Florida Courier - July 04, 2014

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JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

VOLUME 22 NO. 27

WHAT’S IN IT FOR US? Black media owners and journalists questioned the two top Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Charlie Crist and Nan Rich, about their plans to improve the lives of Black Floridians. Gov. Rick Scott was a no-show.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

OPA-LOCKA – The two leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Nan Rich and Charlie Crist, answered tough questions before a rain-soaked audience of approximately 500 voters, community activists, and local politicians at the National Action Network’s Black Broadcasters of South Florida Political Action Forum Monday night.

The event was initiated by Bishop Victor T. Curry, senior pastor/teacher of New Birth Baptist Church Cathedral of Faith International, and was held at the church. Curry is the National Action Network (NAN) Miami-Dade chapter president and the organization’s regional director.

Media panelists included Jo-

‘Obamacare’ sliced again Court says some businesses can ignore mandate

utes. After giving her opening statement, her first question was to identify the top five issues facing Black Floridians, and what she would do as governor to make their lives better.

“Public education is the No.1 issue around the state,” she said, before attacking former Gov. Jeb Bush’s educational initiatives “which gave us… an emphasis on high-stakes testing and a broken accountability system.”

She also mentioned juvenile justice and incarceration, social services, unemployment and raising the minimum wage, expanding “Obamacare” to all Floridians, and sensible gun control.

When asked by journalist George Curry to contrast her reEducation first cord and her position on variRich appeared first, for 30 min- ous issues with that of Crist, Rich

seph A. Beauvil of Haitian Community Mega Radio; Charles W. Cherry II, Florida Courier publisher; George Curry, editor-inchief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association; Sandy Walker, publisher of the Gospel Truth magazine; Bobby Henry, Sr., publisher of the Westside Gazette newspaper; and Guy Thomas of the Haitian American Business News.

Monica Russo, executive vice president of 1199SEIU, a union of health care workers affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, moderated. Each panelist was given an opportunity to ask a single question of each candidate.

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Florida gubernatorial candidate Nan Rich addresses nearly 500 voters gathered Monday at Miami’s New Birth Baptist Church Cathedral of Faith International. hammered Crist social service budget cuts.

“What’s been ignored for 16 years is health and human services for the people of Florida,” she exclaimed. “Four hundred and seventy-seven children died between 2008 and 2013 (while un-

der the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families.)

My opponent was governor part of that time.”

In her closing statement, Rich compared her position on the issues with those of the NationSee CANDIDATES, Page A2

2014 FAMILY REUNIONS

‘Kinfolks’ meet on the beach

BY STEPHANIE HAVEN AND MICHAEL DOYLE MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU / MCT

WASHINGTON – In an ideological split that undercuts the 2010 health care law, a narrowly divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that certain business owners can reject on religious grounds the law’s mandate to provide employees with birth control coverage.

In a groundbreaking 5-4 decision, the court concluded that closely held corporations may claim religious rights similar to those enjoyed by individuals. The decision expands exemptions from the so-called contraceptive mandate imposed by the Affordable Care Act. It doesn’t affect other insurance provisions in the law, such as blood transfusions or vaccinations.

“Protecting the free-exercise rights of closely held corporations thus protects the religious liberty of the humans who own and control them,” Justice Samuel Alito said, writing for the majority.

While the ruling struck a blow to the Affordable Care Act, it explicitly says the decision can’t be used as a “cloak” to mask “illegal discrimination as a religious practice.”

Hurts women In her dissent, Justice Ruth

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Many Black families hold family reunions in Florida during the summer. Approximately 150 people attended the Barlow-Brown-Jones family reunion in Fort Lauderdale June 26-29. The theme: “Kinfolks!”

See COURT, Page A2

Perry family continues legal legacy FROM STAFF REPORTS

TAMPA – A brother and sister, both attorneys, have teamed up to open their own law firm, continuing the legacy of their trailblazing father.

Kamilah Perry has joined her brother, Jaimon Perry, to open the Tampa office of The Perry Law Group.

Jaimon and Kamilah are the children of Florida Supreme Court Justice James E.C. Perry, who was appointed to the state’s

ALSO INSIDE

high court by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2009.

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

Big-firm experience Jaimon Perry established The Perry Law Group in Orlando in 2006. The Perry Law Group has more than 25 collective years of legal experience, including significant experience as associate attorneys in large and private law firms in Central Florida.

In the Tampa office, Kamilah will focus on labor and employment law and business litigation.

Jaimon will continue to practice in the areas of bankruptcy, real estate, estate planning and civil litigation in the firm’s Orlando office.

Jaimon practiced at Akerman Senterfitt in Orlando for five years prior to forming The Perry Law Group in 2006. Kamilah practiced See PERRY, Page A2

Zimmerman loses lawsuit against NBC

NATION | A6

Black unemployment rate falls for second month OBITUARY | B2 COURTESY OF PICKETT PR

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn recently welcomed The Perry Law Group to Tampa Bay.

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: ANTHONY L. HALL: MICHAEL JACKSON ISN’T ‘GONE TOO SOON’ | A2

Remembering Courier Mom Cleora Rawls

FOCUS

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JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

Michael Jackson isn’t ‘gone too soon’ Truth be told, when producers raised the curtain on Michael Jackson’s much-hyped performance in hologram form at last month’s Billboard Music Awards, far from being thrilled, I was just creeped out.

But it occurred to me that, if they could make it appear like Michael had risen from the dead to perform live on stage, they could probably make it sound like he had risen from the dead to record new songs in studio, too.

This would surely put a new spin on the dubious practice of selling “previously recorded but unreleased songs” after a singer’s death. After all, the reason most songs remain unreleased is that the singer thinks they suck.

Now, though, not only can technology make Michael’s voice

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

sound better than it ever did, but the executors of his estate can hire writers to pen songs that do that digitally enhanced voice justice.

Computer fraud The problem is that the executors of any singer’s estate can market any computer-generated song as previously recorded but unreleased. Especially given that it would be in the financial and legal interest of all involved in

perpetrating this computer fraud to play along.

But just imagine the windfall for Michael’s estate that would come from releasing “Thriller”like albums in perpetuity MJ concert tours, in hologram form, earn more in gross receipts than concert tours by the likes of Bon Jovi, Rihanna, and Bruce Springsteen – all in living form.

The rapturous reaction most people had to his holographic performance at the Billboard Music Awards certainly bodes well in this respect. Not to mention that his Cirque Du Soleil “Immortal World Tour,” which was second only to Bon Jovi’s last year with earnings of $157 million, is already proving a perennial money printing machine.

Since the singer died of drug intoxication in 2009 – when he was said to be $500 million in debt – his estate has ballooned to an estimated $1.5 billion, a portion of that from the 50 million albums that have sold post-posthumous-

ly. The pathologically spendthrift Michael, in life form, is no longer around to spend it all.

MJ a ‘spendthrift’ None of this would’ve been (or would be) possible if Michael were still alive. On the contrary, if he were still alive, chances are very good that he’d be not only a washed-up walking freak show, but a dead-broke deadbeat to boot. ‘Gone too soon’? I don’t think so.

But try telling this to any of his die-hard fans who commemorated the fifth anniversary of his death on June 25.

Meanwhile, it can only be a matter of time before executors of the estates of other dead singers begin producing performances in hologram form, and releasing new, computer-generated songs marketed as previously recorded but unreleased. (The executors of Tupac Shakur’s estate had him perform, in hologram form, long before Michael did.)

Partisan divide

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT

Demonstrators react to Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision exempting certain employersponsored health insurance policies from covering certain forms of contraception.

COURT

crafts stores, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Pennsylvania furniture maker, brought the legal challenge.

from A1

Bader Ginsburg called the decision one of “startling breadth” and stressed the targeted implications of the ruling on women.

“The exemption sought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga would override significant interests of the corporations’ employees and covered dependents,” Ginsburg wrote. “It would deny legions of women who do not hold their employers’ beliefs access to contraceptive coverage that (the health care law) would otherwise secure.”

Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma City-based chain of arts and

Not ‘least restrictive’ The owners of Hobby Lobby, who employ 13,000 people in more than 500 stores nationwide, claimed that the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate violated their rights under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The latter law, created in 1993, says the government “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” unless the action is the least restrictive means to serve a compelling purpose.

The court ruled that providing contraceptives without cost is

not the “least restrictive” means to achieve its goal, thus violating the religious freedom law.

Should taxpayers pay?

Employees from corporations with religious exemptions aren’t barred from seeking other insurance for contraceptives. The government, for one, could cover the free medications guaranteed under the contraceptive mandate.

“If the government wants to, on its own, go around providing people with benefits, that’s not something most of the plaintiffs object to,” Hobby Lobby lead counsel Mark Rienzi, of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit public-interest law firm, said in a conference call afterward.

CANDIDATES from A1

al Action Network – also known as NAN – the same as her first name.

“We’ve asked our supporters to ‘Stand with Nan,’ she explained. “I can say I, too ‘Stand with NAN’ for equal justice for all, for voter protection… and to improve our communities for all.”

The audience was receptive; many gave her a standing ovation after she finished speaking.

Rich biography Nan Rich, who lives in Weston (a Broward County suburb) attended the University of Florida from 1959-1961 before becoming involved in non-profits, including the Health and Human Services Board of Broward County, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and the Children’s Services Board of Broward County, among other organizations.

She was elected to the Florida State House of Representatives from 2000 to 2004 and the Florida State Senate from 2005 to 2012, becoming Senate minority leader in 2010.

Rich has been an ardent advocate for children and was considered to be an effective legislator. She is married with four children and three grandchildren.

Questions about education After Rich’s appearance and before Crist took questions, journalists posed queries to an educational panel, including Valtena Brown, deputy superintendent and chief operating officer of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS); Florida Virtual School District Relations Manager Felicia Brunson; Dr. Marcus Bright, executive director of Education for a Better America; Lynn Summers of the Coalition to Save Our Libraries; Doug Tuthill, president of Step-Up for Students; Antonio “Tony” White, executive board member of United Teachers of Dade; and MDCPS Economic Development Officer Brian Williams.

Much of the discussion focused on improving education for Black boys as well as on proposed budget cuts and closures of Miami-Dade library branches.

“Many of the branches which have been targeted to be closed are in the Afro-American community,” Summers explained, as she listed branches located in predominantly Black communities.

Crist appears After name-checking some Black elected offi-

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Former Gov. Charlie Crist answers a question about how he would deal with a Republican-controlled Florida Legislature if reelected as governor. cials in the audience, Crist’s opening statement attacked Scott and urged Black voters to turn out in the governor’s race as they did to elect Barack Obama president.

The first question Crist fielded questioned his commitment to Black-owned businesses getting state contracts. Black business activity dropped from a high of more than $700 million during the Jeb Bush administration, then dropped every year that Crist was governor to less than $100 million at the end of his term.

Crist blamed the decrease on a bad economy.

“We had a global economic meltdown,” he said.

“The whole world suffered.”

Crist also fielded questions asking him to compare his policies against Scott’s

The response to the decision was immediate and appeared to fall largely along partisan lines.

Democrats and liberal social groups criticized the decision as a step backward in protecting women’s health; Republicans and conservative social groups said it championed the protection of religious freedoms.

“The government cannot unreasonably force Americans to set aside their beliefs simply because they go into business to provide for themselves, their families and their employees,” according to a statement from Sarah Torre and Elizabeth Slattery, a religious-liberty policy analyst and legal analyst, respectively, for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research center.

Presidential spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House disagreed with the ruling and would work with Congress to ensure that employees in exempt corporations “have the same coverage … as everyone else.”

“The ruling allows the bosses of these women to essentially step in and say,” he said, “ ‘Well, I have a religious concern, so you’re not allowed to make your own decision about whether or not you’d like to benefit from these services. We’re going to make sure that they aren’t provided.’ ”

Political impact The looming midterm elections figured in some reactions.

“Today’s Supreme Court decision is a stark reminder of how important it is for Democrats to keep hold of the Senate,” said Stephanie Schriock, the president of EMILY’s List, which backs Democratic female political candidates who favor abortion rights. “When the future of our judiciary branch and women’s access to health care is at stake,

(“different in every way”) and Rich’s (“I don’t think they differ”); about political advertising in Black-owned media (“it will be significant…more than you’ve ever seen’’); and whether he could work with a Republican-controlled Florida Legislature (“I’ll tell them ‘I want to work with you’ for the people of the state of Florida…if we can’t do that, shame on us.”)

Crist biography Charles Joseph “Charlie” Crist, Jr. lives in St. Petersburg and was elected to the Florida Senate in 1993, where he became known as “Chain Gang Charlie” for his support of chain gangs in the state prison system.

He has served as deputy secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, state educational commissioner and state attorney general before winning the 2006 gubernatorial election, where he succeeded Jeb Bush.

Crist ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010, then left the Republican Party to run as an unaffiliated candidate in a three-way general election race against Republican Marco Rubio and Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek. He came in second to Rubio.

In 2012, Crist joined the Democratic Party, and in 2013 announced he would run for governor in 2014 as a Democrat. Crist is married with no children.

Is Whitney next?

More to the point, the beneficiaries of Whitney Houston’s estate must be praying – not so much that she may rest in peace, but that she may turn out to be as much of a cash cow in death as Michael is turning out to be.

And given the way drugs ravaged her looks and voice over the last 10 years of her life, the executors of her estate will probably seize the opportunity to sanitize her legacy with performances, in hologram form, of Whitney in her early days – before crack made her look and sound so whack.

Anthony L. Hall is a Bahamian native with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

we need every woman to get out and vote in November.”

The highly anticipated ruling marks the first time the high court has taken up the Affordable Care Act since it upheld in June 2012 the law’s important mandate that most people have health insurance.

The health care law sets minimum standards for the insurance packages offered by businesses that employ more than 50 people. The plans must cover certain preventive exams, immunizations and screenings for diseases such as diabetes. They also must cover an array of contraceptive methods, including pills, diaphragms, intrauterine devices and emergency contraceptives.

Preventing abortions?

The founders of Hobby Lobby, who are Christians, said that at least part of the contraceptive mandate violated their religious freedoms, namely the conviction that life begins at conception, when an egg is fertilized.

As a result, Hobby Lobby officials objected to providing or paying for the contraceptive drugs known as Plan B and Ella.

The drugs, sometimes called the morning-after pill and the weekafter pill, respectively, can prevent fertilized eggs from implanting in the womb. Anti-abortion advocates consider the medications tantamount to abortion.

“This lawsuit has wrongfully been depicted as a conflict between religious employers and women,” said Hadley Heath Manning, the health policy director for the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative women’s policy group. “If the government wants to make birth control even more accessible, there are many other ways that it can do so without forcing employers with religious convictions to pay for abortifacients.”

PERRY from A1

at Carlton Fields, now known as Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, and Phelps Dunbar LLP in Tampa collectively for 12 years prior to joining The Perry Law Group.

Awards and service Kamilah was named a “Super Lawyer” by Florida Super Lawyers Magazine for Employment and Labor Law in 2013 and 2014, and was also named a “Rising Star”

by Florida Super Lawyers for five consecutive years from 2009 to 2013. She also was listed among the “100 Most Influential African-Americans in Tampa Bay,” was a finalist for the Tampa Bay Business Journal 2008 Business Woman of the Year Award and a recipient of the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s “Up & Comers” honor in 2012.

Kamilah also served as past president of the George Edgecomb Bar Association, the largest predominately African-American bar association in the Tampa Bay region. She has also been a board member of the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers, and is current-

ly a member of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee.

Last month, Kamilah took office as president of the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter of the National Bar Association, a statewide voluntary bar association with over 400 attorney and judicial members.

“I am so excited to continue my family’s legacy in the law. We have a long-standing heritage of community service and commitment to equality. Through our new firm, I look forward to furthering those goals,” she said.

Judicial candidate Jaimon ran for Orange County judge in 2012. He is also president of Florida S.P.E.C.S., a nonprofit organization focused on affordable homeownership, and is a board member of Community Legal Services of MidFlorida, Inc., which provides free legal services to low-income people.

In addition, Jaimon serves as a moot court judge for Florida A&M University College of Law. In 2012, Jaimon was also nominated as one of the Orlando Business Journal’s 2012 Most Influential Men.

JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

FLORIDA

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Judge ends Zimmerman’s libel suit against NBC Sanford circuit judge throws out case over shortened audio

self more difficult to defame, the judge wrote, because he had voluntarily made himself a public figure long before the shooting.

In 2010, when the Sanford Police Department refused for weeks to arrest the son of a White police officer who had punched and broken the nose of a homeless Black man, Zimmerman publicly protested.

That was an example, Nelson wrote, of Zimmerman “voluntarily injecting his views into the public controversy surrounding race relations and public safety in Sanford.”

She went on to describe Zimmerman as having “pursued a course of conduct that ultimately led to the death of (Trayvon) Martin.”

BY RENE STUTZMAN ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT

A Sanford judge on Monday put an end to George Zimmerman’s libel suit against NBC Universal.

Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson ruled that the former neighborhood watch volunteer is entitled to no money from the media giant.

She issued a summary judgment in the network’s favor, meaning that unless an appeals court reverses her, the case is now dead.

Zimmerman had filed suit two years ago, accusing NBC of falsely portraying him as a racist in a series of broadcasts shortly after he killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black 17-year-old, in Sanford.

Editors shortened audio from a 911 call Zimmerman made to a police dispatcher the night of the shooting, making it sound as if Zimmerman volunteered that Trayvon was Black and that he racially profiled the Miami Gardens teenager. Those edited clips aired four times in March 2012.

In addition, Zimmerman accused the news organization of defaming him in a separate broadcast by falsely reporting that he used a racial epithet in the same call.

The network fired two employees who were involved in the edits and made a public apology.

At a hearing June 19, NBC attorney Lee Levine asked the judge to end the suit with a judgment in the network’s favor.

No ‘convincing evidence’ Zimmerman is a public figure, Levine said, and could not prove that he was the victim of “actual malice,” meaning that NBC employees either knew what they reported was false or had serious misgivings about it.

Statement from Sharpton

JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT

George Zimmerman leaves the courtroom a free man after being found not guilty on July 13, 2013, the 25th day of his trial at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center in Sanford, Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.

In her ruling, issued shortly before 9 a.m. Monday, Nelson wrote that that’s where Zimmerman’s suit fell apart.

“There exists absolutely no clear and convincing evidence that defendants knew that the information published was false at the time it was published, or recklessly disregarded the truth or falsity of those statements,” she wrote.

Zimmerman also alleged that the network intentionally inflicted emotional distress. Nelson shot down that claim, too.

Mentioned race twice In her 15-page order, she pointed out that time and again in March 2012 — the period during which Zimmerman claims NBC defamed him — the net-

work quoted family members and friends who emphasized that Zimmerman was not a racist.

She also picked up on a tiny detail from the 911 call: that midway through the conversation, Zimmerman pointed out Martin’s race a second time, and that time it was without prompting.

“He’s got his hand in his waistband. And he’s a Black male,” Zimmerman said.

The edits, the judge wrote, were not material changes.

As for the racial epithet, the judge wrote that the FBI did an analysis of the recording and concluded it was impossible to make out what Zimmerman had said.

Given that, she wrote, it would be impossible for him to prove that NBC got that fact wrong.

In a one-sentence prepared statement, NBC News said it “is

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gratified by the court’s dismissal of this lawsuit, which we have always believed to be without merit.”

Clearly, the judge agreed.

Made himself pubic figure By the time NBC aired the reports that Zimmerman claimed made him look like a racist stalker, a great many other news organizations had for weeks aired or published reports about Trayvon’s death and had raised the issue of racial profiling, the judge wrote.

“Zimmerman and his family had received death threats and had gone into hiding long before any of the challenged broadcasts,” she wrote.

Zimmerman had made him-

Report: Locking up juveniles makes them more likely to be adult criminals

BY MARGIE MENZEL NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – A new report by a youth advocacy group argues against the widespread U.S. practice of locking up teen offenders – a practice that has been on the decline in Florida under the state’s outgoing juvenile justice chief.

Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters, whose last day on the job was Monday, said “Safely Home,” a study by the non-profit Youth Advocate Programs, Inc., is consistent with developments at DJJ during her three-and-a-half-year tenure.

“Safely Home,” which was released last week, argues that the deeper kids go into the juvenile justice system – and the tighter the security in which they’re detained – the less likely it is that they will ever be rehabilitated.

Need programs “Institutions provide virtually none of the supports the community can,” wrote the Youth Advocate Programs’ Policy and Advocacy Center. “Youth need to learn how to function and make good decisions within the community, and having the support of caring, competent adults and access to safe and positive people, places and activities is what leads to good long-term outcomes. Kids can’t access these supports in isolation.”

Walters agrees. She has spent time and resources to help community programs provide family therapy, individualized mental health services, substance abuse treatment and anger management classes for young offenders – while keeping them where they’re most likely to find support.

“One of the most important ways of turning kids around that have been in trouble is not ostracizing them from the rest of the community, but allowing them to participate in sporting programs, Boys and Girls Clubs – the kind of programs that make them want to succeed,” she said.

Decline in arrests According to DJJ, the number of beds in the most secure facilities in Florida’s juvenile-justice system dropped 42 percent from January 2011 and January 2014. Between fiscal year 2010-11 and fiscal year 2012-13, juvenile arrests declined 23 percent and felony juvenile arrests declined 17 percent, while transfers to adult court declined 36 percent.

Last week, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill (HB 7055) rewriting the laws that govern the

Zimmerman’s attorney, James Beasley Jr. of Philadelphia, was not available for comment Monday.

He had argued that it would be premature to throw out the suit, given that he had not yet begun to collect evidence.

He intended to take sworn statements from or check the network’s communications with several people, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist who led rallies, calling for Zimmerman’s arrest, and Special Prosecutor Angela Corey.

Zimmerman told police he acted in self-defense. He was acquitted of second-degree murder last year.

His future is not clear. Still pending is a federal investigation into whether he violated Martin’s civil rights. He’s also in the middle of a contentious divorce. In pleadings filed earlier this month, he described himself as jobless, homeless and deeply in debt.

Thomas and LoCicero, one of the law firms that represents NBC, also represents the Orlando Sentinel.

Jeff Weiner of the Orlando Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Department of Juvenile Justice and placing some of Walters’ reform into state law.

And Walters’ successor, incoming Interim Secretary Kristy Daly, pledges to continue her emphasis on front-end and rehabilitative services.

Making things worse The report by Youth Advocate Programs, Inc., whose purpose is keeping young people out of institutions, argues that removing kids from their communities may lessen “any perceived immediate risk to the public,” but that incarceration doesn’t change the trajectory of their lives.

“Risk factors that make youth vulnerable to incarceration cannot be eliminated through incarceration,” the report says. “In fact, many of the environmental and social factors that contribute to youth incarceration get worse, not better, with incarceration.”

Nell Bernstein, author of a new book called “Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison,” said incarceration should be the exception, not the rule.

“I saw kids get chewed up in institutions,” said Bernstein, who got her start as a sixdollar-an-hour staffer in a San Francisco group home and has interviewed hundreds of incarcerated youth.

Assault by guards Bernstein said that contrary to common perception, much of the violence that juveniles experience in lock-up is at the hands of the guards.

“According to federal research, 12 percent of juveniles behind bars will be sexually assaulted,” she said. “And on some level, we know that, right? ... But what I think people don’t know is that out of that 12 percent, 10 percent are assaulted by guards, only 2 percent by other wards.”

While Bernstein and the Youth Advocate Programs argue for the lowest amount of juvenile detention, Walters said political reality dictates a certain amount.

“Many times, it is those communities that demand of those judges and those prosecutors that those children be removed from that community and sent somewhere,” she said.

Rehabilitation possible There will always be a hard core of offenders who threaten public safety, she said, but most can be rehabilitated with the right services and interventions.

The Youth Advocate Programs report also touts community programs for their cost-effectiveness, maintaining that they can deliver the same services for a fraction of the cost, serving three to four times as many young offenders.

The report cites the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation Center, which found that of 3,523 high-risk youth living at home and supported by an intensive community-based program nationwide, 86 percent remained arrest-free while in the program.

EDITORIAL

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JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

Exploring entrepreneurship and crushing fear in the process Fear has kept many people from stepping out on faith and becoming an entrepreneur. With all of the uncertainties surrounding owning your own business, it’s no wonder why so many people refuse to act on their belief and vision. Let’s face it – whenever fear is allowed to permeate and dominate one’s life, there’s very little chance success will happen. It doesn’t matter if it’s owning your own business, unless fear is used as a motivating tool to excel, there’s nothing left to do but wonder what could be.

Living in today’s world with so many uncertainties, it’s absolutely necessary for people, especially those of color to consider becoming an entrepreneur. When jobs are being outsourced,

DR. SINCLAIR GREY III GUEST COLUMNIST

there’s always the fear of being downsized because of cheap labor. In addition to this, with many people competing for jobs, it’s almost apparent one has to become an entrepreneur just to make it.

Put in work Is being an entrepreneur easy? No. Is it easy getting customers and clients? Not always. However, if there is no effort, there is no reward. Every business (small, medium, or large) starts with a vision. Not

only is there vision, there’s seeing a need and fulfilling it with the right product or service. Just as it’s possible for so many companies, it’s very possible for you.

According to statistics released in February

by The Office of Minority Health, “the number of African-American owned businesses tops 800,000 with revenues generating 71,200,000,000.” These numbers should encourage you to think outside of your comfort zone of simply working for someone 20, 30, or 40 years. Please don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing wrong with working for someone, but I want to drop this in your spirit, what happens if your get laid off for one reason or another? As one who ex-

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: CHESHIRE CAT

perienced such disappointment in 2002, I can tell you that you feel hurt and disenchanted.

All of your hard work and effort is thrown out of the window. To some of you that may seem too extreme, but for others, it’s very real.

That’s why entrepreneurship is important for the African-American community. Through entrepreneurship, you control your own destiny. You control the politics of your community.

And you help create opportunities for those who live within your surroundings.

Think globally Because we’re living in such a diverse population, we can no longer think of operating locally. Rather, we must expand into globalization in our thinking and doing business. Leaving a legacy for the younger

generation to follow means we must set the example.

Age cannot be an excuse.

Social status cannot be used as a justifiable means for not trying. And finances cannot be a hindrance. The only person that can stop you is YOU. If I can speak into your life for a moment, you were/are not created to be fearful of anyone or anything. Success is within you.

All you have to do is trust and believe.

As you ponder the words about becoming an entrepreneur, I want you to do the following: 1.Seek out individuals who are currently entrepreneurs 2. Don’t listen to the negativity of people who are not entrepreneurs telling you that it’s not worth it.

(Remember, entrepreneurship will cause you to soar not remain grounded and settle for settling)

3. Believe in yourself, your talents, and your abilities 4. Ask yourself the question do I want to accomplish more in life other than working for someone 5. Network, network, and network With over 800,000 African-American businesses on record, there’s still room for more. As a people, we must continuously strive to better our circumstances not only economically, but socially, culturally, and politically.

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

Is the Black vote in play in 2014 Florida governor’s race?

BILL DAY, CAGLE CARTOONS

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 217 U.S. Supreme Court – Mitt Romney got it right – at least legally – when he told a heckler, “Corporations are people too, my friend,” during the 2012 presidential campaign. The bloc of four conservative GOP partisan judges, with the collaboration of Justice Anthony Kennedy, are carrying out the radical Christian fundamentalist and neoconservative agenda, case by case.

Now, what happens when a large, privately-owned company that is owned by a rich family from Saudi Arabia, decides that their female employees with company-provided health insurance can only be examined by female doctors because the owners believe that Islam requires strict gender segregation? If Muslims were the plaintiffs in the Hobby Lobby case instead of fundamentalist Christians, do you believe the justices would have ruled the same way?

America is NOT a Christian country.

It is a country that allows free exercise of any (or no) religion. Corporations are NOT people, and are NOT “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” as written in the Declaration of Independence. We forget that at our peril…

“Pass a darn bill” – When Bro. Prez gets upset, he purses his lips like he’s spreading some Chapstick on them, his voice gets whiny, his arms start flailing,

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

and there’s a horizontal line that appears on his face just above his chin. Does he incite fear in the hearts of his opponents?

No… When he told Congress to “pass a darn bill” with regard to immigration, that was his version of cussing the House Republican leadership out for doing nothing about a system that has been screwed up for decades.

If this were not a family-oriented newspaper, I’d translate Bro. Prez’s words into what you would hear from the “average” brother you’d find in any Black barbershop. Maybe that’s the only kind of language John Boehner and the Tea Party Republicans understand…

Contact me at ccherry2@gmail.com; holler at me at www.facebook.com/ ccherry2 and ‘like’ the Florida Courier and Daytona Times pages. Follow the Florida Courier (@flcourier), the Daytona Times (@daytonatimes) and me (@ccherry2) on Twitter.

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

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It is 2014, and the Black vote is an afterthought.

The Republicans have written off the Black vote to the Democrats, and the Democrats assume in statewide elections, Black’s vote Democrat. This is generally the case in the last 15 years, and the Black community usually does not rock the boat.

As the Latino community is the largest minority in the country, statewide and national candidates in both parties are competing for their vote. “Hispanics are definitely in-play in Florida. The Hispanic population has grown so much in the past decades in Florida.

The Hispanic vote has gotten so much more competitive,” says Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida.

The Latino community understands this new political power, and they are in a position to negotiate, and grow their political stature and businesses. Polls show that Scott and Crist are running neck and neck, and the political pundits believe that Hispanics will determine the next governor of Florida.

The swing vote The difference with the Black vote, as opposed to the Latino vote is the Hispanic does not vote always go with one party. “We’re

More significant In 2012, 17.8 million

Blacks in Florida voted in ROGER the presidential election, CALDWELL and only 11.2 million HisGUEST COLUMNIST

the swing vote, the vote that’s unpredictable. Hispanics tend not to vote for the party. They’ll vote for the person,” says Evelyn Perez-Verdia, the Westernbased publisher of the website PoliticalPasion.com.

It appears that the African American electorate can learn a new strategy from the Latino voters.

It makes no sense that African American voters are predictable, and the Democratic Party expects our vote for every election. They spend very few resources with the Black Media, and they promise no projects or programs for our community.

In Central Florida at Black conferences and forums Nan Rich or her representative can be seen discussing her platform or passing out literature. But, Charlie Crist or Governor Scott and their representatives are very rarely seen at Black events or they just do not care. Scott has conceded the Black vote to Crist, and Crist thinks he deserves the Black vote in Florida because, he is now a Democrat.

panics voted in the election. Based on these numbers, it would appear that the Black vote is the most significant voting bloc in the 2014 Florida governor election. It is time for the Black political power brokers to seat down and develop a strategic plan based on unity and Black power.

To start with Blacks must education our community to the importance of why we must vote at a higher level than they did in 2012.

More Blacks must be registered to vote and we must tell Charlie Crist what we want to support him to defeat Governor Scott. Scott has never shown an interest in the Black vote for 3 years, and we should not trust him now.

For this election our community should negotiate with Crist, but we should hold him accountable to what he promises our community. The Black vote has the potential to put Charlie Crist in the Florida governor’s mansion, but Blacks must understand their power.

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

Fake heroes One reason The Gantt Report is different from most columns is that I don’t parrot other editorial writers. I don’t read columns by other writers, then comment about them and then pretend to you that I was influenced by some other writers.

I mostly read history or facts. I like non-fiction.

In that regard, I also like watching documentaries and historical programs on television.

Recently, I watching a show about civil rights struggles in America and I had a tremendous revelation! Forty or fifty years ago Black people were feeling the same way then about heroes as they feel about Black heroes today.

And what feeling was that?

Black folk feel as long as you were “there,” you are a hero!

Just because you were there Let me explain. When students were getting beaten at lunch counters or on public transportation for protesting unjust laws and unfair policies and you were outside, 50 yards away, and just “there,” later you will be called a “hero.”

Today, it is not unusual to hear brothers talking

swing, a fake hero will urge you to sing!

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

about how they took part in the Million Man March.

Now, some of the guys never saw Minister Louis Farrakhan in person in their lives but if they were in the city of Washington, DC at the time they will claim to have been a million man marcher and later they will be called a hero.

People who are just “there” at a Trayvon Martin rally, or people who were just “there” at a state capitol sit in or people who were just “there” at a Black community political forum with Bishop Victory Curry and did little or nothing to help Bishop Curry or to get results at other events and activities will lead you to believe that they are heroes!

But the people who stand up and speak out for you day after day, year in and year out, morning, noon and late at night are pretty much hated.

When modern day freedom fighters speak truth to power, it scares fake heroes to death! When it’s time to stand up, a fake hero will lie down! When it’s time to

Risking it The real heroes risk their lives, they risk their businesses, they risk their careers, they risk their relationships just to fight for equal rights and justice, for equal opportunities, for better jobs, for better contracts, for more loans and equal access to capital, for higher living standards, for affordable housing and health care and they speak, write, pray and fight to protect Black women, men and children along with the Black community.

Don’t get me wrong ALL of us are needed and have roles to play in making Black progress.

Everybody that is just “there” may or may not be a real hero. History has taught us that some people “there” are undercover agents or police informants!

But nobody that stands up and tells the truth should be shunned or shamed.

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

JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

EDITORIAL

Common sense says go slow in Iraq The furious debate about Iraq is largely a debate about blame, not about solutions. The neo-conservatives who sold the invasion of Iraq on the basis of fables about weapons of mass destruction now want to blame Obama for “losing Iraq.” Unrepentant, they have once more flooded the media — Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, even Paul Bremer, who headed the ruinous post-invasion occupation.

But Gen. Colin Powell, Bush’s secretary of state and former chair of the Joint Chiefs, had it right when he cautioned against the invasion, arguing what was dubbed the Pottery Barn argument that “if you break it, you own it.” The invasion broke up Iraq and shattered stability in the region. Obama inherited the shards of broken glass.

Cheney and his claque want to blame him for not putting the pieces together again. Obama at least had the good sense to get American soldiers out of the mess (although their removal, ironically, was agreed to by George Bush and enforced not by Obama but by the government of Iraq that refused to accept a so-called “residual force.”)

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: HOBBY LOBBY RULING

duced a government allied with our adversary in the region and aligned against our allies.

On solutions, the debate has been virtually devoid of common sense. Many seem to think that TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM precision, limited bombing will have transformative power, leading to peace, negotiations, coaliResponsibility matters Affixing responsibility for the tion government, and a revival of debacle is important because it the moderates. helps us decide whom to trust going forward. But it doesn’t provide Violence not the answer This is frankly silly. There’s almuch help in figuring out what to do. The civil war between Shiite ready a lot of violence in this exand Sunni and Kurd now engulfs panding civil war; adding a bit Syria and Iraq, with Iran and Saudi more to it isn’t a remedy.

First, we have to understand the Arabia and the emirates involved limits of our interest. President in supporting various sides.

One of the perverse effects Obama argues that our interests of the Bush-Cheney invasion is are deeply engaged — in stability that it produced a militantly Shi- of the region, in the supply of oil, ite government in Baghdad, al- in the security of our friends from lied with Iran and intent on sup- Israel to Jordan, and even in the pressing the minority Sunnis in security of our “homeland,” which Iraq, to the dismay of our allies in could be threatened if the vicious Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. The ISIS terrorists consolidate a safe Bush debacle is measured in mil- haven stretching from Baghdad to lions displaced, trillions wasted, Damascus. But this, too, seems exhundreds of thousands dead, and aggerated. Obviously, we have an thousands of U.S. casualties, dead interest in stability of the region — one reason invasion was so fooland wounded.

But the scope of the folly is that ish.

But the civil war isn’t really a all that misery and sacrifice pro-

REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR.

I've been through the fire So often in my life I’ve heard people mention the trauma of a fire in their home. Since Sunday, June 15, 2014, I can truly say that I’ve Been Through the Fire!

On that day, the basement of my home was totaled by fire, and the rest of the house was engulfed by so much smoke that I’m not sure I’ll ever stop smelling it. Like many, I bought insurance, but never thought I would experience a fire in my home. Inevitably you underestimate the value of your life’s accumulations. I sure did.

Obviously, I’m blessed and grateful that I came through the fire. I had just stepped out of the house for 10 minutes or less when smoke raged rapidly. A neighbor noticed and called the fire department. Numerous fire engines, police and ambulances showed up in what seemed like just 2 min-

A5

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

utes. Maybe it was a few minutes more, but I know they arrived pretty quickly. At times like that, you are grateful that you have a fire station near you.

Grateful for life If you have never been through a fire while it is engulfing nearly everything you hold valuable and dear, you can’t imagine the feeling when the Fire Department arrives and, in an orchestrated manner, the firemen methodically break your windows and doors, punch holes in your roof and ceilings while you stand by helpless-

ly. You want them to put out the fire and let out the smoke, but when they’ve finished, it seems that nothing you hold dear is left to cherish—except your life.

I have learned to be grateful for that.

Maybe this writing can be called cathartic, but I pray that it’s a reminder of the importance of doing all you can to prepare yourself for the possibility that one day, you might be faced with a fire in your home. Make sure you have fire insurance that is kept up to date, with dates of purchase of everything in your home. Record a description of the items in your home and keep the recorded information some place other than in your home. Keep a list of everything you have in your home—preferably by room-byroom. Make copies (or at least

Congress doesn't get it; Ikea does President Obama would like the national minimum wage to rise to $10.10 an hour.

By executive order, he raised the minimum wage for federal contractors. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has threatened to sue President Obama for his use of executive order, which he says circumvents Congressional authority.

Ikea said it will raise the average minimum wage to $10.76 an hour, which is an increase of 17 percent. Ikea says its goal is to offer their workers a living wage, whether their competitors offer it or not. Half of Ikea employees will get a raise, while those who already earn a living wage will not. The chain now provides other benefits, such as a 401-k match. Ikea has just 38 stores in the United States, which may minimize the impact their wage increase has on its competitors. Still, Ikea has both done the right thing and earned a competitive advantage in the areas where they have stores.

Businesses get it The Gap, too, has increased its wage to $9 an hour, and that wage will rise to $10 an hour in 2015. Seattle has raised its minimum wage to $15, and dozens of municipalities have also increase their minimum wage. When employers and municipalities fail to offer a living wage, they shift a wage burden to the rest of us, as those who earn the minimum wage are subsidized by federal benefits to the poor, which we all pay.

This is also true when states refuse to expand the base for Medicaid for the purposes of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare). In more than 20 states, people have to earn less than $11,000, or $23,000 for a family of four. With Medicaid expansion, people can earn as much as $15,000 to qualify for Medicaid, and as much as $32,000 for a family of four. Without the Medicaid expansion, some states are saying that poverty and poor health are acceptable for some of its citizens.

The moves by Ikea and the Gap put some wage pressure on their competitors. It also makes it clear that these companies understand that raising wages will not significantly affect their profits. These companies also understand that better paid employees are also productive employees. Memo to fast food and big box stores set on paying the minimum wage or little more – pay your workers a living wage.

DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

Ikea said it will raise the average minimum wage to $10.76 an hour, which is an increase of 17 percent. Ikea says its goal is to offer their workers a living wage, whether their competitors offer it or not.

Congress doesn’t get it Ikea gets it. So does the Gap. What’s wrong with the Congress? Whether they are Democrats or Republicans, they have constituents who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage. Why are they resisting? Might it be because President Obama has pushed for an increase in the minimum wage? If our president pushed for blue skies it is likely that some obstructionist members of Congress would oppose it.

If the minimum wage kept pace with inflation, it would be $10.90 by now, a bit higher than the amount President Obama has proposed. The same Congress that opposes an increase in the minimum wage gets an automatic increase in their pay. This is the kind of hypocrisy that engenders indifference and contempt for our elected representatives.

It is overtime for our congress to offer working people the same wages they get automatically. It is overtime for our Congress to embrace a living wage, or at least a higher minimum wage. Ikea gets it. Why doesn’t Congress?

Julianne Malveaux is a DC based economist and author. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

BOB ENGLEHART, THE HARTFORD COURANT

threat to our security. Iraq’s oil is not essential to the world economy, much less to ours. And the terrorist ISIS forces will be constantly besieged, and hardly a threat to the U.S. In reality, the U.S. has neither the interest nor the resources nor the public support to “resolve” the civil war now raging across the Middle East.

We should revive the “coalition of the willing” to offer outside pressure for negotiations and peace. We should be willing to

bring our regional allies together with our regional adversaries like Iran to see if a settlement is possible. But the last thing we should do is commit more lives and more treasure to a limited military intervention that will only add fuel to the fire.

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. is the founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

keep photographs) of pictures, art for others have been there for me, work and awards. and I’m learning to accept their kindness and generosity. When Don’t stop you’re always one who is doing I once heard a little tune that said, “If you’re catching hell, for others, it’s hard to switch gears don’t hold it; if you’re going and be the recipient. Even though through it, don’t stop.” When so I lost a lot in the fire, I know I’m many of your precious belongings blessed. I know such things can burn up or are lost to you for any reason, you really feel like you are happen to any one of us. My point going through hell—but you can’t in describing what happened to allow that to stop you from sol- me is to remind others of somediering on. After looking at all of thing President Lyndon Johnson my losses, I choked up a bit, but soon sucked it up and told myself, once said and of which I con“Those were things, and I can get stantly remind myself. He said, more things.”

“How incredible it is that in this I tell myself that several times a day, so I’ve had no headaches, fragile existence we should hate no high blood pressure and no and destroy one another.” depression! I’m carrying on my Dr. E. Faye Williams is Presinormal day-to-day activities and looking forward to being in my dent/CEO of the National Connext home. gress of Black Women, Inc. Friends have been wonderful.

Even people I never thought no- Write your own response at ticed my work or cared what I do www.flcourier.com.

Bush marched to war while cutting VA benefits In 2003, we were lied into a war with Iraq. Just about everyone now admits that. At the same time that we were being lied into the war, the then-Bush administration was cutting benefits to veterans. This was such an odd set of circumstances. At a point when the U.S. was preparing for war, at a point when one must expect casualties, the Bush administration cut benefits.

The current crisis in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which has been described as a situation of long waits, in some cases allegedly leading to the deaths of patients, cannot be understood in the absence of a discussion of funding cuts, insufficient funding, and retaliation against workers who have identified the depth of the problems at the VA. In fact, it is fair to say that many of the most vocal critics of the VA, on the Republican side of the aisle, were equally unwilling to fund the VA to the extent that it has needed funding. Why?

Repair the system

BILL FLETCHER, JR. NNPA COLUMNIST

ly to face various forms of retaliation from management.

More resources needed One must ask the question of whether career managers who have watched the juggernaut of privatization proceed down the tracks since the time of the Bush administration, are more interested in preparing their own nests in the private sector over ensuring that veterans receive the service to which they are entitled. How else can one explain retaliating against workers who speak up?

The VA needs to be repaired, rather than dismantled. Veterans need improved and prompt service. But this also means that the atmosphere of panic that has been spread by both the Republicans and many people in the media must halt. Here is an example of why.

Part of the reason for delays in care was the direct result of the expansion in VA service to veterans facing disabilities that had previously not been fully covered, e.g., Agent Orange; Gulf War Syndrome. Yet, this has not been discussed in the mainstream media, most likely because to raise the fact that the VA was now serving additional veterans would beg a simple question: Why is the VA not receiving additional resources in order to accomplish its mission?

It makes you wonder…

The VA gets very high marks from veterans for the actual service that it delivers. Their expertise with physical, emotional and psychological wounds and injuries simply cannot be matched in the non-VA health care systems. systems. It is, in effect, onestop shopping.

This, however, is an anathema to many conservatives who wish to see all healthcare privatized. It is for that reason that in the midst of the current VA crisis, there are those who are suggesting a voucher-like system for veterans rather than actually fixing the problems.

These critics would rather dismantle the VA and hand out vouchers, than repair a system that has worked for thousands of veterans.

In order for the VA to be repaired, however, the career managers have to be punished for retaliating against whistleblowers within the workforce.

VA workers, many of who are repreBill Fletcher, Jr. is a racial, labor sented by the American Federation of Government Employees, have spoken and global justice writer and acup to identify some of the problems tivist. Write your own response at that are currently coming to light, on- www.flcourier.com

NATION

TOJ A6

JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

A good first impression Black unemployment falls for second consecutive month TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

For the second month in a row, the nation’s Black unemployment rate decreased, according to the Labor Department figures released for the month of May. The unemployment rate for Blacks decreased slightly from 11.6 percent in April to 11.5 percent in May and was two percentage points lower than the 13.5 percent rate recorded

a year ago. By comparison, the jobless rate for Whites barely rose from 5.3 percent in April to 5.4 percent in May.

Modest gains for sisters Black women continued to make modest gains in the job market this year.

The unemployment rate for Black women fell from 10.4 percent to 10 percent in May, compared to White women who saw their job-

‘Lion of Harlem’ survives congressional district race TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, “the Lion of Harlem,” roared again on Election Night, June 24. The 84-year-old congressman overcame a fierce challenger in the Democratic primary to virtually ensure a 23rd term representing New York’s 13th Congressional District.

With all precincts counted, the results showed Rangel was ahead by 1,800 votes over state Sen. Adriano Espaillat in this rematch. Overall, Rangel claimed 47.3 percent of the vote to 44.6 percent for his rival, who also lost two years ago. After Rangel was declared the winner, the sound system that had played “I Will Survive” earli-

less rate climb from 4.7 percent to 4.9 percent last month.

Last year, more Blacks and Whites were either working on looking for jobs, a measure recorded as the labor force participation rate.

In May 2013, that rate was 61.7 percent for Blacks and 63.8 percent for Whites. Now, the participation rate is 60.8 percent for Blacks and 63.1 percent for Whites.

er in the night at his victory began blaring “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.

First elected in 1970 The primary win is tantamount to election since the winner is expected to be unopposed in the November general election. Rangel said that win or lose, this would be his final run for office. He was first elected to the seat in 1970 when he defeated incumbent Ad- Rep. Charles am Clayton Powell Jr. Sen. Rangel Espaillat was seeking to become the first Dominican-born member of Congress. The two men also squared off in 2012, a primary Rangel won by about 1,000 votes.

One of the nation’s most powerful Black elected officials, Rangel has been the liberal voice for a district that was once heavily African-American but is now majority Hispanic.

Read All About Black Life, Statewide!

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JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

Where to go fishing in Apalachicola See page B4

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

Williams wins BET award for ‘Happy’ See page B5

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EDITOR'S NOTE: On July 5, 1852, anti-slavery crusader Frederick Douglass spoke at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Rochester, N.Y. Excerpts appear below.

What to enslaved Africans is the Fourth of July?

The Fourth of July...marks the beginning of another year of your national life...Nations number their years by thousands. You are...still lingering in the period of childhood. Were the nation older, the patriot’s heart might be sadder, and the reformer’s brow heavier.

Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. Prayers are made, hymns are sung, and sermons are preached in honor of this day; while the quick martial tramp of a great and multitudinous nation, echoed back by all the hills, valleys and mountains of a vast continent, bespeak the occasion one of thrilling and universal interests nation’s jubilee.

Why am I here? ...(W)hy am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?

And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us, I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me.

This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! We wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.

Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, “may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!”

To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.

From the slave’s perspective Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July!

Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting.

America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the fu-

MOLLY RILEY/MCT

Visitors photograph the Frederick Douglass statue before a ceremony honoring Douglass inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington June 19, 2013. ture. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery-the great sin and shame of America!

I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.

No persuasion needed But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already.

There are seventy-two crimes in the state of Virginia, which, if committed by a Black man, (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death, while only two of the same crimes will subject a White man to the like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being?

It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave.

Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian’s God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!

Would you have me argue that

man is entitled to liberty? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters?

Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

Fire and thunder O! Had I the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelly to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy ñ a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side

of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

Defiled Christianity (T)he church of this country... takes sides with the oppressors.

It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slavehunters. Many of its most eloquent Divines who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system.

They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity.

For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! Welcome atheism! Welcome anything! In preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines!

These ministers make religion a cold and flinty hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs.

But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains, stay there; and to the oppressor, oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies His fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man.

All this we affirm to be true of the popular church, and the popular worship of our land and nation ñ a religion, a church, and a worship, which, on the authority of inspired wisdom, we pronounce to be an abomination in the sight of God.

Inconsistency, hypocrisy Americans! Your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent.

You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen.

You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect

them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill.

You are all on fire at the mention of liberty for France or for Ireland; but are as cold as an iceberg at the thought of liberty for the enslaved of America.

You can bare your bosom to the storm of British artillery to throw off a three-penny tax on tea; and yet wring the last hardearned farthing from the grasp of the Black laborers of your country.

You profess to believe “that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth,” and hath commanded all men, everywhere to love one another; yet you notoriously hate, (and glory in your hatred), all men whose skins are not colored like your own.

You declare, before the world, and are understood by the world to declare, that you “hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;” and yet, you hold securely, in a bondage which, according to your own Thomas Jefferson, “is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose,” a seventh part of the inhabitants of your country.

I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies.

The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a byword to a mocking earth.

It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes.

Oh! Be warned! A horrible reptile is coiled up in your nation’s bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever!

I still have hope ...(N)ot withstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country...I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope.

No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference.

The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness.

But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind.

Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth.

Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilated. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all pervading light.

OBITUARY & EVENTS

B2

JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

STOJ

Florida Courier family remembers Cleora Albury Rawls FROM STAFF REPORTS

The Florida Courier family is mourning the death of Mrs. Cleora Albury Rawls, the mother of Dr. Valerie Rawls Cherry, the newspaper’s human resources director and mother-in-law of Dr. Glenn Cherry, the newspaper’s CEO. Mrs. Rawls died on June 28 after a short illness. She was 75.

Mrs. Rawls was a descendant of the AdamsFranks-Ward family, a pioneer Miami family since 1894. She was born on April 28, 1939 in Miami to the union of the late Cleo and Lilla Ward Albury, who was the daughter of Shadrack and Victoria Ward.

Her siblings, Victor Albury, Jean Green, Constance Jennings, Henry Albury, the Rev. Cleo O. Albury Jr. and Rodney Albury preceded her in death.

Cleora Rawls

Longtime Miami educator Mrs. Rawls received her early education in the public schools of Dade County and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1957. She furthered her education and studies at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, where she majored in education and was awarded the Bachelor of Science degree.

Her teaching career started at Holmes Elementary, where she began touching children’s lives.

At Holmes, she served as grade group chairperson for two years, and was a member of the Curriculum Council and assistant Girl Scout troop leader under the late Mrs. Mildred Clark.

Her educational career did not stop there. In 1970, she was transferred to Springview Elementary due to school desegregation in Dade County.

While there, she served as an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher, Red Cross coordinator, Spelling Bee chairperson and faculty PTA representative.

In 1980, she requested a transfer to West Little River Elementary to work with children from that neighborhood. At West Little River, she was the chairperson of the Theodore Gibson Oratorical Contest,

American Education Week, and a member of the audit team. In 1982, she was a nominee for “Mainstreaming Teacher of the Year.”

She retired from the Dade County Public School system in 1994 after 30-plus years of service.

Original member of Miami Delta chapter Her family states that those who knew her, remember how much she cared for the children with whom she worked. She often went the extra mile to help them succeed.

Mrs. Rawls also was active in the community.

She was a member of the Liberty City chapter of the NAACP, People United to Lead the Struggle of Equality (PULSE), and the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation.

In addition, she was one of the original members, “Alpha Line,” for the Dade County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta So-

rority, Inc. She was also a Golden Life Member of the sorority.

She was a former member of Bible Baptist Church, which at one time was under the leadership of her brother, the late Rev. Cleo O. Albury, Jr. She was very active for many years and served as a hostess, Bible study teacher and chairperson of Bible Baptist Academy.

Wife, mother, grandmother, friend She was united in marriage to Gaddy M. Rawls, a pioneer Miami police officer, who died in 2011. They raised three children: Dr. Valerie Rawls Cherry, Gerod McFero Rawls, and Glen Noble Rawls – who died in 2008.

“She was a wonderful mother, loved all of her children equally, and always encouraged each to do their best,” said Dr. Valerie Rawls Cherry. “Most

of her life was about giving understanding and unconditional love to her family, friends, and the children whose lives she touched.

She will be remembered as a loving devoted wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, cousin, and friend.’’

Mrs. Rawls leaves to cherish her memory, her daughter Dr. Valerie R. Cherry (Glenn), Gerod M. Rawls ( Lola); daughter-inlaw Nakia Newberry Rawls; sister-in-laws Alberta Albury and Vinnie Albury; brother in-laws Lester Jennings and Arthur Green; grandchildren Shonathan, DeAndre, Chantrelle, Alqueven, Quenedra, Jamal, Gerod, Gleniya, Gerod, Jr., Glenisha, Glenaija, Gerodria, Glen, Jr., Gemani; great-grandchildren Shonathan, Jr., A’lonna, Laila, Gregory, Jr., Aaryn; and a host of other relatives and friends.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR St. Petersburg: Morris Day and the Time will perform July 11 at the Mahaffey Theater.

Hollywood: Actor and comedian Chris Tucker will give an 8 p.m. show on July 12 at Hard Rock Live Hollywood.

COKE ZERO 400

The Coke Zero 400 has been an Independence Day weekend tradition in Daytona Beach for decades. The July 5 race takes place at the Daytona International Speedway. Details: www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com. For a roundup of other Fourth of July celebrations around the state, visit Floridatravellife.com. ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT

Miami Beach: The Florida Supercon (www.floridasupercon. com) is South Florida’s largest comic book, anime, animation, video game, fantasy, sci-fi and pop culture convention. It happens through July 6 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Drive. More info: 954-399-1330; info@ floridasupercon.com.

Daytona Beach: Cuba Gooding Sr. presents a Sweet Soul of the 70’s Benefit Concert on July 19. The concert will feature The Main Ingredient, Peaches & Herb, The Emotions and Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes. More information: www.

Cuba-Gooding.com.

Orlando: Bones Thugs N Harmony is scheduled at Firestone Live on July 18 for an 8 p.m. show.

PATRICE ROBERTS

Soca artist Patrice Roberts will be one of the performers at the Tampa Bay Caribbean Carnival at Albert Whitted Park (480 Bayshore Drive) in St. Petersburg. from July 12-13.

Ticket information and lineup of performers are available at www.tampacarnival.com.

SMOKIE NORFUL

Gospel singer Smokie Norful will appear at the Allstate Tom Joyner Reunion during Labor Day weekend. More information: www.blackamericaweb.com.

Tampa: Lionel Richie: All the Hits All Night Long tour featuring Cee Lo Green stops in Tampa on July 14 at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre.

Clearwater: The crooner Maxwell is coming to Florida. He

will make stops in Clearwater, Orlando and Jacksonville in August. More information: www.musze.com.

Orlando: Kirk Franklin presents Tye Tribbett at the House of Blues Orlando on July 20.

Hollywood: The Wayan Brothers will perform a show at Hard Rock Live Hollywood on Aug. 15.

Tampa: State Rep. Janet Cruz will present a free job fair on July 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Higgins Hall, 5225 N. Himes Ave. Hollywood: Actor and comedian Chris Tucker has a show scheduled July 12 at Hard Rock Live Hollywood.

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

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

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

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

This is personal.

Colorectal cancer is the 2nd leading cancer killer in the U.S., but screening helps prevent this disease.

Terrence Howard, actor/musician

If you’re 50 or older, please get screened. Screening saves lives.

1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) • www.cdc.gov/screenforlife

ONLY

YOU

CAN PREVENT FOREST www.smokeybear.com

F I R E S. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Photo: Andrew Macpherson

She was the cornerstone of our family. But my mother died of colon cancer when she was only 56. Let my heartbreak be your wake-up call.

STOJ

JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

B3

CULTURE

Finding their voice through spoken word Young Florida poets preparing for national competition in Philadelphia

BY JORDAN LEVIN MIAMI HERALD/MCT

The words and feelings pouring out of Celestelle Webster, 19 and Christelle Roach, 18, on this sunny afternoon seem fiercely, startlingly beyond their years.

“The bones in my body are like needles in my skin … I am a bomb, take shelter.”

Facing each other onstage in the small auditorium at the Miami Beach Regional Library, they summon a wrenching vision of domestic violence with lines they wrote together.

“Why are you still here?

I’m in love with the arsonist … There is a fire burning inside me.”

Webster and Roach’s verbal fire has been ignited by WordSpeak, a teenage spoken word poetry program run by Miami’s Tigertail Productions that will send them and five compatriots to a national poetry competition in July. Now in its ninth year, WordSpeak not only teaches young people the craft of articulating their feelings and ideas, but gives them a powerful sense of purpose, empowerment and responsibility.

“When a reader reads a poem, they give it their own interpretation,” says Webster. “When you perform your poem, you show them your interpretation of your piece … What the truth is and how the world interprets a story are often different. We feel it’s our job to give clarity.”

PATRICK FARRELL/MIAMI HERALD/MCT

Christell Roach, 18, left, and Celestelle Webster, 19, practice their piece on June 19 in Miami Beach. door to their life. They start thinking differently about their place in the greater world and what else is out there.”

‘Poetry is normal’

Brave New Voices competition Key to finding that clarity is WordSpeak coach Teo Castellanos, who negotiated drugs and gangs growing up in Carol City before becoming an awardwinning theater writer, director, and teacher — often to kids with a similarly fraught urban background.

Conducting one of the team’s recent four-hour rehearsals, Castellanos shifts seamlessly between colloquial street slang and a relentlessly meticulous focus on language, rhythm, performance and meaning that would be challenging for an advanced college class.

“One of the first things I do is break these stereotypical habits and clichés and get them to be better writers,” says Castellanos. The team will need that discipline when they get to the Brave New Voices competition in Philadelphia this month, where they’ll compete with 500 of their peers from across the U.S. and abroad.

In rehearsal, Castellanos urges Roach and Webster not to forget “your intentions, your goals, your rhythms … You’ll find the chaos — it’s the hardest rhythm for most people.”

Then he summons Wesly Oviedo, Steffon Dixon and Al Alexandre.

“Better impress me! Let’s

Tigertail Productions WordSpeak team members rehearse and work on new poems for a national poetry slam in July. see what y’all got!”

Taking it personally Their poem is on gun murders and Florida’s stand-your-ground law, and the boys, who are African-American and AfroCaribbean, take the subject personally, saying heatedly: “I feel like Florida is the gunshine state and I’m living in the bottom of the barrel.”

Castellanos proclaims himself pleased — but pushes for improvement, suggesting changes in wording and a more dramatic performance, starting with a feeling of celebration so the shift to describing the murders will be more startling.

“Don’t fear going over-

board,” he tells them. “The farther you go, the more dramatic the shift — it’s gonna be crazy!”

Oviedo’s face brightens with anticipation.

“That flip’ll be sharp!”

‘Transformative project’ Oviedo and his six compatriots were selected from approximately 1,000 South Florida teenagers who participate in WordSpeak and SpeakOut, its sister program for GLBTQ youth.

The program features classes and workshops at 10 mostly inner-city high schools, visits from nationally known guest teachers such as Reggie Cabico, a Washington, D.C., writer

and performer; and several poetry slams, or competitions, to choose the team.

Tigertail director Mary Luft says the goal is to give WordSpeak’s participants a sense of confidence and possibility, as well as skills in literacy and self-expression they can take into a life as a writer or artist, or into speaking up on the job or as a community leader.

“We see it as a transformative project,” Luft says.

“In one year, you’ll see a radical change in the way they command the space, their writing quality, what they’re writing about, how they speak, how they present themselves. They are empowered.”

“It’s an opportunity for a young person to find a

Maylin Enamorado started performing her poetry as a freshman in the writing program at Miami Arts Charter school in the Design District (the school for three other WordSpeak members). At first she was afraid of getting onstage, and shocked when she was chosen for the WordSpeak team in her sophomore year.

But when they arrived in San Franciso for the competition, she was exhilarated at being in a literary city with hundreds of kids for whom poetry was paramount.

“For the first time, I was like, poetry is normal!” Enamorado says. “I felt completely at home. And the creativity, the subjects were eye-opening.”

Instead of going to college, Enamorado, who graduated from high school this year, will head off to teach in Senegal in August.

“I don’t think I would have had the courage to go to Africa without WordSpeak,” she says. “The program has made me feel strongly about bringing about change. We try to make a difference.”

Enamorado and her compatriots are an impressive and determined crew.

Webster and Roach travel alone on buses and trains for two hours to and from the daily four-hour rehearsals, using the time to work on poems.

Webster has won a full tuition scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Roach also is a musician who start-

ed in Miami Arts Charter’s music program before switching to writing.

Oviedo, 17, is a drama student at MAC, and Dixon just graduated from Design and Architecture Senior High School in industrial design.

Castellanos, who has been the WordSpeak team’s coach for eight years, says many of the kids are unusually independent and self-reliant — even with parents who don’t bother attending their performances, or who are dealing with drug addiction or other problems.

“I’m just floored by their commitment and resilience,” says Castellanos of his students. “I don’t know why some people are blessed with that and some are not.”

An outward focus The focus on social rather than personal themes is meant to steer the kids away from adolescent selfabsorption, as well as foster a sense of connection to the world outside their neighborhood, and to people other than those just like them.

“They come to understand the world is bigger than their community,” says Castellanos. “It deepens their compassion and understanding.”

But that outward focus — on their teammates and the broader world — seems to have made the WordSpeak poets even surer of themselves.

“My poetry got more relevant and had more meaning when I came on thinking what I could do for the team,” says Roach. “It’s not just about talent. There’s meaning behind everything we write.”

76 players from World Cup scheduled to participate in Guinness International Champions Cup next month SPECIAL TO THE COURIER

The roster of talent for Guinness International Champions Cup, a tournament held across the United States featuring the best soccer teams in the world, includes a total of 76 players who started competition in the World Cup for their respective countries and will soon turn their attention to compete in Guinness ICC matches for a chance at the finals next month.

Sun Life Stadium and

Relevent Sports will host the Guinness International Champions Cup Finals in Miami Gardens on August 4.

The Guinness International Champions Cup, a unique tournament featuring eight of the world’s best and most recognizable soccer clubs: Real Madrid CF, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool FC, AS Roma, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Olympiacos, will take place from July 24-August 2 in New York, Chicago, Phila-

delphia, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Denver, Berkeley, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Dallas and Ann Arbor.

Fan pack available Limited tickets are still available for this summer’s Guinness International Champions Cup matches. In addition to single game tickets, fans can purchase an Ultimate Fan Pack which includes one supporters section ticket, team gear and priority access to select team training

for these matches. Tickets and packages are available at www.internationalchampionscup.com. VIP Team Travel Experiences are also still available and allow fans to experience the games alongside their favorite teams, providing front row or field seats, charter travel and worldclass accommodations to all of their teams’ Guinness International Champions Cup games. Packages are still available via http://releventsports.com/travel/.

PANORAMIC/ZUMA PRESS/MCT

Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne, center (in red), scores past United States’ goalkeeper Tim Howard, center (in black), during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Belgium and the USA at the Arena Fonte Nova. Belgium advanced, 2-1, in extra time.

TRAVEL

B4

JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

STOJ

1.

FISHING THE WATERS OF

APALACHICOLA Panhandle can be ideal place to catch fish, soak up history this summer

BY ELEANOR HENDRICKS MCDANIEL SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

HOW TO GO, WHERE TO STAY

A

long the unspoiled “Forgotten Coast” of Florida’s Panhandle, Apalachicola sits atop Apalachicola Bay and at the mouth of the Apalachicola River. This rustic seaside fishing village has retained its maritime heritage.

In the 19th century, it flourished because of the South’s cotton that was shipped from its port, the third largest on the Gulf of Mexico. Later came the lumber industry, and then the commercial harvesting of oysters, blue crab, shrimp and finfish.

Charters Journeys of St. George Island (sgislandjourneys. com): They offer two- to eight-hour trips with a captain and fishing guide.

Robinson Brothers Guide Service (floridaredfish.com): They provide trips all year to the marsh, bay and flats.

Distinctive destination With more than 900 historic sites, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named it as one of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations in 2008. The city reflects the “true” (meaning: pre-Disney) Florida coast with meticulously restored Victorian homes, clapboard cottages, independently owned shops, one small theater, lighthouses and a grimy working waterfront.

With no high-rise glitzy hotels, visitors usually rent vacation homes, or check into historic inns or quaint B&Bs. Apalachicola Bay rates as one of the world’s most productive estuarine systems with 186 species of fish. Just ask the 40 percent of the area residents who work on the bay.

Oystermen make up a large portion of those workers. Underwater oyster bars bring both good and bad news to fishermen: the bars can be hazardous to boats, but, on the other hand, they attract the fish.

An expert fishing guide knows where the fishing hot spots are and where to avoid the troublesome oyster bars. If you choose to go it alone, follow a good chart.

2.

Trout, snapper and more Get out on the bay by renting a boat, joining a charter excursion or taking a boat tour. You can also fish from a pier or off either end of the old St. George Bridge. The fish are running all year. Bait your hook for grouper, cobia, amberjack, snapper, tripletail, black drum, sea trout and more.

During the summer months, visit the beaches very early or very late to catch flounder, mackerel, redfish and trout.

Summer is the season to cast for toothy predators in the grass flats. They’re jumping around Mash Island, located at the bayside eastern end of St. George Island. Look for bluefish, trout, redfish and mackerel. Hook big trout, jack crevalle and ladyfish in September.

July and August are the perfect months for tarpon. As you probably know, the accepted way to reel them in is by using big top-water lures or by fly-fishing. Position yourself near the river mouths during outgoing tides. To fly-fish for tarpon, follow the length of Lanark Reef.

During the winter months, fish huddle in rivers and creeks, especially where the two meet. Troll for trout, whiting, redfish and flounder. Striped bass hole up in the Apalachicola River. Jump aboard a flats skiff to fish the shallow waters.

For more information, visit saltyflorida. com.

3.

4.

1. Where you find oystermen, you’ll also find lots of fish.

2. The beaches are pristine in Florida’s Panhandle.

3. Blue crabs can be found in the waters too.

5.

4. Anglers catch a “mess’’ of red snapper.

5. The Cape St. George Lighthouse is one of the historic sights.

PHOTOS BY ELEANOR HENDRICKS MCDANIEL/ SPECIAL TO THE COURIER

Lodging Resort Vacation Properties (resortvacationproperties. com): Located on St. George Island, 333 houses have from one to eight bedrooms, fully equipped kitchens, central air and heat, cable TV, linens, decks and free Wi-Fi. Some homes are pet-friendly.

Coombs House Inn (coombshouseinn.com): A posh Bed and Breakfast that Florida Monthly Magazine named “The Best B&B in Florida.”

Complimentary amenities include breakfast, afternoon tea, free wifi, private baths and cable TV. Some rooms have refrigerators.

Gibson Inn (gibsoninn. com): Built in 1907 as a first-class hotel and now on the National Historic Register of Historic Places. Within the 30 guestrooms, there are private baths, wireless Internet, cable TV and telephones.

Eleanor Hendricks McDaniel is a seasoned travel journalist who enjoys writing about history, culture, food, wine, and some of the people she meets along the way. Her travels have taken her throughout the United States, Europe and other countries.

She lives in Ormond Beach, Fla., and Philadelphia.

STOJ

JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

B5

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

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

More than 4,000 cruisers joined nationally syndicated radio talk show host Tom Joyner on the 13th annual Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage 2012 aboard Royal Caribbean’s “Navigator of the Seas,” one of the world’s largest cruise ships. The Florida Courier spotlights some of the best-looking people on board.

Will, who lives in Chicago, was on his first Tom Joyner cruise.

Cybil, a Houston resident, was on her sixth Tom Joyner cruise.

will

cybil

BET Experience in L.A. draws tens of thousands Beyonce, Williams, Nyong’o among winners at annual awards show

BY GERRICK KENNEDY LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

LOS ANGELES — The BET Awards had no shortage of showstopping moments the evening of June 29: Pharrell Williams bringing out special guest Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, Chris Brown’s first performance since leaving jail and Beyonce and Jay Z beamed in from their massive summer tour for the finale.

Williams continued his massive year by walking away as the night’s big winner at the annual awards, held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. His breakout smash “Happy” was named video of the year, and he was also awarded the trophy for best male R&B/pop singer.

Brown’s energetic performance of “Loyal” was a show highlight, as were Usher’s retrospective of hits and R&B heartthrobs Trey Songz and August Alsina (named best new artist) performance.

The awards were the hottest ticket among the tens of thousands people who came to L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles for the 2014 BET Experience, the network’s three-day music and entertainment festival.

The BET Experience Only the festival’s VIP packages, priced from $1,095 to $4,395, provided access to the awards show on Sunday evening, but even those who couldn’t afford all-access passes got close to the action — be it copious shoulder-rubbing with stars at fan events such as the celebrity basketball game with Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown and Justin Bieber (a surprise addition), perhaps, or live shows from urban charttoppers.

Live music is the foundation of the BET Experience, and there was plenty. Headliners Maxwell, Jill Scott, OutKast, Rick Ross and Mary J. Blige anchored shows at Staples Center, while Future and the Roots played late-night gigs at the smaller Club Nokia.

Unlike many big-ticket music fests, BET also curated dozens of performances from rising and established hitmakers.

Small sets from R&B veterans Faith Evans, Eric Benet, Tank and Jagged Edge and rising acts Sevyn Streeter, Mack Wilds, Tinashe and Elle Varner were packed into the sprawling, free fan expo that included a sneaker convention, panel discussions and meet-and-greet sessions at the Los Angeles Convention Center with actors and musicians.

Festival before show But the top ticket, no doubt, is the awards show.

Since its inception in 2001, the BET Awards have routinely been one of the network’s highest-rated programs and an exclusive industry event.

The demand for the awards show sparked the network to build an entire festival leading to the ceremony last year.

“This was the way to do it. There were always parties, and they weren’t necessarily always sponsored

by BET,” said Debra Lee, the network’s chairwoman and chief executive. “Now we’ve taken over L.A. Live, and it’s all centralized. You can stay in L.A. and have a good time.”

The idea for the BET Experience wasn’t just about the network expanding its highly rated awards show.

It was an attempt to turn L.A. into a destination for urban music fans.

BETHANY MOLLENKOF/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

Pharrell Williams performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 12. At the BET Awards last month, his “Happy’’ song was named video of the year and he won best male R&B/pop singer.

Beyonce

Lupita Nyong’o

In-depth conversations So while Jennifer Hudson and cast members from BET shows such as “The Game” and “Being Mary Jane” hung out with fans during meetand-greet sessions, panel discussions provided indepth conversations.

Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel in space, was interviewed by actress Re-

gina King. A conversation about dissolving the prison pipeline for young Black men was another standout.

Elsewhere, celebs such as the Game shot hoops for the crowd’s enjoyment.

“It’s fun to be playing with your peers — athletes, entertainers,” Snoop Dogg said. “We all dreamed of playing basketball, so when we have a celebrity game like this we get to show off our skills. Some of us don’t have skills.”

Ticket sales got off to a slow start compared with last year, when Beyonce used the BET Experience to launch the U.S. leg of her world tour. This year, a team of BET production staffers were seen handing out surplus tickets to the festival’s opening night, and Staples Center didn’t sell out, though fans left

satisfied.

“We were here last year.

It’s not 105 degrees, and it’s a little more organized and has more production value,” said Stephen Dilts, 41, who made the festival a vacation destination and purchased a VIP package to ensure a ticket to the awards.

Fan Paula Williams also decided to splurge for allaccess to the weekend of events.

“You get in everywhere faster. It’s been wonderful,” said Williams, 52, wearing her gold VIP laminate. “We like being able to go where we want to go — that accessibility.”

The winners As the curtains closed on Sunday’s ceremony inside Nokia Theatre, across the street at Staples Center,

Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hudson and Trey Songz — all of whom had performed earlier on the award show — played the closing concert to a packed crowd.

Although the winners of the BET Awards aren’t as important as the spectacle of the show for many fans, the list of those who took trophies did include Beyonce for best female R&B/ pop artist, Nicki Minaj for best female hip hop artist, Drake for best male hip hop artist and Young Money for best group.

In film categories, Lupita Nyong’o won best actress, Chewitel Ejiofor won best actor and “12 Years a Slave” won best movie.

Los Angeles Times staff writer James Easterhouse contributed to this report.

F0OD

B6

JULY 4 – JULY 10, 2014

TOJ

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

ANCHO CHILE RUBBED GRILLED T-BONES Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Total time: 15 minutes Serves: 4 4 Omaha Steaks T-bone steaks 2 tablespoons olive oil 4 tablespoons Ancho Chile Rub (see recipe below) 12 grilled tri-color sweet baby peppers Preheat grill to medium.

Thaw and blot dry steaks.

Brush steaks with olive oil.

Generously cover both sides of steaks with Ancho Chile Rub by dipping them in rub.

Continue until steaks are com­pletely covered. Place steaks on heated grill and grill to desired done­ness. (For a medium-rare steak, grill approximately 8 minutes on first side and 6 to 7 minutes on second side.) Remove steaks from grill and garnish with grilled tri-colored sweet baby peppers.

Quite possibly the ultimate steak, the T-bone embodies the rich blend of varied beef flavors that steak lovers crave, from tender and mild to bold and beefy. On one side of the T-bone is the filet mignon.

French for “dainty fillet,” the filet mignon is considered the most tender cut, with a mild beef flavor. On the other side of the T-bone is the strip loin or New York strip, a firm, robust steak that is naturally marbled and offers a bold taste. The bone itself also provides additional flavor in the cooking process. With this pairing of tastes, it is no surprise that the T-bone is considered to be “the best of both worlds” by steak connoisseurs. For more steak recipes, visit www.OmahaSteaks.com.

TEN TIPS FOR PERFECT GRILLING

helps to lock in the grilled flavor and will help prevent flare-ups.

7. Keep a spray bottle with water handy to douse any unexpected flare-ups.

1. Clean and preheat your grill on high.

2. Lightly oil everything before you put it on the grill. This helps the searing process and prevents sticking.

8. Use the 60/40 grilling method. Grill for 60 percent of the time on the first side, then grill 40 percent of the time after you turn over the food.

This will give you an evenly cooked product.

3. Season your food before grilling.

4. Sear the outside of steaks when grilling. This really helps with the flavor and juiciness.

ANCHO CHILE RUB Makes: 4 tablespoons 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 2 teaspoons sea salt 2 tablespoons ancho chile powder 1 teaspoon brown sugar Combine all ingredients and mix well.

9. Place your cooked product on a clean plate. Never place cooked product on the plate you used to transport the raw product to the grill without thoroughly washing it first.

5. Use tongs or a spatula to turn your meat on the grill. Using a fork can damage the meat.

10. Allow your foods to “rest” for 5 minutes between cooking and eating. This will help them retain moisture when you cut into them.

6. Cover your grill as much as possible during the grilling process. This

THICK STEAK, BONE-IN STEAK AND CHOP COOKING CHART Cooking times are in minutes and based on fully-thawed steaks.

Gas grill: Preheat grill to high, reduce to medium heat prior to cooking.

Charcoal grill: Sear over red hot coals, finish over indirect heat.

THICKNESS

1”

1 1/4”

1 1/2”

1 3/4”

2”

2 1/4”

2 1/2”

Rare 120° to 130°F

First Side After Turning

6 3–4

6 4–5

7 5–6

9 6–7

11 7–8

13 8–9

14 10–12

Medium Rare 130° to 140°F

First Side After Turning

6 4–5

7 5–6

8 6–7

11 8–9

13 9–10

14 10–12

16 12–14

Medium 140° to 150°F

First Side After Turning

7 5–6

8 6–7

9 7–8

12 9–10

14 11–12

16 12–14

17 14–16

Well Done 160° to 170°F

First Side After Turning

9 7–8

10 8–9

12 9–11

14 12–14

18 14–16

19 16–18

20 21–23

GRILLED T-BONES WITH TABASCO AND ROQUEFORT CHEESE BUTTER Prep time: 15 minutes, plus 4 hours refrigerator time Cook time: 15 minutes Total time: 4 hours and 30 minutes Serves: 4 4 Omaha Steaks T-bones Omaha Steaks All Natural Steak Seasoning, or salt and pepper, to taste 4 slices (1 1/2-inch coins) Tabasco and Roquefort Cheese Butter (see recipe below) 2 tablespoons minced chives Thaw steaks over­night in refrigerator or quick thaw by placing sealed steaks in sink with water for approxi­mately one hour. Preheat grill to medium. Season both sides of steaks with seasoning, or salt and pepper. Grill steaks to desired done­ness. (For medium-rare steak, grill approxi­­mately 8 minutes on first side and 6 to 7 minutes on second side.) Just before removing steaks from grill, place butter slice on each steak. The idea is to have butter half melted on top as you are serving steaks.

Garnish each steak with sprinkle of minced chives.

TABASCO AND ROQUEFORT CHEESE BUTTER 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened 4 ounces Roquefort blue cheese, crumbled 3 tablespoons Tabasco sauce 1/4 cup fresh chives, minced 2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced 1 roasted red pepper, peeled, seeded and diced 1 teaspoon kosher salt Whip butter slightly in mixer. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Transfer mixture to sheet of parchment paper. Roll into tube (approximately 1 1/2-inch diameter) and twist paper at the ends. Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours. When ready

to serve, slice into coins as needed. Unused butter can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

ROASTED PEPPER PESTO RUBBED GRILLED T-BONES Prep time: 30 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Total time: 45 minutes Serves: 4 4 Omaha Steaks T-bone steaks 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup Omaha Steaks Private Reserve Seasoning, or salt and pepper 1 recipe Roasted Pepper Pesto (see recipe below) 4 fresh basil sprigs Preheat grill to medium.

Brush steaks with olive oil and season with season­ing, or salt and pepper. Brush both sides of steaks with Roasted Pepper Pesto. Place steaks on grill and cook to desired doneness. (For a medium-rare steak about 8 minutes on first side and 6 to 7 minutes on second side.)

When steaks are finished, brush both sides one final time with pesto. Serve steaks with dollop of unused pesto in center of each and garnish with fresh basil sprig.

ROASTED PEPPER PESTO Makes: approximately 2 cups 1 cup roasted red peppers, peeled, seeded and chopped 1/4cup garlic cloves, peeled 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 cup olive oil Combine all ingredients except olive oil in food processor or blender, and puree until smooth. Next, add oil slowly in food processor until com­pletely combined.