Florida Courier - June 03, 2016

FC

EE FR

PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID DAYTONA BEACH, FL PERMIT #189

www.flcourier.com

CELEBRATING OUR 10TH YEAR STATEWIDE!

What you should know about this hurricane season Page A3, B1, B2, B3, B4 www.flcourier.com

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

VOLUME 24 NO. 23

ADVENTURE IN ASIA Here’s a recap of President Obama’s challenging trip to the Far East.

BY CHRISTI PARSONS TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU / TNS

President Obama’s trip to former enemy nations in Asia got off to a bad start last week when, just after he announced a grand gesture of reconciliation with Vietnam, he learned that its communist government was intimidating dissidents he had invited to meet with him privately.

Obama fumed over the mat-

More drama on ‘The Hill’ FAMU prez faces more questions

BY MARGIE MENZEL THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

FLORIDA COURIER / 10TH STATEWIDE ANNIVERSARY

NBA championship loss; Obama criticized U.S. POSTAGE PAID DAYTONA BEACH, FL PERMIT #189

State law extends unemployment checks for 20 extra weeks A3

METRO Plenty of strikes: Black bowlers convene in South Florida B1

EE

PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL

FR

TALLAHASSEE – After barely surviving an attempt by members of the Florida A&M University Board of Trustees to oust her last fall, President Elmira Mangum is in the midst of an evaluation process that could end with her leaving the post she has held for two years.

A special committee will take up her evaluation June 9 ahead of a Board of Trustees meeting.

Mangum’s contract calls for a three-year term that began April 1, 2014. It requires her and the board to “confer no later than June 30, 2016 regarding the renewal or extension” of the contract. If that does not occur, “the parties agree to allow the natural expiration of the term of the agreement regarding Dr. Mangum’s service as president.”

Eight of FAMU’s 13 trustees are new, appointed by Gov. Rick Scott or the Florida Board of Governors – which oversees the state university system – over the last six months.

Alan Levine, a member of the Board of Governors, said the new trustees were chosen with an eye toward moving past previous conflicts that have led to controversies involving the FAMU board.

The sight bolstered Obama’s impulse in his final years in office to write U.S. foreign policy in bolder strokes. His trip to Vietnam and Japan shaped up as a testament to his inclination to push forward while setting aside Greeted by millions criticism, as the normally cool More than 2 million Vietnampresident repeatedly confrontese people, young and old, lined ed both complaints and deeply the streets to welcome Americans emotional situations. back to Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, many of them campTaking responsibility ing out overnight despite the govThe most powerful sign of ernment’s decree that such an asObama’s reach for history came sembly would not be allowed.

THORSTEN GUTSCHALK/ACTION PRESS/ZUMA PRSS/TNS “It was like a ray of light,” said at the end of the week, when he stood in front of the people of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Obama, and Japan’s one Obama administration offiHiroshima to own responsibiliPrime Minister Shinzo Abe plant a tree in the garden of the Ise cial who was in the presidential See OBAMA, Page A2 Shrine during the G7 summit on May 26 in Ise-Shima, Japan. motorcade.

ter on his way out of Hanoi and his aides voiced his fury to their counterparts, but they soon encountered what they took as a heartening sign.

JUNE 5 - JUNE 11, 2009

VOLUME 17 NO. 23S

‘HERE’S WHAT I’VE DONE FOR YOU LATELY’ COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

On the heels of criticism of Black college funding cuts, complaints from Black business owners trying to land stimulus contracts, and the limited impact in Black communities of billions in stimulus money, the Obama administration released a special report listing at least 100 projects funded by the $787 billion economic stimulus it beOLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT lieves benefits Black America.

SNAPSHOTS FINEST | B3

Before going abroad to try to forge common ground between Israel and the Muslim world, President Obama lists 100 projects he says benefit Black America Log on to www.flcourier.com to read the full “100 Projects” report.

The report was sent from Corey Ealons, the president’s director of African-American media, in the form of a news release headlined “President Obama Marks 100 Days of Recovery

With ‘100 Projects, 100 Days’ Report.”

It comes after Obama’s education budget cut $85 million in grants to historically Black colleges and universities nation-

wide, and in the wake of last month’s press conference during which President Obama was asked what his administration would do about the rising rate of Black male unemployment that reached 50 percent in New York City in 2006.

His generally non-responsive answer, including his conclusion that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” drew widespread criticism from Black-owned media, columnists and bloggers around

2009 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP / ORLANDO VS. LOS ANGELES

It’s on like popcorn in O-town

Meet Payando Laydy FLORIDA | A3

COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville announced that she plans on forming an exploratory committee to help determine if she will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Mel Martinez.

Her congressional colleague and fellow FAMU graduate, Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, is the consensus Democratic frontrunner thus far for the Senate seat. And with Meek vacating his seat in a district with a large bloc of HaitianAmerican voters, the race to replace him could yield the first Haitian-American elected to Congress.

FAMU president gets six-figure bonus as school suffers budget cuts NATION | A6

Running on her record?

Black minister becomes mayor of infamous Mississippi city

READ IT ONLINE JACOB LANGSTON/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT

Sharing Black Life, Statewide

See FAMU, Page A2

‘Run, Corrine, run?’

Brown considers Senate as fight for Meek’s old seat heats up

Not dysfunctional “I think FAMU today’s got one of the strongest boards in the country,” he told The News Service of Florida last week. “The issue of board dysfunction is off the table. … It’s just not something that can be used as an excuse going forward.”

Meanwhile, petitions and opinion columns addressing the president’s evaluation have appeared in Florida newspapers and online.

Mangum had a column in Friday’s Tampa Bay Times touting her achievements. “We are, once again, becoming the school of

Please see OBAMA, Page A2

www.flcourier.com

Free Download

Reaching Florida’s Growing Black Consumer Marketplace

www.flcourier.com

by Dr. Glenn Cherry

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard shoots over the Los Angeles Lakers’ Pau Gasol during a 2008 game. The two will go at it again this week for a championship ring. See Page B5 for a story on the Magic’s journey to the Finals.

“I just think the state needs more than someone who’s there to talk a great game, smile and take pictures, but the key is to deliver for the people of Florida,” Brown told the St. Petersburg Times last week.

In a separate written statement, she said, “I’m proud of my record fighting – and delivering – for Florida families and I believe that record stands out among all of the candidates.

I have helped create tens of thousands of jobs, brought your tax dollars back home to Florida, worked to improve education by hiring Please see BROWN, Page A2

Statistical information provided by The Media Audit Survey/January 2005-March 2006

SNAPSHOTS COMMENTARY | A4

Donovan Livingston ‘raps’ his Harvard graduation speech NATION | A6

College course to explore Pinckney’s legacy Veterans exposed to toxic gas denied benefits

ALSO INSIDE

Doctor’s murder puts focus on abortion, extremism COMPILED FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WICHITA, KAN. – With one bullet, a gunman ended George Tiller’s life and the controversial career of an abortion doctor who had been a target for years, killing him as he stood in the foyer of his church last week. The crime has drawn the condemnation and outrage from President Obama

and strong emotions across the nation.

Tiller, 67, was shot once just after 10 a.m. Sunday as he stood in the lobby of Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was serving as an usher. The gunman threatened to shoot two men who tried to apprehend him.

Using a license plate number witnesses provided of the getaway car, police arrested Scott Roeder, 51, along Interstate 35 about

four hours after the shooting. Roeder was charged Tuesday with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

Constant target Tiller and his clinic have faced continuous threats and legal action. A Wichita jury ruled in March that he was not guilty of illegal abortion on 19 criminal

charges he faced for allegedly violating a state law requiring an “independent” second physician’s concurring opinion before performing later term abortions.

Immediately following the ruling in this criminal case, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts made public MIKE HUTMACHER/WICHITA EAGLE/MCT a similar complaint against Dr. George Tiller was fatally shot on Sunday, May Tiller that was originally 31, during church services at Reformation Lutheran Please see ABORTION, Page A2

Church in Wichita, Kansas.

ALSO FLORIDA | FORECLOSURES IN STATE HAVE MOVED BEYOND SUB-PRIME LOANS | A3 INSIDE EDITORIAL | CHARLES W. CHERRY II: MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4

Seven years ago, the Florida Courier followed the Orlando Magic’s losing effort in the National Basketball Association finals, and examined President Obama’s mixed record regarding issues of importance to Black America.

Jones High School Marching Tigers Band students Xavier Thomas and Vincent Simon lay a wreath at the Florida wall of the National World War II Monument.

Orlando’s Jones High band makes whirlwind tour of D.C. WASHINGTON – After performing in Monday’s 2016 National Memorial Day Parade – the largest such parade in the country – members of Orlando’s Jones High School Marching Tigers Band toured many of the city’s historical sites before returning home.

In addition to marching in the parade, the Jones band visited the White House; memorials dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial; the National Archives; the Smithsonian Institution’s Air & Space Museum; the National World War II Monument; Arlington National Cemetery; and the Smithsonian Institution’s American History and Natural History museums.

“Such a rich experience with history and culture is certain to be life-changing for the students and provide an educational opportunity that goes beyond the brick and mortar classroom,” said Jamaal W. Nicholas, Jones High’s director of bands.

Inspiring for 66 years The Jones High band program was founded in 1950 by James W. “Chief” Wilson. Since then, it has served as a vehicle for community uplift and inspiration for thousands of Orlando high school musicians. Located in Orlando’s Parramore district, 89 percent of Jones High students receive subsidized school lunches.

“The invitation to participate in the 2016 National Memorial Day Parade is a very high accomplishment for the Jones High School band program,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer noted.

“The selection committee wrote that it was ‘impressed by the Band’s background and credentials.’ This prestigious invitation…honors our city through the recognition of the band’s student members, director, parents and supporters.”

COMMENTARY: A. PETER BAILEY: BROWN VS. BOARD’S PSYCHOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC DAMAGE | A4 COMMENTARY: GLENN ELLIS: PTSD IS COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN AMERICA’S ‘WAR ZONES’ | A5

FOCUS

A2

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

About Christians and Buffaloes I hope all military veterans and their families enjoyed the recent Memorial Day celebrations honoring men and women that served their country in the armed services.

My father, Lucius Gantt, was a United States Army technical sergeant in the 949th Air Engineering Squadron.

There were no books written or movies made about his military service or contributions. My dad never sat down and told me about his war time exploits. He, like many other Black servicemen and women, was honorably discharged but felt he was treated dishonorably.

Never told me You see, I never knew anything about my father’s service until after his death. His brother, my Uncle Arthur Gantt told me my dad served in an all-Black unit, the Tuskegee Airmen!

Lucius Gantt was an aircraft

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

mechanic that made it possible for the Black airmen to fly the rickety, handed-down planes that flew historic missions that you hear about and watch movies about.

After his military discharge, he and the other Black aircraft mechanics had to find any kind of work that they could. Other less talented non-Blacks were quickly hired by commercial airlines, got paid high salaries, and had successful careers.

I’m a soldier My dad’s life encouraged me to be a soldier! I was never in the United States Armed Forces, but I have always been a soldier in God’s Army!

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1-4, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

Once I was able to witness Satanic forces all around me, my family and my community, I was compelled to become a member of God’s Army to fight devilish, evil and wicked individuals and ideas wherever they presented themselves!

Instead of fighting for colonialism, exploitation, oppression, oil, minerals and money, I decided as a very young man to fight for equal rights, justice, economic independence and political power and respect.

I am not only a Christian soldier. I am also in a long line of Buffalo Soldiers.

Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the U.S. 10th Calvary Regiment of the U. S. Army, formed on September 21, 1866

at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. This nickname was given to the “Negro Calvary” by the Native American tribes they fought in the Indian Wars. The term eventually became synonymous with all of the African-American regiments formed in 1866.

Became the hunted In September 1867, Private John Randall of Troop G of the 10th Cavalry Regiment was assigned to escort two civilians on a hunting trip. The hunters suddenly became the hunted when a band of 70 Cheyenne warriors swept down on them.

The two civilians quickly fell in the initial attack and Randall’s horse was shot out from beneath him. Randall managed to scramble to safety and fended off the attack with only his pistol and 17 rounds of ammunition until help from the nearby camp arrived.

The Cheyenne beat a hasty retreat, leaving behind 13 fallen warriors. Private Randall suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder and 11 lance wounds, but recovered.

The Cheyenne quickly spread word of this new type of soldier, “who had fought like a cornered buffalo; who like a buffalo had

OBAMA from A1

ty for the world’s only uses of nuclear weapons seven decades ago and to promise to pursue a new alliance against the use of such military might in the future.

Despite the resolve, the week leading up to that memorable ending was filled with internal White House drama as the president and his aides encountered a series of ups and downs.

Early in the weeklong trip, the traveling White House was irritable over coverage of Obama’s lifting of a half-century-old arms embargo against Vietnam.

Aides objected to reports that suggested Obama had given up too much without extracting human rights concessions from President Tran Dai Quang’s government, which has a record of harsh treatment of journalists, activists and government critics.

Then, just after arriving in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, one of

Obama’s strongest international allies, confronted him aggressively in public with a contentious complaint about the slaying of a woman in Okinawa.

A former member of the U.S. military has been accused in her death, spurring widespread outrage in the country and resurrecting the longstanding tension over the U.S. military presence there.

Defends drones In the same news conference, Obama visibly bristled at a question on whether he worried about handing over to a new president the drone killing program he has so dramatically expanded. The question was prompted

by Obama’s order to use an armed drone to kill the leader of the Afghan Taliban as he traveled in Pakistan, a sovereign country where Obama did not ask permission to strike.

In an implicit nod to the history between the U.S. and Vietnam, the country he’d left hours earlier, Obama argued that there were “few parallels” be-

tween the U.S. deploying a half-million troops to Asia during the war there and the strikes he has taken against terrorists trying to kill Americans.

The difference, he suggested, is one of proportion, even though he maintained his responsibility to use U.S. power to protect Americans.

“There are going to still be times where our U.S. fighting forces have to be deployed or have to take actions,” Obama said.

“And we have to do so in a way that is prudent, that is proportional, and that is mindful of the fact that any kinetic action, no matter how targeted and how justified, also can create tragedy.”

Hiroshima and U.S. military power were on his mind as he answered, he revealed.

“One of the things that I hope to reflect on when I’m in Hiroshima, and certainly something I reflected on when I was in Vietnam, is just a reminder that war involves suffering, and we should always do what we can to prevent it,” he said.

Just like Private Randall, I’ve been hated, attacked, battered, bruised, rejected, fired and even given up for dead. But I keep fighting and I never give up, just like the Buffalo Soldiers did in days of old!

If you want to be a soldier today, don’t fight for imperialism.

Don’t fight for gang colors. Don’t fight for mob or “dope boy” territory. Don’t fight over the “cat!”

Fight for what is right. Fight for your family, your community and for yourself!

I respect the veterans of all wars, foreign and domestic, that fight against devilish perpetrators – both foreign and domestic!

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.

“Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants. net. Click on this story at www. flcourier.com to write your own response.

FAMU choice for students across this nation,” she wrote.

Gregory Clark, the new president of FAMU’s alumni association, wrote in Saturday’s Tallahassee Democrat that board Vice Chairman Kelvin Lawson, who made a motion to fire Mangum in October, should become chairman.

“Lawson has demonstrated an ability to lead in the face of significant adversity, including matters related to the president’s office,” Clark wrote. “I believe, if it is possible, that he will be the chair who can finally achieve some progress regarding the president’s evaluation, which has made his board tenure a constant challenge.”

Consistent criticism

Online support

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

Never give up

have been coming out,” Tallahassee attorney and FAMU alumnus Chuck Hobbs said. “From a budgetary standpoint, the ship seems to be righted.”

from A1

This month, Florida A&M University’s Board of Trustees will discuss whether to allow President Elmira Mangum’s three-year contract to expire next April without being renewed.

suffered wound after wound, yet had not died; and who like a buffalo had a thick and shaggy mane of hair.”

An online petition said trustees should not destabilize FAMU by removing its sixth president since 2001. The petition, which was also sent to members of the Legislature, had drawn more than 700 signatures by Tuesday afternoon.

“Dr. Elmira Mangum’s leadership at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University has brought stability to our alma mater,” it said. “Despite the consistent resistance to change by the previous members of the FAMU Board of Trustees during her two years in office, our 11th and 1st female president has begun to implement the changes necessary to turn FAMU around.”

When Mangum was hired, the university was recovering from the near-loss of its accreditation due to a series of questionable audits and the hazing death of a student. Many blamed the rapid succession of presidents for the difficulties.

“There’s a lot of excitement among Rattler Nation with respect to the fact that there is a lack of deficiency audits that

Difficult speech Indeed, aides said, Obama was wrestling with what to say in Hiroshima, where on Friday he became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site of the world’s first nuclear attack. An estimated 140,000 died instantly or of the aftereffects of the atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, that helped bring about the end of World War II. Obama cast aside his early version of the speech he planned to give, which employed trademark Obama oratorical devices like telling the personal stories of victims and outlining the way forward.

He wanted more of an elegy, he told Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser who was helping him write the address.

Rhodes took it apart and began to piece together a new draft.

Losing a friend As he did, Obama’s mood was darkened by heartbreaking personal news. Cassandra Butts, a close classmate in law school and friend to him

But Mangum also has been repeatedly criticized for poor communication with the Board of Trustees. And despite the influx of new members, trustees still say she fails to inform them of key decisions.

In March, for instance, Mangum reassigned members of her leadership team, demoting the vice president for finance and administration. She did not notify trustees despite seeing them shortly before the changes were announced.

And at a May 11 meeting of the special committee on presidential evaluation, trustees said they were troubled by the lack of measurable goals Mangum submitted as part of the process.

The president asked the panel to meet with her again, as she was unclear about their expectations.

The special committee granted the request, Mangum said, and will meet on June 9.

“We’ve got a lot of new board members, and I think it’s important for us to have some common understanding around what the (evaluation) instruments mean, what the expectations are,” she said. “Because I don’t know that they know each other yet. So it would be good for them to know me.”

‘Build those relations’ Levine said he would support the trustees’ decision either way.

“A relationship between a president and a board is not just the board’s responsibility,” he said.

“I would encourage the president to continue to reach out to the board and continue to build those relations, because 80 percent of being a great leader is having the relationships, both with your board and with your stakeholders.”

and First Lady Michelle Obama, was found dead in her Washington home after a brief illness.

Butts was a trusted confidant who first met Obama in the financial aid office when they were at Harvard Law School in the late 1980s and early ’90s. After Obama was elected to the Senate in 2004, she took a leave from her think-tank job to help him set up his office.

Obama was somber and unsmiling as he met Thursday and Friday with other global leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Ise-Shima, Japan, rewriting his Hiroshima speech three times during breaks.

He forced a brief smile for the G7 group photo.

Finally, he headed to Hiroshima, the last stop on a trip that likely will only be long remembered for what happened there. Rhodes furiously incorporated Obama’s final changes into his remarks while the president spoke to Marines just before taking a helicopter ride to the memorial in Hiroshima, near the river that victims plunged themselves into to escape

the heat and flames of the explosion.

Obama took a paper copy to the lectern to speak.

“We have known the agony of war,” Obama said.

“Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons.”

Fateful meeting Afterward, he met one bent and scarred survivor, an elderly man who was a young engineering student when the blast of the bomb burnt his entire body.

Sunao Tsuboi, white scars across his face, cane in hand, greeted the president with a warm smile and immediately launched into a welcome that Obama interpreted mainly through body language.

Speaking in Japanese with no pause for his translator, Tsuboi gestured broadly toward the sky as he spoke and gazed warmly at the president, Obama later told aides.

One phrase made it into English: “I have been waiting so long for you to come here.”

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS

A3

Four to eight hurricanes predicted for 2016 season

BY JENNY STALETOVICH MIAMI HERALD/TNS

MIAMI — Normal could still be bad.

Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast an average number of storms for the Atlantic hur-

ricane season, with 10 to 16 named storms, four to eight hurricanes and one to four major storms packing winds over 110 mph.

“This is the season to be sure you’re ready for hurricanes and not banking on statistical odds,” NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sul-

livan said at the agency’s briefing in Maryland.

While they expect a 70 percent chance of the season playing out near nor-

mal, Sullivan said several factors make the prediction more uncertain.

New satellite Forecasters believe a La Nina, which can fuel storms, has a good chance of forming during peak storm months in August and September, so the back half of the season could be busier.

The outcome of a natural variation in Atlantic water temperatures that occurs over long periods of time, called the multi-decadal oscillation, is also uncertain, Sullivan said. Forecasters believe the oscillation may be transitioning to cooler temperatures, which would tamp down storms.

But it’s not yet clear.

Armed with a suite of new tools, including a powerful new satellite, Sullivan said NOAA forecasters will be better able to forecast storms and issue warnings, including storm surge and flooding that cause the most storm-related deaths.

NOAA advances

THERE FOR YOU,

IN GOOD WEATHER AND BAD. When you live and work here, reliability is more than just a job. It’s what drives us. At FPL, we keep our eye on the big picture, to be ready for you in good weather and bad.

We train, plan, and prepare all year so that once the storm does pass, we can help get your life back to normal, fast.

Storm season is here. We’re ready. Are you?

To see how you can prepare, visit FPL.com/Storm

A new GOES-R weather satellite set to launch later this year will provide images of the earth every 30 seconds, scanning the planet five times faster than current satellites to provide more robust data for storm models.

Improved super-computing ability that has helped hurricane forecasters improve predictions by 20 percent in the last five years.

Improvements to the hurricane center’s storm model that provides hourly forecasts with tracks now provided five days out.

Storm surge maps that will be issued with storm warnings and will provide forecasts for likely surges along the coast, allowing emergency managers to make better decisions about evacuations.

Improved inland flooding forecasts.

But even with all the additional tools, Sullivan said their best weapon remains public preparation.

“It only takes one storm, however intense the season is, to be really devastating to homes and communities,” she said. “Andrew was a very low year. It was about the only storm that formed.

But it also absolutely devastated a very wide swath of South Florida.”

Groups: Port project could damage reefs THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Conservation groups announced Tuesday they will sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unless plans to deepen Port Everglades are altered to protect alreadythreatened reefs. In providing a 60-day notice of intent to sue, a coalition including Miami Waterkeeper, Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Florida Wildlife Federation pointed to damage to reefs during the dredging of PortMiami last year.

In a release, they say, “the Army Corps illegally injured and killed Endangered Species Act-listed staghorn corals and buried alive more than 200 football fields of reef habitat.’’

“The damage stemmed from the corps’ failure to collect and use accurate, up-to-date information or adequately account for potential impacts to nearby reefs.”

The Army Corps’ response: “The estimated $374 million Port Everglades project, which is on a timetable to be completed by 2022 and awaits final congressional funding, would widen the entrance channel and deepen the main navigational channels from 42 feet to 48 feet.

EDITORIAL

A4

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

It’s time to ‘Lift off’

Policy and ignorance.

I was in the 7th grade, when Ms. Parker told me, “Donovan, we can put your excess energy to good use!”

And she introduced me to the sound of my own voice.

She gave me a stage. A platform.

She told me that our stories are ladders That make it easier for us to touch the stars.

So climb and grab them.

Keep climbing. Grab them.

Spill your emotions in the big dipper and pour out your soul.

Light up the world with your luminous allure.

Editor’s note: This year, Donovan Livingston earned a master’s degree in education from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. He delivered his remarks as spoken word poetry at the school’s 2016 convocation exercises on May 24.

“Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, Is a great equalizer of the conditions of men.” – Horace Mann, 1848.

At the time of his remarks I couldn’t read – couldn’t write.

Any attempt to do so, punishable by death.

For generations we have known of knowledge’s infinite power.

Yet somehow, we’ve never questioned the keeper of the keys – The guardians of information.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen more dividing and conquering In this order of operations – a heinous miscalculation of reality.

For some, the only difference between a classroom and a plantation is time.

How many times must we be made to feel like quotas – Like tokens in coined phrases? – “Diversity. Inclusion” There are days I feel like one, like only – A lonely blossom in a briar patch of broken promises.

But I’ve always been a thorn in the side of injustice.

Disruptive. Talkative. A distraction.

Donovan Livingston With a passion that transcends the confines of my consciousness – Beyond your curriculum, beyond your standards.

I stand here, a manifestation of love and pain, With veins pumping revolution.

I am the strange fruit that grew too ripe for the poplar tree.

I am a DREAM Act, Dream Deferred incarnate.

I am a movement – an amalgam of memories America would care to forget My past, alone won’t allow me to sit still.

So my body, like the mind Cannot be contained.

As educators, rather than raising your voices Over the rustling of our chains, Take them off. Un-cuff us.

Unencumbered by the lumbering weight Of poverty and privilege,

To educate requires Galileo-like patience.

Today, when I look my students in the eyes, all I see are constellations.

If you take the time to connect the dots, You can plot the true shape of their genius – Shining in their darkest hour.

I look each of my students in the eyes, And see the same light that aligned Orion’s Belt And the pyramids of Giza.

I see the same twinkle That guided Harriet to freedom.

I see them. Beneath their masks and mischief, Exists an authentic frustration; An enslavement to your standardized assessments.

At the core, none of us were meant to be common.

We were born to be comets, Darting across space and time – Leaving our mark as we crash into everything.

Baltimore judge doesn’t expect cops to obey the law The cops charged in the death of Freddie Gray had another good day in a Baltimore courtroom last week when one of the six officers was found not guilty of second degree assault, misconduct and reckless endangerment.

Officer Edward Nero had opted not to undergo a trial by jury, so the case was decided by a Black circuit court judge, Barry Williams. The trial of another cop, William Porter, ended in a mistrial back in December when the jury deadlocked on all four counts.

Home-free If Officer Porter is tried again, it will be after the trials of all the other cops are completed. But Officer Nero is home-free, because Judge Williams ruled that there was “no evidence that the cop intended for a crime to occur.”

Judge Williams was affirming the triple legal standard that exists in American law: one standard for cops, another for civilians in general, and no reliable expectation of justice at all for Black people.

Ahead, not behind In Nuremberg, at age 15, I was the oldest Black student in grades

Are we not astronomers – looking for the next shooting star?

I teach in hopes of turning content, into rocket ships – Tribulations into telescopes, So a child can see their potential from right where they stand.

An injustice is telling them they are stars Without acknowledging night that surrounds them.

Injustice is telling them education is the key While you continue to change the locks.

Education is no equalizer – Rather, it is the sleep that precedes the American Dream.

So wake up – wake up! Lift your voices Until you’ve patched every hole in a child’s broken sky.

Wake up every child so they know of their celestial potential.

I’ve been a Black hole in the classroom for far too long; Absorbing everything, without allowing my light escape.

But those days are done. I belong among the stars.

And so do you. And so do they.

Together, we can inspire galaxies of greatness For generations to come.

No, sky is not the limit. It is only the beginning.

Lift off.

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: 2016 RIO SUMMER OLYMPICS

Hounds on trial GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Officer Nero was one of the cops that arrested Freddie Gray, dragged his limping body to a police transport wagon, and then failed to secure him with a seatbelt. Gray was given a wild ride through the streets of Baltimore, his handcuffed body crashing into the sides and front of the vehicle, fatally severing his spine.

Freddie Gray’s only offense was to run away after making eye contact with a police supervisor – which is not a crime in anybody’s law book. But, as my colleague Bruce Dixon often says, cops are like hounds, and Black people are treated like rabbits. When a rabbit runs away from the hounds, they will chase it down and tear it apart.

Brown vs. Board’s psychological and economic damage When the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education was handed down on May 17, 1954, I was in my junior year at Nuremberg American High School, a school for the children of U.S. military personnel in Nuremberg, Germany.

My family moved there in March 1953 in the middle of my sophomore year. This was my first time going to school with White students. From first grade until that move, I attended school in segregated Tuskegee, Ala., in which every student was Black.

The only Whites I dealt with regularly were the Irish catholic nuns who taught me at St. Joseph’s Catholic School.

A crater is a reminder that something amazing happened here – An indelible impact that shook up the world.

A. PETER BAILEY TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

7-12. I ended up being voted treasurer of my junior class and president of the senior class. Not only was I not behind my White peers academically, I was ahead of 95 percent of them.

By the way, I don’t remember any discussion while there about Brown vs Board. The military newspaper, not wanting to rile up soldiers in the recently-integrated U.S. Army, either ignored or downplayed any kind of racial conflict news back in the states.

In 1962, having become a

The prosecution maintains that the cops had no right to arrest and move Freddie Gray – that this amounted to second-degree assault on his person. In her closing arguments, deputy state’s attorney Janice Bledsoe said “people get jacked up in the city all the time” by cops, and such behavior must be punished. But the judge seemed to think it would be ridiculous to treat every arrest as criminal just because there were no grounds for arrest.

Officer Nero’s lawyer agreed, saying it didn’t make any difference if the cops acted illegally in arresting Freddie Gray. “Wrong or right isn’t the standard,” said the cop’s attorney. “The standard is, were they so wrong that it was unreasonable?”

So cops have to be more than just guilty of breaking the law; they must be “unreasonably” guilty – whatever that is.

Warren Brown, a defense lawyer who observed the proceedings, said, “If you’re going to go strong supporter of the racial positions of Brother Malcolm X – especially his commentary about persistent White supremacist attacks on the minds of Black folks – I began to question the Brown vs. Board’s position that all Black schools were “inherently” inferior. In fact, those schools were in bad condition because of state policy and the White supremacist attitudes and actions of the majority society.

Couldn’t be published In the late 1970s while on the staff of Ebony magazine, I sent a memo to Managing Editor Charles Sanders proposing that Ebony publish an article taking a critical look at the decision that had been welcomed with so much joy by most Black folks.

Charles called me and said there was no way they could publish such an article because it would outrage the civil rights leadership. Since then, my concerns about what I considered the negative psychological aspects of Brown vs. Board have grown considerably.

It has been interpreted by most all Whites and way too many –

MARIAN KEMENSKY, SLOVAKIA

back and charge every police officer whose arrest was determined to be illegal with assault, or every search that’s deemed to be absent probable cause, [then] you’re going to indict the entire police force.”

Sounds good to me. Indict them all, and empower the people to form a security force that respects, and is answerable to, if not most –Black folks to mean that not only were/are all Black schools inherently inferior, but also all Black businesses, all Black professionals, all Black colleges and universities, all Black churches, all Black hospitals, all Black neighbors, all Black anything is inherently inferior.

It got so bad that any all-Black neighborhood – regardless of the value of the homes – was called a ghetto.

Many Black folks gave up the importance of the neighborhood school, no matter how sharp its students, and began busing their children all over cities and towns just so they could sit in classrooms with White children. Most didn’t even consider the psychological damage done to their children and their institutions by such negative attitudes.

People instilled with such attitudes since 1954 have little if any commitment to supporting Black-owned businesses or institutions. After all, if all-Black, they are inherently inferior.

Take heed People tell me that’s not what Brown vs. Board meant. May-

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

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

Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Sales Manager

W W W.FLCOURIER.COM

Dr. Valerie Rawls-Cherry, Human Resources

Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1928-2004), Founder Julia T. Cherry, Senior Managing Member, Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Cassandra CherryKittles, Charles W. Cherry II, Managing Members

Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor Angela van Emmerik, Creative Director Chicago Jones, Eugene Leach, Louis Muhammad, Lisa Rogers-Cherry, Circulation Penny Dickerson, Staff Writer Duane Fernandez Sr., Kim Gibson, Photojournalists

MEMBER

Florida Press Association

National Newspaper Publishers Association

Society of Professional Journalists

National Newspaper Association

Associated Press

the community it serves. But of course, it would be “unreasonable” for Black people to expect anything that smacks of justice in America.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Email him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com. be not. But that’s the way it was and continues to be interpreted by way too many Black folks.

Such people should take heed of an observation made by brilliant Journalist/Historian, Lerone Bennett, Jr., in his 1967 mustread book, “The Negro Mood”: “There is little or no hope for the Negro in this country if he continues to accept, uncritically and completely, the values and goals and ideals of his oppressors. To cite only one example: the Negro who accepts the ideal of blondes must, and inevitably does, hate himself.

“And again: the Negro who accepts completely the success and power ethic must also hate himself, for there is no defense for an unavenged defeat in a power ethic. Hence, it is that some Negroes hate themselves and their history because their forefathers were slaves and not slave owners.”

A. Peter Bailey’s latest book is, “Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher.”

Contact Bailey at apeterb@verizon.net.

Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC, P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, publishes the Florida Courier on Fridays. Phone: 877-352-4455, toll-free. For all sales inquiries, call 877-352-4455; e-mail sales@flcourier.com.

Subscriptions to the print version are $69 per year. Mail check to P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, or log on to www.flcourier.com; click on ‘Subscribe’.

SUBMISSIONS POLICY SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS TO NEWS@FLCOURIER.COM. Deadline for submitting news and pictures is 5 p.m. the Monday before the Friday publication date. You may submit articles at any time. However, current events received prior to deadline will be considered before any information that is submitted, without the Publisher’s prior approval, after the deadline. Press releases, letters to the editor, and guest commentaries must be e-mailed to be considered for publication.

The Florida Courier reserves the right to edit any submission, and crop any photograph, for style and clarity. Materials will not be returned.

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

PTSD is collateral damage in America’s ‘war zones’ It has become trendy for media reports to compare neighborhoods plagued by gun violence to war zones. Let’s take a “grownup” look at the violence that plagues our lives and our communities.

Violence claims two victims: the person or people victimized; and the community that experiences trauma, fear, and stress. Every year in America, millions fall victim to violent crime, which also causes fear and stress to neighbors, children, businesspeople, and other community members.

Disorder and abuse The chances that young men who experience trauma in their neighborhood will end up in jail are astronomically high, studies show. Studies also show a high correlation between neighborhood disorder and physical abuse.

According to the National Association for Mental Illness, some 70 percent of youths in state and local juvenile justice facilities suffer from mental health problems – part of a broader trend of prisons and jails becoming warehouses for the mentally ill. These youths are typically cut off from mental health care and from their communities and families. An untold number will be released back into society as hardened, unstable adults.

Aggravating the crisis in communities, state mental health programs lost more than $4 billion in funding from fiscal year 2009 to 2012 – a cost passed down to the hospitals and courtrooms that ultimately must absorb the burden.

Millions suffer Studies show that, overall, about 8 percent of Americans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives. But the rates appear to be

ed,” according to Dr. Kerry Ressler, a medical investigator and psychiatrist, who studied this issue extensively.

GLENN Researchers at Drexel University ELLIS in Philadelphia found that people GEORGE CURRY MEDIA with symptoms of PTSD may be more likely to carry a weapon in much higher in poor, largely Afri- order to “restore feelings of safety.” can-American pockets of Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadel- Front line treatment phia – where high rates of violent Hospital trauma centers, which crime have persisted despite a nawork on the front lines of neightional decline.

A growing number of programs borhood violence, could help adtreat PTSD in war veterans. But far dress this lack of treatment. A traufewer treat Americans who suffer ma center is a hospital equipped from the PTSD that comes with and staffed to provide care for patheir zip code. And this kind of tients suffering from major trauPTSD may be affecting even more matic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot people.

PTSD can directly hurt a per- wounds.

In light of the plethora of vioson’s brain by messing with the lence injuries from guns and other amygdala – the part of the brain that triggers a chemical to release weapons, we know all too well that to help you decide between “fight it is inexcusable that more of these or flight” in a threatening situa- hospitals aren’t providing the care tion. If someone is exposed to pro- and treatment of the PTSD that is longed, repetitive, or extreme trau- ever-present in these situations.

Indeed, the American College of ma, the amygdala stays in alert mode. And the neurons – the path- Surgeons, which sets standards for ways to this part of the brain – lose the care of patients with traumatic injuries, recommends that trautheir ability to recover.

A person’s memory becomes ma centers “evaluate, support, and corrupted like a bad computer treat” patients for post-traumatic hard drive. That impairs the abil- stress. But it’s not a requirement, ity to separate out new experienc- and few hospitals appear to be does and determine whether they ing it.

The publication ProPublica surare safe or dangerous. The longer a person stays in the hypervigi- veyed a top-level trauma center in lant mode, the greater the chance each of the 22 cities with the naof permanent damage. In a child, tion’s highest homicide rates. Just damage can be magnified and one – the Spirit of Charity Trauma lead to problems like dissociative Center in New Orleans – currently screens all seriously injured paidentity disorder.

For most people, untreated tients for PTSD. At another, Detroit PTSD will not lead to violence. Receiving Hospital, psychologists But “there’s a subgroup of peo- talk with injured crime victims ple who are at risk – in the wrong about PTSD. Trauma and violence are wideplace at the wrong time – of reacting in a violent way or an aggres- spread, harmful, and costly pubsive way, that they might not have lic health concerns. They have no if they had had their PTSD treat- boundaries with regard to age,

Transgender issues do not compare to Black issues “Transgender” has become the new “Black.”

In the short span of four months, transgenderism has gone from occasional media coverage of transgender celebrities – Caitlyn Jenner and actor Laverne Cox of the hit Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” – to being the civil rights issue of the day.

The Obama administration’s “transgender” express, which has been on a fast track steamrolling the nation’s public schools to allow students to use bathroom and locker room facilities according to their gender identity, has been derailed by a lawsuit by 11 states.

Local issue What started in February as a local issue in Charlotte, N.C., which passed a law allowing transgender people to choose public bathrooms based on their gender identity, has blossomed into a national debate.

In March, the governor of North Carolina signed a law stopping lo-

Funding threatened CLARENCE V. MCKEE, ESQ. GUEST COLUMNIST

cal governments from enacting laws that allow transgender people to use public bathrooms based on their self-proclaimed gender identities, and, mandating that school students use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificates.

That gave the Obama administration an invitation it could not resist in an election year: patronize and placate a favored political constituency – the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It believes that federal law protects LGBT people from discrimination in employment and public education.

Acting with uncharacteristic urgency for the federal government, it pounced on the state. In a May 9 press conference, U.S. At-

From ‘Black Power’ to ‘Green Power’ Remember the days of the clinched fist, the afro, the dashiki, and black berets? Remember Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, H. Rap Brown, and the Black Panthers? How about John Shaft and Foxy Brown?

Black was beautiful and powerful back then, right?

You will also recall J. Edgar Hoover’s Counter Intelligence Program, otherwise known as COINTELPRO. It kept watch on MLK, Malcolm, and any Black person who stood up and spoke out against injustice and had the temerity to actually fight for Black Power.

First target Years before Hoover began his COINTELPRO tactics, he set up a scheme to destroy the man many believe to be the progenitor of real Black Power: Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Hoover called Garvey a “notorious negro agitator,” and did everything he could to dig up dirt

torney General Loretta Lynch announced filing a federal civil rights complaint against the state which could mean the loss of millions of dollars of federal assistance to the University of North Carolina placing thousands of employees, students, vendors and other beneficiaries in jeopardy – no doubt including many LGBT community beneficiaries.

JAMES CLINGMAN GEORGE CURRY MEDIA

on him. Historian Theodore Kornweibel said, “Hoover and the Justice Department were clearly hooked on a fixation on Garvey which would before long become a vendetta.”

Hoover had relied on part-time Black informants to track Garvey’s movements and Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) activities. Ironically, in December 1919, his determination to go after Garvey led Hoover to hire the first Black agent in the Bureau’s history, James Wormley Jones.

“His job,” says Kornweibel, “was to go into Harlem and infiltrate the Garvey movement and find evidence that could be used to build the legal case for ultimately getting rid of Garvey.” We know what hap-

Days later, the administration sent a “Dear Colleague” directive to every public school district in the nation to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity. Unless a student’s gender identity is “treated the same as that student’s sex,” schools could lose federal funds pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. (The law protects people from discrimination based on sex in educational programs that receive federal assistance.)

This appears to be a case of a federal solution looking for a problem. Given the “warp speed” federal response, one would think that North Carolina was in danger of being overcome by the Ebola or Zika virus, Category Five hurricanes, consumed by a wildfire like that which ravaged Canada, or some other major natural disaster.

It is also an unnecessary social

EDITORIAL

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE EVOLUTION OF WARFARE

TAYLOR JONES, HOOVER DIGEST

gender, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Trauma is a common experience for adults and children in American communities, and it is especially common in the lives of people with mental and substance use disorders. For this reason, the need to address trauma is increasingly seen as an important part of effective behavioral health care.

It’s a disease Trauma must be recognized as a disease process. It is also age dependent; the youngest are most vulnerable. Like heart disease and cancer, trauma has identifiable causes, established means of treatment, and defined means of prevention.

But unlike heart disease, trauma is communicable. People inexperiment with the nation’s most vulnerable citizens – its children.

According to the Charlotte Observer, there are an estimated 38,000 transgender North Carolinians. It cites the UCLA-based Williams Institute estimate that “transgender people make up 0.3 percent of the U.S. population, about 700,000 people” which translates to around 2,400 in Charlotte.

There is no doubt that transgender people have feelings, emotions, and rights as individuals and have legitimate issues on many levels. The question is whether this issue demands such a massive federal executive intrusion based on questionable legal authority.

Has there been a history of statesanctioned denial of voting rights or access to public accommodations? Has the state denied equal employment and educational opportunities enforced by lynchings, burnings, or beatings of that 0.3 percent? Such was the historic experience of Black Americans for whose primary benefit the civil rights laws were enacted.

Benefiting from our struggle

jure other people. Injury from behaviors associated with untreated PTSD is not an accident; it is a predictable and preventable disease.

We must develop the political will as a society.

(Remember, I’m not a doctor. I just sound like one.)

Glenn Ellis is a regular media contributor on health equity and medical ethics. For more information, visit www.glennellis. com The information included in this column is for educational purposes only. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice.

Consult your healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation or if they have any questions regarding a medical condition or treatment plan. tration waste no time in moving against North Carolina? Obviously to send a message of solidarity with the LGBT community. Contrast the administration’s “rapid response team” action in North Carolina in support of the “trans” community to its “see no evil” response to the slaughter of Black youths in the killing fields of the president’s home town of Chicago.

According to the Chicago Tribune, there were 1,288 shooting victims between Jan. 1 and May 25 of this year. For all of 2015, there were 2,988. Young Blacks would be safer in Iraq or Afghanistan than in the president’s home town, but that has not rated an attorney general press conference.

Blacks, who once were on top of the civil rights “protected” group chain, have been replaced by the priorities of other Democrat constituencies, including illegal immigrants, gay rights proponents, and now the transgender community.

The feds accuse states like North Carolina of thumbing their noses at federal law. What about sanctuary cities such as San Francisco that defy federal law? They get a free pass! What hypocrisy!

This is just another example of one more interest group benefiting from the sacrifices of Blacks that brought about the very civil rights laws and protections from which they seek to benefit.

Why did the Obama adminis-

Clarence V. McKee is a government, political and media relations consultant and president of McKee Communications, Inc., as well as a Newsmax.com contributor. This article originally appeared on Newsmax.com.

PRO Helped Destroy the Movements of the 1960s,” explained it this way: “Originally motivated by goals of quick reforms, 1960s activists were ill-prepared for the longOverwhelmed by ‘Green’ term struggles in which they found Notwithstanding Garvey’s refus- themselves. al to sell out, many of our “leaders” in the glorious 1960s, those who ‘Lacked patience’ “Overly dependent on mediachanted “Black Power,” were conoriented superstars and one-shot quered by Green Power.

Hoover was doing his thing on dramatic actions, they failed to an even larger scale, from charac- develop stable organizations, acter assassination to murder, and countable leadership, and stratein a relatively short period of time, gic perspective. Creatures of the we saw former militant Black folks culture they so despised, they ofwriting proposals to get funding ten lacked the patience to susfor social service agencies and go- tain tedious grassroots work and ing from hardcore freedom fight- painstaking analysis of actual soers to CEOs and presidents of cial conditions. They found it hard to accept the slow, uneven pace of those organizations.

Green Power worked the best personal and political change.”

“What proved most devastating among all of Hoover’s tactics. A few “guvment” dollars here and in all of this was the effective mathere and voila! No more Black nipulation of the victims of COINPower. There were those who re- TELPRO into blaming themselves. mained faithful to the principle Since the FBI and police operatof Black Power, but their numbers ed covertly, the horrors they enslowly dwindled due to lack of gineered appeared to emanate funds and fear of being murdered from within the movements. Aclike George Jackson and Fred tivists’ trust in one another and in Hampton. Hoover wasn’t playing; their collective power was subverted, and the hopes of a generation the “guvment” was paying.

An article on PBS’s American died, leaving a legacy of cynicism Experience, “How COINTEL- and despair which continues to

haunt us today.”

Hoover’s 48 years as FBI director taught him, and influenced even presidents, that Black Power could be diffused – first through the use of force, trumped-up criminal charges, and clandestine subterfuge – but later through the use of Green Power. Pay off a few Black folks and eliminate or minimize the positive effects of Black Power as we know it.

A great example of this truth is “Little” Al Sharpton, now the alterego to “Big Bad” Al Sharpton. He didn’t have a lot of money, but he had a lot of bluster. He called someone out on Morton Downey’s TV, referred to him as a “punk-faggot,” while he fought for Black folks (at least that’s what we thought). He went from Black Power to Green Power to the tune of $750,000 on MSNBC. “Sharp” move.

Let’s use our own Green Power to fund and support the Black Power we seek.

pened to Garvey when Hoover and his gang found that Garvey would not buckle and was not about to sell his people out.

James E. Clingman is the nation’s most prolific writer on economic empowerment for Black people. His latest book, “Black Dollars Matter! Teach Your Dollars How to Make More Sense,” is available on his website, Blackonomics.com.

TOJ A6

NATION

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

College program to explore slain pastor’s legacy Courses focus on Clementa Pinckney’s path as pastor and legislator

BY VERA BERGENGRUEN TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – To honor the memory of South Carolina state Senator Clementa Pinckney, his alma mater is going beyond just establishing a scholarship.

Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington is establishing a new track of study for students to follow footsteps of the pastor, killed with eight others by a White supremacist while leading a Bible study last June at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

“What we’re trying to do is train individuals to be leaders in the 21st century who really understand, like he did, what it means to stand at that intersection between what he did in his public work in the South Carolina government and also his church work,” said the Rev. Dr. Doug Powe, a professor at Wesley who will oversee the program.

Senator Clementa Pinckney was killed with eight others on June 17, 2016, at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.

Posthumous degree The new track will be titled

doctorate of ministry in public engagement.

When he was killed, Pinckney was finishing his dissertation about the double vocation of pastor and public servant in the African-American community. He was awarded his degree posthumously at a commencement ceremony last month month.

The new program will be taught in Charleston and Washington.

The first students to participate will begin with a two-week intensive session in Charleston in January.

Plenty of interest While the seminary has always taught courses on public engagement, it has never had a dedicated track until now. Wesley President David McAllister-Wilson said the admissions office had already received a lot of interest from students and faculty alike.

“We’ve got to find people who can continue Clem’s work, but it will take some financial help,” he said. “One of the big challenges is that theological education has the same sort of educational requirements as doctors, but starting salaries are like a fraction, so it’s never a good financial decision. People who are in many ways as Clem was when he began are really struggling, but want to enter this track.”

Scholarships for the program will be based on need, and since the seminary does not have endowments for the new program. the school will be stretching its general funds for as many people as possible, McAllister-Wilson said.

Legislator at 23 Born in Beaufort, South Carolina, Pinckney became a pastor when he was just 18.

He was in his fifth year leading Emanuel AME church, the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South, when he was killed.

Pinckney was the youngest African-American to be elected to the South Carolina legislature when he joined the General Assembly at 23.

He became a state senator in 2000. In one of his last actions as a legislator, he co-sponsored a bill requiring police officers to wear body cameras. The bill passed after Walter Scott, an unarmed North Charleston Black man, was shot and killed by a White police officer.

“What makes this particularly important is that the things Clem focused on are everything this seminary is about,” McAllisterWilson said.

Report: Veterans exposed to toxic gas denied benefits ‘Inadequate’ assistance

BY LINDSAY WISE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs has rejected the vast majority of claims filed by veterans who were exposed to mustard gas as part of secret experiments during World War II, according to a report released Tuesday

by Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

About 60,000 military service members were used as human guinea pigs in a military research program to test protective equipment. Roughly 4,000 of them received high levels of full-body exposure to mustard gas or Lewisite, another toxic agent.

But the VA has rejected the claims of 85 percent of the veterans who applied for benefits related to the secret testing, according to the report.

From 2005 to 2015, the VA identified 1,213 disability claims related to mustard agent exposure from 792 World War II veterans.

Of those claims, 1,028 were denied, the report found.

Only 40 veterans nationwide now are receiving the benefits, McCaskill said.

The Missouri Democrat, whose father was a World War II veteran, slammed the government’s failure to compensate and care for victims of the testing in a press call with reporters on Tuesday.

“It’s frankly beyond outrageous,” McCaskill said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VETERANS’ FAMILIES

Members of the military who were exposed to mustard gas in secret experiments during World War II (from left): Harry Maxson, Louis Bessho, Rollins Edwards, Paul Goldman and Sidney Wolfson. his plight and that of other veterans featured in a series of reports on National Public Radio about the government’s failure to locate and aid victims of the mustard gas tests.

'Years of suffering' Like Harrell, many veterans involved in the tests were sworn to secrecy and threatened with courts martial. It wasn’t until 1975 that the experiments were declassified. The oath of secrecy remained in place

Legislation coming VA media relations director James Hutton said in an email that the agency is reviewing McCaskill’s report and “recognizes that disabilities may have resulted due to full body mustard gas exposure.”

He said the VA has established presumptions of service connection for some disabilities that might have come about after the exposure.

McCaskill announced Tuesday that she is filing legislation that would require the VA to review all denied claims and ease the burden of proof on veterans who suffered health problems after participating in the experiments.

The Arla Harrell Act is named for an 89-year-old man from Bevier, Mo., who McCaskill believes could be the last living victim of the tests in Missouri.

Deliberately exposed Harrell was a teenage Army recruit when, he says, he was hospitalized after being subjected to mustard

RENEE SCHOOF/TNS

Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, said the VA’s outreach efforts to veterans who participated in the experiments were “woefully inadequate.” gas tests at Camp Crowder in Neosho, Mo. In the report, Harrell recalls a liquid chemical being rubbed on his skin and breathing a gas without a mask.

“Harrell’s commanding officers told him that he had been exposed so that he would know, as a field medic, how to treat service members,” the report states.

Strokes, cancer Harrell has since suf-

fered from multiple strokes, long-term lung problems, and skin cancer.

His compensation claims have been rejected repeatedly by the VA since 1992 — most recently on April 21.

Hutton said the VA is reviewing Harrell’s case again at the direction of Secretary Robert McDonald, but Hutton would not comment on specifics, citing confidentiality.

McCaskill’s office drafted the bill in Harrell’s name after investigating

until 1991.

“Because their health care professionals were not aware of the testing, these veterans suffered for the rest of their lives with the effects of the testing without adequate treatment,” the report found.

“For many, this meant years of suffering — not only for them but their families — and frustration as they sought medical care from doctors who were in the dark about their true medical history.”

McCaskill said VA’s outreach efforts to veterans who participated in the experiments were “woefully inadequate.” The VA sent out only two mailers over several decades and relied on an inaccurate list of names and addresses, she said.

Veterans who did apply struggled to prove their claims, thwarted by the missing or incomplete documentation.

The VA and Department of Defense can’t even agree on the locations where the experiments took place, McCaskill said.

“It’s ironic to me that you could tell a veteran, ‘You can’t tell anyone about this for 50 years and then … you make it their responsibility to prove what happened to them,” McCaskill said.

Apology wanted too Most veterans exposed to mustard agents during World War II have since died, but McCaskill’s office estimates that several hundred living veterans could still benefit from the Arla Harrell Act. One thing the bill does not include is a formal demand for an apology from the U.S. government.

“I’m hoping we don’t have to legislate that,” McCaskill said. “I’m hoping an apology is forthcoming from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense.”

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

IFE/FAITH

Malachi Kirby: The new Kunta Kinte See page B5

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

Reflections from original ‘Roots’ cast See page B5

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

|

SECTION

B

S

WEATHERING

Hurricane season started on June 1. Florida officials are concerned about residents’ complacency and ‘hurricane amnesia.’

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Weather forecasters say Florida is long overdue to get hit by a storm.

And a growing concern is that Floridians aren’t preparing – buying supplies and making plans for evacuation or hunkering down – like they should.

A big reason is that the last time the state got directly hit – when Hurricane Wilma made landfall in Collier County with 120 mph winds that swept across the lower part of the peninsula – the Chicago White Sox were two wins away from taking the 2005 World Series.

Nickelback’s “All the Right Reasons” was number one on the Billboard chart and Tina Fey was hosting “Weekend Update” on Saturday Night Live.

Since that storm, the Sunshine State’s population has grown by more than 2 million.

There have been a number of scares in recent years, but after several of those storms simply withered in the Atlantic, questions have focused on why forecast tracks aren’t more accurate.

‘Hurricane amnesia’ At the Governor’s Hurricane Conference in Orlando last month, officials warned of complacency and “hurricane amnesia.”

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Bryan Koon called it a “lack of awareness,” particularly among new residents.

“Millions of new Floridians have come to the state over the last number of years, hundreds of thousands move here every year, many of them have never experienced a hurricane before,” Koon said during the conference. “You add that to the millions of Floridians that have been here, but perhaps weren’t exposed to the last round of hurricanes or were only minimally impacted, and you have a pretty big knowledge gap there.”

But Koon added that over the past decade the state has made strides to improve readiness.

Improved readiness He pointed to hardened buildings through improved construction codes; utility companies putting more lines underground and strengthening aboveground lines so power outages should be shorter; electronic toll-collection

technology that should reduce bottlenecks at toll booths, and more people being connected via social media and phones to receive emergency alerts.

“There is the possibility of clutter and conflicting information, but done right and harnessed appropriately, we are beyond the days when we did not know if there was a problem somewhere,” Koon said. “We will know very quickly where the issues are and what we need to do to respond. We will also be able to push out information like we never have before.”

Another question that will only be answered after a hurricane is the poststorm response.

When, not if The insurance industry has been able to flourish since Wilma, with private companies building reserves as policies have shifted into the private market from the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance.

However, Chicago-based Fitch Ratings released a report last month that

expressed concern about Florida’s private insurance market. The report noted that many small insurers have brief histories and that their ability to manage a large catastrophic hurricane remains “uncertain.”

“It’s not a question of if these Florida homeowner specialists will be tested by a hurricane but rather when the next catastrophe strikes will they be prepared to handle a significant increase in claims volume,” Fitch’s Christopher Grimes said in a release.

Grimes added that Fitch’s concerns are driven by factors such as uncertainty over adequate capital “given catastrophe exposure” and that many smaller insurers have clustered geographic portfolios for their businesses.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave a “nearnormal” forecast for the 2016 Atlantic season, which means a 70 percent chance of 10 to 16 named storms, of which four to eight could grow into hurricanes.

Top: Heavy storm clouds hover over the skyline of downtown Miami as Tropical Storm Isaac’s weather band reaches the area on Aug. 26, 2012.

CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Above: Thaddeus Hamilton, of Sunrise, left, holds an umbrella for his grandson Christian Hamilton of Lauderhill as they check out sand and debris onto the roadway on A1A between Sunrise Blvd. and NE 20th Street due to earlier flooding on Fort Lauderdale Beach on Oct. 26, 2012, as Hurricane Sandy passes to the east.

AMY BETH BENNETT/SUN SENTINEL/TNS

B2

CALENDAR

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

STOJ

AVANT

Joe and Avant will perform July 1 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami.

JOHN P. KEE & KIERRA SHEARD

A concert featuring John P. Kee and Kierra Sheard is June 20 at the Tampa Convention Center.

SUSAN STOCKER/SUN SENTINEL/TNS

A home in Manalapan shows the severe damage it sustained when Hurricane Sandy passed Florida on Oct. 29, 2012.

State officer urges residents to get insurance, financial paperwork in order now SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater is reminding residents that being prepared means more than stocking up on batteries and bottled water.

In addition to securing these important items, Atwater stresses that it is equally as important for Floridians to prepare their insurance and emergencyrelated financial documents before the arrival of the upcoming storm season.

Although more than a decade has passed since Florida faced a major storm, weather experts anticipate that the 2016 season will be active and Floridians are encouraged to plan accordingly.

“I encourage all Floridians to verify their financial and insurance poliJeff cy information as part of Atwater their family’s overall disaster-readiness plans,” said CFO Jeff Atwater.

“It takes just a few minutes to print and fill out our emergency preparedness toolkit, and having copies of insurance policies and a photographic inventory of a family’s belongings can make a world of difference if you need to quickly file a claim.”

Prepare finance packet Floridians should prepare an insurance and finance packet of information that can easily be taken if evacuation becomes necessary.

The packet should include detailed account information associated with property and health insurance policies as well as bank account information and contact numbers for all financial insti-

tutions and insurance companies. Having these documents in place and readily available makes the potential claimsfiling process much easier.

For Floridians who may not know where to begin, the Department of Financial Services offers a homeowners insurance toolkit designed to assist Floridians in this process.

The first step is to understand the insurance policies that are currently in place and what those policies cover in the event of a disaster. Only then can families determine if additional coverage is necessary to protect their home and property.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Orlando: The 13th Annual Music & Arts Business Conference & Health Summit is June 3-4 at Kingdom Generation Church, 1600 33rd Street, Suite 114. More details: www. cmjresources.org.

Jacksonville: Shirley Caesar is scheduled June 3 at the Florida Theatre Jacksonville for an 8 p.m. show.

Miami: The Golden and Golden Gates Foundation, named after Rosalyn Maurice Golden and Yvonne ScarlettGolden, will present a Rise and Shine Summer Series for youth starting June 14 at Beu-

lah Missionary Baptist Church, 3695 Frow Ave. Details: http:// goldenandgoldengat.wix.com/ smr16.

Tampa: Girls Raised in The South (G.R.I.T.S.) is hosting a fundraiser, “Recognizing Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things,’’ on June 18 at 6 p.m. Honorees are Gloria Andrews, Sarah Kilker and Margarita Gonzalez. It will include a Tampa’s Business Men on Parade fashion show.

Tickets: 813-731-1720.

Jacksonville: Catch Kirk Franklin on June 5 at the Times Union Center for the Performing Arts.

Tampa: Darius Rucker’s “Good for a Good Time Tour’’ makes stops at the MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre

on June 3 and Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach on June 4.

Orlando: Orange County is hosting its free Hurricane Expo on June 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Renaissance Senior Center at South Econ Community Park, 3800 South Econlockhatchee Trail. More information: 407-836-9140 or ocoem@ocfl.net.

Tampa: Anthony Hamilton and Fantasia will perform June 16 at the USF Sun Dome.

Fort Lauderdale: Destination Prince, featuring the singer’s music, is 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

June 4 at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, 2650 Sistrunk Blvd. Details: Cost: $10. 954357-6210.

Property inventory This toolkit also walks through the process of developing a property inventory so families have an accurate accounting of what they own and therefore what may become damaged during a storm.

Further, it provides guidance on navigating the insurance claims process and provides and legal and financial document checklists to help Floridians ensure that in the event of an evacuation or property loss, documents are not lost and claims can be filed in a timely manner.

An abbreviated version of the toolkit is available online. This version provides a place for families to write down policy information, contact numbers, and it includes helpful phone numbers that families might need following a storm, such as the State of Florida’s Emergency Information line.

For access to this toolkit and other disaster-related information, visit the Department’s Disaster Response webpage at www.MyFloridaCFO.com/Consumers/ Storm.

LEGENDARY PICTURES AND UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENT A LEGENDARY PICTURES/BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT/ATLAS ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION “WARCRAFT” TRAVIS FIMMEL PAULA PATTON BEN FOSTER DOMINIC COOPER TOBY KEBBELL BEN SCHNETZER ROB KAZINSKY AND DANIEL WU

EXECUTIVE RAMIN DJAWADI PRODUCERSCO-PRODUCED CHRIS METZEN NICK CARPENTER ROB PARDO PRODUCERS JILLIAN SHARE BRENT O’CONNOR MIKE MORHAIMBASED E PAULON BLIZZARD SAMS BY CHARLES ROVEN p.g.a. THOMAS TULL p.g.a. JON JASHNI p.g.a. DIRECTED ALEX GARTNER p.g.a. STUART FENEGAN p.g.a.

WRITTEN ENTERTAINMENT’S “WARCRAFT”

BY CHARLES LEAVITT AND DUNCAN JONES

BY DUNCAN JONES VISUAL EFFECTS AND ANIMATION

BY INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC A UNIVERSAL RELEASE MUSIC BY

SOUNDTRACK ON BACK LOT MUSIC

© 2015 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS IMAX® IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF IMAX CORPORATION.

STARTS FRIDAY, JUNE 10 CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES

S

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS

B3 ment to be at more or less at risk to natural hazards,” the Association of State Floodplain Managers said in its comments to FEMA, calling the proposal a good first step.

Considering the cost

ABACA PRESS/TNS

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center in Washington, D.C, on Oct. 7, 2013.

FEMA’s ‘disaster deductible’ shifts responsibility to states

BY VERA BERGENGRUEN TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON — Under pressure from Congress to reduce federal dollars spent on emergency aid, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is floating a new proposal that would give states a financial incentive to better prepare for storms, floods, hurricanes and other disasters.

Some state and local officials are pushing back. Many of the 150 public comments filed to the agency express concern that the proposed changes would just shift the financial and administrative burden to local governments already overloaded during disaster situations.

“Disaster assistance administrators at the state and local level are already overburdened, particularly in the aftermath of a ma-

jor disaster,” the bipartisan National Governors Association said in its comments, calling the current system an already “complex and time-consuming exercise.”

Better option?

The change would reward states that take actions to prevent disasters, while making those that do not pay a greater percentage before the federal gov-

ernment pitches in.

They would be responsible for an initial share of disaster costs through a deductible that they could lower by taking steps to become better prepared — for example by adopting tougher building codes, establishing their own emergency management funds, and investing money in elevating homes and moving communities out of riskier regions.

The agency believes that this would be a better option than simply increasing the threshold to receive disaster aid.

“We don’t want to have to use the blunt instrument of just tripling the indicator. It would save a lot of money for the federal government but wouldn’t build the common goals of building readiness for communities,” said Josh Batkin, FEMA’s director of external affairs, in an interview.

Major concerns

If time & money were not an issue...

The number of disaster declarations by the president has increased from an average of 13 per year in the 1950s, to an average of 137 per year in the 2000s.

Under the current system, the president makes a major disaster declaration to assist state and local governments when the scale of the disaster exceeds their capabilities.

While recognizing the need to change the system, many respondents expressed concerns that such a deductible would create an administrative head-

ache that puts an extra burden on local governments during disasters.

“We feel that having a disaster deductible will create more confusion and generate more documentation requirements,” wrote Susan Gilson, director of the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies, in her public comment to FEMA. “The disaster deductible will cause local communities to divert resources to meeting the documentation requirements at a time when the local community needs to be focusing its efforts on disaster recovery.”

Question of manpower Smaller communities could simply not have the resources to get through the bureaucracy, according to many local officials.

“The question for us is manpower,” South Carolina Emergency Management Division chief of recovery and mitigation Elizabeth Ryan said in an interview.

“We’re here to advocate for the applicant, but having to provide justification proving how much or how little was planned would add a lot more work, and we just don’t have the manpower to tackle this thing when we’re still engaged in response and recovery.”

Other organizations think that putting more emphasis — and pressure — on local governments is a necessary step.

“Too many states have come to believe natural disasters are the problem of the federal government, when actually, public safety is the primary responsibility of state and local governments that have authority to guide develop-

Simply reducing the number of emergency declarations made by the president would have an impact.

“Transferring aid from federal to local government is not costless,” Carolyn Kousky, a fellow at the environmental research nonprofit Resources for the Future, said in an interview.

“There are a lot of declarations for very small amounts of money, and for some it costs more to get the dollars to local government than the money they’re sending.”

Her organization put out a study that found the deductible would reduce federal aid by a small percentage but would eliminate a large number of the emergency declarations, thereby saving on administrative costs.

However, there is a chance that even a minor decrease in aid would be felt most by small and rural communities.

“Victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey would still get a large amount of money,” Kousky said. “It’s very plausible that some rural communities with less resources would feel the loss of that small amount of money more since it’s a bigger deal.”

Plan coming That is the main concern of state and local officials who struggle to stretch already scarce resources during storms, floods and other disasters.

“For these communities it may affect their ability to recover from an event because they flat out don’t have the money,” South Carolina Emergency Management director Kim Stenson said, pointing out that there already is a 25-percent cost share for the communities.

“Even with that cost share, sometimes that’s very onerous, especially for some small counties in South Carolina,” he said.

The White House said earlier this month that FEMA will use the feedback it has received on its proposal and put together an updated plan for state deductibles. The agency has emphasized that the current proposal is being shaped by the input they’ve received.

“We’re still going through 150 comments in an effort to lay out how this would work, and we’re going to get even more detailed comment back,” Batkin said.

“We don’t have all the answers; we need the community to help us figure it out,” he said. The agency plans to publish the rule later this calendar year.

Where would you travel?

Want Options & More Benefits?

Want to get Paid?

www.getwealthtravels.com

For more information, call 331-256-3154 or visit www.daytonatravels.paycation.com

CHARLES SLATE/MYRTLE BEACH SUN-NEWS/TNS

Waves from Hurricane Irene pound the Cherry Grove Pier in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Aug. 26, 2011.

HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS

B4

3

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

STOJ

Check this clip-and-save page to see whether your family is ready in case disaster strikes.

BEFORE IT HAPPENS

GATHER DOCUMENTS AND CASH

EVALUATE YOUR HOME

Store important documents such as insurance policies, deeds, property records and birth certificates in a bank safe-deposit box. Store copies in your disaster-supplies kit.

Structural safety

q Keep a stash of cash or traveler’s checks at home where you can quickly get them in

case of evacuation.

q

Make sure your home is bolted to the foundation and the structure is properly reinforced.

q

MAKE A FAMILY EMERGENCY PLAN

q

Identify a safe place in each room of your home and practice rapidly getting there.

Best locations include under a sturdy desk or table, or beside a sturdy, large piece of furniture such as a sofa or bed. Avoid doorways; doors could bang open and shut during a storm.

Check the roof, foundation, chimney and walls for cracks and overall condition. Contact trained contractors in your area for information on retrofitting.

q

If you live in an apartment, know where your building’s utility controls are and how to use them.

Plumbing

q Practice home-evacuation drills. Choose someplace nearby for your family to meet.

q

Expect a lack of transportation.

Family members should know how to shut off waterlines in case of a leak in the house. Label the shutoff valve clearly; it’s the first valve in the line after it enters the house.

q

Educate your children. Get a copy of your school district’s disaster policy regarding transportation and the release of students. Keep photos of family members in your wallet in case someone is missing.

q Take a first-aid course. Learn CPR. q Know where the nearest police and fire stations are. Know the route to the nearest

hospital emergency room. Keep critical phone numbers and your insurance-policy numbers by your phone and in your wallet.

q

Enter your “ICE” — In Case of Emergency — numbers on your cell phone so emergency workers will know whom to contact if you’re hurt. For example, enter “ICE husband John” and the phone number.

q

Find out whether any neighbors have medical or other expertise. Plan to unite if your neighborhood becomes isolated. Help elderly, disabled or single-parent neighbors create an emergency plan. Get contact information for their relatives.

Fill in the spaces below and keep this page in a handy place.

Family Emergency meeting place: _____________________________________________________ Out-of-state contact, phone number: ____________________________________________ Insurance company and phone numbers: ________________________________________ Insurance policy numbers:______________________________________________________ Driver’s license numbers: ______________________________________________________

q

Strap your water heater (gas and electric ones) to studs in the wall with heavy-duty metal strips or to the floor to prevent gas leaks and possible fires from broken pipes. You can find strapping kits at home-improvement stores.

Gas

q

All occupants should also know how and when to turn off the gas. If you smell gas after a storm or other emergency, shut off the meter valve found at the first fitting on the supply pipe coming out of the ground. Use a wrench to turn the valve either way until it is perpendicular to the pipe. Keep a wrench attached to the gas meter with a wire. Call the gas company to get service restored.

Electricity

q

Neighborhood Neighbors’ names, phone numbers: _____________________________________________

Utility companies Electricity: ___________________________________________________________________ Water: _______________________________________________________________________ Natural gas: __________________________________________________________________ Phone: _______________________________________________________________________

Emergency Call 911 in life-or-death situation: _______________________________________________ Doctor’s phone: _______________________________________________________________ Pharmacy phone: _____________________________________________________________ Police non-emergency phone: __________________________________________________ Fire non-emergency phone: ____________________________________________________ Closest emergency room, address: ______________________________________________

Other ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________

Buy a portable, gas-powered generator for emergency electricity. Only appliances that can use extension cords should be attached to a generator. A 2200-watt unit can power a refrigerator and several lamps. Keep fuel in a safe, protected container.

q

Learn how to shut off the electricity: Turn off single breakers first, then switch off the main breaker. To turn back on, switch the main breaker first, then the single breakers. On older panels, pull the main fuse blocks.

Household items

q

Place flashlights in hallways, bathrooms and bedrooms. Keep a flashlight, spare batteries and sturdy shoes under the bed. (Shoes will protect you from broken glass and other debris on the floor.)

q

Evaluate each room. Secure appliances, bookshelves and hutches to wall studs. Mirrors should be hung on double hooks; do not lean them against the wall.

q

Place heavy objects and electronic equipment on lower shelves. Use large Velcro patches or nonskid rubber shelf liner to help keep items in place.

q

Place a beanbag of sand or shot in the bottom of vases and other breakable items to help hold them down.

q Store household chemicals safely, preferably on or near the floor.

AFTER AN EVENT Hurricane Sandy’s devastation is shown on the southern end of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, as beach houses are washed off their foundations on Oct. 30, 2012. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30.

CLEM MURRAY/ PHILDELPHIA INQUIRER/ TNS

Check on everyone

• Provide first aid and a safe place for anyone who is injured or very upset. Check on and help neighbors.

• Call 911 or other emergency phone numbers only if injuries are serious or the situation is life-threatening. Unnecessary calls can hamper rescue efforts.

Assess surroundings

•Check for hazards such as fire, leaks, chemical spills and precarious structures.

Natural-gas companies ask customers not to turn off their gas service at the meter unless they smell or hear a leak.

If you smell gas coming from inside your home, call your gas company from a phone outside. It’s important not to touch electric switches or use the telephone until the situation is corrected. Only the gas company can restore service.

•Plug appliances into a generator directly or with extension cords. Never plug a generator into a household outlet because power can flow back to the utility’s main system and injure utility workers trying to restore power. Always run generators outdoors to prevent buildup of toxic fumes.

•Turn on the radio. In the case of an emergency that displaces many people, shelter locations will be announced.

•Give pets food, water and dry shelter.

Keep them away from antifreeze.

•Turn off all appliances except the refrigerator and one light. This prevents a power surge when power is restored.

Call for help

• If phone service is available, give your out-of-state contact an update on your situation. If service is spotty, ask your

contact to call your insurance company if necessary, and your family and friends who may be worried about you.

Gather water

•Be prepared to treat, filter or boil contaminated water.

•Use hot water sparingly. Most water heaters can retain heat for three days.

•If the water supply is cut off, drinking water is still available in your home in water heaters, in-house plumbing and melted ice cubes.

•Use a hose to get drinking water from your water heater’s drain valve in an emergency. It will be cloudy at first but will clear up after a few gallons.

•If pipes break or leak, turn off water at the shut-off valve inside your home.

Prepare food

•If the electricity is out, open the refrigerator and freezer doors only when necessary. Eat refrigerated food first, frozen food next and dried or canned food last.

•Refrigerated foods should be OK for about eight hours, holding a temperature of 40 degrees, unless the door is opened often.

•Food in a freezer of 12 cubic feet or more should stay frozen for 48 hours if the freezer is full and the door kept closed; that food will keep safely cold for up to 72 hours. Frozen food that has completely thawed — especially vegetables and dishes containing meat, fish, eggs, cheese and cream sauce — should be tossed out because of possible bacteria growth. If the freezer temperature is higher than 40 degrees, throw out all food.

STOJ

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

Malachi Kirby, an English actor, is Kunta Kinte in the History Channel’s remake of “Roots,’’ which aired this week on the network. The miniseries traces Alex Haley’s family history, from Kunta Kinte’s capture in Africa to Chicken George’s family’s release from bondage at the end of the Civil War. HISTORY CHANNEL/TNS

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.

Tony-winning actress Anika Noni Rose, a Florida A&M University graduate, is Kizzy in the new “Roots’’ miniseries on the History Channel. In an AOL Build story, she said. “I am of the opinion that this story and others of its ilk should be told with regularity. It is the base of the heritage of who we are as Americans.”

HISTORY CHANNEL/TNS

trayal of a Black character in history.

What they learned

John Amos (Kunta Kinte) and Madge Sinclair (Bell) starred in “Roots.”

WARNER BROS/TNS

Cast of original ‘Roots’ reflect on their experience, influence of miniseries

BY MEREDITH BLAKE LOS ANGELES TIMES TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

NEW YORK – If you were anywhere near a television in January 1977, you were probably watching “Roots.” The ABC miniseries was a surprise smash that attracted a record-setting audience and won nine Emmys.

Members of the original cast recently gathered to discuss the influence of “Roots,” which will be released on Blu-ray on June 7.

Q: Executives at ABC were worried “Roots” would flop. Did you have a sense that it was go-

ing to be huge?

Georg Stanford Brown (Tom Harvey): I don’t think that anyone could really imagine that it would be that successful. It hasn’t been matched since, nor will it be.

Leslie Uggams (Kizzy Reynolds): What I thought was interesting was the fact that you got to see all these wonderful Black actors and actresses. We were on television, making a guest appearance here or doing something. Now we were all in one story, and it blew my mind.

Lynne Moody (Irene Harvey): It gave us something to grab a

B5

hold of and put our all into for the first time. We were all young actors and performers who were hungry.

Uggams: It changed television.

There were advertisements in bars: “We have a big-screen television, you can watch here.”

Ben Vereen (Chicken George): It was right after the civil-rights movement. We didn’t do it because we wanted a hit show. We wanted to do a document about (our) people.

Louis Gossett Jr. (Fiddler): The thing that I remember distinctly is that on a day-to-day basis, I did not have to lie in my por-

Q: What did you learn from “Roots”?

Brown: I think it opened up the whole idea of family, not just to Black Americans, but to everyone. As I’ve traveled around the world and seen “Roots” in so many languages, I know that most people have an affinity to the idea of their family and finding out where they came from.

Moody: Because of “Roots,” I was able to embrace where I came from and know that the languages that were spoken in Africa were comparable to any European culture or language, which was robbed from my youth, because they taught black history in a paragraph.

Uggams: My grandmother looked White. I could never figure out how she could be my grandmother. She didn’t want to talk about things. Later on, I started finding out that the plantation owner had 10 children by her mother … And (when I played Kizzy), I finally understood why my grandmother didn’t talk about her life growing up. I’d come home and I’d have so much rage.

Brown: There’s a scene where I get whipped and Lloyd Bridges had to do it. He was just broken up at the thought of having to go through that. We had a lot of white actors that were greatly affected as well.

Sandy Duncan (Missy Anne Reynolds): Absolutely. I watch parts that I know are safe. I can’t look at any of those brutal scenes.

Honest reaction Q: What are your memories from the week it aired?

John Amos (Kunta Kinte as an adult): I was on the freeway and this big brother pulls up next to me in this piece of ancient Detroit steel. He said, “Man, pull over!” So I pulled the car over. He said, “Hey, man, I watched that ‘Roots’ on TV last night, man.

Man, it really affected me … I was halfway through it and I went and got my .38 and I went and shot the TV!” That was the funniest thing that happened. I hope he wasn’t looking for me to reimburse him. (Laughs)

Black men working Q: Did it feel revolutionary

to have so much Black talent working on the same show?

Uggams: I looked around and went, “Thank you, Jesus.” Look at all these fabulous actors and actresses.

Brown: Thank God for Joe Wilcots, our cinematographer, who was Black.

Vereen: And (director) Gilbert Moses. You know what it was like working with two Black men?

That was amazing.

Moody: People said to (producer) Stan Margulies, “Doesn’t it make you feel good to employ so many Blacks?” And he said it was bittersweet because they have nowhere to go from here.

Gossett: When Madge Sinclair (who played Kunta Kinte’s wife, Belle) went up to ABC again, they looked at her and they said, “We’ve done our quota for Black people.”

Brown: When you look at what’s being made, you say, “Where am I included?” Still, to this day, we are the minority in the industry.

Amos: It’s not a level playing field, but it has improved appreciably.

Moody: It was heartbreaking not to have anything to do. My White girlfriends had two auditions a day. I maybe had one a month.

Gossett: Thank God for television. They came to the plate earlier than motion pictures. You have to make an emotional and spiritual adjustment in order to continue on. Otherwise, it’ll eat you up.

About the remake Q: Between the “Roots” remake, “Underground” and “12 Years a Slave,” it seems like pop culture is ready to revisit slavery. Why now?

Gossett: There’s such an incredible history that we need to speak about, and we can’t wait for somebody to do it for us. Our children desperately need to know on whose shoulders they stand.

Vereen: I was watching something last night called “Gods of Egypt.” They were all White people. They’re telling the story, but they’re telling the lie.

Vereen: You know the reason “Hamilton” is such a big hit on Broadway now? It’s because it’s collective. I look at “Hamilton,” I see myself. I say, “Wow, I’m a part of America. I helped build it.”

SAFETY

B6

JUNE 3 – JUNE 9, 2016

TOJ

Keeping kids safe during the summer FROM FAMILY FEATURES

Summer is a time for playground fun, camping, boating, swimming, biking and other fun outdoor activities. Playground falls, lawnmower accidents, campfire and fire pit burns are some common and potentially life-altering childhood injuries that happen during summer months.

Darren Rottmann knows first-hand how easily accidents can happen, particularly in the summer months when out­door activities increase. He lost his leg in a lawn mower accident when he was 3 1/2 years old. He was treated at Shriners Hospitals for Children® — St. Louis, where he was fitted for different prosthetic legs as he grew. Despite his injury, Rottmann was able to walk then run, and even­ tually, play baseball, basketball and football.

Now 37 years old, Rottmann is a certified prosthetist at the same hospital where he was treated. He was inspired to help children the same way he was helped as a boy.

“I started out as a technician building the prosthetic legs but have worked my way into patient care,” he said.

“I think it puts the kids’ minds and their parents’ minds at ease to see that body else has been some­ through it.”

Today, Rottmann is helping Shriners Hospitals for Children encourage kids to become “Superheroes of Summer Safety” by learning and following a few

simple rules of safe summer play.

Here are some tips from Rottmann and Shriners Hospitals for Children to help your family enjoy a fun, injury-free summer.

Go outside and play The physical and mental health benefits of outdoor play are great for children.

It provides opportunities for exercise, creative expression, stress reduction and access to a free and natural source of vitamin D – sunlight. Before sending kids out to play, make sure they always wear shoes to protect feet from cuts, scrapes and splinters, and wear sun­screen to protect from sunburns and harmful ultra-violet rays.

Playground 101 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that emergency departments treat more than 200,000 children ages 14 and younger every year for playground-related injuries. Keep these precautions in mind: • Choose parks and playgrounds that are appropriate for their age and offer shock-absorbing surfaces.

• Teach children that pushing and shoving on the playground can result in accidents and injuries.

• Remind kids to go down the slide one at a time and to wait until the slide is completely clear before taking their turn. Teach them to always sit facing forward with their legs straight in front of them and to never slide down headfirst.

C. ALUKA BERRY/THE STATE/TNS

Tonivea Johnson cools off with the help of her sister, Taylor Johnson while playing in a kiddie swimming pool in a friend’s front yard a few years ago in Columbia, South Carolina.

• Remind children to swing sitting down. Encourage them to wait until the swing stops before getting off and to be careful when walking in front of moving swings.

Make a safe splash Safe Kids Worldwide reports that drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death for children ages 1 to 4 and it is the thirdleading cause of injury-related death among those under 19. Prevent accidents and injuries with these tips: • Instruct children to never swim alone or go near water without an adult present.

• Give children your undivided attention when they are swimming or are near any body of water.

• Always jump in feet first to check the depth before diving into any body of water.

• Never dive in the shallow end of the pool or into above-ground pools.

Fun on the water The U.S. Coast Guard says nearly 71 per­-cent of all boating fatalities are drownings, 85 percent of which are a result of not wearing a life jacket. Here is what you can do: • Always have children wear a Coast Guard-approved, properly fitted life jacket while on a boat, around an open body of water or when participating in water sports.

• Educate yourself. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, 86 percent of boating accident deaths involve boaters who have not com­ pleted a safety course.

• Always check water conditions and forecasts before going out on the water.

Fire safety simplified

Mowing matters

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports 126,035 children ages 19 and under were seen in emergency rooms for fire and burn injuries in 2013.

Use these tips to keep children safe around fires, fireworks and grills: • Teach kids to never play with matches, gasoline, lighter fluid or lighters. Make a habit of placing these items out of the reach of young children.

• Do not leave children unattended near grills, campfires, fire pits or bonfires. Always have a bucket of water or fire extinguisher nearby whenever there is an open flame.

• Take your child to a doctor or hospital immediately if he or she is injured in a fire or by fireworks.

• Leave fireworks to the professionals.

Reports from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, an average of 4,000 children under the age of 14 were treated in emer­gency rooms for lawn mower-related injuries annually from 2010-2014. To avoid accidents, keep these tips in mind: • Teach children to never play on or around a lawn mower, even when it is not in use. They should never be permitted to walk beside, in front of or behind a moving mower.

• Children under 6 years of age should be kept inside the home while mowing.

• Children should be at least 12 years of age before operating a push lawn mower and at least 16 years of age before operating a riding lawn mower.

D fferent Today, we talk differently, work differently and relax differently.

At Duke Energy, we’re doing things differently too. Like creating new ways to generate electricity with solar energy and wind, to provide cleaner energy every day. So no matter how different things become, we’re always here… with power for your life.

Our current wind and solar facilities have enough energy-generating capacity to power 1 million homes.

www.duke-energy.com/Different

Message paid for by Duke Energy shareholders