Florida Courier - August 28, 2015

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AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

VOLUME 23 NO. 35

PLAYING THE RACE CARD A Black disgruntled exemployee of a TV station exacts revenge by killing two White journalists on live TV, then blames racism, homophobia, and bullying for the murders before killing himself.

In these screen captures taken from social media, Vester Lee Flanagan II, left, shot and uploaded video of the moment he murdered TV reporter Alison Parker, right.

Real-time murders By the time Flanagan, 41, shot and killed himself after a police chase several hours later, his face and his actions had been widely broadcast on televisions across the nation

BY GEORGE E. CURRY NNPA NEWS WIRE

striding forward with a pistol in his hand.

When the broadcast feed quickly switched back to a camera at the TV station, it caught a WDBJ-TV anchor gaping in shock, her mouth open, unsure of what she’d just seen.

Marriage in futures

Broad district

Both victims were in relationships with coworkers at the station.

Brown represents Florida’s 5th Congressional District that takes in most of Jacksonville and parts of Duval, Clay, Putnam, Alachua, Volusia, Marion, Lake, Seminole and Orange counties.

Florida has 27 congressional districts. In addition to Brown’s seat, the other districts impacted most by the remapping are held by three Democrats – Kathy Caster, Ted Deutch and Lois Frankel – and four Republicans – Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Curbelo, lleanna Ros-Lehtinen and David Jolly.

Last month, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the state’s congressional maps violated a voter-approved 2010 constitutional amendment that prohibits political jurisdictions from being drawn to favor incumbents or a particular party.

In a stinging rebuke, the court said, “The Legislature itself proclaimed that it would conduct the most open and transparent redistricting process in the history of the state and then made important decisions, affecting numerous districts in the enacted map, outside the purview of public scrutiny.”

The court found that Republican strategists had been instrumental in constructing the new maps for the GOP. Although Democrats hold a slight edge among Florida voters –4.6 million to 4.2 million – 17 Republicans and 10 Democrats, including Brown, represent the state in Congress.

COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

and on social media.

Flanagan, who was Black, cited racism and bullying as a motive, though Franklin County Sheriff Bill Overton said it was “obvious” that Flanagan “was disturbed in some way.”

The shooting was a grotesque moment of television that swiftly appeared on CNN and YouTube. About eight shots rang out as reporter Alison Parker, 24, screamed and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, fell to the ground, his camera spun to show a grim-faced man

Panel to decide voting districts

WASHINGTON – After the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature failed to redraw Rep. Corrine Brown’s congressional district and seven others that had been gerrymandered to favor Republicans, a three-judge federal panel was named Tuesday to do the job for them.

Brown, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, was elated by the decision.

“This is where we need to be,” she said Tuesday night in a telephone interview with the NNPA News Service. “The new district goes through 18 prisons. It will not only not elect a Black, it won’t elect a White Democrat.”

See a related “No Chaser” column on Page A4.

MONETA, VA. – On Wednesday morning, as southwestern Virginia television viewers watched on live TV, a WDBJ-TV reporter and her cameraman were shot and killed in the middle of their broadcast. Police later identified the suspect as Vester Lee Flanagan II, one of the journalists’ former TV station coworkers.

The person being interviewed, local Chamber of Commerce executive director Vicki Gardner, was wounded but is expected to survive.

Here come the judges

See SHOOTING, Page A2

2015-16 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON

It’s about that time!

No agreement

KIM GIBSON / FLORIDA COURIER

Bethune-Cookman University and Florida A&M University both play their first football games of the season on Sept. 5 against the University of Miami and the University of South Florida, respectively. The annual Florida Classic showdown between BCU’s Marching Wildcats and FAMU’s Marching ‘100,’ goes down in Orlando on Nov. 21.

A special legislative session called to redraw congressional districts ended Aug. 21. Legislators went home without making a deal after two weeks of political jousting. The House rejected a request by the Senate to extend the proceedings another week. Consequently, the issue was sent to federal court for resolution.

See DISTRICTS, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS NATION | A3

Medals for US train heroes

Gay couples argue for inclusion on birth certificates THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Saying Florida can’t choose among the “constellation of benefits” available to same-sex couples, attorneys this week filed a document asking a federal judge to require the state to allow married gay couples to put both parents’ names on children’s birth certificates.

The document, filed Monday by Attorney William Sheppard and other Jacksonville lawyers who represented couples

ALSO INSIDE

in a challenge to Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage, came after the state filed a motion on Aug. 13 for clarification, indicating that gender-specific language in state law appeared to prevent married same-sex couples from being listed as parents on birth certificates.

It also came after three married lesbian couples and the Equality Florida Institute challenged the state’s refusal to identify both same-sex parents on newborns’ birth certificates.

In Monday’s brief, attorneys for same-sex couples pointed to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that found gay couples have a fundamental right to marry.

“Denial of a married same-sex couple’s rights to have each parent’s name issued on a birth certificate, notwithstanding (a section of state law that uses gender-specific language), violates these constitutional principles,’’ the document said. “None of the (state) defendants in this case

have proffered a justification for why same-sex couples should be excluded. To the extent that this court can assume that their justifications are the same as the ones they asserted for the ban on same-sex marriage as a whole, those reasons must fail now, just as they did then.”

The document was filed by attorneys who represented samesex couples in a case that helped lead to U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruling last year that Florida’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.

Some changes in Ferguson traffic court CALENDAR | B5

Joyner reunion to focus on ‘Good Times’

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: A. PETER BAILEY: THE NORTH WON CIVIL WAR; THE SOUTH WON HISTORY | A5

FOCUS

A2

AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Ten years later, some in New Orleans still suffer When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, the nation saw tens of thousands of people left behind in New Orleans. Ten years later, it looks like the same people in New Orleans have been left behind again.

The population of New Orleans is noticeably smaller and noticeably Whiter. While tens of billions poured into Louisiana, the impact on poor and working people in New Orleans has been minimal. Many of the elderly and the poor, especially poor families with children, never made it back to New Orleans.

While not all the numbers below are bad, they do illustrate who has been left behind in the 10 years since Katrina hit: Rent in New Orleans is up 33 percent for one-bedroom apartments and 41 percent for twobedroom apartments since Katrina hit. This is very tough because in New Orleans, 55 percent of residents rent.

CNN/Money recently named New Orleans as one of the worst cities in the U.S. for renters. Be-

BILL QUIGLEY TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE

fore Katrina, the average renters spent 19 percent of their income on rent. The Data Center reports 37 percent of renters in New Orleans now spend more than 50 percent of their income to rent. Rental apartments are mostly substandard as well, with nearly 50,000 apartments in the city needing major repairs.

The most recent numbers show 39 percent of the children in New Orleans live in poverty, 17 percentage points higher than the national average. Eighty-two percent of these families have someone working in the family, so the primary cause is low wages.

New Orleans now has 44 school boards. Ninety-one percent of the public schools in New Orleans are now charter schools,

DISTRICTS from A1

In a two-page order issued Tuesday, Ed Carnes, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, appointed a three-judge panel consisting of district judges Mark E. Walker, Robert L. Hinkle, and Robin S. Rosenbaum.

Voting rights ‘attack’

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown is pleased that federal judges will redraw congressional districts, including the one she serves, rather than Florida legislators.

Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville native who graduated from Florida A&M University, has been in Congress since 1993.

“There is an overall attack on the Voting Rights Act,” said Brown. It’s not just in Florida – it’s all over.”

In another blow to the Voting Rights Act, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 voted to gut Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,

the highest rate in the country. income public housing apartOnly 32 percent of African-Amer- ments in New Orleans than when icans believe the new nearly all- Katrina hit. Only about half of charter school system is better the families who lived in the four than the public school system public housing developments before the storm, versus 44 per- that were demolished after Kacent of Whites – even though pre- trina made it back to New Orcious few Whites attend the pub- leans at all by 2011. And only 7 percent of those original families lic schools.

Fifty percent of the Black chil- were living in the new housing dren in New Orleans live in poor that replaced their homes.

There are 6,000 fewer people households, a higher percentage on Social Security in Orleans Parthan when Katrina hit.

New Orleans is now 59 per- ish than before the storm. There cent African-American, down are similar drops in the numbers from 66.7 percent in 2000; 31 per- of people on Temporary Assiscent White, up from 26 percent in tance for Needy Families in New 2000; and 5.5 percent Hispanic, Orleans.

Over 7,500 public school up from 3 percent in 2000.

Prior to Katrina, New Orleans teachers and paraprofessionals, incarcerated more of its citizens mostly African-American, were than any city in the U.S. – five fired after Katrina when Louisitimes the national average. On- ana took over the New Orleans going efforts by community public school system. The U.S. members and local officials have Supreme Court refused to hear reduced the number of people their appeal in May 2015.

There are 9,000 fewer families held in the jail by 67 percent.

Seventy-three percent of New receiving food stamps than beOrleans students who start high fore.

There are 17,392 fewer children school graduate on time.

There are now 3,221 fewer low- enrolled in public schools in New

Orleans now than before Katrina.

The median income for White families in New Orleans is $60,553; that is $35,451 more than for Black families, whose median income was $25,102. In the last 10 years, the median income for Black families grew by 7 percent. At the same time, the median income for White families grew three times as fast, by 22 percent.

Seventy-one thousand fewer people live in New Orleans now than before the storm.

There are 99,650 fewer African-Americans living in New Orleans now than in 2000, compared to 11,000 fewer Whites.

Seventy-one billion dollars was received by the state of Louisiana for Katrina repairs, rehabilitation and rebuilding. You see who did NOT get the money.

which required jurisdictions with a proven history of racial discrimination to pre-clear any election law change with the U.S. attorney general or the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. In Florida, Brown said, the gerrymandered districts would have removed some key areas she represents.

Brown explained, “Let me tell you one area that they’ve taken out of my district – Sanford. Jackie Robinson (the first African-American to play major league baseball) couldn’t stay in Sanford. Every night, he would go to Daytona because they said that if he stayed in Sanford, they would kill him.

“Forty years later, Trayvon Martin was killed in Sanford. ‘60 Minutes’ did a special on Sanford – on how children were living out of their car, washing up in WalMart and going to school. It took me 20 years to get public housing straight, to get new housing.

And now you want to take San-

we specifically support the valiant and continuous efforts of Congresswoman Corrine Brown of Florida’s 5th Congressional District to protect the voting rights of Black Americans and others who reside in her district.”

Chavis said, “We are opposed to voter suppression and to Black voter dilution as is the case in the proposed redrawing of the congressional district of Congresswoman Corrine Brown.”

ford away from me, while the Republican there wants to sell public housing?”

‘Not interested’ Brown said, “So, they are not interested in representative government. All they are talking about is what [shape] the district looks like. We want to make sure we have districts that represent people who have not been represented.”

Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of more than 200 Black-owned newspapers, said the Black Press supports Brown’s effort to preserve her district.

“The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) strongly affirms the critical importance of voting rights for all Americans, in particular for 45 million Black Americans throughout the United States,” he said. “Further,

SHOOTING On Twitter, Chris Hurst, a morning anchor at the station, said that he had been with Parker for almost nine months, which he described as the best nine months of their lives. He said that the couple had planned to get married.

Ward was engaged to WBDJ morning producer Melissa Ott, who had just taken another job; Wednesday was her last day producing the morning show.

ABC News reported that someone claiming to be Flanagan had faxed a 23-page document to the network, which they turned over to authorities, and that Flanagan had called the network almost two hours after the shooting to say that authorities are “after me” and “all over the place.”

In the manifesto – titled “A Suicide Note for Friends & Family” – the writer expressed admiration for the Virginia Tech and Columbine High School mass shooters.

He said he had been the target of racial discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying at work.

He said his attackers were White females and Black men, and disclosed that he was gay.

He was motivated, he said, by the Charleston, S.C., church shooting of nine African-Americans by a young White man in an apparent hate crime.

“Why did I do it? I put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The Church shooting in Charleston

Rep. Brown said if her opponents are successful, it would have a devastating impact on Black electoral politics.

She said, “After you take out the Congressional, then you take out the Senate, the city council and we could go back to not having any representation. It’s very serious.”

George E. Curry is editor-inchief of NNPA News Wire.

Looked for work

Posted video

‘Suicide note’ sent

Negative effect

tion. Still, he took his dismissal poorly, the court records state.

He told one of the officers who led him out, “You know what they did? They had a watermelon back there for a week and basically called me a (n-word),” the records state.

from A1

Hours after the 6:45 a.m. shooting, Flanagan – a California native who used to work as a TV reporter at WDBJ-TV under the name Bryce Williams – apparently posted a video on Facebook and Twitter showing the shooting from the gunman’s perspective.

Thousands of social media users saw the shooting post. The accounts were swiftly taken down, but not before the Twitter account posted messages complaining that Parker and Ward had not treated Flanagan well at the workplace.

Station officials said Flanagan had been fired and escorted out of the TV station after a year of clashing with station employees.

Bill Quigley teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans.

Vester Lee Flanagan II, whose professional name was “Bryce Williams,” was a disgruntled former employee of WDBJ7, a TV station in Roanoke, Va. happened on 6/17/15,” he wrote.

“What sent me over the top was the church shooting. And my hollow point bullets have the victims’ initials on them.”

Long-term problems Flanagan had bounced in and out of the TV news business for years with a record of tense clashes with his co-workers and allegations of racism, and whose rage finally seemed to have spiraled out of control, according to his social media profiles and former co-workers.

“Vester was an unhappy man,” WDBJ-TV station manager Jeffrey A. Marks said on the air Wednesday afternoon. “We employed him as a reporter and he had some talent in that respect.”

However, Marks said, Flanagan quickly “gathered a reputation as somebody who was difficult to work with. … He was sort of looking out for people to say things that he could take offense to. And eventually after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him, and he did

not take that well, and we had to call police to escort him from the building.”

Warned management In 2013 when he was fired from WDBJ-TV, Flanagan warned a manager that there would be “negative consequences” for his firing and vowed that he would “make a stink and it’s going to be in the headlines,” court papers reveal.

The documents from a discrimination lawsuit Flanagan filed last year against the station also reveal that as he was escorted from the building by police, Flanagan handed a co-worker a cross and told them “you need this.”

The case runs more than 100 pages and details multiple angry run-ins Flanagan had with co-workers and supervisors in the months leading up to his dismissal.

Though the case was dismissed, Flanagan claimed his co-workers racially abused him by leaving a watermelon in the

newsroom as part of “a carefully orchestrated effort by the photography staff to oust me – a conspiracy.”

Written up But more than a dozen memos from his supervisors describe how Flanagan often did a poor job as a reporter, and how his colleagues often felt threatened

by Flanagan’s “unprofessional” behavior.

Flanagan’s boss, Dan Dennison, wrote in a May 2012 memo to Flanagan: “On three separate occasions in the past month and a half you have behaved in a manner that has resulted in one of your co-workers feeling threatened or uncomfortable.”

His threatening behavior included berating a cameraman without good cause in front of a member of the public and cutting short an interview and having “stormed off in anger,” Dennison wrote.

As the problems escalated, Flanagan at one point suggested that he did not belong at the sta-

Using his professional name, Bryce Williams, Flanagan this month posted on Facebook about seeking work. His LinkedIn page showed a slew of television station employers over the years as he moved from his native San Francisco Bay Area through Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia, stints where on a number of occasions he was terminated for difficult behavior.

Many of his gigs were short, lasting two years or less. When WTWC, a Tallahassee NBC affiliate, came calling and hired him through a headhunter, he said he went but “wish I hadn’t!” He was there for a year.

Don Shafer, who now serves as news director for San Diego 6 on the CW, worked with Flanagan in Florida. He described the suspect as an odd man who was fired from WTWC after he became violent with several co-workers.

“We brought him in. He was a good on-air performer, a pretty good reporter, and then things started getting a little strange with him,” Shafer said on San Diego 6 on Wednesday morning.

Problems in Florida Shafer said the combative behavior Flanagan displayed on social media after the shooting seemed familiar. Before he was fired, Flanagan allegedly “threatened to punch people out” in the newsroom and often berated other reporters, according to Shafer.

Flanagan filed a lawsuit in 2000 accusing WTWC producers of hurling racially charged insults at him. He claims he was referred to as a “monkey” by a high-ranking station employee and said discussions about homicide victims in the newsroom routinely took on an anti-African-American tone. Court records show the case was dismissed in 2001.

Matt Pearce, Lee Romney, James Queally and Natalie Schachar of the Los Angeles Times and Kim Janssen of the Chicago Tribune (TNS) all contributed to this report.

AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

NATION & WORLD

A3

Ferguson court makes changes, hopes to build trust with Blacks

US train heroes get French medals TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

French President Francois Hollande awarded three Americans credited with stopping a possible terror attack on a high-speed train with France’s highest honor Monday morning.

At a ceremony at the Elysee Palace, Hollande pinned the French Legion of Honor medals to childhood friends Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler as well as British grandfather Chris Norman, for stopping a man from carrying out an attack the evening of Aug. 21 on a train that had just left Brussels bound for Paris.

“A terrorist decided to commit an attack,” the French president said. “He had enough weapons and ammunition to carry out real carnage, and that’s what he would have done if you hadn’t tackled him at a risk to your own lives. You gave us a lesson in courage, in will, and thus in hope.”

BY JAMES QUEALLY LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

WITT-MESSYASZ/ABACA PRESS/TNS

French President Francois Hollande, center, poses with British man Chris Norman, from left, and Americans Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos during a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Aug. 24.

The Missouri city of Ferguson, blasted months ago in a Department of Justice report for engaging in institutional racism, has announced a slew of changes aimed at easing stiff reper-

cussions for residents accused of minor crimes and traffic violations.

Newly appointed Municipal Judge Donald McCullin said Monday that he has directed the court to void all arrest warrants issued before 2015, and that he has lightened penalties for traffic-violation defendants who fail to appear in court.

“These changes should continue the process of restoring confidence in the court, alleviating fears of the consequences of appearing in court, and giving many residents a fresh start,” McCullin said in a statement.

Traffic-violating reform

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Under McCullin’s new orders, traffic-violation defendants who are taken into custody for failing to appear in court will be released and given a new court date. Under the old system, defendants could face high bails and often wound up sitting in jail until their new court date.

McCullin also directed the court to reinstate the licenses of defendants who have had their driving rights suspended because of a failure to appear in court.

A Justice Department report released in March found that Ferguson’s court system engaged in practices that were discriminatory against Black residents.

‘Good olive branch’ The report found that, compared with White residents, African-Americans were far less likely to have had their cases dismissed in court and far more likely to have been arrested in the first place. Records also showed that federal investigators found 96 percent of those arrested during traffic stops in Ferguson because of outstanding warrants were African-American.

Two-thirds of Ferguson’s residents are Black.

Patricia Bynes, the city’s Democratic committeewoman, said McCullin’s announcement was a good first step toward healing the divide between Ferguson residents and the city’s judicial system.

“At some point, we need an olive branch to move forward, and what I see is a good olive branch,” she said. “This is a good segue into having a good conversation about moving forward and what’s reasonable to expect from the court.”

President's disapproval rate high in Florida on job, Iran deal THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

A majority of Florida voters don't like the way President Barack Obama is handling his job – and even more oppose a proposed nuclear deal with Iran, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday.

The poll indicates that 41 percent of Florida voters approve of the way Obama is handling his job while 56 percent disapprove.

It also indicates that 25 percent support the Obama administration's proposed deal that seeks to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, while 61 percent oppose it. The deal, in part, includes lifting economic sanctions against Iran.

The Connecticut-based Quinnipiac polled 1,093 voters earlier this month with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

EDITORIAL

A4

AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Katrina in the White imagination On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Louisiana, and the entire Gulf coast. More than 1,800 people died. Thousands more were permanently displaced. In the years since, that city regained only two-thirds of its pre-hurricane population.

But this tragedy for multitudes was a gift to powerful people who wanted to turn New Orleans into Exhibit A for neo-liberalism.

Chicago ‘envy’ A Chicago Tribune op-ed column originally titled, “In Chicago, wishing for a hurricane Katrina” began with these words: “Envy isn’t a rational response to the upcoming 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.” The author then proceeded to demonstrate that she did in fact fantasize about a Katrina-like catastrophe for her city.

In 2005, the ruling elites were over overjoyed because nature gave them the chance to do what they could not get away with easily. Overnight, New Orleans lost a huge portion of its poor, Black population.

The state legislature used the crisis to arbitrarily declare public schools as “failing” and converted them into charters. They fired 7,500 public school employees who won decisions in lower courts, but were undone when

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: KATRINA, TEN YEARS LATER

the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear their case. In short, New Orleans became the face of disaster capitalism and ethnic cleansing.

While millions of people watched in horror as the levees broke and homes were flooded, some watched with glee and, as Kristen McQueary of the Tribune editorial board admits, with envy too. They wondered why they could not have been fortunate enough to have a Black population swept out of town in a matter of days.

ted that she was “praying for a real storm.” If she were really honest, she would have written, “We need a hurricane to wash the Black people away” – or words to that effect.

She is not alone in longing for post-apocalyptic disaster capital triumphs. In 2010, her fellow Chicagoan Arne Duncan said that the hurricane was “the best thing to happen to education in New Orleans.”

As education secretary, his goal has been to undo public education as we know it and expand the control of charter schools throughout the country. Parents have no rights in the charter school system; but that is why they are desirable to people like Duncan and McQueary.

There is no public input; no permanent employment. This dystopian hell is perfect in their eyes.

Coded racism

From the start

McQueary veils her racism by expressing concern about deficit spending and pension costs. But she also gives herself away with these age-old code words. She says nothing about sweetheart deals that stole public money, the tax cuts, or other corporate welfare scams.

After much criticism, McQueary reposted the column with a new title, “Chicago, New Orleans and rebirth,” and omit-

The racism directed at Black New Orleans was present from the moment the storm came ashore. People who couldn’t evacuate were blamed for their fate. They were falsely accused of raping children in the Superdome shelter, and shooting at helicopters. The press called hungry Black people “looters,” while White people were given the benefit of the doubt and were said to have “found” food.

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

RJ MATSON, CAGLECARTOONS.COM

The theme hasn’t changed any in ten years. Black people are still seen as undeserving of anything other than being voiceless cogs in the system’s wheels. Post-Katrina New Orleans has provided no “rebirth” for Black people, and McQueary knows it.

Not only did people lose their homes, but they were forced out of town and given no right to return. In McQueary’s twisted worldview, she would love to see their fate replicated in Chicago.

Not alone In a strange way, we should be grateful when people like McQueary lose their filters and speak their minds. She is not alone in wanting to see big cities cleansed of their Black populations and leaving those who re-

main without citizenship rights.

It is an ugly dream, but it is shared by millions of people.

The Chicago Tribune isn’t alone among major newspapers in extolling the virtues of postKatrina life. The New York Times raved about that city’s food scene in a post on Twitter: “Decade after Katrina, New Orleans is a better place to eat than it was before the storm.”

Perhaps they should have said, “Everything tastes better when Black people are gone.”

Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@ BlackAgendaReport.com.

Black college households lost half 40 reasons Blacks and the poor are incarcerated their wealth, despite degrees For generations, it has been an article of faith among Black people that education is the path to success for the individual and for the Black community as a whole.

That’s never been entirely true, which is why W.E.B. DuBois was the first Black person to get a Ph.D. from Harvard, but was not allowed to teach there, and why Black high schools in Washington, D.C. during Jim Crow were full of teachers with doctorates who couldn’t find steady employment elsewhere.

The notion that college is the “great equalizer” in American society may have some validity for Whites and Asian-Americans, but for Hispanics and Blacks, the situation is much more complicated.

A new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis finds that the wealth of Black families headed by college graduates diminished dramatically between 1992 and 2013. There were three recessions over that time period.

But despite the downturns the median net worth, or wealth, of White households headed by a college graduate increased by 86 percent. For Asian college families, the rise in net worth was even more dramatic over the two decades. Their wealth went up nearly 90 percent.

Major loss But Black families in which the head of household held a

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

college degree saw their net worth drop by more than half: 56 percent, when adjusted for inflation.

In other words, three recessions in 20 years didn’t stop Whites and Asian-American college graduates from steadily increasing their family wealth, while Black college families saw a steady erosion of their economic status. Hispanic households headed by college graduates lost a catastrophic 72 percent of their wealth in the last recession alone – largely because they were even more heavily invested in housing than their Black counterparts.

Indeed, Black college graduate households lost a lot more during the recessions than Black families headed by people without college degrees, whose wealth declined less than 4 percent. But that’s largely because most Black people don’t have much wealth to lose.

After the last recession, Black median household wealth shrank to one-twentieth that of White families. Black college households, along with their Hispanic peers, sank a lot more

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 266 QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

A Negro with a legal gun – Vester Lee Flanagan II, age 41, left a slew of federal racism complaints, lawsuits, excuses, and a long-winded manifesto as his justification for murdering two White journalists who, as best as can be determined at this writing, had little or nothing to do with his termination. This was revenge against the organization (and

of their money into the family home, where much of it disappeared in the Great Recession. The homes of White college graduates declined in value by only 25 percent during the economic meltdown. But Black and Hispanic college graduates’ homes lost about half their value.

The authors of the study conclude that the Black and Hispanic college families fared so badly during recessions because they were deeper in debt, both on their houses and their college educations. Without the benefit of affluent relatives – and in a job market rife with racism – their college degrees provided little protection from economic downturns.

Will never catch up The study states the obvious: that “higher education alone cannot level the playing field.”

But a report by the Federal Reserve Bank cannot tell the real truth: that it is statistically impossible for Blacks, under the current system, to ever achieve economic parity with Whites, no matter what their educations.

What’s needed is a fundamental transformation of society – a revolution. Let that be a lesson to you.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com.

E-mail him at Glen.Ford@ BlackAgendaReport.com. the industry) that hired him then fired him, pure and simple.

Bottom line? This dude who called himself “Bryce Williams” was an average reporter/news reader, at best, who refused to take responsibility for his own improvement. Take a look at his self-proclaimed ‘best’ work, a video résumé that he left behind on YouTube. His delivery is stilted and his newswriting is at a high school level.

Still, he was able to bounce from job to job – mostly smallmarket TV stations – in a tough media industry. And rather than work on his skills, count his bless-

Editor’s note: This is Part 7, the conclusion. Other reasons were listed in previous Florida Courier issues.

38. The U.S spends $80 billion on this big business of corrections every year. As a retired criminal court judge I know says, “the high costs of this system would be worth it if the system was actually working and making us safer, but we are not safer, the system is not working, so the actual dollars we are spending are another indication of our failure.”

The cost of being No. 1 in incarceration is four times higher than it was in 1982. Anyone feeling four times safer than they used to?

39. Putting more people in jail creates more poverty. The overall poverty rate in our country is undoubtedly higher because of the dramatic increase in incarceration over the past 35 years, with one research project estimating poverty would have decreased by 20 percent if we had not put all these extra people in prison.

This makes sense, given the fact that most all the people brought into the system are poor to begin with. It is now much harder for them to find a job because of the barriers to employment and good jobs erected by a criminal record to those who get out of prison; the increased number of one-parent families because of a parent being in jail; and the bans on receiving food stamps and housing assistance.

40. Putting all these problems ings, and keep moving forward, he seemed to leave a trail of controversy, paranoia, excuses and anger..

My quick and dirty evaluation?

It’s more of the same, the collateral damage, the shed blood America is more than willing to accept in exchange for the almighty “Second Amendment rights.” Four hundred million guns already in circulation. Easy legal access to a gun. Stigmatized mental illness and no easily accessible mental health assistance.

Gun control, background checks, a cooling-off period, or an assault weapons ban wouldn’t

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

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together and you can see why the Center for American Progress rightly concludes, “Today, a criminal record serves as both a direct cause and consequence of poverty.”

What does it say about our society that it uses its jails and prisons as the primary detention facilities for poor and Black and Brown people who have been racially targeted, and jail them with the mentally ill and chemically dependent? The current criminal system has dozens of moving parts from the legislators who create the laws; to the police who enforce them; to the courts that apply them; to the jails and prison which house the people caught up in the system; to the public and business community who decides whom to hire; to all of us who either do something or turn our heads away.

There are lots of proposed solutions. To learn more about the problems and the solutions, go to places like The Sentencing Project, the Vera Institute, or the Center for American Progress.

Bill Quigley is legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor. have prevented these murders, because the killer had no criminal history, purchased a handgun legally more than a month ago, and had no reported history of mental illness. No “good guy with a gun” could have stopped this premeditated, well-planned atrocity.

What now? Nothing’s gonna happen. There will be another similar gun murder tomorrow, next week and next month. More innocent blood will be spilled.

And life and sudden death in dysfunctional America will go on…

Contact me at ccherry2@ gmail.com.

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AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

The North won the Civil War, the South won the history Amidst all the commentary in the so-called “mainstream” press on the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and the recent flap over the Confederate flag, White historian James W. Loewen wrote in the Washington Post, “Confederates lost the war but won the history.”

Having had the life-changing, mind-expanding experience in my twenties of personally listening to and learning from brilliant, committed intellectuals/activists such as Dr. Harold Lewis, who taught me history at Howard University; Brother Malcolm X, who taught me about the pervasiveness of White supremacist psychological attacks on our minds; and Professor Mahmoud Boutiba, who taught me propaganda analysis; I am well aware of the whole lies and half lies presented to the world as true American history.

One of the most persistent of these self-serving falsehoods is that the terrorists who had enslaved African people for nearly three centuries launched the Civil War mainly to protect states’ rights. Keeping Africans enslaved was not high on their list of priorities, insist the defenders of the enslavers who, in every possible sense of the word, were traitors to the United States.

Any person who presents that lie is ignorant – probably willfully so – of the declarations of secession by the legislatures of states such as Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. The following are those declarations: Georgia: The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation.

For the last 10 years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our nonslave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery. They have ... persistently refused to comply with their express constitutional obligations to us in reference to that property, and by the use of their power

A. PETER BAILEY TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

in the Federal Government have striven to deprive us of an equal enjoyment of the common Territories of the Republic.

The party of Lincoln …is admitted to be an anti-slavery party. …anti-slavery is its mission and its purpose. …Northern antislavery men of all parties asserted the right to exclude slavery from the territory by Congressional legislation… The prohibition of slavery in the Territories … the equality of the black and white races …were boldly proclaimed by its leaders and applauded by its followers. … The prohibition of slavery in the Territories is the cardinal principle of this organization.

Mississippi: A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union. In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union whose princi-

Our White liberal conundrum One of the enduring debates since the enslavement of Africans in the American colonies has been the extent to which well-meaning Whites can appropriate Black suffering and be a true participant in our liberation.

From the roots of the abolitionist movement to the Niagara Movement, and subsequent founding of the interracial National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to the civil rights movement, the issue of ‘White intention’ has been a point of conflict not only between purportedly liberal Whites and Blacks, but within the Black community.

There are clear examples of Whites engaged and committed in the fight for Black dignity and human rights.

White students from Northern colleges were among those who boarded busses for the Freedom Rides in the 1960s and participated in voting rights campaigns in the rural South. Rev. James Reeb was killed by White supremacists in Selma, Ala. while he was in the city to participate in the historic voting rights march.

Detroit mother and housewife Viola Liuzzo was murdered by the

WALTER FIELDS NNPA COLUMNIST

Ku Klux Klan when driving back from the Montgomery after shuttling Selma marchers. Abolitionist John Brown laid down his life in planning an armed insurrection with the goal of ending slavery.

Can they understand?

While the heroism and commitment of these Whites and others can never be questioned or diminished, there still exists suspicion on the part of Blacks toward Whites who claim allegiance to the Black struggle. Much of this I believe is due to the deep roots of White supremacy and the sentiment among Blacks that no White person can truly understand the depths of our dehumanization in America.

Too often Whites who project a level of consciousness and empathy come across as paternalistic and as professing a greater under-

Positive thoughts, positive life A friend that I admire oftentimes has a “psychological” worldview. She encourages me to write about “good things” or LUCIUS “right things.”

GANTT She feels that much of my attention is often focused on what THE GANTT REPORT is wrong with the world and believes I can find beauty, peace, joy, etc., when I can find it first in sions we sometimes change our minds. my heart and mind.

On the flip side, you can think about an Internet message, but Actions speak louder I agree the mind is a terrible once you take the action to post it, thing to waste. I also believe that you can never take back that mesactions speak louder than words! sage! You can think it’s a bad time All of us can think good thoughts. to have a baby, but you can nevBut when faced with finite deci- er undo or take back a pregnancy.

ples had been subverted to work out our ruin.

South Carolina: Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union. We assert that fourteen of the States have deliberately refused, for years past, to fulfill their constitutional obligations, and we refer to their own Statutes for the proof.

The Constitution of the United States, in its fourth Article, provides as follows: “No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.”

This stipulation was so material to the compact that without it that compact would not have been made. We affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those States ... have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile insurrection. ... A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that that “Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,’ and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction. ... On The 4th day of March next, this party will take possession of the Government. It has announced that the South shall be excluded from the common ter-

standing of Black suffering than Blacks themselves. Frustration also reigns among Blacks when Whites who offer the immigrant experience as analogous with slavery and Jim Crow employ ‘comparative suffering’. The uniqueness of state-sanctioned violence against Blacks in America is only paralleled and exceeded by the genocide of the American Indian.

‘Natural passport’ Steve Biko, leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa, observed of the White liberal, “Being White, he possesses the natural passport to the exclusive pool of White privilege from which he does not hesitate to extract whatever suits him. Yet, since he identifies with the Blacks, he moves around his White circles, Whites-only beaches, restaurants and cinemas with a lighter load, feeling that he is not like the rest. However, at the back of his mind is a constant reminder that he is quite comfortable as things stand and therefore should not bother about change.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made a similar observation about the American experience when he wrote, “Over the last few years many Negroes have felt that their most troublesome adversary was not the obvious bigot of the Ku Klux Klan or the John Birch Society, but the White liberal who is more

EDITORIAL VISUAL VIEWPOINT: KATRINA, TEN YEARS LATER

PARESH NATH, THE KHALEEJ TIMES, UAE

ritory, that the judicial tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States.... We, therefore, the People of South Carolina, by our delegates in Convention assembled ... have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved.

Texas: Texas abandoned her separate national existence and consented to become one of the confederated Union to promote her welfare, insure domestic tranquility and secure more substantially the blessings of peace and liberty to her people. She was received into the confederacy with her own constitution, under the guarantee of the federal constitution and the compact of annexation, that she should enjoy these blessings. She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution know as negro slavery – the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits – a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time. ... We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves

and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment.

That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states.

The White supremacists/racists fought for the states’ rights, all right – the rights of their states to continue enriching themselves, economically and psychologically, by enslaving African people.

And that, my readers, is the TRUTH.

devoted to ‘order’ than to justice, who prefers tranquility to equality. In a sense the White liberal has been victimized with some of the same ambivalence that has been a constant part of our national heritage.”

being enslaved, the victims of state-sanctioned terrorism, codified discrimination and secondclass citizenship. And it is a legacy of discounting Black life as practices that diminished Blacks of one generation have continued to affect the standing of Blacks in successive generations.

Important, misunderstood It is why the #BlackLivesMatter movement is so important and so misunderstood. The affirmation of Blackness has always been viewed as a threat to White supremacy. It is what set the nation on fire when Frederick Douglass tongue-lashed America with his fiery “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” Independence Day celebration speech. A century later, Malcolm X and a young Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Turé) would both invoke the right of Black self-determination in ways that would unnerve White America.

Yet, in all three cases, there was never a call for proactive vengeance against Whites. And that is what is misunderstood by ‘liberal’ Whites who now flinch when hearing Blacks affirm their humanity and our professed friends react by countering that “all lives matter.”

All lives have not mattered in America. This is the truth that many Whites cannot accept or purposely choose to ignore. At no time in the history of the United States have Whites experienced

you” – especially in times of lovemaking – but if you ask 100 people what love is, you could get about 100 different answers.

Some females will say they think a man loves them if he buys them a house, buys them a car, pays all of her bills, takes her on expensive and/or romantic vacations, values her opinions and decisions, lets her be her, and so forth.

Some men will say they think a woman loves them if she doesn’t nag him, if she lets him be the man of the house, if she performs good oral and vaginal sex, if she cooks his favorite meals, if she does his laundry and stuff like that.

Love is not necessarily based on material, financial, or physical benefits. Love is related to how What is love? you treat people you love and People are quick to say “I love how those people treat you.

One thing I truly believe about my friend’s thought process is that there is power in positive thinking! If you believe in and feel positive about yourself, someone else may believe in you and think positively about you.

A “scientist” like myself always needs to be considerate and mindful of mine and others’ thoughts and feelings. I can see where one might think in my writing and in my everyday life there are times when I respond too quickly, too forceful, too harshly or too violently. I have promised to be more cognizant in that regard.

I have also realized that my thoughts and the thoughts of others that matter to me must be evaluated in a particular context.

A5

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

Necessary challenge This is why the challenge that the #BlackLivesMatter Movement is posing to the 2016 presidential field is necessary and an important step toward holding elected leadership accountable for policy decisions that marginalize Black life in America. Real progress for Blacks in this country has never come from quiet pleadings or the goodness of Whites; it has been the result of confrontation, disruption, resistance and demand. Even the nonviolent civil rights movement was a radical expression of defiance.

For decades, we seem to have forgotten that we have only moved forward when we were willing to be forward in our demand for equal standings with Whites. And this mostly includes our White liberal friends who we cannot allow to claim solidarity with us while bathing in the warm waters of White privilege.

Walter Fields is executive editor of NorthStarNews.com.

I’m learning I desire people in my life that have a brain, so to speak. I love people that recognize and understand their feelings. I’m learning to express and to share my thoughts and feelings with persons that I need to express and share with.

I believe in the power of positive thinking. I believe that happiness and joy are good things to want and to have. But there will never be peace or love in life or relations until there is justice in those areas also.

Ladies in my life, when the time is right, keep on doing the “touchy feely!”

Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net.

TOJ A6

AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

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HURRICANE KATRINA

SURVIVOR’S STORY,

FIRST PERSON Sheila St. Etienne, a New Orleans resident and Jacksonville native, survived Hurricane Katrina with her children, then wrote about it exclusively for the Florida Courier in 2006. Unfortunately, Sheila died Oct. 22, 2013 of colon cancer.

She was 58.

Friday, Aug. 26, 2005 72 hours before Katrina It began as any other Friday. The normal routine of getting the kids up and ready for school was as hectic as always. My son Jordan, age 9, and daughter Dionne, 7, had been in their fourth and second grade classes for all of one week and were still excited about seeing friends and teachers that they had not seen since May. As usual, I got up first and watched New Orleans’ NBC Channel 6 morning newscast while getting ready. There was no hint of any impending danger, because all forecasters were still predicting that Hurricane Katrina was going to cross South Florida and then turn toward Tallahassee and hit the Florida Panhandle.

Just a normal day Jordan, an avid Weather Channel watcher and budding meteorologist, noted the same. Even my secondary hurricane tracker (87-year-old dad) gave no indication that danger was approaching. Daddy always calls me from Jacksonville Editor’s and gives me hournote: ly updates whenThis is an ever he thinks that a storm of any kind installment is coming our way. of an This morning, there occasional were no phone calls.

Florida It was my week Courier to carpool, so I took series titled my happy, giggling group to school and “Survivor’s then went about my Stories, uneventful workFirst day. At 2:30 p.m., Person.” We I picked up Jordan and Dionne, got highlight Jordan to a doctor’s the lives appointment, Diof Black onne to gymnastics class, and then we Floridians all went to the New who have Orleans Saints’ first survived home preseason pro football game lifethat evening. changing

events, as described in their own words.

Phones ring in the Dome

On the way to the game, I received a phone call from a friend in Florida who asked where we were evacuating. Having no clue, I replied, “We are on our way to the Superdome for the game.”

Inside the ‘Dome,’ my phone rang again. It was another Florida friend checking on us. Again, I responded that the hurricane was going to Florida and was not predicted to come even close to us. Unfortunately, neither of those callers gave me updated information; they assumed I knew that Katrina’s forecasted path had changed.

Coincidently, Bill Capo, a news anchorperson at one of New Orleans’ TV stations, and his wife Leslie, are fellow Saints season ticket holders; we had gotten to know each other by sitting side-by-side at Saints home games for years. It was Leslie who told me that Katrina was now expected to become a Category 5 hurricane, that the storm had changed its mind about hitting

COURTESY OF THE ST. ETIENNE FAMILY

Jordan, Dionne and Sheila St. Etienne in 2005.

South Florida and wanted to visit “The Big Easy.”

As the game went on, our conversations were constantly interrupted

by Bill and Leslie’s Blackberrys going off with hurricane updates. Midthird quarter, she and Bill left so that Bill could be on the air at 4:00 a.m. the next morning.

Reality hits That’s when it really sank in. Meteorologists are always on the air during weather crises, but news anchors don’t usually get called in unless there is a real reason to be concerned.

My co-parent (I don’t call him an ex-husband) Greg met me at our seats to get the kids for the weekend. Once I explained the situation as I knew it, Greg – who normally doesn’t get stressed or nervous about such things – said, “Let’s stay in touch tomorrow to figure out our plans.”

I went home that night, called my brother Brian, and told him we may be coming home to Jacksonville.

MCT PHOTOGRAPH BY SMILEY N. POOL/DALLAS MORNING NEWS

Receding floodwaters left houses surrounded by mud in Chalmette, La., 10 days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005.

Water from a nearby creek cascaded through the St. Etienne’s living room during Katrina.

Saturday, Aug. 27 48 hours before Katrina Hot. Humid. In other words, the usual New Orleans summertime day.

Now all the local media were buzzing with the new Katrina tracking information. Many people were going about their usual Saturday routines.

Some were still oblivious to what was happening.

Greg had the kids. I got up, cleaned the house, and washed all the clothes, so if we left (I hadn’t decided for sure yet), I wouldn’t have to do it when we returned. I filled up at a nearby gas station and went shopping.

There was an eerie feeling of nervous uncertainty in the air. Supplies were beginning to run out and there were long lines at the gas stations.

You knew that people were asking the same question: “Is this the one?”

The process of contra-flow (all Interstate 10 lanes going out of the city) had begun for all who wanted to start the non-mandatory evacuation process. We live in a two-story house in East New Orleans that has a 10-foot first floor elevation, higher than most other homes in the city. It had never flooded, and I was still on the fence as to whether we were going to leave; we had never evacuated before. I prepared for either scenario by packing to leave, and shopping for supplies to sustain us in case there was a loss of power if we stayed.

Greg shuttled the kids that day to Dionne’s gymnastics practice, to Jordan’s piano practice, and then to a birthday party. All these events went on as scheduled, because there was still “the storm always turns” feeling, and because we didn’t want to frighten the kids by changing their routine.

By the time Saturday evening came, Jordan and Dionne were back with me and I began leaning toward leaving because things just didn’t feel the same as past hurricane scares. My New Orleans-based relatives were packing to leave for family in Austin, Texas.

Time to go The deciding moment for me came when Mayor Ray Nagin was interrupted during a live interview to take a call from Governor Kathleen Blanco

COURTESY OF THE ST. ETIENNE FAMILY

and from the Hurricane Center in Miami. Returning to the interview, he explained that the hurricane was neither turning nor losing strength, and that the only reason he could not issue a mandatory evacuation “at that time” was that there were still so many people who “could not” leave the city.

As far as I was concerned, he was indeed issuing a “mandatory” evacuation with a legal disclaimer. When Greg called me that evening to check on our plans, it was definite that we were leaving.

Sunday, Aug. 28 24 hours before Katrina I didn’t get to sleep until after midnight. I awoke at 3:00 a.m. and packed the car and our three cats. There was not a lot of room in the midsize car I had rented. We packed only the necessities, including two bags of irreplaceable family pictures. I packed one bag for me and one for the kids together.

I shook them awake about 4:00 a.m., didn’t bother to bathe them or even comb their hair (something I never leave home without doing), and threw some clothes on them, and we left before too many others hit the road.

As we left, I looked down the street and saw my neighbor Cedric and his family also preparing to leave. We stopped there and said our goodbyes.

(I saw Cedric on a post-hurricane return home, when he tearfully commented that we were the last people he saw before leaving New Orleans.)

We then passed my next-door neighbor Michelle’s house. She is a key employee at a local hospital, so I knew she had to stay at the hospital and her family would remain in the city. I put my key in her mailbox, and told her they could seek higher ground upstairs in my house if necessary.

Since Katrina was expected to hit to

the east, I-10 East was closed to eastbound traffic. We took a lightly traveled scenic highway into Mississippi until we could get past the one-way westbound flow of I-10. The drive was quiet and pleasant with the exception of our oldest cat Smokey, who gets carsick. I packed Lysol spray; Jordan used it constantly.

My first call came in soon after we left. Leslie Smith, a fellow member of my church’s sacred dance group, called to see if we had left and where we were headed. Everyone knew we would probably head to Jacksonville.

From that point, the calls never stopped from New Orleans all the way to Jacksonville. They were either coming in to us or outgoing from us. We all needed to connect and make sure our loved ones were OK and safe. We tried to be calm and lighthearted, but you could hear the uncertainty in the calls.

Florida welcomes refugees We arrived at the Florida Welcome Center just in time to hear Mayor Nagin issue the mandatory evacuation.

The rest area was packed with cars from Louisiana and a few from Mississippi. We all stood outside our cars, stretching our legs, giving our cars (and for me, the cats) some fresh air and providing moral support for each other, knowing deep down that things were indeed different this time.

We left New Orleans that Sunday morning, before daylight, for what we thought would be a week or so. My two kids and I took shorts, Capri pants, flip-flops and bathing suits. We were going to my brother’s house, so I knew if we stayed longer than a week, we could just repeatedly wash what we brought until we could return.

Little did we know.

See KATRINA, Page B2

B2

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Jacksonville: Edward Waters College will play the University of God’s Chosen on Aug. 29 for a 7:30 p.m. football game.

Sarasota: The West Coast Black Theatre Troupe will present “The Color Purple’’ Oct. 14-Nov. 21. More information http://westcoastblacktheatre.org.

Tampa: A football game featuring Florida A&M University and the University of South Florida is at 7 p.m.

Sept. 5 at Raymond James Stadium.

Miami Gardens: BethuneCookman University faces the University of Miami on Sept. 5 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens. The football game kicks off at 6 p.m.

Miami Gardens: Mayor Oliver Gilbert will present Open Mic Night on Monday, Aug. 31, at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex Amphitheater, 3000 Northwest 199th St. The event starts at 6 p.m.

CALENDAR Tampa: The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival and the Entrepreneur Collaborative Center will present “Business Planning; Sales & Marketing and Technology” seminar on Aug. 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2101 E. Palm Ave. Register at www.tampablackheritage. org.

St. Petersburg: R&B singer Keith Sweat takes the stage Sept. 5 at the Mahaffey Theater, 400 1st Street S. Miami: Chris Brown’s “One Hell of a Nite Tour’’ stops at the AmericanAirlines Arena on Sept. 3 and the MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa on Sept. 4.

Clearwater: Legendary concert jazz pianist Lillette Jenkins-Wisner, known as “Queen of the Keys,’’ gives what’s being called a farewell performance Sept.

10-13 at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

The concert will feature Jade Simmons.

Orlando: The Opal Network Alliance’s South Florida Women’s Summit is Oct. 2829 at the at the Bonaventure Resort & Spa in Weston.

More information: www.

AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

onatoday.com.

St. Petersburg: Tickets are on sale for a Nov. 13 show featuring the legendary Chaka Khan at the Mahaffey Theater.

KIM BURRELL & HEZEKIAH WALKER The Festival of Praise Tour featuring Kim Burrell, Fred Hammond, Israel Houghton, Donny McClurkin and Hezekiah Walker will make stops in Jacksonville, Fort Myers, Lakeland, Jacksonville and Pompano Beach. More details: www.festivalofpraisetour.com.

Orlando: STAR 94.5 presents Tamia at the House of Blues Orlando on Aug. 29 for a 7:30 p.m. show.

Miami: Catch actor and comedian Martin Lawrence on Sept. 11 at the AmericanAirlines Arena’s Waterfront Theatre and Sept. 12 at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa.

Miami: Janet Jackson’s Unbreakable World Tour stops at AmericanAirlinesArena on Sept. 20, Orlando’s Amway Center on Sept. 23 and Tampa’s Amalie Arena on Sept. 24.

Tampa: Candy Lowe hosts Tea & Conversation every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at 3911 N. 34th St., Suite B. More information: 813-3946363.

Jacksonville: Multi-instrumentalist Booker T. Jones will be at the Ritz Theater and Museum on Oct. 3 for an 8 p.m. show.

TEDDY RILEY The Allstate Tom Joyner Family Reunion returns to Orlando Labor Day Weekend. The talent lineup includes Frankie Beverly and Maze, Teddy Riley and the cast of “Living Single.’’

More information: www.blackamericaweb.com.

those moments. I can picture him standing in the auditorium … throwing up his arms to the crowd and getting a standing ovation.

It was magical.”

Hunter and his longtime friend, Semone Adkins, who also has Down syndrome, were named homecoming king and queen by an overwhelming student vote in October 2013. An Orlando Sentinel story about their preparation and coronation — Bubba grinning and waving wildly to the crowd — went viral, attracting tens of thousands of admirers from around the world and calls from CNN, People and Yahoo News.

STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Bubba Hunter and Semone Adkins were crowned homecoming King and Queen at West Orange High School on Oct. 11, 2013 in Winter Garden. Hunter died Aug. 21 after a battle with pneumonia.

Homecoming king with Down syndrome dies at age 20

BY KATE SANTIC ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

ORLANDO — Travjuan “Bubba” Hunter — an exuberant, outgoing Florida teenager with Down syndrome who drew legions of Internet fans as the

KATRINA from Page 1

Sunday, Aug. 28 8 hours before Katrina We finally arrived in Jacksonville early in the evening. What normally takes about nine hours took more than twelve this time. We had to make more stops for two kids, three cats and me to stretch and air out the car, especially for poor, sick Smokey the cat.

When we arrive in Jacksonville for a visit, it’s usually is for vacation. We had just been here at the end of July for our annual “family week” at American Beach, just north of Jacksonville; the atmosphere then was festive and exciting.

This time, when we got to my brother Brian Davis’ house, his welcome hug seemed more one of grateful relief, rather than the normal “let’s get the good times started.” A family friend, Ayanna Thompson, walked up to me with a glass of wine and said, “Aunt Sheila, you need this.”

She had no idea how right she was. I was so wound up from all the events of the weekend that calming down would take a while.

We unpacked the car, put the cats in the garage until

2013 homecoming king at West Orange High School in Winter Garden — died Aug. 21 after a battle with pneumonia. He was 20.

“Bubba was just full of life, and he passed that joy along to everyone he met,” said Amy Van Berwe could leave them with a veterinarian, and settled in.

I thought we would stay for one week – maybe two.

All the TVs in the house were on national news channels or on the Weather Channel. They all showed preparations being made to ready the city for the worst.

Even then, indications were that Katrina was not going to hit New Orleans headon. We watched, listened, and waited to see what was going to happen and to find out when we would be able to return.

That night, and for days later, none of the Davis family’s New Orleans visitors could sleep. There was a television in our room and because there was 24-hour coverage, it stayed on every night, all night.

Monday, Aug. 29 Katrina hits We awoke to the good news (for us) that Katrina had indeed missed New Orleans, hitting just east of the city and into Mississippi. Mayor Nagin was back on the news, this time saying how grateful the citizens were to be spared once again. Relieved, I watched closely and waited to hear how much damage there was, if any, and for the anticipated date that residents could return.

As I watched, there was

STOJ

gen, executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Central Florida. “That pure joy you saw — riding in the homecoming parade, doing the talent show and dancing with his homecoming queen — I will never, ever forget

An only child Janice Morgan, Bubba’s mother, said her only child was born when she was 23 weeks’ pregnant and he weighed just under 3 pounds. He spent his first 58 days of life in the hospital, undergoing surgery for a heart defect and growing big and sturdy enough to go home.

Despite those difficulties, Hunter became a robust kid with a notoriously positive attitude and virtual fearlessness.

“He knows everybody, and he’ll talk to anybody,” Morgan said in 2013. “Ever since he was in pre-

‘Jordan, Dionne and I sat silently and in disbelief as we watched the only city my two children have called ‘home’ seemingly wash away.’ a ticker that went across the bottom of the screen. It said that a levee had been breached, and that water was now pouring into the city. Panicked, I began looking for a channel that had more information. I found one that had pictures and details, including the fact that because of other levee breaks, eighty percent of New Orleans was now under water.

Jordan, Dionne and I sat silently and in disbelief as we watched the only city my two children have called “home” seemingly wash away. It hit nine-year-old Jordan hardest because of his infatuation with weather. Because he studied the effects of hurricanes and tornadoes, he had an idea of what was happening. I tried to hide my fear and anguish as much as possible in order to keep them from worrying too much.

Personal communications began to pour in, this time via text messaging, because cell phones were not otherwise working. This time, the tone of the “conversations” was very different.

We had all gone from the fear of what could happen,

to the disbelief of what actually did. There were reports of my admired, upscale subdivision of stately homes being under 20 feet of water, and bodies floating down what used to be our streets. There were neighbors who were unaccounted for.

The kids and I had been offered lodging at the Hyatt Regency hotel before deciding to evacuate. Watching the news, we could see that almost all the windows in this grand hotel had been blown out by Katrina’s winds.

Still trying to be strong for my children, reality set in, trauma and heartache hit, and I could not stop the tears. But in the midst of it all, I was comforted in the knowledge that I had made the right decision to evacuate east instead of west. Everyone else was going to Texas and North Mississippi, but even when we thought it would be for only a few days, I knew that we would be more comfortable in a familiar place with family.

It was a decision that has proven over and over to be a good one.

school, he’s been like that.

He would run up and kiss everybody. We worked on that forever, because he was about to get in trouble.

I told him, ‘You can’t just love on everybody.’”

To replace kissing, Hunter eventually developed a trademark wave, often throwing both hands up in a salute of victory for no particular reason, other than that people seemed to like it. Everyone seemed to like him.

“Everybody in town knows Bubba,” Michelle Cavanzon, a teacher’s aide who worked with Hunter and Adkins, had said of her student. “I swear he could run for mayor — and probably win.”

Short lifespan for Blacks Even Hayden Griffitts, the high school football team quarterback and a homecoming king contender himself, admitted he ended up voting for Hunter.

“He was a wonderful young man, and he was really loved by everyone, everywhere,” said Karen McNeil, Adkins’ mother, who knew Hunter since he was in second grade. “He had this three-wheeled bicycle he rode all over the neigh-

Constant calls From the time the news of the devastation in New Orleans hit the airways, my brother’s phone never stopped ringing. Family and friends from across the country who had his number began to call to see where and how we were.

One of my most memorable calls came from William Sweet, the husband of a childhood friend who left a message of support on Brian’s voicemail. We would experience many more acts of kindness.

The week before we knew Katrina was coming, I called the office of a very special friend in Jacksonville to find out his schedule for his birthday that week; I always send some sweet goodies for his office and him. He wasn’t in; I left word to expect a package on Monday. (Of course, I never got to send it.)

Unable to reach him while traveling, I called the office on that fateful Monday to let him know we were alright. A co-worker who recognized my voice said how worried the office had been since Katrina threatened New Orleans.

Knowing that we left with the literally just the clothes on our backs, people from that same office generously gave clothes and toys for the kids and me to hold us until we were able to get on

borhood, waving to everybody. You can’t imagine how much we are all going to miss him.”

But in the past year, she said, Hunter had been hospitalized several times, suffering from pneumonia, diabetes and what was thought to be heart issues.

Although the average lifespan for people with Down syndrome has increased in recent decades to age 60 — up from age 25 in 1983 — Van Bergen said it tends to be significantly shorter for African-Americans.

“One wonders if it’s due to diminished access to medical care or complications from other conditions,” she said. “About half of our babies with Down syndrome have some kind of heart problem.”

For all the limits of his life, though, Hunter managed to leave a considerable footprint.

“I think he helped change the way people look at individuals with Down syndrome,” McNeil said. “He showed people that everyone is the same, no matter your color, your race, your nationality or your challenges. He taught us that a person is a person.” our feet.

It was indeed needed.

All of our Louisiana bank’s computers were down. We had no idea how long it would be before we would have access to our money.

As the Gulf Coast was nearly drowned by Katrina, I only knew I had two children, three cats, $1,000 in my pocket, and an uncertain future.

I didn’t know then that I was much better off than many of my fellow citizens.

NOTICE OF TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS ACTION, To: Thomas Campbell, Respondent, From: Confidential Clerk of Family Court -Bethany Christian Services, Petitioner has brought a civil action (#15-18700) against you to terminate your parental rights of a child: Minor Male (DOB: 3/7/15). A hearing has been scheduled at the Family Court, 500 N.King St, Wilmington, DE on 9/9/2015 at 3 pm. If you do not appear at the hearing the Court may terminate your parental rights without your appearance. If you wish to be represented by an attorney in this matter but cannot afford one, you may be entitled to have the court appoint an attorney to represent you for free. For more information please contact Confidential Clerk, Family Court 302-255-0244.

STOJ

AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

HURRICANE KATRINA

B3

A trail of destruction A chronology of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating path through the Gulf Coast in 2005 Wednesday Aug. 24, 2005

Tuesday Aug. 30, 2005

Katrina becomes the 11th named storm of the 2005 hurricane season.

Sections of two levees break allowing water from Lake Pontchartrain to flood areas of New Orleans and leaving at least 80 percent of the city underwater. Both Mississippi and Louisiana are plagued with looting.

Thursday Aug. 25, 2005 Tropical Storm Katrina is declared a hurricane as it approaches the eastern coast of Florida.

The eye of the Category 1 hurricane makes landfall near Miami with winds gusting to 80 mph.

Wednesday Aug. 31, 2005 New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin estimates the death toll for the city is in the thousands. The federal government declares a public health emergency to accelerate efforts to help hurricane victims.

Friday Aug. 26, 2005 The hurricane moves into the Gulf of Mexico and is headed toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Thursday Sept. 1, 2005

Sunday Aug. 28, 2005

Conditions in New Orleans grow worse as food and water disappear, and transportation out of the city is limited. President Bush asks former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush to help raise funds for the hurricane relief efforts.

The National Hurricane Center says the hurricane has become a Category 5 storm. Evacuation orders are given for New Orleans and the Mississippi and Alabama coasts.

Friday Sept. 2, 2005

Monday Aug. 29, 2005

A National Guard convoy arrives in New Orleans to provide water, food and security. President Bush visits Mobile, Ala.; Biloxi, Miss.; and New Orleans to survey the hurricane damage.

Hurricane Katrina makes landfall on the Louisiana coast, east of New Orleans. The storm destroys areas of the Gulf Coast; Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss., are among the hardest hit.

MICHAEL AINSWORTH/DALLAS MORNING NEWS/MCT

Residents make their way through floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina to the Superdome in New Orleans on Aug. 30, 2005.

SOURCES: NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, CNN, MCT

KHAMPHA BOUAPHANH/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/MCT

Victoria Mueller breaks down in tears while waiting hours for food and supplies in Metairie, La. on Sept.

1, 2005.

KHAMPHA BOUAPHANH/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/MCT

PATRICK SCHNEIDER/CHARLOTTE OBSERVER/MCT

Ky Hoang walks among the littered remains of a street in Biloxi, Miss., trying to salvage belongings from his parents’ destroyed home on Aug. 30, 2005.

10 p.m. CT Tues., Aug. 30 Tropical depression

Tenn.

7 p.m. CT Mon., Aug. 29 Tropical storm

New Orleans police are pulled away from rescue efforts to deal with looters throughoaut the city.

N.C.

Hurricane Katrina hit Florida as a Category 1 storm, gained power over the Gulf of Mexico and hit Louisiana three and a half days later as a Category 3 monster.

Miss.

S.C. Ala. 1 p.m. CT Mon., Aug. 29 Cat. 1 hurricane Ga. Montgomery La. 12 p.m. CT Mon., Aug. 29 Mobile Cat. 2 hurricane Tallahassee Biloxi Pensacola 10 a.m. CT Mon., Aug. 29 New Orleans Cat. 3 hurricane Landfall Fla. 2 a.m. CT 7:10 a.m. ET Aug. 29 Mon., Aug. 29 Cat. 4 hurricane Tampa KA TR 10 p.m. CT IN A’S Sun., Aug. 28 Hu PA Cat. 5 hurricane rri TH ca Tro pic al

Gulf of Mexico

sto rm

ne wi nd s

wi nd s

1 a.m. CT Sun., Aug. 28 Cat. 4 hurricane

Source: National Hurricane Center Graphic: Helen McComas, Lee Hulteng, Pai

150 km

© 2010 MCT

150 miles

KHAMPHA BOUAPHANH/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/MCT

Outside of New Orleans, a patient is transported to a makeshift transport hub for medical attention on Sept. 1, 2005.

5 a.m. ET Sat., Aug. 27 Cat. 3 hurricane

Hurricane categories Atlantic Ocean

Tropical storm

5 p.m. ET Thurs., Aug. 25 Cat.1 hurricane

Wind speed

39-74 mph (63-119 kph)

Storm surge

Less than 5 ft. (1.5 m)

Category 2

Category 3

Category 4

74-95 mph 96-110 mph 111-130 mph 131-155 mph (119-153 kph) (154-177 kph) (178-209 kph) (210-249 kph) 4-5 ft.

(1.2-1.5 m)

6-8 ft.

(1.8-2.4 m)

9-12 ft.

(2.7-3.7 m)

13-18 ft.

(4.5-5 m)

Category 5 155+ mph (250+ kph) More than 18 ft. (5.5 m)

5 p.m. ET Wed., Aug. 24 Tropical storm

Miami

2 a.m. ET Fri., Aug. 26 Cat. 2 hurricane

Category 1

5 p.m. ET Tues., Aug. 23 Tropical depression SCOTT FISHER/SUN-SENTINEL/MCT

Katrina nears the Florida coast and gains hurricane status on Aug. 25, 2005.

B4

FOOD

AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

A fresh take on

VEGETABLES

New cookbooks have plenty of produce recipes for Southern tables

BY ANDREA WEIGL RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

RALEIGH, N.C. – “What in the heck do I do with (insert name of unfamiliar vegetable)?”

That was the question that sparked two Southern chefs to come out with vegetable-focused cookbooks this year: “Root to Leaf,” by Steven Satterfield of Miller Union in Atlanta, and “The Broad Fork,” by Hugh Acheson, who co-owns four restaurants in Athens, Ga., and is well-known as the snarky judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef.”

Add to those the recent title, “Mastering the Art of Southern Vegetables,” by the grand dame of Southern food writing, Nathalie Dupree, and her longtime collaborator, Cynthia Graubert, and you have a new crop of Southern vegetable-focused cookbooks.

That doesn’t surprise Dupree despite the South’s reputation for its unhealthy attention-getting foods, such as fried chicken and barbecue.

“Vegetables are the essence of Southern cooking. We were an agrarian society,” said Dupree, noting the region’s longer growing seasons. “We were a poor society. We used meat in our vegetables because they didn’t have meat otherwise in the meal.”

Variety of produce Despite that history, today’s Southern home cooks were often asking both Satterfield and Acheson how to cook vegetables.

Satterfield said he would be doing a cooking demonstration with carrots at Atlantaarea farmers markets and people would ask him about kohlrabi and rutabagas.

Acheson found himself fielding questions from neighbors on Tuesdays when they picked up their CSA boxes, or shares of produce from a local farm at a drop-off spot in his neighborhood.

“Everybody asked me questions all the time,” said Acheson, who also subscribed to the CSA. “You don’t have a choice what you are getting. It can be a conundrum.”

That three such experts in Southern cooking have offered up their advice in these new cookbooks is good news for home cooks. The timing also couldn’t be better since there is so much delicious fresh produce coming out of home gardens and for sale at the farmers market and roadside stands.

‘Skill set mode’ Acheson and Satterfield’s books are similarly organized: divided by season, then ingredient.

Acheson’s 200-page book dives right into the 200 recipes, from the simple (Slow Cooker Chicken Stock, Smoky Eggplant

GRILLED CORN SALAD WITH CHILES, BASIL AND LIME From “The Broad Fork: Recipes for the Wide World of Vegetables and Fruits,” by Hugh Acheson (Clarkson Potter, 2015).

4 ears fresh corn, shucked 2 red jalapeños 4 tablespoons olive oil Sea salt 1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn to small pieces 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice Light the grill and get it really hot. If you are using a charcoal grill, make sure the coals have cooked down to a fieryhot gray.

TOJ

Brush the corn and jalapeños with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season with salt. Place them directly on the grill and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, turning halfway through, until well charred. Set aside to cool.

Cut the corn kernels from the cobs and place them in a bowl. Discard jalapeño stems; finely chop the chiles (I leave it up to you if want the seeds in there).

Add the jalapeños, basil and lime juice to the corn. Taste and add more sea salt, if needed. Toss well, then add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir. Let salad sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Yield: 4 servings.

Puree) to those worthy of his restaurants’ tables (Duck Breast with Indian Eggplant Pickle; Griddled Asparagus, Piperade, Poached Eggs and Grits.)

The headnotes are packed with good cooking advice and offer glimpses of the wit that makes him a perfect “Top Chef” judge.

What Acheson hopes readers will take away from the book is this: “You have to look at cooking as an array of Lego blocks.

Each block is a little skill.” Once home cooks learn each skill and get into “skill set mode,” Acheson said, they may not be so intimidated by recipes, no matter the list of ingredients or length of instructions.

TOMATO, WATERMELON AND BACON SALAD From “Mastering the Art of Southern Vegetables,” by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubert (Gibbs Smith, 2015).

3 cups tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes or wedged 3 cups seedless watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes Salt 2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled 2 ounces soft goat cheese, or crumbled blue or feta cheese Gently mix tomatoes and watermelon in a medium bowl and salt to taste. Plate individually or in a serving bowl, then sprinkle with bacon and cheese.

This dish is best enjoyed the day it is prepared. No further salad dressing is needed, as the tomato and melon make a tantalizing dressing on their own.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

‘Nose-to-tail’ cooking Satterfield’s almost 500-page “Root to Leaf” offers more on the agricultural and cultural history of each ingredient. Its title is a play on “nose-to-tail” cooking of whole animals and shares recipes for fennel fronds and radish greens. “Who thinks about eating radish greens? And they’re really good,” he said.

Its 200 recipes also range from easy (Fig, Country Ham and Goat Cheese Sandwich; Grilled Peach Salsa) to complicated (Quail with Muscadines, Grits and Redeye Gravy.) It is a beautiful book that allows cooks to be inspired by whatever enticing ingredient they see at the market, knowing they can find a worthy recipe in Satterfield’s tome.

Dupree and Graubert’s book is in some ways the opposite of these chefs’ books: the recipes are simple and accessible for the most beginner cooks. They are not concerned with plating and rarely feature a recipe with more than 10 ingredients.

The 200-page book is full of helpful advice; each chapter opens with an introduction to the vegetables, explanation of varieties and particular advice for each ingredient, such as freezing peas, trimming and preparing artichokes and caramelizing onions. The 120 recipes include Mashed Potatoes, Summer Succotash and Wilted Coleslaw for a Crowd.

“It’s really good, tasty food that people will remember when they lie in bed at night,” Dupree said. “Don’t you think that’s the trick?”

Yes, it is.

THE BOOKS

“Root to Leaf: A Southern Chef Cooks Through the Seasons,” by Steven Satterfield, (Harper Wave,” 2015, $45).

“The Broad Fork: Recipes from the Wide World of Vegetables and Fruits,” by Hugh Acheson (Clarkson Potter, 2015, $35).

“Mastering the Art of Southern Vegetables,” by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubert (Gibbs Smith, 2015, $25).

ZUCCHINI WITH GARLIC, RED PEPPER AND MINT From “Root to Leaf: A Southern Chef Cooks Through the Seasons,” by Steven Satterfield, (Harper Wave, 2015).

8 small or 4 medium zucchini (green or yellow varieties), washed Kosher salt 1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 teaspoon honey, local if possible 1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 3 to 4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced 1 large handful fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped Cut zucchini lengthwise into ½-inch wide spears, then trim them to approximately 3 inches in length. Place zucchini on a platter in a single layer and season well with kosher salt on all sides. Transfer to a wire rack or a paper towellined surface to drain. Allow to sit for 1 hour. This will draw some of the water out of the squash and also serve as seasoning for the dish.

In a small nonreactive bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lemon, honey and 1/3 cup olive oil to make the vinaigrette; add salt to taste.

Warm a cast iron skillet over low heat. Pat the zucchini dry. In a small skillet over low heat, warm the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil with the

PHOTOS BY JULI LEONARD/ RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

red pepper flakes and the garlic until the garlic is lightly browned. Strain the oil into the warm cast iron skillet and reserve the solids. Increase the heat to medium and sear the zucchini in the flavored oil until lightly browned on all sides.

Turn the heat off and transfer the cooked zucchini to a plate. Add the reserved garlic and red pepper flakes to the dressing. When the squash has cooled, spoon the vinaigrette over it and top with fresh mint. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: 4-6 servings.

STOJ

AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

B5

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

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

mike

jasmine Jasmine Akakpo is a former child model and actor who has recently made her way back in the entertainment industry. She has done work on TV shows such as “The Game” and “Drop Dead Diva” along with independent films through young filmmakers like herself. Jasmine takes pride in her fun, down-to-earth personality and loves working with others. “I appreciate the team effort that it takes to create any project so much. It’s amazing.” Contact Jasmine at:www.jasmineakakpo.com, www.facebook. com/jasmineakakpo.com or on Twitter:@jasmineakakpo.

CREDIT: BlackIce Bell

Mike Garvey is a South Florida resident of Jamaican decent. He’s also a Marine Corps veteran who has bloodlines to historical leader Marcus Garvey. The aspiring actor and 1st Million Management talent has worked numerous projects, including appearances on Starz Network’s “Magic City,” “The Glades” (A&E Network), and “Burn Notice” (USA Network). He plays a security guard in the film “Pain and Gain.’’

Reid: Trump drawing those feeling left out of ‘Obama’s America’ EURWEB.COM

“Black-ish’’ resumes Sept. 23 on ABC. The cast includes Laurence Fishburne, Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross.

‘Black-ish’ to deal with ‘n-word’ in upcoming show EURWEB.COM

“Black-ish” isn’t falling back on controversial topics for its second season.

While the hit ABC show dealt with corporal punishment in its first season, an episode in the upcoming season will tackle the “n-word’’ — and its repercussions — when youngest son Jack (Miles Brown) utters it during a talent show performance at his grade school,” Variety reports.

“We wanted to do it last year, but we felt like it might have been low-hanging fruit for us,” “Black-ish” executive producer Kenya Barris told the publication. “But in this off-season, you’ve seen where we’re at. As we’re supposed to be evolving, (racism) is still rearing its ugly head constantly. So we felt like the word was

still timely.”

The corporal punishment episode of “Blackish,” titled “Crime and Punishment” attracted good feedback from critics as it triggered debate among viewers debate about whether or not parents should spank their children. The show’s n-word episode will be set up like “Crime and Punishment,” with each family member taking a different stance on the subject.

Support from ABC “I have my own feelings about it and I know that a lot of people in my own house and my friends have different feelings about it,” said Barris. “So I felt like the show was a good place to address it.

Let’s examine this word and take a real look at it.”

For those wondering if ABC was cool with “Black-ish” exploring such a controversial topic, rest easy.

According to Barris, the network was supportive of the move.

“As long as we tell our stories in a comedic and respectful way, they are really behind us,” he shared with Variety.

The second season of “Black-ish” is set to premiere at 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 23.

Tom Joyner Family Reunion to highlight famous Black TV families

BY PENNY DICKERSON FLORIDA COURIER

The positive contributions of the Black family as viable entertainment was unequivocally proven when the iconic sitcom “Good Times” aired on CBS. A formidable millennium-match is ABC’s hyphenated, smart comedy, “Black-ish.’’ Select cast members from both shows will be on hand to greet fans at the 2015 All-

state Tom Joyner Family Reunion Sept. 3-7 for star-studded concerts, seminars and events for family members of all ages.

John Amos and Esther Rolle made famous their roles in “Good Times’’ as struggling urban parents James and Florida Evans when the show fixated American audiences in 1974.

Depicted as an asphalt-poor family of five living cramped in an inner-city Chicago housing

Donald Trump’s hold on conservative America continues to be the dominant story in politics. And Joy Reid knows it.

So much so that the MSNBC personality and political analyst gave her thoughts on who exactly makes up the majority of the Republican presidential hopeful’s political fan base before Trump took the stage on Aug. 21 for a campaign rally at LaddPeebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala. “I think what you have with Trump, and what I see as his base, is not just the far-right, but the right,” Reid exJoy pressed to “HardReid ball” host Chris Matthews, “and it’s a lot of Republicans who are disgruntled with the Republican Party.”

Anti-Obama crowd Expanding on her point, Reid touched on a racial factor that may be present with a lot of Trump’s supporters.

“It’s White Republicans. It’s mostly White male Republicans and it’s

project, their residential dwelling is the polar opposite of the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando where Joyner invites the public to party. But it is free, and there will be “Good Times.”

More ‘Good Times’ Father figure James worked multiple menial jobs with temporary layoffs and paying next month’s rent was always a hustle and hassle unlike Joyner who hosts a No. 1 syndicated radio program that affords him an outlet to raise more than $60 million for students to attend historical-

ly Black colleges and universities through his Tom Joyner Foundation. A life advanced by higher education ensures “Good Times.”

The show’s main character Jimmie Walker served comedic genius as the lanky, bucket hat wearing oldest son “J.J.” who coined the phrase heard around the world: “Dy-no-mite.” Middle daughter “Thelma” played by BernNadette Stanis personified the femme descript “Fine,” but it was youngest son Michael, “The Militant Midget,” played by Ralph Carter who drove the theme: We are poor, but a proud Black Family.

basically White Americans who feel left out of Obama’s America, who are peeved with the fact that their preferred party can’t seem to beat Obama, and who want to hear a guy be able to stand up and be as politically incorrect as they can’t be,” she stated.

“They’d get fired from their jobs if they put on Facebook some of the things Trump said. But here’s a guy who can say what he wants to. Be a man’s man and get out there and be the kind of Ronald Reaganesque kind of America where we (do) what we want, said what we want, pushed the world around, and told them to go to hell if we wanted to.”

‘White Power’ shouts Adding fuel to Reid’s commentary is the reaction Trump got at the Alabama rally. According to media sources, Trump supporters screamed “White Power” at the event as Trump spoke about illegal immigration.

The comment came after the business mogul was greeted with cheers from the excited crowd as he arrived at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

AL.com mentioned a man who voiced a desire for the border to become a “vacation spot” where a bounty would be placed on immigrants.

“Hopefully, he’s going to sit there and say, ‘When I become elected president, what we’re going to do is we’re going to make the border a vacation spot, it’s going to cost you $25 for a permit, and then you get $50 for every confirmed kill,’” a man named Jim Sherota told a reporter for the site. “That’d be one nice thing.”

The 53-year-old apparently fell back on his remarks as he reportedly said later that he was joking, AL.com added.

In a quantum leap of cultural assimilation, Anthony Anderson plays father Dre Johnson in the current ABC show, “Blackish.” Leading the Johnson family, he has a fabulous job, huge suburban home, four kids and a beautiful wife named “Rainbow,” played by Tracee Ellis Ross.

A “Good Time” for this family is a “black break for white yogurt,” but, they too, are proud and personify why since 2003, Tom Joyner’s “family party with a purpose” is the perfect choice to celebrate America’s Black family with “Good Times.”

NATION

B6

AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

STOJ

Apple opens up opportunity for HBCU students Fund now accepting applications for scholarships and internships

BY FREDDIE ALLEN NNPA NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – On Tuesday, Aug. 25, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) opened the application process for the Apple HBCU Scholars program to help the most valuable company in the world identify the next generation of high-performing leaders of color in technology.

The program, which targets students attending historically, Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), includes a scholarship for up to $25,000 during the recipient’s senior year, a summer internship at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., career-development opportunities, and the chance to serve as a TMCF Diversity Initiative/Apple brand ambassador.

Students also will earn the opportunity to participate in the Apple HBCU immersion experience in Cupertino, Calif., during the spring of 2016 and access to an Apple employee for a unique mentoring experience.

Addressing diversity concern In the press release about the launch of the program, Denise Young Smith, the vice president of Worldwide Human Resources at Apple Inc., and a graduate of Grambling State University in Louisiana, said that the program is about exposing gifted students from HBCUs to careers in technology.

The tech industry has recently come under increased scrutiny for its lack of diversity by civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson and others after companies like Google, Apple and HP published data on the ethnic and

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund has announced the Apple HBCU Scholars program, which will help students attending historically Black universities and colleges. gender diversity of their workforces.

“We’re big believers that innovation will be strongest when talented people from diverse backgrounds are part of the creative process,” said Smith. “That’s why we’re so proud to be partnering with TMCF to help us find the next generation of innovators.”

Developing talent database The Apple Scholars program is just one element of the $40 million partnership between TMCF and Apple announced earlier this year that will include the development of a talent database for

hiring managers, research grants for faculty members and investments in entrepreneurship programs.

“The call out to our community is that when an organization as big and as well-known as Apple says, ‘I’m going to invest in you,’ they have actually lobbed the ball into our court and, if we miss it, we’re going to be hard-pressed to argue that HBCUs are relevant and worthy of future investments,” said Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of TMCF. Taylor added that the partnership will involve serious discussions about how to make HBCUs sustainable in the future.

“(Apple) is absolutely convinced that if they want to solve their diversity challenge, they have to expand the schools that are producing the pipeline,” said Taylor. “Majority schools are not enough because everyone’s fighting for that same small pot of Black students.”

they are not just historically relevant, but that they’re also currently relevant, as well.

“This is Apple, one of the sexiest, most ubiquitous companies on the globe so all eyes are watching and it’s just not limited to the technology space,” Taylor added.

“I have meetings now with other companies in other sectors that say, ‘I am dying to hear how the Apple (investment) works out.”

The application process, which opened Aug. 25, closes Sept. 18.

Parents, students and faculty can learn more about the Apple HBCU Scholars program at http://tmcf.org/our-scholarships.

Sept. 18 deadline Taylor said that the stakes are high for HBCUs and Apple to prove targeted investments like this can reap long-term rewards for industries pushing to diversify their ranks. Taylor added that it may be the last chance for Black colleges to make the case that

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