Florida Courier - July 11, 2014

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JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

VOLUME 22 NO. 28

FLOODING THE BORDER

Obama’s $3.7 billion request to Congress reflects deepening concern about thousands of children, many traveling alone, to reach a better life in America.

BY CHRISTI PARSONS, LISA MASCARO AND BRIAN BENNETT TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU (MCT)

WASHINGTON – President Obama asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency funding Tuesday to help confront what he called an “urgent humanitarian situation” - the unprecedented influx of children and teens arriving without parents on the Southwestern border.

The figure was nearly double what the administration had signaled might be necessary, and it showed the deepening concern at the White House about the more than 52,000 unaccompanied minors, mostly from Central America, who have flocked across the border since October.

Another ‘stand your ground’ dismissal

GOP opposition The unexpectedly large supplemental funding request met with immediate resistance from Republicans in Congress, who said any additional spending should be coupled with stronger border security measures and steppedup deportations, which many Democrats oppose.

Administration officials were to testify Wednesday – after the Florida Courier’s press time late Wednesday night – before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was to appear Thursday before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Lawmakers were expected to press for an explanation of the administration’s strategy for

handling the crisis.

Officials said the largest share of the money, $1.8 billion, would go to the Health and Human Services Department to provide food, housing and medical care to thousands of youths who are crammed into emergency detention facilities at U.S. Border Patrol facilities, on military bases and elsewhere as they await processing.

An additional $1.6 billion would go to the Justice and Homeland Security departments for more immigration judges and other resources to clear backlogged immigration dockets. Officials also aim to deter other young peoMARK BOSTER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT ple from heading north by using Police officers monitor a crowd protesting the arrival of busmore drone aircraft and other law loads of migrants to the U.S. Border Patrol station in Murrieta, See BORDER, Page A2

Calif., on July 4.

FLORIDA COURIER / OUT AND ABOUT

‘Mario’ at the Supercon Thousands, including this family and friends, attended the Florida Supercon last week in Miami Beach. The Supercon is South Florida’s largest costume play, comic book, anime, animation, video game, fantasy, science fiction and pop culture convention.

Two unarmed men dead; shooter walks

BY DAVID OVALLE THE MIAMI HERALD / MCT

MIAMI – The Florida Supreme Court won’t take up the case of an Opa-Locka man who claimed self-defense in shooting and killing two unarmed men during a fight outside a Northwest MiamiDade restaurant.

Prosecutors had asked the high court to review a local appeals court decision to grant immunity to Gabriel Mobley under Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground self-defense law.

But this week, high court justices Gabriel without explanaMobley tion issued an order refusing to accept the case, which means Mobley is free and clear of murder charges.

‘Shoot first’ approved

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

The decision means Mobley’s case will set legal precedent in Florida. Legal experts have long seen the case as a key test of the controversial law, which elimiSee COURT, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS

Florida Lottery sales hit record-setting $5.3 billion

FLORIDA | A3

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

with the Seminole Tribe.

No huge jackpots

Pot entrepreneurs fired up over proposed rules

TALLAHASSEE – Floridians’ obsession with lucky numbers and scratch-off tickets continues to grow. To help sales, the lottery annually spends between $28 million and $30 million on advertising – with virtually none going to Black-owned media.

Even without a massive Powerball or Mega Millions rollover jackpot to spur sales, the Florida Lottery reported $5.36 billion in sales for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The record-setting mark, up from just over $5 billion a year earlier, comes as state lawmakers have deferred action on questions about the future of gambling – such as whether to allow megacasinos to open – while Gov. Rick Scott tries to strike a new deal

Increased education funding

The overall totals could have been higher if there had been a lucky number jackpot in any of the terminal games: Mega Money, Florida Lotto, Powerball and Mega Millions.

“If we have a $600 million jackpot or $550 million jackpot, we just get out of the way and the sales take off,” Delacenserie said. “Last year we didn’t get up that high.”

Powerball, which did have jackpots reach $400 million three times last year, generated $469 million for the state. Mega Millions, which was introduced in May 2013, totaled $167 million for the year, while Lotto brought in $349 million.

NATION | A6

Black policy group trying to revive thinktank

SPORTS | B3

World Cup offers a teachable moment for Ghanaian-American

ALSO INSIDE

While about 60 percent of the money played on games is paid out to winners, about $1.49 billion will go to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund this year, lottery spokeswoman Meagan Dougherty said in an email.

The education funding is up from $1.41 billion generated during the previous fiscal year.

The lottery’s increased revenues stem largely from continued growth in scratch-off ticket sales, which range in price from $1 to $25 and are now available at more than 13,000 locations throughout the state.

Sales of scratch-off tickets grew by 12.7 percent in the past

year, bringing in $3.4 billion. The $25-per-ticket game topped all scratch-off sales last year, averaging $13 million per week.

Lottery Deputy Secretary of Sales Tom Delacenserie credited the success to the availability and creative marketing of all the games, along with new offerings such as Lucky Lines, a new terminal game that this month replaced Mega Money.

Jim Turner of The News Service Of Florida contributed to this report.

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: MARC H. MORIAL: UNFINISHED BUSINESS 50 YEARS AFTER CIVIL RIGHTS ACT | A4

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FOCUS

JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

Poverty, crime drive Central American youths toward US

BY TRACY WILKINSON LOS ANGELES TIMES /MCT

HORCONES, Guatemala – A couple of weeks ago, sisters Karen and Sindy Laucel joined the exodus of youths from Central America, hoping to reconnect with their mother, who had left this farming village a decade ago in search of work in the U.S. With so many heading north, now seemed the time to reunite.

The teens filled a single backpack with three days’ worth of clothes, and their mother paid a coyote, or guide, to take her daughters and a 10-year-old girl from the village to the U.S. border nearly 2,000 miles away.

Caught in Mexico Crossing the Suchiate River into Mexico on an inner tube and traveling mostly by bus, they seemed to be among the lucky ones. They avoided the extortion, rape and other crimes so prevalent along the route – up until the moment an immigration agent pulled them from a bus in central Mexico.

Held for a week in a shelter near Mexico City with dozens of other boys and girls, they ate pizza and watched telenovelas until they were dispatched back home.

“I cried and cried and cried,” said Karen, 15. “Only when I finally saw all the other girls did I calm down.”

Sindy, a year older, has memorized her mother’s phone number in North Carolina, and said she just wanted to get to know her.

“I know her only by photos,” Sindy said.

A better life

MICHAEL ROBINSON CHAVEZ/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

A ferryboat carrying goods and migrants bound for the United States crosses the Suchiate River, almost directly beneath the formal border-crossing bridge that joins Mexico and Guatemala.

Plagued by ruthless street gangs and a growing presence of Mexican drug traffickers, the countries have seen homicide rates grow by 99 percent over the last decade, with the current rate five times that of the United States, according to a new study by the British-based Action on Armed Violence.

Karen and Sindy’s father and grandfather were shot to death in unsolved killings. The family can no longer afford to pay for Sindy’s schooling. The town where they live, Horcones, in Jutiapa state near the border with El Salvador, can’t pay its electricity or water bills to the federal government.

Some Central Americans feel encouraged by rumors that children who cross into the U.S. will be allowed to stay. But other fundamental reasons fueling migration have remained unchanged for decades: family unification, hometown violence, inescapable poverty and lack of opportunity.

Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the so–called Northern Triangle of Central America, are among the poorest and most deadly countries in the hemisphere.

Homes, not food

COURT

er leeway to throw out criminal charges – before a jury trial – if they deem someone acted in selfdefense.

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nated a citizen’s “duty to retreat” before using lethal force in the face of a deadly threat or great bodily harm.

Critics say the 2005 Florida law, and similar ones across the country, promote a shoot-first vigilante culture that allows criminals a pass on justice.

The law came under national scrutiny in the case of George Zimmerman, a Sanford man who claimed self-defense in killing unarmed Miami Gardens teen Trayvon Martin in February 2012. Police initially did not charge him because of the law, and he was later acquitted at trial of murder.

More vexing for prosecutors, the law also gave judges great-

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enforcement resources to track human smuggling networks in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.

A senior administration official described the plan as a “superaggressive deterrence and enforcement strategy,” speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details.

Due process rights Under a 2008 anti-trafficking law, unaccompanied minors from any country other than Canada or Mexico are allowed to seek asylum and other assistance in immigration court, a complicated process that often leads to lengthy delays. Most are placed with U.S. sponsors, usually family members, as their cases move through the clogged courts.

Many minors fail to appear at their hearings, however, and in effect disappear.

About 5,000 unaccompanied youths from Central America normally enter the U.S. each year.

For reasons still unclear, that figure skyrocketed last fall. About 40,000 young Central Americans poured in between Oct. 1 and June 15. Another 12,000 came

The homes, by contrast, reflect the wealth of remittances, money sent back by those who have migrated to the U.S. Many are well constructed, with solid sheet metal roofs and fancy Greek-style columns.

In the Laucel house, the kitchen has a sparkling new Whirlpool refrigerator, although it is nearly empty, and a matching four-burner range, which is not plugged in. But the money arrives sporadically and lends it-

Trial court reversed In Mobley’s case, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Thomas Rebull refused to grant immunity to Mobley. But the Third District Court of Appeals in January reversed the judge, saying Mobley acted reasonably that night in using deadly force against two aggressors.

“Mobley did not shoot two innocent bystanders who just happened upon him on a sidewalk,” the court said in a 2-1 opinion.

Miami-Dade Chief Assistant State Attorney Kathleen Hoague said Wednesday that the victims’ relatives were “crushed” and “to say we are disappointed is an understatement.”

She said Rebull, not the high-

from Mexico, but most were bused back, as the law allows.

Obama sent a letter to House Speaker John A. Boehner, ROhio, last week President saying he would Obama ask Congress to amend the 2008 law to give the Homeland Security secretary more flexibility to send minors back to Central America. Obama did not seek that additional authority Tuesday, although aides said he still intended to do so.

Senate Democrats and immigration advocates have signaled strong opposition to weakening the law, which was aimed at protecting children from sex trafficking and other abuses. Last week, 225 organizations led by the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Obama warning that easing legal protections could put the children’s lives in danger.

“Everybody’s very concerned,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., the assistant majority leader, as he exited a closed-door lunch of Senate Democrats where the issue was discussed. “This is a test of our country. I hope we handle it in a way that we can look back with some pride.”

self to big–ticket purchases rather than steady sustenance.

Karen and Sindy’s mother, Mirna, is one of five siblings; all but one are in the Southeastern United States, sending money home and frequently calling the children they left behind. Mirna has never been back to visit.

The Obama administration says it has detained more than 50,000 “unaccompanied minors” trying to cross the border in the first half of this year. Many if not most appear to have an older relative with them, or at least a coyote.

housewife and mother of two waiting her turn at the Horcones beauty salon. “Coyotes take them, but it’s dangerous. They promise you a thousand things, but on the way it’s different. The kids suffer.”

The United States has repeatedly asked Mexico to take stronger steps to block the crossing of Central Americans toward the U.S. border, but enforcement has been spotty. The Mexican immigration department says the number of minors apprehended has increased by about 7 percent this year.

Big money

Buses, rafts

In fact, the smuggling of people to the U.S. is big business.

Coyotes, who in Mexico are often descendants of some of the country’s most vicious drug cartels, can charge $7,000 or more for a single migrant. These networks may in fact be stimulating the current exodus by lying about the difficulties of the journey and giving false promises about what lies ahead, experts say.

“The majority of parents are there (in the U.S.) and they are asking for their children to join them,” said Merlin Palma, a

In El Carmen, a Guatemalan city on the border with Mexico, scores of adults and children were arriving in buses one day last month and hurrying over to rafts waiting to take them across the river.

The route was under the same bridge where Mexican immigration authorities were posted. The migrants would land a few feet away and scramble up a bank, largely undetected – perhaps deliberately – by the agents.

Farther inland in Quetzaltenango, at a government–

er courts, sat through an immunity hearing and gauged the evidence and Mobley’s credibility first hand.

“I think Judge Rebull was correct in denying the Stand Your Ground immunity and allowing a jury to decide whether Mobley was guilty of murder,” Hoague said.

ambush,” said Miami-Dade Assistant Public Defender Antonio Valiente, who worked the case with Herbert Smith.

‘No winners’ However, his lawyer on Wednesday said Mobley was “extremely happy” that he had been cleared but the case had “no winners.”

“Despite being justified in his actions, not a single day will ever go by that Mr. Mobley doesn’t think about those two kids and about Feb. 28, 2008, when – through no fault of his own – he was forced to defend himself and his friend from an unprovoked

Fundraiser, meetings The funding request was announced shortly before Obama left on a previously scheduled trip to Austin and Dallas, where he would raise money for fellow Democrats and give a speech on the economy. He agreed Tuesday to meet with Republican Gov. Rick Perry, a sharp critic of administration policies, after Perry rejected what he called “a quick handshake on the tarmac.”

Most of the unaccompanied minors, who are younger than 18, have crossed into the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and Perry has decried the federal response as “inept.” Obama is not scheduled to visit the border during his twoday visit.

White House officials say many of the youths are fleeing drug cartels and sex traffickers in Central America and need protection under U.S. law until judges can determine if they qualify for asylum.

“We’re talking about children who are coming either alone or in the hands of smugglers,” a White House official said Tuesday, requesting anonymity to describe the administration response.

“That’s how the president views it.

That’s how the administration is approaching it.

“But while we are focused on making sure we provide proper care,” the official said, “we also in-

Argument in restaurant Mobley shot and killed Jason Jesus Gonzalez and Rolando Carrazana in February 2008 outside the Chili’s restaurant at 5705 NW 173rd Drive.

Gonzalez and Carranza had gotten into an argument with Mobley and a friend inside the restaurant. No fights occurred and the two men left the eatery, though not before banging on the outside windows and pointing at Mobley’s group.

Some 20 minutes later, Mobley and his friend, Jose Correa, were smoking cigarettes outside the restaurant. Mobley had retrieved his Glock pistol from the glove

tend to apply the law.”

Officials declined to say how many youths would be deported, or how quickly, under the administration’s proposal.

Punitive measures?

House Republicans were critical, saying most of the money would be used to help young migrants who illegally cross the border, not to stop them from trying. Some called for halting aid to countries that don’t act more forcefully to stop their citizens from heading to the U.S., or to use more money to beef up border security.

Heritage Action for America, a nonprofit conservative organization that is influential among Republicans, called the proposal a “nonstarter because it seeks to address the symptoms, not the cause.”

“President Obama created this disaster at our Southern border and now he is asking to use billions of taxpayer dollars without accountability or a plan in place to actually stop the border crisis,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Goodlatte wants the administration to increase the number of deportations and boost investigations of allegedly fraudulent asylum claims. He added that Repub-

run shelter for deported minors, about 40 youngsters were being held the other day, waiting for relatives who must present a birth certificate to pick them up.

Authorities queried the relatives about why the children had left home, and showed the relatives films about the horrors that befall migrants trying to cross Mexico.

Ludvin Lima Gonzalez, 15, was there waiting for his mother Aura. Back home a couple of days later in Nueva Concepcion, in the gang-terrorized state of Escuintla, south of Guatemala City, Ludvin said he wanted to go north to be able to help his impoverished family.

He has 10 siblings, ages 7 to 32, and a sick father who can’t work.

The family lives off meager corn crops.

Three of his friends were killed, sometimes for refusing to join the gangs, and members of the family could tick off a series of recent slayings.

“You look at them the wrong way and they kill you,” Ludvin said.

God’s protection “It is painful” to see a child leave, Aura Gonzalez, 49, said.

“You ask God to protect them.

But that’s the necessity.”

As in neighboring El Salvador and Honduras, street gangs – some whose roots are in Los Angeles – have occupied large parts of Guatemala, just as these countries were recovering from civil wars and other conflict in the 1980s and ’90s.

The choice for children is bleak, said the Rev. Gerardo Salazar, a priest in the Nueva Concepcion parish.

“You dedicate yourself to drugs and violence, or you grab the road to the United States, as complicated as that is,” he said.

At every Sunday Mass, Salazar said, he is asked to pray for young people killed in town, where 100 quetzales (about $12) is all it takes to hire an assassin.

Los Angeles Times staff photographer Michael Robinson Chavez in El Carmen and special correspondent Anna Bevan in Quetzaltenango contributed to this report.

compartment of his parked car.

Suddenly, Gonzalez appeared out of nowhere, delivering a “vicious punch” to the face of Correa, fracturing his eye socket, according to court documents. Gonzalez danced backward, his arms raised as if to taunt the men. Seconds later, Carranza appeared rushing toward the men.

“I was scared, and then I seen this other guy coming up from the back and then he reached up under his shirt so I was scared,” Mobley testified at an immunity hearing in January 2012. “I thought, you know, they were going to shoot or kill us.”

Neither man was armed with a gun.

Mobley, who had a concealed weapons permit, fired a volley of bullets, mortally wounding both men. Mobley, a security guard, cooperated fully with police that night.

licans would work with Obama to change current law to speed deportations.

“The message has to go that if you cross our border illegally you will be returned immediately,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

“If you have a reason for asylum, go to our consulate, go to our embassy, make your case. But don’t come to our border.”

Political danger The White House faces pressure from Latino groups and other immigration advocates to move carefully as it seeks to crack down on the surge of illegal immigration by deporting offenders more quickly.

Earlier this year, Obama asked his aides to propose steps to make deportation policies more humane, especially in cases in which families are broken up. But the White House has taken a tougher tone in public this week, as the severity of the border surge has grown clearer.

“Children who do not qualify for humanitarian relief will be returned, and we are seeking to return them more expeditiously,” the White House official said.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the administration expected to deport the majority of the minors.

JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

FLORIDA

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Pot entrepreneurs fired up over proposed rules Growers, others complain about limited number of dispensaries for medical marijuana

BY DARA KAM NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – State health regulators heard an earful from growers, lawyers and lobbyists seeking to rake in some green from Florida’s new pot industry during a standing-roomonly, rule-making workshop Monday.

At the top of the complaint list: Concerns about a proposed lottery system to award five organizations the chance to grow, manufacture and dispense a type of medical marijuana approved by Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature this spring.

The first foray into the new medical marijuana law drew people from as far away as California who put themselves out as industry “experts,” some nurserymen and women who could be eligible to grow the pot and some of Tallahassee’s A-list lobbyists who inundated the state Department of Health with questions and suggestions.

Issue with dispensaries Complaints touched on every part of the new law, beginning with the number of dispensaries. Department of Health General Counsel Jennifer Tschetter said the agency’s preliminary plan was to limit the number of dispensaries to five as outlined in the law and to bar dispensaries from shipping

MICHAEL CIAGO/COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE/MCT

Allie Swann looks out the car window as her father, Butch Swann, drives with her to the grocery store on April 9 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Allie, who used to have hundreds of seizures a day, now has none after starting on Charlotte’s Web cannabis oil about six months ago. or transporting the final product.

The state needs “way more than five” dispensaries, and the nursery locations are “very inconvenient for the patient populations,” said Kerry Herndon, owner of Apopkabased Kerry’s Nursery.

Florida’s new law makes legal in Florida certain strains of marijuana that are low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD.

The lottery process The law specifically limits the composition of the seeds, plants and final product, usually an oil or paste, to no more than .8 percent THC and at least 10 percent CBD. The combination is purported to eliminate or dramatically reduce life-threatening seizures in children with severe epilepsy.

The law also allows patients who suffer from severe muscle spasms or cancer to be put on a “com-

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passionate use registry” for the low-THC product as long as their doctors approve.

The Department of Health released a proposed rule last week outlining that the new regulated industry would use a lottery to select single dispensing organizations in regions where more than one application was submitted.

More challenges That idea raised the hackles of lobbyists and growers, who complained that the state would be putting epileptic children and other patients at risk by failing to ensure that the most capable organizations would be responsible for crafting the substance they ingest.

“This process seems to reward the promise to perform better than the ability to perform,” said lobbyist Louis Rotundo, who represents the Florida Medical Cannabis Association.

Tschetter said that the agency chose a lottery process to avoid legal challenges and to speed up the process so that patients could get access to the compound sooner.

“We could find ourselves at (the Division of Administrative Hearings) for a couple of years talking about who could be the dispensing organization,” Tschetter said, inviting the audience to suggest alternatives to the lottery.

Still some vagueness Department spokesman Nathan Dunn told reporters after the meeting that the agency would consider revising the rule to do away with the lottery and that the agency has fast-tracked regulations regarding the law, signed by Gov. Rick Scott just weeks ago.

“Obviously we’re very committed to implementing this law. That’s demonstrated in the time frame with which we’ve already opened the Office of Compassionate Use, named the director and held the first rule workshop with feedback from people from around the state,” Dunn said.

Other concerns included the possibility that local governments might cre-

ate zoning restrictions barring dispensaries, possible price-gouging because of the regional monopolies established in the law, and vagueness about who the actual applicant for the dispensing organization would be.

Seeking help Under the law, eligible growers are limited to nurseries that have been doing business in Florida for at least 30 years and are producing at least 400,000 plants. Herndon, who owns one of the 46 eligible nurseries, said he has been approached by numerous individuals seeking to partner with him.

“I need help with the dispensaries, I need help with the compounding but I don’t know what level of ownership I should or must retain,” Herndon said. “We just need to know.”

Tschetter, Office of Compassionate Use Director Linda McMullen and other top-ranking department officials also heard from Paige Figi, whose daughter is linked with “Charlotte’s Web,” the low-THC, highCBD strain of marijuana distributed in Colorado that became the impetus for Florida and other states to pursue the non-euphoric pot to treat epileptic children.

“My issue is, speed of access is critical,” Figi said.

“Many other states are modeling their legislation after what you guys have done.”

Proven track record Joel Stanley, who with his brothers produces and distributes Charlotte’s Web in Colorado, warned regulators about misconceptions surrounding the strain. Each plant is unique and requires quality-control measures to ensure that patients are getting the correct genetic formula, he said.

“What makes Charlotte’s Web particularly special is it does have that track record,” he said. “It has that proven level of efficacy and it has a proven track record.”

But growers and others were also concerned about legal and other problems establishing the original crop of low-THC in Florida,

as all forms of marijuana are currently illegal under federal law.

“You have to make sure the law allows every participant to have this potentially incredible life-saving medicine without the risk of prison,” said Bob McKee, a lawyer, nurseryman and “Sanctuary Cannabis” partner who has hired prominent lobbyists Jon Costello, Steve Schale and Gary Rutledge. “We need to fix that. We need to get this right.”

Access unclear Other states have looked the other way to allow growers to begin cultivating the plant, Stanley said after the meeting.

It remains unclear how growers in Florida will gain access to the plant.

“Very quietly,” Fort Walton Beach Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who sponsored the legislation, said when asked how it will get into the state.

Gaetz, a lawyer, said there is no immunity from state or federal prosecution for bringing cannabis across state lines.

“But I know a few parents of children with intractable epilepsy who will be happy to go get it for you,” he said.

Medical marijuana group reaps $116,000 A political committee leading efforts to pass a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana collected $116,293 in contributions from June 21 to June 27, bringing its overall total to $3.56 million, according to newly filed reports.

The committee, “People United for Medical Marijuana,” had received a total of nearly $5.49 million in contributions and loans as of June 27, while spending about $5.16 million.

Much of the spending happened late last year and early this year, as supporters of the amendment worked to collect enough petition signatures to put the issue on the November ballot.

During the latest period, the largest contribution was $25,000 from Complete Hydroponics, a Miami firm, according to the reports.

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EDITORIAL

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JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act: How far we’ve come, how far we need to go Last week, as Floridians celebrated Independence Day, we also marked another important anniversary in our nation’s history: the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This momentous anniversary is an occasion for tributes to the courage of those who worked and sacrificed to end legal barriers to racial equality in America, and to reflect on what has changed since 1964.

Compared to the time since we declared our independence from Great Britain, 50 years is not so long.

But the changes that have happened in that time in dismantling the legal apparatus of racism – the dis-

Racial disparities

DR. evident JOYCE In Florida, we are still HAMILTON faced with racial disparities HENRY in education, employment, GUEST COLUMNIST

tance we’ve come since 1964 – are as significant and as revolutionary as any in our nation’s history.

However, as we reflect on the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and the incredible changes that it made possible, we do a disservice to the legacy of those who fought for that law if we do not also examine what is yet to be accomplished to end racial discrimination.

the criminal and juvenile justice systems, and in voting. Changes in these areas are critical if we are to fully deliver on the promise of the law.

We need to confront Florida’s continuing history of perpetuating a Jim Crow policy of permanently disenfranchising individuals who have a past felony conviction. Approximately 1.5 million Florida citizens have been disfranchised by this policy -- including one in four of the state’s voting age

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: GM RECALL

Black population are shut out of our democracy by the policy which was created in the post-Civil War era precisely to dilute the voting power of African-Americans.

As recently as 2011, we were confronted with a voter suppression law that made it harder for AfricanAmericans to vote. An African American voter mobilization effort, Souls to the Polls, was shut down when the Legislature reduced the number of Early Voting days and banned Sunday voting during the early voting period.

Millions behind bars We must also look at how our criminal justice system disproportionately impacts

racial and ethnic minorities.

Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in history. As Michelle Alexander has noted, Jim Crow laws may have been wiped off the books decades ago, but still an astounding percentage of African-Americans are warehoused in prisons or trapped in a permanent second class status. Our drug laws, more precisely how drug laws are enforced in minority communities, has led to this outcome.

The school-to-prisonpipeline, a series of policies and programs that criminalize juvenile behavior and push students out of classrooms and into the criminal justice system, disproportionately feeds on students of color.

And as Florida’s immigrant population grows and

Congress continues to refuse to fix our broken immigration system, Hispanic Floridians are stopped, questioned and detained by police who are implicitly encouraged to use racial profiling to enforce immigration laws.

Not the same To be sure, the Florida of 2014 is not the Florida of 1964. Explicitly racist laws and policies are no longer allowed, thanks in no small part to the Civil Rights Act – but subtler, more sophisticated and pernicious forms of racial inequity still exist 50 years after the law’s passage.

We must make it the work of today to stamp those out.

Dr. Joyce Hamilton Henry is director of Advocacy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

She is a Tampa resident.

Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

Galvanizing a change by being proactive

STEVE SACK, THE MINNEAPOLIS STGAR TRIBUNE

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 218 Florida Gov. Nan Rich? – Despite the fact that former state legislator Rich has been running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination for two years, Republican turned No Party Affiliation turned Democrat Charlie Crist is the frontrunner.

“Chain Gang Charlie” better not sleep on Rich like Hillary Clinton slept on Barack Obama in 2008. Rich was impressive at the National Action Network’s political forum in Opa-Locka two weeks ago. She knows the Black community’s important issues and has a history of successfully negotiating with Republican legislators – and fighting them when necessary. If she continues to resonate with Black voters as she did at the forum, a primary upset could be in the making…

Bro. Prez and the border – The president asks for billions to take care of kids fleeing crime and death in Central America. Where are the billions for our kids to flee crime and death in American urban centers like Bro. Prez’s hometown of Chicago, where 82 people were shot with 14 killed over the July 4th holiday weekend? Oh, I forgot. They are Black Americans. That means they are trapped – unless they pull themselves up by their own bootstraps without government support or intervention…

Israel vs. Palestine – Lemme get this

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

straight. European Jews who were collectively punished by the German government (which murdered Jewish children during the World War II era) get their own nation called Israel. The Israeli government then collectively punishes Palestinians – including murdering Palestinian children – as a consequence of a land dispute. (Bro. Prez lost all credibility to broker a lasting agreement when he refused to step in when Israel started grabbing more land, despite America’s warnings to stay put.)

Where’s the outrage from the Black fundamentalist Christians against the Israeli government that targets families of ‘terrorists,’ including infants, as official government policy? Have y’all lost your moral ‘salt,’ or are you afraid to have a “come to Jesus meeting” with the leadership of ‘God’s chosen people’?

Contact me at ccherry2@gmail. com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

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

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Whenever people find themselves on the path of always reacting instead of being proactive, problems will continue to manifest in many avenues. Being reactive in politics instead of proactive will leave you having the wrong people in office who don’t care about your needs or the needs of your community. In a real sense, unless people become proactive within the politics of their community and country, there’s sure to be disappointment, frustration, and aggravation.

In a recent report, former NAACP President Ben Jealous stated that the Black Belt (made up of southern states) are facing troubling signs. Here is what was found: “Large numbers of Black voters and voters of color remain unregistered.

New waves of voter suppression laws are being passed, and they have taken a form not seen since the rise of Jim Crow laws.

The general wisdom in many Black Belt states remains that when it comes to winning statewide office, candidates who support the views and concerns of people of color simply do not have a chance.”

Do something In an article published in The Root, Jealous goes on to say, “Registering just 30 percent of unregistered

DR. SINCLAIR GREY II GUEST COLUMNIST

Black voters would yield enough new voters to upset the balance of power in North Carolina and Virginia in presidential or midterm election year. This, he predicts, could allow voters of color to elect a candidate of their choice, and, at a minimum, affect the political decisions of all candidates in the race.”

Without addressing the importance of voting and the significance of accountability, many politicians will continue to take people of color for granted.

Whether your politician is a Democrat, Republican, or a member of the Tea Party, they must be held accountable.

What needs to be done • Read, research, and investigate every candidate who wants our vote.

It’s nice to hear what family and friends are saying, but you need to decide for yourself and vote with a clear conscience • Stop thinking about a political party and start looking at what individuals are communicating. The mistake many people make

is generalizing a political party without ever understanding the issues that are relevant to them and their community • Get involved in your local politics. Whether it’s running for a council office or volunteering, the more you become involved, the more informed you become.

• Register people to vote.

Without getting people registered to vote, we will always have a problem. We can’t merely pray about it, we have to act so that the right action can take place.

• Shift our thinking from watching reality shows to watching political shows.

• Stay informed.

There’s a need for the minority community to come together to discuss issues that are relevant and not redundant. At the top of our list must be voter registration, undoing laws that seek voter suppression, educating our youth and adults about the need to vote and to have accountability.

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.

Unfinished business: 50 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “The purpose of the law is simple…those who are equal before God shall now also be equal in the polling booths, in the classrooms, in the factories, and in hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, and other places that provide service to the public.” – President Lyndon B. Johnson, July 2, 1964 July 2 marked the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlawed discrimination and segregation based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

First introduced by President John F. Kennedy shortly before his 1963 assassination, the Civil Rights Act also offered greater protections for the right to vote and paved the way for another historic achievement one year later – the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Locked out, left out Momentum for the legislation picked up following the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the National Urban League’s Whitney M. Young, along with 250,000 activists and citizens, gathered to demand “Jobs and Freedom” for people of all races who were

MARC H. MORIAL NNPA COLUMNIST

locked out, left out, and disenfranchised.

President Kennedy, a Massachusetts liberal, introduced the bill in June of 1963, just five months before his assassination. It was up to his appointed successor, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, a former United States Senator from Texas with deep southern roots, to carry it over the finish line.

Despite extreme opposition, especially from his former southern Congressional allies, President Johnson successfully navigated the bill’s passage.

Opportunity gaps It was only 50 years ago that it was legal in some states to deny Blacks the right to eat in the same restaurants as Whites, to sit in the same movie theaters or even to apply for the same jobs. Thankfully, that is no longer true anywhere in America. We have also seen other gains, including a rising Black middle class and an increase in Af-

rican -American high school graduation rates. However, there is still a wide opportunity gap in America.

According to a recent USA Today article, “In almost every economic category, Blacks have been gaining, but not by enough. Median family income (in inflationadjusted dollars) is up from $22,000 in 1963 to more than $40,000 today, still just two-thirds of the median for all Americans.

Perhaps the most visible demonstration of the progress we have made over the past 50 years is the 2008 election and the 2012 reelection of Barack Obama as America’s first Black president. But even that achievement has been met with a backlash, as right wing voter suppression efforts have risen since President Obama first took office and the United States Supreme Court essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 last year. Obviously, 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, our work is not yet done.

Marc H. Morial, former mayor of New Orleans, is president and CEO of the National Urban League.

Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

EDITORIAL

US late in courting African leaders In 2008, the whole world applauded the United States for electing its first African-American president. No part of the world was happier than the continent of Africa with its 54 nations. After all, this president was half Caucasian and half Kenyan. He was a direct child of Africa, not just a descendent.

But to everyone’s surprise disappointment, President Obama during his first four years showed very little love for his father’s homeland. In fact, when African heads of state (President/Prime Minister) would request a meeting with this new president, they were denied. Even the First Lady of Kenya requested a short meeting with our First Lady and she was told in so many words, that will never happen.

As we visited various nations in Africa, we noticed that the disappointment started morphing into anger. We all thought that relations between Africa and our business entities would improve based on the person elected to lead the largest economy on earth. No, it didn’t happen. China, India, Pakistan, Turkey, etc. saw their relationships with African nations improving.

It is only natural that you love the one who loves you back. So,

HARRY C. ALFORD NNPA COLUMNIST

the billions of annual dollars that Africa trades with started to go at an increasing rate to nations other than America.

China kicks off summits With the United States having an African-American president, our business competitors picked up their game. China kicked it off with an “African Summit.” Their president invited every African president to come to its capital Beijing and receive heavy love.

They entertained them lavishly.

Even gave one big State dinner in the historical Great Hall. They gave them $20 billion in financial aid with a promise of another $10 billion. The president of China promised to provide financial loans for every major project they plan as long as a Chinese firm was performing the contract.

Japan, China and Russia Next came Japan, which hosted its African Summit in Tokyo. The

Japanese president gave 15 minutes of personal time with each of the 46 participating heads of state. The nation chipped in $30 billion in financial aid plus the funding of 10,000 internships for young African entrepreneurs and students.

India and the European Union had their African Summits also.

Even Russia is now getting into the “Love Africa Movement.”

They are providing financial aid and lending power to the continent. They are leveraging this positive relationship to gain needed votes at the UN as they start attacking their neighboring nations.

Evidently, as President Obama reflects on his legacy, he has decided to do something — even if it is token. If he needs to make up for lost opportunities, he had better do something fabulous.

However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Finally, he has called for an African Summit – August 4 – 6. All of us leaped in joy but as the itinerary is being formed, there seems to be a lot missing.

As opposed to the summits of our competitors, no African head of state will receive a one-on-one with our president. They will be herded into a room for some “interactive dialogue.” What? They

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VISUAL VIEWPOINT: US SUPREME CORPORATION

PAT BAGLEY, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

are supposed to come all the way over here for a lecture? The Senate will hold some meetings with them. Cabinet secretaries have been instructed to have some meetings with the contingent.

This is insulting. A president is supposed to meet with the other presidents. A cabinet secretary is a subordinate to a president.

Still not allowed at the table The next event has me scratching my head. They are going to, at last, have a state dinner. But it won’t be in the formal White

House. No, these African presidents will be escorted to the lawn of the White House. Where’s the love? They can’t even sit on the White House furniture and eat with exquisite china and such.

No, it’s the lawn for these Black politicians.

Harry C. Alford is the cofounder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce®. Write your own response at wwww.flcourier. com.

Advertising, support and African-American organizations In the “afterglow” of the Fourth of You Lie, I am flipping through an African-American magazine, enjoying the content, but looking for the “bite.” For how can you not bite when you look at the space in which African-American people occupy? Our middle class is growing, but fragile. The level of poverty among AfricanAmericans has hardly changed in the past decade. Unemployment rates for African- Americans remain high, despite talk of economic “recovery.” But too many of our organization have little bark, and even less bite.

Have we been co-opted by the organizations that support us, the advertisers that fund our organizations, efforts, and magazines? To some extent, advertisers and others are working in their own best interest, targeting

DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

people who will purchase their products. From hair products to banks, it makes sense for organizations to reach out to the African American community. At the same time, is there a price we pay for patronage?

Truth or dare?

I am stepping into shaky ground when I raise this point.

My own organization, Economic Education, seeks contracts and grants to support efforts to engage in financial and economic literacy. Banks will be among my

likely supporters. Will that muzzle me?

I remember, years ago, speaking at a technology organization’s conference and earning a collective gasp of horror when I spoke about the absence of African-Americans in senior positions. After the speech and reception, the sister who had organized the event asked to speak with me privately. “Everything you said was correct”, she said.

“But this was not the place to say it.” She went on to share that she had suggested that I do a series of talks for the organization, and that while she could not rescind her own proposal, she would be tepid.

It is something to think about especially in light of the Koch Foundation’s recent support of the United Negro College Fund

How world has changed since I ran for president This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of my 1984 campaign for the presidency. Last Saturday at the kickoff of the annual Rainbow Push Convention, Rep. Maxine Waters led a panel exploring the effects of that campaign — registering over a million new voters, helping Democrats take back the Senate in 1986, lifting up new leaders from New York City’s David Dinkins to Minnesota’s future Senator Paul Wellstone.

But looking in a rear view mirror can tell you where you’ve been, but not where you are going. What strikes me about the 1984 campaign are not the accomplishments of the past, but the implications for the future. In 1984, we argued that the Democratic Party had to reach out to African-Americans, Latinos, anti-war progressives, small farmers, the emerging gay and lesbian community — the locked out and left out, a Rainbow Coalition that could help change the country. Now as Barack Obama’s historic election in 2008 and re-election in 2012 showed, that Rainbow Coalition is the new majority. People of color, single women, millennials — the so-called “Rising American Electorate” — fueled Obama’s victories.

Will they show up?

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

on labor, competed to show that they too were muscular abroad. Reagan and Thatcher argued that there were no alternatives.

We challenged that myth at home and abroad. And we were right. We argued that America’s economy grew best from the bottom up, when the rewards of growth were widely shared.

We pushed to empower workers, not crush unions, to protect worker rights in trade deals, not just investor rights.

We called for providing public pension funds with guarantees to invest in an Infrastructure Bank that would rebuild America and put people to work. We pushed for investment in education and for single payer health care that would provide greater opportunity and basic security for working families.

Today, once more our national agenda is too limited. The economy works only for the few, while most Americans struggle to stay afloat. Vital public investments in everything from schools to affordable college, bridges and mass transit are starved for funds.

This limited debate must be challenged. If it is challenged, as our campaign in 1984 showed, new energy will be unleashed, the new majority can be mobilized. If there is no challenge, then too many will lose hope — and will stay home. Thirty years later, there are new, sophisticated techniques and far greater floods of money in politics. But the lessons of 1984 still hold. The country needs change. A majority can be forged for that change, but only if they are given a reason to get engaged.

They turned out in large numbers in 2008 and 2012 and Democrats won.

They stayed home in 2010 and Republicans took the majority in the House and gained governors and in state legislatures. The fundamental question in 2014 and 2016 is whether this coalition is inspired to register and vote, or whether it is discouraged and disaffected and doesn’t show up. The 1984 campaign was also a challenge to the constricted agenda of both parties. Ronald Reagan had launched the conservative era in 1980.

He cut taxes on the rich, doubled the military budget in peacetime, unleashed a fierce attack on unions, slashed spending on housing and the poor, and launched a New Cold War, featuring covert wars from Nicaragua Jesse Jackson Sr. is the founder and to Angola and a new nuclear arms race.

Too many Democrats cowered before president of the Rainbow/PUSH Cohis charge. They embraced tax cuts and alition. Write your own response at deregulation, went AWOL in the attack www.flcourier.com.

(UNCF). While many in the HBCU universe are grateful for the contribution, others are repelled by it, to the point of declining the direct contribution to their schools.

When I was President of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (NANBPW), I was introduced to a corporate sponsor by one of my board members.

Beforehand, I was asked to “tone it down” for fear that my abrasive style might turn the sponsor off. I sat for tea and bit my tongue so many times that I thought I’d find its tip floating in my tea. The result? A generous sponsorship and a hot, cleansing shower for me.

I am raising this question chafing at the paucity of independent and critical Black voices, under-

standing that too many are muted by the corporate support they receive. If voices are not muted, then the concern about support and challenging positions are certainly discussed behind closed doors. And the result?

“We have to look into this matter.” “We need to study this a bit more.” In other words, we need to check with the folks who support us to make sure this is okay.

It is often said that we buy what we want and beg for what we need. We need independent Black voices. We need them, but will we pay for them?

Julianne Malveaux is an economist and author based in Washington, DC. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

2014: Meaning of July Fourth for the African-American “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 light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”

– Frederick Douglas – The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro – 1852 As America celebrated July Fourth, grills smoked, the salads were tossed, pools filled, and fireworks displayed, we reflected upon how far we have come as a nation and yet how far we have to go.

I implore African-Americans to read the entire text of Frederick Douglas’ famous speech, The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro. Are we as a people able to enjoy the blessings, the justice, and the liberty that are celebrated on this day?

We have become all too familiar with the data. According to Bread for the World, one in four African-Americans live below the federal poverty line and more than a third (35.7 percent) of all African-American children live in poverty. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that for 2013, the underemployment rate for African-American workers was 13.4 percent compared 6.7 percent for White workers. That does not account for those who have lost faith in the process and dropped out of the system.

Net worth nearly worthless The Pew Research Center reports that the Median Net Worth of Households for Whites is $113,149 and for African-Americans is $5,677. The NAACP reports that African-Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million of the incarcerated population. African-Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of Whites.

These are just a few examples of the frightening realities with which we are faced.

Yes, legislative and judicial progress has been made. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 provided for the equality of citizens of the United States in the enjoyment of “civil rights

DR. WILMER J. LEON III TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

and immunities.” That Act was undermined by the Tilden/Hayes compromise of 1877.

We have recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision and the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and will soon celebrate the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. One problem is that too many have confused the legislative successes with the ultimate victory, changing the racist core and premise upon which this country was founded as memorialized in the U.S. Constitution.

I take this moment to focus on the past because as Douglas said, “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future.”

Bring about a change Douglas continued, “At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, to-day, 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.”

As we enjoy the Fourth, eating ribs and hot dogs, we must ask ourselves, are we as a people able to enjoy the blessings, the justice, and the liberty that are celebrated on this day? If not, what must we do to bring about substantive and permanent change.

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the producer/ host of the Sirius/XM Satellite radio channel 110 program “Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon.” Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

TOJ A6

NATION

JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

PETE SOUZA/WHITE HOUSE

The National Policy Alliance, shown meeting with President Obama on Feb. 8, 2011, has reformed to undergird the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Black policy group vows to rescue political research arm of Joint Center

BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

The National Policy Alliance, a coalition of thousands of Black elected officials and public policy executives, founded more than 40 years ago under the leadership of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, has recommitted to restoring the Joint Center’s historic political research wing, which is currently dormant due to a lack of funds.

“The whole idea now is for the Joint Center to begin to utilize this constituency group and we’re going to rely upon the Joint Center like we used to do for research and statistics and support and that kind of thing,” said Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford, a founding

chair of the National Public Alliance (NPA). “I’m back now as mayor of the historic Tuskegee, Ala. I am now going to devote some time to rebuilding Johnny this organization Ford to the level that it once was.”

Ford said the NPA, which represents at least 12,000 elected officials, had gone through a period of inactivity for the past several years although it met with President Barack Obama at the White House twice, most recently on Feb. 8, 2011, to discuss policy issues. He said he aims to reestablish that relationship as well

as undergird and revive the political arm of the Joint Center.

Defunct for months The Trice Edney News Wire confirmed last month that the Joint Center’s once powerful political think tank has been defunct for at least five months and that the center is now mainly focused on health issues.

David Bositis, its longtime researcher of Black politics and election statistics was among at least seven staffers who left the center last spring due to the lack of funding. The current interim president, Spencer Overton – on sabbatical from his law professorship at George Washington University – is working without a salary.

Ford said he has met with Overton to reestablish an agreement through a memorandum of understanding.

According to the memo, “The NPA began in early 1970s under the leadership and direction of the Joint Center. The earlier organizational name was the National Policy Institute. NPA members have convened every four years, at the beginning of each Presidential election year, to discuss public policies and issues that serve the interests and needs of the African American community.”

Member organizations Ford and other principals of the Joint Center and NPA who were interviewed during the cen-

ter’s annual fundraising dinner June 25 conceded that the dinner alone would not be enough to rebuild the political arm upon which the Joint Center was founded 44 years ago in 1970 to increase Black political participation.

The member organizations are: Blacks in Government; Congressional Black Caucus; Judicial Council of the National Bar Association; National Association of Black County Officials; National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials; National Black Caucus of School Board Members; National Black Caucus of State Legislators; National Conference of Black Mayors; World Conference of Mayors, and the Joint Center.

The annual dinner, held in a Downtown D.C. hotel, drew hundreds of political insiders and elected officials, including heads of the nine NPA organizations, plus more than a dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“For over 40 years, they have provided the intellectual capital that makes policy possible,” Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) said of the Joint Center. “Having that information and documentation really helps make policy.

They are not relegated to sound bites and slogans, but real solid information.”

Research arm needed Given economic and social disparities that remain, Darlene Young, president of Blacks in Government, said, “We need [the research arm of the Joint Center] more now than ever before.”

The center’s immediate past president Ralph Everett was a dinner program honoree as well as U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who received the coveted Louis E. Martin Great American Award. Everett, who resigned effective Dec. 31 last year, was reluctant to answer questions about the organization’s finances. But he stressed the necessity of the political arm.

“The Joint Center is the only organization that does the kind of tracking that we do in that area.

So, I’m very hopeful that it would come back, but again that’s a decision by the board of governors,” Everett said.

Dean looks to Howard law school’s past to shape its future

BY RENEE SCHOOF MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON — Danielle R. HolleyWalker, the new dean of the Howard University School of Law in the nation’s capital, said the school will build on its heritage of fighting for civil rights by broadening its pioneering work in social reforms.

She takes charge of one of the oldest historically Black university law schools in the country as the civil rights era receives renewed attention this week because of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Howard figured prominently in the battles over civil rights. Its former dean, legal scholar Charles Hamilton Houston, and his student Thurgood Marshall, who went on to become a Danielle Holley-Walker towering figure on the Supreme Court, led the litigation that destroyed the legal case for segregation.

That Supreme Court ruling in the Brown v. Board of Education case helped to inspire civil rights protests that led President Lyndon Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964, which outlawed numerous forms of discrimination.

‘Clinic’ on justice and injustice While the school, according to its website, opened in 1869 with a class of just six students who had to meet at night at their professors’ homes, it evolved into “the embodiment of legal activism. It emerged as a ‘clinic’ on justice and injustice in America, as well as a clearinghouse for information on the civil rights struggle.”

Holley-Walker said she hoped that under her stewardship Howard would build on its traditions and embark on “a new era, and that to me includes everything from issues of income inequality to housing, intellectual property issues … to think about it in terms of environmental justice, and also to think about it in terms of leadership. What’s really new for the 21st century is to think about social justice in a variety of ways, everything from criminal law … (to) having diversity in the boardroom.”

Influenced by Houston and Marshall Holley-Walker, who holds an undergraduate degree from Yale and a law degree from Harvard, became the law school’s new dean in June after a stint as a professor and an associate dean at the

“I feel that lawyering is … such a noble profession that you really need to have a calling for it. You need to have a strong sense of purpose when you enter the profession.”

Danielle R. Holley-Walker Dean of the Howard University School of Law University of South Carolina Law School.

She’s been a clerk to a federal judge, a civil litigator and an author of legal articles.

“I feel that lawyering is … such a noble profession that you really need to have a calling for it,” she said. “You need to have a strong sense of purpose when you enter the profession.”

Law schools give students knowledge about the law, Holley-Walker said, but they also should be a place where students find issues they care about passionately, such as cleaner oceans, safer streets or more diversity in corporate leadership.

“Through the platform of being a lawyer you can really go about changing those things,” she said. “Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall and others, they demonstrated this fully, and it was a very powerful influence for me.”

Next generation of leaders Howard’s law school opened to provide legal training for African-Americans, who’d been excluded from the profession.

Houston, dean from 1930-35, believed in the idea of the lawyer as social engineer.

He said that meant a highly skilled person who understood the Constitution and knew how to use it “in the solving of problems of local communities and in bettering conditions of the underprivileged citizens.”

Holley-Walker said Howard’s law students were “going to work on transforming their communities and transforming their workplaces in the public and private sector. These are the next generation of leaders, and that excites me about Howard because I know that is a strong tradition of the law school.”

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Freedom Rider sacrificed youth for movement See page B4

JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

Prince wows crowd at Essence Festival See page B5

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

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‘The thing with clinical depression is you begin to not be able to deal with things. Nothing was right. I was not normal.’

– Zakeya Foster

enough to share her journey with depression. Many of her followers likely suffer in silence.

Foster emerged a Black woman’s hope.

Clinical depression is a serious medical illness. Mental Health America states that many factors can contribute to clinical depression, including cognitive issues (for example, negative thinking patterns); biological and genetic factors; gender (it affects more women than men); other medications; other illnesses; and situational factors.

The good news is that over 80 percent of people with depression can be treated successfully.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, many African-American women do not seek treatment because it is viewed as a personal weakness, not a health problem. Only 12 percent of Black women seek help and/or treatment.

‘I can handle this’

PHOTOS COURTESY OF IZIGGY PROMOTIONS

Zakeya Foster of Miami takes her dog Summer out for a walk. The 41-year-old mom says her therapist helps her stay on track.

‘Strong Black woman’

OPENS UP

Talk-show host Zakeya Foster, diagnosed with clinical depression, shares her journey

Editor’s note: Jenise Griffin Morgan, senior editor of the Florida Courier, is writing a series of stories on Blacks and mental health. She is a 2013-2014 fellow for the Rosalyn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism.

BY JENISE GRIFFIN MORGAN FLORIDA COURIER

Above, Zakeya Foster (seated right) tapes a “Classy Connections and Communication’’ show, which airs on TruRythmeTV. In the center photo, she is shown with her mom, Glenda Foster.

The self-proclaimed “Miami Heat Junkie’’ also poses with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Zakeya Foster’s life mirrors the 21st-century, quintessentially strong Black woman.

She’s in charge, enthusiastic, goal-driven and resigned to believe she is equipped to handle anything. Throughout most of her life she has done just that.

But the 41-year-old Miami resident faced a harsh reality – she has been diagnosed with an illness that cannot be seen yet it requires medical attention to combat symptoms more serious than adjusting to a mere life transition.

Professionally, Foster has successfully catapulted from a career in public school administration to her current role as host of “Classy Connections and Communication,” an online TV show that highlights doings of movers and shakers in South Florida. She gets so many invitations to Miami happenings that she can’t keep track. She’s one of the Miami Heat’s biggest fans

and has the stats to prove it.

Her “Miami Heat Junkie” Facebook page has about 4,000 followers.

But both television and social media fans were shocked last year when she announced the following: She has been diagnosed with clinical depression.

She has a therapist.

She has been taking prescribed medication.

Unexpected response Zayeka Foster is brave.

While most viewed her as “having it going on,” the once vibrant pillar of strength recognized that instead of feeling like a top-40 chart buster, her behaviors and life began to resemble more of a B-side hit. She still garnered acceptable appeal, but each day became an insurmountable challenge.

“I am a go-getter,” Foster told the Courier. “If you tell me it’s impossible, I’ll tell you it’s not impossible. If you tell me it’s hard, I will say let’s find a way to do it. I was trying to be the model of that strong Black woman.”

Following her public revelation on her talk show late last year, a barrage of emails and Facebook messages and posts ensued from people who were elated she was simply bold

“The thing with clinical depression is you begin to not be able to deal with things. Nothing was right. I was not normal,” Foster related. “In 2007, I was depressed but I could still function.’’

In 2007, Foster was working as an assistant to a school principal. Her employer called her in to ask what was wrong and she started crying.

“I was dragging. Not talking to anyone, coming in late. I wasn’t the person she hired. She hired a motivator. She hired a vibrant young lady. When I was there, I was not effective. I told her about my marriage and things just falling apart around me,” said Foster.

“I was also in college studying elementary education. My grades were good and then they went down. It was already hard going to school, being a wife, mother, working and being a youth pastor. She asked me if I needed employee assistance.

I went only to save my job. I thought, ‘I can handle this and with my faith I will be alright.’ ” But she wasn’t. Foster said she learned that her husband, whom she wed in 1992, was having an affair.

“I still go to the same church.

My church people took his side.

When people break up, they take sides. When I tried to talk to the minister, he said I needed to fast and pray. It was a very lonely place I was in,’’ Foster explained.

She thought at the time, “I don’t have the church because no one really understands where I am.”

Pain and stress When Foster finally called the employee assistance program to receive counseling, she hung up on the person who answered the phone. Again, thinking she could handle it. Then she began experiencing pain all over her body. Foster went to a doctor and was diagnosed with high blood pressure and the doctor gave her sleeping pills to help with sleep.

According to Dr. Daniel HallFlavin with the Mayo Clinic, pain and depression are closely related.

In many people, depression causes unexplained physical symptoms such as back pain or headaches. This kind of pain may be the first or the only sign of depression.

“Pain and the problems it causes can wear you down over time, and may begin to affect See STRONG, Page B2

EVENTS

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FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR St. Petersburg: 1st Downs 4 Life will host an All-Star Weekend Welcoming Gala meet and greet, which will include a live band and dinner. In addition, founder Louis Murphy Jr. will recognize All-Star student athletes. The event is July 10 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Hilton Bayfront, 333 First S. More information: www.blackinthebay.com.

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

Fort Lauderdale: T-Pain’s “Drankin Patna Tour’’ featuring Snootie Wild and Bando Jonez takes place on Aug. 12 at the Revolution Live.

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

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

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.

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.

JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

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.

Kissimmee: The Hip Hop Legends Jam 2014 will feature DMX, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rock, Rakim, Biz Markie, Black Sheep and Special Ed. The show is Aug. 9 at the Silver Spurs Arena at Osceola Heritage Park.

Hollywood: The Wayans Brothers perform Aug. 15 at Hard Rock Live.

Feeling the pain

PHOTO COURTESY OF IZIGGY PROMOTIONS

STRONG from B1

your mood. Chronic pain causes a number of problems that can lead to depression, such as trouble sleeping and stress,” he writes. “Disabling pain can cause low self-esteem due to work, legal or financial issues. Depression doesn’t just occur with pain resulting from an injury. It’s also common in people who have pain linked to a health condition such as diabetes or migraines.’’

Foster kept going to her medical doctor. She could barely sit in her chair the pain was so bad and sometimes would go into the bathroom and lie down on the floor because her back hurt so badly. When she was diagnosed with gallstones and had gall bladder surgery, Foster figured that she finally had discovered the source of her discomfort. Two weeks later, the pain returned.

“It was my pride. I didn’t want anyone to know I needed to see employee assistance. Before you know it, the pain is back.

I’m not sleeping and I’m feeling more depressed. I have a new principal and a very stressful job. New programs, new training, do payroll, purchasing

and audits.’’

Foster eventually saw a psychiatrist who prescribed Wellbutrin for the depression and Temazepan for the insomnia. She began to feel better and moved on from her marriage and began dating.

‘I felt I would die’ By 2012, she became worse. “I walked around life feeling like someone was scratching with their fingernails on the chalkboard. Someone asks you a question and you can’t answer it because all you hear in your head is this noise.’’

Foster was talking on the phone while driving to work one day and became agitated with the friend who wanted her to help get a tutoring program into her school. She felt the friction of mixing friendship with business.

“I was talking to him as I was driving to work,” Foster said. “Once I pulled into the parking lot at school, it was like the whole world stopped. The Superwoman, Super Mama and Super churchwoman came tumbling down. Trying to be the best person I can but I was done. I couldn’t move to get out of the car.

All I could do is sit in my car and scream. I couldn’t see my phone to dial my mom who also worked at the school. I felt if I got out

KEWIN COSMOS

Dominican-American singer-songwriter Kewin Cosmos will be one of the performers at the Tampa Bay Caribbean Carnival at Jannus Live, 200 First Ave. N., St. Petersburg, from July 12-13. Ticket information and lineup of performers are available at www.tampacarnival.com.

LISA NICHOLS

Transformational coach and teacher Lisa Nichols will be part of the Steve Harvey Inspirational Tour, which will stop at The Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg on Oct. 18.

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

of car and walked into the school I would die. It was the worst feeling I ever had in my life. For a good solid 10 minutes I was zoned out and didn’t know who I was.”

Zakeya Foster poses with Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert.

STOJ

Foster’s mom rushed out to help her daughter but didn’t really know what to do.

“When I saw her break down in that car, I didn’t know what to do. She made it to the school, she made it to the job, but she wouldn’t get out. She was screaming to the top of her voice. She was bawling. I was just outdone. I couldn’t help. … I saw her but I didn’t see her,” said her mother, Glenda Foster.

Foster, her mom’s only child, said she had to be strong just like her mom always had been. Foster herself is the daughter of a 22-year-old, Nia Harris.

“You keep putting weights on top of weights and you break,” referring to stress and environmental issues she felt, said Foster. “My energy level was not really physical energy. My demeanor changed, my heart and my mind were sore. Nothing was lining up. I got to the point where I couldn’t sit and have a conversation.

All I wanted to do is cry or explode. Everything was frustrating and upsetting.

“If something happened and it was supposed to be at a level five, I felt like it was a zillion. People kept telling you you are strong.

You are thinking you are better off dead because you know that is the only thing that will take that noise in your head away.

It’s not that people want to kill themselves. It’s the frustration of the noise; it’s so loud in your brain.”

KANDI BURRUSS

Kandi Burruss, a star of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,’’ will appear at the Allstate Tom Joyner Reunion during Labor Day weekend. More information: www.blackamericaweb.com.

I’m learning to take care of Zakeya. I focus on my goals.

“I can help others now.

Had I dealt with it in 2007, it would not have gotten to this. By the time I went again in 2012, it was bad,” she added. “If I had gone regularly (to the therapist) she would have been able to help me avoid some of what went on. I believe a strong woman doesn’t mean you have to deal with everything without getting help.’’

Bright future Foster’s goals are numerous.

The graduate of Miami

Norland High School attended the University of Phoenix but left because of her depression. She is currently enrolled at Union Institute University seeking a degree in leadership.

Along with continuing to build her Classy Connections brand, she’s writing a book about her journey and working on opening a dance studio. She also is a community advocate for Links of Love, a community program for youth.

LaShawn Walls, Foster’s publicist, is excited about her friend sharing her journey in hopes that it will help other “strong Black women.’’

“Zakeya gives her heart in everything that she does. Her spirit uplifts and encourages others to know that if she can face adversities and still come out smiling, so can they. This is only the beginning of her self-empowered journey; the rest has yet to be written,’’ Walls told the Courier.

Added Foster, “When we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.’’

Florida Courier writer Starla Vaughns Cherin contributed to this report.

Staying on track After her outburst in her car, Foster saw a therapist, Dr. Emma Maldonado, regularly. She went every week. Then it dropped to once a month. Then to every other month.

The excuse was because she couldn’t leave work.

Now she sees her old patterns of the superwoman returning. She realizes she shouldn’t have ever stopped, even when she felt fine.

“God’s timing is what it is. Some months ago I wouldn’t have been able to say this. I would have told you I have conquered this. My therapist told me, ‘You are waiting for this to be over.

Seeing a therapist helps her stay on track.

“My therapist holds me accountable for my goals while helping me learn to cope with the challenges. What I especially like about her is she’s also a life coach. I still have fears of breaking down again, but

UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS A PLATINUM DUNES/BLUMHOUSE/WHY NOTEXECUTIVE PRODUCTION “ THE PURGE: ANARCHY” FRANK GRILLO CARMEN EJOGO ZACH GILFORD KIELE SANCHEZ AND MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PRODUCERS JEANETTE VOLTURNO-BRI LL LUC ETIENNE PRODUCED WRITTEN AND

BY JASON BLUM p.g.a. MICHAEL BAY ANDREW FORM BRAD FULLER SEBASTI ´ EN K. LEMERCIER p.g.a. DIRECTED BY JAMES DE MONACO #PURGEANARCHY A UNIVERSAL RELEASE © 2014 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

STARTS FRIDAY, JULY 18

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JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

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SPORTS

The disappearance of the African-American coach Blacks shut out of college basketball

onship in 1984, and they played for the title in ’82 and in ’85. Richardson won the national championship with star forward Corliss Williamson in 1994, and went back to the Final Four a year later.

“For whatever reason, it’s not in vogue for the great Black athlete to play for a Black coach,” said Paul Hewitt, the coach at George Mason.

BY STACY M. BROWN SPECIAL TO NEW AMERICA MEDIA

Just a handful of years after the tumultuous, racially charged era of the 1960s, Georgetown coach John Thompson peered over his shoulder during a game at McDonough Gym in Northwest. What the coach saw he’d never forget. Neither would many others. “Thompson the Nigger flop must go,” the racist banner read.

“Today, this generation doesn’t even know who John Thompson is,” said Brian Ellerbe, a Capitol Heights, Maryland, native and former NCAA Division I men’s basketball coach who worked at several schools, including George Washington University in Northwest.

Like many, Ellerbe, 50, laments the glaring absence of African-American coaches in Division I basketball. Ellerbe stopped short of accusing anyone of racism and admits that a Black coach today probably wouldn’t have to endure the bigotry faced by the legendary Thompson in the 1970s.

Not even interviewed However, when asked whether an old-boy network might be responsible for the dearth of AfricanAmerican coaches, Ellerbe said the matter runs much deeper.

“A lot of the hiring practices are far more sophisticated and convoluted,” he said. “Today, the athletic directors and the presidents hire search firms to find coaches and [Black coaches] are not clients of those search firms.”

Ellerbe said athletic directors and presidents have moved toward search firms as a means to protect themselves if a coach fails.

It’s a system that effectively locks out African Americans, he said. “We’re not even getting an interview, a phone call returned or even an email returned,” Ellerbe said.

ESPN reported in May that, of the 25 jobs that have opened this year, 13 have been the result of

Focus on parents

RON KENKINS/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/MCT

Connecticut head coach Kevin Ollie watches first half action as the Florida Gators faced the Connecticut Huskies in the first semifinal game of the Final Four at AT&T Stadium on April 5 in Arlington, Texas.

Black coaches being fired or resigning, including Tony Barbee at Auburn; Jason Capel at Appalachian State; Louis Orr at Bowling Green; Clarence Finley at Central Arkansas; Ron Mitchell at Coppin State; Greg Jackson at Delaware State; Mike Jarvis at Florida Atlantic; Cliff Warren at Jacksonville; Frankie Allen at Maryland-Eastern Shore; Stan Heath at South Florida; Jason James at Tennessee-Martin; Travis Williams at Tennessee State; and James Johnson at Virginia Tech.

A net loss Pat Forde, one of Yahoo!

Sports’ top basketball writers, said presuming that historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) such as Coppin State, Delaware State, MarylandEastern Shore and Tennessee State fill their open-

ings with minorities, college basketball could well be looking at a net loss in Black head coaches next year.

“And then there figures to be several more Black coaches entering the season on the hot seat. Among them: Lorenzo Romar at Washington; Craig Robinson at Oregon State; Oliver Purnell at DePaul; Anthony Grant at Alabama; Frank Haith at Missouri; Mike Anderson at Arkansas; Trent Johnson at Texas Christian University; David Carter at Nevada; and Paul Hewitt at George Mason,” he said.

Forde also noted that if search firms are simply an extension of college sports’ old-boy network among overwhelmingly White administrators, it stands to reason that most of the recommendations will be to hire White coaches.

An NCAA spokeswoman declined to comment.

Lowest in 20 years Still, the percentage of African-American head coaches stands at its lowest level in 20 years. The University of Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie, who coached his team to the national championship earlier this year, also expressed concern over the lack of Black men on the bench.

“It’s definitely a concern,” said Ollie, 41. “It’s definitely something we need to take a long look at, and hopefully we can get more African Americans in these jobs, in these positions, that they can run a program.”

Ollie said challenges facing Black coaches are far more complex than the issues confronted by such pioneers as Thompson, Temple’s John Chaney,

Villanova’s George Raveling and Cincinnati’s Nolan Richardson.

‘Holding the hammer’ Raveling, Thompson, Chaney and Richardson led the Black Coaches Association (B.C.A.). The group, so powerful in the 1980s and ’90s, remains, but it’s a shell of what it used to be.

“In the old days, when they saw the old B.C.A., they saw a bunch a Black folks holding the hammer,” Raveling told the New York Times in April after the NCAA Tournament ended. He said that hammer proved to be extraordinary talent, which included the fact that Patrick Ewing single-handedly turned Georgetown into a destination.

Led by Ewing, the Hoyas won the national champi-

With approximately 330 head coaching jobs in Division I basketball, the percentage of African-Americans counts fewer than 19 percent. Meanwhile, more than 57 percent of Division I athletes are Black and Ellerbe said there should be more coaches of color, individuals who might be able to better relate to young African-American athletes.

“One of the biggest problems is the parents of the young athletes,” said Ellerbe, a Rutgers University graduate who said he’s now seeking to become an athletic director. “Parents and guardians keep sending their kids to the other guys, not to us. The only time they send their kids to us, the only time they want a Black coach involved is when their kid is in trouble and, I’m here to tell you that, the D.C. area is one of the biggest culprits.”

Ellerbe said it’s important that coaches, administrators, alumni and others continue to shine a spotlight on the lack of African-Americans in Division I play.

He said his friend, Stanford head coach and D.C. native Johnny Dawkins, didn’t get a raise or contract extension after leading his team to this year’s Sweet 16, but every other coach who made it that far received new deals or more money.

“I’m done and out of it and I’m happy,” Ellerbe said. “But, for the guys who are still in it, something needs to be said. They have to have a voice.”

This story was special to New American Media from the Washington Informer.

Ghanaian-American: World Cup an opportunity to share rich heritage with son

BY SANDRA BENTIL SPECIAL TO THE COURIER

COMMENTARY

My Ghana Football Association shirts and jerseys sparked many conversations over the past month with complete strangers about the World Cup and America’s chance of advancing in the games. It was incredibly refreshing to see Americans interested in something the rest of the world has been passionate about for decades.

Many of us remember the days when we had to order special antennae to mount on our rooftops and pray that we could catch some Arabic or Latin American TV network to watch the World Cup – Sandra if the weathBentil er and the luck were on your side.

For me, an American-born Ghanaian who worked in television news, having access to international newsfeeds was a huge perk.

down to the championship game. The sports director’s argument for his non-interest wasn’t unfounded – after all it was common knowledge that Americans had no interest in soccer.

As a result of the increased interest has come discontent with me (an American) rooting for Ghana. Since both the USA and Ghana were in the same group, they had to play each other. I saw this as an opportunity for me to pass on to my son the opportunity to know and love our beloved Ghana as we grow up away from it. The USA defeated Ghana on June 16.

USA vs. Ghana Back then, most of my coworkers had never heard of the World Cup with the exception of the sports director, who normally only cared about the winner and had no interest in the drama that unfolded as each of the group games whittled

Spectators enjoy a friendly match between Ghana and Korea at SunLife Stadium in Miami Gardens on June 9.

PHOTOS BY SANDRA BENTIL/ SPECIAL TO THE COURIER

Started rooting early When I heard that the Ghana Black Stars were playing a friendly match in South Florida just before their arrival in Brazil, I immediately made arrangements for us to go. It may seem unpatriotic to some, but it is not often a piece of my family’s background presents itself in my backyard.

My son, Isaiah, and I had the opportunity to meet Black Star Player Michael Essien and former team team captain Stephen Appiah, both of whose names appear on the backs of the two Ghana Football Association jerseys Isaiah has worn since he was a baby.

To be able to provide my son, who doesn’t remem-

ber his visit to Ghana, this opportunity was such a blessing for us both. Isaiah and I were in the SunLife Stadium in Miami Gardens on June 9, decked out in our Ghana football shirts, cheering at the top of our lungs for the Black Stars as they beat South Korea 4-0.

Also present at the match was German-Ghanaian actor and Atlanta resident Boris Kodjoe.

And even though the tables turned and the USA defeated Ghana in their opening game, I still remain proud of the both teams. I was even more proud of my son, who continued to wear

his Ghana jersey to summer camp even after The Black Stars lost to the U.S. team.

It has been great to watch Americans tap into the joy and drama of the World Cup games and be able to share interest in an event I’ve known and loved for years.

Isaiah and I are already looking ahead to Team USA and The Black Stars’ run in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Game.

Sandra Bentil, a Tampa-based journalist, is a firs-generation Ghanaian-American with family in the U.S., Europe and Africa.

Isaiah Akiwumi, left, looks on while Michael Essien and Mubarak Wakaso of The Black Stars sign his FIFA World Cup book.

B4

CULTURE

JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

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The path to the Congressional Gold Medal Dr. Martin and Coretta King recently were bestowed the high honor that can take long time to receive

Vocalist Benita Washington performs during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 10, 2013. U.S. House and Senate Leaders posthumously presented the medals to Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, victims of the 1963 Birmingham bombing. The medal is awarded in recognition of how their sacrifice served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.

BY RICHARD SIMON LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

WASHINGTON — Pat Summitt may be on the way to receiving the Congressional Gold Medal, but Sally Ride has a way to go.

Many are recommended for Congress’ highest civilian honor, but only a handful receive it.

Still, it’s been awarded to a heart surgeon, a comedian, a pope, a queen and members of the 1980 Summer Olympics team who couldn’t compete for the other kind of gold because the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Games.

President Barack Obama recently signed legislation awarding the medal to the American Fighter Aces; members of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders; the Monuments Men, whose story was depicted in the George Clooney film; and members of the 65th Infantry Regiment, known as the Borinqueneers, a Latino unit during World Wars I and II and the Korean War.

PETE MAROVICH/MCT

Honor for Kings Congressional leaders posthumously awarded the medal to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King at a Capitol Hill ceremony, on June 24, the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and to Israeli President Shimon Peres.

A week later, they presented the medal posthumously to Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews from going to Nazi death camps.

Supporters must line up twothirds of the 435-member House and 67 of the 100 senators as cosponsors for a measure to be considered. The push to honor women’s basketball coach Summitt has 113 sponsors in the House and two sponsors in the Senate; so far the movement for Ride, the first American woman to travel into space, has 81 sponsors in the House, but no Senate bill.

Who gets a medal often depends on who gets behind the effort and how persistent they are in pushing for the recognition. Elizabeth Taylor’s appearance before a congressional committee on behalf of John Wayne in the late ’70s helped the Duke get it.

Military heroes first The first recipients of the medal — established years before the

Above: The medal was awarded posthumously to Dr. Martin Luther King and wife Coretta Scott King on June 24.

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, shown in this 2011 photo. “It is long past time to recognize and honor an American civil rights activist and sporting legend with Congress’ highest honor,” said Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind. OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT Medal of Honor — were military heroes. George Washington received the first, but many other honorees are little remembered today.

Congressional gold medals have been awarded for long-forgotten events; Congress in 1941 authorized a medal for 11-yearold Roland Boucher for rescuing five playmates who had fallen through the ice of Lake Champlain while skating.

Lately, an effort has been underway to pay tribute to World War II veterans before it’s too late.

Legislation has been introduced to award gold medals to

Filipino World War II veterans and members of the Office of Strategic Services.

Gold medals, generally 3 inches in diameter, are designed and struck by the U.S. Mint at a cost of about $30,000. The legislation usually provides for the production and sale of duplicate bronze medals.

Some on the list Here is a look at some of the individuals and groups proposed for gold medals: • Pat Summitt “in recognition of her remarkable career as an unparalleled figure in women’s

team sports, and for her courage in speaking out openly and courageously about her battle with Alzheimer’s.”

• The Freedom Riders “in recognition of their unique contribution to civil rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement for equality in interstate travel.”

• Muhammad Ali. • Lena Horne, in recognition of her contributions to American culture and the civil rights movement.

• Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, former Navy SEALs working as security contractors who were killed in the attack near a

U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

• Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman on the federal bench and a lawyer who helped steer many of the civil rights movement’s pivotal legal battles — including the landmark 1954 school desegregation case Brown vs. Board of Education and James Meredith’s fight to enroll at the University of Mississippi in 1962.

• Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel into space.

• Dr. R. Adams Cowley, in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the advancement of trauma care.

Freedom Rider recalls youthful sacrifice, fearlessness

BY NAYITA WILSON TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

Fifty years after deserting her youthful years to take on causes that would advance liberties for Blacks, Doratha “Dodie” SmithSimmons, 71, a Louisiana figure in the 1960 Civil Rights Movement, said she has no regrets about participating in the 1964 Freedom Summer, which championed voter registration for Blacks and correlated events that focused on the integration of public facilities and accommodations.

“It was important because as a person of color, I thought we deserved the same treatment as the Whites. My parents have always taught us . . . that we were just as Doratha good as anybody Smith else,” said SmithSimmons, who lives in New Orleans.

Considering her fight but without comparison, Smith-Simmons ponders what will ignite today’s youth to get involved in issues of the day. “I don’t see other young people standing up. Is it because they have everything they want,” she questioned.

Started at 15 Smith-Simmons was 15 years old when she was introduced to the Civil Rights Movement through the New Orleans chapter of the NAACP. At that time, her elder sister, Dorothy Smith Venison, along with friends Alice Thompson, Jean Thompson and others, had been recruited by the NAACP to desegregate Louisiana State University at New Orleans.

Following chapter meetings, the young girls, would frequent the Golden Pheasant, a club on Claiborne Avenue.

Smith-Simmons wasn’t directly involved in the NAACP at that time, but she wanted the pleasure of attending the Golden Pheasant.

So in exchange for not telling her parents about her elder sibling’s outings, Smith-Simmons received an NAACP membership and bus fare to the meetings, all of which were paid for by her sister.

Two years later, Smith-Simmons was asked to join the New Orleans chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to participate in picketing demonstrations. The opportunity to engage in the movement at this level fostered within her a deeper, more genuine commitment to the causes she believed in.

encounter as a result of participating in CORE demonstrations.

“If you go to jail, we will not get you out,” was the warning SmithSimmons said she received from the NAACP. The admonishing didn’t stop her.

Smith-Simmons joined CORE and underwent an intense, required training, which included being slapped, called names, pushed out of chairs, fasting and refraining from speaking over an extend period of time. She was also required to get acquainted with Gandhi’s work.

Smith-Simmons was born on May 30, 1943 to Gladys Smith of Benton, Miss., Yazoo County, and Sam Smith of Lexington, Miss., Holmes County. Her parents had moved to New Orleans in 1945 and raised 10 children.

History lesson

Willing to die

According to CORE’s history, the organization was founded in 1942 as the Committee for Racial Equality by a group of interracial students from the Midwest.

The founders organized nonviolent direct action protests such as sit-ins, jail-ins and freedom rides during the Civil Rights Movement to advocate for racial equalities for Blacks. CORE’s principles and actions were fashioned after the nonviolent teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

Smith-Simmons said CORE was less talk and more action. It won her interest by inviting her to engage in work as opposed to attending meetings that focused on discourse. Her willingness to join, however, brought an end to her membership with the NAACP, which according to Smith-Simmons, declined to offer assistance for consequences that she might

As time progressed, she found herself imprisoned on three occasions for various CORE protests and developing an attitude of fearlessness.

Once, she was arrested during a sit-in demonstration at Tulane and Broad streets near the New Orleans Police Department. The group sang “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around” and was told that the singing interfered with police communications.

Police dogs were brought out, the threat of arrest ensued, several of the demonstrators left and the remaining 15 demonstrators were arrested—nine of which were women.

“When you’re young, you have no fear,” she said.

“I was willing to die for the cause,” adds Smith-Simmons who thought for sure her life would be cut short at the age of 18 while

working with New Orleans CORE members to test the Interstate Commerce Commission ruling of 1961, which outlawed discrimination in public transportation.

The near-death encounter occurred in November 1961, during a period when she and her New Orleans CORE colleagues were traveling throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama to test the upholding of the ruling in restaurants, public restrooms, bus terminals and waiting areas.

Frightening chase As she recalled, the group tested a lunch counter at a bus terminal in McComb, Miss. One CORE member, Jerome Smith was beaten with brass knuckles. Another, George Raymond, Jr. had hot coffee poured over his head. Others were chased and beaten, and Smith-Simmons and Alice were kicked during the test.

The team got separated during the frenzy, and Smith-Simmons remembers being chased by a group of White men. Somehow, she made it to the Black side of the terminal where she found refuge. “(The) Blacks just encircled me.

I stood there. My heart was racing.

You’re going to walk out calmly,” she thought to herself.

Next, she said gathered her composure, exited the terminal calmly and then ran for her life.

Moments later, her CORE family found her along the way, and they returned to the Black-owned White Castle Hotel where they were staying.

They received medical treatment at the hotel. Smith-Simmons was instructed to contact U.S. Attorney General Robert “Bobby” Kennedy directly, which she did. During the phone conversation, Kennedy advised

that he was abreast of the situation and promised FBI protection, which Smith-Simmons said she declined.

CORE responsibilities From 1962 to 1963, she worked with CORE on Freedom Highway in North Carolina and South Carolina, which focused on integrating hotels, particularly the Howard Johnson. She also worked with the group on trying to integrate Florida beaches and participated in the March on Washington.

During the Freedom Summer of 1964, Smith-Simmons and New Orleans CORE focused on voter registration, primarily in New Orleans’ Desire housing development and its surrounding area.

She worked for CORE’s Southern Region’s office and was less involved in the field.

Freedom Summer & Beyond Smith-Simmons later worked for Preservation Hall and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, which she helped found. In 1971, she married John Simmons, a musician from England whom she met while working at Preservation Hall. They have one son, John Cutler Smith Simmons II. This year, she coordinated Freedom Summer & Beyond, A Commemoration. The conference took place in New Orleans last month to draw together those who participated in Freedom Summer and to inform others that the operation was not restricted to Mississippi.

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Service from the Louisiana Weekly.

STOJ

JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

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Haitian-Dominican model Christine MSCiCi Corvil hails from Miami. Find her on twitter at twitter. com/mscicig.

Photo credit: MitchNineStepsStudios.

Craig, of Indian and Bahamian descent, recently has decided to try out the modeling industry. He believes in the importance of being fit and healthy, which has led him to become a personal trainer as well as attend college to become a nutritionist.

Photo credit: Libran Photos.

christine From ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ to ‘Purple Rain’ Prince wows crowd at 20th anniversary of Essence Music Festival

Prince, showed in this Wikipedia photo, was the headliner the Essence Music Festival on Independence Day.

BY TIBBERLY G. RICHARD EURWEB.COM

Nearly 40 years after the release of his debut album, Prince still mesmerizes audiences.

The Mercedes Benz Superdome was packed July 4 as Prince took center stage for the 20th anniversary of the Essence Music Festival.

The entertainment icon and lyrical chameleon began his set with the ever popular “Let’s Go Crazy.” Waves of cheers and applause reverberated throughout the dome when the pop master uttered the words “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today.” No appearance, just a voice behind a rippling white satin stage drape. When the drape dropped to the floor, Prince and his electric guitar appeared center stage, with his band the New Power Generation.

The crowd, already eagerly awaiting his stage presence and performance, went wild. Anticipation building after Prince teased the audience with brief

appearances at the end of Janelle Monae’s set, while performing her rendition of “Let’s Go Crazy.”

Monae opened the Fourth of July show, performing her hit songs “Electric Lady” and “Primetime.”

Performed with Rodgers Prince also made an appearance during Nile Rodgers’ performance, playing the electric guitar during a cover of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” a hit song produced by Rodgers back in the

1980s. Rodgers of the very popular disco group Chic, performed the groups iconic hits “Good Times” and “Le Freak.”

Prior to his set, Rodgers asked the audience to indulge him so that he could take in the moment. He took pictures of the audience, thanked Prince for giving him the opportunity to perform as an opening act, and told the audience that he was blessed to have beaten cancer, and is still able to perform.

Rodgers rocked the dome with

disco favorites, including a cover of “We are Family,” by Sister Sledge, which he wrote. Rodgers was joined on stage by Kathy Sledge who sang lead vocals on the song.

Plea for ‘Rain’ Meanwhile, Prince’s high-energy performance kept the audience on their feet for nearly his entire performance. The music legend didn’t appear to disappoint, singing hit songs “When Doves Cry,” “Little Red Corvette” and “Raspberry Beret” among other hits. Prince also did covers of Sheila E’s “The Glamorous Life” and “Jungle Love” and “The Bird” by Morris Day and the Time. All crowd favorites. After bidding the crowd adieu, for several minutes, Prince said goodnight and exited the stage, leaving the stage dark and a confused crowd chanting Purple Rain.

After several minutes of audience chants, the musicologist returned to the stage to closeout his performance at the Essence Music Festival with his masterpiece “Purple Rain.” The audience responded like the song was fresh off the movie soundtrack 30 years after its release.

CBS News plans July 24 special on Civil Rights Act anniversary porter. I will never forget it. I had never seen the kind of blind hatred and prejudice that we saw in those days down there.”

He would not return to the Oxford, Miss., campus until 2008 when he moderated the presidential debate there between Barack Obama and John McCain.

EURWEB.COM

CBS News is planning a live, multi-platform, multimedia, celeb-filled event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. On July 24 at 8 p.m., the news division will air a special titled “CBS News: 50 Years Later, Civil Rights,” featuring a live panel discussion moderated by “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer, 77, who had a front-row seat for the movement.

The program also will be carried live on cable’s Smithsonian Channel, and CBSNews.com will offer a live stream.

Schieffer was working at a small Texas radio station after being honorably discharged from the Air Force when he was sent to cover the violent riots that ensued at the University of Mis-

Panel discussion James Meredith, center with briefcase, is escorted to the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. marshals on Oct. 1, 1962. sissippi in 1962 when James Meredith became the first AfricanAmerican student admitted to Ole Miss.

They killed two people that night,” he recalls. “One was a re-

Rep. John Lewis, a pillar of the movement and a “personal hero” of Schieffer’s, will participate in the panel discussion. So will Harry Belafonte (who also was very active in the movement), historian Taylor Branch, Jason Collins, Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie Perez, gay marriage activist and lawyer Evan Wolfson and CBS Sports anchor James Brown.

The panel will explore the violent summer of 1964, when three

Civil Rights workers were murdered in Mississippi, and also take on current battles including marriage equality and gay rights.

Meanwhile, CBSNews.com will stream Walter Cronkite’s primetime special “The Search in Mississippi.” The panel, like The Beatles discussion, will originate from The Ed Sullivan Theatre in Manhattan, which is owned by CBS. For Scheiffer, who was born before the invention of television, the event is more “than a news report.”

“It’s a celebration of how far have we come and recognition of far we still have to go,” he says. “I must say of all the things I’ve done at CBS over the years I can’t think of anything I’ve felt more honored to be a part of.”

Rivers calls first lady a ‘tranny,’ walks out of interview EURWEB.COM

Once again, comedian Joan Rivers manages to spark a reaction.

This time she’s gone presidential, and maybe she’s stepped over the line with her comments about the president and first lady. Her comments came after she recently officiated an impromptu wedding for Joe Aiello and his partner Jed Ryan at a signing for her new book “Diary of a Mad Diva” at an NYC Barnes & Noble, according to NewsOne. When a reporter asked about the possibility of the country having its first gay president, Rivers replied: “We already have it with Obama, so let’s just calm down.”

The president wasn’t the only one caught in the comedienne’s crosshairs. Rivers also had words for First Lady Michelle Obama.

“You know Michelle is a tranny,” Rivers said as she used the trasphobic slur in describing Mrs. Obama as a transgender individual.

Speaking with CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield on July 5 about “Diary of a Mad Diva,” the former talk show host ended up walking out on the interview.

Things apparently came to a head when Whitfield asked Rivers whether she was goading PETA activists by wearing a fur coat on the cover of her book, “Diary of a Mad Diva.”

At that point, Rivers reportedly had enough.

“This whole interview is turning into a defensive interview,” Rivers said. “Are you wearing leather shoes? Then shut up.”

A fed up Rivers ended up telling Whitfield that her questions had been “negative.”

“You are not the one to interview a person who does humor, sorry,” Rivers added.

From there, Rivers yanked out her earpiece and walked off from the interview.

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F0OD

JULY 11 – JULY 17, 2014

TOJ

Bananas & Cinnamon Rice Pudding — Spoon rice pudding into a small dish. Top with sliced bananas and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

Banana Split Pudding Snack — Cut a banana in half the long way. Stand one half in a small cup. Spoon chocolate pudding into the cup and top with a maraschino cherry.

Pair wholesome, delicious pudding with ingredients from your own pantry or fridge

Peaches & Blueberries Rice Pudding — Layer diced fresh peaches, Kozy Shack Rice Pudding and blue­ berries in a small dish. Top with any remaining fruit.

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

W

hat do you reach for around 3 in the afternoon? Something salty? Something crunchy? Some­thing creamy, smooth and sweet? These days, more and more snackers are looking for something wholesome and satisfying to get them through the afternoon.

Here’s one snacking choice you may not have thought of: pudding. When pudding is made right — just the way your grandma used to — it’s made with real ingredients like milk and eggs, cooked slowly until it’s creamy and delicious.

While cooking up your own pudding is a fun and satisfying weekend or evening project, when you need a quick afternoon snack, that’s probably not in the cards.

Fortunately, there are still some companies making pudding just the way you would at home, slowly simmered to perfection. This is great news for people who want a smooth and creamy snack they can feel good about. There’s a good reason why simple, com­forting pudding was a favorite childhood snack — and is still a wholesome snack choice today.

Candied Almond Slivers and Tapioca Pudding — Spoon tapioca pudding into a dish. Top with candied almond slivers.

Simple ideas for a delicious snack Pudding is perfect straight out of the refrigerator, of course, and all you need to enjoy it is a spoon. But you can make it your own with other ingredients that you probably have right in your kitchen. Take a look at your spice rack: You’ve probably got cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper. In your pantry, you’ve got crunchy cookies, pretzels and nuts. Fresh and frozen fruit are always good to have on hand. Even canned and shelf-stable packs of tropical fruits can top your pudding. Before you know it, you’ll be seeing surprising pudding pairings everywhere you look.

With a little creativity, you could have a unique pudding snack every day of the week. We’ve got a few ideas to get you started.

Find out more about Kozy Shack® Pudding at www.kozyshack.com.

Minty Chocolate Pudding — Cut mint and chocolate layered candies into smaller pieces. Spoon Kozy Shack Chocolate Pudding into a small bowl. Top with mint pieces.

Mango & Coconut Tapioca Pudding — Cut a fresh mango into small pieces. Spoon Kozy Shack Tapioca Pudding into a small dish. Top with mango and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Blackberry Rice Pudding — Dice a handful of fresh blackberries. Layer blackberries and Kozy Shack Rice Pudding in small dish. Top with any remaining fruit and a mint leaf.

Chocolate Pudding — Spoon Kozy Shack Chocolate Pudding into a colorful cup. Top with a dollop of whipped cream and a cookie.

Fresh Raspberries and Chocolate Pudding — Layer fresh raspberries, whipped cream and Kozy Shack Chocolate Pudding in a small dish. Top with extra rasp­berries and a dollop of whipped cream.

Lemon Tapioca Pudding — Crush a couple of lemon shortbread cookies. Spoon into the bottom of a small dish. Top with Kozy Shack Tapioca pudding, a sprinkle of lemon zest and assorted fresh berries.

Chocolate Drizzled Strawberries and Tapioca Pudding — Drizzle straw­berries with melted dark chocolate and allow to set. Layer chopped strawberries and Kozy Shack Tapioca Pudding in a small dish. Top with a chocolatedrizzled strawberry.