks of it, it seemed that Fox was about to get an interview going with a reporter so she could tell everything she’s done for Robertson over

the years. In light of the protective order, it doesn’t look to be possible.

“At one time, we contemplated marriage. Wow!” Fox wrote in one text message.

Needless to say, the protective order is not something Fox is cool with as she is set on contesting the

order. In Fox’s eyes, she hasn’t done anything to make Robertson feel that he’s in any danger.

“I’m not a threat to him, and no one in this house is a threat to him,’’ Fox said while weighing in on the money Robertson allegedly owes her.

“He said he was going to give me $50,000 to fix up the house.”

As noted by media sources, cops ended up standing guard as Robertson was moving out of Fox’s home in light of her son and exhusband being aggressive toward him.

9 HBCU students suing Tennessee over voter ID law

BY CHARLES D. ELLISON THE ROOT

The voter-ID war just opened up a huge new front. This time in Tennessee. A group of nine students from HBCUs Fisk University and Tennessee State University have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee’s heavily contested and controversial voter-ID law.

The suit was filed by the Nashville Student Organizing Committee (NSOC), a coalition of student activists established in February 2014.

The plaintiffs were all disallowed from voting in 2014 because they carried student IDs as identification. NSOC retained the Washington, D.C.-based Fair Elections Legal Network, which then partnered with the local Nashville-based firm Barrett Johnston Martin & Garrison as part of a legal project to restore student vot-

ing rights in the state.

Common feature The case marks a highly unprecedented turning point in the ongoing conflict over voter ID and other Republican-led votersuppression laws accused of targeting Democraticfriendly young, minority and low-income voters.

With Republicans expanding their electoral gains in state legislatures, voter-ID laws have become a common feature in many key states and, as initial data suggest, disproportionately impacted large populations of color.

Observers are watching the new Tennessee case with heavy interest since it appears to be the first student-led legal action of its kind. Some view it as Supreme Court-worthy and a savvy political maneuver on the part of Black youth activists that could have far-reaching implications beyond Tennessee.

2016 elections influence?

The suit may very well advance because the Middle Tennessee federal district court is dominated by judges appointed by Democratic presidents. Chief Judge Kevin Sharp was recently appointed by President Barack Obama.

“Studies are showing that the voter-ID laws are suppressing youth turnout,” DePaul University political science professor Molly Andolina told The Root.

Andolina anticipates the emergence of a growing Black youth movement born out of frustration over issues such as police violence and voter ID that could influence the 2016 elections.

Simple intent Christina Rivers, another DePaul University political scientist, agreed: “To the extent that #BlackLives-

COURTESY OF NASHVILLE STUDENT ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Members of the Nashville Student Organizing Committee at the Tennessee Capitol share a message that voter-ID laws silence students’ voices on March 25, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn.

Matter converges with other potentially suppressive factors such as voterID laws, along with reductions in early and Sunday voting, it will likely mobilize voters.”

At the moment, said Doug Johnston, a Barrett Johnston lawyer on the

case who has also worked aggressively against the state’s voter-ID law since its passage in 2011, the current suit doesn’t seek “to dismantle the whole voterID law.”

However, it will seek to reverse what his clients view as violations of their

constitutional rights under the 14th and 26th amendments.

“The basis of this lawsuit is really very simple,” Johnston told The Root. “It’s an attempt to have students treated in the same manner as similarly situated individuals.”

HEALTH FOOD || HEALTH TRAVEL | |MONEY SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS LIFE | FAITH | EVENTS | CLASSIFIEDS | ENTERTAINMENT | SPORTS | FOOD COURIER

IFE/FAITH

Kinsey Collection exhibit still at Disney See page B3

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

Henson says no to ‘n-word’ on ‘Empire’ See page B5

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

Dreams MAKING MORE COME TRUE

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SECTION

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Students from around the state were selected to participate in the Disney Dreamers Academy. Front Row: Roneisha Alexander, Regina Carson, Alec Estrill and Lionell Wright.

Back row: Jelani Alexander, Keno Tate, Danyscia Jarvis, D’Andre Ragin and Shanese Campbell.

Nine Florida students among 100 chosen for Disney Dreamers Academy with Steve Harvey, Essence

BY PENNY DICKERSON SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

T

he selfless drive and passion to advance the dreams of America’s youth was celebrated March 5-8 at the eighth annual Walt Disney World Dreamers Academy with partners Steve Harvey and Essence magazine.

A nationally recognized syndicated television and radio personality, Harvey joined forces with A-list celebrities, motivational speakers and entrepreneurs to both select and hands-on mentor 100 of the country’s most promising high school students.

Each year, the selection committee led

by Harvey, reviews stellar essays that best convey dreams. A record 10,000 applications were received, 9,900 hopefuls received letters of decline, and the blessed 1 percent who were selected received an all-expense paid, four-day career and personal development immersion at the Walt Disney World resort.

Inspired by Jakes, Adams This year’s consortium of “Dreamers” was represented by 28 states and traveled as far as 3,100 miles with goals to take the medical field by storm, conquer Wall Street as executives or entrepreneurs, and ignite the world as an engineers.

But none shined brighter than Florida’s representative nine.

From Jacksonville to Miami and smaller cities between, the peninsula’s pride are extraordinary teenagers who are cheer Please see DREAMERS, Page B2

Left: Steve Harvey, nationally syndicated radio and talk show host has been encouraging “Dreamers” since 2007 to Dream Big! Below: The Disney Dreamers Academy “Speakers Resource Group,” who select and mentor Dreamers, are called “Official Ambassadors.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORTS

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MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

STOJ

Black men who motivate: The power of a dream These men who participated with Steve Harvey in the Disney Dreamers Academy this year and are making a difference internationally in their chosen professions

BY PENNY DICKERSON SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Steve Harvey is credited with improving college attendance, career prospects, personal development for more than 8,000 youth who have graduated from his Disney Dreamers Academy (DDA) since its 2007 launch.

Partnering with Walt Disney World Theme Park Resorts and Essence magazine has proved to be a winning formula, but a remarkable capstone to celebrate is Harvey’s overwhelming success in motivating youth.

While his urban vernacular and candid humor reach more than seven million radio listeners in 60 markets, Harvey willingly closes the gap on numbers when it comes to reiterating the power of a dream. He relies on a little help from his friends.

They include some of the millennium’s most successful Black men who present with honest testimony, an educational approach, and inspiration.

Bishop T.D. Jakes Founder and senior pastor of the Potter’s House of Dallas Global in stature and faithbased community prominence, Bishop T.D. Jakes is easily a household name.

Time Magazine has named him America’s Best Preacher, and a list of awards and honorariums include McDonalds 365Black Award and BET Honors. He is listed among Ebony’s Power 100 and the NAACP bestowed him the Keeper of the Dream Award.

The charismatic leader of the T.D. Jakes School of Leadership took time away from his 30,000-member congregation to motivate 100 minds at this

month’s Disney Dreamers Academy in Orlando. While his ability to deliver biblical principles in plain-speak is familiar to most, he offered high school Dreamers a light-natured and almost elementary slant.

Jakes shared how he turns negative labels into positive acronyms that motivate. In the example of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), Jakes explained that the first letter “A” personified Alice in “Alice in Wonderland’’ who was always at a crossroads. But when she asked her cat which way she should go, it responded, “Which road do you want to take?

Any road will take you there!”

The first “D” was an internal hint to Jakes’ legal name Thomas Dexter, who conquered stuttering, and the final alpha “D” encourages him to face his giants like David who slayed Goliath against tremendous odds. The latter moral is to have faith that you can conquer what you believe in life is too big.

For more inspirational nuggets from the bishop, visit www. tdjakes.org.

Said Regina Carson, a 2015 Dreamer from Jasper, “I really liked Bishop T.D. Jakes’ presentation because he really connected with each and every one of us with things we go through daily.’’

Dr. Alex O. Ellis Author, speaker, custom clothier A salve to save America’s sagging generation has arrived in the personhood of custom clothier, mentor and gentleman of distinction Alex O. Ellis, Ph.D, founder and CEO of Tied to Greatness, an outreach and image awareness nonprofit.

According to Ellis, his inspiration to implement change was

Bishop T.D. Jakes

Dr. Alex O. Ellis

Jonathan Sprinkles

divinely inspired. “After seeing a guy walk down the street looking a mess, God said to me, ‘So what are you going to do about it with your custom suit wearing self?” From that day forward, he was spiritually challenged to be the solution he wanted to see in communities and continues to lead by example Program initiatives exist across the country that address the growing problem of how girls suffer the woes of self at an early age. But what about young, Black men who tend to assimilate behaviors to divert from their own body image insecurities?

“I grew up extremely tall and painfully skinny!” Ellis exclaimed. “I had a growth spurt during high school and reached 6’7”, so I was tall, awkward, and didn’t play basketball. I really suffered low self-esteem because I’m tall enough to be a man, but my physique is still for a kid, and none of my clothes fit me right.”

Today, he is an impeccably groomed style-master who has been honored with the distinguished “40 Under Forty Award.

He also is the author of the award-winning book, “Restoring the Male Image: Inside and Out.” More information: www.tiedtogreatness.org. “ His presentation at DDA was phenomenal! I learned that a suit, including a shirt and tie, is the international uniform of business. The workshop also taught me to pay attention to wardrobe details. I could tie a tie, but not a double Windsor or bowtie. Dr. Ellis taught me both,’’ said 2015

Princeton Parker

Dreamer Keno Tate of Miramar.

Jonathan Sprinkles Motivational speaker There’s something magical about the way Jonathan Sprinkles captivates the minds of his audiences. Perhaps it’s his endless energy, his conversation and interaction versus lecture approach, or the eloquence in which he shares with how awkward it was to grow up in South Central, Los Angeles, in a single-parent household where he shared one bedroom with multiple siblings.

He was shifted to seven different households by age 13, and following his father’s cancerous death, he once again moved from California to Texas.

Having the last name “Sprinkles” didn’t help, and he struggled with his identity.

“I was too Black for White kids and too White for Black kids, which left me somewhere in the middle like khaki,” Sprinkles mused.

But despite life’s challenges, Sprinkles learned “what it takes to dream big in small places.”

Today, he’s a nationally recognized, award-winning speaker voted both Speaker of the Year (APCA) and Mentor of the Year (Disney). Sprinkles brands himself as a Connection Coach and is also a noted “television personality, featured columnist, and author of 10 books. To learn more, visit www.jonathan sprinkles.com.

A few anecdotal wisdoms he

from B1

Harvey’s personal picks

Several of Florida’s nine are stethoscope-ready and some are already clinically astute.

Danyscia Jarvis is a senior in the Health Magnet Academy at Tampa Bay Technical High School. Born in the Virgin Islands, her summers are handson at a local hospital and assisted living facility. She dreams of being a neonatal nurse while

Disney Dreamers Academy alumnus and motivational speaker Princeton Irvin Parker lives a life with seemingly no back story – he was born and immediately morphed into a phenomenon.

A graduate of the DDA Class of 2012, he joined the DDA Speakers Resource Group where he not only serves on the selection committee that screens essays, but is now one of Harvey’s coveted speakers. Let’s just say Parker is “in there.”

He is a minister who began public speaking at the age of 2. A quantum leap later at the age of 4, he preached his first sermon and was licensed as a minister by the Church of God in Christ at the age of 7. Parker’s first revival was preached in 2001. Parker exudes seasoned maturity and if his life sounds like fodder for reality television, it’s not.

The aforementioned is leveraged by a litany of achievements that include earning straight A’s and salutatorian of his high school class. The gifted church organist is a leader among learners at the University of Southern California and exemplary example of a “Dreamer’s Dream.”

Learn more about Parker at princetonparkerministries.com.

Quipped Steve Harvey about Parker: “Something wrong with that boy. Ain’t no way, no how, anybody ‘gon tell me he ain’t 62 years old. Parker is 62. Ya’ll watch out for him!

Soundbites for success

leaders, Boy Scouts determined to become “Eagles,’’ multi-sport varsity athletes, youth members of “Doctors without Borders,” and community activists who excel as volunteers.

With a parent or guardian in tow and their best behavior turned up, they came – they saw Mickey Mouse, Bishop T.D. Jakes and Yolanda Adams – they learned life-changing skills, and they tweeted their experiences like social media beasts whose smiles rivaled Florida’s infinite sun.

Ready for med school

Princeton Parker

ship with Disney Parks and Steve Harvey represents our commitment to the leaders of tomorrow,” shared Ebanks.

DREAMERS

The rare chance to meet Steve Harvey up-close and personal was a bonus for every participant, but for Harvey’s successful youth initiative, stardom took a back seat for a more important endeavor.

“The thing that makes the Dreamers Academy best for me, is when I pick the two kids that don’t have no idea what they want to do in life. A couple of people in their family told them they ain’t never gonna be nothing. There are two kids here like that this year.” Harvey stated.

“Every year I [personally] pick two who everybody else has ‘wrote off.’ All those kids are doing well now. Three of ’em are in college, two of ’em in graduate school…that’s what this program is. When you instill something in someone that changes their life – that’s the program.”

The hallmark of the academy’s success rests in the accomplishments of the previous 7,000 graduates. Notable alumni achievement include launching nonprofit organizations and fashion lines featured in New York Fashion Week, publishing magazines and novels, and successful careers in television and film.

“sprinkled” on the DDA Class of 2015 include: Fail forward, fast, and first – failure is not final!

Winners are losers who got tired of losing.

Let the struggle make you stronger.

In America, it doesn’t matter where you start; it only matters where you choose to finish.

The secret life of a Dreamer is lonely. It costs to be different.

Keep it “100.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORTS

Dreamers participate in “Deep Dive” sessions targeting their future career interests. Twenty-one of the nationwide Dreamers are interested in medical careers.

Steve Harvey’s twin daughters Brandi and Karli Harvey are founders, CEO and artistic directors of “Young Fit and Fly.” Each year, they offer female Dreamers an image awareness workshop to prepare them for personal and professional success. her peer Shanese Campbell has hopes of becoming an OB/GYN. Campbell is a 16-year-old international baccalaureate at Miramar High School who plans to attend the University of Central Florida in Orlando, an institution renowned for its pre-med program.

The dual-degree approach is better suited for Roneisha Alexander of Green Cove Springs. A career in clinical psychology and business management is befitting for the Clay High School se-

nior whose illustrious list of extracurricular activities include Habitat for Humanity, “Pay it Forward,” Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s GEMS program, Beta Club and the Clay County Teen Court.

Cornerstone Charter Academy’s Lionell Wright promotes physician assistant as a relevant within the medical field. His dream is to become one via an education at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, a few hours north of his Belle Isle

home. Wright is enrolled in his school’s biomedical program and an active member of HOSA (Health Occupations Students in America).

Essence Communications President Michelle Ebanks ensures that her partnership with Disney and Harvey will effectively help each of the aforementioned teens realize their dreams: “This year, we plan to go above and beyond to encourage Dreamers. Our valued partner-

While time for theme park convergence was weaved into an otherwise intense schedule, a necessary priority was attending the Disney Dreamers Academy (DDA). Various Walt Disney World theme parks were transformed into classroom settings that placed emphasis on the Dreamers’ specific career goals.

Industry professionals including surgeons, lawyers, entrepreneurs, Disney imageers and others shared invaluable lessons to help catapult dreams.

The art of effective communication and image awareness were taught by Harvey’s adult twin daughters, Brandi and Karli Harvey, founders, CEO and artistic director of Young Fit and Fly. Armed with custom business cards provided by DDA, each Dreamer also learned the art of networking. Additionally, the Disney Dreamers Academy Speakers Resource Group – official ambassadors of DDA – offered inspiring presentations.

But words of wisdom to dream and live by were also plentiful and some of Harvey’s celebrated television friends spoke bountiful truths. A favorite among all Dreamers was Terrence “J” Jenkins, co-anchor of E! News and former host of BET’s “106 & Park.’’

“We had a great panel and talked to the kids about not giving up on your dreams, surrounding yourself with the right people, and just how to stay hungry…a lot of these kids have focus but for me it wasn’t that easy. It wasn’t until I was like 18 or 19. I tried a lot of things, I failed at a lot of things, so when success came, I was always very appreciative,” he shared Gospel superstar and radio personality Yolanda Adams emphasized faith.

“One of the things I want the kids to realize is that their dreams ARE possible. If you know what you want to do and believe in yourself, your dreams are possible,” said Adams. “A dream is given to you so that you can accomplish it. That doesn’t mean it will happen in four days, five years, or five decades, but every day, do something towards accomplishing that dream.”

To learn more about the Disney Dreamers Academy program, visit www.disneydreamersacademy.com.

STOJ

MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Orlando: Big Sean will take the stage on March 22 at Firestone Live.

Fort Lauderdale: The Mighty Clouds of Joy and Lee Williams will be at the War Memorial Auditorium on April 5.

West Palm Beach: Audra McDonald performs March 24 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

Daytona Beach: The Original Wailers will perform March 26 at the Ocean Deck and March 27 at Millikens Reef in Port Canaveral.

Tampa: Journalist Roland Martin will be the guest speaker at a scholarship ball hosted by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the GZl Educational Foundation on March 28 at the Mainsail Conference & Event Center.

More info: gzleducationalfoundation.org or call 813-4513306.

Jacksonville: The legendary Mavis Staples will perform March 21 at the Ritz Theatre.

Tampa: Suncoast Credit Union Gasparilla International Film Festival will feature 10 Latinthemed films to be screened March 25-28 at Channelside Cinemas, including “The Poet

of Havana”, an in-depth documentary on internationallyrenowned musician, Carlos Varela. More information: http://gasparillafilm.sched.org.

Orlando: Florida Department of Health in Orange County’s 5K walk and health fair is April 4 at Barnett Park, 4801 W. Colonial Drive. Details: www. orange.floridahealth.gov under the events section or 407-858-1464.

CALENDAR & EVENTS

B3

MAXWELL

Maxwell is scheduled to be the closing act at Jazz in the Gardens on March 22 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Estero: Actor and comedian Kevin Hart’s tour makes stops at the Germain Arena in Estero on March 27, April 25 at Amway Center in Orlando and April 25 at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.

Tampa: Candy Lowe hosts Tea & Conversation every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at 3911 N. 34th St., Suite B. More information: 813-394-6363.

St. Petersburg: The legendary Smokey Robinson performs April 12 at The Mahaffey Theater and April 4 at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers.

Tampa: Tickets are on sale for the Nephew Tommy Comedy Tour featuring Thomas Miles at the University of South Florida’s Sun Dome on April 18.

BELL BIV DEVOE

ARIANA GRANDE

R&B Love Fest 2015 features Keith Sweat, Bell Biv Devoe, K-CI & JoJo along with El DeBarge. The show is April 4 at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables.

Ariana Grande with special guest Rixton will perform March 26 at Amway Center in Orlando and March 28 at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The Kinsey Collection: Re-Discovering America Family’s AfricanAmerican treasures will remain on display at Disney’s Epcot Center through 2016

BY PENNY DICKERSON SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Florida has never been humble when it comes to acclaiming it historical relevance and worth.

St. Augustine is globally recognized as the nation’s oldest city and in 2013, it served as the hub for Viva Florida ─ the 500th anniversary of the state’s founding.

Partnerships were organized by the Florida Department of State and Florida Humanities Council to ensure the quincentennial overwhelmingly commemorated the European discovery of America.

But St. Augustine native Shirley Kinsey had a more important discovery, partnership, and rich legacy to applaud that same year.

On March 8, 2013, she was joined by her husband, Bernard, and son, Khalil, for the Epcot Center debut of her family’s private, cultural inheritance – the Kinsey Collection which represents over The groundbreaking exhibit showcases rare art, documents, books, and artifacts and is titled “Re-Discovering America: Family Treasures from The Kinsey Collection.”

Collaborative efforts between Walt Disney World and the Kinsey’s, now allow guests visiting the theme park’s American Adventure pavilion to enjoy a new and relevant journey “between the pages” of history..

The back story The Kinsey Collection is no stranger to public view. In fact, more than 4 million people in over seven U.S. cities – including the Smithsonian National Museum of American History – have viewed the collection.

“We always wanted to extend the reach of the collection to a larger, more international and diverse audience,” explained Bernard Kinsey. “So we are delighted to be collaborating with Disney to share the stories of our remarkable ancestors.”

But the concept was five years in the making before it was fully realized. According to Kinsey, the Disney journey started in May 2008. The collection was installed at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach when he contacted his good friend Bob Billingslea, former vice president of Corporate Urban Affairs and Minority Outreach at Walt Disney World and invited him to see the exhibit.

“He was just blown away,” stated Kinsey, “And from there,

THE EXHIBIT American Adventure pavilion is in the heart of the World Showcase area of Epcot.

“Re-Discovering America: Family Treasures from the Kinsey Collection” is included in Epcot admission.

For more information, visit http://thekinseycollection.com.

Billingslea began the process of moving things through a vast network of Disney executives.”

‘Powerful collection’ Another African-American Disney executive integral to the project’s advance was Carmen Smith, vice president of Creative Development of Walt Disney Imaganeering.

Smith, along with 20 theme park executives, traveled to the Kinsey’s Los Angeles home where the original collection is housed in a converted wine cellar. Equally impressed, they gave the green light to build a custom gallery displaying 40 of the collection’s 400 items for a threeyear installation running through 2016.

“We are thrilled to bring the Kinsey Collection to Epcot guests,” said Jim MacPhee, senior vice president, Walt Disney World Parks. “Epcot is such a rich cultural tapestry that it serves as the perfect showcase for this powerful collection, with its celebration of the human spirit.”

History displayed Disney style Consistent with an interactive experience to involve visitors, Disney Imagineers created a classic gallery setting complete with touch screens and “guestactivated lanterns” – symbolic of the freedom trail which enhanced the heritage experience.

Actors Whoopi Goldberg, Kerry Washington, Chandra Wilson and James Pickens, Jr. are among A-list celebrities whose voices narrate.

The exhibit honors five distinct themes: Hope, Courage, Belief, Imagination and Heritage.

A few examples on display in the Hope showcase are the 1773 book of poetry by 19-year-old Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American ever to publish a collection, while Courage displays the Harriet Jacob’s 1862 book, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” A personal Heritage item dear to Shirley Kinsey is an old sewing machine (1900) passed down through generations by her grandmother, Susie Plummer Pooler.

More items added Successful negotiations extend

COURTESY OF KENT PHILIPS

“Re-Discovering America: Family Treasures from the Kinsey Collection” brings to Epcot important African heritage art from the collection of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, shown with their son Khalil. the collection at Epcot through 2018 and last spring, additional images, artwork and artifacts related to watershed moments in American history were added. They include “Noon Wash” by contemporary artist Jonathan Green whose work is inspired by his Gullah ancestry, “Songs of the United States from 1867,’’ Tintype photographs popularized in the mid-1850s, and more.

“The Kinsey Collection shares the powerful and previously untold stories of those who dared to dream,” said Erin Youngs, vice president of Epcot. “Representing more than 400 years of African-American achievement and history, the Kinsey Collection showcases the best of the American spirit with a nod to ingenuity and innovation. We are delighted to expand the exhibit and bring even more of these treasures to Epcot guests.”

Education first Bernard and Shirley Kinsey are Florida A&M University alums who met during the civil rights movement. They are both Xerox Corporation retirees who learned early to master the art of saving and their philanthropic efforts have helped raise more than $25 million to support HBCUs. A partnership with Disney is driven by one, single goal: to educate.

Broaching 50 years of marriage, the nostalgic couple has one son, Khalil, whose curiosity about his own heritage at a young age inspired the family’s collection. He currently serves as general manager and CEO. Essential to their collection’s presence is a 198-page, self-published, coffee table book, “The Kinsey Collection,’’ that has been approved by the Florida Department of Education to teach K-12 history.

Bernard Kinsey summated the family’s stance.

WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORTS

The exhibit from the Kinseys’ vast holdings provides optimistic and empowering stories from voices not commonly seen or heard, including rare sculptures and historical books and documents dating as far back as 1632.

“When you understand African-American History from an African-American standpoint, it changes you fundamentally, in terms of who you are and where you come from. All of us have holes in our hearts because we don’t know who we are or from where we came.

“It’s not a Black thing or a

White thing or a Latin thing or an Asian thing. You’re different because the African-American story is the story of America. We’ve been a part of everything that has happened in this country all the way from Patagonia to Canada, so what the Kinsey family is trying to say is, we were there. We were there and we matter.”

B4

ENVIRONMENT

MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

How GREEN is your house?

AN ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACH TO HOME CARE FAMILY FEATURES

Living an eco-friendly lifestyle starts at home. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, residential use accounts for more than one-fifth of the nation’s total energy consumption. Adopting an earth-first, energy saving mindset will let you make adjustments around your home so that you can feel good about your family’s con­tributions to protect the environment.

Green energy Improving your home’s energy efficiency is not only good for the planet, it’s good for your wallet. After all, wasted energy is money lost in monthly utility bills. Numerous factors influence a home’s energy efficiency, or lack thereof. Air leaks, outdated appliances or inefficient heating and cooling systems can all negatively impact your home’s energy usage.

Structural improvements Correcting any structural issues can go a long way toward making your home more efficient. Give your home a thorough inspection to identify and repair leaks and cracks around windows, doors and duct work. Remember that poorly sealed attics and base­ments are also common culprits of energy loss.

Appliances and major systems Upgrading your appliances and temperature control systems also helps drive more efficient energy use throughout the house. Look for ENERGY STAR-certified products, which are designed to save energy without sacrificing on performance. Where possible, make purchases that will perform double duty, such as high-efficiency washing machines that can save on both energy and water usage.

Fuel sources Choosing the right energy source can also help lessen your impact on the environment. For example, using propane-powered appliances in your home can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to a recent study sponsored by the Propane Education & Research Council, propane-powered furnaces emit 73 percent fewer greenhouse gases than electricity. Similarly, propanepowered storage water heaters emit approximately 39 percent less greenhouse gas than electric storage models.

For more information about using propane and propane-powered appliances in your home, visit www.propane.com.

Green upgrades Shopping smart to incorporate high-efficiency appliances and electronics into your home is just a first step. There are many other ways you can make such products even more sustainable: • Rely on LED light bulbs, which use a fraction of the energy and last significantly longer than traditional bulbs.

• Use light timers to turn off lights when they aren’t needed.

• Make a habit of powering off lights and other electronics when you leave the room.

• Set a programmable thermostat to adjust temperatures when you’re away from home.

• Wash only full loads of laundry, and use cold water when possible.

• Air-dry dishes, rather than using the heated drying cycle of the dishwasher.

RECYCLE LIKE A PRO Living green isn’t just about saving energy.

Sustain­able living also means putting earthfriendly practices in place throughout your home, such as recycling. With these tips you can make recycling easier for the whole family.

• Establish collection bins to make it easy to gather all your recycling in one place. The number of bins you need depends on your city’s guidelines for sorting. If no sorting is required, a single bin will do. Otherwise, use different colored bins to make it simple to sort paper, aluminum, glass, etc.

• Most families find the kitchen is a primary source of recyclable goods. If space is at a pre-

BUYING GREEN Understanding just what makes a product green can be confusing. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, greener products are those that are shown to have less health or environmental impacts than similar products that have the same function.

The EPA has made it easy to identify earth-friendly cleaning supplies by intro­ ducing a Design for the Environment label that designates products deemed safer for personal health and the environment.

Other categories of green products may be harder to identify. You can rely on EPA labeling programs such as ENERGY STAR for house­ hold items such as windows, doors and many major appli­ances, and WaterSense for water-specific products such as toilets, faucets and showerheads.

When evaluating whether a product is “green,” be wary of eco-labels, which are not regulated and may contain misleading information designed to downplay a product’s true impact. The Federal Trade Commission created the Green Guides to set standards for truth in advertising; however, there is broad scope and consumers may still need to do some research to understand why a package has a green message on its label.

Ultimately, it’s important to consider all aspects of the product’s development, from research and manufacturing to packaging and distribution. For example, an earth-friendly cleanser packaged in a bottle using recycled plastic is more green than one that is not.

mium, keep a smaller collection bin in the kitchen that can be easily transported to a sorting station in a larger area, such as the garage.

• Don’t forget to recycle in other rooms, too.

Many common bath­room items, such as shampoo and soap bottles, and even card­board toilet paper tubes, can be recycled.

• Remember that recycling can also come in other forms, like donating unwanted clothing to charity or using leftover water to quench thirsty plants or freshen the dog’s bowl.

• Be sure to rinse away any food or liquid residue from containers to manage odors and keep your recycling area tidy and odor free.

• Maximize your bin space by compressing cans and bottles.

STOJ

STOJ

MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

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.

ishamel

marshana

South Beach resident Marshana Rae is a native of Pittsburgh and has modeled nationwide. She says that she “loves what I do and am seeking to broaden my horizons as an international model.” Contact Marshana at marshanarae@gmail.com or her facebook fan page at facebook.com/marshanarae.

Credit: Vision East Photography Ishamel Blue, 29, participates in runway shows, print modeling and acting.

He has been featured on MTV, VH1 and BET as well as theatrical stage productions.

Contact Ishamel via email at blue832004@yahoo.com.

Credit: Ishmael.

Pilot rips Creflo Dollar about how new plane would be used EURWEB.COM

Creflo Dollar Ministries may say they have good intentions with wanting a new $65 million luxury Gulfstream G650 airplane to transport “100,000 pounds of food,” and staff members, but Advanced Air Management’s David Graham isn’t buying it.

The organization and its founder Creflo Dollar have drawn headlines as it faces criticism for an online/crowd funding campaign that’s appealing to 200,000 people to donate $300 or more each toward the purchase of the Gulfstream G650.

“You’re missing the point. The plane is not so Creflo Dollar can get on by himself and fly. They take a ministry team of 10 to 15 people with them. They take thousands of pounds of food and provisions with them when they go around the world. If he’s coming to the New York church, he’ll hop on a Delta flight; if he’s taking 12 people plus 100,000 pounds of food, it’s not that simple,” A media rep told Bloomberg.

Pilot disputes rep In response, Graham, a Global Express aircraft captain from Rock Hill, S.C., expressed exactly how he felt about the situation and Dollar, who also founded World Changers Church In-

Henson disagrees with use of ‘n-word’ on ‘Empire’ EURWEB.COM

“Empire’’ has proven to be an envelope pusher when it comes to network television.

From story lines that include homophobia within the Black community and mental health, the show doesn’t skip a beat when it comes to addressing poignant issues in the Black community.

But one actor does take issue with the show not being authen-

ternational, in an email sent late March 13 to The Christian Post, saying the reps claims are nonsense.

“The G650 MAX RAMP WEIGHT is 99,600# then add 4,000# for the G650ER. IT CANNOT CARRY 12 PEOPLE AND 1000,000 # OF FOOD AND SUPPLIES LIKE THE COMMENTER SAYS!!!! CREFLO IS A CROOK AND SCAMMIN (sic) HIS CHURCH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!!!” an incensed Graham wrote.

The veteran pilot should know.

As stated on his LinkedIn profile, Graham mentioned that he has, “an extensive knowledge of the Corporate Aviation Industry. My experience ranges from Chief Pilot to Line Captain with Worldwide Operations. Part 91 and Part 135.”

Advanced Air Management is known for specializing “in the management of long-range business jets owned by individuals and entities desiring the opportunity to offset the cost of ownership through private charter,” The Post also noted a description of the G650 by its manufacturer, which mentioned the aircraft “flies at more than 92 percent of the speed of sound,” holds about 18 seated passengers and can take off with a maximum weight of 99,600 pounds.

Pastor Creflo Dollar, who leads World Changers Church International in Atlanta, is catching flak for seeking donations for a $65 million airplane.

Link removed A listing the company had for a pre-owned G650 shows it having a flight record of 1,616 hours and 625 landings since it entered service in last December for $67,950,000.

Adding to the situation is news

tic enough when it comes to the language it uses. Terrence Howard, who plays Lucious Lyons, feel that in order to become even more genuine, Empire needs to cut out some of the political correctness when it comes to using the ‘n’ word.

is TV showing something different from the reality of the world?

Why is there a thing called censorship that stop people from hearing everyday talk? We use nigger every day. It’s become part of a conversation – why aren’t we using it in the show?”

Howard makes case

Others against it

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor gave his reasons in defense of the ‘n’ word.

“If we start getting silly, if we start playing to people’s fancies, then we don’t deserve to be where we are,” Howard stated. “It’s a big pressure because I want to be a truth-sayer. I want to raise the bar. I want to get rid of this f—ed up word called PC. I think it’s a gate for bigotry because as long as you’re politically correct you can say anything you want but feel some way different.”

“I’m mad that we don’t say nigger in the show,” he stated. “Why

Not everyone is in agreement with Howard, including David Rambo, a writer and co-executive producer on the show. In an interview with TMZ, Rambo stated that a White writer has no business in deciding if the ‘n’ word should be used.

Director Lee Daniels also seems to think the word has no place on the show. Last year, Daniels stated that the word would not be used on the show because of the negativity surrounding it.

“No you would piss people off,” Henson stated after the reporter asked if the word should be used to be more authentic.

of the link to the $65 million campaign no longer being functional as of the afternoon of March 13.

Instead a message appears saying the link “could have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.”

Whether Dollar abandoned his $65 million request or the effort

to get a new jet is up in the air, as his media rep couldn’t confirm what’s up with his client. Despite this, the rep did say that Dollar’s current mode of travel was via “commercial” flights.

“Whatever he has to [use to travel], you know, commercial transportation,” he said.

Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard are the major stars of Fox’s hit “Empire.’’

B6

FOOD

MARCH 20 – MARCH 26, 2015

S

Say hello to sorghum FAMILY FEATURES

An ancient grain with roots that trace back as far as 8000 B.C., sorghum is seeing a resurgence as demand for non-GMO and gluten-free food grows.

Sorghum is an excellent substitute for those with Celiac disease or gluten intolerance, and can be used to make both leavened and unleavened breads, various fermented and unfermented beverages and can be steamed, popped, flaked or consumed as a whole grain or syrup.

“Sorghum is light in color, has a pleasing texture and tastes similar to

wheat, which makes it perfect for use in gluten-free baking,” said gluten-free expert and cookbook author Carol Fenster.

Sorghum also provides iron, calcium, potassium, as well as polycosinol, which research has shown to lower serum cholesterol and may improve heart health.

Contrary to the perception that some grains lead to a spike in blood sugar, research has indicated that sorghum offers slow digestibility and a lower glycemic index. Foods with a lower glycemic index are believed to increase satiety, which means people

feel fuller longer, aiding with weight management.

White, food grade sorghum can be milled directly into whole grain flour to produce foods such as cookies, cakes, breads, pizza dough, pastas, cereals and more. Whole grain sorghum is also a healthy addition to salads. Sorghum’s natural attributes make it possible to enjoy deliciously healthful and gluten-free versions of some of America’s favorite foods, thanks to these recipes.

For more recipes and tips for cooking with sorghum, visit www.HealthySorghum.com.

PEARLED SORGHUM TANGY PEAR SALAD Contributed by Nu Life Market Salad: 1/2 cup cooked Nu Life Market Pearled Sorghum Grain 8 cups prepared mixed baby greens 1small red onion, halved and thinly sliced 1/3cup dried cranberries Toppings: 2 red Anjou pears, halved vertically and thinly sliced Dressing: Favorite dressing or balsamic vinaigrette To cook sorghum, a ratio of one part sorghum to four parts water should be used. In appropriate size saucepan, add water and heat until boiling. Add sorghum and allow to simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for approxi­mately 45 minutes or until desired tenderness.

Once cooked, drain water from pan and rinse cooked grain. Allow cooked sorghum to cool completely before adding to salad, to avoid wilted lettuce.

Toss together cooked sorghum, baby mixed greens, onion and dried cranberries in large bowl.

To serve, place desired amount of tossed lettuce mixture onto salad plate, adorn with 5 pear slices and drizzle with desired amount of dressing.

MUSHROOM AND GARLIC PEARLED SORGHUM Contributed by Nu Life Market 1/2 cup of Nu Life Market Pearled Sorghum Grain 2 cups vegetable stock 1/4 onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 cup mushrooms, quartered 3–4 asparagus shoots

1/4 cup thyme, chopped

THIN & CRISPY SORGHUM PIZZA CRUST Contributed by Nu Life Market 1 cup white whole grain sorghum flour

Whisk dry ingredients together. Cut shortening into flour mix until crumbly. Add rice milk and mix until dough forms sticky ball. Knead on floured surface and continue to work dough, adding flour if necessary.

Dough is ready when it no longer sticks to your hand.

Roll into ball and flatten onto ungreased pizza pan.

Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder.

Gently roll edges over to form ridge.

Bake for 12 minutes at 450°F. Top with your favorite toppings and bake for additional 10–15 minutes.

2/3 cup potato starch 4 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder 1/2teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 2 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons xanthan gum 1/2 cup shortening 2/3 cup rice milk Olive oil Garlic powder or granules

Bring sorghum and veggie stock to a boil and simmer for approximately 50 minutes.

In small skillet, over medium heat saute onion, garlic and mushrooms until tender. Add to cooked sorghum. Garnish with steamed asparagus shoots and fresh thyme. Serve.