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Courthouse keeps Emmett Till’s memory alive See Page B1
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SEPTEMBER 8 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
VOLUME 25 NO. 36
AFTER THE STORM BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF
FEDERAL PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND INFORMATION The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides assistance to state, tribal, local governments and certain types of private nonprofit organizations so that communities can quickly respond to and recover from major disasters or emergencies declared by the president. Florida manages this program. Assistance is available for affected individuals and businesses after a presidential disaster declaration. The first step for individuals or business that require assistance is to call FEMA’s National Tele-registration Center, 800-621-3362 or 800-462-7585 (TTY). Once an application is processed, further assistance will be coordinated through a Di-
Here’s contact information that will help you get back on track after Hurricane Irma. saster Recovery Center. DRCs are a temporary facility located in or near the impacted area where survivors can go to obtain disaster related information. The centers are staffed with specialists from FEMA, the State Emergency Response Team, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and a variety of disaster-recovery representatives from local and voluntary agencies which may be established in each of the declared counties or regionally. Representatives of federal, state, local, and volunteer organizations are made available to help disaster victims who are applying for assistance. • Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency: 202-6462500, www.fema.gov. Twitter: @fema • Federal Alliance for Safe Homes: www.flash.org. 850385-7233. Twitter: @FederalAlliance • National Hurricane Center (includes storm tracking map, preparedness guide and other information): www.nhc.noaa.gov. Twitter: @ NWSNHC • National Aeronautics and Space Administration Hurricane Resource Page: www.nasa.gov/ mission_pages/hurricane s/main/index.html. Twitter: @NASAHurricane
STATE ASSISTANCE • Florida Emergency Information Line: 800-342-3557. This is a toll-free hotline activated at the time of an emergency to provide an additional resource for those in Florida to receive accurate and up-toSee IRMA, Page A2
DAVID SANTIAGO/MIAMI HERALD/TNS
Gas pumps were empty around much of South Florida as Floridians took preparations prior to Hurricane Irma’s impact.
Emmett Till’s cousin dies
2017-18 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON
B-CU can’t pull off the upset
Simeon Wright witnessed teen’s kidnapping BY LOLLY BOWEAN CHICAGO TRIBUNE / TNS
CHICAGO – Simeon Wright, the cousin of Emmett Till who was in bed with the boy on the night he was kidnapped and later murdered, died Sept. 4 at his home in suburban Chicago, his wife said. Wright died after suffering complications from a form of bone cancer, his wife, Annie Wright, said. He was 74. Simeon Wright grew up for part of his life in Money, Miss. A 14-year-old Emmett Till traveled to the town from Chicago in August 1955 to visit Wright and other relatives that summer.
Taken at gunpoint
KIM GIBSON / FLORIDA COURIER
During a week that saw Howard University pull off the biggest upset in college football history by beating the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, the University of Miami Hurricanes easily won their annual tune-up against Bethune-Cookman University, 41-13. Here, UM receiver Darrell Langham makes a catch over B-CU cornerback Jamaal Burgess.
Wright was with Till when Till allegedly whistled at a White woman at a convenience store as a prank. And Wright was also with the teen the night Till was ordered out of bed at gunpoint by two angry White men, who accused him of flirting with their relative. Till was tortured, murdered and his body was tossed into the river. His death helped galvanize the civil rights movement. He became a symbol of racist violence that persisted in the South when his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, chose to have his mutilated body on display at his funeral. Photographs of Till’s wounded corpse were published and circulated around the world. See WRIGHT, Page A2
SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3
City renaming streets honoring generals NATION | A6
Trump’s ‘AfricanAmerican’ unhappy with president
ALSO INSIDE
OBITUARY | B2
Former Disney executive Robert Billingslea dies
CULTURE | B3
Why it’s harder for Black students to report rape
Rebel Gen. Robert E. Lee’s descendant resigns as pastor BY MARK PRICE THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER / TNS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A descendant of Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee who made headlines for denouncing racism on last month’s MTV Video Music Awards has announced he is leaving his post at a Winston-Salem church after some in the congregation expressed discomfort over some of the statements he has been making. In a letter published on AuburnSeminary.org, Lee said some members of Bethany United Church of
Christ in Winston-Salem supported his right of free speech, while others were worried about the attention it was attracting to the church. “My presence at the church as a descendent of Robert E. Lee and an outspoken opponent of White supremacy had already attracted attention, but with my appearance on MTV the media’s focus on my church reached an all-time high. A faction of church members were concerned about my speech and that I lifted up Black Lives Matter movement (and) the Women’ s March … as examples See PASTOR, Page A2
The Rev. Robert Wright Lee IV
COMMENTARY: JAMES CLINGMAN: WHAT’S NEW THESE DAYS WITH THE NAACP? NOTHING | A4 GUEST COMMENTARY: VINCENT LLOYD: BLACK RELIGION VS. BLACK RADICALISM | A5
FOCUS
A2
SEPTEMBER 8 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
I’m thinking about the storm this time The price of gasoline recently increased dramatically after parts of Texas were flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. An even more severe hurricane, Irma, is expected to reach South Florida sooner or later once it has skirted across the Caribbean. Get serious, get prepared and be prayerful. The storm this time is no joke!
Sacrifices are required When any disaster hits a city or a state, it is economically devastating. Government spending must increase, businesses must make financial adjustments, and citizens have to make certain fi-
LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT
nancial sacrifices. Well, the people are always encouraged to purchase homeowner’s insurance, hurricane coverage, flood insurance and other products that should ease financial pains during times of natural disasters. However, insurance and other protection policies you are encouraged to purchase don’t al-
ways pay off when you file claims. Instead of doing all they can to help you in times of need, some insurance companies do all they can to deny your claims, pay you less than you deserve – or avoid paying you all together! I advise you to take photos of your home before a hurricane or flood reaches your area, and take photos afterwards to show how your property was damaged. It is not unusual for devilish insurance companies to say your home or business did not suffer damages because of a storm. Some will even change status reports and engineering reports to support their claim denials.
Do your best Do all you can to protect yourself physically and financially at all times. Your survival and your family’s survival is a must. No heirloom and no materi-
al possession is more important than you are. You can take another picture. You can get another vase. That car and that furniture can be replaced. But there is only one you!
Try to help If the Category Five hurricane does wreak havoc on the state of Florida, after you save yourself, do what you can to help others. Try to rescue somebody; offer to shelter somebody. If you can, share a meal or two with someone less fortunate than you. The Bible says after Noah and the ark he built survived a devastating flood, God promised that he would not totally destroy the earth in that manner again. Wherever and whenever a hurricane or flood hits, the people, the community and the culture can come back to some sort of normalcy.
WRIGHT from A1
Killers acquitted After a trial in which the men accused of killing Till were acquitted, Wright and his family moved to west suburban Argo. He graduated from Argo High School in 1962 and began working as a pipe fitter. For much of his life, Wright lived quietly in various suburbs of Chicago, his wife said. But in the 2000s, Wright became more vocal about what happened to him. “He really wanted people to know what happened that night,” his wife said. “There were so many versions. When I first met him, he never talked about it. But then he wanted people to know the injustices and indignities.”
Fled from the South Wright was 12 when Till was killed and afterward his family fled in fear, said Airickca GordonTaylor, a spokeswoman for the family and the co-founding director of the Mamie Till-Mobley Memorial Foundation. The media spotlight was justifiably on Emmett Till, GordonTaylor said. But the rest of the family suffered immensely after the teen’s death. “People often talked about Emmett, but Simeon had a story of his own,” Gordon-Taylor said. “That incident changed him as a person. It ripped his own family apart. It disrupted his life. He became bitter and angry.” ZBIGNIEW BZDAK/CHICAGO TRIBUNE
In this 2009 file photo, Simeon Wright visits Emmett Till’s gravesite at Burr Oak Cemetery in Illinois.
Told what happened In 2009, Wright published a
When the seas and oceans get tough or the waves are calm and serene, we are all still in the same boat. The wind doesn’t know or care whose house it blows down. The water doesn’t care which beach it surges or business it floods.
Two things we know Environmental devastation and what happens afterwards will be felt more by the poor than the rich. And it will take a concerted and united effort to make things right again on every level.
Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants. net.
book detailing his eyewitness account. After Till whistled at the White woman at the store, he made his cousins promise not to tell any of the adults because he didn’t want to get sent back home to Chicago, Wright wrote. But that night, Wright awoke to loud, rumbling voices. “When I opened my eyes, I saw two White men at the foot of my bed. One had a flashlight and a gun,” Wright told a Chicago Tribune columnist in 2014. “They ordered me back down. Emmett was still sleeping. They had to shake him to wake him up.” The men took Till out of the house. His body was later found in the river, held down by a cotton gin fan.
Bragged about murder Shortly after the trial, the two men accused of killing Till bragged to Look magazine that they had murdered the boy. The entire incident filled Wright with an anger that he could subdue only with a religious conversion. “He got through it with the Lord’s help,” his wife said. He channeled his energy into mentoring young boys and trying to teach them how to set goals and manage life’s setbacks and obstacles, she said.
Recanted testimony This year, Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman at the center of the trial of Till’s killers, acknowledged that she falsely testified that Till had made physical advances and verbal threats. The confession sparked a renewed interest in the Till tragedy and its role in history. Besides his wife, Wright is survived mainly by extended relatives.
PASTOR from A1
of racial justice work,” according to the letter.
‘Deeply hurtful’
IRMA from A1
date information regarding an emergency or disaster situation impacting the state. • State of Florida Division of Emergency Management, 850-4139969 www.floridadisaster.org. Twitter: @FLSERT • For the latest information on road closures: Call 5-1-1, or online at https:// fl511.com Florida Highway Patrol, https:// www.flhsmv.gov/florida-highwaypatrol/traffic-incidents/ • Citizens Property Insurance: www.citizensfla.com. 1-888-6851555. Twitter: @citizens_fla • Florida Power and Light: www. fpl.com/storm: Features checklists, information on how to report an outage and check on its status as well as other preparation tips. Twitter: @insideFPL.
LOCAL ASSISTANCE • Emergency Management Centers in the Florida Courier’s coun-
ties of distribution: • Miami-Dade County, 305-4685400, http://www.miamidade.gov/ fire/emergency-management.asp • Broward County, 954-831-3900, http://www.broward.org/disaster/ • Palm Beach County, 561-7126321, http://discover.pbcgov.org/ publicsafety/dem/Pages/default. aspx • St. Lucie County, 772-462-8110, http://www.stlucieco.gov/eoc • Orange County, 407-8369026, http://www.orangecountyfl. net/?tabid=105#.VZwvnMvws5u • Hillsborough County, 813-2726600, http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/index.aspx?NID=115 • Pinellas County, 727-464-5550, http://www.pinellascounty.org/ emergency • Duval County, 904-255-3110, http://www.jaxready.com
PHONE APPS • NOAA Radar US: Has animated weather radar images and hyperlocal storm patterns. $1.99 for iPhone and iPad. • Hurricane App by the Red Cross: Free for iPhone and Android. Provides NOAA alerts, connects with
friends and family. Includes a flashlight, strobe and alarm. A second free app includes first-aid advice for situations ranging from anaphylactic shock to heart attacks. Download both apps at redcross.org/mobileapps/hurricane-app, or search on your phone. • Weather Channel Apps: Free apps for iPhone/iPad and Android. • Dark Sky: Uses technology to predict weather events in real time at your location. $3.99 for iPhone/iPad. • Information on how to handle animals before and after a storm is available through the National Hurricane Center at www.ready.gov/caring-animals. • For large animals, visit www. humanesociety.org/about/departments/ disaster_preparedness.html. • To safeguard a pet during the hurricane season, visit ASPCA at www.aspca.org/pet-care/disasterpreparedness.
Information from the Miami Herald was used to prepare this report.
“I want to stress that there were many in the congregation who supported my right to free speech, yet were uncomfortable with the attention the church was receiving. The church’s reaction was deeply hurtful to me.” Lee suggested in the letter that his decision was prompted by a recent move within the church to vote on his tenure. The letter included a statement Lee said he issued at the church in response to the proposed tenure vote, apologizing for the pain he may have caused the church.
Had to quit In a Sept. 3 tweet, Lee said he “had to resign.” “I understand that my views could be considered to be controversial. I never sought this sort of attention. But, I do believe in God’s role in calling out for positive social change for the good of all,” the letter states. “I do not want my fight to detract from the mission. If the recent media attention causes concern with my church, I reluctantly offer my resignation.”
Take them down In an August interview with the Raleigh News & Observer, Lee acknowledged his family ties to the Confederacy’s greatest hero and said it was time to move monuments of his ancestor into museums, where they can be used more educate. Media scrutiny of Lee’s life as a pastor began after the violence in Charlottesville, Va., surrounding a monument to his ancestor. That attention culminated in his appearance on the MTV awards last month.
Supporters, detractors Lee was both praised and criticized for his taking part in the glitzy awards show. “You sir are not a Christian pastor,” posted Janis Moore in response to a WinstonSalem Journal story on Lee. “Instead of appearing on television maybe you should spend some time ministering in the community around the church where you are ‘pastor.’” Others expressed support for Lee on Twitter. “Rob didn’t walk on eggshells. Well done, brother,” posted selfdescribed Christian activist Brian D. McLaren.
SEPTEMBER 8 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
FLORIDA
A3
City to rename streets that honor Confederate generals BY PATRICIA MAZZEI AND CARLI TEPROFF MIAMI HERALD/TNS
HOLLYWOOD – Acknowledging the pain-
ful legacy of slavery and the Civil War, Hollywood commissioners decided last week to rename three streets honoring Confederate generals that for the better part of a cen-
tury have run through a predominantly Black city neighborhood. After more than five hours of fervent and often tense debate, the City Commission voted 5-1 on
Aug. 30 to rechristen Forrest, Hood and Lee streets, though their new names have yet to be determined. “This is about what the meaning of community is,” Mayor Josh Levy said. “We
don’t endorse hate. We don’t endorse symbols of hate. What hurts you, hurts me. It should hurt all of us.” Levy, Commissioners Kevin Biederman, Dick Blattner, Debra Case and
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Linda Sherwood voted in favor. Vice Mayor Traci Callari voted against. A five-vote supermajority was required for approval. Case was out of town and attended the meeting by phone. Commissioner Peter Hernandez walked off the dais in a huff just before the vote, accusing his colleagues of violating procedure. Hernandez and Callari said residents of the three streets should have gotten a chance to vote on the changes, something the commission opposed last month. Hernandez also suggested the city was acting with hypocrisy by not renaming other Hollywood streets also thought to be named after Confederates. “I can’t support cherrypicking, and I can’t support the process, the way it was done,” he said.
New names proposed A plan to rename the streets Savannah, Macon and Louisville, in a nod to historically Black cities in the South, as historians say Hollywood’s founder originally intended, went nowhere. Biederman proposed renaming Forrest Street after Frankie Shivers, a Hollywood police officer killed in 1982, but Sherwood asked to hold off on a decision to give everyone more time to settle on all three names. They were to take up the issue in a meeting this week. As often happens when government grapples with history, Wednesday was messy.
Major support Politician after politician implored commissioners to finally rid the Liberia neighborhood of streets honoring Gen. Robert E. Lee, who led the Confederate Army; Gen. John Bell Hood, a commander in the Battle of Gettysburg, and, above all, Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate lieutenant general thought to be the Ku Klux Klan’s first grand wizard. The county sheriff agreed. The public defender agreed. The property appraiser agreed. The chamber of commerce agreed. Like almost all of South Florida, Hollywood, which was founded in 1925, has no historical claim to the Civil War. “Let me be honest,” said Brian Johnson, the vice mayor of neighboring West Park, who argued the streets should have been renamed long ago. “We should not be here today.” City activists pushed for new names for more than a decade. But some residents of the three streets, citing a variety of reasons, remained steadfastly opposed.
A long fight
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Citing costs to residents and small businesses, and a bureaucratic process that seemed designed to make renaming streets difficult, the commission — which has never had a Black member — repeatedly put off making a renaming decision. But the board voted in July to proceed, and Aug. 30 marked the final step to finally change the names. Two activists, Linda Anderson and Laurie Schecter, applied to change the names in June. Less than three weeks after deadly violence during after a White supremacist rally Charlottesville, Va., emotions were raw. A protest of about 150 people outside City Hall, guarded heavily by police, resulted in the arrest of a 22-year-old Hialeah man, Christopher Rey Monzon, who lunged at demonstrators with his Confederate flag.
EDITORIAL
A4
SEPTEMBER 8 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
Is peace escaping our world?
Look at all the continents on this earth, and you will find unrest. There are many reasons. Perhaps the main reason is the failure of the United Nations. Before the UN, there was the League of Nations, formed after World War I for ending any future wars. It was impotent. Germany evolved into a racist war machine right in front of the League’s face. Japan walked out on a formal hearing and prepared for international conquest. Those major transitions led us into World War II. The death toll was horrific. Millions of soldiers were killed with many times that for civilians.
Conflicts continued When World War II finally ended, the United Nations was formed to provide peace to the world. Almost immediately, violent conflict started popping up everywhere. The Korean War, the Indo-China War, the Soviet Union land grab of various Eastern European nations and other conflicts led the way for the making of an unpeaceful world. The Korean War ended in a stalemate. The Indo-China War turned into the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 to 1975 and North Vietnam (Communists) claiming the final victory. The biggest opponent of peace today is Islamic terrorism. It was first thought this uprising would be targeted for the Middle East. But the religion Islam is practiced all over the world. This means that we can have an outbreak wherever or whenever a terrorist faction is formed.
HARRY C. ALFORD GUEST COLUMNIST
The biggest opponent of peace today is Islamic terrorism. It was first thought this uprising would be targeted for the Middle East. But the religion Islam is practiced all over the world. This means that we can have an outbreak wherever or whenever a terrorist faction is formed. Let’s look at Islam Its premise is that there is “No God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.” Therefore, all other religions are falsehoods and shall not be tolerated. As Islam grew, so did slavery, genocide, civil and regional wars.
What’s new with the NAACP? Nothing “I thank God that most of the money that supports the NAACP comes from Black hands; a still larger proportion must so come, and we must not only support but ‘control’ this and similar organizations and hold them unwaveringly to our objects, our aims and our ideals.” W.E.B. DuBois wrote those words in the Crisis magazine in 1915. Ironically, what was written in the Crisis has now become the crisis in the NAACP and other socalled Black organizations.
No ‘Black’ control Established in 1909 by White folks, Blacks put their money up and supported the NAACP. Now the NAACP and many of its local chapters would go out of business if they did not receive money from
JAMES CLINGMAN GUEST COLUMNIST
non-Black corporations and individuals whose “controlling interests” have reduced the NAACP to paper-tiger status in many of our communities. Fast-forward to 2017. NAACP interim president Derrick Johnson has to defend the relevancy of the supposedly Black civil rights organization by saying, “If you move across this landscape and in many communities, the NAACP is the only vehicle individuals have to raise their voice and ensure that democracy exists.” If the NAACP is the “only” ve-
The missing Black history at some Civil War memorials In Georgia where I live, these days every small-and mediumsized town has a Confederate monument. The state even has special laws on the books to prevent anybody from defacing, removing, concealing or destroying Confederate monuments on public property, though the law explicitly does permit re-interpreting these abominations.
Correcting history So it would be perfectly legal to put new corrective plaques or interactive kiosks next to them explaining who these people really were, and what kind of people erected monuments on public property to slaveholders decades after the war. I was born and raised in Chica-
BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT
go. Civil War monuments are rare in the North. I was in my 30s before somebody showed me what I believe is the only Civil War memorial in Chicago, at the site of Camp Douglas on the city’s Southside. The phallic-looking monument is dedicated to the 4,000-5,000 Confederate prisoners of war who perished there of disease, starvation and malign neglect. There were about a dozen more hellholes like Camp Douglas, in New York, Virginia, North Carolina and other places on both sides. The worst was Andersonville, in
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
At the same time, so did Christianity. But they both soon subsided after the Great Crusades, starting with the Arab-Byzantine War in 634 A.D., to the Ottoman Wars ending in 1922. Osama bin Laden was one of the most successful leaders of Islamic terrorism. He formed al-Qaida, which evolved mostly within the nation of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban does not respect any borders. They are mainly found in Afghanistan, but that does not preclude them from seasonal travel to Pakistan, where they find safe harbor. It was not surprising that when bin Laden met his demise, it was in Pakistan.
Still alive Al-Qaida is still alive today with cells throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Like its terrorist rival ISIS, it is a fluid operation which could have followers anywhere in the world. Al-Qaida and ISIS are the main warmongers throughout the world with sub-cells like Boko Haram and Al Shabab in Africa and others in Canada, Australia, the Philippines, etc. They don’t seem to be going away. No nation has ever dominated Afghanistan. Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union have failed throughout the ages. Add the United States to that list. Our conflict in Afghanistan is our longest war in history. When will it end? With all the above happening, we still have new challenges. North Korea, a nation that cannot feed all its own people, has
hicle we have, Black folks are in a world of trouble. Johnson said Donald Trump’s policies, statements, and actions hurt “all” Americans, and the mission of the NAACP even refers to “equality of rights of ‘all’ persons,” which is inconsistent with its name, i.e. the “advancement of colored people.”
Voting cures all? Then Johnson pulled out that tried and true, tired and tepid NAACP mantra by saying voting remains a major subject for the NAACP going into next year’s midterm elections. “For the first time, I can agree that this is the ‘most important election’ coming up...Voting is paramount,” he said. He also addressed several NAACP concerns including racist statues, monuments, and flags on public property (no mention of the Edmund Pettus Bridge or Stone Mountain); the NAACP’s willingness to meet with Trump, but only to discuss policy “proposals” (not demands); and the
Sumter County, Ga., where 13,000 died. Andersonville’s commandant was tried and hanged at war’s end, one of very few Confederates to see the inside of a cell, let alone the hangman’s noose. I do suppose those 4,000-5,000 Confederate soldiers who died in Chicago deserve a memorial. Certainly, they deserve it a lot more than the slaveholding Southern generals and politicians they were dumb enough to fight for. For ordinary White people, White supremacy is always stupid like that. The Confederate Army was a draftee army, but any White man who owned 20 or more slaves was exempt from the draft. For them it was a rich man’s war, but a poor man’s fight.
Probably the same I’m willing to bet that Chicago’s Camp Douglas exhibit says nothing about the reason those thousands of White boys in Chicago and 50,000 more White boys in the other camps north and south died.
BILL DAY, CAGLE CARTOONS
become a nuclear power. They did this with the help and encouragement of major rivals such as Russia and China, but also with that “silent” troublemaker, Pakistan.
Sells to anyone Pakistan has been all too willing to share its atomic technology with any nation who will pay them. Its biggest customer right now is Iran, but North Korea has always been a great “student” of its technology. North Korea is moving at a rapid rate to become an owner of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. They have a nutcase as a dictator who is boasting of sending nukes to us on any given day. It seems that we will have no choice but to act with ferocity. South Africa has the technology. Israel has had it for decades. It won’t be long before Iran with its
CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.
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All I can say is, “SAY WHAT?” I also repeat something Abraham Maslow said: “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as though it’s a nail.” In the NAACP’s eyes we have the same problem, so we should use the same tool, and therefore get the same results, right? Other than Bruce Gordon,
James E. Clingman is the nation’s most prolific writer on economic empowerment for Black people. His latest book, “Black Dollars Matter! Teach Your Dollars How To Make More Sense,” is available on his website, Blackonomics.com, and Amazon Kindle eBooks.
They died because by 1863, the federal armies began fielding regiments of Black troops. By war’s end there were more than 200,000 Black soldiers in the Union Army, most of them former slaves. The Confederates refused to treat captured Black soldiers as prisoners of war. Captured Black soldiers were murdered on the spot, or sold into slavery. White officers and noncoms leading Black troops were supposed to be tried and summarily executed for leading slave insurrections, a capital offense, so they also took pains not to be captured alive. The federal government demanded that captured Black soldiers be treated as prisoners of war. The Confederates refused. The North stopped exchanging prisoners, and the numbers of captured prisoners of war mounted up into the hundreds of thousands. The South could barely feed its civilians and soldiers, let alone its prisoners, and the North simply would not. The 56,000 Civil War prison-
Dr. Valerie Rawls-Cherry, Human Resources
Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1928-2004), Founder
India is well-equipped with nukes in consideration of its neighbor Pakistan. When you think of Islamic terrorism, India rarely crosses your mind. This nation has nearly a population of 1 billion people. Forty percent of that population is loyal to Islam. Peace could fall apart at any time. All the while, the United Nations is sitting around having emergency meetings that end in no recourse. We may be on the verge of nuclear war. I am frightened. Aren’t you?
What’s he saying?
Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Sales Manager
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Don’t forget India
NAACP leaders have for decades told us that voting is the answer. Obviously, they have no other solution and no other tool except a ‘hammer’ to offer Black folks. What’s next? The NAACP will help prepare and offer solutions to register voters. Don’t we know how to do that by now? The best thing about the national NAACP is the work of Sherrilyn Ifill and her staff. I truly admire and respect her, as well as the work done by some of the branches around the country. But other than that, to the question of “What’s new at the NAACP?” the answer is: “Absolutely nothing!”
domestic terrorism in Charlottesville, Va. Reaching once again into the NAACP toolkit, Johnson said voting is the catalyst to improve communities and change public policy, and added this confusing statement: “Those who have the right to vote have say. Those who don’t, don’t. Your vote is your currency. If you’re bankrupt and you go to the store, you can’t purchase anything. If you’re exercising your currency and you collect that currency with others who have your interest, you can purchase the grocery store.”
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.
belligerent government will have nukes ready to shoot at will.
Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor Angela van Emmerik, Creative Director Chicago Jones, Eugene Leach, Louis Muhammad, Lisa Rogers-Cherry, Circulation Penny Dickerson, Staff Writer Duane Fernandez Sr., Kim Gibson, Photojournalists
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ers who perished at Andersonville, at Elmira, at Camp Douglas and elsewhere died because the South preferred to murder captured Black soldiers or sell them into slavery. Unlike the slaveholding generals, the dead POWs deserve some kind of memorials. I haven’t been to Camp Douglas in 35 years. I’ve never visited Elmira, N.Y., or Andersonville. But I’ll bet that none of the plaques or exhibits at those places say why those White boys had to die. They died because the South would not treat Black soldiers as prisoners of war. Maybe someday soon some of us will march to some of those places and put up an interactive kiosk, dedicate an extra plaque that tells the missing history of why those boys had to die.
Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact him at bruce.dixon@ blackagendareport.com.
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SEPTEMBER 8 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
Black religion as Black radicalism Ministers in Charlottesville preached and marched. They proclaimed that God stands in opposition to White supremacy, and they put their bodies on the line against White supremacy. Hundreds of Christian ethicists signed a statement proclaiming that the “alt-right” is a Christian heresy. The University of Virginia’s Religious Studies Department condemned “the intimidation, terror, and violence that convulsed and profaned our city and university.”
Took a stand In short, middle class, multiracial religious communities did not hesitate to take a stand against American fascists. It is certainly noble to take a stand, and in pragmatic terms religious leadership can provide a useful bulwark against racist terror. But there is another, deeper sort of religiosity found in the Black radical tradition of Frederick Douglass, Anna Julia Cooper, Malcolm X, and Albert Cleage. The ways of the world are grotesquely wrong. To see justice prevail on earth, a dramatic transformation of individuals and society would be necessary. Our present habits of thinking, seeing, and acting must be uprooted. These truths are most evident to the most marginalized – in the contemporary United States, to poor Blacks – and it is in the struggle of the most marginalized that we catch glimpses of what justice (and beauty, and goodness, and truth) looks like. These are insights shared by Black religion, at its best, and the Black left, at its best. They represent a commitment to transformation from the roots, even when the path from “here to there” is unclear, even when we are not sure what, exactly, is “there.”
We have options Saying “no” to White supremacy is necessary, but the more difficult, even more essential task is to say “no” to the belief that we must choose between the options on the table – between two political parties, or between unilateral military intervention and crippling economic sanctions, or between having an incarceration rate four times higher than other nations and an incarceration rate twice as high as other nations. To refuse the ways of the world, the choices on the table, takes faith in things unseen. Some call it God, some call it revolution. Is there a difference? Black religion has at times embraced a revolutionary faith. Huey Newton was the son of a Baptist
VINCENT LLOYD GUEST COMMENTARY
Black religion at its best, for Malcolm, is religion of the field Negro, forever at odds with the secularism of the house Negro. In a world pervaded by racial and economic violence, and myriad mystifications, the religion of the field Negro is what we need today. preacher. Newton continually invoked Christian language and images to advance a Black radical agenda – including in his Christomorphically titled autobiography, “Revolutionary Suicide,” and in the iconic image of Newton holding a gun and a spear with a halo-shaped wicker chair behind his head. W. E. B. Du Bois wrote a widely circulated “Credo,” a statement of faith twinning belief in God with belief “in the Negro Race; in the beauty of its genius, the sweetness of its soul, and its strength in that meekness which shall yet inherit this turbulent earth.” Black leaders from Frederick Douglass to Anna Julia Cooper invoked a higher law, God’s law, that runs counter to the laws of slavery and segregation and motivates political organizing.
Embraced the world But many Black religious leaders (and followers) have rejected a revolutionary attitude. In one way or another, they have embraced the ways of the world, meaning the ways of the ruling class – much like much of the non-religious Black middle class.
Kaepernick’s protest part of a patriotic tradition Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, is being blackballed – itself a revealing phrase – from the National Football League with the collusion of the all-White owners. He is ostracized because a year ago, he exercised his First Amendment right to free speech by taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem. Kaepernick isn’t hooked on drugs. He isn’t a felon. He hasn’t brutalized women. He is treated as a pariah because he protested the continued oppression “of Black people and people of color.” He wanted, he said, to make people “realize what’s going on in this country…There are a lot of things going on that are unjust, people aren’t being held accountable for, and that’s something that needs to change.” Born in Milwaukee, Wis., one of the most racially segregated cities in America, Kaepernick is particularly concerned about police brutality and the shocking police shootings of unarmed African-Americans.
A just cause Tens of thousands have joined peaceful demonstrations against police brutality in cities across the country. That movement, led by Black Lives Matter, put the issue of our institutionalized criminal injustice system back on the national agenda. Under President Barack Obama, the Justice Department
REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR. TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE
reached agreements with dozens of police departments to change police training and tactics. There was bipartisan agreement to change racially discriminatory sentencing practices. Kaepernick’s protest was nonviolent and dignified. The San Francisco 49ers, the NFL and President Obama all agreed that it was a protected act of free speech. Yet the owners of the NFL and their front offices have ostracized Kaepernick. No follower of the sport would question his skill level. There are 64 quarterbacks on NFL teams, many of whom can’t hold a candle to Kaepernick. He’s ranked as the 17th best quarterback in the league. When he came back from injury last year, he started the last 11 games, racking up a 90.7 QB rating, with 16 touchdowns running and passing and only four interceptions, while playing on a team sorely lacking in talent. That rating was better than stars like Cam Newton, Philip Rivers and Eli Manning, among others.
Most Black churches sat out the civil rights movement. Black Panther leader David Hilliard attacked Black church leaders as “a bunch of bootlicking pimps” in 1970 even as the Panthers were running their free breakfast program out of church basements. The narrative of #BlackLivesMatter often includes the supersession of antiquated, spotlightseeking Black preachers. Secularism is the name for this problem. It does not just mean rejecting or ignoring religion. Secularism means embracing the world as it is given to us (in medieval Europe, “saeculum” meant “the world”). It means accepting the choices on the table, a table set by the ruling class. It wants to make health care more affordable – not free. It wants to give the police better training, to give soldiers humanitarian missions – not abolish the police and the military. It wants to make slavery, or wage slavery, more comfortable – not bring them to an end. Secularism can look religious: idolatry means worshipping worldly things. White supremacy certainly is idolatry. It treats one aspect of the world, Whiteness, as having extraordinary value.
Looks like religion But there can be forms of idolatry that look like religion as well: when preachers say that God wants us to be wealthy, or when they seek proximity to power, or when allegiance to supposedly traditional religion masks misogyny and homophobia. More and more young people of all races are keeping a distance from organized religion. Sometimes this manifests as a lack of interest or participation. Churches are thought too time-consuming, too stodgy, or too confining. Sometimes it manifests as a turn to the spiritual: to yoga or New Age practices or indigenous traditions. Spirituality is often understood as this-worldly rather than other-worldly, involving practices of care for the self rather than aimed at transforming the self and the world.
Look other places Does this mean secularism is taking over – and, politically, revolutionary consciousness is fading? No. It just means we should look elsewhere for Black religion. We must look in places that might not call themselves churches or use the language of spirituality, but that do decisively reject secularism.
pernick is loathed by the White owners and front offices, some of whom denounce him as unpatriotic. But what Kaepernick did – a dignified, nonviolent protest to raise awareness of a true and just cause – is the height of patriotism. It is the essence of democratic citizenship. Others claim Kaepernick is excluded because he would be divisive, and teams must be run with military discipline. But our military has learned to succeed with people of all races, genders, sexual preferences and political perspectives. Almost 70 percent of the players on NFL teams are AfricanAmerican. For most of them, Kaepernick’s protests are not as divisive as Tom Brady’s open support of Donald Trump. Last year, Kaepernick’s teammates voted to give him the annual award for “inspirational and courageous play.” No, Kaepernick is being treated as a pariah by the private club of White owners who are terrified of controversy. They clean up big-time from public subsidies – tax breaks, public contributions to stadiums, television contracts – and they tremble at anything that might disrupt the gravy train. They want to make an example of Kaepernick as a way of teaching the rest of the players a lesson, hoping to keep plantation-like control of their players.
Historic figures
EDITORIAL
A5
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: ‘DEFERRED ACTION FOR CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS’ RESCINDED
BILL DAY, CAGLE CARTOONS
Consider the burgeoning prison abolition movement. Black abolitionist Mariame Kaba has developed a careful analysis of reforms that strengthen the prison system and non-reformist reforms that call attention to, and challenge, the prison system as such. This is the work of Black religion: identifying and rejecting investment in the ways of the world in order to think and live otherwise. Prison abolitionists draw on the legacy of 19th-century abolitionism, itself a thorough mix of religious and political organizing, to approach what we are told is impossible – and so make it plausible. Rejecting worldly necessities, they conjure a world of justice.
Notable examples Certainly there are ordained Christian ministers today who represent this sort of Black religious radicalism. Rev. Traci Blackmon of St. Louis, Rev. Leslie Callahan of Philadelphia, and the itinerant Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, to take but three examples, all blend grassroots community organizing with the critique of idolatry (that is, ideology). There are also organizers without religious affiliation or with spiritual inclinations standing in this tradition. What matters is not which religion box one checks on the questionnaire. What matters is whether one rejects secularism, the wisdom of the world, in practice. That means organizing at the grassroots level, guided by a suspicion of the choices that we are given, of the ideas of the ruling class. When Rev. Albert Cleage invited Malcolm X to speak at his Detroit church in 1963, Malcolm was refining his critique of colonialism and imperialism. He was also developing his critique of secularism.
In his “Message to the Grassroots,” he railed against those Black leaders who sought proximity to power and its benefits. Some of these leaders were ministers, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Adam Clayton Powell. Others were not, like Whitney Young and Roy Wilkins. According to Malcolm, they shared an investment in the ways of the world. Malcolm charged that they were willing to speak out against racism only within limits, only when their own comfort was not threatened.
Call to revolution In contrast, Malcolm recommended “old-time religion,” “good religion,” “the one that Ma and Pa used to talk about.” This was not necessarily Islam, nor institutionalized religion as such. It was religion aligned with Black revolution, religion committed to overthrowing the ways of the world, drawing on the wisdom of poor and working class Blacks to name ideology as idolatry, made actionable through community organizing. Black religion at its best, for Malcolm, is religion of the field Negro, forever at odds with the secularism of the house Negro. In a world pervaded by racial and economic violence, and myriad mystifications, the religion of the field Negro is what we need today.
Vincent Lloyd is Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. He is the author of “Religion of the Field Negro: On Black Secularism and Black Theology.” Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
Colin Kaepernick stands in a proud tradition. For choosing to speak out, he has been shut out. The collusion of the owners not only violates antitrust laws; it tramples basic constitutional protections. The NFL owners should be called to account, not Kaepernick. reers, their finances, their stature. And yet in the end, their sacrifice helped make this country better. Muhammad Ali opposed the Vietnam War and was prosecuted for refusing to be inducted into the armed forces, stripped of his title and barred from fighting. He lost some of the best years of his boxing life, but his protest helped build the antiwar movement that eventually brought that tragic and misbegotten war to an end. Curt Flood, an all-star centerfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, refused to be bought and sold “like a slave.” His protest and litigation cost him much of his career, but it broke open the owners’ control of players, opened the way to free agency and transformed baseball. Jackie Robinson broke open the racial barrier in baseball. He endured seasons of racial insult, on and off the field. His remarkable skill and character transformed baseball, and helped spur the civil rights movement. He joined Dr. King in the demonstrations for civil rights.
Kaepernick stands in a proud history of African-American athletes who have used their prominence to protest racism at home and unjust wars abroad. They have chosen to speak out at the height of their powers and ‘A Black man’ In his autobiography, “I Nevin their prime money-making Hated by owners years. Often they have paid a er Had It Made,” published just Sports writers report that Kae- high price personally, in their ca- before his death, he related his
own feelings about the national anthem, as it played at the beginning of his first World Series game: “There I was, the Black grandson of a slave, the son of a Black sharecropper ... a symbolic hero to my people. ... The band struck up the National Anthem. The flag billowed in the wind. It should have been a glorious moment for me as the stirring words of the National Anthem poured from the stands. Perhaps, it was, but then again.... “As I write this 20 years later, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a Black man in a White world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.” Colin Kaepernick stands in a proud tradition. For choosing to speak out, he has been shut out. The collusion of the owners not only violates antitrust laws; it tramples basic constitutional protections. The NFL owners should be called to account, not Kaepernick.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is president and CEO of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
TOJ A6
NATION
SEPTEMBER 8 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
Gregory Cheadle, speaking at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in Redding, Calif., says President Donald Trump has done nothing for the Black community.
16 years ago, to give his three kids more room to roam. He sells real estate for a living and, as a side business, designs and sells luxury playhouses. In recent years, he’s been one of those gadflies knocking about the fringe of politics, running repeatedly for Congress and never cracking 10 percent support. He is trying a fourth time, again challenging Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa of Richvale — a nice fellow, Cheadle said, but typical of the ruling class. “He’s a multimillionaire,” Cheadle said. “Land passed down through generations. The only thing I’ve had passed down for generations is bills.”
MARK Z. BARABAK/LOS ANGELES TIMES/ TNS
His story
Trump’s ‘African-American’ condemns treatment of Blacks Republican who ran for Congress says president’s promise was nothing more than empty rhetoric. BY MARK Z. BARABAK LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS
REDDING, Calif. – On the day that changed his life, Gregory Cheadle almost stayed in bed. He was tired — he traveled a lot in his long-shot bid for Congress — but asked himself: How often does a candidate for president come to the far reaches of Northern California? And why pass up a crowd and the chance to hand out more fliers? So Cheadle roused himself that June 2016 morning and secured a spot up close when Donald Trump swooped in for a rally at Redding’s municipal airport.
Moment of fame It was hot, the atmosphere was loose, and Trump’s patter seemed more stand-up comedy than campaign spiel. He went into one of those sidelong digressions, about protesters and an African-American — “great fan, great guy” — and, by the way, whatever happened to him? It was then, Cheadle said, he
raised his hand and jokingly shouted, “I’m here.” Trump looked and pointed, his voice a throaty rumble. “Look at my African-American over here!” he exclaimed. “Are you the greatest?” Cheadle and those around him laughed; it was a hoot. He caught Trump’s attention again after the speech — “Uncle Don!” he hollered — and cadged a pair of autographs.
Social media attack But many who watched the rally on TV, or saw that isolated moment rebroadcast over and over, were not amused. They were angry and outraged. “My African-American,” Trump said, as if Cheadle were his slave, and they turned their anger and outrage on Cheadle when he failed to respond in kind. “It was just a fun thing that happened,” he said on CNN, as #TrumpsAfricanAmerican blew up on Twitter. In the days and weeks that followed, Cheadle was attacked on social media and harassed by people who dug up his phone number and email address. For a time he stayed home, too nervous to venture outside. All, he said, because the media portrayed him as something
he was not and never has been: a Trump sycophant.
‘Show an interest’ Cheadle wrote in his own name rather than vote for the GOP front-runner in the California primary, four days after his Redding stop. And though he backed Trump in November, it wasn’t with any enthusiasm — it was almost entirely a vote against Democrat Hillary Clinton. If anything, Cheadle is even less of a Trump fan these days, suspecting that prejudice has limited the number of Blacks in his Cabinet. Trump’s promise to help the African-American community, he said, was nothing more than empty rhetoric. “I would like for him just to show an interest in Black people,” Cheadle said over lunch in downtown Redding. “Why can’t he go to a Black city? Why can’t he trumpet Black business? Why can’t he have more Black people in his administration?”
Blame for all Cheadle calls himself a Republican, but his political views are a hodgepodge that don’t fit neatly in any basket. Government, he said, is inept, save for spending taxpayer dollars. He’s a critic of Obamacare,
and President Barack Obama — “he didn’t do anything publicly to satisfy me he was for Black people” — but thinks Republicans are just as bad as Democrats in kowtowing to moneyed interests. “Look at our Congress, the Senate and House of Representative,” he said, his vegan blackbean burger sitting untouched. “Everybody is bought, and that I can’t stomach.”
In Trump’s defense He sees both parties pursuing racist policies: the Democrats, under President Bill Clinton, cutting welfare to pay for prisons to incarcerate more AfricanAmericans. Trump invoking “law and order,” which, to Cheadle, is “code language for, ‘We’re going to arrest more Black people.’” The one time he rose to the president’s defense was discussing the violence in Charlottesville, Va., and Trump’s less-thanvociferous condemnation of the Klansmen and neo-Nazis involved. “I don’t know what response would have been perfect for the media,” Cheadle said. “No matter what he said, he’s going to be punished for it.”
Running again Cheadle, 60, moved to Redding
Cheadle was one of eight children in a blended family. After his parents divorced, he divided his time between Oakland, where his mother was a secretary, and Cleveland, where his father shined shoes. He takes enormous pride in his education, including a law degree and a master’s in public administration. His “Cheadle for Congress” bumper sticker includes a silhouette of Rodin’s sculpture “The Thinker.” He likes telling his personal story, and it’s a reason he welcomes the attention that followed his encounter with Trump. It was painful, he said, being attacked for supposedly bowing and scraping — especially by African-Americans who called him “Uncle Tom,” and worse. But it was worth it, he said, to gain a platform: “It gives me a chance to talk about things that are important as a person who’s not bought by corporations, or corporate America.”
March remembrance A few hours later, Cheadle was at Redding’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center, for a program celebrating the 1963 March on Washington. The walls were filled with pictures of King and signs of uplift and exhortation. Community groups passed out literature from card tables, the Islamic Center alongside Temple Beth Israel. Hate-crime pamphlets from the Redding police fanned out near a petition to abolish Columbus Day.
Reciting the ‘Dream’ Cheadle stepped to the lectern, before a cartoon mural of Redding, and delivered an abridged version of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The audience was overwhelmingly White, like most in this rural region. “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice,” Cheadle said, his voice deepening as he summoned some of King’s rolling thunder. “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”
Justice Department: No evidence Trump Tower was wiretapped BY ANNA EDGERTON BLOOMBERG NEWS/TNS
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has no evidence to support President Donald Trump’s statement in March that phones in Trump Tower were wiretapped on the order of his predecessor, Barack Obama, before last year’s election, according to a court filing. The assertion came in a motion filed in a Freedom of Information request from a government transparency watchdog, American Oversight, which sought information about any surveillance involving Trump, his tower in New York City, or his presidential campaign from the FBI and the Justice Department’s national security division. “Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets,” the Justice Department filing said.
‘New low’ tweet Trump posted the claim on Twitter. It appeared to come from Breitbart, the media outlet now run by Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist, on a weekend he spent at his Mar-aLago resort in Palm Beach. “Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory,’’ Trump wrote on Twitter. “Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!’’ “Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race
for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!,” one post said. “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
‘Simply false’ The claims were posted issued two days after Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he would recuse himself from any investigations into possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for Obama, said in March, in response to Trump’s claims, that “neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.” The Justice Department on Sept. 1 filed a motion to dismiss the case brought by American Oversight, in which it also said that the agencies “do not confirm or deny the existence” of any other records covered under the group’s request. Disclosure of such records “would cause harm to national security,” the department said.
Retraction urged Some Republicans criticized Trump’s claims at the time, calling on him to retract the accusation in the absence of any supporting evidence. James Comey, who then was FBI director, told a congressional
CAROLYN COLE/LOS ANGELES/TNS
Then-President-elect Donald Trump arrives for a news conference on Jan. 11 at Trump Tower in New York. committee in March that the bureau was investigating potential ties between Trump’s associates and Russia during the 2016 cam-
paign but there were no signs that the Obama administration was spying on Trump Tower. The White House at the time
defended the allegations, saying the phrasing “wires tapped” could signify a number of different surveillance techniques.
HEALTH FOOD || HEALTH TRAVEL | |MONEY SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS LIFE | FAITH | EVENTS | CLASSIFIEDS | ENTERTAINMENT | SPORTS | FOOD COURIER
IFE/FAITH
H-Town among groups performing In Florida this month See page B2
SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA
SEPT. 8 – SEPT. 14, 2017
SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE
Night-time format for Harvey’s daytime show See page B5
WWW.FLCOURIER.COM
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SECTION
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COURTESY OF EMMETT TILL INTERPRETATIVE CENTER
The Sumner Courthouse, the site of the trial, has been restored by the Emmett Till Interpretative Center.
COURTHOUSE KEEPS
Emmett Till was murdered at age 14 in Mississippi in 1955.
EMMETT TILL’S MEMORY ALIVE
admitted she lied at the trial about Emmett Till’s behavior. After the two men killed Emmett Till, they tied a 70-pound cotton gin fan to him and threw his body into the Tallahatchie River, certain his corpse would sink into the muddy bottom and never be discovered. Miraculously, the body floated to the water’s surface. Emmett Till’s great-uncle, Mose Wright, told police that he had seen Bryant and Milam take Till from his home. The two men were arrested and charged with his murder.
They confessed Following a five-day trial, the jury deliberated 67 minutes before acquitting Bryant and Milam. Both men later confessed to the murder during a Look magazine interview for which they were paid $3,600 to $4,000. The two men learned there was price to pay for murdering Emmett Till although it didn’t occur in court. Following Bryant’s and Milam’s acquittals, Blacks boycotted Bryant’s store, forcing it to go out of business in October 1955.
The renovation
A marker is placed outside of the courthouse.
The Apology We the citizens of Tallahatchie County believe that racial reconciliation begins with telling the truth. We call on the state of Mississippi, all of its citizens in every county, to begin an honest investigation into our history. While it will be painful, it is necessary to nurture reconciliation and to ensure justice for all. By recognizing the potential for division and violence in our own towns, we pledge to each other, black and white, to move forward together in healing the wounds of the past, and in ensuring equal justice for all of our citizens.... We the citizens of Tallahatchie County acknowledge the horrific nature of this crime. Its legacy has haunted our community. We need to understand the system that encouraged these events and others like them to occur so that we can ensure that it never happens again. Working together, we have the power now to fulfill the promise of liberty and justice for all. Excerpt from the resolution presented to Emmett Till’s Family
An all-White male jury acquitted two men for the murder of the teen 62 years ago this month. BY FREDERICK H. LOWE TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE
T
he Emmett Till Interpretive Center, which was founded to keep alive the memory of Emmett Till, has restored Sumner Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where an all-White male jury acquitted two men for the brutal murder of the 14-year-old on Sept. 23, 1955, 62 years ago this month. The jury let Roy Bryant, 24, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, 36, walk free for Till’s violent death. Till was murdered on Aug. 24, 1955. Bryant and Milam kidnapped Till from a bedroom he shared with Simeon Wright, his 12 year-old cousin. They beat Till and then shot him for allegedly whistling at and touching Carolyn Bryant, Roy’s wife, an action punishable by death for Black boys and men in the segregated South.
She lied The alleged incident occurred in Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market in Money, Mississippi. The store’s primary customers were Black men and women who picked cotton in the fields near the store. Sixty-two years later, Carolyn Bryant
The trial took place in Sumner Courthouse, which the interpretive center restored and promotes in part by offering tours of the building and showing black and white newsreels of trial reportage. In one filmed image, the Bryants, Milam, and the jurors, all dressed in short-sleeve white shirts, are looking out of an open second-story window of the courthouse. The interpretive center raised $3 million for the courthouse renovation, making it possible to restore the building and create a museum. Center officials hope it will attract tourists to the area.
Rosa Parks’ influence Emmett Till’s memory was alive in Rosa Parks’ mind, when police arrested her on a Montgomery, Alabama bus for refusing to relinquish a seat designated for White passengers and move to the section of the bus intended for Black riders. Her arrest sparked the successful year-long 1955 Montgomery Bus boycott that desegregated the city’s public transportation system. Parks said she refused to give up her seat because she was thinking about what happened to Emmett Till. Elected representatives of Tallahatchie County, where the courthouse is located, officially apologized to Till’s relatives for the trial’s outcome. For more information, visit www.emmett-till.org.
This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com.
CALENDAR & OBITUARY
B2
SEPTEMBER 8 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
STOJ
FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Jacksonville: The Mighty Love Tour with the Spinners, Chi-Lites and Dramatics stops at the TimesUnion Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 30. Tampa: Candy Lowe will present the Reunion Black Business Bus Tour on Sept. 16 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The bus will leave from the Tampa Hillsborough Action Plan, 5508 N. 50tth St. RSVP at 813-394-6363. Clearwater: The Fashion with Flair Silent Auction & Fashion Show sponsored by the Clearwater Community Volunteers is Sept. 16 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets/tables: www.ccvfl.org Jacksonville: Damian Marley’s Stony Hill Fall Tour is scheduled at Mavericks Rock N’Honky Tonk on Sept. 10, Sept. 12 at House of Blues Orlando and Sept. 13 at St. Petersburg’s Jannus Landing.
TROMBONE SHORTY
Catch Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue on Sept. 29 at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale.
Tampa: Florida A&M’s football team takes on Tennessee State on Sept. 16 at Raymond James Stadium. Jacksonville: Edward Waters College challenges Cumberland University during a 4:30 p.m. home game o Sept. 16.
H-TOWN
Clearwater: Neal Lozano’s UNBOUND Day Conference is 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Sept. 16 at Our Lady of Divine Providence House of Prayer, 711 S. Bayview Ave. More info and to register: 727-797-7412 or visit heartofthefather.com.
A 90’s Love Fest Concert is set for Sept 30 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. Performers: Shai, Public Announcement, Jon B., Silk, H-Town and Vedo.
Miami Beach: Tickets are available for a 2 Chainz show at the Jackie Gleason Theater on Sept. 19. Miami: Lauryn Hill and Nas will perform Sept. 23 at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater and Sept. 23 at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville. Orlando: Nick Cannon’s Wild ’N Out Live! will be at the CFE Arena on Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. St. Petersburg: Catch Marlon Wayans on Sept. 19 at The Mahaffey Theater for an 8 p.m. show.
WALE
Nas and special guest Wale are scheduled at St. Petersburg’s Jannus Landing on Sept. 21.
Sanford: The Florida Department of Health in Seminole County, the Florida Linking Individuals Needing Care project and others will host a Suicide Prevention Training & Resource Fair, on Sept. 12, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 400 W. Airport Blvd. To register: Contact Lindsay Brown at Lindsay@fccmh.org or call 407-665-3260.
Former Disney executive Robert Billingslea dies BY GABRIELLE RUSSON ORLANDO SENTINEL
While rising up Disney’s corporate ranks, Robert Billingslea still found the time to mentor younger Black executives. He was involved behind the scenes to bring the annual Florida Classic game – the matchup between two of Florida’s historically Black universities, Florida A&M and BethuneCookman –- to Orlando and to get Disney to help sponsor it. The Windermere man also was a husband for nearly 30 years to Deidre, whom he met at a local NAACP meeting after her sister introRobert duced them. Billingslea That’s all part of the legacy of Billingslea, who died on Sept. 1 at age 79. “He made a large impact on many people and organizations throughout Central Florida and beyond. He will be greatly missed,” George Kalogridis, president of Walt Disney World Resort, said in a statement.
He ‘opened doors’ Friends remember Billingslea as a gregarious man with a sophisticated fashion sense who took charge of Disney’s minority outreach and was heavily involved in many community organizations. He was an early pioneer of pushing for corporate social responsibility, said Marc Morial, CEO of the National Urban League and a former New Orleans mayor. Billingslea worked at Disney for 42 years, serving as its liaison for organizations including the NAACP, the Urban League, 100 Black Men and United Negro College Fund, he told the Sentinel in 2011. When Disney voiced its commitment to diversity in its hiring practices by signing a letter of understanding with the NAACP, he called it a highlight of his career. “He was very proud of his heritage and culture as a Black man,” said Hubert Grimes, interim president at BethuneCookman. “He was one of the people who opened doors.”
DONATIONS FOR FUND
In lieu of flowers, charitable contributions can be sent to The Bob Billingslea Fund, c/o Central Florida Foundation, 800 North Magnolia Ave., Suite 1200, Orlando, FL 32803. The foundation’s number is 407-872-3050. The fund will support youth education and leadership endeavors that align with Billingslea’s life-long commitment of service to others.
Bethune-Cookman trustee Back then, there was no hospitality management school in the region, so Billingslea pushed for one - not just a place to train cooks, but one with an emphasis on educating future executives and leaders in the industry. It opened at Bethune-Cookman in 1986 and was named for him last year. He later became a trustee at the school, keeping his post and working with four different presidents over the years to make him the longest-serving trustee on the current board before his death. It seemed like he knew everyone. “Bob had Facebook friends before there was a Facebook,” Morial said.
Honored by Congress When Billingslea retired from Disney in 2012, the U.S. Congress slowed for a moment to recognize his tenure at Disney. U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., read a tribute that mentioned his colorful life: raised by grandparents in Ohio, played professional drums at 16, graduated from Kent State University with a sociology degree, took a job as a probation officer. Besides his wife, his survivors include his son, Robert Billingslea Jr.; two grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. Funeral services were scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 9, at First Baptist Orlando, 3000 S. John Young Parkway.
PHOTOS BY DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
A large crowd gathers for one of the concerts.
Plenty of concerts, seminars and family activities at Joyner reunion Maxwell, Morris Day and Chante Moore were a few of the performers at the Allstate Tom Joyner Family Reunion, presented by the host of the nationally syndicated “Tom Joyner Morning Show’’ and Allstate Insurance Company. The 15th studded reunion was held Labor Day weekend at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee. Families from around the country flocked to the event for a weekend of concerts, celebrity interactions, enlightening seminars and themed activities. The event’s free Fam-Fest Expo was open to the public the entire weekend. A Gospel Explosion culminated the event, which featured Willie Moore Jr. and other gospel performers. Celebrity appearances included Ernest “Raj” Thomas from the “What’s Happening!!’’ series as well as a session promoting “A Question of Faith,’’ a new movie starring Kim Fields.
Maxwell and Chante Moore performed during the reunion held in Kissimmee.
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HURRICANE HARVEY
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Wrong side of tracks meant devastation in Houston The difference between losing nothing and everything depended on what side of the Union Pacific railroad path you lived on.
largely untouched. The water made it up past his truck and into his yard, but spared his house. The damage, he said, was limited to some roof repairs and a couple of sections of sheet rock. “All things considered, for the suffering that a lot of people are experiencing,” Wanza said, “I feel blessed, lucky, fortunate, whatever you choose.”
BY NOLAN HICKS AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN/TNS
A mile apart
HOUSTON – The rain started slow in the Fifth Ward the night of Aug. 26. It began with a sprinkle before 8, built to a steady rain before 9 –– and then Harvey exploded. More than 7 inches of rain fell between 9 p.m. and midnight. By 3 a.m., Hunting Bayou was 2½ feet out of its banks. Just seven blocks or so away, Sharon Lee woke up, put her feet on the floor and found that an ocean of water was already in her apartment. “We had to get out,” said Lee, who was taking care of her five grandchildren that night. “I was scared to death.”
Making their escape They stepped out the door and into a water-swept hellscape. The strong current took her walker as they made their way to the street, she said. “The water came swooping in and I was clinging on for dear life,” Lee said. “Oh, Lord.” She said two family members took her hands and helped her make it to dry ground at the end of the street. Down the road, Craig Wanza’s home made it through the storm
Wanza and Lee live just a mile apart along Lockwood Drive, the same north-south thoroughfare in this impoverished neighborhood, where the difference between losing nothing and everything depended on what side of the Union Pacific tracks you lived on. “The overpass is the cutoff of the flood plain,” Wanza said. “There’s a skating rink, once you top the rail yard and all, that’s where the flood plain technically starts — and it backs up.” All it took to see the difference was turning off of Lockwood and onto the side streets, lined with apartments, shotgun houses and modest homes.
Different experience On the north side, people along Crane Street where Lee lived carried their furniture and their belongings — their lives — outside and then threw them in dumpsters. On the south side, residents on Wanza’s largely spared Chew Street cleaned up and picked up. The sun was out and Harvey was gone. It’s difficult to quantify the devastation the storm wrought
NOLAN HICKS/AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN/TNS
Grandmother Sharon Lee holds baby Jariley Price, sitting in a car parked outside of her Fifth Ward apartment, on Aug. 30. across the Houston area. It dropped so much rain, an estimated 30 percent of Harris County’s roughly 1,800 square miles flooded and raised the sea level in Houston’s Ship Channel an astonishing 12 feet, according to the county’s Flood Control District.
History of wards Harvey hit neighborhoods rich and poor across Houston. On the other end of the city, in West Houston, former Houston Mayor Bill White’s upscale Memorial City house and neighborhood also were badly flooded. But the pain of recovery will be most acute in places like the Fifth Ward, which has long been one of Houston’s toughest and poorest neighborhoods.
For decades, the Fifth and the Third wards anchored the city’s African-American community. The Third was home to historically Black Texas Southern University, the city’s major Black newspaper and the community’s elite, intellectuals and musicians.
Abandoned area The Fifth was “the brawn to Third Ward’s brains,” Texas Monthly wrote in a 1976 profile of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, who grew up there. In a subsequent 1979 story headlined “Only the Strong Survive,” the magazine also described the ward was “the heart of the ghetto,” struggling with crime, drugs and joblessness. Deprived and exploited by segregation, the ward was carved
up by freeways in the 1960s and abandoned by many who could afford the suburbs. Crushing poverty remained: On the north side of the Union Pacific tracks, the average household lives on just $22,000 a year; south of the tracks, the figure is only marginally better, $27,000.
‘We need help’ Here, many residents live check-to-check with little savings or insurance. Lee is disabled and needs a walker to get around. Her income is her Social Security disability check — $733 a month, which she fears will be inadequate as they work to start over. “The struggle is real,” Lee said. “We need help, we need help.”
Trauma not always obvious in children who fled hurricane BY CASSANDRA JARAMILLO DALLAS MORNING NEWS/TNS
Josiah Anderson, 6, of Beaumont, Texas, sings along to music as T-Mobile employees Karmen Brown, left, and Vanessa Ibarra, right, dance to the music outside the Walnut Hill Recreation Center, a shelter for hurricane Harvey evacuees in Dallas on Aug. 30.
DALLAS – As Hurricane Harvey closed in on them, Jose Lerma got his three young sons together and told them they were going on a road trip. It would be one week long, maybe a little more. “Just you wait, we are going to go to the zoo!” Lerma told Eduardo, 8, Jesus, 6, and Yovanni, 3, as they prepared to leave. What he didn’t tell the kids was that he was afraid. That he was worried about their home, which he had built by hand in Angleton, just south of Houston. That they had no savings stashed away for expenses. “They didn’t understand what was happening. They’re little,” Lerma said in Spanish.
Adventure will end For children, an evacuation can be little more than an unplanned voyage. Their parents — with the good intentions of not wanting to scare the kids — often omit details of the perils they face. Which is why this past week parents were talking about how they’re worried about their homes, their fears of belongings being lost, the pets they left behind and bills that are stacking up — while at the same time, their children played. Or complained about being bored. Even though, experts say, the adventure will eventually end, and trauma could lie ahead.
Hurricane veterans Jose and Yesenia Campos are hurricane veterans. They fled Angleton during Rita in 2005 and were trapped in traffic for 24 hours. That was before they had their four children. This time, they decided to leave their home before the weather got bad. That way, while the sun was still out, their kids wouldn’t get a sense of the danger. The parents told them that they were going to be away for
VERNON BRYANT/ DALLAS MORNING NEWS/TNS
three days. “We didn’t want to tell them what was going on because we don’t want to freak them out,” Yesenia Campos said. “Since they didn’t see the bad weather, I don’t think they’re scared.”
Like a vacation The family traveled caravanstyle with their grandparents, aunt and uncle. It made the kids feel like it was a family vacation. At a shelter, the fun has continued. When the Campos kids don’t have visits from magicians or therapy dogs, they play baseball or race each other around the green fields of the surrounding areas. Seven-year-old Victor plays with his brothers, Jose, 9, and Sebastian, 6, and his sister Arleth, who is just 1.
“Mommy, we meet new friends here,” Victor tells his mom.
A little rap music Similarly, Josiah Anderson, 6, didn’t question his mom, Patricia Poullard, on why they traveled hundreds of miles away from their hometown of Beaumont to the Walnut Hill Recreation Center. Instead, last Wednesday, he had turned a T-Mobile disaster relief van into a stage. He asked the T-Mobile employees, who had microphones, if he could rap along to some of his favorite artists, like DJ Khaled and Drake. One employee connected his iPhone to play the music, and the rest began clapping and singing along.
‘A slower trauma’
asked his father in Spanish.
Such scenes might look as if children are immune to anxiety. But Dallas family psychologist Ken Wilgus said that in disasters, children experience trauma differently than adults. Children may look happy if they didn’t see damage firsthand, but it’s important for parents to appropriately explain the reality of the situation. “Camping” or “vacation,” he said, will get old for the kids. “Up to this point, it might be fun,” Wilgus said. “The issue is that this is not over. It’s a slower trauma that they will experience. Uprooting in a new place can be difficult for children, but for a couple of weeks, it’s a blast.” Indeed, Jose Campos’ son Eduardo is starting to worry about the family’s two horses back at home. “Do they have enough food?” he
A sad face Eduardo has a hard time describing how he feels. When asked to draw something that reflected his emotions, he made a sad face in a notebook. Asked what he was sad about, Eduardo complained about the food. He and his younger brother, Jesus, have wanted pancakes, but their mother Carmela can’t make them in the shelter. The kids still don’t know that on Aug. 27, their entire house flooded. There’s at least 2 or 3 feet of water in their home. The parents don’t know how to tell their kids. “I told them we were going to see all the sights” in Dallas, Lerma said. “Now they’ve been asking me ‘Hey! Why are we just sitting in this place?’ ”
CULTURE
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TERRENCE ANTONIO JAMES/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS
Chardonnay Madkins is the project manager for the advocacy organization End Rape on Campus in Chicago. She’s shown on Aug. 24.
Activist tells why it’s harder for Black students to report rape BY LAUREN ROSENBLATT TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON – Chardonnay Madkins knows firsthand the pressures African-American women can face when reporting campus sexual assaults. She says she was assaulted in two incidents, once at a mostly White college and another time at a historically Black college. In reporting the assaults, Madkins says she endured similar efforts — some subtle and some overt — to persuade her to back down rather than lodge a complaint against a fellow Black student. As project manager for the advocacy group End Rape on Campus, Madkins, 25, is working to bring more attention to the role race can play in how campus sexual assaults are handled, and the distinct difficulties Black women can face.
New program She also is preparing to launch Centering the Margin, a program that will help school officials and students recognize how sexual assaults can affect members of marginalized communities differently. The Los Angeles Times spoke to Madkins about her work. Her responses have been edited for length and clarity. Q: Do Black women have a harder time dealing with and
reporting sexual assault than White women? A: Yes. Part of that is because (of ) where Black women are, compared to White women, in terms of being accepted into college and accessing resources. Another thing is the narrative around sexual violence largely focuses around straight, cisgender (non-transgender), White women. So if you don’t really fall into that category, you don’t really have as much knowledge about sexual violence against your particular community. Another barrier is that most likely their perpetrators are men of color, specifically Black men. Especially on college campuses and historically Black colleges and universities, there are subtle pressures from the (Black) community. It tells these Black women to remain silent because the education of their perpetrator is essentially more important than their education, and that (they) can’t be another person who sends a Black man to jail. (Women are told:) “These are the few Black men who were able to make it to college and you trying to report them is going to hinder their success.” So when you stack all of that on top of the great disconnect between the Black community and law enforcement, that’s enough for Black survivors to not feel comfortable reporting their sexual assault.
Q: Where does that pressure to stay silent come from? A: That comes from not only the overall Black community, but also these individual campuses (and students). … They’ll tell you to not really speak out about it, to keep it a secret. They’ll say: “Well, it doesn’t mean you have to necessarily tell the school or tell the police or do one or the other. Or maybe you’re the one that misinterpreted what happened.” When it comes to … sexual violence that is perpetuated against them by Black men, that’s a very hard case to prove. Other people might not know that (Black men) essentially have the help and support of the overall Black community because of how Black men are placed. They’re the highest part of the social hierarchy within the Black community. Q: How does that make a Black woman survivor feel? A: I think that makes them feel really isolated. Q: So Black women often receive less support than others? A: At least in my experience, being a survivor on campus, I kind of lost all of my community there when I did come forward. I think that depends on what environment your campus is going through. I know when I was assaulted, these conversations (about sexual assault) were not happening on my campus at all, so I believe that is one of the reasons I didn’t have as much support from — not only the general
campus overall — but especially from the Black community. But once I was at the historically Black campus, (after the second assault) I still saw that same kind of reaction from all the Black women on campus. Q: What was their reaction? A: There’s this kind of negative, I guess, stereotype or idea that Black women are just super strong and they can be super resilient. And sometimes that can be empowering. But when we’re talking about kinds of trauma and being able to have the space and ability to heal from that, Black women aren’t really given that because they are seen as so strong. So on both campuses, and this is from people who I’ve regarded as very close, best friends of mine, they had that same reaction of, “You’ll get over it. You’re strong.” Sexual violence and rape isn’t something to “get over.” That’s trauma. That’s something I have to live with and wake up to every single day. Q: Do you see a difference in how sexual assault reports are handled on historically Black colleges versus predominantly White campuses? A: On historically Black colleges and universities, race does play a major part, just like how race plays a major part on predominantly White campuses. The only thing is that there’s this idea that if you come from
the same kind of racial background or if you’re another person of color, that you can’t technically discriminate against somebody based on their race. It’s very clear if you’re on a predominantly White campus and someone dismisses your claim because they say that you’re a Black woman and sexually promiscuous, you can say easily OK, that probably plays into the kind of stereotypes. On a historically Black college or university, we have usually very conservative older Black people who don’t say the same things. But because that kind of sentiment is coming from another Black person, that’s when people have a hard time being able to wrap their heads around (it), still perpetuating this ultimate discrimination. Q: So even Black campuses perpetuate some of these racial stereotypes? A: Right, right. These are just microcosms of the larger society, so because we have sexism, racism, classism, etc., in overall society, we’re seeing this on a smaller scale on these campuses. Historically Black colleges and universities are not immune to that. If anything, to a certain extent, when it comes to their reputation and image, they try to overcompensate in the sense of covering up all negative kind of publicity from coming out because of the overall systemic racism. Q: How does an incident of sexual assault being reported affect their reputation? A: Just the negative publicity. That’s going to perpetuate the idea — or this is what they say — that all Black men are rapists and you can’t really send your children to a school that is predominantly Black because it’s not safe. I think that schools are really, really scared of that. How does that affect the way they handle sexual assault cases? In some instances, that means that they will discourage survivors from reporting, or doing things to discourage survivors to continue forward with their report. Q: What do you think is the solution for this? A: Just start having these conversations at younger ages. And within the Black community. When we’re talking about things like police violence or other kinds of inequalities within our community, that we are also inclusive of the inequalities more marginalized Black people experience, like Black women — Black cis(gender) and transgender women — Black LGBTQ, Black incarcerated folks and Black people with disabilities, because those people are just as equally important to our community. Q: Because it deals with sensitive racial issues, do you think that makes it harder to have a conversation? A: I don’t think it makes it harder. I think it makes it so people don’t want to listen. We understand that when we’re saying these things that it makes some people uncomfortable. What we hear a lot is that if we’re talking about sexual violence, then we just want to talk about sexual violence and we don’t want to talk about racial issues or gay rights issues or anything else because this is the topic we’re focusing on and everything else is divisive. I think those responses are the reason why we’re still where we are today. These issues don’t happen in a vacuum and when there are people who live at these intersections, it is most important to not only talk about these issues but center them.
College freshman’s thank-you tweet to dad goes viral BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM
For Charles Brockman III, an incoming freshman at Mississippi State University, a personal tweet illustrating his father’s impact on his academic journey went viral after tugging at the hearts of Twitter users, NBC News reports. On Aug. 13, Brockman, 17, tweeted sideby-side images of his father, Charles Brockman Jr., walking him to school on his first day of kindergarten and helping him get settled during his first week of college. The images were accompanied with the caption, “From the first day of kin-
dergarten to college move in. Thank you dad,” the news outlet writes.
Quickly shared The image quickly went viral on Twitter. It received upwards of 70,000 retweets and over 280,000 likes. “People take their parents for granted and sometimes parents don’t always get the credit they deserve,” Brockman told the outlet. “It was a nice, little cute tweet,” he said. “The tweet was getting traction. After a while the numbers started tripling. Pretty soon my phone was freezing and I was wondering how big is this thing going to go.”
‘A bright moment’ Brockman told NBC News that being walked to school by his father was something that was done every year since he began school. He says he posted the tweet to show his appreciation for his parents who have served as his support system from day one. “Some teens argue and fight a lot with their parents. I just wanted to shine a bright moment; an uplifting moment,” he said, according to NBC News. Brockman is attending Mississippi State University on a track scholarship.
Charles Brockman III shared that his father, Charles Brockman Jr., had been right beside him every year since he began school.
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Meet some of
FLORIDA’S
finest
FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT
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Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest? E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.
CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER
Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year on the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions. On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors. Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years. Go to www.miamibrowardcarnival.com for information on this year’s Carnival.
Harvey takes late-night approach to daytime show BY RICK BENTLEY TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
LOS ANGELES – Steve Harvey plans on bringing nighttime to daytime and he won’t even need an eclipse. The game show host/comedian/stand-up comic’s syndicated talk show, “Steve Harvey,” has a new look (check local listings for time and station). Instead of being in line with traditional talk shows that air during daylight hours, Harvey’s revamped program will be closer to what viewers would see during late-night programming.
Moving to L.A. Along with the new approach comes a new name; his show will now be called “Steve.” So instead of a nutritionist promoting the latest eating trend, there will be a celebrity promoting a new movie, book, song or television show. To make it a little easier to get those celebrity guests, Harvey’s show will switch from originating in Chicago and will be based in Los Angeles.
More entertainment This big change is a result of what Harvey has seen as a switch in why people have watched daytime talk shows in the past. Those shows used to be a place to find out how to become a coupon queen, how to make your dresser look better with new knobs or how to make linguine in a machine. The primary source for that kind of information is now online so Harvey’s new show will be less about information and more
show “Family Feud” and the primetime programs “Little Big Shows,” “Little Big Shots: Forever Young,” “Celebrity Family Feud” and “Steve Harvey’s Funderdome” plus all of appearances he does. Harvey’s happy to be doing so many different projects because he’s always been a hard worker.
about entertainment. “I think people need to just laugh in the middle of the day. And I’ve kind of been restricted in that in the last five years. I want people to have a place to go. Instead of waiting ‘til 11 o’clock at night to get a big laugh, I want people, in the middle of the day, to tune in and, I mean, really get a good, hard, ‘spit on your computer’ type laugh,” Harvey says. “That’s what I’m after. So that’s the big difference in this show. And coming to L.A. naturally will allow you to have a lot more input with celebrities. They can drive over instead of flying to Chicago.”
‘Piece of cake’ He does balk at talk that it must be so hard on him to be so busy. “I worked at Ford Motor Company. I put eight spark plugs in 1,400 engines a day. That’s hard. You want me to come out here and talk and tell jokes, and you’re going to pay me this much money? This is a piece of cake to me,” Harvey says. “I do the jokes. I do the job. “I’m a hard worker. I enjoy my work. People enjoy what I do. I do family fun. I make people feel good. When you’re not laughing, I try to make you feel good. If I can add another one of those, that’s what everybody needs.”
Fresher shows Approximately 10 of the 60 people who had worked on Harvey’s show in Chicago will be moving to Los Angeles. Executive producer Shane Farley explains the main reason so few are moving has to do with the new design of the show. Before, the programs were planned out and taped well in advance of their airdate, but now, so Harvey’s comedy can be more topical, each show will be broadcast the day after taping. This requires a staff that has experience working in that style of production.
Email controversy There is also that matter of the furor that arose after an email Harvey sent to his staff at the beginning of the fifth season of his talk show was made public just days before the last programs in Chicago were taped. The email told staff members not to approach him unless it was
J GERARD SEGUIA/PACIFIC PRESS/ZUMA PRESS/TNS
Steve Harvey poses on the red carpet on Jan. 29 at the SMX in Pasay, Philippines as Miss Universe VIP’s walked the red carpet a day before the coronation. a pre-arranged meeting and not to enter his dressing room. “I learned two things from that email. Number one, I can’t write, and I should never write. It was something I wrote a year ago. And somebody didn’t get a job coming to L.A. and they got p—, and they sent it to (media blogger Robert) Feder in Chicago,” Harvey says. “I was OK until I saw it on CNN. And that’s when I knew I was in a lot of trouble. “So the email was out there.
Washington’s back in awards mix with ‘Roman J. Israel, Esq.’ BY GLENN WHIPP LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS
Remember the Oscar that Denzel Washington almost won earlier this year for “Fences”? It looks as if he’s going to have a prime opportunity for another chance to earn that third Academy Award this season. Washington’s latest movie, a legal thriller titled “Roman J. Isra-
el, Esq.,” will premiere in a choice slot at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, Sony Pictures has announced.
Sept. 10 screening The film, written and directed by Dan Gilroy (“Nightcrawler”), will have its first screening on Sept. 10 at the Ryerson Theatre. Washington plays the title
character, who, per the studio’s synopsis, is a “driven, idealistic defense attorney whose life is upended when a turbulent series of events challenge the activism that has defined his career.” Colin Farrell costars as Israel’s partner in the firm, a man hiding disturbing secrets that, when exposed, start the whole “turbulent series of events” scenario.
You know, it wasn’t that big a deal to me. I’m not really a mean spirited guy at all. I’m really a congenial guy. But it’s kind of like if you go home every day and all your kids is in the kitchen waiting on you and start hammering you, you just need a moment. That’s all it was. It’s really not that big a deal. I thought it was cute.”
Plenty of projects Now, he can concentrate on his talk show, hosting the game
Night-show dream There’s another reason Harvey’s revamping his show. His dream was to be a late-night talk show host long before his first appearance on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” He was able to land jobs starring in his own primetime comedy, work on multiple game shows and become one of the most infamous hosts in the history of the Miss Universe pageant but he finally knew that the dream of being able to do what Carson did was never going to happen. That’s when Harvey decided if he was not going to be able to go to nighttime, he would bring nighttime to him.
Denzel Washington stars in the film, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
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SEPTEMBER 8 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
S
Bring it to the table.
The food, the stories, the same old jokes and games. All the year’s happenings. Everyone and everything. Bring it all, because that’s what family is about. And this wouldn’t be a reunion without it.
Learn how Publix can help make it a family reunion to remember at publix.com/familyreunion.
FOOD
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SEPTEMBER 8 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
TOJ
POWER UP with plant protein FROM FAMILY FEATURES
When it comes to getting energy from the food you eat, it’s no secret that protein packs a powerful punch. However, research shows certain plant-based proteins, like peanuts, may carry additional benefits. According to a Harvard School of Public Health study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, substituting plant-based proteins like peanuts for animal proteins and low-quality carbohydrates can result in lowering diabetes risk by 7-21 percent. Because peanuts are known as a low glycemic index food due to their slow digestion that causes sugar to gradually be released into the bloodstream, they can have positive effects on blood sugar control. Find more nutritional information and ways to include peanuts in your diet at gapeanuts.com. CHICKEN PAD THAI Servings: 4 1 pound chicken breast freshly ground pepper, to taste 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon honey 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce 1 tablespoon peanut butter 1/4 cup water 1 medium zucchini, spiralized (about 1 cup) 2 medium carrots, spiralized (about 1 cup) 1 cup cooked pad thai stir-fry noodles 1 cup bean sprouts 1 cup thinly sliced cabbage 1 lime, quartered
PEANUT BUTTER BANANA OVERNIGHT OATS Servings: 2 1/4 cup powdered peanut butter 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 2 teaspoons ground chia seeds 1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, crushed 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro Season chicken with pepper, to taste. In large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil and cook chicken until fully cooked and juices are clear. Remove chicken from pan and allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing. To make sauce: In small bowl, whisk together honey, chili garlic sauce, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, peanut butter and water. Add zucchini, carrots, rice noodles and chicken to pan; pour sauce over and toss to coat. Toss in bean sprouts and cabbage. Serve with lime wedge, crushed peanuts and cilantro. Nutritional information per serving: 295 calories, 12 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 60 mg cholesterol, 792 mg sodium, 22 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber, 9 g sugar, 27 g protein, 109% vitamin A, 46% vitamin C, 7% calcium, 10% iron.
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/2 cup small banana, sliced 1 tablespoon peanuts, chopped 1 tablespoon peanut butter In medium bowl, stir together powdered peanut butter, oats, chia seeds, coconut milk and vanilla extract. Divide evenly into mason jars or storage containers and refrigerate overnight.
Before serving, add banana slices, chopped peanuts and peanut butter to each. Nutritional information per serving: 280 calories, 12 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 135 mg sodium, 36 g carbohydrates, 7 g dietary fiber, 8 g sugar, 10 g protein, 8% vitamin A, 4% vitamin C, 35% calcium, 13% iron.
BAKED SALMON WITH PEANUT BUTTER GLAZE Servings: 4 1 pound salmon
2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
1/4 cup 100 percent orange juice Heat oven to 400 F and line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place salmon on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with pepper, to taste. Bake salmon 15-20 minutes until cooked through. In small saucepot over medium-low heat, whisk together peanut butter, chili
garlic sauce and orange juice, and cook until warm. To serve, pour peanut butter glaze over salmon. Nutritional information per serving: 334 calories, 23 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 50 mg cholesterol, 173 mg sodium, 5 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 3 g sugar, 27 g protein, 8% vitamin C, 4% calcium, 3% iron.
VEGETARIAN NOURISH BOWL Servings: 4 1 cup large, diced butternut squash 16 ounces Brussels sprouts, halved 1 medium red onion, large diced 1/2 can (8 ounces) reducedsodium garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained 1 head garlic (about 10 cloves), peeled 1 tablespoon olive oil freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 lemon, juiced 2 tablespoons water 1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce 1/4 cup peanut butter 1 cup cooked quinoa 1 tablespoon finely chopped peanuts Heat oven to 400 F and line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. On prepared baking sheet, arrange butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, onion, garbanzo beans and garlic; toss vegetables in olive oil and season with pepper, to taste. Roast 30-40 minutes until slightly golden in color.
Halfway through baking, shake vegetables or turn over to ensure even browning. To make dressing: Mix together lemon juice, water, Sriracha sauce and peanut butter. To serve, top quinoa with roasted veggies, crushed peanuts and drizzle of lemonpeanut butter sauce. Nutritional information per serving: 323 calories, 14 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 308 mg sodium, 42 g carbohydrates, 11 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 13 g protein, 92% vitamin A, 197% vitamin C, 11% calcium, 28% iron.
1 teaspoon olive oil freshly ground pepper, to taste 1/4 cup peanut butter