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JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

VOLUME 22 NO. 23

IS THE ‘PROMISE’ EMPTY? Only one of President Obama’s five Promise Zones serves a majority-Black population, and it is not a new idea.

Does the concept work?

Based Agenda,” offered recommendations on the role the federal government WASHINGTON – Despite should play in breaking barthe disproportionate impact riers to social and economic of poverty found in African- mobility.

American communities, only one of President Obama’s Established strategy “Promise Zones,” is majorPolicies targeting zip ity-Black, according to a new report by the Center for codes also are known as American Progress (CAP), “place-based” policies. They a nonpartisan research and date from at least 1933 when President Franklin Roosevelt educational institute.

The report, titled “A Re- created the Tennessee Valley OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT newed Promise – How Authority to offset the effect President Obama spoke about ways the federal government can help economiPromise Zones Can Help of the Great Depression on Reshape the Federal Place- the southern US. cally challenged communities during a White House event on January 9.

COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

Voting rights vs. politics

In 1963, President Kennedy originated what came to be known as the Appalachian Regional Commission. It was expanded by his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, then passed by Congress in 1965.

Republicans also have supported similar efforts in the past. President Reagan, while cutting safetynet programs, pushed for an enterprise zone program that would offer jobcreating incentives to businesses in blighted urban neighborhoods; Congress refused to pass it. The program was later launched by the George H.W. Bush administration.

2014 NBA FINALS

Ready for the rematch Miami Heat forward LeBron James guarded San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker when the Heat played the Spurs in Miami on Jan. 26 during the regular season. The Heat and the Spurs will battle each other for the championship for the second year in a row.

Redistricting trial ends with both sides confident

BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – A historic challenge to the congressional districts drawn by state lawmakers two years ago is now in the hands of a Leon County circuit judge after a trial in the case wrapped up Wednesday.

The organizations challenging the congressional districts approved two years ago say the map violates the “Fair Districts” amendments that voters adopted in 2010. Those constitutional standards bar the Legislature from using the once-a-decade redistricting process to craft political boundaries that help or harm political parties or candidates.

No closing arguments Pressed by a deadline to end the case by mid-afternoon, lawyers for the Legislature and for voting-rights organizations fighting the districts did not give their expected closing arguments after questioning of a legislative aide went on longer than expected.

But attorneys for both sides See TRIAL, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

Trayvon Martin’s friend graduates from high school NATION | A6

Churchgoer returns couple’s $50 million lottery ticket SHOPPING | B4

Great gift ideas for Father’s Day

ALSO INSIDE

See PROMISE, Page A2

HECTOR GABINO/EL NUEVO HERALD/ MCT

Virginia publisher Ray Boone dies at 76 COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

RICHMOND, Va. – Raymond H. Boone, the founder, editor and publisher of the Richmond Free Press, and an uncompromising First Amendment advocate and practitioner, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer. He was 76.

A native of Suffolk, Va., Boone earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University and a master’s degree in political science from Howard University. He taught jourRaymond H. nalism at HowBoone ard for nearly nine years before starting the publication of the Free Press in 1992.

Experienced journalist Prior to joining the Howard

faculty, Boone was editor and vice president of the Baltimorebased Afro-American Newspaper Group. He also was a reporter for the Norfolk Journal and Guide. He also had daily newspaper experience, having worked as a reporter for the Quincy (Mass.)

Patriot-Ledger and the Suffolk (Va.) News-Herald.

While serving as a Pulitzer Prize juror on two separate occasions, he spearheaded a successful effort that resulted in the placement of African-Americans and women on the Pulitzer Board at Columbia University.

Brought ‘verve’ Among hundreds of other awards Boone received, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg honored him for his “outstanding teaching in journalism.” Black Enterprise magazine once hailed his brand of journalism as a model for the

survival of Black newspapers in America. Time magazine credited him with bringing “sophistication and verve” to the Black press.

As a correspondent for the National Newspaper Publishers Association, Boone wrote from Germany, Finland, the former Soviet Union, Israel and Cuba.

Richmond activist Boone actively shaped the dialogue in Richmond – the capital of the pro-slavery rebel Confederacy during the Civil War. He made headlines by saying the Free Press would no longer use the name of the Washington Redskins pro football team, instead referring to them as “Washington’s professional football team.”

“The name stems from the fact that Native Americans were scalped and butchered and a profit was made from it,” Boone said.

Supported ‘Occupy’ Boone lived next door to Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones. In 2011, Jones had just overseen the eviction of the Occupy Wall Street protestors from a Richmond downtown plaza. Protesters then descended on the mayor’s home to continue their activities. When police came to arrest protestors Boone invited them to move the camp to his front yard –right next to the mayor’s home.

The protests continued.

“His stalwart support for the Black community, for economic justice and fairness paved the way for change in so many ways,” said Jones. “He provided visibility for people who might otherwise be invisible to some…It’s clear to me that Ray Boone was a giant of a personality that won’t soon be forgotten.”

Boone was a life member of the NAACP and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, the former Jean Patterson of Columbia, S.C., and two children.

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: ROGER CALDWELL: ARE BLACK FLORIDIANS REALLY SICK OF GOV. RICK SCOTT? | A4

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FOCUS

JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

How Black politicians sell out to Big Business Ever wondered what the staffers of Congressional Black Caucus members do after their stints on Capitol Hill? The answer, according to a Huffington Post article by Ryan Grim and Zach Carter, is they do the same thing most of their White colleagues do.

They go to work for the big corporations that fund the careers of their former bosses.

They become lobbyists for giant telecoms, for greedy banksters, for military contractors, for agribusiness, Big Oil, Big Pharma, big gentrifiers and the rest, all of which are finding their Black faces and their ties to the Congressional Black Caucus, and the CBC itself, especially useful these days.

Appearance is important With Republicans controlling the House and Democrats the Senate, Grim and Carter explain, the appearance of bipartisanship is everything. Any measure that passes the House with exclusively Republican support will go nowhere in the Senate, and whatever sails through the Senate on the votes of Democrats alone is guaranteed dead on arrival in the House.

But when particularly nasty pro-corporate measures are passed with lots of Republican votes and a smattering of Democrats, especially Black Democrats, the moral authority of the

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Congressional Black Caucus protects those measures from attacks by White liberals in the House, the Senate and among pundits, reporters and policy advocates as well.

Nobody nailed the sense of it better than Breaking Brown’s Yvette Carnell, a Black former Capitol Hill staffer herself, with the title of her piece riffing on the HuffPo revelations, “Revealed: How the CBC Leverages Blackness to Work as a Tool for Wall Street.”

Also in states But the identical phenomenon is at work not just in Congress, but also in virtually every state legislature with more than a handful of Black Democrats, on the governing boards of big counties and in city councils across the country.

In Georgia where I live, a recent constitutional amendment designed to dissolve public schools and replace them with charters had substantial Republican support, but would never have passed without the sup-

TRIAL

Insight into process The trial, which lasted two and a half weeks, provided a rare window into the once-a-decade process of redrawing congressional and legislative districts. It was the first under the Fair Districts standards, which effectively ban gerrymandering and require dis-

PROMISE from A1

Targeting the poorest Obama launched his Promise Zones initiative in January, a program that will fast-track federal aid to some of the nation’s poorest communities. Promise Zones are designed to revitalize highpoverty communities through comprehensive, evidence-based strategies and help local leaders navigate federal funding.

The program would provide no direct funding to targeted zones.

Its proposed tax credits would require approval from Congress. It is modeled on the Clinton administration’s EZ program, which distributed tax credits to economically distressed urban neighborhoods.

The following were selected as Promise Zones in the first round of the process – San Antonio, Texas; Philadelphia; Los Angeles; Southeastern Kentucky; and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Philadelphia, which is about 43 percent Black and nearly 37 percent White, is the only majorityBlack Promise Zone selected in the first round.

“In Philadelphia, nearly four out of every 10 kids live below the poverty line, with many living in the city’s struggling West Philadelphia area. In the area’s Mantua neighborhood specifically, only around 40 percent of adults have a high school diploma, and there are high youth crime rates,” states the CAP report.

Applications from New Orleans, Boston, Cincinnati, rural

Sanitized celebrations Nobody celebrates the Black freedom movement louder, longer, more often and more ostentatiously than the Black political class, and this is why.

It’s not just that this struggle led to the concessions allowing the number of Black elected officials to grow from a few hundred nationwide to more than 10,000 in 40 years. The fact is, the Black political class’s appropriation of and ceaseless celebration of this era and its struggles – properly filtered and sanitized, of course – constantly renews their store of moral legitimacy, keeping their sellout values high.

Politicians who consistently stand up for the poor and oppressed in the halls of power do not attract big campaign contributions, because everyone knows how they’ll vote. Without big campaign contributions, they cannot rise to legislative leadership, and their ambitious staffers will not rise, either. To be a player, you gotta play, and to get the big money, you’ve got to command a respectable price when you sell out. which winds through eight counties from Duval to Orange, wrapping in enclaves of Black voters to create a district likely to elect a candidate favored by AfricanAmericans.

from A1

told reporters afterward that they had accomplished their goals.

“We’re confident that we’ve met whatever standard the court is going to hold us to in this case with our evidence,” said David King, a lawyer for the groups challenging the congressional map.

But Raoul Cantero, a former state Supreme Court justice representing the Senate in the case, said lawmakers and staff members testified repeatedly they did not illegally craft districts that would help or hurt political parties or candidates.

“And we think that all the plaintiffs have done was put up innuendo and whatever other third parties were doing that were not involved,” Cantero said.

“They have not shown that anything [improper] has affected the drawing of the maps.”

port of key Black Democrats with impeccable “civil rights” credentials, but deeply in the pocket of the charter and school privatization lobby.

Whether the issue is the expanding the military budget and surveillance or building nukes in Black communities, the potent combination of Black lobbyists and Black legislators provides vital cover to all kinds of corporatefriendly measures.

Strengthening rights?

Does Congressional District 5 stretch from Jacksonville to Orlando so that Black voting power is protected – or to keep Black voters away from Republican candidates? tricts to be compact and keep cities and counties whole when possible.

A handful of issues emerged during the trial as likely keys to Judge Terry Lewis’ decision.

One of the most important issues is expected to be the drawing of Congressional District 5, Louisiana, New Mexico, and two Native American tribes did not make the final cut.

Information on applying for the second round of Promise Zone designations is now online with announcements of successful applicants expected in early 2015. The administration plans to designate a total of 20 Promise Zones by 2016.

Serious need The CAP report does justify the need for increased federal aid in all five of the first Promise Zones.

“San Antonio’s Eastside neighborhood is a predominately Latino and African-American community, where nearly four in 10 adults do not have high school diplomas and the violent-crime rate is 50 percent higher than the rest of the city,” according to the report.

Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, an economic development firm created during President Johnson’s administration, reported that the poverty rate in majority White Southeastern Kentucky is around 30 percent.

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma also suffers poverty rates that are much higher than the national average.

“Although the poverty rate for those living in the Choctaw Nation is nearly 23 percent, some communities within the zone are far higher. Nine of the census tracts designated as part of the Choctaw zone have poverty rates exceeding 30 percent with one as high as 52.8 percent,” report said.

Racist government policies The CAP report highlighted

Supporters of the district, represented by Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown, say the Legislature increased the African-American share of the vote in the district to more than 50 percent to strengthen the protections provided by the federal Voting Rights Act. OppoCorrine nents say the true Brown goal was to carve Democratic-leaning voters out of surrounding districts to give Republicans safer seats.

On Monday, Brown appeared in the Leon County courtroom and ripped into the lawsuit.

“If they called your names as many times as they’ve called mine, you would show up,” Brown told a reporter who asked why she had decided to attend.

Brown, one of the first AfricanAmericans elected to Congress in Florida since Reconstruction, rejected the arguments of plaintiffs that a different district with the implicit and explicit role that the federal government played in stifling the “American Dream’’ for thousands of Black families.

“These practices included redlining, beginning in the 1930s when the federal government allowed the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation and banks to exclude African-American communities from receiving home loans,” stated the report.

“Following World War II, in many metropolitan regions, highways were rammed through many low-income, mostly African-American communities, displacing thousands of residents and small businesses and ripping apart the fabric of these long-established neighborhoods.

“Today, concentrated poverty persists with many communities facing inferior housing, poor health outcomes, failing schools, inadequate public infrastructure, and few employment opportunities.

“A growing body of research shows that being raised in such high-poverty communities undermines the long-term life chances of children,” stated the CAP report. “For example, poverty has been shown to genetically age children, and living in communities exposed to violence impairs cognitive ability.”

The report said that this increases the likelihood that children will have poor health and educational outcomes and few employment opportunities in the future.

Middle-class and poor Even Blacks who are considered middle-class, based on their

Fixers and players

Now top-down

Many CBC members and their employees want desperately to be fixers and players, like those on the TV series “House of Cards,” and they’ve learned exactly how.

CBC members, goaded by Black lobbyists, have been so eager to cross the aisle and make deals that they have often been leading co-sponsors and supporters of odious measures attracting few other Democrats.

Carter and Grim show that when CBC members jumped on board with Republicans, these measures become law, or influence regulators. When CBC members hang back, most other Democrats do the same.

As the Huffington Post article says, the moral legitimacy of the Congressional Black Caucus, and by extension that of the entire Black misleadership class, is nothing but a hollowedout brand. The article is full of quotes from staffers and lobbyists about this or that CBC member’s “brand.”

In plain English, brands are purposeful, deliberate, manipulative lies.

Branding is a marketing strategy intended to evoke a given response in a target audience, summoning real or imagined memories, tastes, feelings or desires in order to get a response from the target audience which could not be obtained by appeals to fact or logic. When political players proudly admit among themselves that they are mere “brands,” Black politics as a progressive force in these United States is over.

There was a time not so very long ago when Black America was where the left lived. Black politics emanated from the streets, not the suites. This kind of politics from the bottom up projected demands to end unjust wars, for better housing, more aid to public education, public transit and the public sector in general, and for voting rights, so that a class of Black elected officials might look to the interest of the Black masses.

Now that a prosperous, empowered and ambitious class of African-American officials and lobbyists has been called into existence, it has flipped the script and turned Black politics into a top-down affair. Black elected officials, from state and local level to the CBC and its staffers-turned lobbyists has become the hinge swinging the politics of the Democratic Party and the nation ever rightward.

Black politics as we have known it is over, because Black politicians and the Black political class no longer believe justice or peace or full employment are possible. They haven’t been working for us for a long time.

a lower concentration of Black voters would still elect a candidate favored by African-Americans. She also referred to efforts to mark the upcoming 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act. “And it’s just like, it didn’t happen,” she said. “And it’s just very important that African-Americans need to know that they are constantly going to have to fight in order to keep representation, because there are people that would take you back.”

Meeting and map

Black concerns Witnesses called by the NAACP on Monday said the district was vital to making sure that the concerns of Black Floridians were addressed in Congress. They also bristled at the suggestion that the percentage of Black voters could be lowered without harming African-Americans’ ability to elect their preferred candidate.

Beverly Neal, former executive director of the Florida NAACP, pointed to the fact that Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson, who is White, was elected to represent a district drawn in 2012 where Latinos comprised almost 41.4 percent of the vote two years earlier.

“That was supposed to have been a Hispanic district, and it’s not,” she said. income, often live in poor neighborhoods.

The CAP report cited research

by Patrick Sharkey, an associate professor of sociology at New York University, that found “the average African-American family making $100,000 a year lives in a more disadvantaged neighborhood than the average White family making $30,000 a year, revealing how past social policies continue to affect neighborhood choice.”

The report continued: “Sharkey explains that the same, mostly African-American families have lived in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods over long periods of time and over multiple generations, limiting access to better opportunities.

“Neighborhood poverty experienced a generation ago doesn’t disappear. It doesn’t become inconsequential. It lingers on to affect the next generation.”

The federal government has a role to play in undoing the effects of past policies that contributed to these outcomes, the report states.

Suggestions to Obama The report offered a number of recommendations to accelerate the efforts of the Promise Zones initiative, including cutting taxes for businesses that invest in the zones, awarding planning grants to help designees build capacity for current programs, and encouraging community and regional partnerships with anchor institutions like colleges and universities.

The report also suggested using current social mobility re-

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

A second factor includes a December 2010 meeting between legislative staff members and political consultants shortly after the Fair Districts amendments passed. The Legislature’s attorneys have said the main purpose of the meeting was to try to figure out how to follow the new standards and that the consultants were eventually told they couldn’t be involved in drawing the maps.

An additional factor is the origin of a map submitted under the name of former Florida State University student Alex Posada.

Posada said last week that he did not draw that map, did not submit it to the Legislature and did not authorize anyone else to do so on his behalf, according to a lawyer for the coalition of voting rights groups.

King said Wednesday questions remain about the Posada plan. “There are very few answers about that,” he said. “That map... seems to be an orphan. Nobody wants to claim it.”

But Cantero waved off the focus on the map, saying lawmakers considered plans submitted by the public based on their merits and couldn’t control who sent in a plan through a system set up to receive citizens’ proposals.

“I think that either side is going to appeal no matter what happens,” Cantero said. search that looks at family structure, segregation, and social capital to help design goals targeted specifically to the needs of the communities where the plans will be implemented.

Do they work?

James Quane, associate director of the Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and an adviser on the Promise Zone program, told the Christian Science Monitor that “this should be given a try,” though it’s unclear if similar programs in previous administrations were successful.

A 1996 interim HUD report on the Clinton’s EZ program reported “mixed” results, but an independent assessment in 2006 found that the program had created approximately $1 billion in additional wage earnings in the target areas, as well as another $1 billion in property wealth. Unemployment decreased by some 30,000 people; 50,000 EZ zone residents had been lifted above the poverty line.

The difference in the two assessments reflects a problem of collecting good information on the programs as well as from the sheer complexity in trying to evaluate them, according to the experts.

Analysts also have said that it’s difficult to tell whether a program’s benefits reach the poorest people, rather ending up in the bank accounts of the business owners who get the tax credits.

NNPA Washington Correspondent Freddie Allen contributed to this report.

FLORIDA

JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

A3 Childhood friendship Vereen and Jeantel connected shortly before the trial, when a member of her church asked if he would volunteer to represent her. Vereen said he tried to prepare Jeantel as best he could without knowing the government’s strategy, and in the end, he believes prosecutors missed an opportunity.

“I don’t think they understood the importance of how Rachel was going to fit in,” said Vereen, a former prosecutor. “She was the person that brings out the character of Trayvon Martin.”

It was widely misreported that Jeantel and Martin were dating. She says he was just a close friend whom she first met in second grade — a friend who didn’t judge her plus-size frame or the way she spoke.

“He cared about you,” Jeantel said. “That’s a good human.” The friends had been talking about their future moments before Martin was killed, she said.

JACOB LANGSTON/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT

Defense attorney Don West questions witness Rachel Jeantel during George Zimmerman’s trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford on June 27, 2013. Zimmerman was acquitted in July 2013 of second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

A more polished Rachel Jeantel graduates from high school Trayvon Martin’s friend, ridiculed for dialect during trial, assisted by team of tutors, psychologist, mentors

Rachel Jeantel is shown with Attorney Rod Vereen.

EURWEB.COM

In a tone that is said to resound with confidence, high school graduate Rachel Jeantel exclaims, “I did it! The witness who didn’t know how to speak English knows how to speak Eng-

COURTESY PHOTO

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lish through the 12th grade now. I never quit.”

These words came from the mouth of the young woman who was a key prosecution witness in the Trayvon Martin murder trial.

Due to her lack of command for the King’s English, she was ridiculed and made a mockery of both in the court and in the public eye.

Readers may recall that she was on the phone with 17-year-old Martin when his life was taken on Feb. 26, 2012 by George Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood watchman who was aquitted.

Looking for a job The trial enraged African-Americans and sparked nationwide controversy on Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, self-defense, gun control, vigilantism, civil rights and racial profiling.

The presence of Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, made Jeantel’s walk down the aisle even more poignant.

“Her coming is like having Trayvon there saying, ‘You did it. You proved people wrong,’” Jeantel, who also earned her driver’s license a few months back, told Yahoo News.

Jeantel was a key prosecution witness, but her demeanor and speech on the stand took center stage oftentimes, and detracted from her testimony. Then 19, she used terms such

as “creepy” and “cracker” to describe Zimmerman, whom she said was aggressively following Trayvon Martin before their call was silenced during the scuffle.

Crossing the stage on May 29 “is just the beginning of my life,” said Jeantel, who is now looking for a job.

Attorney Ron Vereen, who stepped in for her just moments before her appearance at the trial, is also very proud of her.

“When people see Rachel Jeantel now, I want them to say, ‘Wow, there was something good that came out of something so tragic,’” Vereen said.

Ridiculed for dialect The child of immigrant parents, Jeantel speaks Haitian Creole, Spanish and English, but at times the court reporter and jurors struggled to decipher her dialect and street slang.

Contentious exchanges between the sometimestesty teen and persnickety defense attorney Don West turned into cultural theater.

“Are you claiming in any way that you don’t understand English?” the grayhaired West asked Jeantel.

She paused and gave him a stare.

“I don’t understand you.

I do understand English,” Jeantel replied.

Then when Jeantel was forced to admit she couldn’t read a letter written in cursive, the court of public opinion was cruel. Her spoken English and mannerisms were mocked on social media and elsewhere.

“They called her everything except the child of God,” said Rod Vereen, a Miami defense and civil rights attorney. “Of course she was frustrated. It was like stepping into an arena, and you don’t know the rules.”

Police seeking tips in death of Tampa girl ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAMPA – Police are still seeking the public’s help to find 9-year-old Felecia Williams’ killer.

WFLA reports that local law enforcement is setting up message boards along the Courtney Campbell Causeway to generate

Court backs Regions Bank on check fees NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

A federal appeals court on May 30 sided with Alabama-based Regions Bank in a dispute stemming from fees charged for cashing checks at the bank’s Florida branches.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal banking law trumps a Florida law that plaintiffs contended would bar the fees.

After-school tutoring The irony tugged at Vereen’s heartstrings. The trial was over in mid-July, but he couldn’t let go.

“Rachel was in need, and the whole world was watching,” said Vereen, 52.

With the financial backing of the Tom Joyner Foundation, Vereen assembled a team of three tutors, a psychologist and other mentors to shepherd Jeantel.

She was entering her senior year but still reading and doing math at an elementary-school level, Vereen said. For nine months, Jeantel received after-school tutoring three hours a day five to six days a week.

“When they say it takes a village to raise a child, this is what has happened here,” he said. “Getting her down that aisle has not been an easy task. Rachel is just like any other teenager. They want to buck the system sometimes, and you just can’t let them buck the system.”

One of her tutors, Alix Desulme, didn’t know Jeantel before working with her, but he remembers reading hateful comments about her during the trial.

“The performance was not polished ... her grammar,” Desulme said. “She has made great improvements from then to now.”

Plans to go to college The plan is for Jeantel to continue working with tutors on precollege curriculum before enrolling at a university. Becoming a clothing designer could be in her future.

Crossing the stage “is just the beginning of my life,” Jeantel said.

“When people see Rachel Jeantel now, I want them to say, ‘Wow, there was something good that came out of something so tragic,’” Vereen said.

This story is from a report by Jason Sickles with Yahoo News.

additional tips.

A $13,000 reward is being offered by Crime Stoppers of Tampa and the FBI. A man who is suspected in the girl’s death, Granville Ashanti Ritchie, is behind bars on unrelated charges for drugs and sex with a minor. He has not been charged with Felecia’s murder.

The girl was last seen with family friend Eboni Wiley on May 16. Wiley was charged with giving false information to a law enforcement officer during an investigation.

Her body was found on May 17 off the Courtney Campbell Causeway.

The lawsuit was filed as a class action in 2012 after Derek Pereira and Camila De Freitas each presented a check to be cashed at a Regions branch in Florida, according to the May 30 ruling. The checks were drawn on Regions, and the bank charged Pereira and De Freitas fees.

The lawsuit contended that those fees violated state law because Pereira and De Freitas received less than the full amount of the checks. But the appeals court said Regions, which it described as an “out-of-state state bank,” is covered by federal law addressing the issue. The federal law, which allows such fees, also applies to what are described as “national” banks.

EDITORIAL

A4

JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

Gentrification: Is it good for the Black community?

For over 40 years, I had the opportunity of living within the Washington DC Metropolitan area which includes parts of Maryland and Northern Virginia. Through my time and observation of what is happening in Washington, DC today, there’s a strong gentrification of White people moving into the area.

What was once considered ‘Chocolate City’ has been tapered into moving Black folks out and making it so unaffordable for them to move back. Truly, a problem has surged.

I need to declare that I am not prejudice in any way towards people outside of the Black community, however, I am concerned that gentrification is hurting our community.

Why do I say this?

1. Black-owned establishments that once catered to local residents are being forced to close

DR. SINCLAIR GREY III GUEST COLUMNIST

or relocate because of new construction which is making it difficult for old as well as new customers to patronize.

2. Real estate prices are skyrocketing. An example of this is apartments renting for $2000 per month and condominiums selling for $400,000 and up making it extremely difficult for people of color to afford.

3. Culture is compromised.

Neighborhoods that once had black artwork is being painted over to reflect more of the ‘new’ community.

Who is to blame for this shift?

Well, I place a lot of the blame

on us (as a people). Whenever we allow our neighborhoods, schools, and businesses to decay, we are in essence decreasing the value of the community. Think about it for a moment. As soon as the value of a neighborhood diminishes, those with vision can see pass the mess and make it into a miracle. If you don’t believe me, I dare you to look back at some the neighborhoods that were once crime-ridden, impoverished, and filled with drugs and see what has happened. A whole new neighborhood has emerged with a whole new spirit.

The old adage of saying, “White people are moving in and making it unaffordable for us” needs to be abolished. We must do a better job of making our neighborhoods and communities safer, cleaner, and full of prosperity. It starts with having a changed mind. Permit me to quote Scripture and

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: SHINSEKI AND VETERANS AFFAIRS

R.J. MATSON, ROLL CALL

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 214 Obama weakness, GOP dysfunction – It’s all on display regarding the release of an American soldier, Bowe Bergdahl.

Obama is weak, but NOT for negotiating and swapping prisoners with whomever captured Bergdahl. He’s weak for not putting those now-released Guantanamo prisoners on trial in an American federal court years ago. He’s weak for not shutting Guantanamo down, instead of building a parallel ‘justice’ system in Cuba just to tamp down GOP criticism.

Had he closed Guantanamo as promised, the prisoners would have been either convicted in court and locked up in a Supermax federal prison, or acquitted and deported. Either way, they wouldn’t be Obama’s problem. And if he wanted to swap them, he’d have to see a judge about that. That’s due process – something America tries to export to the rest of the world.

The GOP’s scurrilous attack on an American active-duty soldier who has been a hostage for years, even before he’s been reunited with his family, and the double standard regarding Bro. Prez, confirms to independent voters like me that Republican leadership is out of its collective mind. Had Reagan, Bush 1, or Bush 2 brought a POW home, the GOP majority in the House of Representatives would declare a national holiday to celebrate. Instead, they are calling Bergdahl a

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

traitor before he even sets foot on American soil to defend himself. Disgraceful.

And you know I’m no Obama fan…

Redistricting lawsuit – I’d agree with Rep. Corrine Brown and the NAACP if they could somehow convince me that having a Black congressperson is relevant anymore, especially when they are shackled to the Democratic Party. When it came time to advocate unceasingly to eliminate disproportionate Black pain (foreclosures, incarceration, etc.) when the Democrats were in control, what did the Congressional Black Caucus do?

Nothing.

Being the “first Black” to hold political office has played out. Rather a White/ Hispanic person who would advocate for our interests than a Black person who would warm the seat. Where’s an “unbought and unbossed” Shirley Chisholm when you need her?

Click on this story at www.flcourier. com to write your own response.

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

THE 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.

say, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...”

Let’s face it - a mind committed to wanting better, seeing better, doing better, and living better will work towards things getting better.

Without addressing our own issues, we won’t see any more ‘Black’ neighborhoods. The once ‘all black neighborhood’ will be replaced with people that don’t look like us and in many ways won’t cater to us for our business.

Answer the question Before you go on a rampage and say ‘I’m being too Black about this article of gentrification,’ may I pose a question to you. Is there gentrification within the Jewish and Latino community? If we’re honest for a second, the answer is no. They have learned to value their schools, businesses, and

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Dr. Sinclair Grey III is a speaker, writer, activist, published author and committed advocate for change.Contact him at drgrey@sinclairgrey. org. Follow on Twitter @drsinclairgrey. 569

Are Black Floridians really sick of Gov. Rick Scott?

In 2014, it is very difficult to label people by the color of their skin. There are people who are darker then blue, but they identify themselves from the country they were born in. In Florida with the diverse cultures and languages, many of the folks do not want to be called Black.

Many Black Americans now want to be called African-Americans, and they believe that they are superior to other Blacks from other countries. Some African-Americans, who are almost White, only want to be called Black, and get upset if you identify them with another race or culture.

Election 2014 But, Black Floridians and Hispanic Floridians can change the course of history in the 2014 election. Every day the Democrats send out literature stating that they are sick of Governor Scott, but they refuse to sit down and make the leadership diverse and inclusive. Democrats have millions of dollars at their disposal, but they only spend a small portion of their advertising dollars with the Black media.

When we talk about the Black media, we are talking about Black owned newspapers, Black owned radio stations, Black Public Relations firms, Black advertising companies, Black Social

ROGER CALDWELL GUEST COLUMNIST

media companies, and other Black media outlets. In order for the Florida Democrats to win the governorship in 2014, it will be necessary for the leaders to share the wealth.

Black church leaders, all the Black civic organizations, Black political organizations, Black politicians, and Black Business organizations in Florida say that Governor Scott must be defeated in 2014. But in June of 2014, none of these organizations have developed a platform and strategy to bring this plan to fruition.

There appears to be no communication or collaboration between these groups and the election is five months away.

Are Blacks desensitized?

Maybe, the Florida Black community is paralyzed or complacent and they don’t care who wins. But, Black folks in Florida cannot stand Governor Scott, because he acts as if we don’t exist in Florida. He has never made an effort to go to a major Black church in Florida, and

discuss Black problems in the state. He is trying to relate to the Hispanic culture, and this year he passed a law for the immigrants. His Lieutenant Governor is Hispanic, and he hopes he get his share of votes from that community.

There should be meetings in all 67 counties, with the leaders and churches in the Black community educating and informing Black registered voters, the importance of voting in the primary. We must identify the Black candidates such as Perry Thurston running for State’s Attorney, and we must make sure they win.

We must also build a coalition with all the Black political organization, and work together to identify Black and progressive candidates that are concerned about our interest. Finally, we must also build coalitions with Latino political organizations and progressive political organizations throughout the state. If Blacks are truly sick of Governor Scott, we will become proactive, and change Florida politics in 2014, because we cared and made a difference.

Roger Caldwell is the founder and CEO of OnPoint Media. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

Try to stay out of trouble Nowadays, it seems like every time you turn on the news, a Black elected official is being accused of corruption.

Public officials with dark complexions are being accused, indicted or jailed in the north, south, east and west.

Why are Black elected officials getting into trouble?

Some say the African-Americans in public office are being unfairly targeted. Others suggest they are just dumb crooks.

I say the idea that Black elected officials can do anything that white elected officials can do gets our public servants in more trouble than anything else!

Deals cut from the outside W W W.FLCOURIER.COM

neighborhoods. While many (not all) blacks are concerned with relationship talk shows, reality shows, and being entertained, other groups are developing businesses and controlling the politics of our community.

As the title of the article goes, ‘Gentrification: Is it Good for the Black Community?’ This is a question that you need to answer.

If you answer yes, then that’s your business. If you answer no, then what are you going to do about it other than complain?

When Blacks in office decide they want to cut a deal to make money they hardly ever recruit other people in the Black community to participate in any revenue generating deals.

There are few, if any, conspiracies, collaborations, or joint criminal ventures involving Blacks in office and Blacks not in office.

The guilty elected officials seem to always want the “bribes” for themselves, the “kick backs” for themselves or the benefits to be given or paid only to them.

Now, it is no secret money probably changes hands every day in the halls of government. If money is not involved clothes are bought, food is served, golf is played,

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

trips are taken or sex, drugs and alcohol are provided.

Smarty pants The decisions to try things that shouldn’t be tried are usually made by politicians that think they know everything or think they are smarter than everyone else.

When questions arise about what to do when an illegal or suspicious offer is made to a Black politician, the African-American Mayors, Councilmen, Legislators, appointees and others never ask the Black government staffers what to do and they never ask the Black lobbyists.

They never ask when money is expected to flow but they scream bloody murder when they are marched away in handcuffs.“Oh, I’ve been framed, I’ve been entrapped, I’ve been targeted” is some of the things they will say.

Take a hint Well, if you want to enrich yourself after becoming elected, try the following: 1 – Instead of trusting everybody else, trust some Black people in the political process sometimes. When a non-Black politico is accused of wrongdoing, the

first person he will give up is the Black elected official.

However, most Blacks don’t want to see other Blacks go to jail.

2 – Help your people.

Help your friends. When Black elected officials are offered something, tell the person doing the offering to give it to a friend. Black politicians should think that people do wear wires sometimes and will trick you into saying something criminal.

3 – The best way for Blacks in elected office to get some money is to get the money when they leave office. Get hired as a lobbyist, as a consultant or charge an enormous amount of money to speak at a convention. A whole lot of politicians get paid like that and never see a day in a jail cell or a court room.

What Black elected officials should want to be are the best public servants that they can be. If you want to be rich earn the money you make because Black political criminals get treated like Black community criminals, they are victims of false arrest, are over charged and given harsher sentences than non-Black elected officials accused or similar or worse political corruption crimes.

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing.” Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

EDITORIAL

My house is not your home Since the economic crash of 2008, I think everyone has had to make adjustments – except the federal government – including cutting back on discretionary spending, fewer weekends at the beach, eating out less, etc. What I like about Americans is that when times get hard, we have a tendency to reach out to help those around us who are less fortunate.

We will share a loaf of bread with a neighbor. We will give a bag of groceries to a needy member of our church. We will pay the fees for our child’s friend to attend summer camp.

Those we have some connection to will always be on the receiving end of our largess when we have the wherewithal and after we have fulfilled the obligations we have to our families.

This is the America I love and cherish. But this love is becoming somewhat diminished in light of recent numbers on the level of homelessness among children in the U.S. There are two groups in the U.S. that we should never allow to suffer – children and senior citizens.

Our children Children are pure, innocent and totally dependent on us adults. Senior citizens have paid their dues to society and paved the way for us to enjoy the privileges we have.

But those aren’t the only two

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: NEW EPA RULES

Illegals flooding nation RAYNARD JACKSON NNPA COLUMNIST

groups we should be concerned about. A record 1.16 million students in the United States were homeless last year, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Education. These were students from K-12 for the school year 2011-12, the latest numbers are available. This was a 10 percent increase from the previous school year. According to the federal government, there were 55.5 million students enrolled in school during this period, meaning about 2 percent of all students were homeless.

The states with the largest increases of homeless students were: California, New York, Texas, and Florida. What is interesting about those states is they are the same states with the largest population of people in the U.S. illegally.

The Obama administration has actually encouraged a flood of illegal children to trek across Central America through Mexico into the U.S. because they have made it perfectly clear that they will not enforce our immigration laws.

This public declaration has put our own kids at dire risk.

According to Reuters, “An estimated 60,000 such children will pour into the United States this year, according to the [Obama] administration, up from about 6,000 in 2011. Now, Washington is trying to figure out how to pay for their food, housing and transportation once they are taken into custody.

The flow is expected to grow.

The number of unaccompanied, undocumented immigrants who are under 18 will likely double in 2015 to nearly 130,000 and cost U.S. taxpayers $2 billion, up from $868 million this year, according to administration estimates.”

So, if these are the numbers the Obama administration is using, they are probably conservative.

We are already more than $17 trillion in debt and you want to take money (that could be used for citizens) away from our homeless children to take care of those noncitizens who are in the country illegally? Really? I am totally with humanitarian aid, but not at the expense of my own U.S.-born children.

The problem has gotten so bad that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has set up an emergency shelter at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas that can hold 1,000 illegals. That’s right, we are housing illegals on military bases; but our own children are living on the street or in a homeless shelter.

DAVID FITZSIMMONS

Enough is enough We Americans are the most generous, kind, giving people on the face of the earth; but enough is enough. Let’s take care of our own first.

America doesn’t have an immigration problem. We have an enforcement problem. There is nothing wrong with the laws on the books; we need to simply enforce them. The interesting thing that my open borders and pro-amnesty friends will never discuss publically is this: America accepts more legal immigrants into the U.S. annually than the total of all the other nations of the world combined.

So, I will not allow those who disagree with me to dismiss me as xenophobic, heartless, without compassion, etc. Show me a parent who will take away from his family to give to a total stranger and I will show you an unfit parent. Because you are in my house does not make it your home.

Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a Washington, D.C.-based public relations/ government affairs firm. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

Right wing media pretends racism doesn’t exist A new posting by MediaMatters. org, the media watchdog group, sums up the conservative strategy under the headline, “Don’t Litigate It, Don’t Ever Talk About It: Right-Wing Media’s Solution to Racial Discrimination.”

The report recounts the media storm touched off by “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates’ excellent cover story in the Atlantic magazine. Media Matters said, “…

The Atlantic has given right-wing media a fresh opportunity to argue that the best way to address racially discriminatory laws or policies – such as housing segregation – is to never speak of them, let alone litigate them under civil rights law.”

Media Matters observed, “In Coates’ essay, which ultimately calls for a congressional study on the long-term effects of the treatment of African-Americans in the United States, he explores the country’s history of racism and oppression, from slavery to the Jim Crow laws to the present. Although right-wing media have been known to erroneously claim that racism is no longer a problem,

GEORGE E. CURRY NNPA COLUMNIST

the systemic effect of state and federal laws that favored whites and oppressed people of color is still felt today.”

Business segregation For example, “…agencies like the Fair Housing Administration often refused to insure mortgages in neighborhoods that they deemed unsuitable, perpetuating systematic housing segregation that in turn fueled other disparate racial impacts that continue today, such as separate and unequal schools.

Despite the fact that redlining was outlawed in 1968 with the passage of the Fair Housing Act, the housing market is still hostile to black buyers and renters, even in neighborhoods that have taken steps to improve residential housing segregation.”

But you would not know any of Supreme Court also plays a key this if you only consumed conser- role.

“Even worse, the Supreme vative propaganda.

Court has contributed to modern racial divisions by rolling back afTake it to court “Right-wing outlets like The firmative action policies, gutting Wall Street Journal, NRO, and ra- key provisions of the Voting Rights dio host Rush Limbaugh have Act, and making it nearly imposcome out against governmental sible for public schools to impleefforts to remedy past harms us- ment proactive integration iniing litigation to enforce fair hous- tiatives that would help diversify ing laws and promote residential heavily segregated schools. Such integration programs. When the decisions have allowed states to Department of Justice went after impose restrictive voter identificabanks who had racially discrimi- tion laws, have whitewashed colnated against people of color, the lege campuses, and nearly driven a stake through the heart of Brown WSJ called the lawsuit an attempt v. Board of Education, the case that to ‘shake down banks for not lendoutlawed state-mandated segreing enough to minorities,’ and gation in public schools. Unsurcomplained the agency was atprisingly, right-wing media also tempting to impose an unconstidetermined that the recent 60th tutional ‘quota’ system on lenders. anniversary of Brown, one of the The WSJ also claimed that the lawmost significant civil rights victosuit, and other initiatives on the ries in history, was no time to dispart of the DOJ, had done nothcuss racial inequalities.” ing more than “’saddle a lot of minorities with foreclosed homes, Hiding the truth huge debt burdens, and bad credit helps no one scores.’”

The article continued, “If Chief The conservative-dominated

Vincent Harding’s call to make America America When my brother friend Dr. Vincent Harding passed away May 19 at age 82, we lost a beloved historian, theologian, social justice activist, and visionary who never lost sight of the “beloved community” his friend and colleague Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed our nation and world could become.

During the Civil Rights Movement Vincent Harding was a close confidant of Dr. King. He helped draft several of Dr. King’s speeches, including the landmark 1967 antiwar sermon “Beyond Vietnam” and later served as the first director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta. Vincent Harding taught at Pendle Hill Study Center, the University of Pennsylvania, Spelman College, and Temple University and spent more than three decades at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, where he founded and chaired the Veterans of Hope Project. The project’s mission is to encourage a healing, intergenerational approach to social justice activism that recognizes the interconnectedness of spirit, creativity, and citizenship—a mission he passionately embraced.

Make America better In July 2012 on his 81st birthday Dr. Harding spoke at the National and Racial Healing Town Hall at a Children’s Defense Fund’s

MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN NNPA COLUMNIST

conference. He told us he believed America was a wounded nation, but despite so many years of struggle he remained convinced America could and must get better. He urged all of us to commit ourselves to healing America and making our country what it should be. We can honor him by repeating his important message and trying to make it reality.

He shared a line he heard a West African poet recite: “He made this fantastic statement that I want to pass on to you as a birthday gift. He said, ‘I am a citizen of a country that does not yet exist.’” The poet was speaking about his homeland, which was going through political turmoil on the road to independence. But my dear brother Vincent said it applied to our current national spiritual and moral crisis in America: “We are citizens of a country that we still have to create—a just country, a compassionate country, a forgiving country, a multiracial, multireligious country, a joyful country that cares about its children and about its elders, that cares about itself and about the world, that

cares about what the earth needs as well as what individual people need.”

Does not yet exist “I am, you are, a citizen of a country that does not yet exist,” he continued, “and that badly needs to exist.

And I want to offer you the opportunity to celebrate my birthday with me by pledging deep in you that you are not going to give up this life without offering yourself totally to the creation of this country that does not yet exist.”

Those of us who share Vincent Harding’s vision for that just, compassionate, multiracial, joyful nation that cares for children and elders, itself and the rest of the world, the earth’s needs along with individual needs—can honor his legacy and lifetime of struggle and service by working to make that America reality.

We are citizens of a country that does not yet exist, but it is up to us to finally create and make it a just and hopeful land for all.

Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund.

Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

Justice John Roberts had his way, we’d all follow right-wing media’s lead and stop talking about race. As Roberts famously stated, ‘the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.’

In her dissent opposing the majority’s decision to uphold Michigan’s ban on affirmative action, however, Justice Sonia Sotomayor countered, ‘the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination.’”

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA.) Write your own response at www.flcouier.com.

The downside of Brown v. Board of Education When the much-heralded decision in Brown v. Board of Education was issued in May 1954 by the U.S. Supreme Court, I was a 16-year-old junior at Nurnberg American High School in Nurnberg, Germany. My father was in the U.S. Army and my family had moved there in March 1953 from Tuskegee, Ala. During my sophomore, junior and senior years, I was the only Black student in my classes, which was a very different situation from what has existed in segregated Tuskegee. I had never attended school with White students before we were stationed in Germany.

Being in Germany, I missed much of the euphoria that exploded among Black folks around the Supreme Court decision which declared allBlack public schools to be “inherently inferior” to their White counterparts.

Like everyone, I regarded that as a given, despite the fact that when arriving in Germany in 1953 after only having attended all-Black schools, not only was I not behind my White classmates academically, I was in fact ahead of most of them.

tion and knowledge about several things, most notably on the attacks on the minds of Black people by advocates of White supremacy. It was my first time hearing this so forcefully expressed and explained.

That was the beginning of my realization that labeling all-Black schools as “inherently inferior,” not because of states treating them with malign neglect or because of pervasive White supremacy, but just because they were allBlack, was basically an attack on our minds. It may be denied but the harsh reality is that most Whites and, unfortunately, most Black folks interpreted and continue to interpret the Supreme Court decision that way. It’s just a short step from that position to believing that allBlack anything—businesses, professionals, institutions, etc.- are inherently inferior.

All Black anything

We have the choice

It was about 10 years later, in June 1962 that I first heard Brother Malcolm X speak for the first time. He spoke with clarity, convic-

I have a personal experience on the tenaciousness of that belief. When I was quoted in an article supporting historically Black

A. PETER BAILEY TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

colleges and universities, a White man wrote a letter to the editor accusing me of being as much a segregationist as George Wallace.

My response to him was, “Don’t flatter yourself.

Many Black people had no desire to go to the University of Virginia. We just didn’t want Whites to be able to tell us we couldn’t go there. After that was settled, we would choose to go to Hampton University or Virginia Union University or to Virginia State University. For us, it was all about having the right to choose.”

The belief that anything all-Black is inherently inferior has been devastating to the growth of serious Black economic power in this country. Too many of us deeply believe that White ice is colder than Black ice. As a result, we give billions of dollars annually to White-owned or -controlled entities. This downside of Brown v.

Board of Education must be totally rejected if we are to maximize our cultural and economic position in this country and the world.

Peter A. Bailey is an American author and journalist. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

TOJ A6

NATION & WORLD

JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

VA’s problems undo years of progress Veterans Administration spent years overcoming shortcomings in its health care system

BY CHRIS ADAMS MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON — Wanted: A heath care system “uniquely positioned to lead the country in making … positive changes in the way health care is delivered.”

It’s not likely that the Department of Veterans Affairs will be getting many takers on that anytime soon.

But just four months ago, that was the assessment the head of the VA’s health care system offered in an article for a publication that serves health care professionals working in government health services.

At the time, it was a plausible claim: The VA had spent years overcoming shortcomings in its health care system to emerge in the 2000s as a well-regarded health system. It had problems — many of them flagged over the years by government auditors and inspectors general — and it was prone to exaggeration in touting its successes.

But reviewers inside and outside the VA had thoroughly examined what was the largest integrated health care system in the nation and deemed it more than adequate.

“It’s good,” Katherine Watkins, a researcher for the RAND Corp., a Santa Monica, Calif.based think tank, said of the VA’s mental health system, which she analyzed for a 2011 report. “For mental health care, the VA is doing as well or better than the private sector. And in some areas, it is doing 10 times better.”

Good follow-up The VA’s strengths have been in aggressively creating a unified, integrated system. It generally does well in making sure veter-

ans get needed medications and with other types of ongoing, routine care. Its electronic records on patients allow it to closely track patient care.

In the RAND study by Watkins, for example, veterans who were hospitalized for a psychiatric condition received follow-up care within a week of discharge nearly half the time and nearly 80 percent received follow-ups within a month. Such performance was generally higher than among other health systems.

“Where comparable data are available, the VA performs as well as or better than private plans, Medicare or Medicaid,” the study authors wrote in the journal Health Affairs.

Growing network That a health system derided by critics in both parties, slammed by its internal auditor, criticized by the Government Accountability Office and subject to vitriolic attacks by the very veterans it is intended to serve could get such positive reviews from a serious researcher reflects the conundrum that is the VA health system over the past generation.

In the past two decades, the VA’s health system had remade itself, boosting outpatient and preventive care into a growing network that included hospitals, outpatient clinics and other facilities. It de-emphasized inpatient care and sought to boost mental health care.

Today, the system has 151 medical centers, 820 community clinics, 300 Vet Centers that offer counseling, and a range of other rehabilitation, residential and other care centers. While the number of veterans in the nation has gradually declined in the five years through 2012, the number

KEITH LANE/MCT

Commander Daniel Dellinger of the American Legion, talks with Barry Coates of Rock Hill, S.C. prior to a congressional hearing on Veterans Affairs on April 9 in Washington, D.C. Coates is a military veteran who is still dealing with problems from his medical treatment at Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, S.C. of veterans enrolled in the health care system and the number of patients both increased by 12 percent or more.

Satisfaction surveyed In a nation of about 22 million veterans, not all are part of the VA health system; in 2012, 8.8 million were enrolled and 6.3 million were patients, according to VA planning documents.

For those veterans who do get into the system — because of their disability levels, prison-ofwar status, income or other factors — there is widespread satisfaction. The American Customer Satisfaction Index, a national survey run by an independent organization that allows comparisons over time and among different sectors of the economy, regularly asks veterans about their experience.

On a 100-point scale, VA’s most recent score for inpatients was 84 — four points higher than the score for inpatients in privatesector hospitals. For VA outpatients, the score was 82, just one point below the private-sector

score. Those numbers are from 2013.

The survey asks a range of questions about “how accessible and easy” it was to use the VA, how courteous the staff and doctors were, how long the waits were for prescriptions, and whether the patient, overall, found the quality of care high and the experience generally satisfying.

‘91’ on customer service Despite the increase in patient loads and the recent waittime scandal, the VA — in the eyes of veteran patients — hasn’t changed much at all over time, according to a March 2014 survey report. Over the past 10 years, the annual reports show that overall satisfaction among inpatients and outpatients hasn’t budged.

Beyond that, the “customer service” component of the survey “remains the greatest strength for VA with a score of 91,” the survey report says. The percentage of veterans in the survey who had made a complaint about their outpatient care was down to 8

percent in 2013, and among inpatients down to 14 percent; both figures are down over recent years — from the mid-teens for the outpatient survey and from above 20 percent for the inpatients.

Veterans and health care experts say the disconnect between the saturation scandal coverage and the positive customer reviews is partially explained by the fact that veterans who do get into the system generally don’t have to pay for it. Many veterans don’t exclusively get their care from the VA; they also tap Medicare or private sources for treatment, and if their VA care for a specific condition or routine treatment is free they’re likely to retain positive feelings about it, experts said.

As Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who chairs the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said on CBS this week: “The truth is that when people get into the VA, the quality of care is good. The problem that we have to address is access to the system and waiting lines.”

Couple’s lost $50 million lottery ticket returned by churchgoer EURWEB.COM

Ontario (Canada) Lottery and Gaming Corp. Senior Vice President of Lottery Greg McKenzie presented Hakeem Nosiru and his wife, Abiola, with a check for $50 million in Toronto on June 2.

New NAACP president will walk thin line on same-sex marriage

BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY TRICE EDNEY NEWS SERVICE

The newly selected NAACP president, the Rev. Cornell William Brooks, indicates he will walk a thin line in order to defend the NAACP’s stance on same-sex marriage and keep his ordination as a minister in the African American Episcopal Church (AMEC).

That’s because while the NAACP’s 64-member board, two years ago, voted to support “marriage equality” - marriage between people of the same gender - the AME church’s Board of Bishops has voted emphatically against it.

Brooks, a fourth generation ordained minister who is an associate minister at the Turner MemoriRev. Cornell al AME Church in Brooks Hyattsville, Md., says he sees no conflict between the opposing views and that he will be prepared to fully address his position during the NAACP annual conven-

tion in Las Vegas July 19-23.

No ‘irreconcilable differences’ “This role is one of civil rights leadership; not necessarily one of a theological authority,” Brooks said in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire. “I want to be clear that people of faith are still citizens of this Republic and it is not inconsistent to recognize the rights of gays and lesbians under the Constitution that protects African-Americans, Latinos, Asians and everyone else.”

He concluded, “I don’t find any irreconcilable differences between me honoring my faith tradition, which prohibits me from marrying – not only people of the same gender – but people who are in fact divorced.” He pointed out that the AMEC discipline is also against remarriage of divorced people. But divorce and remarriage is not an issue before the NAACP.

Some fallout over issue The same-sex marriage issue has been a stickler in the Black community; especially in the

Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions.

That’s what a Toronto area couple had to endure when their lottery ticket worth $50 million went missing only to be found and returned by a person at their church.

Here’s what Huffington Post Canada reported: Hakeem Nosiru won the Jan. 17 Lotto Max draw and was one day away from claiming the money when the ticket, which he duct-taped to the inside his wife’s purse for safekeeping, was missing after they attended church.

That sparked a frantic search of their Brampton home, with Black Church, particularly since President Obama announced his support for it in the spring of 2012. When the NAACP followed by officially announcing its position May 19, 2012, at least one NAACP president, an ordained minister, resigned because of it.

The Rev. Keith Ratliff, then president of the NAACP IowaNebraska conference and pastor of Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church in Des Moines, Iowa, resigned from the organization “due to the NAACP’s position and support of same-sex marriage,” quotes Charisma News in June 2012.

Response by chairman NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock, responded then in a statement issued to Charisma: “The NAACP strongly affirms his personal convictions as we do the religious conscience of all people as protected under the First Amendment…The constitution of the NAACP states that our mission is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of all people.

“Our resolution to oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the constitutional rights of LGBT citizens remains within the

garbage bins being upended and their contents picked through piece by piece, an effort that left Nosiru and his wife empty handed and feeling “miserable.”

But that despair turned to joy after a fellow member of the congregation discovered the ticket and reunited it with them on April 1 — saying “April fools” — a return made possible because Nosiru signed the ticket with their address.

But the saga wasn’t over yet, as Nosiru gave the ticket to Ontario Provincial Police, who were investigating the matter for Ontario Lottery and Gaming to ensure there were no further snags.

Everything checked out and Nosiru and his wife, Abiola,

were beaming for the cameras at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming prize center Monday, telling reporters they were planning to travel the world and help out their family.

Abiola Nosiru said that when she realized her husband’s winning ticket had disappeared from her purse “I had a fly in my stomach and I couldn’t sleep for days.

I couldn’t eat. I was devastated.”

“We just wanted to see the reality. And the reality is right here now,” she said, fighting back tears.

She wasn’t sure what they’ll do for the woman who ended the ticket’s exodus, but told her “I just want to say thank you.”

scope of this mission.

“We did not issue our support of marriage equality from any personal, moral or religious perspective,” she continued in the statement, published in Charisma News.

“However, we affirm that civil marriage is a civil right, and our support for marriage equality is consistent with equal protection under the law provided by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. We understand that there will sometimes be differences of opinion in our ongoing struggle to eliminate discrimination in this country, and we will always welcome diverse voice at our table.”

Open to dialogue

AME’s position The AME Church Discipline states as follows: “The AMEC believes that unions of any kind between persons of the same sex or gender are contrary to the will of God. “Therefore, the AMEC strictly prohibits and forbids any AMEC clergy person, licensed and/or ordained from performing or participating in or giving any blessing to any ceremony designed to result in any pairing between persons of the same sex gender, including, but not limited to, marriage or civil unions.”

In an interview days after his appointment, Brooks who is currently president and CEO at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice based in Newark, ticked off a list of civil rights, educational, economic and criminal justice issues that are high on the NAACP agenda, he indicated that he looks forward to further discussion on the issue of marriage equality: “I just don’t see a conflict and it’s my inclination - my style, if you will - to listen to people.

And there are going to be brothers and sisters who don’t support marriage equality as a matter of civil rights or as a matter of theology. But, does that mean I shouldn’t be listening, to be engaging?

“If we are willing to talk to conservatives who disagree with some of the NAACP’s positions or liberals who disagree with some of the NAACP’s positions, why can’t we be in conversation and in dialog with people who disagree with our position on marriage equality even as we defend it?”

Brooks says he is open to discuss the issue in the appropriate setting. “So there will be plenty of occasions and opportunities to address the issue at length.”

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

IFE/FAITH

JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

What to know before you get that tattoo See page B3

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

Arsenio Hall’s show canceled See page B5

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

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A JOURNEY TO

FREEDOM

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway shares the stories of freedom seekers who risked their lives to escape slavery in the 1800s.

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BY ELEANOR HENDRICKS MCDANIEL SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

H

arriet Tubman, who escaped from slavery in Maryland, returned there 13 times to liberate others and escort them north to freedom.

With the help of brave, ordinary people, she was able to lead fugitives along a clandestine route that modern-day travelers can trace by auto. Driving tour guides and an entertaining and informative audio guide CD can be obtained at the Dorchester County Visitor Center in Maryland. The audio guide can also be downloaded from HarrietTubmanByway. com.

For a true understanding of the 125-mile journey, the recommended direction is to head north from Maryland.

Caroline County, Maryland In Ridgeley, Adkins Arboretum sprawls over 400 acres and promotes conservation and restoration of Maryland’s Eastern Shore region. A visit there offers a peek into the physical harshness of the freedom trail. For instance, imagine trying to creep quietly over a woodland floor sprinkled with prickly pods from the sweet gum tree – while barefooted.

At the Arboretum, you’ll follow a path in the forest that only hints at the difficulties of a hostile terrain.

You’re directed by a free audio tour guide to numbered stops where voices from the past describe the dangerous trip.

Museum of Rural Life Tour the Museum of Rural Life to better understand antebellum Maryland. The historic building contains exhibits, artifacts, furnishings, vehicles, houses, old photos, and more. Be sure to view the gallery that showcases the paintings of Mark Priest who artistically rendered some of the dramatic events in Harriet Tubman’s life. Call ahead for a guided tour.

A home owned by James Webb, a free Black farmer, is said to be the only log cabin built by a free man before the Civil War. Located along the Underground Railroad route, it is believed that Webb’s cabin served as a station. The food pit found beneath the floor was able to hide escaping slaves.

Wander through the Linchester Mill in Church Creek and imagine the once daily cacophony and frenetic activity. They were a perfect cover for conspirators. Whites, free blacks and those in bondage worked together, and surreptitiously passed along the latest abolitionist plans

2. and information.

Dorchester County, Md. Talk to Bill Jarman or other docents at the Harriet Tubman Museum to hear antidotes of her exploits. Located in the heart of Cambridge, this grassroots museum was established in the 1980s by the community to celebrate the achievements of a local hero and to preserve her legacy.

Jarman is pleased to reveal some of the dramatic stories of Tubman’s life.

He tells of one catastrophic event that happened to young Harriet (born Araminta Harriett Ross) at the Bucktown village store.

While attempting to purchase items for her master, she was unintentionally assaulted by a local overseer. He had hurled a twopound weight at a male slave, but it hit Harriet instead, almost killing her.

She was carried back to the Brodess plantation where she lay on a bare floor for days, hovering between life and death. No doctor had been called to tend to her. She attributed her survival solely on God, and, from that incident, was inspired to help others. You may visit the restored market, and speak with the knowledgeable owners who will point out the spot where this occurred. Some sites require only a quick stop where you’ll find Underground Railroad markers: Brodess Farm, where Tubman lived; Dorchester County Courthouse, the site of the slave auction where Tubman’s niece escaped

3.

4.

1. The National Park Service, National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program and friends will host its annual National Underground Railroad Conference in Detroit July 16-20.

5.

3. Bill Jarman is a docent at the museum.

4. The Harriet Tubman Museum is located in the county where she was born.

5. A display at the museum focuses on her journeys.

See FREEDOM, Page B2

6. This cabin, a station on the Underground Railroad, was owned by James Webb, a free Black farmer.

MORE HarrietTubmanByway.com INFORMATION Visitdover.com Visitwilmingtonde.com Tourcaroline.com Tourdorchester.org

2. A mural at the museum features Harriet Tubman in the center.

PHOTOS BY ELEANOR HENDRICKS MCDANIEL/ SPECIAL TO THE COURIER

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EVENTS

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Harriet Tubman: Abolitionist, activist, adviser and so much more

CHRIS TUCKER

The actor and comedian has a show scheduled July 11 at Hard Rock Live Orlando and July 12 at Hard Rock Live Hollywood.

Harriet Tubman is one of the most lauded, recognized and revered figures in American history. She was a Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist, suffragist, human rights activist and one of Maryland’s most famous daughters.

She was born Araminta Ross in Dorchester County, Md., around 1820. The middle child of nine enslaved siblings, she was raised by parents who struggled against great odds to keep their family together. In 1849, she escaped from slavery to become a self-appointed Underground Railroad architect and operator.

She changed her first name to Harriet, after her mother. In 1844 she married a free Black man, John Tubman.

Deeply admired by abolitionists in the North, Tubman became a trusted friend and advisor to many, which earned her a role in the Union Army as a scout, spy, nurse and confidante of generals.

After the Civil War, she moved to Auburn, N.Y., where she turned her attention to the plight of the needy, opening her home as a sanctuary for the elderly and ill and those with disabilities. She continued to agitate for women’s rights until her death in 1913. By then, Tubman had become the subject of numerous articles, recollections and an autobiography.

FREEDOM KIERRA SHEARD

Gospel singer is part of the gospel lineup at the Allstate Tom Joyner Family Reunion over Labor Day weekend in Orlando. More information: www.blackamericaweb.com.

from B1

FUTURE

103.5 The Beat Down 2014 concert is June 12 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise. Performers will include Kendrick Lamar, Trey Songz, Future and DJ Khaled.

being sold; and Long Wharf, where slaves either arrived or departed on ships.

Kent County, Del. Coral Gables: The MasterMinds Episode concert featuring Rick Ross and Jhene Aiko takes place on June 20 at the BankUnited Center.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Fort Lauderdale: Tickets are available now for the “American Idol’’ tour on July 19 at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center.

Boca Raton: John Legend’s The All of Me Tour makes a stop at the Mizner Park Amphitheater on July 27.

Fort Lauderdale: The Common Kings will be at the Culture Room on June 20 for an 8 p.m. show.

Port St. Lucie: Scholarships are available for Christian Cultural Cathedral’s Pathways to Mind and Body Building Summer Program for children in grades 3 to 6. Call 772-607-2628 or 772-807-7771 for details.

Miami: Tamela Mann and Vashawn Mitchell are scheduled at the James L. Knight Center on Aug. 16 for a 7 p.m. show.

Hollywood: The Wayan Brothers will

perform a show at Hard Rock Live Hollywood on Aug. 15.

West Palm Beach: Keb’ Mo’ is scheduled at BB King’s Restaurant and Blues Club on June 8 at 7:30 p.m.

West Palm Beach: The Lionel Richie: All the Hits All Night Long tour featuring Cee Lo Green stops at the Cruzan Amphitheatre on July 15.

Clearwater: The crooner Maxwell is coming to Florida. He will make stops in Clearwater, Orlando and Jacksonville in August. More information: www.musze.com.

View a video for an introduction to Delaware’s role in the Underground Railroad at the plantation of John Dickinson who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and, ironically, a slaveholder, too.

Then tour Dickinson’s mansion and grounds.

Quaker John Hunn served as Delaware’s chief engineer on the Underground Railroad. He successfully orchestrated the escape of thousands of freedom seekers. He’s buried in the graveyard of the Camden Friends Meeting House.

New Castle County, Del. William Garrett, a Quaker and close friend of Tubman, S:11.5 in

aided more than 2,700 Black escapees on their perilous journey. As Delaware’s greatest stationmaster, he arranged financial support, concealment, clothing, food, and more. Learn about him at the Wilmington Friends Meeting House he attended, and visit his grave in its cemetery.

While in Wilmington, stop at the Tubman-Garrett Park at the Riverfront to admire the dramatic monument, Unwavering Courage in the Pursuit of Freedom, which is a tribute to heroes Harriet Tubman and Thomas Garrett.

Eleanor Hendricks McDaniel is a freelance travel journalist who lives in Ormond Beach and Philadelphia. Her travel articles appear in national, international magazines, as well as online. Follow her on Twitter: @ellethewriter and on her website: flybynighttravel.com. She provided this Travel article to the Florida Courier.

Book relates pivotal role Blacks have played in horseracing DR. GLENN C. ALTSCHULER SPECIAL TO THE COURIER

“One of the best points in the character of the colored men is their strong love and devotion to the racehorse,” a writer for The Spirit of the Times declared in 1872. Indeed, throughout the 19th century, Katherine Mooney reveals, African-American slaves and freed men played pivotal roles in the sport of horseracing, as grooms, jockeys and trainers.

In Race Horse Men, Mooney, a postdoctoral fellow in American History at Washington University in St. Louis, draws on the experiences of a host of long-forgotten men in a fascinating account of “how complex and insidious human bondage could be, how deeply and how differently it marked the disparate people who lived in it.”

At the track, she demonstrates, Southern Whites saw “in miniature the hierarchical world they wanted, its boundaries policed by violence and stories that defined the parameters of the possible.” In contrast, Blacks saw opportunities to extend the reach of opportunity and freedom.

‘Daily series of tiny revolutions’ Mooney tries to set her story in the context of American party politics.

The sport was a “consuming passion” for powerful and wealthy men, she writes, who saw it as “a means of imagining and constructing a national and racial order.” Mooney does not adequately explain, however, why Southern Whigs (and not Democrats) dominated racing in the antebellum era and Northern Democrats (and not Republicans) ran the show in the decades following the Civil War. Race Horse Men is at

BOOK REVIEW Review of Race Horse Men: How Slavery and Freedom Were Made at the Racetrack. By Katherine C. Mooney.

Harvard University Press. 321 pp. $35. its best, in my judgment, when Mooney describes incidents in the lives of Black jockeys that reminded them – and remind us – that freedom was not an abstraction, and often consisted of “a daily series of tiny revolutions.” In the 1870s, she points out, the surname of Abe Hawkins was included in the official list of jockeys. And a White journalist shook Hawkins’ hand when he encountered him in the stands of the Jersey Derby.

Backlash against ‘uppity Blacks’ Powerfully and poignantly, Mooney also describes the backlash against “uppity Blacks.”

Isaac Murphy, whose mounts won 44 percent of their races, still a record, including three Kentucky Derby contests, was making more than $10,000 a year in the 1880s. But when he finished last in the Monmouth Handicap, detractors accused him of drunkenness. Within a few years, Murphy’s career was over. He died of pneumonia and heart failure at age 35.

Winner of the Derby in 1901 and 1902, Jimmy Winkfield never got another Derby mount. Amidst “a rising tide of sentiment against Black riders and trainers” that emboldened White riders to unseat, box in, or injure their Black competitors during races, and convinced owners not to contract for their services, Winkfield moved to Eu-

rope, establishing himself as the darling of French racing fans, who dubbed him “le blackman.”

Nonetheless, whenever he returned to the United States, Winkfield attended the Derby and wept openly when “My Old Kentucky Home” was played.

About 5 percent Black jockeys in 2013 By the 1920s, Black horsemen had virtually disappeared, with a few hanging on at smaller and less prestigious tracks.

Some journalists attributed the change to the incompetence and intellectual inferiority of Blacks.

Black activists, Mooney writes, knew better: They were witnessing at the track “the overt and crude, the subtle and insidious workings of Jim Crow exposed.”

In 2013, the Jockeys Guild noted that only about 5 percent of professional riders were Black.

But there were some evidence of progress.

In 2000, Martin St. Julien became the first African-American jockey in the Derby since 1921. And in 2013, another Black rider, Kevin Krigger, who kept a picture of Winkfield in his locker, approached the gate aboard Goldencents.

Her father, Liliane Winkfield Casey opined, would surely have said, “It’s about time somebody else won.”

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

HOW TO LIVE UNITED:

JOIN HANDS. OPEN YOUR HEART. LEND YOUR MUSCLE. FIND YOUR VOICE.

GIVE 10%. GIVE 100%. GIVE 110%.

GIVE AN HOUR. GIVE A SATURDAY.

THINK OF WE BEFORE ME.

REACH OUT A HAND TO ONE AND INFLUENCE THE CONDITION OF ALL.

GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER.

LIVE UNITED

™

Want to make a difference? Help create opportunities for everyone in your community. United Way is creating real, lasting change where you live, by focusing on the building blocks of a better life– education, income and health. That’s what it means to Live United. For more, visit LIVEUNITED.ORG.

STOJ

JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

B3

HEALTH too. We don’t really know what happens internally.”

Cancer warning

LOUIS DELUCA/DALLAS MORNING NEWS/MCT

Tattoo artist Cody Biggs loads ink in Dallas on May 15. Experts advise making sure you are up to date on your immunizations, especially hepatitis and tetanus, before getting a tattoo.

What you should know before getting a tattoo Unsterilized tools or contaminated ink can lead to infection, scarring, blood-borne diseases and other issues

BY LIZZIE JOHNSON DALLAS MORNING NEWS/MCT

Thirteen needles are simultaneously zinging in and out of Adam Metzger’s shoulder.

The 27-year-old is unruffled. He stares unblinkingly out the storefront window of Taboo Tattoo, a studio in the Bishop Arts District of Dallas, Texas. To his right, Cody Biggs shades blue into a square of the Texas state flag. His movements are sure, even.

The buzzing suddenly falls silent. Biggs pauses to dunk the handpiece in-

to a thimble-sized plastic cup of ink, then turns back to his canvas. Metzger’s shoulder is pink and puffy, weeping streams of ink and blood.

“How are you doing, buddy?” Biggs asks, rubbing on ointment in counterclockwise circles.

“It doesn’t feel good, man,” Metzger responds.

“But I’ve definitely felt worse pain.”

Plenty of people know what he’s been through. As of 2012, 1 in 5 adults had a tattoo, up from 14 percent in 2008, a Harris Interactive Poll found. And when safety standards are followed, tattoos are usually trouble-free.

But tattoos can pose health risks that many people might not consider: Unsterilized tools or contaminated ink can lead to infection, scarring, bloodborne diseases and other, less-obvious issues.

“It’s becoming much more common, but you still have to be careful,” says Dr. Bryan Wasson, an internal medicine physician at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center at Irving, Texas. “A tattoo is like a minor surgery. You clean and shave the skin like you’re going to operate. You use surgical tools. There are dangers. So be careful in your selection.”

Serious infections During the procedure, a gun with needles punctures the top layer of the skin, depositing pigment in a deeper layer called the dermis. As the skin heals, the ink remains trapped below the surface.

“When you get a tattoo, you bleed,” said Dr. Donna Casey, an internal medical specialist at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. “Because you are bleeding, anything in con-

tact with the tattoo — bacteria, viruses — can get into the wound and your entire body. It’s like having a bite on your leg or a gigantic abrasion.”

Contaminated inks were the cause of an outbreak of serious infections in four states in late 2011 and early 2012. These infections were caused by a type of fast-growing bacteria that caused red, itchy bumps to severe sores requiring surgery. The 22 cases were associated with inks contaminated before distribution or just before tattooing.

Ingredients in tattoo ink vary, but they can contain metals, powders or other organic compounds in a liquid base. Problems can range from allergic reactions to scarring and the formation of bumpy knots called granulomas, more common in people with darker skin. The long-term effects of ink are still unknown.

“We know that the ink will gain access to your bloodstream,” Wasson says. “I had a young gentleman come in, and he had a lymph node under his arm that was swollen. When we biopsied it, we found ink from his tat-

In rare cases, inks containing metallic pigments can cause swelling during magnetic resonance imaging, or MRIs. “Tattoos are not an absolute contraindication for an MRI study,” says Dr. Daihung Do, faculty director of dermatologic surgery at Harvard Medical School and director of dermatologic surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “Patients should notify their radiologist that they have a decorative or permanent tattoo so that the appropriate precautions can be taken.”

Tattoos can also prevent the early detection of skin cancer, says Peter Beitsch, a surgeon specializing in melanoma at Medical City Dallas Hospital. The ink can camouflage changes in asymmetry, borders, color and diameter, the “ABCDs” of melanoma detection.

This is important for fairskinned or redheaded people, who already have a higher risk of developing skin cancers.

“Sometimes when you cover up moles, the ink from the tattoo will mask changes in the mole,” he says. “It’s not common.

But if you cover up enough moles, some of them are going to turn bad, into a lethal kind of skin cancer.”

Few safety studies Beitsch refers to the case of a 35-year-old man who got a large tattoo on his shoulder in honor of a brother who had died of leukemia. He did not catch changes in the mole and died of melanoma.

“It’s tragic,” Beitsch says.

“About half of melanoma starts in pre-existing moles. Be aware that if you cover up a mole, you need to be paying attention to it.”

The Food and Drug Administration regulates tattoo ink but considers it a cosmetic and intervenes only when problems arise.

The FDA has not actually approved any tattoo ink, and there is no specific re-

quirement that explicitly says tattoo inks must be sterile.

“Tattoo inks are not highly regulated,” Do says.

“Many of the pigments are industrial grade, and none are currently FDA-approved. Although tattooing has been practiced for thousands of years, there are few studies regarding their safety.

Theresa Eisenman, a spokeswoman for the FDA, said this is because no sponsor has signed the required petition and provided the data needed to decide whether dye is safe for tattooing.

Do some research The easiest — and most important — way to avoid becoming a tattoo horror story is to research the tattoo parlor and review personal health history ahead of time.

“Like anything, like ear piercings, you can develop other medical problems if it isn’t at a clean place,” Do says. “It all depends on who does your tattoo and whether they are cleaning their instruments in a safe manner. If you go to the wrong place, it could be very easy to contract something.”

Medical experts also do not recommend tattoos for people with a history of allergies, diabetes, heart disease, skin disorders, immune system conditions, a history of infections or who are pregnant. For those with a family history of skin cancers, avoid areas that would cover up moles.

“Do your research,” Metzger says. He stands in front of a mirror, examining the newly finished art on his arm.

“There are certain things everyone should check for,” he says. “Find a place and an artist you like. If you don’t get a good vibe, maybe that shop is not the shop for you. Something I always look for is an autoclave machine. Disposables are OK, too. I want them to wear gloves; I want to hear that snap. If you are unsure about any part of the process, don’t do it.”

Prison yoga offers inmates 90-minute pursuits of inner peace

BY CYNTHIA H. CRAFT SACRAMENTO BEE/MCT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Each week, Zack Pasillas hops behind the wheel of his car and drives off to seek the pleasure and satisfaction of teaching yoga to a group of adults he’s identified as his very “best students.”

Never mind that to reach them Pasillas must pass through barred, locked metal gates and several uniformed security inspectors demanding duplicate IDs. Never mind that he must cross a dismal, barren yard devoid of greenery, toward the building called C Facility, erected with all the architectural finesse of a massive, Third World concrete box.

Never mind that his prize pupils are a captive audience. Literally.

This is yoga class California State Prison, Sacramento-style, with thin blue yoga mats and scratchy gray woolen blankets set out in rows to accommodate perhaps 20 students at a time. A prominent sign at the head of the gymnasium says: “WARNING: No warning shots will be fired in this area. Warden.”

Witnessing transformation The gym once brimmed with inmates and stacked bunks, with barely room to mingle. But prison-overcrowding regulations took care of that, and the cavernous room is now back to being a recreation hall.

Pasillas, 35, couldn’t feel more fulfilled than when he’s at the prison. Dressed all in black, he was accompanying yoga instructor Iwona, a Polish-born, British-accented teacher who would narrate and lead the inmates in a rigorous program of physically challenging poses. Pasillas was to stay by her side, demonstrating the poses at the front of the class.

“It’s kind of exciting to have a role in trying to bring the right healing to the right group,” he said. “These men here are having realizations in a really power-

LEZLIE STERLING/SACRAMENTO BEE

Derek Baddie, center, and other inmates quiet themselves during a yoga class taught by the Yoga Seed Collective outreach at the California State Prison in Sacramento, Calif., on April 30. ful way. It’s really inspiring to see and it’s convinced me that transformation is real.”

‘Outside the box’ Likewise, inmates at this Level IV facility near the famous Folsom Prison respond to the lessons with authenticity, respect and an earnest devotion to absorbing what Vinyasa yoga has to offer.

“Wow,” responded Richard Robinson, when asked his thoughts. “I get so much out of it. I get a sense of peace. Having a prison yoga program is way outside the box. The more I got into it, the more I found peace and calm.

“What I am learning is that everything starts from the inside out, instead of outside in.” Robinson said. “It’s not living in the past or pining for something in the future. It’s learning to live in the moment. Life works the same way. The more you practice these new things in life, the more you benefit.”

Robinson, 39, is an introvert, he said, serving a life sentence for attempted murder, a crime he did not commit, he told the state parole board. “The application of yoga and meditation is really grounding. The fact that I’m in here for something I didn’t do used to bug me. Now I have inner peace. I can accept we are where we are. Everything happens for a reason.”

Keeping the peace Robinson, it turns out, is one of the lucky ones. As an AfricanAmerican from Compton, he’s able to attend both twice-a-week yoga classes. Others, namely opposing Latino gang members of the rival Northerners and Southerners factions cannot occupy the same gym or a bloody melee would erupt. So the Northerners take the class only on Tuesdays, and the Southerners on Thursdays.

Pasillas is a founder and the outreach director of the nonprofit Yoga Seed Collective in Sacra-

mento, which is devoted to sharing the practice’s benefits with under-served populations, such as veterans, diabetic American Indians, LGBT community members, inmates and patients at the Sutter Center for Psychiatry. He also teaches at California State Prison, Solano.

Pasillas’ bona fides include 200 hours of yoga teacher training and high school classroom management. He’s currently working through a 500-hour yoga therapy program, so he can tap yoga and mindfulness for those who’ve suffered trauma.

Teacher of the Year in 2009 at Heritage Peak Charter School, Pasillas also offers yoga to students at Sierra School and hopes to expand his yoga-in-theschools program. This fall, he’ll teach at Da Vinci Charter Academy in Davis.

“I’ve seen some of my favorite students end up in prison, incarcerated, because they don’t have the same resources and support as others,” Pasillas said. “I’m really driven to try to break that cycle.”

Started at San Quentin But back to C Facility. The class here is an offshoot of the Prison Yoga Program founded by James Fox at San Quentin State Prison, where inmates have been learning yoga and mindfulness practices since 2002.

Pasillas, Iwona (whose last name is withheld for her personal security) and other teachers he recruits have all been trained in the Prison Yoga Program system.

The ancient art of yoga is decidedly different on the inside than it is on the outside. Prison Yoga Program teachers, Pasillas said, “are less open-ended in what we do as a group. In the prison, we’re addressing nonviolence and impulse-control, not patronizing our customers. We have to be completely aware and attuned to the gang culture for safety reasons. In extending our leadership, we acknowledge that nature may have led them to this path that they don’t want to be on any more.”

Ninety minutes is quite a while to keep up with the fast-paced, challenging cycle of positions called out by Iwona on a recent day. But these inmates, buff, tattooed, physically fit, moved with military-like precision. Iwona led them through downward facing dog, uncounted planks, side planks (supporting themselves with just one arm), cobra, child and warrior I and warrior II poses, among others.

“Part of the yoga practice is to be with what is, practice being present and allowing things to be as they are,” she told her students. “There’s a saying in yoga that what goes around, comes around. I’m offering this time to you to support you.” And, always, the emphasis on breathing.

“Yoga is the process. It’s not the destination. It might take many practices before we have our moment. If your intention is there, this will carry you.”

Noticeable change Pasillas explained that the sequence of poses were meant to challenge the inmates. Take warrior I and II, for instance. “These are physically demanding poses that give the students that element of distress tolerance that’s good for impulse control,” he said. “The state you feel in the pose is the same kind of state you feel when something upsets you.

Then you can use those skills, with breathing, to give yourself a little buffer time when something triggers you.”

Already, after more than a year and a half at California State Prison, Sacramento, Pasillas has noticed change in some inmates.

Kevin Lewis, 45, of Oakland is one of these inmates. Lewis was found guilty of second-degree murder and has been locked up for 20 years.

“Yoga gives me a way to combat the things going on in The Yard,” Lewis said. “If you can relax through the painful positions, you can relax through painful situations in life. It also helps spiritually and keeps you calm and tolerant.”

SHOPPING

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JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

STOJ

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

Thank dad for all the love and support he has given over the years by gifting him something unexpected and special for Father’s Day. If you need inspiration for the perfect present, here are a few gift ideas that are sure to put a smile on his face.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

For Auto Enthusiasts Help dad see what he’s missing this Father’s Day. The PEAK Wireless Back-Up Camera System installs in just minutes and reduces the average blind zone by 90 percent. A water-resistant color camera attaches to the back license plate of a vehicle and broadcasts full video from a wireless transmitter to a color LCD monitor on the dash. Perfect for cars, SUV’s, trucks, RV’s and towing. For more information, visit www.peakauto.com.

Workbench for the Handyman

Quality Time with Your Favorite Guy

Spec-tacular Vision

Give dad the perfect set up to pursue his hobbies and passions with a Gladiator by Whirlpool Corporation Workbench this Father’s Day. These adjustable height workbenches, ranging in price from $299 to $599, come in bamboo or maple and provide plenty of workspace and storage for all of dad’s needs. Gladiator storage solutions will grow with dad year after year and provide endless gift ideas with many great accessories and designs to choose from. For more information, visit www.gladiatorgarageworks.com.

This year, treat dad to a relaxing day filled with his favorite things: a rod and reel, fresh air and time with you, his favorite fishing buddy. A day on the open water is just what dear old dad deserves this Father’s Day. For more details on how to purchase fishing licenses, the supplies you will need, where the fish are biting and how to hook them, visit www.takemefishing.org.

This Father’s Day, give the hardworking man in your life, whether it’s your dad, husband or grandfather, the gift of good vision. With individual vision benefits starting under $17 a month, VSP Direct is an affordable way for those without access to vision insurance to have highquality eye care. Benefits include a yearly eye exam, allowances for glasses or contacts, and the lowest out-of-pocket costs in individual vision care, with typical savings of $235 a year. Visit www.givevsp.com for details.

Inspired By Dads Give Dad a special gift this Father’s Day with a wine inspired by fatherson relation­ships. Sports Commentator Jim Nantz and wine industry veteran Peter Deutsch teamed up to create an artisanal California wine, The Calling. Handcrafted from Sonoma’s finest varietals with fruit sourced from the Dutton Ranch vineyards, The Calling 2012 Pinot Noir offers delicious flavor with bursts of fresh cherries, mushrooms and spice. SRP $37. For more information, visit www.thecallingwine. com.

Gifts that Sizzle Think T-bones, not ties, this Father’s Day as that’s what dad really wants. Omaha Steaks’ “Dad’s Day Dinner” package offers big, juicy T-bones, savory steakhouse fries and delicious caramel apple tartlets for dessert. Not only will dad love getting the family together to enjoy this incredible fare, he’ll also love you for giving him a gift he can really sink his teeth into. For information, visit www. omahasteaks.com/tnt.

Beer Inspired Candy Craft beer-loving dads will be thrilled to receive the new Draft Beer flavor of Jelly Belly jelly beans.

The crisp flavor inspired by a Hefeweizen is packed in a golden jelly bean that looks like a cold one poured straight from the tap. While they deliver on the flavor, Draft Beer Jelly Belly beans are alcohol-free. Sure to be a hit at backyard BBQs, too. Buy direct at www.JellyBelly.com.

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JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

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Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.

teressa

Teressa Cree was raised in Weston. The former track athlete and current dancer/ fitness model graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications. Teressa loves dancing and has performed with several popular music artists. She also has appeared in commercials and music videos. She can be reached at teressacree@gmail.com.

j.

J. Cabarrus is a six-year veteran to the modeling industry based in Atlanta.

He has been featured as an extra for “Big Mommas, Like Father, Like Son,” a runway show for Kontrol Magazine, and the “Naked Black Justice” campaign by photographer James C. Lewis. His hobbies include traveling, working out and reading with dreams of becoming an international face of fashion. Reach him at JerryCabarrus@gmail.com or facebook.com/jcabarrusnow.

CREDIT: Nathan Pearcy

‘Arsenio Hall Show’ canceled after first season ASSOCIATED PRESS

episode aired May 21.

LOS ANGELES — “The Arsenio Hall Show” has been canceled because of low ratings, ending Hall’s late-night comeback bid after a single season.

Hall’s bid to recreate the success he enjoyed 20 years ago failed to find a big enough audience in the ever-crowded TV market.

CBS Television Production had previously announced Hall’s syndicated show would be back for a second season, but faced the prospect of stations moving it to lesser time slots as ratings fell.

In a statement, Hall said he knew launching the show would be a challenge.

“I’m gratified for the year we’ve had and proud of the show we created,” the actor and comedian added.

The show is in reruns and won’t resume production, a show spokesman said. The last original

Too much competition

Stiviano reportedly beaten by two White males FROM WIRE REPORTS

The woman central to the Donald Sterling scandal, V. Stiviano, was reportedly beaten up in NYC by two White men the night of June 1, according to her attorney.

Stiviano was leaving the Gansevoort Hotel in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District around 7 p.m. when “two White men descended on her,” attor-

When Hall began his original series in 1989, he was seen as the cool alternative to Johnny Carson and “The Tonight Show” on NBC. Guests including sax playing-presidential candidate Bill Clinton helped push Hall into the spotlight.

By 1994, with increased competition from new “Tonight” host Jay Leno and CBS’ David Letterman, Hall’s ratings had slipped and the show ended.

When Hall returned last year, he was fighting for attention with even more programs, including ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and the Comedy Central lineup.

The cancellation of Hall’s show returns the late-night talk show scene to almost uniformly White male hosts, with a few exceptions such as Tavis Smiley on PBS.

ney Mac Nehorary told RadarOnline.

“They were about 5’7 and they knew exactly who she was. They began to hit her and called her the N word.

He added, “Other disgusting slurs were made against her. She was able to run away and several onlookers then began attempting to apprehend the two men.”

Stiviano was taken to a doctor who examined her for possible injuries, and she’s expected to make a full recovery, the attorney told RadarOnline, although “one side of her face is extremely red and she is obviously very scared (about her wellbeing).”

Tyra Banks to host new daytime show ASSOCIATED PRESS

The last original episode of “The Arsenio Hall Show” aired on May 21.

Sterling gets standing ovation at Black church COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

Donald Sterling attended church services at a predominately Black church in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 1.

“I’m here to support this wonderful group,” Sterling told KNBC Channel 4 about Praises of Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

CBS Los Angeles reported that Sterling visited Praises of Zion Baptist Church and Senior Pastor J. Benjamin Harwick welcomed the elder racist with

enthusiastic applause.

“Stand up brother Sterling, we’re going to give you a round of applause,” Hardwick said.

The pastor says he didn’t invite Sterling but was instead approached by the billionaire.

“He didn’t invite him.

Sterling, we did not call Sterling. As members of Praises, Sterling came to us, asked our pastor, we took a vote on it,” a church member told CBS Los Angeles.

Forgiveness message The pastor preached about forgiveness during the sermon.

“We love all of God’s children regardless of your race, creed or color and we want my friend to know we are praying for you,’’ the pastor reportedly said.

Sterling was mobbed

NEW YORK — Tyra Banks will lead a new television show with a panel of experts talking about fashion, entertainment and other lifestyle topics starting next year.

Disney-ABC Domestic Television said last week it would distribute the daytime show to television stations across the country. It will be similar to “The View” or “The Talk” with a group of hosts, and Banks will be executive producer of the show along with being on the air. Other panelists were not named.

The popular model is also the creator of the competition show “America’s Next Top Model,” which currently airs in 186 countries.

The company said the show, which doesn’t have a name yet, will “motivate people to improve and enhance their lives by providing cutting edge guidance.”

Donald Sterling is shown on June 1 leaving Praises of Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

EURWEB.COM

for pictures as he left the church. He told NBC4 that he thought the service was “fabulous.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver fined Sterling $2.5 million, banned him for life from the league and started the process to end his ownership of the Clippers after an audio recording of Sterling disparaging Blacks became public in April.

On May 30, the National Basketball Association announced a settlement with Shelly Sterling and the Sterling Family Trust that would allow the team to be sold to former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer for a whopping $2 billion. A vote of the Board of Governors will be needed to make the sale final.

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JUNE 6 – JUNE 12, 2014

TOJ

Olive Hummus

SAVORY SNACKING with a pantry staple FROM FAMILY FEATURES

From everyday snacking to entertaining at parties, Americans adore their snacks. So, it’s no surprise that nearly 100 percent of Americans snack at least once every day, according to a recent survey conducted by the California Olive Committee.

Interestingly, the survey found that consumers, who snack most frequently at home on weekends, overwhelmingly prefer easy-toprepare homemade snacks over prepared store-bought varieties.

One versatile and affordable ingredient that pumps up the flavor of a wide array of snack recipes is the ripe olive. Olives are a double-duty pantry staple — ideal for snack­ing right out of the can and perfect to have on hand for preparing simple, mouth-watering snack recipes at home.

From pickling with spices and vegetables, to adding a pop of color and texture to hummus or cream cheese-stuffed celery, California Ripe Olives are a flavorful addition to crowd-pleasing snacks.

Here are some simple, scrumptious recipes that are sure to cure any snack attack.

For more tasty snacking recipes, visit www.CalOlive.org.

Pickled Olives and Vegetables OLIVE HUMMUS Servings: 2 cups Prep time: 10 minutes 1 (6-ounce) can California Ripe Olives 1 (15-ounce) can rinsed and drained garbanzo beans 2 1/2 tablespoons sesame tahini 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for drizzling 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste) 1/8–1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 cloves garlic 2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt Chopped fresh parsley (optional) Pita bread wedges, pita chips or cut raw vegetables Open olive can and strain, reserving 2 tablespoons of brine; set aside.

Puree beans, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, salt, cayenne pepper and garlic in food processor until very smooth. Add yogurt and olive brine and mix again. Add two-thirds of olives and pulse until coarsely chopped. Transfer to bowl.

Coarsely chop remaining olives and sprinkle over top. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

Serve with pita bread wedges, pita chips or raw vegetables.

OLIVE, SUN-DRIED TOMATO AND CREAM CHEESE STUFFED CELERY Servings: 8 Prep time: 20 minutes 1 (8-ounce) package 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

Bahian-Spiced Olives 1 (2.2-ounce) can sliced California Ripe Olives, drained 2 tablespoons minced sun-dried tomatoes 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 2 finely chopped small green onions 2 minced garlic cloves 8 large ribs celery 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios (optional) Place cream cheese in medium bowl. Chop three-quarters of the olives and stir into cream cheese with tomatoes, basil, salt, green onions and garlic. Cut each celery rib in half and fill with cheese mixture. Sprinkle with pistachios and garnish with remaining olives.

PICKLED OLIVES AND VEGETABLES Servings: 6 Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Chill time: Overnight 2 (6-ounce) cans California Ripe Olives 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds 1teaspoon whole black peppercorns 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar 1 1/2 cups water 1 tablespoon sugar 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 bay leaves 1 medium carrot, peeled, halved and cut into strips 12 small green beans, ends trimmed 2 sprigs fresh dill

1 small yellow squash, halved and cut into strips 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced Open olive cans and strain, reserving 3/4 cup of brine; set aside.

Place coriander, peppercorns, crushed red pepper and seeds in medium saucepan over medium heat.

Cook for two minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant. Add vinegar, water, olive brine, sugar, salt and bay leaves, and bring to boil. Add carrots and cook five minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly, then stir in remain­ing ingredients, including olives.

Let cool then transfer to jars. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For best flavor, chill overnight before serving.

BAHIAN-SPICED OLIVES Servings: 6 Prep time: 5 minutes 2 (6-ounce) cans California Ripe Olives 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (preferably toasted) 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 1 teaspoon white pepper 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves 1/8–1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (to taste) 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley Sea salt to taste Open olive cans and strain, reserving 2 tablespoons of brine.

Stir together all ingredients (including brine) in medium bowl.

May be served immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

If refrigerated, warm slightly before serving.

Olive, Sun-Dried Tomato and Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery