Florida Courier - April 25, 2014

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APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

VOLUME 22 NO. 17

THE MAJORITY MAKES THE RULES Will the Supreme Court’s latest anti-affirmative action decision allow White voters – who are the voting majority in every state except Hawaii – to use the state ballot box to legally oppress racial minority groups?

COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday accorded voters more leeway to challenge affirmative action, as justices upheld a Michigan measure that bans preferential treatment in college admissions based on race or ethnicity.

In a highly anticipated but fractured decision, the court said it lacked the authority to interfere with the political decision made

by Michigan voters in 2006 when they amended their state’s constitution.

10-year fight In 2003, the high court upheld

an affirmative action policy at the University of Michigan Law School. But three years later, the state’s voters adopted Proposal 2 by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin.

The ballot initiative was pushed

by Jennifer Gratz, who was denied admission to the University of Michigan and sued, and by Ward Connerly, a former University of California regent who backed a similar voter initiative in that state.

(Connerly worked to get a similar measure on the ballot in the 2000 Florida election. State Republicans were concerned that Connerly’s initiative would increase Democratic turnout in a tight presidential campaign.

(Then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush incorporated parts of Connerly’s proposal in his “One Florida” initiative that effectively banned affirmative action in state schools’ admissions policies, as well as in government employment and state contracting in Florida, and Connerly stopped his anti-affirmative action activity in the state.)

The Michigan initiative said public colleges and universities “shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.”

But two groups, including By Any Means Necessary, challenged

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

The current U.S. Supreme Court continues its assault on racebased remedies for past discrimination. that policy as discriminatory. The Voters rule U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati “Courts may not dis-empower declared it unconstitutional on the the voters from choosing which grounds that it took away a policy path to follow,” Justice Anthony that had helped minority students.

See COURT, Page A2

EARTH DAY 2014

Celebrating our ‘blue marble’ Tuesday, April 22, was Earth Day, with more than a billion people in 192 countries participating in rallies, cleanups, and other activities to protect the planet.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite captured this view of the Americas at 7:45 a.m.

Eastern time on Tuesday.

Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter dies at 76 Freed after protests, appeals of murder convictions

BY RICHARD COWEN THE RECORD / MCT

TORONTO, ONTARIO – Rubin “Hurricane” Carter won 27 bouts as a middleweight boxer in the ‘60s, but his biggest fight played out over 19 years – his effort to free himself from prison after twice being convicted of a triple murder inside a Paterson, N.J., bar.

The celebrat- Rubin ed case exposed ‘Hurricane’ racial prejudice Carter in New Jersey’s criminal justice system, transfixed a nation, and inspired both a song by Bob Dylan and a movie starring Denzel Washington.

A free man Carter, who battled prostate cancer, died April 20 at his home in Toronto. He was 76.

At his bedside was his loyal friend and co-defendant, John Artis, who said Carter died a free man and unshackled by bitterness over being wrongfully ac-

NASA/MCT

See CARTER, Page A2

Justice Department sets new federal clemency guidelines

BY TIMOTHY M. PHELPS TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU (MCT)

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced a new initiative Wednesday to encourage nonviolent prisoners who have served at least 10 years to apply for what is expected to be a large-scale grant of clemency in President Obama’s waning years in office.

Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole announced that a new pardons attorney would take over a beefed-up office to handle requests that will be actively solicited throughout the federal prison system from thousands of prisoners who meet six criteria.

“We are launching this clemency initiative in order to quickly and effectively identify appropriate candidates, candidates who

ALSO INSIDE

have a clean prison record, do not present a threat to public safety, and were sentenced under outof-date laws that have since been changed and are no longer seen as appropriate,” Cole said in remarks released by the Justice Department.

The Justice Department gave no assessment of the number of people likely to receive clemency. Prisoners will be provided volunteer lawyers working free of charge.

See CLEMENCY, Page A2

FLORIDA | A3

Restrictions sought on medical marijuana NATION | A6

Georgia governor signs ‘guns everywhere’ law

Pushed by Holder The move to actively solicit requests for clemency from prisoners is unusual.

It is also a departure for Obama, who until now has been reluctant to use his clemency powers grant-

SNAPSHOTS

ENTERTAINMENT | B5 MARK BOSTER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

Two inmates have a conversation at San Quentin State Prison in California. State prisoners convicted of violating state laws are not eligible for presidential clemency.

‘Bookdocks’ returns to air without McGruder

COMMENTARY: GLEN FORD: WHITE MAJORITY, WHITE SUPREMACY | A4 COMMENTARY: REV. JESSE JACKSON, SR: AMERICA NEEDS TO BUILD UPON WHAT LBJ GAVE US | A4

FOCUS

A2

APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

Why Obama’s clemency program doesn’t change mass incarceration The Obama administration is talking about using presidential clemency powers to release some undetermined number, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of federal prisoners without wealth or political connections from their unjustly long drug sentences.

But hold your hosannas.

What’s evident is that this is in no sense whatsoever the beginning of a rollback of America’s prison state. These prisoner releases will not represent any significant or permanent change to the nation’s universal policy of mass incarceration, mainly of poor Black and Brown youth. Here are seven reasons why.

1. The Obama administration’s expected releases will use the president’s clemency powers, which amounts to forgiveness after the fact. Clemency does not change the galaxy of state and federal laws which have already sent literally millions to prison for absurdly long sentences for what authorities call “nonviolent drug offenses,” and under which hundreds of thousands are currently serving those same sentences and hundreds of thousands more are awaiting trial and sentencing. Clemency leaves those laws in place.

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

2. Presidential clemency will set no legal precedents that could be used to avoid the application of unjust existing laws, including harsh mandatory minimums and sentencing guidelines. Like the unjust statutes, the unjust legal precedents that have helped filled state and federal prisons to bursting will also remain intact.

3. Presidential clemency will have no effect on the predatory conduct of police and prosecutors on the state or federal level. Police departments will remain free to conduct their “war on drugs” almost exclusively in poor and minority communities. Prosecutors will still be able to coerce defendants into accepting plea bargains, and threaten them with longer sentences if they go to trial. If only one in 20 defendants across the board and even fewer in federal court currently go to trial, what does that say about the ability or the willingness of our courts to even try

determining guilt or innocence?

Federal prosecutors have stated their intention to continue filling the prisons and jails, and local prosecutors are elected officials accustomed to running for office based on how many people they can lock up for how long.

5. Presidential clemency can only be applied to federal prisoners, who are a mere 190,000 (11 percent) of the roughly 1.7 million currently serving time.

(Another 600,000 are awaiting trial on all levels or serving misdemeanor time.)

6. There are more former prisoners than current ones.

For the rest of their lives, former prisoners and their families are viciously discriminated against in the job and housing market, in education and public services and in access to health care – all legally. That won’t change. Even the few that get this clemency won’t be protected from that.

7. The federal government will NOT be screening ALL federal drug prisoners to determine who is eligible for clemency. Attorney General Holder has instead announced that criminal defense lawyers and organizations like the ACLU are being asked to bring to the government’s attention to cases they imagine are most deserving of clemency. Don’t they have a Department of Justice for that?

Depending on private organizations and attorneys to come up with the cases for possible clemency turns the whole thing into an exercise in philanthropy, not the fundamental change in

CARTER

1966 murders On June 17, 1966 at 2:30 a.m., Paterson police responded to a shooting at the Lafayette Grill. When they arrived, four people were lying on the floor of the bar with gunshot wounds. The cash register was open, but there was still money in it.

At the same time as the shooting, two men, Arthur Dexter Bradley and Alfred Bello, were across the street burglarizing an auto repair shop. They later gave statements to police that fingered Carter and Artis as suspects – statements they would later recant at trial.

Only hours earlier, at the nearby Waltz Inn, a Black bartender had been shot dead by a White man. The state would later offer “racial revenge” as a motive for the Lafayette Grill slayings.

Bello and Bradley told police that they saw two Black men in a White Dodge with out-of-state plates leaving the scene. Carter and Artis had been pulled over by Paterson police minutes after the shooting in Carter’s leased Dodge, which fit the description.

No testing The two were brought to the Lafayette about 30 minutes after the shooting, but police never tested the clothing of either man for gunshot residue or blood spatters.

Carter was taken to the hospital where a survivor of the shooting, who had been wounded in one eye, was being treated. The survivor could not identify Carter as the shooter.

A Paterson police detective searched the car later that morning and recov-

Kennedy wrote in reversing the appeals court. “The Michigan voters exercised their privilege to enact laws as a basic exercise of their democratic power.”

Seven other states – Arizona, California, Florida, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Washington – have similar bans, and the ruling paves the way for others to vote.

The decision does not force such a ban, though, and leaves intact past rulings that race may be considered in college admissions. In essence, the ruling lets the battle over affirmative action proceed on individual state fronts.

‘Plessy v. Ferguson’ George Washington, who argued the case for the group By Any Means Necessary, criticized

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that this clemency initiative is nothing more than a lazy, cynical and nearly empty gesture it hopes will buy some Black votes and good will in 2014 and beyond.

Is it better than nothing? Yes, but just not that much better.

There are millions locked up.

Presidential clemency doesn’t scale up to the kind of changes promised the masses of our people as a result of participation in the electoral process by activists and by our Black political class.

During the first two years of the Obama presidency, when his party had a lock on both houses of Congress, the president had a chance to write retroactive revocation of tens of thousands of sentences into its so-called Fair Sentencing Act. Every year since, the Obama Department of Justice has had the chance to rewrite the way it distributes federal funding to state and local law enforcement agencies to discourage mass incarceration. Every year the president had the chance to close some of its notorious federal Supermax prisons or find ways to

Celebrity support

cused and spending his prime behind bars for a crime both men say they did not commit.

“Rubin was not bitter, and I am not bitter,” Artis, 67, told The Record. “It doesn’t do any good to be bitter. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Bitterness consumes the vessel that holds it.’ I’m sad that he is gone, but relieved that the pain and suffering is over. There will be no more pain.”

from A1

Empty gesture

Darkness to Freedom.”

“Through study, spirituality and thought, he would transcend prison.

He was able to do this by using the power of his mind.”

from A1

COURT

governmental policy that people need, want and demand. It means that prisoners serving unduly long sentences who don’t have vigilant private attorneys and advocacy organizations on their case will remain unjustly imprisoned, while those with outside friends have a chance at early release.

COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Former boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter was the subject of a 1999 movie staring Denzel Washington. ered a .32 caliber pistol under the front passenger seat and a 12-gauge shotgun shell in the trunk. Forensics later established that the murder weapons were a .32 caliber pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun, but it was shown in court that police didn’t log the weapons as evidence until five days after the killings.

It wasn’t until Oct. 14, 1966, that Carter and Artis were arrested and charged with murder, the case against them leaning heavily on the statements given by Bello and Bradley.

All-White jury The first trial, in 1967, played out amid a backdrop of America’s racial tension. The leader of the Carter-Artis defense team, Raymond Brown, was Black. The prosecution, led by Vincent Hull, was White.

An all-White jury found Carter and Artis guilty of murder in May 1967.

Both were sent to prison.

Once behind bars, Carter refused to see himself as a prisoner. He refused to eat prison food or follow prison rules and was sent to solitary confinement.

“He decided to change his whole state of consciousness,” said Ken Klonsky, author of Carter’s autobiography, “Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from

the ruling.

“This is a terrible ruling. It gives the White majority the right to deny Black and Latinos the right to higher education. It is today’s Plessy v. Ferguson ruling.

We will fight it by every means possible. The Supreme Court has made it clear they want to repeal the gains of the Civil Rights movement.”

(The Supreme Court’s Plessy decision upheld racial segregation as legal under the theory of “separate but equal” from 1896 until it was repudiated by the court in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954.)

Kary L. Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, said it “will result in Michigan continuing to lose students and faculty of color to states that have the flexibility to consider the whole person before them.”

Limited ruling?

Six justices agreed with the

Carter and Artis’ fight for freedom became a cause celebre, with artists, politicians and sports figures, among them Dylan and Muhammad Ali, rushing to their side.

Dylan contributed a song, “Hurricane,” in 1975. Carter wrote a book, “The Sixteenth Round,” which drew the attention of activists in Toronto, who laid the legal groundwork for a new trial.

Carter and Artis were granted a new trial. The key witnesses against them recanted, saying they had been pressured by police to falsely identify them.

But a jury again found Carter and Artis guilty of murder, and they were headed back to prison. The fight wasn’t over, however, and more years of legal motions followed, as Carter’s legal team succeeded in moving the case out of state court and into federal court.

Finally freed Artis got out of prison before Carter, and in 1985 U.S. District Judge Lee Sarokin ruled that the racially charged atmosphere surrounding the case prevented Carter and Artis from receiving a fair trial.

Carter was freed but he would have to fend off 13 appeals from the prosecution before finally winning his right to leave the United States for Toronto in 1989.

“Rubin felt like he had died at age 28,” Klonsky said, referring to Carter’s age at the time of the Lafayette Grill slayings. “And he felt like he was reborn when he got out of prison.”

Human rights activist Artis and Carter worked with Innocence International, a nonprofit that works with lawyers to overturn convictions of inmates who are wrongly accused.

Artis said it was fitting that Carter died on Easter, just before sunrise. It’s a day that celebrates rebirth and eternal life.

“He’s gone to God, ”Artis said.

court’s conclusion that sustains the Michigan measure.

Only Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel Alito, though, fully agreed with Kennedy’s reasoning. Kennedy emphasized the limits of the ruling.

“It is important to note what this case is not about,” Kennedy stressed. “It is not about the constitutionality, or the merits, of race-conscious admissions policies in higher education.”

Instead, Kennedy said, the decision is about letting states proceed with “innovation and experimentation” that encourages “greater citizen involvement in democratic processes.”

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia joined in a separate concurring opinion that argued against affirmative action itself. Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, an affirmative action supporter, wrote his own concurring opinion offering other reasons to support Michigan voters.

Liberal Justices Ruth Bader

deny funding for such things on the state level.

Naïve and foolish?

Sophisticated apologists for the president will of course chide folks who find “better than nothing” insufficient for being naïve and foolish.

Tens of millions voted to elect Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and other members of the black misleadership class over the last four decades. Thousands of activists gave freely of their time and efforts year in and year out to make their careers possible.

The people who called house meetings, union and church meetings, went door-to-door, rallied, and registered voters to elect Black politicians – and finally a Black president – DID imagine and DID tell their children and their neighbors that this would make things better. I know. For quite a few years, I was one of them.

We didn’t say it was “better than nothing.” Were we naïve and foolish to imagine a better world is even possible? Or is our Black political class too cynical, too corrupt, too prosperous and too lazy to share the dreams of the ordinary people they supposedly represent?

Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport. com. Contact him at bruce. dixon@blackagendareport. com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

CLEMENCY from A1

ed under the Constitution.

But it is very much in tune with a campaign being waged across the board under the direction of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to scale back the use of mandatory prison sentences and reduce the prison population, particularly African-American drug offenders serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes.

“The White House has indicated it wants to consider additional clemency applications to restore a degree of justice, fairness and proportionality for deserving individuals who do not pose a threat to public safety,” Holder said.

Eric H. “The Justice Department is Holder committed to recommending as many qualified applicants as possible for reduced sentences.”

Not limited The clemency program announced Wednesday is not limited to drug crimes, but it is particularly aimed at the thousands of crack cocaine users or dealers sentenced under a particularly tough law that was amended by Congress in 2010.

Some 7,000 prisoners, by some estimates, would not be incarcerated today if they had been sentenced under the terms of the new law, though not all will meet the criteria announced Wednesday.

To be eligible, prisoners must have no incidents of violence on their records, both in the commission of the original crime and while inside prison. Candidates for clemency also must be free of ties to gangs or large criminal organizations, must not have “a significant criminal history,” and must have demonstrated good conduct in prison.

All must have served 10 years and be able to demonstrate they would have received substantially less time if convicted under current law.

“For our criminal justice system to be effective, it needs to not only be fair; but it also must be perceived as being fair,” Cole said. “Older, stringent punishments that are out of line with sentences imposed under today’s laws erode people’s confidence in our criminal justice system, and I am confident that this initiative will go far to promote the most fundamental of American ideals – equal justice under law.”

Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. Justice Elena Kagan recused herself from the case because of her past work as the Obama administration’s solicitor general.

Strong dissent Sotomayor delivered a lengthy dissent that she read in court. She said the court had turned its back on earlier rulings that prohibited the states from withdrawing remedies for racial discrimination.

The Constitution does not “give the majority free rein to erect selective barriers against racial minorities,” she said.

Her opinion cited the steep decline in the percentage of Black and Latino students who were admitted to UCLA and UC Berkeley after the passage of California’s Proposition 209.

“We are fortunate to live in a democratic society,” Sotomayor wrote. “But without checks, democratically approved legislation can oppress minority groups.”

Sotomayor also argued that the constitutional amendment put affirmative action supporters at a unique disadvantage. While those proposing other changes in Michigan college admissions policies, such as more preference to athletes or children of alumni, can lobby the university trustees, affirmative action advocates must re-amend the state’s constitution.

Enrollment decreases Total enrollment of AfricanAmerican students at the flagship University of Michigan campus fell from 7 percent to 4.7 percent between 2006 and 2012, university records show. Latino student enrollment at the school fell from 4.9 percent to 4.3 percent of the total during the same period.

David G. Savage of bune Washington and Michael Doyle of Clatchy Washington (MCT) contributed to port.

the TriBureau the McBureau this re-

APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

FLORIDA

A3

Restrictions sought on medical marijuana Scott’s administration has concerns about proposal that puts children with epilepsy in clinical trials

BY DARA KAM NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott and his surgeon general are balking at a proposal headed to the House floor that would open the door for a strain of marijuana that doesn’t get users high but is believed to dramatically reduce seizures in children with a rare form of epilepsy.

Instead, Scott wants a more limited approach that would put children with “intractable” epilepsy, as well as children and adults with other diseases, into clinical trials for the drug. The trials would require cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or drug companies.

A plan approved by the House Judiciary Committee on Monday includes language proposed by Scott that would create an “Office of Compassionate Use” within the Department of Health that would “enhance access to investigational new drugs for Florida patients through approved clinical treatment plans or studies.”

“Investigational new drug” studies are the first step in laboratory testing of drugs not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

‘Plant-focused system’ Florida Surgeon General John Armstrong told the House committee Monday that he has concerns about other areas of the bill but that his approach is “patient-centered and

provides access to medications of known content and dose” and could be operational within months.

But Armstrong raised questions about the measure’s “plant-focused system … without quality assurance for the precise chemical composition and protection from impurity.”

The strain of marijuana, which is high in cannabidiol (CBD) and low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), would have “variable and unknown content,” Armstrong said.

“The safety is unknown and the time to establish such a (distribution system) structure is unknown, likely more than 18 months and subject to rule challenges,” he went on. “Your Department of Health is committed to helping children and their families managing refractory epilepsy safely. We support access to investigational new drugs with known composition and a regulated risk profile. We must be wary of unintended consequences and remember that first we must do no harm.”

$1 million for studies Armstrong also pointed to a drug called Epidiolex, a synthetic form of marijuana high in CBD but with no THC. The University of California, San Francisco, started clinical trails on the drug, manufactured by GW Pharmaceuticals, earlier this year.

Under Scott’s plan, the “Office of Compassionate Use” could create a network of state universities and medical centers and

KEVIN MOLONEY/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/MCT

Nicole Gross moved her family from Illinois to Colorado to be able to get medicine derived from marijuana for son, Chase, who suffers from severe epilepsy that can hit him multiple times per day when not treated.

Nicole is shown helping Chase with his medicine at their home in Colorado Springs. apply to the FDA or a drug manufacturer for a study.

The House measure also includes $1 million for the clinical studies.

“We have concerns with the bill as it is, but have proposed language to ensure safeguards that support the compassionate use through investigational treatments and ensures those suffering get access to treatments in the fastest possible way,’’ Scott spokeswoman Jackie Schutz said.

Bolder suggestions House sponsor Matt Gaetz said that the clinical trials preferred by Scott are

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a good addition to his bill but an inadequate substitute for allowing anyone whose physician deems they would benefit from the low-THC treatment to get it.

“The governor’s suggestions are good. We’ve taken those suggestions but we’re thinking a little bolder,” Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said Monday evening. “I would like to do that and have little kids who can’t get into a clinical trial still have their lives saved.”

Apart from the language proposed by Scott, the House proposal (HB 843) adopted Monday edged closer to the Senate’s approach (SB 1030) to the issue. Parents of children with intractable epilepsy, which does not respond to other treatments, believe a strain of the marijuana produced in Colorado and known as “Charlotte’s Web” is their best hope of reducing the hundreds of seizures, some of them fatal, affected children can experience each day.

‘Compassionate-use’ registry Like the Senate plan (SB 1070), the House proposal now on its way to the floor would create a “vertical” distribution system where the same company must grow, produce and dispense the product.

The House measure would allow for four distribution centers spread out across the state. The Senate proposal would allow from one to four distribution centers.

The House and Senate bills would create a statewide “compassionate use” registry for anyone who receives the drug, allow doctors to order the low-THC marijuana and require doctors to submit treatment plans for patients to the University of Florida College of Pharmacy quarterly.

The Senate version would limit use of the drug to individuals with seizure disorders. The House measure would also require any doctor who orders the medical marijuana to un-

Jobless rate in state creeps up to 6.3 percent NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

• Black English, and why Black students must be ‘bilingual.’

TALLAHASEE – For the first time since the middle of 2010, the state’s monthly jobless rate went up in March.

Jobs officials say the negative movement is in part because more people are in the labor pool.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity announced April 18 that while the number of people with jobs has increased, the state’s unemployment mark rose from 6.2 percent in February to 6.3 percent in March.

A release from Gov. Rick Scott’s office briefly referred to the increase, instead focusing on the creation of private sector jobs across Florida during the past month, year and since January 2011, when the governor took office.

“Today I am proud to announce that Florida businesses created more than 20,000 jobs in March,” Scott, who is campaigning for re-election on job growth, also said on Twitter.

…AND MUCH MORE!

606,000 jobless

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

• How Black students can program their minds for success; • Setting goals – When to tell everybody, and when to keep your mouth shut;

www.excellencewithoutexcuse.com Download immediately as an eBook or a pdf Order softcover online, from Amazon, or your local bookstore ISBN#978-1-56385-500-9 Published by International Scholastic Press, LLC Contact Charles at ccherry2@gmail.com

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The bulk of the new jobs were in servicerelated fields, topped by leisure and hospitality, according to the Department of Economic Opportunity.

The last time the state’s monthly mark – based on estimates of the number of people employed and actively seeking employment – increased was in August 2010.

At that time, the figure rose from 11.2 percent to 11.3 percent, and an estimated 1.03 million Floridians were out of work.

There are currently an estimated 606,000 jobless Floridians.

Florida’s jobless rate, which remains below the national figure of 6.7 percent, had held at 6.2 percent the prior three months.

The latest monthly mark came as the state estimated an increase of 22,900 overall jobs in March, with 20,900 of those in the private sector. The growth could be a sign of optimism in the workforce as people believe work is available. The work-

dergo eight hours of training provided by the Florida Medical Association, which supports the bill.

‘A little too edgy’ Many of the elements of the House bill could be used as a blueprint for how the state would handle medical marijuana if voters approve a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would allow doctors to order the drug for their patients.

Although the low-THC proposal has the support of many GOP lawmakers, including Senate President Don Gaetz, some Republicans remain unconvinced.

House Judiciary Chairman Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, was one of three “no’s” in the 15-3 vote Monday, objecting that the issue was “a little too edgy” for his approval.

“This is the push-off point. Are we starting an avalanche?” Baxley said.

“I just don’t feel that we’re safe there as a policy yet.”

force increased by about 59,000 in March to just under 9.6 million.

Jesse Panuccio, Scott’s jobs chief, said in a release that the increased employment reflects “renewed confidence among job seekers.”

Lowest rate in Keys In February, state economists had projected that more than half of the state’s drop in unemployment between December 2011 and December 2013 was due to people exiting the labor force or delaying entry.

The number of people working is based on a surveyed sample of employers.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida’s February to March employment growth was the highest of any state with a statistically significant employment change, ahead of 19,400 in North Carolina and 14,600 in Georgia.

Also, the 225,100 new jobs reported by Florida in the past year trails only California’s 325,100 and the 310,000 in Texas.

Across the state, Walton County in the Panhandle, joined Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys, as holding the lowest jobless mark.

Flagler still highest Both counties stood at 3.8 percent in March. Monroe went up from 3.7 percent in February, while Walton, a spring break destination, dropped from 4.2 percent.

Walton’s neighbors also had marked decreases in March.

Bay County fell from 6.4 percent to 5.8 percent, Santa Rosa County dropped from 5.9 percent to 5.7 percent, and Okaloosa County went from 5.0 percent to 4.8 percent.

At the other end, Flagler County, which continues a slow recovery from the construction bust, sits with the highest rate, 9.3 percent, down from 9.4 percent in February. Meanwhile Hendry County was at 9.1 percent, down from a revised 9.3 percent.

Among large counties: Miami-Dade’s rate grew from 6.7 percent in February to 7.5 percent; Broward held at 5.5 percent; Duval sat at 6.6 percent; Hillsborough remained at 6.3 percent; Orange ticked down from 6.0 percent to 5.9 percent; and Palm Beach and Pinellas both went from 6.4 percent to 6.3 percent.

EDITORIAL

A4

APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

America needs to build upon what LBJ gave us Fifty years later, former President Lyndon Johnson got the tribute he more than earned.

Four presidents praised his contribution. The Great Society, the War on Poverty, Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act opened doors that had been locked.

“I lived out the promise of LBJ’s efforts,” said President Barack Obama, rejecting the cynicism of those who would dismantle Medicare and food stamps, signature LBJ achievements. Bill Clinton praised LBJ for demonstrating, “the power of the presidency to redeem the promise of America.”

For decades, LBJ’s achievements have been slighted. Liberals scorned him because of the war in Vietnam, and finally drove him to not seek re-election. Conservatives loathed him because of the civil rights achievements,

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

with Republicans moving to displace Democrats as the party of the South.

Dismissed as a failure The War on Poverty, which dramatically reduced poverty in America, was dismissed as a failure, as the anger of the cities exploded. New Democrats dismissed him for believing in big government, as they tacked to a conservative era. In fact, as the Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas recognized last week, Johnson was a giant, standing with Franklin Roosevelt

and Abraham Lincoln as presidents who saved America.

Under Johnson, the scourge of segregation was finally ended, and equal protection under the law moved from a lie to a promise. Millions were lifted from poverty, as the poor were provided a ladder up out of despair. Johnson’s reforms — civil rights, voting rights, immigration, Medicare, child nutrition, food stamps and more — were nearly as great as those of FDR, and never matched since.

Johnson was propelled by a massive movement for civil rights, as Americans moved at the courage and dignity of ordinary heroes willing to stand up or sit down, protest or march, suffer abuse and jail for their rights. He was helped by allies like Dr. Martin Luther King.

In the wake of the assassina-

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: DRIVING CLIMATE DENIAL

PAT BAGLEY, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

White voting majority and White supremacy White majorities have the constitutional right to create laws that selectively lock racial minorities into inferior status. So decreed the United States Supreme Court, in upholding Michigan’s prohibition against affirmative action in public higher education.

In plain English, Black folks have no rights that White majorities are bound to respect.

The circling of black robes around the inviolability of the principle of one person-one vote is a supreme historical irony, given that the Constitution originally counted Black slaves as “three-fifths of all other Persons” for the purpose of apportioning the Congress.

White majorities were slim or non-existent in the slaveintensive states, whose “Reconstruction” to electoral “democracy” remains incomplete to the present.

Yet, in the waning days of a national White major-

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

ity, an era projected to end around the year 2043, majoritarian rule becomes a crude legal redoubt of White supremacy.

Affirmative action, as understood by President Lyndon Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is long dead. It is “diversity” as public policy that was mortally wounded by the Roberts court this week. Diversity is now an option that can be outlawed by White voters– which will no doubt occur at a quickening pace given that majorities of Whites believe they are the main objects of discrimination in American life.

The judicial system is, of course, even more consistent in building a body of

legal precedent for the supremacy of money in electoral politics, than of the primacy of majorities – the two being antithetical in principle. In practice, however, the U.S. Supreme Court knows how to serve both majorities of Whites and Big Capital, too.

The post-Civil War Supreme Court elevated corporations to personhood, smoothing the way for the Gilded Age, and plunged Blacks into the depths of Constitutionally-sanctioned Jim Crow, simultaneously creating all-White electorates and one-party rule by the most backward elements of the bourgeoisie in Dixie.

Where racism is endemic, all kinds of things are possible – and constitutional.

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

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

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tion of JFK, he had a legacy that he could invoke. But his leadership, passion, energy and skill were indispensable. President Obama invoked one of LBJ’s famed lines: “what the hell is the presidency for if not to fight for causes you believe in?” Acknowledging Johnson’s greatness in our rear view mirror is important in part because it may help our vision looking forward through the windshield.

Inequality lingers Today, America is more unequal than ever. Our schools are segregated, by race and by class, separate and unequal. We rank second to the lowest among industrial nations in the assistance we provide to the poor. In LBJ’s time, we enjoyed a broad middle class — for many, there were good jobs and good benefits.

Now the middle class is sinking; we suffer mass unemployment with the jobs that are being created too often low pay and part time.

The millennial generation is graduating into the worst economic straits since the Great Depression. And across the country, basic rights are under assault.

We do well to honor Lyndon Johnson. He understood the power of government to make America better. But it is not enough to honor his legacy. It is time to stir ourselves, as he pushed himself, to not simply defend his contributions, but to extend them to meet the challenges of our day.

Jesse L. Jackson is founder and president of the RainbowPUSH Coalition. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

Investing in our children I remember facilitating a Rites of Passage program in Washington, DC that was geared to boys between the ages of 12 and 17 years old.

The boys who participated in this program were of a mixed group. Some were on probation from the juvenile justice system. Some were members of gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, and MS13’s. And some were labeled by school administrators as lazy, delinquent, and unteachable. No matter what they were labeled as, it was my responsibility to invest good into them.

Even though family and friends wrote many of them off, there was still hope of turning their lives around.

Anyone who works in social services will testify that the work is hard and tiresome, but it can be rewarding to realize that you’re making a difference in someone’s life. Let’s face it for a moment – there are some outstanding social workers as well as social service programs doing everything they can in making a difference in the lives of so many children. All too often, they are overlooked and fail to receive the support and recognition they deserve.

It’s important to note that children of all races, ethnicities, and nationalities are precious. No matter how far off track a child may go, we must remember they are our future. Without investing in them from an early age, we will allow that which is harmful and hindering to their growth to raise them.

DR. SINCLAIR GREY III GUEST COLUMNIST

A daily process Investing in our children is a daily process. What’s so disappointing from many people who subscribe to the Christian right is that they adhere to protecting the life of an unborn child but fail to address the care, need, and support of the child after he/ she is born. I need to emphasize that I’m not arguing for or against abortion, what I’m simply saying is that we have a responsibility to invest in our children no matter how old they are.

Investing in them means we must teach them who they are as human beings.

We have to teach them about the importance of living a fulfilled life. Fulfillment doesn’t come by joining a gang. Neither does fulfillment come with living beneath one’s potential.

Rather, fulfillment is being everything that the Creator created them to be.

As I mentioned, I was able to work with kids from diverse backgrounds and through Rites of Passage programs, children are able to learn about their history, gain respect for their elders, and learn how to make appropriate decisions that will keep them out of trouble.

A few things to consider: Parents must involve their children in extracurricular activities that will stimulate their mind, body, and spirit.

It’s through this stimulation that children will gain exposure and see themselves doing things that only the mind can conceive.

Beyond parents, local businesses should invest in our youth by hiring and training them for apprenticeships and/or internships. As children gain hands-on experience in the workforce, they not only pick up skills and experience, but they learn the value of hard work and discipline.

Mentors must be sought out to help. Mentorship should never be done to recoup some kind of financial reimbursement; it’s a matter of opening doors and providing opportunities for those who need it.

Investing in our youth will pay huge dividends in the long run. I’m of the belief that if the African-American community comes together locally and nationally to invest in our youth, the school-to-prison pipeline will decrease, blackon-black crime will diminish, and children growing up in single parent households will lessen.

Nothing is impossible. We can do this, if we work together. No time for hating; it’s time for participating.

Dr. Sinclair Grey III is an inspirational speaker, motivator, author and organizer. He is a committed advocate for communal change. Contact him at drgrey@sinclairgrey. org or on Twitter @drsinclairgrey. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

Black folks’ harmful addiction to electoral politics Way too many Black people in this country are addicted to electoral politics as the chief vehicle for achieving equal rights, justice and equal opportunity.

Those so afflicted would be wise to pay close attention to an observation made by brilliant educator, Harrold Cruse, in his book, Plural But Equal wrote cruise: In the game of electoral politics, black leadership has had no issues of political leverage, only numerical voting strength. However, this voting strength has never been predicated on a political power base grounded in tangible economic, administrative, cultural, or social policy issues with the viability of forcefully influencing public policy. Hence, merely winning public office became the one and only tangible goal for political leaders.

Beyond that, Black office holders possessed only the pretense of being backed up by substantive political power bases representing issues that would impact on public policy. Thus, the continuing emphasis on the mobilization of Black voting strength; thus, the ongoing campaign for Black voter registration; thus, the empty threat that the maximization of Black voting

A. PETER BAILEY TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

strength would somehow alter the course of American political history in race and minority group issues.

However, the Civil Rights Acts of 1964-1965 promised no such grandiose affirmation of potential black political power. While the Voting Rights Act of the 1965 did in fact speed up the mobilization of Black voting strength, and opened the doors for unprecedented growth in numbers of Black elected officials (BEOs), these BEOs were capitalized into office as symbols of Black civil rights coming of age.

No effect on Blacks But, with rare exceptions, they brought nothing with them into political office that bore the least resemblance to a Black economic, political, and cultural program that meant much to anybody, friend or foe, Black or White, beyond the politically mundane business as usual stance of the liberal consensus. Following the Sixties, Black politicians

were suggestive of military leaders whose armies were forever in training (voter registration) but were never readied for the participation in the field of battle for substantive goals worth fighting for.

Anyone looking for practical solutions to achieving the results advocated

by Professor Cruse must read and absorb chapters in books written by Claud Anderson (Powernomics) and Chancellor Williams (The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues Of A Race 4506 B.C TO 2000 A.D). and the columns written by James Clingman that are published in numerous Black newspapers.

The chapters in Anderson’s book are ‘’The Key” to empowerment and “Practicing Group Economics”.

In William’s book the chapters are “Organizing A Race For Action” and “The shape of things to come: A master plan. Reading and absorbing those chapters will begin the healing from the addiction to electoral politics.

A. Peter Bailey, whose most recent book is Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the master teacher.

Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

EDITORIAL

Voting in November 2014 midterm elections more important than ever “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.”

- President Lyndon B. Johnson Last week in Austin, Texas, three former United States Presidents and President Barack Obama came together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination and segregation based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

The Civil Rights Act also offered greater protections for the right to vote, paving the way for the much more comprehensive landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those laws may have been signed in ink, but they were written in the blood of thousands of men and women who put their lives on the line to ensure a better future for America. Every major gain of the past half-century for African-Americans and other minorities was made possible by the expansion and guarantee of what President Johnson called “the first right and most vital of all our fights” – the right to vote.

However, unfortunately voter suppression did not suddenly disappear in the 1960s, as evidenced by increased efforts in the past five years by some states to enact new voter ID laws and other restrictive measures.

MARC H. MORIAL TRICE EDNEY WIRE

Against the odds The Supreme Court also joined the fray last year with its disappointing and specious ruling to invalidate Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. But African-Americans responded in 2012 by going to the polls in greater numbers than ever before. As predicted in the National Urban League’s 2012 “Hidden Swing Voters” report, African-American voters not only tipped the scales in the re-election of President Obama, Black voter turnout surpassed the White vote for the first time in history.

This was accomplished despite some of the most obvious and egregious voter suppression efforts in recent history and demonstrates the power of our vote when we exercise it. That is why a new poll released last week is so disturbing.

Group less likely to vote A survey by pollster Stan Greenberg found that a group called the “Rising American Electorate,” comprised of young people, unmarried women and minorities, is significantly less likely to vote than other, less progressive groups in the midterm elections this November. Greenberg’s poll shows that only 64 percent of members

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: MINIMUM WAGE COST AND EFFECT

of the Rising American Electorate say they are “almost certain” to vote in 2014, compared to 79 percent of others. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 36 of the 100 seats in the Senate are up for grabs (with 33 Senate elections on the normal six-year cycle and special elections in South Carolina, Oklahoma and Hawaii).

With so much at stake – jobs, health care, education, equal pay, minimum wage and more – a failure to vote could have catastrophic consequences on maintaining and achieving critical policies that seek to bridge the growing divides of unemployment, income, wealth, achievement and social justice in our nation.

President reacts Last week, President Obama said, “The right to vote is threatened today in a way that it has not been since the Voting Rights Act became law nearly five decades ago.” While organizations like the National Urban League, National Action Network, NAACP, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and many others will continue to fight these efforts through the courts and Congress, every individual must also continue to fight by casting a vote. The transparent efforts to suppress votes in the name of unfounded and false claims of voter fraud should be an incentive for every American to go to the polls, not an excuse to stay home.

Voting is not, nor should it ever be used as, a partisan issue. It

A disease of denial I’m tired, my sisterfriend says.

I don’t know how much longer I can hold on. As I hear her I have a couple of choices. One is to tell her to get with her pastor and pray; the other is to tell her to get real with her illness. Running her to her pastor takes her to a familiar place. Pushing her to help takes her out of her comfort zone.

So my sister is sighing her pain, and I am wondering what to do.

There are few that will hear a Black woman in a Black community, strumming her pain, questioning her faith. According to the National Associations of Mental Health more than four percent of African-Americans have considered suicide. Most of them are African-American women.

DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

A silent scream Mental health is our nation’s dirty little secret, and if it is whispered in the nation at large, it is a silent scream in the African-American community. We are afraid, ashamed, frightened to own up to it, using our own lingo (s’kerd, shamed) to wrap ourselves around the fear that goes with “coming out” on mental illness.

So we are silent, even when we lose a warrior. Karyn Washington was a 22-year-old Morgan State University sister who committed

suicide, last week. This young and brilliant one turned her pain into power when she created a website, “for brown girls” (forbrowngirls. com) that lifted up and affirmed our brown skinned girls. Karyn was a colored girl whose mental issues were apparently so severe that she chose to take her own life while affirming those of others.

From all accounts Karyn experienced depression.

How many feel it and don’t say it; how many nod and just don’t mean it. How many exhale, inhale and really reach out to a brother or a sister to listen, have a cup of tea, take a walk, or just “reach out and touch.”

The poet Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote, “We wear the mask that grins and lies that hides our cheeks and shades our eyes.” For

Makes you wanna holla!

I can only wonder if the “average” American can consume the volume of shocking news we receive every day without feeling overwhelmed and questioning ‘what’ or ‘where’ their place is in the total world. War going on in the Middle East, turmoil and health crisis in many parts of Africa, Eastern Europe teetering on the brink of war are all part of the emotional dis-ease experienced by many of us.

Add the “crisis” in the United States to those other considerations and it’s almost enough to drive one to the brink of emotional instability. Our President and Attorney General are victimized by never-ending politically motivated verbal assaults. The progress of governance is brought to a standstill by those motivated by political loyalties or racial animus. Women’s reproductive rights suffer under ongoing gender warfare while policy-makers debate the efficacy and “fairness” of providing women pay equity.

Armed revolt We see the hatred and vitriol of the public discourse spilling over into what’s essentially armed revolt and assault against the government and the welfare of our fellow citizens. The armed standoff against the government in Nevada by Cliven Bundy and his supporters or the unprovoked attack against individuals based upon their perceived ethnic-

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

ity are clear examples of how low some are willing to take our nation.

On the economic front, we see the Supreme Court of the U. S., once known as the last hope for social justice in the U.S., selling the birthright of the nation to the highest bidder by allowing unfettered contributions by the wealthy.

In his written decision, Chief Justice Roberts asserts there’s no evidence that suggests an influencing quid pro quo would be created by removing the amount of money that could be donated by a single source!

While they diddle in session voting over 50 times to repeal Obamacare, we also see Congressional Republicans continuing their war on the Middle Class by refusing to extend long-term unemployment benefits or refusing to vote on an employment bill that would bring thousands into the workforce, while refurbishing our crumbling infrastructure. Republican Paul Ryan continues to press his Ayn Rand influenced budget that would GUT programs designed to provide a pathway to upward mobility for the ambitious or maintain a safety net to prevent the most needy from falling to

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the depths of societal deprivation.

Watch and listen To those watching with an open eye, these efforts seem vicious, while multi-national corporations and millionaires are allowed to hoard wealth and resources while paying little or no taxes in repayment for their bounty.

Those of us who are listening hear the reverberation of cries from those ever-present NEOCONS who wish to squander the human capital and financial wealth of the nation on a never ending series of wars against any who would demonstrate the temerity to challenge or question a position taken by the United States. At the same time, we’ve seen these same NEOCONS and their allies in Congress denigrate the current administration to the extent that our opponents in the world feel it safe to challenge any effort to negotiate greater balance in the relations of nations.

As Marvin used to say, “It makes you wanna holla and throw up both your hands.”

As the President said, and I concur, “Don’t holla! Organize and vote!” Our vote is the only weapon we have to overcome the life-impacting challenges confronting us.

Dr. E. Faye Williams is National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women. Write your own response at www.flcourier. com.

TAYLOR JONES, HOOVER DIGEST

is an essential issue of citizenship and democracy. The change and progress we seek in this country will only be achieved if we go to the polls in the November midterms with the same fervor and numbers that we did in 2012.

Remember, every vote counts.

Don’t let anyone count you out.

many in our nation, and especially for African-Americans, we wear the mask. When we peek/speak/ tweet from behind the mask we realize, yet if we were real we would have to acknowledge in the words of Paul Lawrence Dunbar that to make a poet Black and bid her sing is to challenge her and her two realities so that in the words of Dr. Maya, “I know why the caged bird sings.”

on their shoulders. They are sad, ground down, depressed, and we play off their pain, trivialize it, instead of responding to it. We are losing too much genius when we play off the scourge of metal illness. For all the care the Affordable Care Act has offered, we must ask if it has offered enough to combat mental illness, Baby girl Karyn Washington motivated this column, and as I thought of her, others kept reminding me of their own pain and the ways it has been ignored.

Mental health is not an embarrassment; it is a national health issue. It is a silent killer that we have yet to acknowledge.

Bearing the weight of the world I chose to focus on this because in one scant week I have spoken to African-American women who have experienced depression or feel shackled by other mental health issues. They walk like they hold the world in their hands; sway like they are hearing drums from another continent, and cry behind closed doors, like they have the weight of the world

Marc Morial is president/ CEO of the National Urban League. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is a DC based economist and author, and President Emerita of Bennett College for Women. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

That civil rights religion I feel sorry for any person that is arrested for paltry or undeserving reasons but I have to laugh when people get civil rights religion the moment they get in trouble.

If you don’t know, there are no Black Nationalist revolutionary Black people being hired in mass by White American corporations, colleges and other institutions. To get high level jobs in most upper crust schools and businesses you oftentimes need to be acceptable to the powers that be.

Nothing to say One way to show acceptability is to be quiet and decline to speak out about issues of interest to people that live in ghettos, in barrios, in the hood and in the trap!

When you are hired by “the boss man” nobody is “biased” an no one is “discriminatory” but when you run into trouble with police or law enforcement, poof, the whole police department becomes klan-like, White racists and White supremacists!

It is easy to say cops are racist when you are arrested but how many agency heads, department heads, professors and scholars will stand up and speak out for you when you are arrested on shady circumstances?

Not many, if any!

Don’t take my word for

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

it but many “leading Blacks” run to the NAACP, SCLC, Nation of Islam and other groups when they get fired, laid off, suspended or arrested.

Help me please!

Those same folk never attend a civil rights organization meeting, never donate to a community activist group, never complain about the misfortunes of others and never care about any of the above!

What we have to understand is that we’re all in the same boat, we’re all in the same bag and we all have the same enemies regardless of where we live, where we work or where we play!

They feel the same way about the editor of The Gantt Report as they feel about the handkerchiefheaded, boot-licking, neck scratching neo-colonialist modern day Uncles Toms and Aunt Jemimas!

They will arrest you at Harvard just as fast as they will arrest you in Compton, in Buttermilk Bottom, in Bankhead, in Liberty City, in Little Haiti or on Canal Street. In Harvard communities, they arrest you with a Harvard

accent. In New Orleans, they arrest you with a Cajun Creole accent!

The result is the same.

You’re Black, you’re innocent and you’re handcuffed and thrown in a jail cell!

Some uppity Negroes scream when they are victimized by poorly trained or insensitive law enforcers but they laugh and crack jokes about Wayne Williams, Michael Vick, O. J. Simpson, Iman, and Little Kim when they are hauled off to jail.

In it together Life is a double-edged sword that swings both ways. When you close your eyes, ears and mouths to the mistreatment, victimization and brutalization of the little man or the common woman, some of those same people will laugh at you when you become Malcolm X with suspenders and designer bifocals after being falsely accused and over charged by a prejudiced judicial system with a racially motivated police force! Somebody text your morning radio show and ask the clowns to make a joke about each other!

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

TOJ A6

NATION & WORLD

APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

IRS gives bonuses to workers who owe back taxes In the 2011 budget year, more than 70,000 IRS workers got cash bonuses totaling $92 million, the report said. In the 2012 budget year, nearly 68,000 workers got cash bonuses totaling $86 million.

BY STEPHEN OHLEMACHER ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has paid more than $2.8 million in bonuses to employees with recent disciplinary problems, including $1 million to workers who owed back taxes, a government investigator said Tuesday.

More than 2,800 workers got bonuses despite facing a disciplinary action in the previous year, including 1,150 who owed back taxes, said a report by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The bonuses were awarded from October 2010 through December 2012.

George’s report said the bonus program doesn’t violate federal regulations, but it’s inconsistent with the IRS mission to enforce tax laws.

“These awards are designed to recognize and reward IRS employees for a job well done, and that is appropriate, because the IRS should encourage good performance,” George said. “However, while not prohibited, providing awards to employees who have been disciplined for failing to pay federal taxes appears to create a conflict with the IRS’s charge of ensuring the integrity

No government-wide policies

CHUCK MYERS/MCT

The Internal Revenue Service building is in Washington, D.C. of the system of tax administration.”

100,000 under review Other examples of misconduct by workers getting bonuses included misusing government credit cards for travel, drug use, violent threats and fraudulent-

South Africa’s ANC hopes for quick, easy victory Other groups expect support from disillusioned voters in May 7 election TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

As the May 7 election day in South Africa nears, former friends and allies of the ruling African National Congress are betting that voters will follow them out of

the party or at least send a strong message that the country’s current direction is not good enough.

A number of veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle and former government leaders have even launched a “Vote NO!” campaign that could dash ANC hopes for a quick and easy win.

Among the veterans is former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, former deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge and other ANC stalwarts.

“Sidikiwe! Vukani! - “We are fed

ly claiming unemployment benefits.

The IRS said it has developed a new policy linking conduct and performance bonuses for executives and senior level employees.

“Even without a formal policy in place over the past four years, the IRS has not issued awards to any executives that were subject

to a disciplinary action,” the IRS said in a statement. “We are also considering a similar policy for the entire IRS workforce, which would be subject to negotiations with the National Treasury Employees Union.”

The IRS had about 100,000 workers during the period under review.

up! Wake up!” That’s the message coming from some longtime ANC loyalists who now say: “The ANC needs to know that it can no longer take for granted its traditional support and we would be failing South Africa and our democracy by not voting.”

hadn’t done a good job when they were in Cabinet. Also with the opposition is Pallo Jordan, current member of the party’s national executive committee who has written columns critical of the $23 million upgrade of President Jacob Zuma’s country estate.

Income inequality is one issue that particularly incenses South Africans who are aghast at the skyhigh salaries for corporate CEOs.

Income inequality Other groups expecting to pick up votes from disillusioned voters are the Economic Freedom Fighters led by Julius Malema, the Democratic Alliance led by Helen Zille and the United Democratic Movement led by Bantu Holomisa.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe rebuked the nowopposition leaders saying they

Serious flaw There are “super salaries at the top, and very meager livelihoods at the bottom,” said Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies. “The highest-paid chief executive has earned 51,000 times what someone earns at the lowest rung.

Georgia governor signs ‘guns everywhere’ bill Health plans should cover birth control

BY GREG BLUESTEIN ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION/ MCT

ELLIJAY, Ga. — Gov. Nathan Deal signed legislation Wednesday that would vastly expand where Georgians can legally carry firearms, a proposal that has drawn heaps of praise and scorn from outside groups.

“People who follow the rules can protect themselves and their families from people who don’t follow the rules,” said Deal, adding: “The Second Amendment should never be an afterthought.

It should reside at the forefronts of our minds.”

House Bill 60, which passed in the final hours of this year’s legislative session, allows Georgians to carry firearms legally in a wide range of new places, including schools, bars, churches and government buildings. A recent analysis also said it could let felons use the state’s “stand your ground” rules to claim self-defense if they feel threatened.

Churches can ‘opt-in’ In an interview this week, Deal said voters shouldn’t forget what got left out of the bill. Among the controversial proposals that didn’t survive were the “campus carry” provision, which would have legalized the carrying of guns on campus, and changes that would have required houses of worship to allow guns unless leaders ban them. (Instead, religious leaders can “opt-in” to allow guns into their congregations.)

Said Deal: “There are always opportunities for people to use any piece of legislation as a political tool if they don’t like it.

But there was bipartisan support for the bill. The main story that should come out of it is the final product is significantly different from earlier versions. And some of the more … interesting parts were removed.”

Opposed by Giffords Critics have dubbed it the “guns everywhere” bill for its broad scope, and opponents including former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., have tried to block its passage. Supporters flooded Deal’s office with pleas to sign the measure, which the National

That’s the sentiment of nearly seven in 10 Americans, survey shows

BY KAREN KAPLAN LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

JASON GETZ/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION/MCT

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, shown during a State of the State Speech, has signed a controversial gun law.

Rifle Association called “the most comprehensive pro-gun reform bill in state history.”

There was never serious doubt that he would sign it. The powerful gun rights lobby has made it their top priority, and Deal doesn’t want to give his two GOP primary challengers any opening. Even Democratic state Sen. Jason Carter, his party’s nominee for governor, voted for the bill.

Echoing Deal, Carter told MSNBC this week that he believed he helped “make the bill better than it was when it first started.”

Deal, for his part, tried to downplay the warnings from critics that the law could endanger police officers and lead to more violence. Said Deal: “The important premise we all should remember is these are people who have their fingerprints taken, their backgrounds checked and they have been licensed to carry a weapon. It’s not just someone walking out of the clear blue with none of those background checks. They’ve been subjected to scrutiny of the state.”

The bill, which takes effect July 1, also legalizes the use of silencers for hunting, clears the way for school staffers to carry guns in school zones and lets leaders of religious congregations choose whether to allow licensed gun holders inside. And it allows permitted gun owners to carry their

weapons in government buildings — including parts of courthouses — where there is no security at the entrance.

Won’t die down soon To some groups, though, even word of Deal’s impending signature wasn’t enough. Georgia Gun Owners, one of the more strident Second Amendment groups, told members on Facebook they shouldn’t feel obligated to attend the Ellijay signing ceremony with Deal and House Speaker David Ralston. It called the duo “ethically challenged Big Government moderate Republicans.”

From the post: “Gun owners should be congratulated for your enormous pressure put on the General Assembly ... but shouldn’t feel pressure to serve as a political prop for two lifetime politicians looking for political cover.”

Both Carter and Deal shouldn’t expect the national attention to let up. MSNBC and CNN ordered a TV crew up to Ellijay for live coverage of the event — a measure of the role the gun bill is likely to play the rest of the year.

State Rep. Rick Jasperse, a GOP sponsor of the bill, welcomes the attention. He told the hundreds of supporters, many wearing sidearms, to ignore the “misinformation” about the law.

“This bill is about the good guys — you guys,” he said.

LOS ANGELES — Among the various provisions of the Affordable Care Act, few are as controversial as the one requiring health insurance providers to include coverage for contraception. A new survey finds that support for this rule is widespread, with 69 percent of Americans in favor of the mandate.

Among 2,124 adults surveyed in November 2013, 1,452 agreed that “health plans in the United States should be required to include coverage” for “birth control medications,” according to a research letter published online Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. An additional 436 respondents (19 percent) did not agree, 197 (10 percent) were uncertain and 39 (2 percent) refused to answer.

Women, African-Americans, Latinos and parents living with children under the age of 18 had higher levels of support for mandatory contraception coverage than people in other demographic groups, the survey found. People who took the survey were not asked about their political or religious views.

Survey numbers A 69 percent approval rating may sound high for anything connected to Obamacare. (A Pew Research Center survey released in March found that only 41 percent of the public approved of the law on its fourth anniversary, compared with 53 percent who disapproved.) But all of the other services asked about in the JAMA report were more popular than birth control. To wit: • 85 percent of those surveyed supported mandatory coverage

The report said the IRS considers prior conduct before awarding permanent pay increases.

“However, IRS officials stated that the IRS generally does not consider conduct issues when administering other types of awards,” the report said.

There are no government-wide policies on providing bonuses to employees with conduct issues, the report said. However, a 1998 law calls for removing IRS employees who are found to have intentionally committed certain acts of misconduct, including willful failure to pay federal taxes.

Tax compliance at the IRS is generally better than at other federal agencies.

In 2011, 3.2 percent of federal workers owed back taxes, according to IRS statistics. The Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, had the lowest delinquency rate, at 1.1 percent.

The delinquency rate for the general public was 8.2 percent.

That’s the level of inequality that we have in South Africa.”

Opposition politician Mamphela Ramphele said the Nkandla affair has exposed a serious flaw in the ruling party. “The ANC is in the death grip of corrupt, greedy and arrogant people who don’t actually see that they are destroying this beautiful country and its resources.”

Meanwhile, a popular parody song has become the refrain of the president’s re-election campaign. It goes: “If you’re number one, you get to drive the gravy train.”

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network. for mammograms and colonoscopies.

• 84 percent supported mandatory coverage for recommended vaccines.

• 82 percent were in favor of mandatory coverage for diabetes and cholesterol screening tests.

• 77 percent backed the provision on mandatory coverage for mental health care.

• 75 percent supported mandatory coverage of dental care, including routine cleanings.

Indeed, 7.8 percent of those surveyed said they thought employers who offered health insurance should be required to cover every item on the list except for birth control. Folks in this category were more likely to be male, over the age of 60 and not be living with kids under the age of 18, according to the JAMA report.

The study authors noted that this group “included a higher proportion of persons unlikely to use such coverage.”

Vocal minority The survey was conducted by three researchers from the University of Michigan and was funded by the U-M Health System and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Americans opposed to mandatory contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act may be a minority, but they are a vocal one. Objections from nonprofit religious charities led to a compromise in which the Obama administration said they are not required to offer coverage for birth control. As part of the deal, hospitals, universities and other organizations run by religious nonprofits can opt out and allow their employees to obtain contraceptives directly from health insurance carriers.

Employers in the for-profit world have challenged the contraceptive mandate as well.

Last month, lawyers for Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that the craft store chain should not be forced to pay for contraceptives that violate the religious beliefs of the evangelical Christian family that controls the company. A decision in the case is expected by the end of June.

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

IFE/FAITH

APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

Review of new ‘Soul Train’ book See page B2

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

FAMU grad now editor of Ebony See page B5

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

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BLACK HISTORY

year-round

Memphis’ National Civil Rights Museum, the site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, reopened this month.

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BY JODY MITORI ST. LOUIS POST-DIPATCH/MCT

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EMPHIS, Tenn.

— On April 5, a day after the 46th anniversary of the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel reopened. Closed for a year and half for a $27.5 million renovation, the museum includes the motel where King was assassinated.

It has kept many of its signature pieces, a display of Room 306, where King stayed, and exhibits on Rosa Parks and the lunch counter sit-ins.

But after more than 20 years, the museum needed an update. New films, interactive displays and audio of key figures have been added.

“People need to touch, feel and experience what the movement was all about, so we wanted to make it an immersive experience,” said Faith Morris, the museum’s director of marketing, governmental and community affairs.

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Museum features The self-guided tour that covers more than 350 years of history starts at the new “Slavery in America” exhibit. A map covering the floor of the room shows slavery’s spread and its impact on the world’s economy. Along one wall, are life-size sculptures of men chained together on a slave ship.

The sounds on that boat float over the display.

The Brown vs. Board of Education room uses a model classroom and courtroom to show the issues’ two fronts. An interactive map tells the story of school desegregation in the country at that time.

The Rosa Parks exhibit still features a model of the civil rights hero on the bus but is now set among other figures of everyday women walking by the bus. A timeline shows key dates of the Montgomery Bus Boycott that began in 1955.

The Student Sit-ins of 1960 exhibit features models sitting in at a counter, with hecklers at their side.

Another interactive map depicts the many other boycotts, including the 1948 Stix, Baer and Fuller campaign. Committee of Racial Equality activists planned a series of demonstrations against the St. Louis department store for not allowing Blacks at its lunch counter. The effort continued for six years until the store accepted all customers.

The March on Washington room has stations where visitors can see the full program from Aug. 28, 1963. While King’s “I Have a Dream” plays on a large screen, you can also listen to other speakers including A. Philip Randolph, director of the event, and John Lewis, the national chair of the Student

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Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (and now a U.S. congressman).

Toward the end of the museum is the Join the Movement table, which asks questions to see where you fall on such issues as education, women’s rights and poverty and encourages you to take action.

“The museum is designed to give you a better understanding, move you, to know more than before you came here,” Morris said. “You get to participate, you get to do something, stand for something.”

The main museum takes at least two hours to walk through, but set aside

IF YOU GO National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry Street, Memphis, Tenn.

How much: $15 More info: 901-5219699 or civilrightsmuseum.org

more time to walk across the street to the museum’s Legacy building. A display shows the room where James Earl Ray shot King and tracks the investigation into the assassination and Ray’s eventual arrest.

1. The renovated National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis introduced a permanent exhibit tracing slavery across the globe.

2. A girl looks at the “I am a Man” exhibit that chronicles the 1968 sanitation strikes on March 22, 2014, at the renovated National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, the assassination site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The statues were part of the original exhibit, which now includes new videos and the Mountaintop Theatre, where visitors can see the last speech that Dr. King gave the night before he died.

3. Visitors can now enter the Birmingham jail exhibit at the renovated National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. A recording of Dr. King reading part of “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” plays while the text appears on behind them on the cell wall.

4. A man is silhouetted against an exhibit chronicling the March 21, 1965, march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., during a visit on March 22.

5. People gather at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on March 22 where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. The National Civil Rights Museum, which is located at former motel, has reopened after a twoyear, $27.5 million renovation.

6. The March on Washington exhibit includes statues, murals and an interactive kiosks where visitors can hear the speakers from the day’s program.

PHOTOS BY LYNDEN STEELE/ ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/MCT

EVENTS

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FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Orlando: Boz Scaggs is scheduled at Hard Rock Live Orlando on May 4 for an 8 p.m. show.

Orlando: The Bethune-Cookman University Concert Chorale will lead all three traditional worship services at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church (4851 S. ApopkaVineland Road, Orlando) on Sunday, April 27. More information: 407-876-4991 ext.

302 or visit www.st.lukes.org.

Palm Harbor: Abe Brown Ministries presents the Third Annual Abe Brown Legacy Golf Tournament hosted by Anthony “Booger” McFarland on May 31 at InnisBrook Golf and Spa Resort in Palm Harbor.

Register at LiveTheBrownLegacy.com.

APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

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SLICK RICK

An Old School Throw Back Hip-Hop event is May 17 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami featuring Slick Rick and Rob Base. The show starts at 7 p.m.

Miami Gardens: The Haitian Compas Festival is May 17 featuring Taboo Combo, Carimi, T-Vic & Harmonik and others. The 3:30 p.m. show will be at Sun Life Stadium.

Sunrise: Tickets are on sale for Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, which takes place May 23 and May 24 at the BB&T Center.

Naples: The national NAACP Leadership 500 Summit will convene at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel May 22-25. Details: www.1500.org.

R KELLY

DELEON

The Black Panties Tour featuring R Kelly and Tamar Braxton stops at the Jacksonville Memorial Arena on April 25 for an 8 p.m. show.

A Mothers Day Gospel Celebration is scheduled at 7 p.m. on May 10 at the Straz Center in Tampa.

Artists will include Tamela Mann, Deitrick Haddon and Deleon.

‘Soul Train’ looks at iconic show that was much more than a dance party with a spiritual quality that “touched the soul of viewers.”

BY DR GLENN C. ALTSCHULER SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Nick Cannon, star of the film Drum Line and husband of Mariah Carey, is delighted that Soul Train is “something archived.”

If aliens land on earth and watch episodes of the show, created, produced, and hosted by Don Cornelius, Cannon claims, they’ll see how African-Americans “got down. Our fashion, the way we walk, the way we talk, the way we move, what type of music we listen to.” Soul Train wasn’t “the watered-down version you might see on a sitcom” or “the negative depiction of us you might see on the news. It was us having a good time and enjoying each other.”

Nelson George, a music critic, author, and filmmaker, who specializes in African-American culture, agrees. In The Hippest Trip in America, he draws

From ‘waacking’ to ‘moon walk’

BOOK REVIEW Review of The Hippest Trip in America: Soul Train and the Evolution of Culture and Style.

By Nelson George. William Morrow. 236 pp. $27.99 on interviews with dancers and singers to send a valentine to Soul Train. For decades, he suggests, the show was “a Saturday ritual watched with religious fervor and dedication,”

George’s reliance on interviews allows him to capture the enthusiasm of the performers; a new world, built on Black pop stars; advertisements featuring Afro Sheen; and “the holy trinity” of Soul Train’s appeal: music, dance, and fashion.

The dancers invented “waacking,” George reveals, and laid claim to the “moon walk” that became Michael Jackson’s signature step. And the “freaky, fantastic threads” of singers and dancers (platform shoes, applejack caps, tight bell bottoms, and lime-colored and hot pink pantsuits), he writes, were “imitated, parodied, but never quite duplicated.”

George’s oral history, however, has distinct limitations, and leaves one

wondering whether there are documents related to the show that he might have consulted.

Little light on ‘Bandstand’ conflict He mentions, all too briefly, Cornelius’ hope of securing a slot for Soul Train on CBS, NBC, or ABC, and his decision, born, no doubt, of necessity, to settle for syndication as the only alternative route to carving out a niche audience. In part because Cornelius did not want to talk about it, George sheds little light on Soul Train’s rivalry with American Bandstand.

He does not adequately document his claim that Dick Clark’s attempt in 1973 to launch Soul Unlimited, a Black-themed dance show designed to co-opt or kill Cornelius’ franchise, was stopped in its tracks by music industry powerhouse Clarence Avant (and the opposition of African-

American political leaders, including Jesse Jackson).

Nor is he able to explain why, for a brief period (1983-1986), Cornelius stopped his “love, peace, and soul” sign off, and featured a raft of White celebrities in cameos, videos, and studio performances, including the decidedly uncool country-rocker Don Henley, soap opera star Jack Wagner, and “Weird Al” Yankovic. And George does not follow up on Cornelius’ comment that he reaped no financial rewards for Soul Train’s international appeal, “and that takes us back to some of the money we weren’t able to make.”

Final episode in 2006 By the 1990s, Nelson points out, Soul Train seemed “locked into an outmoded Black hipness.”

Cornelius did not understand and did not approve of hip-hop and gangsta

‘Motown the Musical’ is Gordy’s life through song

BY GREG KOT CHICAGO TRIBUNE/MCT

How to tell the story of Berry Gordy, the visionary who signed and nurtured Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and countless other Motown hit-makers? The selfdescribed “bum with a dream” who built Motown Records into an empire?

When he looks back on the challenge facing him a few years ago, Charles Randolph-Wright smiles like a man who has acted, danced and directed all his adult life.

“Well, I wasn’t nervous,” says the director of “Motown the Musical,” which opened Tuesday at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre, the first stop on a national tour.

“But I never slept.”

Gordy, the play’s subject and driving force, chuckles like a proud uncle.

“It’s a big responsibility to get that story and articulate it,” Randolph-Wright continues. “It was daunting.”

The two men grew up 700 miles apart — Gordy from Detroit, RandolphWright from South Carolina — and are separated by a generation. Gordy is 84, Randolph-Wright, 57.

But on this day, they are dressed nearly identically in snappy gray suits and black, ankle-high boots.

They both look in fighting trim, Gordy as the former boxer, Randolph-Wright a professional dancer.

Extraordinary music It is a gray, cold March afternoon, and the partners are sitting in the basement of the Oriental Theatre, where rehearsals have just begun for the Chicago opening of “Motown the Musical.” It debuted last year on Broadway and was nominated for four Tony Awards, despite some mixed reviews.

The New York Times took issue with how the production tried to cram Gordy’s story into 2 1/2 hours with more than 50 songs. The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Jones lamented that Gordy’s desire to control the narrative limited the historical and cultural sweep that a more objective storyteller might have

Dr. Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He wrote this book review for the Florida Courier.

“The movie depicted me as a low-level hustler who did all this (illegal) stuff that people say I did” at Motown, Gordy says. “I didn’t want to constantly explain myself, but I had to put something out there that was real and true. When we put the show on Broadway, people related to it. The silent majority knows. It was an instant hit.”

But Gordy says he wasn’t striving to make a documentary. “We wanted to entertain,” he says. That means music, and lots of it, perhaps at the expense of character development and personal narrative.

Working with idol “Charles is a mini-me — we’re both misfits, we’re both dreamers,” Gordy says.

“I’m not the icon, the mogul that some people make me out to be. I’m that kid running around Detroit trying to get someone to believe in him. Charles could relate to that experience.”

“I completely understood him,” RandolphWright says. “As a kid, I idolized him. He presented one of the few images out there like that for a kid growing up” as part of the AfricanAmerican community.

Randolph-Wright moved from South Carolina in the late ‘70s to New York, where he won acting roles and later became a director in theater and movies.

rap. And so, at the start of the 1993-1994 season he announced that after 25 years, he was relinquishing his on camera role.

Soul Train soldiered on, until March 26, 2006, when its 1,117th and final episode was televised. Reruns of classic shows from the ‘70s and ‘80s remained in syndication; they served as testimony, George indicates, “to the truth that Soul Train’s past was richer than its present.”

And, as a recent retrospective, where performers shared stories and danced the night away, demonstrates, Soul Train still evokes “a warm looking back and a fun sense of nostalgia.”

Two stories JOHN J. KIM/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/MCT

Director Charles Randolph Wright, left, and Motown founder Berry Gordy pose for a photograph at the Oriental Theatre on March 19 in Chicago. The show “Motown the Musical” tells the story of Gordy and his studio’s unique sound. been able to achieve.

Yet even the critics agreed that the music was extraordinary — and how could it not be? Motown, the self-described “music of young America,” transcended generations with hits that ranged from the Temptations’ “My Girl” to the Four Tops’ “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

Based on Gordy’s book The play is based on Gordy’s 1994 autobiography, “To Be Loved,” a book notable primarily for its diplomacy. Gordy had been accused over the years of cheating his artists, paying

off radio stations to play his records and rubbing shoulders with the Mafia. But he used his book to make nice, express thanks and tell what is essentially a feelgood American-dream story.

After all, Gordy went from the streets to the penthouse by creating Motown with an $800 family loan in 1958, signed some of the most vital artists of the 20th century and 30 years later, sold the company for $61 million.

“He’s being very nice and congenial to everyone,” the Temptations’ Otis Williams told the Tribune at the time about his reaction to the book. “I thought he’d come out and say what he really felt. Some people — he speaks so nice about them, when I know it really isn’t

that way.”

Response to ‘Dreamgirls’ “Motown the Musical” adopts a similar tone as it skirts controversy and focuses on the successes, mostly musical. It was partially conceived as Gordy’s response to the hit 2006 Hollywood movie “Dreamgirls,” a fictional tale that closely resembled the Motown story, right down to the relationship between the record-company president, played by Jamie Foxx, and his Diana Ross-like protege, played by Beyonce.

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, Gordy and Ross were lovers and had a child together in 1971. The love affair is a key storyline in “Motown the Musical.”

Randolph-Wright acknowledges that his biggest challenge was “how to get the audience to understand a chapter in one or two lines.” But he discovered in working on the Broadway production that there was another element to the story he hadn’t originally considered.

“It’s actually two stories being told at the same time,” the director says. “The narrative is Berry’s journey. But it’s also the journey of the music as it relates to the audience.

“Something Berry kept saying to me is that the people in the audience have to have their memory. A scene happens, and a song comes on and it’s, ‘I met my wife to this song.’ My idols come to the show and say, ‘This is my life.’ There is this fusion. Every age, color and political orientation come together and have this journey.”

Florida dates are scheduled in 2015. For tour dates and cities, visit www.motownthemusical.com.

TOJ

APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

B3

FOOD

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

U

nforgettable summer moments are typically defined by family, friends and great weather — and made even more memorable by the meals. Take this summer to a new level of festive by adding fresh pops of color to everyday meals and outdoor celebrations.

Whether it’s an after-work steak on the grill, happy hour with your favorite chilled drinks or a frozen treat by the pool, ALDI has all the must-haves for a summer of color at prices up to 50 percent less than traditional grocers.

For inspiration, try these warm weather tips from food stylist and loyal ALDI shopper Janice Stahl: • Mason Jar Salad: Keep salads fresh and delicious by layering nutritious goodies in a mason jar. Start with dress­ing on the bottom, then layer veggies, cheese, lettuce and your favorite protein or topping. Everything stays separate and dressing-free until you toss the salad together in a bowl.

• Sweet Summertime: End your meal with a light but special sweet treat by serving fruit for dessert. Summer fruits can be baked, grilled, frozen or simply used as fresh pops of color on top of your favorite sorbet.

• A Toast to Summer: Raise a glass this summer in a toast to refreshing seasonal beverages for all ages. From the sunny yellow of lemonade to the ruby red of sangria, these drinks can double as centerpieces for all your back­yard get-togethers.

ALDI style tip: Fill ice cube trays with lemon juice, fruit or fruit juice to add to your drinks. This will help keep them from getting watered down as the ice melts.

With these simple tips and recipes, you’ll be ready to celebrate summertime anytime.

Visit www.aldi.us for more ideas.

RASPBERRY LEMONADE ICE CREAM CAKE Recipe courtesy of Chef Jonathan, ALDI Test Kitchen $0.31 per serving at ALDI Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 30 minutes, plus 2 hours to freeze Makes 8 servings Lemon Curd: 1/2 cup frozen lemonade concentrate 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided 2large eggs 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed, room temperature Cake: 1 cup vanilla ice cream, softened 1 cup raspberry sherbet, softened 4 ounces loaf cake, sliced To make lemon curd: In medium sauce pan, combine lemonade concentrate and 1/4 cup sugar, bring to boil. Continue cooking for 2 minutes. In medium bowl, whisk remain­ing sugar with eggs. Slowly temper lemonade mixture into eggs; whisking small amount in at a time until all of lemonade mixture is incorporated.

Return mixture to saucepan.

Slowly bring to simmer over medium heat and continue whisking until thick and resembles pudding, about 3 minutes. Strain lemon curd into medium bowl, place over bowl of ice water. Whisk butter into lemon curd, stirring every 5 minutes until mixture is reduced to room temper­ature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To assemble cake: Line one pound loaf pan with plastic wrap, spread vanilla ice cream on bottom, followed by raspberry sherbet, lemon curd and top with loaf cake slices. Cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 2 hours. To serve, invert cake and slice.

BROCCOLI SALAD WITH BACON & TOMATOES Recipe Courtesy of Chef Apdiel, ALDI Test Kitchen $1.05 per serving at ALDI Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 15 minutes Makes 8 servings 1 head broccoli 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled 1/2 cup chopped red onion 1/2cup raisins (optional) 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, cubed 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes 1 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons white vinegar 1/4 cup granulated sugar Salt, to taste Ground black pepper, to taste Wash broccoli thoroughly. Cut head into florets, and stem into small bite-sized pieces.

Place broccoli in medium bowl. Add crumbled bacon, onion, raisins, cheese and cherry tomatoes.

In small bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar.

Stir until sugar dis­solves. Add to broccoli mixture; toss until well coated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

PINEAPPLE MINT JALAPENO SMOOTHIE Recipe Courtesy of Chef Michelle, ALDI Test Kitchen $0.30 per serving at ALDI Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 10 minutes, plus two hours to freeze Makes 8 cups 1 pineapple, peeled and diced 8 mint sprigs 3/4 jalapeno, seeded 1 1/2 cups ice cubes In blender, puree all ingredients.

Pour into glass and enjoy.

SUMMER GRILLING TIPS • Prevent food from sticking by oiling your hot grill rack with an oil-soaked paper towel. Hold it with tongs and rub it over the rack.

• Before using a marinade, divide it into two containers. Use one part as a marinade and the other as a dipping sauce, once the food is cooked.

• Grill meat with a dry spice rub instead of a traditional sauce.

Supply a buffet of sauce choices that complement the rubs for guests to choose and try.

• Use cinnamon sticks in place of skewers when grilling fruit kabobs. These spicy skewers not only hold the fruit together, but also impart a bit of flavor as they caramelize on the grill.

HEALTH & SCIENCE

B4

APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

Astronomers discover another Earth-sized planet Scientists on mission to find more in a habitable zone

BY AMINA KHAN LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

LOS ANGELES — Sifting through observations from more than 100,000 distant stars, astronomers say they have discovered the first definitive Earthsized planet that orbits in a habitable zone where water could exist in liquid form — a necessary condition for life as we know it.

Scientists don’t know whether the planet has water or a protective atmosphere. They don’t even know its mass. But they said the landmark discovery gives astronomers great hope that a bumper crop of Earth-like planets is waiting to be found much closer to home, including around temperamental stars that until recently were considered inhospitable to life.

“This is really a tip-of-the-iceberg discovery,” said Jason Rowe, an astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., who spent a year analyzing data gathered by NASA’s Kepler space telescope and was part of a team that described the planet in the April 18 edition of the journal Science. After finding the planet known as Kepler-186f, “we can infer that other ones are likely to exist.” Locating them, he said, will be “the job of future missions.”

‘A close cousin’ It’s not quite an “Earth twin” — its parent star is a red dwarf, smaller and dimmer than the sun — but it’s clearly a close cousin, said study leader Elisa Quintana, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California. Finding it fulfills a major goal of the $600

million Kepler mission, which was rejected four times before it launched in 2009.

Scientists who were not involved in the new study lauded the find.

“This is an historic discovery,” said University of California, Berkeley, astronomer Geoffrey Marcy. “This is the best case for a habitable planet yet found. The results are absolutely rock solid.”

If such exoplanets do turn out to be common among the distant stars Kepler studies, astronomers should be able to find plenty of them closer to home, the thinking goes. Future NASA missions will enable scientists to determine which planets have the strongest signs of water and lifefriendly atmospheres.

Planet size matters The discovery marks a milestone in the quest to find planets that are not just Earth-sized, but truly Earth-like, said Doug Hudgins, NASA’s program scientist for the Kepler mission in Washington.

Out of 1,800 or so confirmed planets outside the solar system, fewer than two dozen sit in a habitable zone, where it’s not so hot that water would boil off into space and not so cold that it would remain permanently locked in ice. And none of them are as close in size to Earth as Kepler-186f, which has a diameter only 10 percent larger.

Size is a critically important factor, scientists said: If a planet is about 50 percent wider than Earth, and if it’s packing a lot of mass, its gravity could attract an envelope of hydrogen and helium, shrouding the surface in a gassy atmosphere that’s too thick for Earth-like life.

490 light-years away Kepler-186f may be close to Earth’s size, but it’s hardly close

by: It sits about 490 light-years away. It circles its home star, Kepler-186 in the constellation Cygnus, in just 130 days.

The orbit of Kepler-186f would fit inside that of sun-seared Mercury. But since its star gives off less energy than our sun, it is still safely ensconced in a habitable zone.

Scientists have argued that Mdwarf stars such as Kepler-186 may not be particularly hospitable to life, since they tend to produce more flares and damaging radiation than larger and brighter G-type stars such as our sun. But this particular planet appears to sit out of harm’s way, and its star is relatively quiet. As a result, Kepler-186f highlights the diversity of potentially habitable planets, expanding the definition beyond worlds circling stars like our sun.

“I believe that planets are very diverse and a whole range of them could be habitable,” said Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not involved in the study.

Mild climate possible That’s an encouraging sentiment, given that planets like Kepler-186f could be easier to find than planets exactly like Earth.

Before it was hobbled last year by a broken gyroscope that robbed it of its precision-pointing ability, the Kepler telescope stared at a patch of roughly 150,000 stars and watched for dips in the starlight as planets passed in front.

Based on how frequently such dips in starlight appear, scientists can calculate how quickly a planet is circling — and thus, how close to its star it must be. They can estimate a planet’s size by measuring the depth of the shadow it casts on its star.

Close-in planets with shorter orbits complete these transits

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Kepler-186 system Orbit of Kepler-186f is near the outer edge of the habitable zone.

Kepler-186f 10 percent larger than Earth

Sizes to scale

Habitable zones

Solar system

Earth

Mercury

Venus

NOTE: Orbits to scale Source: NASA Ames Research Center/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech Graphic: Raoul Ranoa, Los Angeles Times

more often, which makes them easier to find. Around our sun, those planets would be baked.

But around a red dwarf like Kepler-186, the climate could still be mild.

Such planets are also easier to find because they block relatively more of their stars’ light. And given that M-dwarf stars account for 70 percent of the stars in the Milky Way, there could be billions of Earth-sized planets in the galaxy waiting to be discovered.

More closer to home?

Assuming that 10 percent of M-dwarfs within 100 light-years of us have an Earth-sized planet in a habitable zone, there could be 10 to 20 in that relatively close range, Rowe said.

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, set for launch in 2017, could look for such planets closer to

© 2014 MCT

home. And the infrared-sensitive James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, will be able to isolate the signature of water and other molecules necessary for life in the atmospheres of nearby planets.

In that context, Kepler-186f is a sign that scientists are homing in on the answers to fundamental questions about life in the universe.

“Whether we are an extremely rare fluke — a phenomenon that only happens once in a universe — or in a galaxy teeming with life is a very basic question not only of science, but of our existence,” said Dimitar Sasselov, a planetary astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who was not involved in the study. It’s “the first time in human history we have a good shot at answering that question, and that’s very exciting.”

Rail workers’ health issues a growing safety concern

MCT

On average, Americans eat about 27 pounds of rice a year. Of that, about 70 percent is enriched white rice grown in the United States.

Study: Americans who eat rice regularly have healthier diets

BY DEBBIE ARRINGTON SACRAMENTO BEE/MCT

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

— A new study confirmed what billions of people know: Rice goes a long way in a healthy diet.

Americans who consumed rice regularly tended to have healthier diets overall, according to new research.

In a study published online in the peer-reviewed journal “Food and Nutrition Sciences,” lead author Theresa Nicklas of Baylor College of Medicine analyzed seven years of data collected in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The sample included 14,386 adults and what

they ate from 2005 to 2010.

Nicklas and her team evaluated the association of rice consumption with overall diet quality and key nutrient intakes.

More rice, more veggies What they found: Consumers who ate more rice tended to get more nutrients while eating less fat and added sugar. They also tended to eat more fruit and vegetables.

“Our results show that adults who eat rice had diets more consistent with what is recommended in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, and they showed higher amounts of potassium, magnesium, iron, folate and fiber while eating

less saturated fat and added sugars,” Nicklas said.

“Eating rice is also associated with eating more servings of fruit, vegetables, meat and beans.”

On average, Americans eat about 27 pounds of rice a year. Of that, about 70 percent is enriched white rice.

Most of that rice was grown in the USA; American farmers grow an estimated 20 billion pounds of rice a year, according to the USA Rice Federation.

California, the No. 2 ricegrowing state, annually accounts for about 4.5 billion pounds, mostly shortgrained rice. Virtually every piece of sushi made in the U.S. contains California-grown rice.

BY DAN WEIKEL LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

more rigorous medical testing of train crews.

Visibility was 10 miles and the morning sun had pushed the temperature close to 90 as Danny Joe Hall guided his mile-long Union Pacific freight train east through the grasslands of the Oklahoma Panhandle.

Near the farming town of Goodwell, federal investigators said, the 56-year-old engineer sped through a series of yellow and red signals warning him to slow down and stop for a Los Angelesbound train moving slowly onto a side track.

The 83-mph collision killed Hall and two crewmen. Dozens of freight cars derailed, and the resulting inferno sent towers of black smoke over the plains, prompting the evacuation of a nearby trailer park.

As it turned out, Hall was colorblind.

Not getting fixed

Vision problems The National Transportation Safety Board’s subsequent probe of the June 2012 wreck faulted the engineer’s deteriorating eyesight and inadequate medical screening that failed to fully evaluate his vision problems.

But the Goodwell crash underscored a far larger concern: Railroads are the only mode of U.S. commercial transportation without national requirements for thorough, regular health screenings to identify worker ailments and medications that could compromise public safety.

Crash investigations have linked train accidents to railway workers’ health problems. The Goodwell crash and a rear-end collision in Iowa in 2011 that killed an engineer and conductor are among those that authorities believe could have been prevented with

Federal investigators are examining whether an engineer’s severe case of undiagnosed sleep apnea — a condition that can cause fatigue — contributed to last year’s derailment of a New York commuter train that killed four passengers and injured 59. Union and legal representatives of the engineer have said he either nodded off or went into a daze before heading into a 30-mph curve at 82 mph.

The NTSB found that the engineer’s doctors never evaluated him for the condition, and medical guidelines provided to employees by the Metro-North Railroad did not mention sleep disorders.

“The problems are not getting fixed, and more significant risks could occur as the population of railroad workers ages,” said Mark Rosekind, an NTSB board member.

In contrast, airline pilots, truckers, bus drivers and maritime professionals must undergo medical examinations with stricter requirements annually or every few years. In those industries, more frequent evaluations are required for workers over 40 or who have chronic medical conditions that can worsen.

Pushed for standards Severe allergies, heart disease, poor vision, sleep disorders and diabetes — as well as use of medicines with serious side effects — are among the health issues that can disqualify workers if the conditions can’t be adequately controlled.

Since 1988, the NTSB has pushed unsuccessfully for similar standards for more than 100,000 locomotive engineers, con-

ductors and other railway workers. But the Federal Railroad Administration, which oversees the industry, has balked at imposing mandatory, comprehensive medical requirements.

Working with unions and carriers, the FRA has opted for non-mandatory education programs for rail workers, formal advisory notices and other strategies to reduce risks associated with health problems.

“The FRA is committed to ensuring that train operators are fit for duty,” said agency spokesman Kevin F. Thompson. The administration “continues to work with labor and industry to comprehensively address standardized medical practices.”

Exams required Railroads typically require physical exams when someone is offered a job, as well as after an extended medical leave or when an employee’s health is questioned at work. In addition, railroad medical departments offer wellness programs.

Some rail carriers, either on their own or after NTSB crash investigations, have voluntarily adopted measures that exceed federal standards, including obtaining medical histories of employees and educating workers about sleep disorders and medications. Amtrak, for example, requires annual medical examinations for engineers.

The FRA’s Thompson said current regulations and voluntary industry screening programs have contributed to a steady decline in railroad accidents. The last two years have been among the safest for the industry, and Thompson noted that no fatal train wrecks linked to the health problems of train operators occurred between 2002 and 2010.

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APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

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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.

matt

cassandra The Florida Courier celebrates Cassandra Cherry-Kittles on her April 26 birthday.

Cassandra is a managing member of the Central Florida Communicators Group, the company that owns the Florida Courier and sister newspaper, the Daytona Times. A 1985 graduate of Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University), Cassandra is on the editorial staff and serves as the newspapers’ proofreader. She can be reached at kittlesc@bellsouth.net.

Matt Young, a web administrator with the Florida Courier, is a graphic designer, web developer, deejay, and volunteer in the Tampa Bay community. The Courier celebrates “Matt D’’ on his 55th birthday on April 25. Matt is a senior principle with The Write Type Design Studio. He can be reached at designz@ thewritetype.com.

Ebony magazine names FAMU grad Mitzi Miller as editor-in-chief

CHICAGO – Desiree Rogers, CEO of Johnson Publishing Company (JPC), has named Mitzi Miller as editor-in-chief of Ebony magazine.

Miller, most recently served as editor-in-chief of JET magazine, a post she had held since May 2011. Wendy Wilson, the current managing editor of JET magazine, will now oversee the day-to-day operations of JET magazine.

“Mitzi is a gifted editor with tremendous energy and passion, and her strong editorial background will catapult the Ebony brand to greater heights,” said Rogers. “We are thrilled to have Mitzi in our JPC family and are excited to see the new direction she will bring to the magazine.”

“I am extremely humbled to be trusted with the responsibility of leading the number one African-American publication in the country,” said Miller. “Amy Barnett is an exceptional editor, and I am honored to succeed her as editor-in-chief at Ebony. I am excited about all the possibilities as I assume my new role.”

Veteran magazine editor While at the helm of JET magazine, Miller revamped the iconic 62-year-old brand with the magazine’s first and only successful redesign, re-launch of the JET website and an increased social media presence. An award-winning journalist and bestselling author of five books, Miller is regularly a featured guest on several national television programs, including ABC’s “Good Morning America,’’ TV One’s “News One Now with Roland Martin,’’ MSNBC’s “Melissa Harris-Perry’’ and CNN’s “CNN Newsroom.’’

Prior to joining JET, Miller served as the editor-in-chief of SET Magazine. A former associate editor at Jane Magazine, she began her editorial career in 2001 at Honey magazine.

Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida A&M University and currently sits on the Jack & Jill of America Foundation Board. Her recent accolades include recognition among The Root 100 honorees for 2013, Florida A&M University’s 125 Outstanding Alumni of the Quasquicentennial, and Crain’s Chicago Business Magazine’s 2011 40 Under 40 roster.

Miller succeeds Amy DuBois Barnett, who is leaving EBONY after serving as editor-in-chief since 2010.

the trouble-free “boondocks” of a comfortable suburb.

In those sedate surroundings, Granddad hopes he can shirk his child-raising burdens in favor of full-time sloth and partying.

Needless to say, his grandkids disrupt those plans.

Riley is a rambunctious 8-year-old product of rap culture. His 10-year-old brother, Huey, is a budding revolutionary, a dead-serious left-wing radical who serves as the series’ conscience. (Regina King of “Southland” and “Ray” voices the brothers, while John Witherspoon of “Friday After Next” is Granddad.)

“It was important to offend, but equally important to offend for the right reasons,” McGruder explained on Facebook last month, speaking of the series’ first three seasons, when “I personally navigated this show through the minefields of controversy.”

‘Black Jesus’ coming

Aaron McGruder’s “The Boondocks’’ TV show was created from his popular comic strip.

‘Bookdocks’ returns to air on Mondays without McGruder

BY FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK – The brash animated series “The Boondocks” returns to the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim for its fourth and final season without Aaron McGruder, the man who spawned it, but with its brashness intact.

A future episode even spoofs “Breaking Bad.” The weekly episodes air Mondays at 10:30 p.m. Adapted

by McGruder in 2005 from his comic strip of the same name, “The Boondocks” quickly distinguished itself for its pull-no-punches exploration of the Black experience in the U.S., where living, making a living and just growing up can pose special challenges for African-Americans.

With its beautiful anime style but tough subjects and rough language, the series ruffled feathers while winning acclaim, including an NAACP Image Award.

It also won the prestigious Peabody Award in 2007 for an episode that found Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awakening from a decades-long “coma” into a modern world that both disturbed and disappointed him for its lack of social progress.

‘No sacred topics’

Mitzi Miller most recently was editor of JET.

The series “throws edgy, irreverent comment at some of the thorniest issues of our time,” the Peabody committee said in its citation. “Race relations, racial identity, juvenile delinquency — there are no sacred topics here.”

“The Boondocks” centers on cranky, self-involved Robert “Granddad” Freeman, the legal (but highly irresponsible) guardian of two grandsons who has moved them from Chicago’s inner city to what he fancies as

McGruder has since departed after “a mutually agreeable production schedule could not be determined,” according to Adult Swim.

But he’s preparing something new for the network as he puts “a life of controversy and troublemaking behind me,” he said — surely with tongue in cheek — in his Facebook statement. His new project: a live-action scripted comedy called “Black Jesus,” with Jesus living in modern-day Compton, Calif., as he attempts to spread love and kindness through this troubled neighborhood. It is scheduled to premiere later this year.

Meanwhile, even in McGruder’s absence, “The Boondocks” isn’t playing it safe or just for laughs.

In a future episode, Granddad learns he’s broke.

“I’d say you have six months before you and your grandkids are homeless and starving,” his financial planner informs him, then, pondering what funds Granddad might generate, inquires, “How many kidneys do you have?”

Hair-raising episode Huey’s chemistry project (which in fact is an effort to make an explosive material for building bombs) turns out to be the goldmine Granddad has dreamed of: This pink goop turns out to be the world’s best hair-wave cream. It doesn’t just straighten existing hair, it’s megaRogaine, growing beautifully lustrous straight hair overnight.

There’s just one hitch, as Huey is quick to warn Granddad: With a single spark, the stuff explodes on your head.

Will this stop Granddad from cashing in on his miracle product — or getting tangled up in the dangerous black market of the hair-care industry?

It’s a clever parable with a lot to say about human vanity (the risk of death pales beside the promise of great hair), and about the readiness of consumer products to exploit that vanity.

And it’s told as an homage to the crystal-meth underworld explored by “Breaking Bad,” including some shotfor-shot sequences borrowed from that AMC drama’s famous pilot episode, here with Granddad (not Walter White) as a would-be drug lord in his tighty-whities, cooking contraband wave cream (not “blue sky” meth) in the desert in his motor home.

As ever on “The Boondocks,” the sparks will fly.

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APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2014

STOJ