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MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
VOLUME 25 NO. 13
UNCERTAIN AND ROCKY START President Trump reaches out to Black America via meetings with a wary Congressional Black Caucus and the Black Press, punctuated by his top-ranking Black aide walking away from a breakfast with Black newspaper publishers. fast meeting with the National Newspaper Publishers AssociaWASHINGTON – In two sepa- tion (NNPA), the trade group of rate meetings last week with Black more than 150 Black newspapers members of Congress in the Black around the country. Press, the Trump administration formally began its promised out- No photo op reach to African-Americans. The entire caucus had been inOn March 22, President Trump vited to the White House but CBC and key members of his White Chairman Cedric Richmond (DHouse team, including Vice Pres- La.) wanted to present a businessident Mike Pence and top Black like front and avoid being used aide Omarosa Manigault, met a as a photo opportunity as many small delegation representing the have charged was the case with 49-member Congressional Black Historically Black College and Caucus (CBC). Her official title is University leaders who met with Assistant to the President and Di- the president earlier this month. rector of Communications for the Despite the objections of some COURTESY OF THE CBC Office of Public Liaison. CDC members, he limited parRepresentatives of the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Trump and key members A day later, Manigault repSee CBC, Page A2 of his team last week. resented Trump at a break-
COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS
Black activists hosting candidates school in St. Pete
2017 MIAMI OPEN
No championship this time
SNAPSHOTS
BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
ORLANDO – Siding with Gov. Rick Scott, a circuit judge Tuesday signed off on the removal of Central Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala in the high-profile case of accused cop-killer Markeith Loyd, refusing to put the case on hold while the prosecutor seeks a ruling on whether the governor overstepped his authority with her ouster. Aramis Ayala, elected Ayala last year as state attorney in Orange and Osceola counties, immediately vowed to appeal the decision. Scott yanked Ayala from the case of Loyd – accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon, and murdering Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton – after the state attorney announced she would not seek the death penalty in Loyd’s case or in any others during her time in office.
Not reinstated
KIM GIBSON / FLORIDA COURIER
Madison Keys, a Boca Raton resident ranked No. 9 worldwide in the singles division of the Women’s Tennis Association, hits a return during an early round match in the Miami Open. She was knocked out in the tourney’s third round by Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena. The eventual winner takes home a $1.1 million first prize. See page B3 for more photos.
FLORIDA | A3
NATION | A6
SPORTS | B3
State beefing up Zika battle plan
Trucker’s case a thorn for Neil Gorsuch
A Final Four preview
ALSO INSIDE
Prosecutor dumped from murder case See a related story on Page A3.
BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF
ST. PETERSBURG – On April 8 and 9, the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations will conduct an electoral campaign school for Black activists “who want to open up a new front for the struggle for self-determination in the U.S.,” according to an organizational press release. “After years of organizing mass actions, conventions and conferences to promote selfdetermination while fighting Democrats and Republicans and their Black sycophants in our own communities, the Coalition has called on Black militants to invade the system White rulers have created to exercise White political power,” the release states. “The White rulers have created cadres of Black politicians that are loyal to White power and are incapable of fighting for the legitimate independent power of our people.” Calling the school “an intensive two-day process that usually takes a week or more,” the Coalition says it will train working-class people on qualifying to run for office, raising money, framing a campaign message, voter turnout, and using referendum and ballot initiative processes. Florida-based civil rights attorney John Due, Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report and Omali Yeshitela of the African People’s Socialist Party are on the list of presenters. Registration is $100. Go to http://blackisbackcoalition. org for more info.
Judge backs Scott
HEALTH | B4
Study focuses on PTSD in Black women
Ruling from the bench Tuesday, Orange County Circuit Judge Frederick Lauten refused to reinstate Ayala as prosecutor in the case, after Scott reassigned it to Ocala-area State Attorney Brad King, an outspoken proponent of the death penalty. Ayala had asked the court for a temporary stay on proceedings in Loyd’s case while she challenged whether Scott has the authority to oust her. More than 100 legal experts, most of them death penalty opponents, contend that Scott acted outside his executive role by reassigning the case, arguing that prosecutors like Ayala enjoy broad discretion in deciding whether to seek the death penalty in capital cases.
Scott has authority But in deciding King should
COMMENTARY: A. PETER BAILEY: HOW THE BLACK PRESS FOUGHT THE US GOVERNMENT | A4 COMMENTARY: MARGARET KIMBERLEY: WHY HILLARY CLINTON SHOULD NEVER RETURN | A5
See AYALA, Page A2
FOCUS
A2
MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
Don’t ever stop resisting! The Democratic political puppets had a congressional victory over the Republican political puppets. Whoop-de-doo! To all the community activists, organizers, radicals, militants and political revolutionaries: Don’t stop resisting! You cannot and must not bask in your moment of triumph!
I know something I think I know a little bit about politics. Most African-American candidates and elected officials probably wouldn’t agree with me because if they did, I and other Black political professionals would get more respect and more work from them. Anyway, let me show you how smart I am. “Trumpcare” was not passed because of anything Democrats did to oppose the proposed Republican health care legislation.
Both are divided LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT
The president had a political miscarriage! His “repeal and replace” baby was dead on arrival! Masquerading as a huge and great improvement in health care for American citizens, Stevie Wonder and – if they were alive, Ray Charles and Blind Lemon Jefferson – could have easily seen that the American Health Care Act was nothing more than a funding vehicle for billon-dollar tax cuts for the United States’ wealthiest citizens and a welfare program for greedy, sleazy insurance company profiteers!
AYALA
tion as unlawful and unconstitutional in a way that does not compromise the successful prosecution of Markeith Loyd.”
maintain control of Loyd’s prosecution, Lauten said he was unwilling to delay Loyd’s case and that Scott had the power to remove Ayala. King will let the judge know if he intends to seek the death penalty for Loyd, according to court documents. Ayala immediately pledged to appeal Lauten’s ruling. “By inserting his personal politics into this case, Governor Scott’s unprecedented action is dangerous and could compromise the prosecution of Markeith Loyd and threatens the integrity of Florida’s judicial system,” Ayala said in a statement Tuesday. “We will move forward to expose the governor’s ac-
‘Justice must be served’
from A1
Scott’s office issued a statement after Lauten’s ruling that said the governor “stands by his decision to assign State Attorney Brad King to prosecute Markeith Loyd after State Attorney Ayala refused to recuse herself.” “As Governor Scott has continued to say, these families deserve a state attorney who will aggressively prosecute Loyd to the fullest extent of the law and justice must be served,” the statement said. Scott’s swift removal of the state’s first Black elected state attorney, coming hours after Ayala’s announcement that
Trumpcare or Ryancare – if you want to name the dead legislation after Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives – was always dead in the water because Republican politicians are just as divided as Democratic politicians. Tea Party Republicans that you call the “Freedom Caucus” will never fully agree with moderate Republicans. Neither group will agree with or bow down to lying Republicans that promised an immediate repeal and replacement of health care, and any other legislation that the Black president was able to pass!
But don’t stop resisting! You can’t stop resisting because real political professionals, like I call myself, know very well that you will never really win and
you never really lose in political legislation battles.
Why? Because highly-paid lobbyists that suck the blood out of industries, associations, corporations and rich individuals will always convince their clients to fight for what they want again and again. Insurance companies are contacting legislators they think they can control with a $500 campaign contribution right now and telling them to file amendments to any bill that will put insurance company profits before the health of the people! African-Americans, seniors, mothers, women, the disabled and everybody else that wants and needs affordable health care must keep fighting for it. You must not stop resisting! Carl Jung, a prominent thinker, once said, “Resistance to the organized mass can be effected only by the man who is as well-organized in his individuality as the mass itself.”
But Ayala’s decision to forgo the death penalty in Loyd’s case, or to seek death for any other defendants accused of capital crimes, sparked outrage from Scott, Republican lawmakers and Attorney General Pam Bondi, prompting some to demand that Scott boot her from office. This week, lawmakers revealed proposed budget plans that would slash 21 positions and more than $1.4 million from Ayala’s office. House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, has urged Scott to remove Ayala from her post.
RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS
Accused murderer Markeith Loyd appeared in court in February.
ing of the meeting since it was off the record. Since the meeting, some have speculated that perhaps Manigault meant Chavis would be the first Black Press representative to interview Trump rather than the first journalist. The sudden move by Manigault, a minister and former TV reality star, clearly shocked NNPA members and their guests, especially since Manigault had called the chair of the historic group the night before and “asked to attend,” according to NNPA Chair Denise Rolark Barnes. Ironically, during opening remarks, Manigault had praised Black journalists for historically asking “the tough questions.”
ticipation to the executive board, which included Representatives Andre Carson (Indiana), Anthony Brown (Maryland), Brenda Lawrence (Michigan), Gwen Moore (Wisconsin), and Karen Bass (California), all Democrats. Assistant Democratic Leader Rep. James Clyburn (South Carolina) also attended.
American kids neglected
Such statements strike many Black lawmakers and leaders as hypocritical, given the adverse impact they believe the White House’s budget proposal would have on African-American communities, and the views held by several of his Cabinet secretaries that threaten to reverse hardwon gains. Some believe part of Trump’s problem is that he is uninformed and doesn’t have the right people in place to educate him. That’s why the group arrived at the White House armed with a 125-page document titled, “We Have a Lot to Lose: Solutions to Advance Black Families in the 21st Century.” It highlights problems related to the CBC’s top priorities, including economic, environmental and criminal justice, healthcare, and
Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www. allworldconsultants.net.
Office budget cut?
from A1
‘A lot to lose’
If you don’t know what to fight for, “Medicare for All” is a good start. Every citizen regardless of race, gender, creed, color or economic status should have a viable health care program. You can call it what you want: Medicare, the public option, single-payer or whatever. This idea that rehabilitation, emergency care, prenatal care, wellness care, etc. should not be covered by your health insurance is a cruel idea and should be constantly discredited and eventually abandoned! Don’t let idiots and fools on social media convince you that the fight for health care is over, because it is not!
she would not seek death for Loyd or others, galvanized support from longstanding opponents of the death penalty and civil rights groups, including the NAACP.
CBC
Trump, in his opening remarks, echoed his campaign trail rhetoric. “Throughout my campaign, I pledged to focus on improving conditions for African-American citizens. This means more to me than anybody would understand or know,” he said. “Every American child has a right to grow up in a safe community, to attend great schools, to graduate with access to high-paying jobs.” The president added that the U.S. has spent trillions of dollars overseas “while neglecting the fate of American children in cities like Baltimore and Chicago and Detroit.”
Here’s the start
SHEVRY LASSITER / WASHINGTON INFORMER
At the NNPA breakfast meeting, top Trump staffer Omarosa Manigault is questioned by reporter Hazel Trice Edney. voting rights, and offers what it describes as “bold policy solutions.” The title comes from Trump’s typical campaign speech. When asking for Black voters’ support, he would ask, “What do you have to lose?” The CBC members also gave the president letters to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, written by Reps. John Conyers (Michigan) and Bobby Scott (Virginia) in which they expressed major areas of concern.
Federal policy Richmond told reporters after the meeting that the CBC is the only group of Black elected officials who develop federal policy and can also offer diverse viewpoints. “There were many areas where we disagreed with the policy solutions prescribed by his budget, but it was a meeting where both sides listened and where we were very candid about disagreements,” Richmond said. “But the surprising part was that when we talked about the goals, there were more similarities than there were differences. The route to get there is where I think you may see differences
and part of that is just education and life experiences.”
Less optimistic Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who also is the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is less optimistic than some of his fellow CBC members. “I think it’s the responsibility of the CBC leadership to try to reach out to the president. I also doubt that, based on his history, he will do anything to help us,” Ellison said. “But still, you’ve got to ask. You don’t want him to be able to say, ‘Well, they never asked.’” There were some areas of agreement, Richmond noted, including infrastructure spending, which will create jobs, and enabling all American children opportunities to reach their full potential despite their socio-economic status. The latter is an example of a goal the two sides share, he noted, cautioning more than once that “the question is, do we have the same path to get there?” The president’s approach is more “law and order,” he added, while the CBC is more focused on building ladders of opportunity through initiatives like summer jobs and education. “Trump listened and we
talked, and we proposed a lot of solutions, many of which I think he had not heard before. We’re going to keep advocating. Where we agree, we will agree; where we disagree, we will fight with the passion that this caucus has had since 1971 when our first meeting was with President Nixon.”
NNPA breakfast The day after the CBC meeting, Manigault walked out of the NNPA breakfast before it ended. The catalyst for the walkout was a reporter’s question that led to a dispute about the accuracy of a story written by Black journalist Hazel Trice Edney in January. The story quoted civil rights lawyer Barbara Arnwine as stating that Manigault promised the “first interview” with Trump to NNPA President Benjamin Chavis during a Jan. 4 Trump transition team meeting with Black leaders. Manigault doesn’t dispute having promised the interview. However, she was incensed because the story said she promised Chavis “the first” interview.
Off-the-record meeting It is not clear whether the Trump staff made a record-
Question about access Stacy Brown, a reporter for the Washington Informer and NNPA contributor had asked the first question at the breakfast, noting Manigault’s opening words about the importance of Black Press coverage. “Just as important for us is access,” Brown stated, “What kind of access can we expect from this administration? When I say ‘we,’ I’m talking about the Black Press,” Brown asked. Referring to the meeting with the CBC, Manigault said she believed the White House “had a historical number of African-American journalists covering it and given access to that particular event.” But Washington Informer photographer Shevry Lassiter, quickly responded, “Except us.” Lassiter said she was told that too many people had signed up for coverage, giving her the perception that “We were too late.”
Not enough room? When Manigault responded, “Your paper work has got to be right,” Lassiter clarified, “It was right. We got notice and sent it in; then couldn’t get in. She said they had too many,” Lassiter said, referring to a staffer. “Are you bashing my young staffer?” Manigault
asked. She then stated repeatedly, “I’m not going to let you do that.” That exchange was followed by Edney’s question and the brouhaha that followed. Manigault then abruptly walked out with staffers in tow a little more than 10 minutes after arriving.
Publishers surprised “How is she going to come in here and just walk out?” asked Chicago Crusader Publisher Dorothy Leavell, standing. “And any other Black Press person ought to be insulted by what she did. It was totally disrespectful.” GOP political commentator and consultant Paris Dennard, also present at the breakfast meeting, said in an interview that the question was adversarial. “With all due respect to you, Hazel, it came off as a bit confrontational,” Dennard said. “It came off as being a little bit on the attack.” Chavis sought to calm the group after Manigault walked out, stating that he believes the interview is still on.
‘Lost opportunity’ Later, in an interview speaking as NNPA chair, Barnes said: “To me, I almost feel as if we were baited...I expected a different presentation from her, which would have led us into asking a different set of questions about the issues she was going to raise and not get into this personal confrontation with a journalist. “So, I’m disappointed that she didn’t – in my opinion - come in and speak on the president’s and on the administration’s behalf about things that are important to this administration that the Black Press should be focusing on. That didn’t happen. It was a lost opportunity for the president. And it was definitely a waste of time for NNPA.”
Hazel Trice Edney and Jane Kennedy of the Trice Edney News Wire contributed to this report.
MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
FLORIDA
A3
Ayala’s decision refuels death penalty debate The latest controversy has galvanized longtime opponents of state executions.
For many Blacks, especially in Southern states like Florida, the death penalty is rooted in a history of discrimination and remains a stark reminder of lynch mobs. Adding to racial tensions, Florida has never executed a White defendant whose victim was Black, something critics are quick to highlight. “Race has always been an issue in the death penalty, whether it’s Florida or anyplace,” said Florida International University law professor Stephen Harper, who runs the school’s Death Penalty Clinic.
BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s death penalty has been roiled by controversy for decades, marred in the past by botched executions – including one that resulted in the retirement of “Old Sparky” – and, more recently, by court rulings condemning the way defendants were sentenced to death. It’s been more than a year since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in a case known as Hurst v. Florida, put executions on hold and sent the death penalty into a state of limbo. The latest controversy over a Central Florida prosecutor’s decision not to seek death sentences in capital cases – and Gov. Rick Scott’s swift removal of her from a high-profile case involving an accused cop killer – has quickly galvanized longtime opponents of the death penalty. “This could be the spark that sets it off for a real conversation nationwide, not just in Florida,” retired Florida Supreme Court Justice James E.C. Perry, an outspoken critic of the state’s death penalty system, told The News Service of Florida in a telephone interview. “Most transformative acts did not take a majority of the people. Only a few people started it, and it gained momentum. This could be one of those moments.”
Negron’s response But Senate President Joe Negron said the controversy swirling around the death penalty almost certainly will not diminish lawmakers’ support. “There’s a strong consensus that the death penalty is an appropriate sanction for certain horrific murders that are committed,” Negron, R-Stuart, said. “I think that when the state is seeking to potentially execute a citizen for his crimes, there should be a very high level of scrutiny and due process. I also think that our current system provides that. I think it’s important that in certain egregious cases the judge and jury should be given the legal option of the death penalty.” More than a decade ago, the American Bar Association called for a moratorium on Florida executions, based on a study that said the system was dogged by problems involving racial disparities, fairness and a lack of oversight. More recent studies have pro-
Disproportionately Black
RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS
Orange/Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala, left, chats on March 20 with State Attorney Brad King, District 5, the newly appointed prosecutor. vided additional evidence to bolster criticism of the death penalty in Florida, which leads the nation in Death Row exonerations. Florida opponents of the death penalty, including many Democratic legislators, have renewed calls for a moratorium, seeking further review of geographic and racial inequities regarding who is charged with the death penalty and eventually executed.
Hurst ruling But with Scott and Republican legislative leaders strongly supporting the death penalty, such a moratorium is unlikely. “There’s no doubt, if you look at national trends, that the Florida Legislature’s and governor’s office insistence place them in a handful of states that are actively trying to devise a system which is going to produce death sentences,” said University of Miami law professor Scott Sundby, who has researched the behavior of juries in death penalty cases. The U.S. Supreme Court 8-1 ruling in the Hurst case in January 2016 found that Florida’s system of allowing judges to find the facts necessary to impose the death penalty was an unconstitutional violation of the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury. That decision prompted the state Supreme Court to put an indefinite hold on two executions scheduled by Scott and spurred the Legislature last year to hurriedly pass a measure aimed at addressing the constitutional
problems. The law also required at least 10 jurors – instead of the old law’s requirement of a simple majority of jurors – to recommend death.
Unanimous juries now Of the nearly three dozen states with the death penalty, Florida was then one of only three – including Delaware and Alabama – that did not require unanimous jury recommendations for the sentence. Delaware has since abandoned the death penalty. The Florida Supreme Court last fall struck down the revised statute, saying that, as in every other type of case, unanimous jury recommendations are required in death-penalty sentencing. Once again, lawmakers rushed to address the court decision during this year’s legislative session and sent a measure requiring unanimous jury recommendations – the first bill to pass both chambers – to Scott. He signed the legislation on March 13.
Ayala’s conclusion But, while the governor and the Republican-dominated Legislature may believe the new law resolved Florida’s court-related problems, 9th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Aramis Ayala focused a new spotlight on the death penalty when she announced days later that she would not seek death sentences in any cases during her time in office.
Nelson says he won’t vote for Gorsuch U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said Monday he will vote against confirming federal-appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. Republican President Donald Trump nominated Gorsuch to fill the opening left by the death last year of Justice Antonin Scalia. “Deciding whether to confirm a president’s nominee for the highest court in the land is a responsibility I take very seriously,” Nelson said in a prepared statement. “Over the past few weeks, I have met with Judge Gorsuch, listened to the Judiciary Committee’s hearings and reviewed his record with an open mind. “I have real concerns with his thinking on protecting the right to vote and allowing unlimited money in political campaigns. In addition, the judge has consistently sided with corporations over employees, as in the case of a freezing truck driver who, contrary to common sense, Judge Gorsuch would have allowed to be fired for abandoning his disabled rig during extreme weather conditions.”
CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/TNS
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, center, greets attendees during a roundtable meeting Monday regarding Zika preparation and the development of strategies to combat the virus in preparation of the upcoming rainy season inside the Miami-Dade office of the Florida Department of Health. With him are MiamiDade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, left, and Surgeon General Dr. Celeste Philip, secretary of the Florida Department of Health.
MIAMI – South Florida’s battle plan for Zika, expected to rebound with the rainy season, includes more boots on the ground to inspect and fumigate for mosquitoes, more lab resources to speed up test turnaround times and the promise of a more collegial collaboration between the federal and state governments. “As you know, I have a good relationship with the White House,” said Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who visited the health department in Miami on Monday
History of bias Ayala is challenging Scott’s removal of her from the Loyd case. The governor reassigned it to Brad King, an Ocala-area state attorney who is an outspoken proponent of the death penalty. Meanwhile, more than 100 law professors and legal experts – including two former state Supreme Court chief justices and onetime Florida State University President Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte - have accused Scott of overstepping his authority by ousting Ayala as prosecutor in the case.
Few believe that the controversy swirling around Ayala, Scott and inequities in the administration of the death penalty in Florida will spur significant changes, at least in the short run. “I don’t think it will have any impact that way,” said Bernie McCabe, the state attorney in the 6th Judicial Circuit in Pasco and Pinellas counties. But Scott’s removal of Ayala from the Loyd case and her arguments against the death penalty – that it is unfair to victims and that its implementation discriminates against minorities – have injected newfound enthusiasm into the opposition. “I think this is a defining moment in the struggle to end the death penalty in Florida. I really do,” said Mark Elliott, director of Floridians Against the Death Penalty, which is among a number of organizations that have planned a rally Thursday at the Capitol to call attention to the issue. cal legislation that would compel builders to develop mosquito control plans for their construction sites, which are common breeding grounds for mosquitoes. “Nothing onerous,” Gimenez said, adding that county attorneys are working on sample legislation. County officials also plan to hire an additional 42 workers for mosquito control, boosting the department’s size to about 60 full-time inspectors, technicians, biologists and other employees. “We’re going to spend a lot of money,” said Alina Hudak, a deputy mayor who oversees the county’s mosquito control department. She estimated efforts in 2017 will cost an additional $10 million over the prior year.
Early 2016 outbreak
Fumigation underway
for a roundtable with local leaders on Zika preparedness. Scott was a frequent critic of the federal government as a partner in the fight against Zika last year. But he expects a better relationship with the Trump administration, specifically because of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, whom Scott said he has known since 1993. “I think they’ll be very responsive to the things I ask for,” Scott said.
A local effort
More workers
Ben Haynes, a Centers for Dis-
‘A defining moment’
ease Control and Prevention spokesman, said the federal agency will continue to provide support to all states affected by Zika, including Florida. He added that the CDC has deployed 78 staff workers to Florida since last summer and sent materials for about 25,000 Zika virus antibody tests. Despite significant funding and lab resources that the CDC sends to Florida, the fight against Zika is largely a local effort. Scott and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez promised more resources for mosquito control, for public health labs and for coordinating medical care for infants and families impacted by the virus. “We’re going to continue to be very aggressive in our mosquito control efforts,” Gimenez said. Miami-Dade has spent about $25 million fighting Zika since 2016, and Gimenez thanked Scott for the state’s reimbursement of about $18 million so far. The virus cropped up in Florida in January 2016, beginning with travel-related cases. Then in June an outbreak in Wynwood led to the CDC’s identifying the Miami neighborhood as the nation’s first zone with local spread of Zika by mosquitoes. Three more areas in MiamiDade followed — including Miami’s Little River neighborhood and two sections of Miami Beach. The county’s last active Zika zone, covering most of South Beach, was lifted in December, though individual cases have continued to be reported by the health department in unidentified areas of Miami-Dade. This year, Gimenez said, he expects to spend even more fighting Zika.
Zika battle plan includes beefing up public labs, mosquito control BY DANIEL CHANG MIAMI HERALD/TNS
Ayala, whose circuit includes Orange and Osceola counties and who is the first Black state attorney elected in Florida, said she reached her conclusion after deciding that “doing so is not in the best interest of this community or the best interest of justice.” She cited research showing death sentences are not a deterrent to crime, are prohibitively costly and do a disservice to victims’ families, who may wait decades without seeing those convicted of killing their loved ones finally executed. But Ayala’s decision not to pursue the death penalty for Markeith Loyd – accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon, and the executionstyle killing of Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton – sparked outrage from Republican lawmakers, Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi and resulted in calls for the state attorney’s ouster.
A University of North Carolina study released last year that examined executions in Florida between 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated, and 2014, found that, while about 56 percent of Florida victims were White, nearly three-fourths of all executions involved White victims. More than 70 percent of the Black defendants executed in Florida had been convicted of murdering White victims, the study found. Of the 396 inmates on Death Row, 154 – or nearly 40 percent – are Black, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The ratio of African-Americans awaiting execution is more than double the percentage of Blacks in the state’s overall population.
He also wants to introduce lo-
Though Zika has been nearly dormant in Miami-Dade so far in 2017, with two locally acquired cases confirmed and no zones of active transmission identified, Hudak said the county has remained vigilant — monitoring mosquito populations every week through a system of 130 traps located throughout the county. An additional 90 traps are expected by the summer, she said. Gimenez added that public crews were already fumigating for mosquito larvae to get a jump start on the spring and summer, when mosquito numbers are highest. He said a recent outbreak of yellow fever in Brazil added another reason to prepare early against the Aedes aegypti species of mosquito, which also spreads Zika. Zika is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito. These are the same mosquitoes that spread dengue and chikungunya viruses.
EDITORIAL
A4
MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
How the Black Press fought the US government In a 1977 book celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Black press on March 16, 1827, Dr. Lionel Barrow, then executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, noted that the Black Press had four basic functions. Those functions were and still are to act as a watchdog, to answer attacks, to preserve Black culture and to present a different viewpoint from those in the White press. When carrying out those functions during World War II, the Black Press was closely monitored by numerous federal government agencies, including J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, the Post Office, the Department of War, the Office of Facts and Figures, the Office of War Information and military intelligence, among others.
Wouldn’t ignore racism They basically wanted the Black Press to either ignore the persistent atrocities inflicted on Black folks by White supremacists and racists or at least bury such coverage deep inside the papers rather than highlight them on the front pages or in editorials and columns. Fighting against America’s hypocrisy, the Black Press was at its best, providing a model of unity and determination that would greatly benefit the 21st-century Black Press. Some Black publications were effectively intimidated by the FBI and others. But a significant number continued to cover the racist activities, especially in the South. According to Patrick S. Washburn in his book, “A Question of Sedition: The Federal Government’s Investigation of the Black Press During World War II,” the
A. PETER BAILEY TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM
Fighting against America’s hypocrisy, the Black Press was at its best, providing a model of unity and determination that would greatly benefit the 21st-century Black Press. Black Press was considered “biased and unreliable” and “having an insatiable appetite for writing about discrimination” by government agencies.
Stirring things up A 1943 FBI survey on “Racial conditions in the United States” was done “To determine why particular Negroes or groups of Negroes or Negro organizations have evidenced sentiments for other ‘dark races’ (mainly Japanese) or by whatever forces they were influenced by to adopt in certain instances unAmerican ideologies.” Furthermore, it continued, “Sources of information have volunteered the opinion that the Negro press is a strong provocateur of discontent among Negroes...”
The Florida Bar is not above the law The law license of Marie Henry, a Black female attorney, was suspended on March 31, 2015. The evidence used to prosecute and convict her resulted from her actions in filing an ethics complaint against a prosecutor, filing a motion to disqualify a circuit judge, filing a complaint of discrimination against the Florida Bar, and filing a citizen’s complaint against the local police for misconduct. Four years ago, I learned about Ms. Henry’s fight for justice against the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Lake County state attorney’s office, the local police, and the Florida Bar. In May 2015, I wrote an article entitled “From the American Dream
ROGER CALDWELL GUEST COMMENTARY
to the American Nightmare” which chronicled Ms. Henry’s struggles to obtain justice in the face of abuse of power.
Bar takes issue Ms. Henry’s mistreatment started with the unlawful arrest and criminal prosecution of her daughter, and escalated to a system of harassment, retaliation, and unlawful conduct because she complained. She expected
Black empowerment today, tomorrow, forever The presidency of Donald J. Trump has morphed into a system that seeks to promote White supremacy, better known as “Make America White Again.” His concept of how the government works is a laughing matter. His foreign policy isn’t based on working together with foreign powers to help end war and establish peace; it’s centered on the conviction of creating war. When Trump unveiled his budget proposal, didn’t you notice that the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security received the greatest increases, while programs that benefit the average American and minorities were slashed? Trump is simply following the mandate of so ma-
DR. SINCLAIR GREY III GUEST COMMENTARY
ny White supremacists who believe to conquer and dominate, they must tear up and destroy.
Money for rebuilding When outside countries become war-torn, the United States is quick to rebuild them according to her standards. Guess who gets the defense contracts? Friends of politicians. In this case, it will be Trump’s associates. Trump wants to destroy the
A classic example of what messed with the nerves of Hoover and his cohorts was included in a Pittsburg Courier column written by journalist/historian J.A. Rogers: “Even the boldest Negro writers cannot say all that’s in their hearts at a time like this. There are always underhanded Gestapo methods of cracking down on Negro publications... Don’t think that the Nazis have a monopoly on high-handed tactics.” The Courier also published a letter-to-the-editor from a Black soldier, which stated that “I doubt if the Japs are as bad as we are led to believe. I doubt if they would treat loyal, patriotic citizens as badly as the Negro is treated in America.” It was another letter to the Courier that probably most angered Hoover and his fellow supporters who wanted the Black press to see no evil, hear no evil, nor write about the evil White supremacists/racists who were brutalizing and often killing Black folks throughout World War II.
Victory at home The letter, according to Washburn, was written by James G. Thompson, a 26-year-old cafeteria worker with the Cessna Aircraft Corporation. It read as follows: “Like all true Americans, my greatest desire at this time...Is for a complete victory over the forces of evil which threatens our existence today. Behind that desire is also a desire to serve this, my country, in the most advantageous way. “Most of our leaders are suggesting that we sacrifice every other ambition to the paramount one, victory. With this I agree; but I also wonder if another vica high level of integrity in investigating her complaints, but it became apparent that the Florida Bar had a problem with the ethics complaint she filed on February 23, 2012 and on December 30, 2013. The Bar also took issue with the citizen’s complaint she filed against the local police. These complaints together with a motion to disqualify a circuit judge were registered as evidence of egregious professional misconduct. In 2015, Ms. Henry sued the Florida Bar in federal court for violating her civil rights. She also filed an administrative complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations for unlawful discrimination. On June 23, 2016, the Florida Commission on Human Relations ruled in her favor that the Bar is subject to the jurisdiction of the Florida Civil Rights Act and is prohibited from disciplining the license of an attorney in a discriminatory manner. very fabric that makes America what it is. There are those within the Republican Party who agree with Trump and his demonic policies. They will bow down to him and about his accomplishments – then hide from their constituents when it comes down to a town hall meeting. What’s the vision of the Democratic Party? Who knows? It appears they are so busy trying to fight Trump on every issue that they have failed to create their own agenda that’s relevant to members of their party. The Democratic Party is impotent and still plays politics as usual. That’s why many people have no respect for them and choose not to be affiliated with their corny and stale politics. Democratic Party leaders need to be on the offense and stop being reactive.
Let’s do for us We in the African-American
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: TRUMP CUTS COAL REGULATIONS
DAVID FITZSIMMONS, THE ARIZONA STAR
tory could not be achieved at the same time...Being an American of dark complexion... these questions flash through my mind: “‘Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?’ ‘Will things be better for the next generation in the peace to follow?’ ‘Would it be demanding too much to demand full citizenship rights in exchange for the sacrificing of my life?’ ‘Is this kind of America I know worth defending?’ ‘Will America be a true and pure democracy after this war?’ ‘Will colored Americans suffer still the indignities that have been heaped upon them in the past?’ “I suggest that – while we keep defense and victory in the forefront – that we don’t lose sight of our fight for true democracy at home. The V for victory sign is being displayed prominently in all so-called democratic countries which are fighting for victory over aggression, slavery and tyranny. If this V sign means that to those now engaged in this great conflict, then let us colored Americans adopt the double V for a double victory.
“The first V for victory over our enemies from without, the second V for victory over our enemies from within. For surely those who perpetrate these ugly prejudices here are seeking to destroy our democratic form of government just as surely as the Axis forces.”
Recently, I caught up with her for an update. Ms. Henry told me that the complaint she filed against the Florida Bar for unlawful discrimination and retaliation was set for a final hearing this week. But like everything else, her fight for justice remains clouded by power.
ble on the Internet to discredit a mother and falsely accuse her of misrepresentation of facts. Ms. Henry said, “The latest filings to attempt to deny me access to justice is almost unbearable and is unconstitutional. The public needs to become engaged in what is really going on.” As Americans, we cannot and should not be silent in the face of injustice. At this critical point in history, the gains made by a Black mom like Ms. Henry, cannot be discarded. The media has a responsibility to keep a watchful eye on our government, and to serve as a check against the government’s abuse of power. For more information about Marie Henry’s fight for justice, contact me at jet38@bellsouth. net, or call 407-421-5453.
Still fighting The state is fighting her efforts to have government witnesses testify at the upcoming hearing. They have told the hearing officer to ignore the ruling she won in 2016. This new development supports the claims of an ongoing violation of the public trust and abuse of power. The issues are serious because the Florida Bar’s purpose is to protect the public. The public is not protected when a victim complains and then faces retaliation and harassment for complaining. Confidential juvenile records should not be accessi-
community cannot wait or depend on either political party to do for us. It’s time to say the hell with them and start doing for ourselves. We must own our own businesses, schools, and communities. I’m not promoting separation; I am promoting self-empowerment and self-reliance. The moment we begin owning and taking control of our lives through entrepreneurship, education, and political involvement, the quicker we will see change. No longer must we strive to be liked or approved by oppressors
CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.
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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
The Double V campaign, spread throughout the country by the Black Press, became a symbol of pride for most Black folks who began setting up Double V gardens, Double V clubs, Double V songs, Double V beauty pageants, Double V fashion, Double V bands, pictures of Double V girls and a Double V hairstyle called the Doubler. It is unfortunate that the Black Press in 2017 has no such unifying, productive symbol to promote at this time.
A. Peter Bailey’s latest book is “Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher.” Contact him at apeterb@verizon.net.
Roger Caldwell, a community activist, author, journalist, radio host and CEO of On Point Media Group, lives in Orlando.
The moment we begin owning and taking control of our lives through entrepreneurship, education, and political involvement, the quicker we will see change.
Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher
Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.
Symbol of pride
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who will smile in our faces as long as we remain “deaf, dumb, blind, and stupid.” When we become mentally, spiritually, and emotionally liberated, we can start doing for ourselves and tell cowardly, racist, and unproductive politicians to go to hell with their crooked and corrupt policies. Let’s stop lowering our standards and work together.
Dr. Sinclair Grey III is a speaker, business trainer, writer, and success coach. Contact him at drgrey@sinclairgrey. org.
Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC, P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, publishes the Florida Courier on Fridays. Phone: 877-352-4455, toll-free. For all sales inquiries, call 877-352-4455; e-mail sales@flcourier.com. Subscriptions to the print version are $69 per year. Mail check to P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, or log on to www.flcourier.com; click on ‘Subscribe’.
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MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
Hillary Clinton should never return Hillary Clinton is back. She is wearing makeup, posting on Twitter and making public appearances. She declared that she is “ready to come out of the woods” and made a campaign-like visit to Scranton, Penn. She has licked her wounds and watches as her losing strategy of linking Donald Trump with the Russian government gains traction. Like the devil, she has been very busy. She and her supporters sabotaged Keith Ellison’s effort to chair the Democratic National Committee. Giving the not-soprogressive Ellison this position would have been an easy way to improve the party’s image. Instead they made it clear that there will be no deviation from the failed strategies which put Trump in the White House. Not even the need for politically expedient window-dressing will keep them from snatching defeat where victory is possible.
Should have won The election of Donald Trump is certainly an indication of the prevalence and power of White nationalist sentiment. But his victory would not have been possible had his opponent not been the face of a status quo that is losing what legitimacy it has left. Even a small nod to the Democratic Party might have made Hillary Clinton the 45th president. The Democrats want to remain the corporatist party that carries out errands for the ruling class and wages imperialist war. They want those things more than they want to win. They are now fomenting an anti-Russian circus of a congressional investigation instead of making meaning-
MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT
She is a danger to leftists who must learn to ditch the party that long ago ditched them. She is a danger to the planet. It must be made clear to Hillary Clinton that she must stay in the woods forever. ful change in policy and platform that would bring them to victory. This strategy seems surprising, until one acknowledges that change is the last thing they want. They prefer to live off Republican unpopularity and slide back into office, while doing the same things which have consigned them to also-ran status at every level of government around the country.
Paid off Then why do most civil rights organizations and local Black elected officials support such instruments of racism? That is simple. They take donations from the very construction locals who discriminate against us. Sometimes they will claim that they will start an apprentice training program that will result in Black youth starting ca-
HARRY C. ALFORD GUEST COLUMNIST
reers in productive union jobs. Many have gone through these programs, graduate and sign onto a union hall, and wait forever. There will be no jobs and there will be no career. It is a sham. This is a national disgrace. If they do it all the time in Washington, D.C., the capital of our nation, it is happening everywhere. Forty-five years and there is no progress. Construction unions were skipped during the civil rights victories. Now the unions will allow general laborers and cement workers to integrate, which provides cover for the higher-paying trades.
The way forward Last week, at the request of
A sense of déjà vu after reading Chuck Berry tributes I like Chuck Berry’s music well enough, but I’m hardly a fan. I never bought any of his records. I never attended any of his concerts. Yet I know enough about his pioneering role in the music industry to appreciate why he is hailed as “the father of rock ‘n’ roll.” But, with all due respect to Elvis, I suspect Berry would rather be hailed as “the king” – not least because rock ‘n’ roll has nearly as many founding fathers as the United States, including Bill Haley, Sam Phillips, Little Richard, and Fats Domino.
Famous goodbyes All the same, in keeping with current trends, Berry’s death unleashed an outpouring of tweets from other famous people. Your appreciation of his significance is probably limited to their tweets, unless you’re someone like me who opted for traditional obits in the mainstream media. But I’m not sure how much their tweets honor him. After all, there’s only so much one can say
Defeat and war
Allowing Hillary Clinton to resurrect herself is not just the road to another defeat in 2020, but possibly to world war. The Putinbashing is certainly meant to tie Trump’s hands and perhaps begin the process of impeachment. But Hillary Clinton is the leading member of the war party and hopes to use opposition to Trump to pick up where she left. As secretary of state and as a candidate, she brought chaos to the world Wrong perception and threatened even more should The Democratic Party exists she become president. on an outdated perception that it The fact that Hillary Clinton stands for justice and a fair and in- can even show her face in public
Starting a Black union will end construction union racism It has been 45 years since my mentor, Dr. Arthur A. Fletcher, implemented “the Philadelphia Plan.” This was a federal program used to integrate unions. From the beginning, the construction trades resisted with violence and Jim Crow-style segregation. Take the pipefitters’ union halls in Chicago. They have been successfully sued various times, but still will not integrate their halls. It is this way across our nation. Therefore, the National Black Chamber of Commerce will not support pro-union project labor agreements.
clusive system. It has done nothing of the sort for decades, but still lives off long dead imagery. This party is in freefall. Yet it keeps a hold on progressives who cannot imagine a political world without them. It is clear that supporting the Democratic Party is a path to more defeat. Even if they were committed to reforming their way to victory, they would do nothing but repeat their history of ignoring and even attacking the millions of people who vote for them. The left must look outside of the duopoly if there is to be any semblance of democracy left. Independent politics is the only way to gain true democracy. While the Republicans pursued gerrymandering and voter suppression, the Democrats stood aside with no plan for attack. Hillary Clinton hoped to rely on support from Barack Obama and a $1 billion war chest. While she gave mealymouthed attention to the Bernie Sanders phenomenon, it was Trump who inspired newly engaged voters around the country.
ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST
in 140 characters. Worse still, everyone – from Barack Obama to Mick Jagger, Bill Clinton to Bette Midler, Brian Wilson to Bootsy Collins, and Steven King to Arnold Schwarzenegger – sent tweets of condolences composed of platitudes that any twit could write. I had a distinct sense of déjà vu reading their tweets, which flooded the mainstream media, masquerading as worthy tributes. Because, if I did not know better, I would’ve sworn I read the same platitudes, by the same people, when Bo Diddley died in 2008. I suspect few of you even know who Bo Diddley was. But suffice it to know that if you like the mu-
EDITORIAL
A5
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: SUMMER STORMS KNOCK OUT ELECTRICITY
NATE BEELER, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
without being booed is proof of the Democratic Party’s death spiral. Instead of asking hard questions about the Trump debacle, most Democrats retreated into shock and then opposition to the newly-elected president. “Not my president” were the words on millions of lips. But there were no words of scorn for the leadership whose well-funded standard bearer couldn’t hold on to states that Barack Obama had won. The mass revulsion that should have greeted Hillary Clinton and the Democrats never materialized. If Trump didn’t exist, the party would have had to invent him. His appeal to White nationalism, buffoonery and “deplorable” supporters made him a natural target of hatred. But Democrats never voiced any discontent with their leaders who have nothing but losses on their ledger.
Must be stopped Hillary
Clinton
must
stopped before she goes any further in thinking herself rehabilitated. She can still muster a war chest and the support of the corporate media. But it cannot be forgotten that she has twice been thwarted in her quest for the presidency. Her inability to seal the deal with voters must not be forgotten. She is a danger to leftists who must learn to ditch the party that long ago ditched them. She is a danger to the planet. It must be made clear to Hillary Clinton that she must stay in the woods forever.
Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@ BlackAgendaReport.com. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own be response.
the Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce, I was sitting in a meeting with a group who introduced themselves as an international construction union. The US Department of Labor accepts them. Their members were Black and they have active apprentice training programs. The key to this is that they are “international” and are not affiliated with the Jim Crow unions. I said to myself, “Finally Lord, we have found the way.” We were having this meeting at the historic Altgeld Gardens. This public housing neighborhood is under the management of the Chicago Housing Authority. I have been in hundreds of public housing facilities, but this one was quite different. It was like a subdivision with twostory homes housing 3,400 residents. It is clean and quiet with all the residents speaking to one another. Unique would be an understatement. Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act was enacted in 1968, right after the first Watts riot in Los Angeles. It was updated after the Rodney King riot in 1992. Section 3 provides on-the-job training for all projects that have “some” HUD funding, which could be in a shopping center, hotel, football stadium, etc. Those projects are to contract 10 percent of that funding to Section 3 companies. A Section
3 company is one that hires at will be saying “bye-bye” to povleast 30 percent Section 3 work- erty, drug trafficking and deers (people that live in public spair. housing or Section 8 rentals.) These guys knew about the Section 3 classes we were proA national model Unlike the 95 percent of HUD ducing across the country 25 facilities who ignore Section 3, years ago. That is why they wantAltgeld is compliant with Sec- ed to meet the NBCC. Their plan tion 3. Altgeld should be a na- is to spread this model across tional model. the country city by city. They got So here we are. A Black union running apprenticeship pro- their start in New York City. Chigrams through Section 3 con- cago is their second city. struction contracts and using Section 3 workers. Keep in mind We’ll work together that Altgeld is the largest public Well, the NBCC will collabohousing facility in greater Chicago. Their tenants’ association rate with them. They will make works hand-in-hand with this a formal presentation at our anBlack union. They have a work- nual conference in July. Our ing calendar which keeps every- chapters located in urban areas one busy improving their lives. can bring the prototype of this It is more like a happy town. This progress was reminding program back to their commume of a classic James Brown hit, nities. “I don’t want nobody to give me In conclusion, I will quote a nothing! Just open up the door more melodic singer, Billie Holand I’ll get it myself. Do you iday: “God bless the child who hear me?!!” The union has big plans of has his own.”
sic of Chuck Berry, Little Richard or BB King, you’re going to love Diddley’s.
I hope for his family’s sake that, just like (David)
Not appreciated Remarkably, like Diddley, Berry never won a Grammy for any of his pioneering songs. Therefore, he too could only point to being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and receiving a few Grammy lifetime achievement awards (for sticking around) as the highlights of his career. Of course, many other notable performers never won a Grammy during their lifetime. They include Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, and David Bowie – whose posthumous album “Blackstar” was, by far, his most successful, complete with four Grammy awards. But what does it say about the music industry that the father of rock ‘n’ roll never won its highest honor? Frankly, it says that the artists he sired – from the Rolling Stones to Bruno Mars – are selfcentered, self-serving, ungrateful bastards. Only this explains them honoring him in death in ways they never did in life. On the other hand, when it came to the sex and drugs associated with rock ‘n’ roll, Bo didn’t know Diddley. Berry put him to shame.
spreading their “gold medal” process. They contract with a large public housing unit, complete the project, and run apprentice programs at the same time utilizing Section 3. Keep in mind that a journeyman drywall installer makes $80 per hour in the Chicago area. Before long the residents of public housing
Harry C. Alford is the cofounder and president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Contact him via www.nationalbcc.org. Click on this commentary at www. flcourier.com to write your own response.
Bowie, Berry enjoys greater success in death than he did in life. A Grammy or two for his upcoming album, “Chuck,” would do too. Specifically, the scroll of Berry’s legacy includes both statutory rape and a drug raid. But he padded it with other rocker lore – including charges for armed robbery, tax evasion, and secretly filming dozens of women in a lavatory. He had a notoriously pugnacious temperament, which had him kicking backup musicians off stage and striking out at fellow headliners like Keith Richards. No doubt, as mitigation in this respect, Berry would cite the fact that his long-suffering wife, Themetta, saw enough redeeming good in him to stick around for 68 years.
Awards and money That said, I hope for his family’s sake that, just like Bowie, Berry enjoys greater success in death than he did in life. A Gram-
my or two for his upcoming album, “Chuck,” would do too. So here’s to Berry’s mercenary spirit helping family members fight (White) producers and distributors for their fair share of the profits from this posthumous album. Which would be entirely consistent with the way he spent most his career fighting everyone – from concert promoters to radio stations – for his fair share from every stream of revenue he generated.
Anthony L. Hall is a Bahamian native with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
NATION
TOJ A6
MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
Controversial case of Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court nominee ruled against trucker fired who feared death and abandoned trailer BY TRESA BALDAS DETROIT FREE PRESS/TNS
DETROIT – Curled up on a bunk in his broken-down truck, waiting three hours for help in sub-zero temperatures, Detroit resident Alphonse Maddin feared death was near. He had zero feeling in his feet. His torso was going numb. And a burning feeling took over as he started to fade in the 14-below meat truck. Maddin said he could have died that night but one man didn’t care: U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, a federal judge who ruled against Maddin in a legal case that has landed the Detroit man at the vortex of a debate about whether Gorsuch is a man of the people or big business as he is poised to be appointed to the nation’s highest court.
Sided with employer Maddin, an avid trumpet player and skilled artist who grew up on the city’s west side and once designed products for the Detroit Three automakers, said Gorsuch is out of touch with workingclass people and shouldn’t sit on the high court after ruling against him last year. Gorsuch sided with the employer who fired Maddin for abandoning his trailer so that he could get to safety. The trucking company has long argued that it did nothing wrong, disputing claims that the truck’s heater didn’t work and noting that Maddin filed an initial complaint with the Occu-
such stressed that he had to determine whether the employer’s decision to fire Maddin was legal, not “wise or kind.” Maddin had sued under a law known as the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, which prohibits companies from firing a driver who “refuses to operate” an unsafe truck.
pational Safety and Health Administration, but that the agency ruled against him.
Gorsuch’s dissent
More than trucker Yet out of seven judges who had heard the case over the years, Gorsuch was the only judge to rule in favor of the trucking company. And how he did it was numbing, said Maddin. “He referred to me simply as a trucker,” Maddin said. “I’m a human being who has a name … but he followed the company’s argument to get the world to ignore the magnitude of the circumstances, to forget that a man was about to freeze to death.” And that man, he stressed, is a lot more than a trucker. Maddin, 48, is a proud Detroiter who overcame the hurdle of growing up without a father, who was shot to death when Maddin was 5. Maddin’s refuge became music, art and drawing. He took up the trumpet in third grade and earned a scholarship to study jazz at Langston University in Oklahoma.
Closure last year He would go on to earn two college degrees and make a living designing products for the automotive industry until the 2008 recession hit, landing him in the truck driving business. But Gorsuch couldn’t identify with a man like him, Maddin said. To the judge, he said, he was only a trucker. “The general sentiment that’s out there right now … that he has a propensity to favor the corporate world versus the people – I think it’s valid,” Maddin said. It has been eight years since Maddin was fired from his truck driving job, though he didn’t get closure until last year. After years of administrative
Celebate sp ing savings
OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS
Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on March 21. hearings and legal feuding, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last year ruled 2-1 in his favor and ordered the trucking company to rehire Maddin, who instead took back pay.
Google discovery The judge who ruled against him was Gorsuch, though Maddin wouldn’t read his dissent until months later, when President Donald Trump announced his nominee to the Supreme Court, and before long, the case about the Michigan truck driver who almost froze to death made national news. Maddin discovered all the buzz while Googling his name. He was applying for a job one day and decided to search his name on the Internet. Articles popped up linking his name to Trump, Gorsuch and the U.S. Supreme Court. He opened up the stories and discovered all the controversy: Gorsuch was getting drilled for ruling against him. So he decided to read the full dissent for himself.
Gorsuch concluded that the law didn’t apply to Maddin because — he reasoned — he didn’t refuse to operate the truck, but rather drove off in it. “A trucker was stranded on the side of the road, late at night, in cold weather, and his trailer brakes were stuck,” Gorsuch wrote in his dissent. “He called his company for help and someone there gave him two options. He could drag the trailer carrying the company’s goods to its destination (an illegal and maybe sarcastically offered option). Or he could sit and wait for help to arrive (a legal if unpleasant option). “The trucker chose None of the Above, deciding instead to unhook the trailer and drive his truck to a gas station. In response, his employer, TransAm, fired him for disobeying orders and abandoning its trailer and goods.” The dissent has since dogged Gorsuch, who has maintained that he followed the law.
‘An unkind decision’ THE AFRO AMERICAN
“I’m a human being who has a name … but he (Judge Neil Gorsuch) followed the company’s argument to get the world to ignore the magnitude of the circumstances, to forget that a man was about to freeze to death.” “I was like, ‘”Whoa! … Wait a minute, he said all this stuff?” recalled Maddin. In writing his opinion, Gor-
“My job is to apply the law as written,” Gorsuch said during Senate confirmation hearings, while being grilled by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. “The law said he would be protected if he refused to operate. “By any plain understanding, he operated the vehicle. And if Congress wishes to revise the law — I wrote this: I said it was an unkind decision, it might have been a wrong decision, a bad decision, but my job isn’t to write the law … it’s to apply the law.”
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PHOTOS BY DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
Dreamer Chris Young from Jacksonville holds the Florida sign and leads his state dreamers in a special parade at the Magic Kingdom.
A DECADE OF DREAMS
For 10 years, Steve Harvey and Essence Magazine have partnered with Walt Disney World to host the Disney Dreamers Academy. Florida was wellrepresented with 14 students from 100 selected nationwide. BY PENNY DICKERSON FLORIDA COURIER
“You don’t let other people stop your dreams because it’s not theirs, it’s yours. My mind has been expanded, and I feel good, and I feel great, and I feel like life has something waiting for me!” Those were the exuberant words of Rebecca Jean-Louis, an Orlando student selected to be a part of the Disney Dreamers Academy with Steve Harvey and Essence Magazine. The annual four-day educational and mentoring program for U.S. high school students 13 to 19 was held at Walt Disney World Resort March 9-12. The program is all-expense paid. Students compete for participation in the program by submitting an application and answers to a series of essay questions about their personal stories, the people who are most influential in their lives and their dreams for the future. A panel of judges, some of whom are celebrities, select 100 students from across America who be-
Rebecca Jean-Louis of Orlando won a special award for “Consistency” and was given her graduation ring by her mother, Josette Octave.
Tyrik Pitts is a Dreamer with both brains and brawn. He’s an athlete with a 4.1 GPA and shows off his Disney Dreamers Academy class of 2017 ring.
come identified as “Dreamers” on day one of the program.
Hometown winner Jean-Louis was touched by the Disney magic beyond being selected and attending the 2017 event. A senior at Orlando Baptist Temple Prep in Orlando, the articulate youth has experienced homelessness to the extent that she once lived in a car with her mother. At the graduation ceremony held the closing Sunday, four special awards were given that signify Disney’s four guiding principals: curiosity, confidence, consistency and courage. Jean-Louis held her head high as she was given the award for consistency.
10 years of success
Steve Harvey is joined on stage at graduation with the “Lion King’’ cast along with Michelle Eubanks (CEO of Essence, Inc.), Mikki Taylor (editor-at-large at Essence), and Tracey Powell (vice president of Deluxe Resorts for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts).
“When Disney Dreamers Academy started a decade ago, we had high hopes that it would be a meaningful program that would change the lives of teens and the world around them,” said Tracey D. Powell, vice president of deluxe resorts for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Powell serves as Disney Dreamers Academy executive champion. “Now, entering our 10th year,
it’s heartwarming to see so many of our Dreamers who have blossomed into young adults and turned the dreams they cultivated at Disney Dreamers Academy into reality. Our Dreamer alumni are now entrepreneurs, running charitable organizations, professional singers and actors and even Disney cast members, she added.
Harvey without humor Arguably the finest hour of the weekend belonged to the event’s signature celebrity – Steve Harvey. Both students and the one parent or legal guardian invited to attend were welcomed by Harvey in the Circle of Life Theatre in Epcot’s Land Pavilion. Sage wisdom trumped acerbic humor when the television
talk show host and syndicated radio personality addressed the Dreamers: “Ten thousand people applied for the Disney Dreamers Academy. One hundred of ya’ll got picked. Now trip on that for a minute,” Harvey stated. “Dreams are critical ,man. That’s what this whole thing is built on – dreams. See DREAMERS, Page B2
For more information about the program, visit www.disneydreamersacademy.com.
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CALENDAR
MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
STOJ
FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR
line Live’’ will be presented April 2 at the Great Hall at Pembroke Pines City Center for a 7 p.m. show.
Orlando: Flo Rida and guest DJ Nasty are scheduled April 21 at the CFE Arena.
Miami: Chris Brown’s Party Tour stops at the AmericanAirlines Arena on April 12, Tampa’s Amalie Arena on April 16 and Jacksonville’s Veterans Memorial Arena on April 18.
Clearwater: Tickets are on sale for a John Legend show May 13 at Coachman Park. Tampa: Big Sean’s I Decided Tour stops at The Ritz Ybor on April 19 for an 8 p.m. show. Performers include Madeintyo and DJ Mo Beatz.
DIANA ROSS
Tickets are on sale for a June 28 show featuring the legendary singer at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville.
ERIC BENET
The M.E. Tour featuring Marsha Ambrosius and Eric Benet stops at the Fillmore Miami Beach on April 21.
Coconut Creek: Dionne Warwick is scheduled April 8 at the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek for an 8 p.m. show. Estero: Rae Sremmurd and guest Waka Flocka Flame are scheduled April 5 at the Germain Arena. Gainesville: The rapper Lil Wayne is scheduled April 4 at the Exactech Arena. Pompano Beach: Catch Buddy Guy on April 6 at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater and April 9 at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre.
SILK
The Tampa Spring Jam is April 21 at the USF Sun Dome featuring Guy, Teddy Riley, Dru Hill, Silk and Doug E. Fresh.
Miami: Kaya Fest: The Marley Brothers & More is April 22 at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater. The show starts at 1 p.m. Pembroke Pines: “Drum-
Fort Lauderdale: Tower of Power performs April 20 at the Parker Playhouse. The show is at 8 p.m. Orlando: Leela James and Daley will perform April 9 at the House of Blues Orlando. The show starts at 7 p.m. Tampa: Catch Chris Rock on April 14 at the Straz in Tampa and the Dr. Phillips Center on April 16 in Orlando. Jacksonville: The Legends of Southern Hip Hop concert is April 7 at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts featuring Scarface, Trick Daddy, Bun B, Mystikal, Pastor Troy and Juvenile. Miami: A Jazz Roots concert is scheduled April 7 at the Arsht Center. The show is at 8 p.m. Aventura: Billy Porter: Broadway & Soul will be at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center on April 2. Miami: Katt Williams’ Great American Tour stops at the James L. Knight Center on March 31 and April 1.
DREAMERS from Page 1
“You can get an education and that’s important too because a lot of things you want to be are tied to your education…but the one thing that’s more important than your education is your dream. Nothing is more important than your dream,’’ Harvey added.
Hoop dreams Tyrik Pitts is one of Florida’s lucky 14 selected. The 18-year-old student athlete attends East Lee County High School in Lehigh Acres. “I have a passion for sports,” Pitts said. “My love lies with the game of basketball, and one day I would like to play professional basketball for the NBA, but I know it’s easier said than done.” If discipline is an indicator, Pitts is destined to succeed. He maintains a 4.1 grade point average and plans to attend University of Florida or University of Central Florida to earn a degree in broadcast journalism. “My mother has always stayed on me about my grades,” said Pitts. “In middle school, I kind of slacked off and then she came to me before high school and said this is where it really counts, so I just kept my mind on getting A’s and not B’s. Pitts interviewed Heisman winner and NFL icon Cam Newton and participated in a hands-on, full immersion workshop at ESPN. All of the Dreamers participated in motivational presentations and workshops for learning critical personal and professional skills, such as communication techniques and networking strategies.
Panhandle powerhouse Hunter Gerard is a leader among her peers. The 18-yearold high school senior hails from Crestview but was born in Lakenheath, England as an Air Force child. She balances being her school’s dance team captain, Multicultural Council president, yearbook editor, and has studied digital design for three years. “My Catholic church helped me establish leadership skills, she shared. “Every year they select three or four students for a summer Christian leadership institute. I attended and was there for four days. It really honed my leadership abilities and taught me a lot.” Gerard was part of the Dreamers Academy journalism and design team that published a newsletter in three days. The effort was led by Charreah Jackson, senior editor at Essence. The diverse skills and interest of each Dreamer was cultivated and for participants like Gerard, she’s ready to
Steve Harvey celebrates the 10th year of Disney Dreamers Academy by serving as grand marshal in the kick-off parade. go next level as she enters Troy University in the fall.
Inspiring words Encouragement was abundant for the Dreamers who were able to stand shoulder to shoulder with a host of their favorite celebrities like Patti Labelle, Yolanda Adams, Mikki Taylor, Cam Newton, Taj Mowry, Jaylen Bledsoe, Dr. Steve Perry, Bryshere Gray and Jonathan Sprinkles. “People see the final product. The hard part is getting there,” said Newton. “Not everyone respects the hustle. I don’t like to be broke. We all are superheroes and have something. My something is football. It’s my God given gift.” Gray, who plays the confident young rapper “Akeem” on the Fox series “Empire,’’ offered the following: “When it’s just you, sometimes you just gotta connect with God. Sometimes you don’t know the answer. You may have family members going wild, you have friends not picking up (phone calls). Just stay connected to God.”
A sea of red T-shirt wearing Dreamers prepare to hear speakers and celebrities at one of the event’s sessions.
Graduation and free gear Dressed in their finest apparel, the Dreamers joined their parents for an emotional yet joyous graduation ceremony. Disney provided each Dreamer with a stack of personalized business cards to both keep in touch with one another and to network with the many speakers and celebrities they’ve encountered. Jostens provided class rings, which were presented by the parents, and Citizen donated a watch to every Dreamer. Office Depot filled backpacks with gifts, including a Texas Instrument calculator. The surprise guest was Patti LaBelle, who serenaded the audience with “Over the Rainbow,” which was followed by recording artist Yolanda Adams, who sang the optimistic ballad, “I Believe I Can Fly.’’
William Williams of Norfolk, Va. delivered a spoken word selection. His dream is to reach a position of power to eradicate the issue of the split within the Black community.
STOJ
MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
SPORTS
B3 test against Oregon. Prediction: The Tar Heels fall short to Oregon as the Final Four goes full West Coast in Phoenix. UNC would love to win title No. 6 and break a tie for third most with rival Duke and Indiana, but don’t get it done this season.
GONZAGA West Region 1 seed
SHANE KEYSER/KANSAS CITY STAR/TNS
Oregon's Tyler Dorsey (5) embraces teammate Dylan Ennis after the Ducks clinch a spot in the Elite Eight after beating Michigan, 69-68, in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., on March 23.
CHUCK LIDDY/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS
North Carolina’s Kennedy Meeks, top left, blocks a first-half shot by Texas Southern’s Zach Lofton (2) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 17 at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. UNC advanced, 103-64.
JIM GENSHEIMER/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP/TNS
ANDREAS LEIVA/TAMPA BAY TIMES/TNS
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few holds up the NCAA West Region Florida's KeVaughn Allen (5) dribbles past South Carolina's PJ trophy after an 83-59 win against Xavier at the SAP Center in San Dozier (15) at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville on Jose, Calif., on March 25. Feb. 21. Florida won, 81-66. However, South Carolina came back and defeated Florida 77-70.
THE FINAL FOUR A preview of the teams heading into the big dance
BY DREW DAVISON FORT WORTH STARTELEGRAM/TNS
March Madness didn’t disappoint yet again. An upset-filled tournament is always a welcome sight, and there were plenty this time around. Top overall seed Villanova didn’t make it to the second weekend. Neither did 2-seeds Duke and Louisville. Villanova (13 percent) and Duke (12 percent) were among a group of only four schools that had double-digit percentages to win the championship in brackets filled out by fans on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. Another one of those schools, Kansas (11.1 percent), saw its dreams end short of the Final Four on March 25. North Carolina (15.2 percent) is the only program to survive and advance to the Final Four. So it’ll be a year of firsts in Phoenix. Gonzaga and South Carolina
are making their first trips to the Final Four, and Oregon is going for the first time since 1939. All three schools’ coaches can finally drop the dubious “never been to a Final Four” title too. Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Oregon’s Dana Altman and South Carolina’s Frank Martin are among the most respected coaches in the game and certainly had been near the top of any “best coach to never reach Final Four” lists. With that, we’ll look ahead to the Final Four.
OREGON Midwest Region 3 seed The Path: Defeated Iona 93-77, defeated Rhode Island 75-72, defeated Michigan 69-68, defeated Kansas 74-60. Why they’ll win: They’re a well-coached, talented team that just knocked off a team, Kansas, in a road-like atmosphere in Kansas City, Mo. Oregon reached the Elite Eight a season ago, and weren’t going to be satisfied by simply making it back.
Now they’re two wins away from their first championship since the 1930s. They have a solid backcourt with Tyler Dorsey and freshman sensation Payton Pritchard, Dillon Brooks can score at will, and Jordan Bell is a dominant presence in the paint. Bell has recorded at least 12 rebounds in the tournament, making people forget about Chris Boucher’s injury that was supposed to “doom” the Ducks. Why they’ll lose: Well, maybe people will remember the Boucher injury in the Final Four if Bell gets into foul trouble, or the Ducks struggle to establish an inside presence. This is a team that also could be “just happy” to reach the Final Four, much like Oklahoma a season ago. The fan base, after all, has been waiting 78 years just to get back to this point. And, even though he’s played terrific all season, you never know how this stage will affect a freshman such as Pritchard. Prediction: The Ducks are a determined bunch who aren’t “just
happy” to be there, even if the fan base is. Expect the Ducks to knock off North Carolina with another strong performance by Bell on the inside and Dorsey on the outside before falling in a close battle in the championship game against Gonzaga.
NORTH CAROLINA South Region 1 seed The Path: Defeated Texas Southern 103-64, defeated Arkansas 72-65, defeated Butler 92-80, defeated Kentucky 75-73. Why they’ll win: There may not be a more confident team than the Tar Heels, last year’s runnerup. They are coming off a thrilling victory over Kentucky, and have the talent to do what they fell just short of a year ago. Junior guard Joel Berry II gives UNC a veteran presence in the backcourt, forward Justin Jackson is playing well and is an NBA talent, and sophomore Luke Maye showed the clutch gene with the game-winner in the Elite Eight. Why they’ll lose: North Carolina lost two of its last four games going into this tournament, so has been prone to deliver disappointing games. Plus, the ACC has had a dud of a tournament for the most part with only one of nine teams reaching the Sweet 16. Yes, UNC has saved face for the conference, but it could end early with a stiff
The Path: Defeated South Dakota State 66-46, defeated Northwestern 79-73, defeated West Virginia 61-58, defeated Xavier 8359. Why they’ll win: Coach Mark Few has finally reached the Final Four, and isn’t going to be overwhelmed by the moment. Plus Few has the talent to win it all. Guard Nigel Williams-Goss is a veteran backcourt leader playing well, senior Przemek Karnowski is a force in the middle and forward Zach Collins is a possible NBA lottery pick. Why they’ll lose: They’ve looked beatable throughout the tournament. Heck, 16-seed South Dakota State hung with the Zags almost the entire game and Northwestern had a questionable officiating call help derail its upset bid. West Virginia also gave Gonzaga a run for its money in the Sweet 16. This is also a program that has never reached this stage and could very well fade fast. Prediction: Gonzaga wins the national championship. The Zags haven’t looked like the best team much of this tournament, but found their stride in the Elite Eight against Xavier. They’ll carry that into the Final Four with a win over South Carolina and then a rugged “W” over Oregon. Hey, the Zags have already beaten a Pac12 school this season — Arizona back in December.
SOUTH CAROLINA East Region 7 seed The Path: Defeated Marquette 93-73, defeated Duke 88-81, defeated Baylor 70-50, defeated Florida 77-70. Why they’ll win: Who doesn’t like a good Cinderella story? South Carolina fits the bill with an impressive run so far, but nobody should be overly surprised. Talented, veteran backcourts always matter in March, and the Gamecocks are led by Sindarius Thornwell, the SEC player of the year, and PJ Dozier. Both are playing exceptionally in this tournament and will keep South Carolina in position to pull off the miracle. Why they’ll lose: The magic has to run out at some point, right? Fewer than 1 percent of the brackets on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge had the Gamecocks reaching this point and even fewer (0.1 percent) had them winning it all. South Carolina is a great story, but simply runs into a better team in Gonzaga. Prediction: Remember Oklahoma running out of magic a year ago despite having Buddy Hield? This South Carolina team feels as though it could do the same, as good as Thornwell is. Plus, the Gamecocks knocked down only 2-of-10 3-pointers in the Elite Eight, something that will catch up to them on the biggest stage against a deep, talented team such as Gonzaga. The NCAA championship games will continue April 1-3 at the University of Phoenix Stadium. Visit NCAA.com for the complete schedule.
Out and about at the Miami Open Florida Courier photojournalist Kim Gibson captured some of the action at the Miami Open, which is being held at the Crandon Park Tennis Center in Key Biscayne. Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals of the 31st Miami Open on Monday night by upsetting seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetzova 6-3, 7-6 (4). On Wednesday night, Venus defeated No. 1 Angelique Kerber of Germany in the quarterfinals 7-5, 6-3. She was to face No. 10-seeded Johanna Konta of the United Kingdom on Thursday night. Richard Williams was spotted during the tournament, cheering on his daughter. Serena Williams is skipping this tournament at the Crandon Park Tennis Center because of a knee injury. The Miami Open continues through April 2. Also gaining attention at the tournament was Donald Young, a Chicago native who lives in Atlanta. He was defeated Tuesday by Fabio Fognini of Italy, who beat Young 6-0, 6-4. Young, 27, defeated Benoit Paire of France on March 28.
PHOTOS BY KIM GIBSON/FLORIDA COURIER
Donald Young defeats Benoit Paire of France on March 28.
Richard Williams, center, attends the match of daughter, Venus.
Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals.
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HEALTH
MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
STOJ
cially if President Donald Trump follows through on his campaign promises to limit immigration.
Shrinking workforce As the baby-boom generation ages out of the workplace, the U.S. has depended on immigration to keep its population growing and to maintain its workforce amid declining birthrates. Without a steady supply of new immigrants, who have higher fertility rates than native-born women, the nation’s workforce will start shrinking and could drop over the next 20 years, according to a report this month from the Pew Research Center. (The Pew Charitable Trusts funds the center and Stateline). A shrinking workforce could be part of a “downward spiral” affecting state economies, according to some projections, if states are unable to get people to fill jobs and pay taxes. TIM HENDERSON/THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS/TNS
Tia Francis, 33, with son Jeremiah and husband Kwesi. Like many women today, she put off childbirth until her 30s. Birthrates for women in their 30s are at a 50-year high.
Childbirth for women in their 30s at 50-year high The higher birthrates among older women help offset a decline in births among younger women age 15 to 24. BY TIM HENDERSON STATELINE.ORG/TNS
WASHINGTON – Women in their 30s are having babies at the highest rate since the 1960s, providing a rare bright spot in what’s an otherwise stagnating
U.S. population. For women in their early 30s, the birthrate in 2015 was the highest it’s been since 1964, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report this year. And the rate for women age 35 to 39 was the highest since 1962, when families were larger and births hit near all-time highs in the baby-boom years. At the same time, the total number of births to women age 30 to 39 has increased in all states except Connecticut, New Hampshire and New Jersey from 2007 to 2015, according to
a Stateline analysis of National Center for Health Statistics data. And births to 30-somethings accounted for the majority of all births in three states — Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey — and Washington, D.C.
Having babies later Although hardly a baby boomlet, the higher birthrates among older women help offset a decline in births among younger women age 15 to 24. And they suggest that younger women who are putting off parenthood now may embrace it as they get old-
er, finish their education, establish careers, and become more financially secure. “Fertility is being displaced later and later into the lives of women, especially educated women, and more and more women are educated,” said Herbert Smith, director of the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. If the trend of more women having babies in their 30s continues, it also holds out hope that the nation can partly replenish its workforce — espe-
Fertility rates Overall fertility rates in the U.S. are at a historic low of 62.5 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age, 15 to 44, despite the high rates for women in their 30s. There were about 4 million births in 2014 and in 2015, still well below a 2007 peak of 4.3 million and an earlier peak in 1991, when about 4.2 million millennials — the generation born between 1981 and 1997 — were born. Fertility rates for teenagers and women in their early 20s were at historic lows in 2015. And babies born to 25- to 29-year-olds decreased every year between 2008 and 2013, although they increased by 25,000 in 2014 and by 7,000 in 2015. The spike in births to older women may help temporarily, if immigration falls off under the Trump administration, said Jennifer Dabbs Sciubba, an associate professor of international studies at Rhodes College in Memphis. But postponing
childbirth will not add to the population long term because U.S. women are not having enough babies over the course of their lifetimes, she said.
Immigration impact The low overall fertility rate has spread concern that the nation’s population could stagnate without ongoing immigration. “If we see continued declines in immigration, in the long run we’ll run into the same types of labor shortages other countries have had,” said Mark Mather, an associate vice president at the Population Reference Bureau. Some of the drop in childbirths among younger women in the U.S. may be the result of a drop in unauthorized immigration. Since 2007, the number of babies born to unauthorized immigrants in a given year has declined by almost 100,000, a number that likely will continue to drop if immigration enforcement is stepped up.
‘Time to get going’ Tia Francis, 33, is somewhat typical of women postponing childbirth until their 30s. Francis said she didn’t feel prepared for children until she was married and settled into a house in a city she loves, Washington, D.C. It took years of preparation and overcoming a high cost of living for her and her husband, Kwesi, also 33, to get a house. After Kwesi found the right job as a supervisor for the national passenger train service Amtrak and Tia trained as a real estate agent so her work hours would be more flexible, the couple bought a house in an affordable neighborhood. And they had a son, Jeremiah, who is nearing his first birthday. “I guess it’s really the age that made me think, it’s time to get going,” Francis said. “I want more than one, so at some point you just have to say, ‘OK, I really have to get a move on if I want to do this.’”
Study: PTSD in Black women needs attention BY GRACE WONG CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS
CHICAGO – Nortasha Stingley doesn’t remember a lot about the weeks after her 19-year-old daughter was shot and killed nearly four years ago. All she could do was cry. All she wanted to do was scream. After Stingley lost 40 pounds in a matter of weeks, her sister finally took her to see a doctor, and she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s still a battle,” said Stingley, 40. “I died and they just forgot to bury me. It’s a struggle.” Like Stingley, many African-American women in disadvantaged neighborhoods have PTSD, experts say. A recent Northwestern Medicine study that examined the South Side neighborhood of Oakland found that 29 percent of the 72 African-American study participants have the disorder and an additional 7 percent exhibited a large number of signs that are part of a PTSD diagnosis.
What is PTSD? Researchers said they believe that points to a need for more mental health services and screenings in poor neighborhoods. Stingley, who lived in Park Manor at the time of her daughter’s death, was not part of the research. Women who already had
mild to severe depressive symptoms were chosen for the study, which was published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, a peer-reviewed publication, in December. PTSD is a potentially debilitating anxiety disorder that may develop after exposure to a shocking, scary or dangerous event, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Participants in the study all reported details about traumatic experiences, like witnessing a son being shot more than 10 times, domestic violence, car accidents or a father being killed at home. Exposure to violent crime is more likely to occur in disadvantaged communities, according to the study.
‘Struggling severely’ Living in an environment of poverty and violence can worsen pre-existing depression or trigger the onset of a new depressive episode, researchers found. It also can lead to PTSD or subthreshold PTSD, meaning a number of symptoms characterizing PTSD are present. “People are struggling,” said Inger Burnett-Zeigler, a clinical psychologist and one of the authors on the study. “People are struggling severely, and I think that sometimes the negative implications of mental illness are really underestimated.” As violence surged in 2016, Chicago recorded
ANTHONY SOUFFLE/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS
Nortasha Stingley holds a portrait of her daughter Marissa Boyd-Stingley, who was killed when she was shot in the head on June 25, 2013. the deadliest year in nearly two decades. According to Tribune data, the city saw 4,368 shootings and 787 people killed. In Oakland, 55 people were shot and three killed. In Park Manor, there were 193 shootings and 12 homicides. And violence is on a similar pace in 2017. Because the Tribune violence database defines shootings by addresses and not neighborhoods, the ZIP code that covers Oakland is linked to sections of other neighborhoods. But homicide entries are defined by specific neighborhoods.
Medication, therapy For Stingley, life dramatically changed when her 19-year-old daughter Marissa Boyd-Stingley was gunned down blocks from their home. “She was like, ‘I love you so much Ma, don’t nobody love you like I love you,’” Nortasha Stingley recalled her daughter saying before she left. The teen was shot in the head while a passenger in a car stopped at 73rd Street and King Drive. After Stingley found out, she screamed at police to get away from her.
“I had literally lost my mind. I snapped,” Stingley said. “I was just gone. … I just remember trying to figure out where she was at, and I just couldn’t understand.” Since then she has been through therapy, rounds of medications and treatments to combat PTSD. Her body has changed, and frequent doctors visits are now a regular part of her life.
More services needed Making mental health available at primary care and community hospitals is the first step toward
ensuring that people get screened and receive highquality care, especially in a city where treatment options are shrinking, Burnett-Zeigler said. Stingley said educating people about PTSD and increasing mental health services would be a huge benefit. But most days, she just wants someone who will listen without judgment. “We have to figure out ways that we can get it out better and get help because it’s like a cancer,” Stingley said. “When you hold things in, cancer, what does it do? It eats you from the inside out.”
STOJ
MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
Meet some of
FLORIDA’S
finest
FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT
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Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest? E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.
Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year on the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions. On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractortrailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors. Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years. Go to www.miamibrowardcarnival.com for information on this year’s Carnival. CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER
Ballerina discusses food and shyness in new book BY MOIRA MACDONALD SEATTLE TIMES/TNS
Misty Copeland’s remarkable story is the sort you can imagine depicted by a skilled novelist; her life, in the words of a 2015 “60 Minutes” report, is “the embodiment of the American dream.” Growing up as one of six children in an often-struggling Southern California family, she lived for some time with her mother and siblings in two rooms in a highwayside motel. At the Boys & Girls Club gym one day, a teacher noticed something distinctive in the tiny, quiet 13-year-old’s movements, and suggested a ballet class. Fast-forward to today: Copeland, now 34, has become the first African-American principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, one of the world’s most revered classical ballet companies. A dancer of rare power and musicality (and an astonishing prodigy in a profession where most preteens have already undergone years of training), she has performed leading roles on the company’s New York City stage and around the world, and looks forward to performing her first “Giselle” this spring.
From her journal Through writing, she has shared her story: with a best-selling 2014 memoir (“Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina”), a children’s book (“Firebird”), and now a health-and-fitness book, “Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger and More Graceful You.” Though Copeland worked with writer Charisse Jones on both “Life in Motion” and “Ballerina Body,” the books stemmed from her longtime practice of keeping a journal. “That’s been a go-to for me since the age of 15,” said Copeland last month, in a telephone interview from New York. (It was late morning her time, on a Monday — and in the way of all ballerinas, she had just emerged from a two-hour daily class.) “I was really shy, and it was hard for me to communicate with people through words,” she said, of how her writing habit began. “It was a nice way to express myself by writing things down in my
journal.”
‘Very organic’ process Though she said she’s made less frequent entries since marrying her longtime boyfriend, attorney Olu Evans, last summer, she still turns to her journal “when there are really big things and moments that happen in my life, if I’m really struggling with something. When I’m alone on the road, I write more.” The process of writing with Jones felt “very organic,” said Copeland, beginning with photocopies of the journals and evolving into emailing back and forth. Though both books contain elements of Copeland’s life story, they are distinctly different: “Life in Motion” is a compelling memoir of a chaotic childhood and the revelation of falling in love with dance; “Ballerina Body,” with exercises and recipes, is more of a how-to book, wrapped in an inspiring message. “The misconception of dancers having eating disorders is something constantly brought up to me,” Copeland said, of the impetus for her new book. “I felt like it couldn’t be a better time to really give people who aren’t explicitly part of the ballet world a real, true inside view of what it feels like to be a dancer.”
Chapter on mentoring In quiet rebuke to the idea of the ballerina as a fragile flower, Copeland filmed an ad for the athleticwear company Under Armour in 2014, showcasing her powerfully muscled yet lithe body. (It now has more than 10 million YouTube views.) “Under Armour gave me a platform to showcase that dancers are athletes,” said Copeland. “There’s no way we could perform and rehearse without filling our bodies with food and taking care of ourselves, the same way any athlete would.” In addition to practical advice about food and fitness, “Ballerina Body” goes deeper, in a chapter devoted to mentoring — obviously something deeply personal for Copeland (who, to this day, is still involved with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America). “We’re human beings, not robots — we have days when we’re down and we need that support
The first African-American principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre has released a health and fitness book. from people we trust and respect,” she said.
Honoring the first In a journal entry in the book, Copeland describes how, in her early years at ABT, she learned about Raven Wilkinson, who danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the 1950s as the company’s first African-American ballerina. “I felt an emotional attachment and connection that I didn’t know I yearned for,” she wrote. “I felt for the first time what my purpose might be in this rarefied elite
white world.” Copeland’s manager planned a meeting with the now-81-yearold Wilkinson. “We learned that she lived about two blocks from me, and she had been attending my performances since the time I joined the company,” said Copeland, her voice indicating thrilled wonderment. “We ended up doing a radio interview, and a talk about the two generations of Black ballerinas. She’s still very much a part of my life, such a positive light.”
‘An open book’
In her book, Copeland urges readers looking for inspiration to find people they admire — to approach authors at book signings, for example. For her part, she feels like “an open book” in presenting her life’s experiences to the world. When approached, she said, “I always encourage younger dancers to surround themselves with support, to believe in themselves, to feel comfortable in their own skin and try not to get caught up in society’s standards of what’s acceptable, what’s beautiful. That’s really hard in this day and age.”
FOOD
B6
MARCH 31 – APRIL 6, 2017
S
Cut down on food waste and
MARINATED BROCCOLI STEMS These pickled broccoli stems are a perfect nibbler for cocktail parties, and completely addictive. 3 or 4 broccoli stems 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 large clove garlic, very finely chopped or pressed 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or use equal parts oil and vinegar) Peel broccoli stems and cut them into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Toss the stems with salt in a jar and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, pour off the water that has accumulated in the jar. Add garlic, vinegar and oil to the jar, stir well and refrigerate for several hours. These keep for a week or more, but the color will fade. Serves 4. Martha Rose Shulman via Los Angeles Times
SAVE MONEY in the process BY GRETCHEN MCKAY PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
The numbers are as shocking as they are appalling. At a time when one in eight families in America struggles to put dinner on the table, a whopping 40 percent of the food produced in the country never gets eaten. Some of it rots in the field before it can get harvested or gets lost or damaged during processing and packaging; other food items get tossed on the way to market because they’re too ugly to be displayed in the grocery store. Thousands of pounds of leftovers end up in the trash because by the time we remember they’re in the fridge, they’re moldy.
Understanding labels If you don’t know the difference between “best by,” an advisory that simply means the product will taste best up until that date, but is still edible a few days after, and “sell by,” a date that helps stores keep track of inventory that needs to be bought by a certain time, you are not alone. Labels can be tricky to negotiate — they vary from state-to-state or even manufacturer-to-manufacturer — that 90 percent of Americans throw away food that’s
perfectly edible. Twenty percent of the food we buy never gets eaten. All told, we toss more than 23 pounds of food per person per month at home and in restaurants, or 35 pounds per person if you add in food retail. America hasn’t always been so wasteful. In the 1970s, we threw away half as much food. But as more people entered the workforce, lifestyles began to change.
Education is key Many also don’t understand the vast amount of natural resources that are required to produce the food we’re wasting: Getting food on the table eats up 50 percent of all our country’s land, 80 percent of its freshwater, and accounts for 10 percent of the U.S. energy budget. Diners tend to waste less when they understand the harm it inflicts on the environment; for instance, food scraps rotting in landfills accounts for about 16 percent of all U.S. methane emissions. So education is key in changing consumer behaviors. Conducting a “waste audit” every few weeks will help to pinpoint what is being wasted, and why. Websites such as savethefood. com and stilltasty.com provide tips on how to store food and whether it is edible.
AUNT HATTIE’S BANANA BREAD This is one of the oldest handwritten entries in my decadesold recipe book. It was handed down from my mother, who got the recipe from an elderly neighbor in her hometown of Oil City. It’s delicious warm from the oven, toasted with butter, or at room temperature. 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup shortening 2 eggs 3 large overripe bananas, mashed 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, cream sugar and shortening together. Add eggs, and beat until light and creamy. Add mashed bananas, and mix to combine. Fold in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well to combine, then pour into a buttered 9-by-3-inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until top is crispy brown and cake tester or toothpick placed near the center of the loaf comes out clean. Makes 1 loaf.
This is Sunday Dinner. It’s when we all come together to enjoy really good food. And each other. Get recipes at publix.com/sunday-dinners.
BURIED AVOCADO CHOCOLATE MOUSSE This is a super chocolaty and very rich dessert. The riper the avocado, the better — it adds a velvety creaminess. 2 large ripe or slightly overripe avocados 1/4 cup milk or yogurt 1/2 cup maple syrup, honey or superfine sugar 5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon salt Optional toppings: Raspberries, blueberries, sliced strawberries, chopped nuts, shredded coconut and/or whipped cream Scoop avocado flesh into a food processor. Add milk, maple syrup, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt, and process until the mixture is free of lumps and is velvety in texture. Taste and add more sweetener if needed, or add more cocoa powder 1 teaspoon at a time for more chocolate flavor. Serve plain or with one of the toppings. Mousse will keep at least 1 week in the fridge in an airtight container. Serves 4. “Waste Free Kitchen Handbook” by Dana Gunders (Chronicle, September 2015)
POTATO PEEL CROUTONS Yes, the skin from peeled potatoes is perfectly edible, and yes, they make a terrific snack when tossed with a little olive oil and roasted in the oven. I used fresh thyme but you could substitute dried. The croutons also are delicious with a sprinkling of cumin or curry powder. 2 cups potato peels from wellscrubbed potatoes 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 teaspoons of fresh thyme, or to taste Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Toss potato peels and garlic cloves with oil and thyme; add salt and pepper to taste. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed cookie sheet. Roast until crisp, about 20 minutes, tossing occasionally to ensure even cooking. Remove from oven and immediately toss with cheese. Use croutons to top salads and casseroles. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Makes 2 cups. “Eat it Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton (Da Capo Press, May 2016)