Florida Courier - June 24, 2016

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CELEBRATING OUR 10TH YEAR STATEWIDE!

Onyx Awards to honor Tom Joyner Page B2 www.flcourier.com

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

VOLUME 24 NO. 26

KEEPING HOPE ALIVE As Rep. John Lewis leads House Democrats in a civil rights-style ‘sit-in,’ a bipartisan Senate group tries to find common ground on ‘no-fly list’ gun restrictions.

COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON – Fed up with Republican inaction on gun control, House Democrats shut down business as usual Wednesday with an old-fashioned, if highly unusual, sit-in that forced live television coverage of the chamber off the air and sent GOP leaders scrambling for cover.

The scene, including chants of “No bill, no break!”

was like nothing that has occurred in Congress in recent years, more reminiscent of the civil rights battles of the 1960s than today’s often predictably scripted debates.

Reached their limit But after the Orlando mass shooting – and others in San Bernardino, Calif., and Newtown, Conn. – along with the Senate’s fail-

Shut out yet again Dems still won’t utilize Black businesses

‘Wasting millions’ “Democrats are wasting millions of dollars chasing after White swing voters instead of investing the money in engaging communities of color,” said Steve Phillips, founder and chairman of PowerPAC+. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee already has made reforms based on the study.

America’s population is 13.2 percent Black, according to 2014 Census Bureau estimates, but African-American voters are expected to play an outsized role in November’s elections.

Eighty percent of Black voters are Democrats. Only 11 percent are Republicans.

Same firm gets paid Some consulting firms repeatedly prosper. Event Transportation Associates, the go-to transit service for the past two Democratic conventions, seems poised to thrive again this year.

The company, which did not reply to repeated requests for comment, last month announced its preparations for the 2016 Democratic National Convention in See DEMS, Page A2

Voter purge prevented; Rodney King dies

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HEALTH B3

NATION B4

Study focuses on high school brains

Voter suppression threatens elections

FOOD | B6

Healthy recipes for breakfast

ALSO INSIDE

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Rodney King’s death shines new spotlight on his famous question B1

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JUNE 22 - JUNE 28, 2012

VOLUME 20 NO. 25

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A RACIAL DIVIDE ON VOTER PURGE Scott and other supporters say they are trying to make sure only eligible voters cast ballots, but critics – including the U.S. Department of Justice – argue that Florida is violating federal election laws.

White and Hispanic voters support the governor’s efforts while Blacks oppose it, according to a new poll.

Meanwhile, groups filed a lawsuit this week to stop the removal of non-citizens from election rolls.

Suit filed in Miami

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

A new poll released Wednesday shows that Florida voters support Gov. Rick Scott’s effort to remove non-citizens from voter rolls by a 60 percent to 35 percent margin.

The Quinnipiac University poll also shows a racial divide – White voters back the purge 67 percent to 29 percent, while Black voters oppose it 56 percent to 38 percent and Hispanic voters support it 49 percent to 42 percent.

On Tuesday, two Miami-Dade County women and a coalition of five groups filed a federal lawsuit to try to block Florida’s effort to remove ineligible voters from the election rolls.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami, argues in part that the purge discriminates against minority voters.

“The alleged non-citizen voter purge program is not uniform, has been discriminatory against minority voters, namely Hispanics and Blacks, and has disproportionately impacted lawful, eligible minority voters,’’ the lawsuit says.

One of the plaintiffs, Karla Vanessa Arcia, is a Nicaraguan-American who is a U.S. citizen. The lawsuit says Arcia’s name apCARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/MCT peared on a purge list, and she faces the Voters wait outside a polling place at the New Birth Baptist Church in Miami on possibility of being removed from the vot- Nov. 4, 2008. Opponents of Gov. Rick Scott’s voter removal efforts say they un-

BOG grills Ammons on grad rate, debt load

See VOTERS, Page A2

fairly target minorities and could impact this November’s election.

A DREAM REALIZED

Obama’s immigration decision praised, criticized

BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – A clearly skeptical Board of Governors committee approved Florida A&M University’s plan for the coming year, but only after sharply questioning President James Ammons over the institution’s low graduation rate and heavy debt load on students.

At the same time, James board members Ammons said they would be hard-pressed to approve a 15 percent tuition hike that Florida A&M (FAMU), like many other universities, has requested.

It was the second time this month that Ammons has faced strong pushback on his leadership at FAMU from a panel overseeing the school. Two-thirds of the university’s board of trustees voted for a motion of no confidence in the president June 7. During a break in that meeting, Ammons briefly considered resigning, but has since said he will remain.

See AMMONS, Page A2

AL SEIB/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

Baola Martinez, 24, right, from the Dominican Republic, joined more than 150 students and Dream Act supporters that rallied in front of the Federal Office Building in downtown Los Angeles on June 15 to voice their support for President Obama’s decision to halt the deportation of young illegal immigrants. See related story on A6.

SNAPSHOTS

Underground Railroad Conference under way in St. Augustine

NATION | A3

What the polls say about Obama, Romney

National event to highlight contributions of Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans

BY JAMES HARPER FLORIDA COURIER

Citations for juveniles working in state FINEST | B3

FLORIDA | A3

Orlando candidates put campaigns on hold

Bethune statue may grace the US Capitol

FLORIDA COURIER / 10TH STATEWIDE ANNIVERSARY

NATION | A6

SNAPSHOTS

optical sighting system and a 30-round capacity magazine. It costs about $2,300.

EE

WASHINGTON – While Democrats scramble to secure the African-American community’s support post-Barack Obama, Black contractors complain that they are not getting their fair share of the party’s campaign spending.

Among $514 million that Democrats spent on consultants during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles, only $8.7 million (just 1.7 percent) went to minorities, according to a June 2014 study by Democratic minority advocacy firm PowerPAC+. Seventeen companies, among 287 approved consulting firms, were minorityowned – or just 5.9 percent.

See GUNS, Page A2

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BY JOSH PETERSON URBAN NEWS SERVICE

ure to advance gun ownership restrictions earlier in the week, Democrats said they’d had enough.

In the wake of the deadly rampage, Democrats have stepped up their calls for laws that would prevent terror suspects from buying guns.

But those efforts failed.

CHUCK LIDDY/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/MCT Despite increasing pressure on lawmakers to pass some This AR-15 style rifle manufactured by Core15 Rifle Systems in Ocala features an

Meet Toni FOOD | B5

A new take on picnic favorites

When thinking of the Underground Railroad, historian Derek Hankerson says most people think about Blacks escaping slavery by leaving the South and heading to the North.

Hankerson, one of the organizers of the 2012 National Underground Railroad Conference being held in St. Augustine through June 24, said what most people don’t know is that the Underground Railroad first went from Georgia and South Carolina to Florida, to the Caribbean Islands, and into the western borderlands

of Indian territory, Texas, and Mexico.

This Underground Railroad began in the 1600s before the founding of the original 13 colonies of the United States of America.

It refers to the effort of enslaved African-Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage, according to the National Park Service website.

First time in Florida “Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape, at first to maroon communities in remote or rugged terrain on the edge of settled areas,” the website states.

The Network to Freedom joined with partners to present the annual conference, which began in 2007. The conference brings together a mix of grassroots researchers, community advocates, site stewards, government officials and scholars to explore the history of the Underground Railroad.

Rotated to different parts of the country, the conferences highlight the history of various regions and present new research.

This is the first time the conference is being held in Florida.

can contributions that have been overlooked in the formation of the United States and, to a certain extent, in St. Augustine.

“The goal of our work is to correct and garner recognition for this largely overlooked but fundamental and important part of our Ameri- Derek can history,” said Hankerson Hankerson.

Highlights Black progress

Cultural identity a focus

Hankerson is the cofounder of the Freedom Road Trail. The goal of the organization is to highlight Native and African-Ameri-

The theme for this year’s conference is “Escaping to Destinations South: The Underground See UNDERGROUND, Page A2

ALSO COMMENTARY: STACY SWIMP: IS THE NAACP NOW A PARTISAL TOOL? | A4 INSIDE COMMENTARY: BARBARA REYNOLDS: SMACKDOWN NOW COULD PREVENT BEATDOWN LATER | A5

Four years ago, the Florida Courier reported on Gov. Rick Scott’s efforts to purge Florida’s voting rolls of allegedly ineligible voters – many of whom where non-White – prior to the 2012 presidential election. The newspaper also reported on the death of Rodney King, whose videotaped beating by police eventually lead to riots in Los Angeles.

BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, an educator and civil rights activist who founded what is now known as BethuneCookman University, has emerged as the favorite to replace a Confederate general as one of Florida’s representatives in a set of statues at the U.S. Capitol.

Bethune was the only one of three fi- Dr. Mary nal nominees to get McLeod the votes of all of the Bethune members of the Great Floridians Committee during a meeting Wednesday to select a new representative for the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. The committee is charged with helping pick Florida’s new figure.

Replacing Rebel general The state is looking to replace Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, who has long represented Florida along with John Gorrie, widely considered the father of air conditioning. The Legislature voted earlier this year to replace Smith amid a backlash against Confederate symbols following the 2015 shooting deaths of nine AfricanAmerican worshippers at a historic Black church in Charleston, S.C. Ultimately, lawmakers will choose Smith’s replacement from among three names approved Wednesday by the Great Floridians Committee. The other two finalists are George Washington Jenkins Jr., founder of the iconic Publix grocery stores that dot Florida’s cities, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who wrote “The Everglades: River of Grass” and campaigned tirelessly for environmental protection.

In addition to being the only nominee to get the votes of all four members of the committee, Bethune was also the runaway leader among members of the public who submitted names to a website; she received 1,237 recommendations, more than a third of the total. Jenkins was third with 418 recommendations and Douglas was fourth with 270.

Speaking in support Bethune also received the support of several audience members who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting. Ashley Robertson, curator of the Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation-National Historic Landmark, spoke of the civil rights leader’s willingness to stand up to obstacles like the Ku Klux Klan.

“Her courage was infectious, and even today we still feel her presence,” Robertson said.

Bethune was born in 1875 in South Carolina and was the child of former slaves, according to the website of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach. She died in 1955.

If selected, Bethune would be the hall’s first African-American woman See BETHUNE, Page A2

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: SUSAN K. SMITH: ‘TERRORISM’ MOVES CONGRESS MORE THAN DEAD CHILDREN | A5

FOCUS

A2

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

Let’s talk about parental hatred I hope all of the mothers and fathers enjoyed their days of recognition in 2016.

I feel sad and get mad when I see young people today that hate one or both of their parents!

No one in the Black family is perfect. If you live long enough, all of us will make errors, make mistakes, have indiscretions, and do things that we wish we had not done.

It takes two Mama didn’t give you life by herself. Daddy didn’t cause you to be among the living by himself.

They came together and gave you life on this earth together!

When parental couples break up or spouses with children decide to get divorced, children are often caught in the middle of grown folks’ business.

Oftentimes, one parent feels it is becoming or appropriate to

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

disparage or discredit the other parent in an attempt to get children to love one parent and despise the other.

That is wrong! Children should be taught to love and honor mom and dad.

Don’t get it twisted. If a parent is evil, wicked, abusive, violent, disrespectful or hateful, if the children are raised right and educated, they can see and determine that for themselves when they become old enough to understand.

Ignore and hate I just hate it when a parent suggests that children ignore one

parent’s mistakes and hate the other parent for being similarly imperfect.

More often than not, when a mother decides to move from one man to another, she falls for the oldest “pimp move” in the world!

The guy she wants to sleep with will say, “Thanks for the ‘cat,’ but we can’t do anything more serious because you’re going to get back with your baby daddy.”

So the mom that wants to leave the union will tell the pimp, “No, he’s not like you. He cheats on me, he’s a junkie, he doesn’t work, I pay all of the bills, the children hate their father and love you, he will never be anything and I want you and will never go back to him.”

On the other hand, dads, no doubt, will chase another “cat” after a breakup or a divorce. But after a long-term relationship or marriage comes to an end, most men won’t even consider rushing into a committed relationship or a marriage.

One marriage, for many guys, is like one hit of crack cocaine.

One is too much, and a hundred (marriages) will never be enough!

Big changes

Kids need love

Parenting has changed so much. My parents were divorced when I was 10 years old. My parents couldn’t live together, but they still had love for each other. Both parents loved my sisters and me. Both parents were proud of us, and both parents were eager to do all they could for us.

And we felt the same way about Mom and Dad. When Mom and Dad got into new relationships or new marriages, we respected that. Stepparents were appreciated for good things they did with our parents, but they could never replace our mother and father.

Jesus tells a story in the biblical book of Luke about a son that pressed his dad to give him all that he wanted. The son took off and lived high on the hog, because he didn’t need daddy any more.

But when times got hard and the money was gone, he made his way back to daddy’s house.

Daddy didn’t shun him. Daddy didn’t get mad. Daddy welcomed him back with open arms!

Children will always need a father, and mother, that loves them. You may hate your parents now, but God will make you go back and recognize a righteous parent, a good parent and a parent that will love you in spite of your errors, in spite of your mistakes, in spite of your craziness and brokenness.

Parental hate must stop! You don’t have to hang out with your parents, kiss their feet, or bow down to them. The main thing you should do is recognize them, love them and honor your parents for life because they gave you life!

DEMS from A1

Philadelphia.

Janie Hollingsworth, a White woman who is the company’s CEO and majority owner, co-chaired the 2012 convention’s transportation subcommittee, according to her LinkedIn profile. Hollingsworth also provided logistical expertise for Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia last year.

The Democratic National Convention Committee declined comment on the company or Hollingsworth, citing sensitive contract negotiations. The committee instead offered a statement by its CEO, Rev. Leah Daughtry.

“It is an article of faith for us that we ought to allow the people who move our party forward to be able to be beneficiaries of the party’s resources,” said Daughtry.

But Vectour Transportation Group, a 2012 convention contractor, lost its bid to return. “Things did not go exactly how we would have liked for them to go this year,” said Reggie Halsam, the Black-owned company’s CEO.

MARSHA HALPER/MIAMI HERALD/MCT

A younger President Obama, left, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), leave Air Force One after landing in April 2011. Obama and Wasserman Schultz are the DNC’s top leaders.

GUNS from A1

kind of gun legislation in the wake of the Orlando shooting, four separate gun control bills were voted down this week in the Senate, with each failing to garner the 60 votes needed to move forward.

A new hope A new bill, spearheaded by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, raises hopes of a bipartisan compromise since it would involve a significantly smaller group of potential gun buyers than those covered in the failed amendments.

The consolidated terror watch list has more than 1 million names. The bill proposed Tuesday would restrict only the 109,000 people on no-fly and selectee lists, people considered enough of a terror risk to go through additional security screenings before they board airplanes.

Of those, roughly 2,800 are U.S. citizens, Collins said.

Under the “look-back” provision, drafted by South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, individuals who have appeared on either list within the past five years also would be subject to review by the FBI if they try to buy guns.

Republicans opposed the broader Democrat-

ic proposals Monday because, they said, too many innocent Americans who mistakenly ended up on the terror watch lists would be stripped of their rights.

With the smaller number of Americans on this list, Graham said, that is a risk it makes sense to take.

“The likelihood of someone being on this list and buying a gun and using it for a terrorist attack, to me, is far greater than the likelihood of an innocent person being on this list,” Graham said at the news conference. “But here’s the tiebreaker: We can fix the problem of the innocent person. Once the gun’s sold, you can’t fix that.”

The proposed bill would allow individuals who were denied firearms to appeal the decisions in court.

House protest Democrats from the Congressional Black Caucus initially had planned to stage a symbolic sit-in before heading to a scheduled press conference on Wednesday calling on Republican leaders of the House to allow votes on gun control legislation. But the lawmakers participating in the protest now appear to have settled in for the long haul.

Shortly after the House gaveled in for a routine day of legislating, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., strode into the chamber, stood at a podium and called on his col-

leagues to join him. Within moments, about two dozen lawmakers gathered around the lectern as he spoke.

Then many sat, legs crossed, on the chamber’s blue-carpeted floor. By midafternoon, scores more had arrived to show their support, vowing to stay until they received a vote on gun control legislation.

“I wondered, what would bring this body to take action?” thundered Lewis, who as a young man marched with Martin Luther King Jr. “What is right, what is just for the people of this country? …

They have lost hundreds and thousands of innocent people to gun violence.

What has this body done?

Nothing. Not one thing.”

‘Out of order’ Republicans, who control the House majority, declared the proceedings out of order and quickly called a recess, which automatically turned off the cameras that usually provide live coverage to C-SPAN. Lawmakers then took to social media, tweeting and updating their status from the floor. San Diego Democratic Rep. Scott Peters posted live Periscope video that C-SPAN eventually began broadcasting.

Protests in Congress can take different forms, such as the filibuster in the Senate and procedural votes in the House. During the 2008

Black businesses lagging Internal Democratic National Committee statistics show that in 2015, women composed 48 percent of its staff, and nearly 36 percent

summer recess, House Republicans held a similar protest against Democrats’ refusal to vote on GOP energy bills they believed would lower skyrocketing gas prices. During the 1995 federal government shutdown, Democrats refused to leave until services were restored after Republicans recessed.

House GOP officials called Wednesday’s protest a “Democratic publicity stunt” and noted that Democrats, when they controlled the House in 2008, also shut off the cameras.

Uphill climb Democrats face long odds of passing new gun restrictions with both the House and Senate controlled by Republicans, and the National Rifle Association opposed to most of the bills that have been proposed.

Polls show most Americans favor new gun restrictions, but opinions become more divided along party lines with Republicans largely believing gun laws are adequate.

Wednesday’s sit-in began around 11:30 a.m.

Shortly after noon, the Republican presiding officer gaveled the chamber back into session and proceeded with the morning prayer, but the protest continued and another recess was called.

Several senators, including Senate Minority Leader

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www. allworldconsultants.net. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

of its employees were minorities. Also, 23 percent of contracts and 25 percent of total dollars spent that year went to minority-owned enterprises. Twelve percent were African-American- owned, representing 14 percent of the total dollars spent.

“As for vendors, we have an unprecedented goal of awarding 35 percent of our contracts to diverse companies,” said convention committee spokesman Lee Whack.

Two African-Americanowned firms are among five major contracts the Democrats’ convention committee granted to minority businesses. There are 500 suppliers and vendors registered to do business with the DNC and other Democratic entities.

Cornell Belcher, president of Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies, said the party’s real power and spending are centered in the congressional and senatorial committees, the Democratic Governors Association, and EMILY’s list, where Belcher once worked. Groups like EMILY’s List (which supports pro-choice Democratic female candidates) face zero scrutiny and accountability, Belcher said.

Richard Dickerson, a Democratic campaign operative, said an important conversation about money and influence needs to occur, because the people who run Democratic campaigns end up in senior

government positions.

“They’re going to spend a billion dollars,” Dickerson said. “Ten percent of that is $100 million. If you put $100 million into the Black community, you can see it.”

GOP silent Meanwhile, Republicans hope to erode Black support for Democrats.

However, the Republican National Committee, which announced in 2013 that it would spend $10 million on minority outreach, did not respond to requests to analyze its own internal and vendor-diversity statistics.

Telly Lovelace, the GOP committee’s director for African-American Initiatives & Urban Media, instead spoke of its grassroots-level training efforts to engage the Black community, including African-American operatives placed in seven battleground states, and plans to boost hiring into the fall.

No ‘exodus’ Despite several notable departures among minority staffers in recent months, Lovelace denied the Republican headquarters is experiencing a socalled “Black exodus.”

Kirsten Kukowski, the committee’s communications director, said organizers are working with more than a dozen minorityowned vendors and have several staffers conducting community outreach.

Harry Reid and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, walked across the Capitol to join their peers in the House, as lawmakers took turns in the chamber sharing personal stories from their own lives, and their congressional districts, of lives lost to gun violence.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., talked about the death of his son, who was shot and killed in 1999. Rush described feeling helpless after his son died.

“I never will forget the primal scream of my son’s mother,” Rush said on the Capitol steps.

BETHUNE

‘Disarm hate’

Others also backed

Gun control advocates praised the House Democrats for forcing attention on the issue.

“As Dr. King used to say, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’” said Lucy McBath, faith and outreach leader for Everytown for Gun Safety, the mother of a teenager slain by gun violence.

“We are seeing the arc bend before our very eyes – Americans demand that we do more to disarm hate.”

Lisa Mascaro and Sarah D. Wire of the Tribune Washington Bureau and Vera Bergengruen and Megan Henney of the McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS) all contributed to this report.

from A1

commissioned by a state.

Rosa Parks was added by Congress. Bethune is also honored at Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C., but Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner said he didn’t believe that should disqualify her from consideration.

“The Legislature is going to examine all three of these candidates to see which one they think is really the best,” he said.

Bethune is not the only candidate with support, though. Public comments submitted to the commission, either through writing or in person Wednesday, also touted Jenkins, Douglas and other candidates. The Miami-Dade County Commission for Women, for example, backed Douglas.

“Her most passionate cause, our fragile environment and the beauty of Florida’s unique landscape, unites all Floridians regardless of geographic and political differences,” Mara Zapata, chairwoman of the commission, wrote.

“Her work to save the Everglades changed the way that Floridians viewed their land and their natural resources.”

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

FLORIDA

A3 What they’ve raised

Former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings, top, and current Florida Senator Geraldine Thompson are running for a congressional seat in Florida’s 10th district.

Congressional candidates put campaigning on hold Focus for Demings, Thompson and others has been on Orlando tragedy

BY SIMONE PATHÉ CQ-ROLL CALL/TNS

Val Demings, Orlando’s former police chief, is running for Congress.

But she spent the week since the deadliest mass shooting in America attending vigils and memorial services in her hometown.

She’s delivered food

and water to donors at a blood bank and attended a fundraiser for employees of Pulse, the gay nightclub where a gunman killed 49 people early in the morning on June 12.

The massacre put traditional campaigning in one of Democrats’ more competitive primaries on hold, as the four Dem-

ocrats running have focused much of their attention on their community.

The site of the shooting is in the newly redrawn 10th District. In subtle ways, however, the tragedy may be bringing into relief the different backgrounds and personalities of the candidates in the August primary.

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Platform on gun safety reform Most of the Democratic establishment has rallied behind Demings, Orlando’s first female police chief, who cancelled multiple fundraisers and all direct voter contact activities this week.

“After 27 years in law enforcement in Orlando, my last four years as the chief of police, my priority now is helping to heal a broken community,” Demings said in an email last week.

Of course, local media has sought her law enforcement perspective in the wake of the shooting, and that’s given her a platform on gun safety reform.

“The words ‘mass shooting’ are becoming too commonplace in this nation,” Demings said last week.

“Moving forward, we must make sure dangerous people do not have access to guns, that we close the so-called ‘terror gap’ and that assault weapons are banned,” she said.

Thompson vocal about gun control State Sen. Geraldine Thompson, who’s also running for the Democratic nomination, set aside her fundraisers and public campaign appearances last week too. The Pulse nightclub is in her state Senate district.

“I could not focus on anything other than the victims and their families,” she said

in an interview.

Having served in the state Senate for four years and the state House before that, Thompson is well-known in the area.

She says she represented about 70 percent of voters in the 10th Congressional District in the past 10 Geraldine years.

Thompson The media appearances she’s made over the past week — as a legislator, not a candidate — also gave her the chance to discuss her commitment to gun control. She believes she’s been the most vocal about the issue.

Candidate shares HIV status When Florida Gov. Rick Scott visited the site of the shooting, Thompson asked him for a meeting to discuss the availability of guns. But that meeting hasn’t happened yet.

Thompson raised just $40,000 during the first quarter of 2016, although she said her goal is to raise $600,000 for the primary.

“There’s a difference between having the most money and having enough money,” Thompson said.

The candidate with the most money is Bob Poe, former chairman of the Florida Democratic Party.

National Democrats have been blasting Republicans for refusing to call the Orlando shooting a hate crime that targeted LGBT individuals, and, in Poe, the party would have an openly gay nominee.

Poe recently announced that he is HIV-positive, and he hosted an HIV roundtable in the community on June 17.

Gun control is a major theme on his campaign website.

“Congress must reinstate the ban on military-style assault weapons, and close the loophole that allows suspected terrorists on the FBI’s watch lists to purchase deadly weapons legally,” he said in a statement after the shooting. Poe has loaned a lot of his own money to his campaign, and he’s promised to pay his campaign canvassers $15 an hour.

On June 16, his campaign announced $1 million in TV advertising on cable and broadcast in an expensive media market.

The fourth candidate in the race is attorney Fatima Fahmy. But she raised just $4,000 in the first quarter of the year.

Most observers see this primary as a fight between Poe and Demings.

But Poe doesn’t start with the name recognition that either Thompson, as a current state senator, or Demings, as the former police chief, has.

Demings raised $212,000 in the first quarter of 2016.

She ended the period with $362,000.

Second run for Demings Her campaign says she oversaw a 40 percent reduction in violent crime in Orlando.

She has the support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, EMILY’s List and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Helping her profile in the area is the fact that her husband is the Orange County sheriff. He has been in the news for dealing with the death of the 2-year-old boy an alligator pulled into the water near Disney World.

Demings has also run before. She lost to current 10th District Rep. Daniel Webster, a Republican, in 2012 by fewer than four points.

Recent redistricting drew the district into a “Safe Democratic” seat, and Webster is now running in the nearby 11th District, which is open because GOP Rep. Rich Nugent is retiring.

“The primary is the race,” Thompson said.

Trying not to politicize tragedy But the political issue that the shooting makes most salient — gun control — doesn’t likely leave much room between the three major candidates, said Steve Schale, a Florida Democratic strategist not affiliated with any of the campaigns.

All of the candidates are being smart not politicizing the tragedy, he said: “I don’t know that any candidate has ever regretted not saying more in light of a tragedy.”

“It will take some time,” he added, before normal campaigning resumes.

“We have been known for many years as the happiest place on earth. And now we’re known as the place of the worst mass killing in U.S. history.”

EDITORIAL

A4

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

Dealing with disrespect from Democrats, Republicans For anyone who may have missed my column last week, I noted that in an ultimate show of disrespect, each major presidential candidate declined to appear before the National Black Political Convention in Gary, despite it being co-sponsored by the National Policy Alliance.

The Alliance includes 10 major Black organizations: Blacks in Government (BIG), the Congressional Black Caucus, the for Political and Joint Center Economic Studies, the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association, the National Association of Black County Officials, the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials, the National Black Council of School Board Members, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, the National Organization of Black County Officials and the World Conference of Mayors.

BIG alone represents 3 million Black government employees, and the CBC says its members represent approximately 43 million people.

Wouldn’t insult others I pointed out that most Republicans wouldn’t dare insult conservatives by failing to appear before the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, and that neither Democrats nor Republicans would decline to show up for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Yet, they don’t think twice before skipping a major gathering of African-Americans.

And we continue to take it.

First, let’s stipulate that standing on the sidelines is not the

GEORGE E. CURRY GEORGE CURRY MEDIA

answer, regardless of how disappointed we may be at the behavior of Democrats and Republicans. Not voting is a vote – a vote against anything approaching a progressive agenda. With the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court hanging in the balance, that alone should motivate us to turn out this fall in record numbers.

Second, it’s irresponsible to suggest that there is no difference between the behavior and voting records of Democrats and Republicans. I certainly can identify with the frustration of dealing with liberal condescension, but that shouldn’t blind us to the outright hostility of Republican leaders. Picking the lesser of two evils still leaves us with evil, but not nearly as much evil were Republican policies adopted.

‘F’ record Exhibit A is the GOP record in Congress. When the NAACP graded members of Congress on issues important to AfricanAmericans, every Republican in the House and Senate received an “F.” Not a D-minus. Not even a D-plus. Voting for them would be voting against our own selfinterests.

It hasn’t always been this way.

Blacks voted Republican from the Reconstruction Era immediately after the Civil War until

Homosexuality not related to Orlando shooting Everyone knows my position on the radical homosexual agenda being forced upon our country. I totally disagree with it. Marriage is between one man and one woman. Homosexuality is not compatible with Christianity, nor should homosexuals be legally recognized as a protected class.

Having said that, as I predicted and expected, homosexuals have attempted to use the tragedy in Orlando to advance their ultimate political goal – forced acceptance of their lifestyle choices upon all Americans.

It was terror The murder of 49 people in Orlando had absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality.

This was an act of terror, plain and simple!

Murder, by definition, is an act of hate. So it seems kind of

RAYNARD JACKSON NNPA COLUMNIST

ridiculous to argue that this was also a hate crime. Calling the murders in Orlando a hate crime is like saying I am dating my girlfriend. Huh? Exactly.

As soon as I found out that the Orlando murders took place at a homosexual nightclub, I told everyone that you can best believe the “first gay president” would move heaven and earth to make a personal visit to Orlando.

Not only that, but President Obama had the U.S. flag lowered to half-staff. This declaration meant flags nationwide and at all U.S. embassies

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 278 Summertime! Hope yours is going well – all good in my family. Daughter Chayla, now 15, returned safely from a 9-day trip to Spain and is now playing in a national volleyball tourney in Orlando. Charles III, nicknamed “Wig,” just turned 12 and is staying up late, hanging out with cousins, reading books, and playing video games before going off to a week-long camp or two. I told them to enjoy it, because it goes fast. They’ll be back in school before they know it…

Orlando – It’s painful to know that for the foreseeable fu-

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

ture, Orlando will be on the list of sites that bring mass murders to mind: Columbine, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, etc.

And anytime I see a #STRONG hashtag with a city’s name in it

1936, when Franklin D. Roosevelt received 71 percent of the African-American vote in the most lopsided electoral victory in history.

After Harry S Truman desegregated the military and the federal workforce, he received 77 percent of the Black vote in 1948. Even as late as 1960, Richard Nixon got 32 percent of the Black vote against John F. Kennedy.

But the Republican Party grew increasingly anti-Black and no Republican president has received more than 15 percent of the Black vote since Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Few Black votes In 2012, Mitt Romney received 6 percent of the African-American vote, according to Roper, and Donald J. Trump appears on track to receive less than that. More than a half-century after passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Blacks are still underrepresented in public office.

As a Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies report found, “Based on the most recent data, African-Americans are 12.5 percent of the citizen voting age population, but they make up a smaller share of the U.S. House (10 percent), state legislatures (8.5 percent), city councils (5.7 percent), and the U.S. Senate (2 percent).”

We bear some fault And some of that failure rests squarely on our shoulders. As the report noted, “ ...In 2014, around the world were required to lower their flags.

What about Chicago?

When will the flags in Chicago be lowered to half-staff?

When will they get a presidential visit? When will Obama demonstrably show anger about the constant, seemingly daily loss of life there? Last September, you had nine people murdered in one day in Chicago, and not a word from Obama or the rest of America.

The Black Lives Matter movement all of a sudden got laryngitis, because Black lives only matter when a White person is involved in a death of a Black person, not when it is Black-onBlack crime.

There was no wall-to-wall coverage on TV about the murders in Chicago. There were no U.S. Senate filibusters taking place in D.C. on gun control, and not one flag was lowered to half-staff.

Oh, snap. My bad. These victims were all Black and Latino heterosexuals. So they don’t count! The murders in Chicago are being perpetrated by domestic terrorists: gangs and drug dealers. So this type of murder is to be tolerated.

– #ORLANDOSTRONG, #BOSTONSTRONG, etc. – I immediately start thinking of violence and murder. That’s not a good thing, and I’m hoping not to see more #STRONG hashtags in the future. But given the fact that there are more than 400 million guns in circulation in America, my hope is unrealistic. It’s unfortunately only a matter of time and place…

The NBA championship finals – Man, God has a sense of humor. LeBron James wins and thanks “the Man Upstairs.”

Meanwhile, Golden State’s Steph Curry and his wife are quiet, moral, diehard Christians, college sweethearts who are not afraid of praising the name of “JESUS” for the world to hear.

After Game 6, she blows up at the NBA and accuses the league

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: CONGRESS AND MASS SHOOTINGS

MIKE KEEFE, CAGLE CARTOONS

when there was great unrest over a police officer’s killing of Michael Brown, African-Americans made up 67 percent of residents of Ferguson, Missouri. In 2012, a solid 100 percent of Ferguson precincts went for President Obama, but during Ferguson’s municipal off-cycle elections voters selected Ferguson’s Republican mayor and six city council members, all of whom except one were White.”

But the problem is larger than that. Essentially, we provide the margin of victory for Democrats year after year and often get little or nothing in return. What can we do about it?

Since my days as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the 1970s, I have advocated a simple and yet powerful step: Pick one local office, say comptroller or city treasurer, and vote Republican and Democrat in alternate elections. Because Blacks vote overwhelmingly in favor of Democrats, I would vote

cause the club was popular with homosexuals, but the media got egg on their faces when they reluctantly discovered that the murderer himself was indeed homosexual.

No connection

So can the murders still be considered a hate crime targeting homosexuals even though the perpetrator himself was a member of the very group the media claimed he hated?

While some may think it is cool to use the Orlando tragedy as an opportunity to promote the radical liberal homosexual agenda, it is not smart nor is it safe. Enough with political correctness and let’s focus more on the safety of all Americans, not just homosexual Americans.

It seems Obama is incapable of making an emotional connection with anything involving the Black community. He cried like a baby when talking about the Newtown, Conn., murders a couple of years ago, but always seems to be distant when confronting the Black community.

Since we know most of the media is liberal, their making the Orlando story about homosexuality should come as no surprise. I fail to see the relevance of the murders taking place at a homosexual club.

Why is that even relevant to the story?

When tragedy strikes at a heterosexual club, the media never describes it as heterosexual. So why was it necessary for the media to indicate that Pulse was a homosexual club?

Mainstream media wanted to create the narrative that the murders happened at Pulse beof fixing games. Then Steph and the Warriors lose a championship in the worst way in NBA history by losing the last three games in a row, when they only had to win one. Steph can’t hit the side of a barn in the process.

Now he’s gotta live with that for the rest of his life, especially if he doesn’t win another championship. In the Currys’ case, is that God or Satan at work – or both?

Preachers, let me know…

LeBron – Call me a fair-weather fan. He was OK when he won two championships WITH (not FOR) the Miami Heat. I didn’t particularly like the way he left the Heat hanging when he departed from Miami; he knew way in advance that he wanted to return home. But that’s not a big deal, because billionaire NBA franchise owners don’t get

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Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Sales Manager

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George E. Curry is president and CEO of George Curry Media, LLC. He is the former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) News Service. Contact him via georgecurry.com. He is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach.

So maybe if the family members of the murdered victims in Chicago were to posthumously “self-identify” their loved ones as homosexual, maybe the spotlight would be shined on the epidemic murder rate there.

Maybe.

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

first for the Republican candidate. It wouldn’t be long before both Democrats and Republicans fall over themselves courting Black voters. And if that fails to capture their attention, then move to a second city office or a statewide contest.

If this happens at the local level, national party leaders would take note and do everything within their power to avoid a shift of loyalty at the national level. Until we show that we will make politicians pay on Election Day, we will continue to get disrespected by both major parties.

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What hate crime?

Raynard Jackson is founder and chairman of Black Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF), a federally registered Super PAC established to get more Blacks, especially entrepreneurs, involved in the Republican Party. For more information, visit www. bafbf.org. much sympathy from me.

What really frosted me was that LeBron, so desperate to get back to his home state, didn’t hold a mirror to the behavior of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ ownership and fan base that treated him like the proverbial “field nigger” when he left Cleveland for Miami. I’d have made Cavs owner Dan Gilbert publicly beg forgiveness before going back.

Now that he’s the most powerful man in Ohio, will LeBron take the Muhammad Ali route and take on controversial issues while he’s still in his prime? Or will he take the Michael Jordan route, keep his mouth shut, and get paid? Time will tell…

Hit me up at ccherry2@ gmail.com.

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JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

EDITORIAL

Can Blacks prompt an ‘Orlando’ reaction?

In 1991, Latasha Harlins was shot in the back of her head and killed by Soon Ja Du, a Korean store owner in Los Angeles. Du was sentenced to a $500 fine, 400 hours of community service, and probation by Judge five years’ Joyce Karlin –who ignored the maximum penalty of 16 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.

This case and the outrage it brought foreshadowed the L.A. civil unrest now known as the Rodney King Riot in 1992. Since that time thousands of Black men, women, and children have been killed – 1,134 by police officers in 2015, according to The Guardian newspaper. In Chicago alone, there have been 1,454 shootings and 279 people killed as of June 2016 – 207 of whom were Black.

No outrage If members of any other group in this country were being killed at the same rate as Black folks, there would be a collective outrage and indignation such that the problem would be addressed – if not solved – almost immediately.

On the economic side of things, look at the Orlando shootings.

Days after that tragedy, $4 million was raised for the victims – twice

JAMES CLINGMAN GEORGE CURRY MEDIA

the previous GoFundMe crowdfunding record of $2 million – and all we hear in the news reports is advocacy for the “LGBT community.”

No tears When have we heard so much sympathy and advocacy for Black folks? When have we raised significant amounts of money for Black victims? When have we seen LGBT news reporters take commercial breaks in order to shed tears for Black victims? If Tamir Rice didn’t make that happen, nothing will.

Money is pouring into Orlando from private corporations, in part because LGBTs are willing to leverage their dollars in return for corporate support. (Don’t be mad at them; that’s what we should be doing.) The Orlando Magic, Disney, the Florida baseball teams, and Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, have given money and other support in the aftermath of the latest shoot-

Support the Sept. 9 prison strike On September 9, 1971, prisoners incarcerated at the Attica State Penitentiary in New York rose up in rebellion. After a four-day long insurrection, 33 prisoners and 10 prison employees lay dead. The name “Attica” still resonates as a symbol of the inhumane treatment that America metes out to 2 million of its people.

Americans love to think of themselves as “democratic,” “developed,” “advanced,” or “civilized” when comparing themselves and their nation to the rest of the world. The self-serving deception is typical but preposterous in the country with the largest percentage of its population and the largest number of people overall locked away in prisons.

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

1970s was the creation of a gulag stretching from sea to shining sea.

Despite the Attica rebellion, New York state was no exception. Democratic governor and liberal icon Mario Cuomo created 30 additional prisons by using funds meant to build low-income housing.

Not only has the number of prisoners expanded around the country, but so has the number of ways in which they can be exploited. The image of prisoners breaking rocks or making license plates is a relic of old movies. Now Prisons everywhere they are exploited in for-profThe response to the liberation it prisons and forced to work for movement of the 1960s and early corporations or the prison system

The shooting at the Pulse Club in Orlando was horrific. But the fact that the shooter dubbed himSUSAN self a sympathizer with K. SMITH ISIS, fitting the description GEORGE CURRY MEDIA of “terrorist,” has created movement in the Congress that no other mass shoot- It’s ‘different’ ing up until now has been But with the word “terable to inspire. rorism” invoked, the mood There is something has shifted. When it bewrong with that. came apparent that this man who had connections No action with ISIS, albeit distant, I thought that sure- the media ate it up. This... ly, when the children at was against America. This Sandy Hook Elementa- ...was something different, ry School were blown to worthy of greater attenbits by 20-year-old Adam tion and involvement from Lanza, that the Congress lawmakers.

– many of whom purport So deaths wrought by to be “pro-life” – would White Christians wielding act. I thought the lawmak- guns are not worthy of seers would unite and cre- rious consideration of gun ate legislation that would control? The rights of peomake it harder for some ple to buy assault weapons people to get guns. At the should be protected, even least, I thought they would if that means they shoot up reinstate the ban on as- innocent people – except sault weapons. in the case of the shooter But Congress did noth- being a Muslim? The masing. The National Rifle sacre of innocent people Association (NRA) had is “okay” until the shooter a hold, it seemed, that sympathizes with ISIS? took precedence with the What the media is specious assertion that completely ignoring, as the president was try- it continues to vilify Ising to take away the Sec- lam, is that there are a lot ond Amendment rights of of Christians, White and Americans.

Black, who are “radicalNothing, it seemed, ized” as Muslims. While would shake even the the media is saying that IsDemocrats in the House lam hates homosexuality, and Senate. All of the law- plenty of Christians hate it, makers, or nearly all of too. Some Christians have them, dug their heels in – even said that the murder dead, mangled children of the 49 people at Pulse got what they deserved. notwithstanding.

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION

ings. Even GoFundMe waived its $100,000 transaction fee on the contributions made by more than 90,000 contributions.

Over the past three years, we have also seen corporations use their power to affect political change on behalf of LGBTs. Yet corporations, despite earning much of their profit from Black consumers, did virtually nothing for Eric Garner’s family, Sandra Bland’s family, John Crawford’s family, or Ezell Ford’s family. Why not?

Politically speaking, while 20 bullet-riddled bodies of children in Sandy Hook couldn’t move them, politicians will surely act now on gun law legislation because many of those killed in Or- we must do it for ourselves.

Are we afraid? Ashamed? Aplando were LGBT, the NRA notwithstanding. What if that had athetic? Where does this leave Black people? been a Black club?

Latasha Harlins, Tamir Rice, and all of those killed in between Plead our causes So, do our lives matter? And and since, are calling out from who are we trying to convince their graves for us to respond appropriately to what happened to that they do matter?

First, our lives must matter to them. Our charge is to make our us. We must be just as willing to lives matter to us, first and forebring our causes to the forefront most, and then show a united as gay people and other groups front to this nation that we will are. We should see red, black, and not be relegated to a subordinate green colors everywhere when we class and continue to be ignored, are killed or aggrieved. No one dismissed, and trampled upon by else is going to do that for us, so groups that continually parlay our itself for little or no pay.

Excluded from document The 13th Amendment, which ended slavery, deliberately excluded imprisonment from the ban on involuntary servitude.

The exploitation of prisoners is enshrined in the Constitution. If the call center voice on the phone isn’t from India, it is probably coming from a prison right here in America.

Not only are prisoners used to fatten the bottom line for corporations by making uniforms for McDonald’s employees or car parts for Honda; they and their families must pay exorbitant rates to make phone calls. They are charged for substandard medical care. Incarcerated women are limited in the amount of feminine hygiene products they can use and are shackled while giving birth.

The corporate media ignore the prison protests which have occurred with increasing frequency in recent years. Work stoppages began in Georgia in 2010, and continued in Alabama in 2014 and in Texas and Ohio this year.

The list of oppression is a long

‘Terrorism’ moves Congress more than dead children Other motives What the media is not concentrating on is that Orlando seems like it was at least as much a hate crime as it was a terrorist attack. It may be that the shooter was in conflict because he was struggling with identifying and accepting his own sexuality.

What better way to kill that which you don’t like in yourself than to kill someone outside yourself who represents what you are trying to deny?

Those who want to prove that “radical Islamic terrorism” is on the rise are almost gleeful. This attack proves their premise that that terrorism is the major issue of our time, and adds fuel to their argument that President Obama is the cause of it all. Meanwhile, assault weapons are still on the market, the media is still feeding the fear about Muslims, and people continue to be mutilated by weapons of war in a so-called civilized society.

It is disheartening and disturbing, but it is the America that we live in today.

Rev. Susan K. Smith is an author and ordained minister who is founder of Crazy Faith Ministries. Contact her at revsuekim@sbcglobal.net.

A5

one and that is why incarcerated people themselves have issued a “Call to Action Against Slavery in America” to take place on September 9, 2016. They hope to damage the profitmaking apparatus of the prison system by refusing to work. It is up to truly advanced and civilized people to help make the struggle known.

Hidden from sight Half of the people locked away are Black and they are out of sight and thus out of mind. But they have courageously called for the work stoppage and remind us why our efforts are so important. “…(W)e need support from people on the outside. A prison is an easy-lockdown environment, a place of control and confinement where repression is built into every stone wall and chain link, every gesture and routine. When we stand up to these authorities, they come down on us, and the only protection we have is solidarity from the outside.”

DAVE GRANLUND, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

misery into their benefit.

Until other groups begin to support us the way we have supported them in this country throughout history, we must commit ourselves to a “Never Again” approach and take charge of our own destiny, our own causes, and our own security.

James E. Clingman’s latest book, “Black Dollars Matter! Teach Your Dollars How to Make More Sense,” is available on his website, Blackonomics. com.

Council. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence despite serving more than 20 years for murder. Still in solitary confinement after leading the 2014 work stoppage, he explains the importance of the tactic.

“We were begging [officials] to please follow the rules. Please have mercy on me. We’re asking some people to have mercy that just don’t have any mercy. That revelation brought us to the fact that you can’t appeal to the moral [part] of a system that doesn’t have morals.”

Racist hysteria about deadbeat dads, drug kingpins and super predators has been used to ruin thousands of lives and make money for governments and big business. The call to action must be heeded and the people fighting against the worst cruelty in the country must be supported.

Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackANo mercy gendaReport.com. Contact her One of the founders of the Free at Margaret.Kimberley@BlackAlabama Movement is Robert AgendaReport.com.

Thousands of US prisoners must be released A new report entitled, “The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons” compiled by the Washington-based prison reform group The Sentencing Project shows that New Jersey has the nation’s highest racial disparity in incarceration rates. Blacks in the state are 12 times more likely to go to prison than Whites.

Right behind New Jersey in racially disparate imprisonment are Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Vermont – all states with relatively small Black populations, but where AfricanAmericans are 10 times as likely to be incarcerated than Whites.

No bounds Mass Black incarceration knows no bounds in America, the world champion of incarceration – with 2.3 million men and women behind bars.

Some states are worse than others, but all of them are much worse for Black people than for Whites.

Blacks don’t make up a majority of any state in the country, but they are the majority of the prison population in 12 states: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

In terms of the proportion of the Black male population that is incarcerated at any given time, the prize

But don’t expect any lateterm prisoner release surprises from Barack Obama, who went to court to keep GLEN about 5,000 federal crack FORD cocaine prisoners behind NNPA COLUMNIST bars – even after the racist legislation under which goes to Oklahoma, where 1 they were convicted was reout of every 15 Black men, pealed and replaced. age 18 or older, is currently living behind bars. In 11 Horrible statistics other states, 1 out of every Without fundamental 20 Black males has been changes at every stage of snatched from his commuthe criminal justice pronity. cess, Black Americans will continue to make up someSome reductions New Jersey stands out for thing approaching 1 out of high rates of racial dispar- every 8 prison inmates in ity in incarceration and for the world.

Indeed, accounting for having a Black majority in the prison system, but in re- growth in U.S. population, cent years it’s one of three by my calculations the nastates that have substan- tion’s jailers and prison tially reduced their prison wardens would have to set populations. New York and 4 out of every 5 of their prisCalifornia have also scaled oners free just to get incardown their gulags.

According to The Sen- ceration rates down to the tencing Project, the key to levels of 1972, when the efshrinking the prison pop- fects of the national mass ulation lies in the intake Black incarceration regime valves of a criminal justice were just starting to be felt. system that arrests far too Of the 2.3 million curmany people – especial- rent prison inmates, fully 80 ly Black people – and then percent – totaling 1,850,000 locks them up for way too men and women – would long. have to be let go. Even then, Project executive directhe United States would still tor Marc Maurer told Black Agenda Report that Presi- be a high incarceration nadent Obama and his suc- tion. cessors should consider Glen Ford is executive clemency for whole cateeditor of BlackAgendaRegories of prisoners, similar to President Gerald Ford’s port.com. E-mail him amnesty for draft resisters at Glen.Ford@BlackAgback in 1974. endaReport.com.

TOJ A6

NATION

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

Voter suppression threatens 2016 elections Educational Fund, warn that the restrictions are spreading.

Marion Warren, Registrar of Voters for the City of Sparta in Hancock County, Georgia, said since 2015, voter rolls were purged, removing registered voters prior to two mayoral elections that removed registered voters.

Voting officials mailed out ballots late and have “refused to make registration voter-friendly,” Warren said. “They have moved polling stations into police departments, closed six of 10 polling stations, and some people have to travel 35 miles to get to the polls. There has been an outcry from the public and I got the Department of Justice to look into that particular situation…It seems it’s harder for a minority to vote now in the state of Georgia than it was in 1965.”

Voters frustrated

CHRIS SEWARD/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

The Rev. William Barber, head of the North Carolina NAACP, at podium, announces that the group would file a lawsuit against a voter ID bill during a press conference held in Durham, N.C. on Aug. 13, 2013. Seated are plaintiffs Carolyn Q. Coleman, left, Mary Perry, second from right, and Rosanell Eaton, right. Lead attorneys Adam Stein, top left, and Penda Hair, second from top left, stand behind Barber.

A new report by civil rights leaders and other groups cites adverse impact of the Holder v Shelby case.

BY BARRINGTON M. SALMON TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

Since the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, states that were once required to get permission from the U.S. Department of Justice to enact voting laws have been free to implement limits to voting that activists say could have a negative impact on the 2016 presidential elections.

The high court ruling against the federal government in the Holder v Shelby case in 2013, was followed closely by several primarily southern states, enacting a series of draconian laws that have made it increasingly more difficult for African-Americans, Latinos, students and the elderly to cast their ballots.

The Republican legislators supporting these bills claim that the measures are an effort to block voter fraud. Their critics contend that the laws are a way to disenfranchise voters who are more likely to vote Democratic.

‘Renaissance’ of restrictions But a national coalition of voters, advocacy groups and voting rights activists as well as in the Department of Justice, have been fighting back in the courts, statehouses and city council chambers. These advocates have now released a new report, showing the adverse impact of the Shelby case.

“This is really an important report. It is an effort to identify problems that have already arisen,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund.

“We’re witnessing a virtual renaissance of voter restrictions.

If they persist, they could have a very serious effect on the upcoming elections. It is an insidious and sophisticated way to shave off a few points in key races. It is a particular problem to minorities…

It is a concern of national importance, one that Congress should pay particular attention to.”

‘Warning Signs’ The report, titled “Warning Signs: The Potential Impact of Shelby County v. Holder on the 2016 General Election,’’ was compiled with the collaboration of national civil rights organizations, including the Leadership Conference Education Fund, the ACLU, the Advancement Project, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the NALEO Educational Fund.

It finds that, since Shelby, the states of North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia – once under the Section 5 preclearance mandate — have engaged in deceptive and sophisticated practices to disenfranchise voters that will have an impact on the 2016 election.

These states are locations of competitive 2016 contests that will have 84 Electoral College votes, two Senate seats, and one governor’s seat up for grabs.

‘No transparency’ “As we approach the first presidential election in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, we’re seeing the perfect storm of a diversifying electorate and a set of states and localities responding by implementing a broad array of voter discrimination tactics,” said Scott Simpson, the report’s coauthor and director of Media and Campaigns for The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund.

“In 2016, it is entirely possible that the presidency, control of the Senate, and a number of governorships could be determined by the voter discrimination made possible by Shelby.”

Simpson added, “Changes are happening in the dark of night.

There’s no public notice, no transparency …This report looks at the intersection of states in competitive races. In those five states they’re using every tactic in the books. Those engaged in this tend to be Republicans. A lot of it is happening out of fear.

“Generally, it is happening with city councils, local elections, school boards. They are afraid that Blacks will gain control and continue to exert influence in these five states. For everything we’ve found, this is just a fraction of what’s actually happening.”

More restrictions When announcing the Shelby ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts left it to Congress to reauthorize the VRA. To date, that has not happened.

Meanwhile, states and locations once protected by the VRA, have remained rogue, according to the report.

For example, the day after the Shelby decision, the speaker of the North Carolina House introduced H.B. 589, one of the most restrictive pieces of election legislation in the country, which came to be known by local advocates as the “monster bill.”

The bill included a strict ID requirement as well as a range of additional voting restrictions, including significantly shortening the early voting period; eliminating same-day registration; prohibiting the counting of out-of-precinct provisional ballots; eliminating a pre-registration program for 16- and 17-year olds; and making challenging voters easier.

“What we are seeing in North Carolina is that more people are being disenfranchised than the margin that decided our recent governor’s election and other recent elections in our state,” said Anita Earls, executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which has played a key role in fighting voter suppression in North Carolina.

“These voter suppression measures passed in the wake of Shelby – like ending same day registration, ending out-of-precinct voting, and others – are truly having an impact on our ability to vote. We hope that these measures will not be in place in November 2016.”

Rolls purged The report, a collaborative effort between the Leadership Conference Education Fund, the ACLU, the Advancement Project, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the NALEO

African-American dads defy the stereotypes

BY DESMOND ANDREWS TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

African-American fathers are often stereotyped as inattentive to their children. But statistics have shown that Black fathers are there for their children – as much as or more than White fathers.

Just before Father’s Day, the National Center for Health Statistics reflected that 70 percent of African-American fathers who live with their children are more involved in their daily lives compared to 60 percent of White fathers.

“Black fathers (70 percent) were most likely to have bathed, dressed, diapered or helped their children use the toilet every day compared with White (60 percent) and Hispanic fathers (45 percent),” the study shows.

‘Strengthens the community’ “Fatherhood for a young man, especially a young Black man, is incredibly important simply because it gives us a sense of strength in a world in which everybody seems to be against you. It breaks crippling stereotypes and strengthens the Afri-

Quick action urged Henderson, Simpson and their colleagues said this electoral debacle can be avoided if Congress acts and acts quickly.

The point to the Voting Rights Advancement Act is to blunt voter suppression. The Act, they say, would not only restore preclearance protections to voters in states with the worst histories of discrimination, it would have a national impact, requiring preclearance for any proposed electoral change historically associated with discrimination.

“A lot of the problem is that some members of Congress are refusing to see discrimination happening,” Simpson said. “There are two bills with the House Judiciary Committee that have not moved. Republican leaders have shown no interest or inclination to move these bills. They’re burying their heads in the sand and doing everything they can to ignore what’s happening.” ple of color, the Black father often serves as the first example of leadership.

“Fatherhood provides a sense of strength and leadership to the kids. For a son he sees his father as an example for how a man should become - learning valuable life lessons on how to find your way in life and become the head of your family,” said Baltimore native Lantz Carter, 28, a Lacrosse professional.

can- American family,” said Darius Bego, a 23-year-old father who is a student at the University of South Carolina.

“Most of all, having a father provides a great example of what it’s like to be strong man in a world that grows increasingly dangerous and challenging for a Black man,” he continued. “And when fathers instill such strength and wisdom into each of their children it strengthens the community as a whole for each generation.”

The real heroes

A mentor, confidant Bryan Jeffries, 20, of Dayton, Ohio, says the Black father stands as an example to his children.

“For a daughter, it is her model for how a man should treat her.

And for a son, it is a model for what he should be as a father. I think what a Black father brings to the table is a mentor on how to maneuver as a Black man in America as well as a confidant for information that may be too hard for a mother to hear,” Jeffries noted.

Jennifer Allen, 40, of Los Angeles, agrees that a father has a special influence on a young woman.

“Young females without fa-

In the battleground state of Arizona, tens of thousands of voters are believed to be disenfranchised after elections officials closed polling stations and scrubbed voter rolls.

Monica Cooper, and Juliana Huerena, are two Arizona voters who say they were disenfranchised during the 2016 primaries. They are plaintiffs in a voting rights lawsuit against Arizona and Maricopa County.

“On Election Day, I depended on Dial-a-Ride [a paratransit service] to get to and from the polling place, and was not able to vote because the lines were so long it took over two hours to get inside the polling place,” Cooper said. “I am very angry that I was not able to cast my ballot and that I was left out on Election Day.” Huerena said, “I’ve been voting in Maricopa County for nearly 10 years and I’ve never seen lines like this before. The line wrapped around the building,” she said. “It was important to me to wait and cast my ballot, but I saw many people get frustrated after waiting for hours and eventually leave without voting. In the end, I waited four and a half hours to cast my ballot.”

TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

Stafford Armstead diligently cares for his three children alongside his wife, Nichole. thers can tend to be promiscuous and lost about love. This causes them to look and search for the lost love that’s been missing from the Black father,” she said.

“They end up with somebody who doesn’t love them.

A father that is home is special and should be. My father wasn’t home, but for some reason I

could talk to him and tell him stuff that I couldn’t tell my mom.

When a Black father is home, he is truly the definition of a backbone and a protector.”

Provide love, support In a world that largely stereotypes and denigrates peo-

Carter knows well how young people idolize stars. But, he says, it’s the father-figure right there in their home who often serves as the hero.

“Black fathers can be the role models for their sons instead of athletes and celebrities, navigating young Black men in the right path to be successful,” Carter concluded.

“Black fathers can build strong relationships with their daughters and teach them how to have good judgment when picking men to get involved with. Lastly, Black fathers can change the stereotype of Black men not keeping the family together and leaving the women and kids behind.”

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Howard University News Service.

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IFE/FAITH

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

Six tips to stop summer slide See page B4

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

New album by Allen Toussaint released this month See page B6

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DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Crosses in memory of the Pulse nightclub massacre were erected across from Orlando Health’s Hubbard House, a “home-away-from-home” for families of patients.

Questions focus on gay rights around the globe

While progress has been made in the US, human rights advocates point out how sexual orientation or gender identity can lead to execution, imprisonment or torture in other countries.

BY ANN M. SIMMONS LOS ANGELES TIMES TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

T

he recent massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando has focused attention on the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning people in the United States.

Over the last decade, the country has made significant progress in terms of acceptance of this community, according to human rights advocates.

The military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which prohibited gay and lesbian personnel from serving openly in the armed forces, has been repealed, and sexual orientation has been added to the military’s equal opportunity regulations.

Targeted worldwide Last year, the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. And the nation has its first special envoy for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

(Intersex individuals are those with “a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male,” according to the Intersex Society of North America.)

That’s not to say that everything is perfect. Members of the LGBTIQ community still face discrimination and remain a primary target of hate crimes, advocates say.

But living in the United States as an LGBTIQ individual is often safer than in many other parts of the world, where sexual orientation or gender identity can lead to execution, imprisonment or torture.

RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Pallbearers escort the coffin of Christopher “Drew” Leinonen out of The Cathedral Church of St. Luke in downtown Orlando on June 18. Leinonen was among those gunned down at the Pulse nightclub. in health care, employment, education and housing.”

Transsexual and intersex people often bear the brunt of the abuse because of their physical attributes, advocates say.

Capital punishment countries

Some advances Q: What’s the status of LGBTIQ people in other countries?

A: It’s “ever-evolving,” said Helen Kennedy, co-secretarygeneral of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, based in Geneva.

Governments around the world have pursued initiatives aimed at reducing violence and discrimination, and in the last 10 years the number of countries that criminalize consensual same-sex activity has dropped from 92 to 73, Kennedy said in an email.

“However, these advances haven’t wiped out the continuing human rights violations facing LGBTIQ persons everywhere in the world,” she said.

“Thousands of people have been killed or have suffered violent attacks; many more still have to face daily discrimination

RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

An aerial view shows the outpouring of people attending a Pulse nightclub shooting vigil in Orlando on June 19.

Q: Where is being gay punishable by death?

A: There are 13 countries where the death penalty might be applied for same-sex sexual acts, according to Kennedy’s organization.

These are nations with large Muslim populations, and the sentencing derives from an interpretation of Shariah, or Islamic law.

There are some, such as Nigeria and Somalia, where only certain regions impose capital punishment for homosexual acts.

Others — including Mauritania, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — have provisions for the death penalty in their legal codes but are not known to have carried it out in such cases.

And there are countries where local courts and non-state actors

have summarily imposed the death penalty against homosexuals, including parts of Iraq and Syria controlled by the extremist group Islamic State.

Countries where the penalty can be implemented nationwide include Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The method of execution can include hanging, stoning, beheading or being thrown off a high building, as Islamic State reportedly favors.

‘Acute backlash’ Q: What drives the lack of acceptance of homosexuals in some countries?

A: The greater visibility of gay people, while a welcome development, can expose the community to negative attention, activists say.

“The overall trajectory for a lot of LGBTIQ people is positive, but we’re also seeing an acute backlash around the world,” said Jessica Stern, executive director for OutRight Action International, an advocacy group.

See RIGHTS, Page B2

CALENDAR

B2

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

STOJ

atre on July 31 in St. Petersburg.

Clearwater: The R&B crooner Maxwell will perform Aug. 4 at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

Pompano Beach: The annual Black On Black Crime Solutions Panel is July 16 at Worldwide Christian Center Church. It’s presented by Courage To Believe International, a nonprofit mentoring organization. More information: www.TheCourageToBelieve. com.

Tampa: Winners’ Worship Center, 11605 N. Nebraska Ave., is presenting a summer camp for adults through Aug. 3. The free sessions will focus on finances, legal questions, self-defense, smoking cessation, relationships, concealed weapons, health and other issues. More information: www.imawinner.org.

St. Petersburg: Beres Hammond will perform at the Mahaffey Theater \on July 21, Hard Rock Live Orlando on July 22, or the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on July 23 in Fort Lauderdale.

Jacksonville: Shirley Murdock is scheduled at the Salem Centre in on July 30 and the Palladium The-

St. Petersburg: B.o.B. is scheduled June 24 at State Theatre and June 25 at Hangar 305 in Miami.

Opa-locka: A Gun Buy Back Initiative is June 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at New Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, 15000 Northwest 27th Ave. More information: 786-338-6720.

Hollywood: Comedian Hannibal Buress performs July 22 at Hard Rock Live.

AILEY CAMP MIAMI

The AileyCamp Miami’s annual final performance is free on Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. The camp is a free, six-week, fullscholarship summer day camp program for students ages 11-14 currently enrolled in a middle school in MiamiDade County Public Schools. More info: www.arshtcenter.org.

Jacksonville: Justin Bieber’s World Tour is scheduled to make a stop at the Veterans Memorial Arena on June 29 and Amway Center on June 30.

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

Pont Vedra Beach: The Robert Cray Band performs July 8 at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.

Jacksonville: Miles Jaye performs July 16 at the Times Union Center for the Performing Arts.

JEEZY

Catch Jeezy and friends July 9 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.

MAZE WITH FRANKIE BEVERLY

The Jacksonville Music Festival is Oct. 14 with Maze featuring Frankie Beverly.

Jaheim and Joe also will perform. Venue: Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.

Onyx to honor Joyner, Starr at June 25 awards program in Orlando Onyx Magazine will present its 2th Annual Onyx Awards presented by LBS Foundation on June 25 at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando.

Comedian Shawn Banks of BET’s “Laugh Out Loud’’ will host the show. Performers will include Angela Winbush and “American Idol’’ artist Tyanna Jones.

“I am very excited about this year’s awards program.

Onyx and the LBS Foundation continue to expand into new territory as we celebrate and bring awareness

of the enormous contributions African-American and those of the African Diaspora make to our global society. Shaw will inspire the audience with laughter, then we get serious to recognize a remarkable list of honorees,” said Richard Black, Onyx publisher.

Onyx honorees Lifetime Achievement Awards, Tom Joyner, radio personality and philanthropist Lifetime Achievement Award, Sports: Derrick

Tom Joyner

Derrick Brooks

Brooks, NFL Hall of Famer and philanthropist Publisher’s Award: Terry Prather, first African-American theme park

Maurice Starr

president, Sea World Humanitarian Award: Attorney Mark NeJame, creator of Runway to Hope, Florida charity organiza-

tion supporting cancer research for children Performing Arts Award: Maurice Starr, producer of Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block and New Edition Communications Award: Gayle Andrews, owner of Florida corporate and political media consulting firm Diversity and Inclusion Award: University of Central Florida Spotlight Award: Ribault High School girls’ basketball team, Jacksonville; Florida’s state champions

and Dick’s Sporting Goods national champions Gino Nicolas Mentoring Award: Orlando Magic Mentoring Youth Summit, Mentoring Minority males from the inner-city of Orlando Business Award: Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, first and only AfricanAmerican owned CocaCola bottler For more information, call 407-418-7216 or www. onyxawards.com.

DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Items left at a memorial in front of a hospital in Orlando shows the overwhelming outpouring of support for the victims of the Pulse shooting.

RIGHTS from Page 1

“The backlash is akin to what happens to many communities and movements when they stand up and advocate for their rights.”

The labeling of homosexuals as immoral, perverts, pedophiles or mentally ill has been used as justification for their mistreatment, Stern said.

In Indonesia, for example, one lawmaker tweeted that LGBT people “should be put to death,” the New York-based Human Rights Watch reported.

The country’s defense minister equated Indonesia’s LGBT rights movement with “a form of proxy war” more dangerous than nuclear warfare, according to the rights group.

Progress elsewhere Q: Where has there been progress on gay rights?

A: Kennedy noted that in just the last three months, the Seychelles and Nauru decriminalized same-sex sexual conduct; Norway introduced a law allowing people to determine for themselves their gender; a nondiscrimination law in employment came into

force in Ukraine; marriage equality arrived in Colombia; Bolivia approved a law allowing transsexuals to change their names, genders and photos on official documents, and the Philippines elected its first transgender congress-woman.

Andrew Park, director of international programs at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, added that a dozen countries now recognize some form of third gender.

There are also 22 nations that allow same-sex marriage and 25 that offer some degree of recognition for same-sex civil partnerships, according to Kennedy’s organization.

Argentina was the first country in Latin America to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, in 2010, and New Zealand was the first in the Asia-Pacific region, in 2013.

‘An ongoing struggle’ Q: So is marriage equality the final goal?

A: Far from it, gay rights activists say.

In many countries, gays and lesbians have few ways to make their voices heard.

“The repression of human rights organizations makes it hard for LGBT communities to organize,” said Stern, of OutRight.

The upholding of anti-

quated laws doesn’t help.

This month, for example, a court in Kenya ruled that a colonial-era law that allows forced anal examinations for men suspected of being homosexual is constitutional.

Stern worries that the ruling will provide ammunition for those who claim that the “bodies of homosexual men are deformed, and by examining the anus you can detect this biological difference.”

In the United States, the Supreme Court ruled anti-sodomy laws unconstitutional in 2003 but they still remain on the books in some states.

Park noted that greater protections are needed here against employment discrimination.

“Congress has never passed a gay civil rights law,” he said.

Meanwhile, a legal standoff continues between the federal government and nearly a dozen states over transgender bathroom access in schools.

“It is an ongoing struggle,” said Kennedy about the fight for equal rights.

“And shocking events like the Orlando shooting are dreadful reminders of the price far too many LGBTIQ persons, all around the world, have to pay simply for being who they are.”

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JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

HEALTH

B3 players including, most recently, former Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler.

Dr. Robert Cantu, a Boston neurosurgeon and author of “Concussions and Our Kids,” said the UCI study sounds worthwhile, noting that early-stage CTE has been found in the brains of deceased high school football players. CTE symptoms include memory loss, impaired judgment and depression.

But Cantu said there’s no medical consensus on what should be done if microbleeds are found, particularly if the player is asymptomatic. He said he wouldn’t want parents to assume that the absence of microbleeds means their child won’t have neurological problems in the future, or that microbleeds automatically mean he will.

“Right now, we can’t correlate the two,” Cantu said. “It is true you might one day be able to, and you only will if you start following players.”

Among the first

ED CRISOSTOMO/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/TNS

Dr. Scott Li keeps watch of the monitor as Jimmy Russell gets scanned by the MRI Imaging Magnetic Resonance Imaging at Toshiba America Medical Systems MR Research Center in Irvine, Calif.

University study focuses on high school brains Researchers will be looking for evidence of microscopic brain bleeds among young football players.

BY COURTNEY PERKES ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

IRVINE, Calif. — Christian LaBow left Servite High’s spring football practice early on a recent afternoon to undergo a brain scan.

The 17-year-old varsity center wasn’t injured. He was contrib-

uting to the growing body of research on football and neurological health.

LaBow joined a novel University of California, Irvine study last month that is looking for evidence of microscopic brain bleeds among high school football players. MRI results from 100 teen players will be compared with brain scans from a control group of male students who don’t play the sport.

“I was like, ‘Oh that’s kinda cool to see how my brain works,’” said LaBow, who lives in Huntington Beach, Calif. “I was thinking I should probably do this because I use my head a lot.”

Earlier than college In March, the NFL publicly acknowledged for the first time that football is connected to the degenerative brain disease found in nearly 100 former professional players.

Beyond those well-publicized cases, far less is known about how blows to the head affect the still-developing adolescent brain. A 2013 report by the Institute of Medicine found that high school football players suffer more concussions than college players but drew no conclusions on whether the injuries lead to long-term damage.

Dr. Mark Fisher, a UCI neurolo-

gist — and a football fan — wants to find out how early evidence of trauma might show up in young players.

“There’s great concern regarding the relationship between playing organized football and head injuries and the brain changes that may result,” Fisher said. “We have the opportunity of either providing some reassurance for the safety of the activity or to determine whether there are any red flags.”

CTE risk factors Radiologists will review the scans for cerebral microbleeds, which are small areas where bleeding has occurred. Microbleeds would not normally be seen in teens unless they had suffered a significant head injury, Fisher said.

They are also a possible risk factor for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which has been diagnosed by autopsy in

Chaz Kekipi, head athletic trainer at Servite, said the Anaheim private school’s involvement in the study promotes the kind of transparency that the sport has lacked in the past, which has led to declining participation.

He said the program was also among the first in the state to implement return-to-play concussion protocols for player safety.

“I like the fact that we’re contributing to greater awareness and greater education and hopefully better research on how to handle some of these brain injuries and lingering issues that student athletes have,” Kekipi said.

“Hopefully this research will help us continue to better manage these concussion episodes so we’re really tailoring each protocol to the athlete.”

Results this year UCI will share any abnormal results with the students and their parents.

Before the scan, players provide a health history, including any past symptoms of concussion. Fisher, who is still recruiting players, plans to publish his findings after the study is completed at the end of the year.

Jimmy Russell, 17, who plays with LaBow on the varsity team, enrolled at the suggestion of his mother, Laura Russell. He wore a black Servite football T-shirt for his scan and dozed during the 40-minute procedure that flashed colorful images of his brain on a computer monitor.

“I was intrigued since I’ve never had a concussion,” Russell said. “I want to see if it’s actually taken a toll.”

Lactose intolerance can develop at any age MAYO CLINIC NEWS NETWORK TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Question: What would cause someone to become lactose-intolerant later in life? I’m in my 40s and have never had an issue with dairy, but, now, I can’t seem to have it without problems. Do I need to see a doctor to be tested for allergies, or should I just avoid dairy?

A: Lactose intolerance isn’t a true allergy, and it

can develop at any age.

In some people, lactose intolerance may be triggered by another medical condition, such as Crohn’s disease. In others, it develops without a specific underlying cause. It would be a good idea to have your condition evaluated by your doctor to confirm what you’re dealing with truly is lactose intolerance.

Lactose intolerance results from a problem with the carbohydrate lactose, a

type of sugar found in dairy products. When you eat or drink dairy products, enzymes in your small intestine digest lactose, so the body can make energy. In people with lactose intolerance, a certain enzyme, called lactase, is missing from the body.

When those people eat dairy products, the body has no way to break down the lactose. This leads to fermentation of the sugar in the intestines and trig-

gers symptoms, such as diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps, bloating and gas.

How it develops Sometimes, lactose intolerance develops when the small intestine’s production of lactase decreases after an illness, injury or surgery involving the small intestine.

This is called secondary lactose intolerance.

Among the diseases associated with this kind of lactose intolerance are celiac disease, bacterial overgrowth and Crohn’s disease. Treatment of the underlying disorder may restore lactase levels and improve symptoms.

More common than secondary lactose intolerance is primary lactose intolerance. People who develop primary lactose intolerance start life making normal levels of lactase — a necessity for infants, who get all their nutrition from milk.

As children replace milk with other foods, lactase production normally decreases. It stays high enough, though, to digest the amount of dairy in a typical adult diet. In primary lactose intolerance, lactase production declines below normal at some point for reasons that are unclear. The low amount of lactase then makes milk products difficult to digest and leads to lactose intolerance symptoms.

Tolerance test Your doctor can confirm a diagnosis of lactose intolerance with a clinical test.

One that’s often used is a

According to the Mayo Clinic, the most effective way for people with lactose intolerance to get relief from symptoms is simply to lower the amount of dairy products they eat. lactose tolerance test. It assesses your body’s reaction to a dose of lactose.

After you consume a drink containing lactose, a sample of your blood is taken to measure glucose levels. If your glucose level does not rise, it means your body isn’t properly digesting and absorbing the lactose.

Alternatively, another test called the hydrogen breath test may be used.

This test also requires you to consume a drink that contains high levels of lactose. Your doctor next measures the amount of hydrogen in your breath. Normally, very little hydrogen is detectable.

However, if your body doesn’t digest the lactose, the fermentation reaction in your colon releases hydrogen and other gases. Your intestines absorb those gases, and you exhale them. Larger-than-normal amounts of hydrogen measured during this test are a

sign that your body isn’t fully digesting and absorbing lactose.

No cure If you have lactose intolerance, there isn’t a way to cure it. The most effective way for people with lactose intolerance to get relief from symptoms is to lower the amount of dairy products they eat.

You may be able to use dairy products that have reduced levels of lactose or are lactose-free. Some people who have lactose intolerance benefit from taking lactase enzyme supplements as well.

If test results do not point to lactose intolerance, your doctor may recommend additional tests to check for another condition that could be causing your symptoms, such as a milk allergy, intestinal disorders or other problems within your digestive tract.

B4

EDUCATION

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

STOJ

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

The weather is warm and school is out, but learning experiences shouldn’t end there. The summer months can provide plenty of opportunities to continue a child’s advancement through different activities and programs.

According to a University of Missouri-Columbia study, students can lose up to three months of what they learned during the school year over summer break. To help avoid that loss of knowledge, here are some helpful brain-boosting activities to keep your child’s mind sharp this summer.

Super summer camps One way to tie together fun and learning is to enroll your child in a summer camp. Whether the camp is down the road or across the country, children can gain valuable life lessons – such as independence, social skills, resiliency and teamwork – all while staying physically active. A little technology-free time wouldn’t hurt, either. Try seeking out a camp that doesn’t allow cellphones or electronic devices to ensure your child gets the most out of his or her outdoor experience.

Family fun time While a summer camp might send your youngster far away, a family vacation keeps children right by your side.

A trip together as a family, even as short as a one-night camping getaway, can provide a variety of life lessons and unexpected learning experiences. Visit a national park or even a zoo for some science-related exploration and a chance to spend time with nature.

Head to the library To try and bring out the bookworm in your child, a trip to the library is an easy place to start. Of course, reading programs provide the simplest way to put literature in children’s hands, but many libraries offer programs to get children involved. Look for art and craft programs at your local library, such as an origami class or doodling session, for additional ways to jog your child’s brain.

Books for bonding A family book club is a great way to increase bonding time while also encouraging a love of reading. Your children will love digging into stories about dinosaurs, exploring outer space and reading about the biology of deep-sea creatures. After finishing a book together, discuss the plot, characters, themes and more in an interactive fashion that allows each family member to take part in the literary discussion.

From reading to writing All of that reading just might give children motivation to put thoughts into words of their own. A journal is a great place for any child to write about summer trips, memories with friends or draw quick sketches. On top of recordkeeping, children can learn to create stories of their own, such as the ones they read in fictional books about their favorite characters, superheroes or animals.

Celebrating science Because science is everywhere, it’s easy to make every day a learning experience that inspires curiosity for your little one. Something as simple as bird-watching or taking a walk around the neighborhood can give your child a chance to view nature in action. Schedule some time outside when the view is at its best, such as early in the morning when birds are singing or just before dusk as the sun sets over the horizon.

For more ways to get your kids engaged with an educational summer, visit elivingtoday.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

6 TIPS TO STOP THE SUMMER SLIDE Learning shouldn’t stop just because school is out.

Stepping too far away from the books can result in learning loss. However, research shows that encouraging kids to read for 20 minutes a day over the summer can help prevent the summer slide.

The key is finding ways to make reading fun, combining educa­tion and entertainment, said Kate DiCamillo, a two-time Newbery Medal Award-winning author and the 2016 Collaborative Summer Library Program National Summer Reading Champion.

“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty, but rather as a gift that emphasizes the fun of opening a new book and celebrating the satisfaction that comes from read­ing another story,” said DiCamillo, who is the 2016-17 Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program literary partner.

Summer schedules can get busy, but with a little creativity it’s easy to fit in those 20 minutes, even when you have other plans.

1. Take a book. The best way to get your kids reading is to have books available, so take them with you, whether it’s in the car, at the beach or waiting at the

doctor’s office.

2. Summer recharge. Plan ahead for a fun readingrelated trip during the summer to reignite the love of books and reward kids for reading. It doesn’t have to be fancy; the trip could simply be camping like a character in a book.

3. Explore hobbies. Reading is more fun when the subject matter involves your favorite things. Look for books that match your kids’ personal interests.

4. Pen pals. Work with other parents to set up pen pals and have kids write letters back and forth to practice their reading and writing skills.

5. Take direction. Ask kids to read the directions for a classic summer project, like setting up a tent or making a picnic snack. Whether they are directing you or doing it themselves, reading and understanding directions builds important skills.

6. Tap into tech time. If you’re committed to limiting screen time for the summer, consider a compromise that lets kids use devices for productive activities, such as reading e-books.

The sooner you start a habit of reading every day, the better your child will be prepared when school – and the annual BOOK IT! Program – kicks off again.

Learn more about the program and find more summer reading tips and activities at bookitprogram.com.

STOJ

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers have earned the distinction as Florida Courier’s “Finest of the Week.’’ James holds up the NBA Championship trophy alongside teammates on Monday. The Cavs defeated the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in the NBA Finals Sunday night at Oracle Arena in California.

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Merle Dandridge, shown at the “Greenleaf’’ premiere in New York, is one of the stars of the new OWN drama series, which debuted this week. Dandridge, who stars as Grace Greenleaf, has performed on Broadway and has appeared in other TV series.

MIKE CARDEW/AKRON BEACON JOURNAL/TNS

as one of the prime architects of New Orleans R&B, funk and rock music over the last 60 years.

He wrote, produced, arranged and played on a number of hits.

Among them: the Pointer Sisters’ “Yes We Can Can,” Glen Campbell’s “Southern Nights,” Lee Dorsey’s “Working in the Coal Mine,” Ernie K-Doe’s “Mother-in-Law” and “A Certain Girl,” Benny Spellman’s and, later, the Rolling Stones’ “Fortune Teller,” Irma Thomas’ “It’s Raining” and the instrumental “Java,” which trumpeter Al Hirt turned into a pop hit.

Highlighting Black composers

HOWARD DENNER/UPPA/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Allen Toussaint performs live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 25, 1998.

‘American Tunes’ a fitting swan song for late pianist, songwriter

BY RANDY LEWIS LOS ANGELES TIMES TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Allen Toussaint’s email to producer Joe Henry arrived unexpectedly last fall. The message from the veteran New Orleans producer, songwriter, pianist and arranger was short and to the point.

“He wasn’t a man who used email conversationally,” Henry said. “He responded like a man who was sending a telegram and paying by the word. For him to write me out of the blue was very unusual.”

Toussaint, in Switzerland at the time, was writing to express a recent obsession with playing “Lotus Blossom,” a work from com-

poser Billy Strayhorn.

The track is part of Toussaint’s “American Tunes” album, released on June 17, in which Toussaint applies his distinctive pianistic touch to a selection of songs by Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Professor Longhair and Paul Simon, among several others.

More than a ‘Part 2’ The goal with “American Tunes” was to create an extension of the work Henry and Toussaint had done in 2009 on the album “The Bright Mississippi.”

On that collection, Toussaint interpreted compositions by jazz greats, including Jelly Roll Morton, Django Reinhardt, Theloni-

ous Monk, Sidney Bechet, Ellington and Strayhorn.

“We were both intent on expanding that conversation, which was complete unto itself,” Henry said. “We were not interested in simply creating a Part 2.”

Died at 77 Like many who knew Toussaint personally or just through his music, Henry was stunned to receive word on Nov. 10 that Toussaint had suffered a heart attack and died at age 77 shortly after a performance in Madrid.

His death makes the arrival of “American Tunes” all the more poignant, for those who worked on it and for fans of the extensive body of work he left behind

No one suspected during the “American Tunes” recording sessions last year that it would turn out to be Toussaint’s final musical statement.

In fact, just after those sessions wrapped, before heading to Europe for a series of performances, he was given a clean bill of health by his doctors, one of his close associates told the Los Angeles Times after his death.

What started with Toussaint spotlighting the songs of his New Orleans role model, Henry Roeland “Roy” Byrd, a.k.a. Professor Longhair, soon expanded into a far-reaching exploration of music from many of the greatest American composers of the previous century and a half, most of them African-American.

“We’d been trying to imagine how to do that authentically for the past six years,” Henry said.

“Beyond that, there was something absolutely cosmic to me to the fact that for everybody we wanted to be involved, there was really only one window in the foreseeable present time that we all might be in a room together.

“After he passed, I was keenly aware of how close we came to not getting there,” he said. “I was as gratified as I was rattled by that.

‘Mythic figure’ Singer Rhiannon Giddens echoed Henry’s sentiments. She brought her broad-based roots in African-American string band music, American country and folk, Celtic music and operatic singing to bear in her vocals on two Ellington compositions — “Rocks in My Bed” and “Come Sunday.”

“I knew he was this mythic fig-

ure, but it was so neat to meet him,” she said in a separate interview. “It was amazing to me to take in: Here’s this incredible individual, who was obviously a very spiritual man, and when I walked in, oh my God, he set me at ease immediately. The whole recording studio was filled with that energy.”

Henry recalled a moment after Giddens had sung “Come Sunday.” She expressed concern that she sounded too classical and not earthy enough.

“Allen’s response was immediate and heartfelt on behalf of African-American composers,” Henry said. “He said it’s important that people understand that African-American music is so much more than just gut-bucket blues, and that there is a long history of African-Americans singing classical interpretations of the spirituals. And he said that the way she had sung it was absolutely perfect.”

Song’s relevance Then there is the album’s closing number, Simon’s “American Tune,” which Simon wrote in 1973 during the Watergate scandal.

Simon’s song questioned the state of the union and Toussaint picked up on its latter-day relevance and began including it in his shows after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast in 2005.

The song, Toussaint told former Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn, who is at work on a Simon biography, “is one of the finest ever, of anyone’s songs, anywhere.”

It’s the only song on the new album that includes Toussaint’s voice as well as his piano playing, an element Henry felt was crucial to the collection.

“It turns out it was the nextto-last thing he ever recorded in a studio,” Henry said. “When we sat down to listen back to it, many of us were teary-eyed. Allen was critiquing his own vocal with a hard eye, as he always did, and I’m sitting there barely able to speak.

“In my experience with him over 10 years,” Henry said, “he was grace-filled and trusting in a grace that’s bigger and knows more than we do. I don’t know of any musician who doesn’t want to get there.”

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FOOD

JUNE 24 – JUNE 30, 2016

TOJ

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

It is well-known that the best way to start the morning is with a balanced breakfast – it’s not called “the most important meal of the day” for nothing, after all.

Breakfast is also linked to many health benefits, including weight control and improved performance. Studies show that eating a healthy breakfast can help you enjoy a more nutritionally complete diet that is higher in nutrients, vitamins and minerals, improved concentration and performance at the office or in the classroom, more strength and endur­ance, and lower cholesterol levels.

According to the USDA’s MyPlate Food Guide, a healthy breakfast should contain a well-balanced variety of foods from the major food groups, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy and lean protein.

These recipes for Protein Pancakes, Pumpkin-Banana Bread and Oat Bran Blueberry Muffins from registered dietitian Shanna Stewart, of Wellness For The Win, can help you put your best foot forward to tackle everything the day ahead throws at you.

Find these healthy recipes and more at culinary.net/bb.

POWER-UP WITH PANCAKES Breakfast food is delicious at any time of the day, but is the most beneficial when it packs a flavorful punch to help jumpstart your day. Packed with protein, hearty whole-grain oats and banana, and topped with mounds of walnuts and sweet, delicious berries, such as strawber­ries, these mouth-watering pancakes will help give you the energy you need for any task at hand and keep you feeling full until lunchtime.

PROTEIN PANCAKES 1 1/2 cups quick oats 1 scoop vanilla protein powder 1 ripe mashed banana 1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt or cottage cheese 1/4 cup almond or skim milk 2 egg whites 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda dash of cinnamon berries (optional) walnuts (optional) In blender, combine oats, protein powder, banana, Greek yogurt, milk, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.

Blend until smooth batter forms.

Cook on griddle until golden brown.

Add mixed berries and walnuts (or other toppings) as desired.

Serving suggestions: Pour the juice from the fruit on top of pancakes as “syrup” or top with reduced-sugar strawberry jelly and light syrup

BREAKFAST ON THE GO Muffins are perfect for an on-the-go breakfast or as a healthy snack option. Homemade oat bran muffins are a great alternative to large, store-bought muffins that are usually packed with calories and fat. Oat bran is a good source of soluble fiber, which can help reduce cho­lesterol. Not only do these muffins offer health benefits, the recipe is also effortless, making it a morning time-saver when you need to get out the door in a hurry. You can also switch out blueberries for different fruits, such as a banana, giving you the option to have something new each time.

OAT BRAN BLUEBERRY MUFFINS 2 cups oat bran hot cereal, uncooked 2 tablespoons brown sugar substitute 2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) 1 cup skim milk 2 egg whites, slightly beaten 1/4 cup honey or molasses 2 tablespoons canola oil 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries Heat oven to 425 F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper baking cups or spray bottoms only with non-stick cooking spray.

In bowl, combine oat bran cereal, brown sugar substitute, baking pow­der and salt, if desired; mix well.

Add milk, egg whites, honey, oil and blueberries; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over-mix.

Fill prepared muffin cups about three-quarters full.

Bake 15-17 minutes, or until golden brown.

Variation: In place of blueberries, stir 1 medium mashed, ripe banana or any other fruit of choice into batter before baking.

HEALTHY SPIN ON A BREAKFAST CLASSIC Banana and pumpkin make for a delicious duo, so bringing them together in this spinoff of a classic recipe only seems right. Moist and delicious, and made with healthy substitutions your family will love, this fall-infused Pumpkin-Banana Bread makes for a quick, easy breakfast or a healthy anytime snack.

PUMPKIN-BANANA BREAD 2 mashed, ripe bananas 1 cup pumpkin puree 1/4 cup canola oil 1 egg 2 egg whites 2 cups whole wheat flour 1/2 cup rolled or old fashioned oats 5 tablespoons sugar substitute, plus 1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1 teaspoon cinnamon chocolate chips (optional) Heat oven to 350 F. Spray 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan (or 4 mini loaf pans) with non-stick cooking spray.

In large bowl, combine banana, pumpkin puree, oil, egg and egg whites. Beat with electric mixer on low speed.

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, sugar substitute, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon.

Add flour mixture to banana and pumpkin mixture and beat until just moist.

Pour batter into loaf pan and sprinkle with chocolate chips, if desired.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Note: It is best to store bread in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 5-7 days as healthy ingredient substitutions do not stay fresh as long.