Florida Courier - September 25, 2015

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VOLUME 23 NO. 39

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PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL

President stresses equality for Black women during Congressional Black Caucus speech See Page A5

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SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

SUDDEN DEATH

An argument over rent. A knife. A gun. Two murders, one suicide, one critical injury – and a network of grief-stricken relatives and friends.

BY PENNY DICKERSON FLORIDA COURIER

DAYTONA BEACH – The initial Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD) homicide report clinically describes a horrific scene devoid of descriptive details.

“On September 17, 2015…officers from DBPD responded to 124 Carolina Lake Drive (#105) in reference to a black male fighting a female…Upon arrival…officers entered and located a black female (Timesha Floyd-Carswell DOB 10/21/1993) deceased in the front bedroom closet with apparent gunshot wounds. The officers also located a second victim who DUANE C. FERNANDEZ, SR./HARDNOTTS PHOTOGRAPHY was deceased (Diona McDonBethune-Cookman University students reflect on the lives of schoolmates killed in an off-campus ald DOB 2/2/1996)…found in the shooting last week. back bedroom.

POPE FRANCIS VISITS AMERICA

Welcome to the White House

Timesha Carswell

Diona McDonald

“Officers found a third victim, Micah Parham, with gunshot wounds…alive but bleeding severely. Officers then located a fourth victim, Sidney Washington DOB 06/06/1995, who was found outside of the apartment. WashSee DEATH, Page A2

Nielsen tells ‘the untold story’ Latest report highlights Black consumer behavior TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

WASHINGTON – Nielsen, a global performance measurement company, released its latest report on the Black consumer market entitled, “Increasingly Affluent, Educated and Diverse – African-American Consumers: The Untold Story.”

The report was released at a press conference during last week’s Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.’s 45th Annual Legislative Conference.

Fights stereotypes The fifth installment of Nielsen’s Diverse Intelligence Series, the report includes insights about affluent Black consumers with annual household incomes of $75,000 and higher. It upends outdated stereotypes about African-Americans, from education and income to media consumption and social engagement. It explores the evolution of upper-income Black Americans as the population continues to grow and change rapidly.

“The size and influence of affluent African-Americans is growing faster than that of non-Hispanic See NIELSEN, Page A2 OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS

Pope Francis waves to the crowd from a White House balcony as President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama look on during a welcome ceremony on Wednesday. The pope is making his first trip to the United States on a five-day tour that includes Washington, New York City and Philadelphia.

Williams seeks legal change to accommodate gay marriage THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Rep. Alan Williams

ALSO INSIDE

TALLAHASSEE – With the U.S. Supreme Court ensuring that same-sex marriage is legal, a House Democrat has filed a bill to revamp part of Florida law that sets requirements for issuing marriage licenses.

The bill, filed this week by

Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, would eliminate one part of law that in the past required a marriage license to only be issued if “one party is a male and the other party is a female.” The bill also would repeal a legal definition of marriage that has been used in interpreting state laws and rules.

That definition says mar-

riage “means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the term ‘spouse’ applies only to a member of such a union.” The bill (HB 4019), which will be considered during the 2016 legislative session, would change state law to reflect court rulings during the past year.

Same-sex couples began getting married in Florida in January after a federal judge said the state’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court followed in June by issuing a landmark decision that said same-sex couples across the country have a fundamental right to marry.

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

FAMU settles suit with family of Champion NATION | A6

HUD applies pressure to end housing segregation ENTERTAINMENT | B1

African songstress shines in Disney production HEALTH | B3

Kids prefer apples over other fruit

FLORIDA: PROSECUTORS SAY ARRESTS SHOW IMPROVED RESPONSE TO SEX TRAFFICKING | A3 COMMENTARY: GLEN FORD: BLACK FAMILIES CRUSHED BY PRISON, DEATH | A4

FOCUS

A2

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

Folks in the congregations are suffering and smiling One of my favorite musical songs is called “Suffering and Smiling” by the great Afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti.

It talks about how many religious leaders enjoy life on earth in a much better fashion than their followers do. The leaders can enjoy life now, while the members of their flock oftentimes have to wait until they die to have a good time in the afterlife.

In some Black communities, places of worship are almost everywhere.

The only buildings that outnumber churches are the buildings that house liquor stores!

Black rebels Back in the day, many religious leaders were rebellious slaves, abolitionists, freedom fighters, civil rights leaders, community activists and men and women that risked their churches, lives, live-

NIELSEN from A1

Whites across all income segments, and the impact is being felt across industries,” said Senior Vice President of U.S. Strategic Community Alliances and Consumer Engagement Cheryl Pearson-McNeil.

“These larger incomes are attributed to a number of factors including youthfulness, immigration, historic educational attainment and constant, relevant dialogue across various social media channels that have an impact on African-Americans’ decisions as brand loyalists and ambassadors. Savvy marketers are taking notice.”

High growth At 45.7 million strong, the nation’s Black population grew at 17.7 percent from 2000 to 2014 – 35 percent faster than the total population and double the 8.2 percent growth rate of the White population.

The growth rate of the Black population is part-

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

lihoods, reputations and much more to stand up and fight the slimy, degenerate, wickedly devilish beast!

Today, a number of religious leaders carry on that tradition of fighting the individuals and institutions that exploit, oppress and financially enslave the churchgoers; the people that attend the masjid; and the members of congregations at places of worship in a variety of religious communities.

But not all of them! Some religious leaders are content to preach about tithing, about their pastoral anniversaries, about why the church needs jet airplanes that sit on runways

Here’s part of what the reports don’t say.

The two young women, both Bethune-Cookman University students, had rented an off-campus apartment which may have been sublet to Bodden, who refused to pay then refused to leave the apartment. The two female students asked two male BCU students to be in attendance when the discussion about the rent occurred.

According to Washington – the only survivor who could tell the story – Carswell and Bodden started arguing in the back bedroom about rent. The two male students, Washington and Parham, intervened as the argument got worse.

Washington and Bodden started fighting; Washington pulled out a knife. Bod-

There is one thing that no religious leader should ever do. No religious leader should ever be afraid! Faith and fear do not go together!

Excuse the expression, but how in the hell can a religious leader be afraid if he believes God, Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah, Oludumare, or God of some other name will take care of him if he does the right things?

How can a true religious leader tell you to take care of your wife and family if he has sidepieces, baby mamas and mistresses himself? How can they tell you to put money in the benevolent offering plate one day, and the next day say the church has no money to help the sick,

• Black households with incomes of $70,000-plus top a number of consumption categories by percentage of their annual expenditures. These households spend substantial percentages of annual expenditures on personal insurance and pensions (14.7 percent); retirement, pensions, and Social Security payments (13.8 percent); home furnishings and equipment (12.5 percent); and cash gifts (7.6 percent).

• Black household consumption habits outpace other demographics. Each week, compared to all Americans, African-American adults spend 42 percent more time watching TV; 13 percent more time on a personal computer; and 15 percent more time on a smartphone than any other demographic.

• Black educational

Micah Parham

Zed Bodden

den left the apartment and returned with a gun. The two struggled over the gun; Bodden won the struggle.

Washington, realizing that Bodden would shoot him, smashed out a bedroom window, jumped out, and literally ran for his life. He heard gunshots as he ran.

Bodden executed the young women with single shots to their heads. Parham survived a gunshot to his head – losing an eye – and was in critical condition in a medically induced coma at the Florida Courier’s Wednesday night press time. Washington suffered minor injuries.

The catalyst for all this?

Two hundred dollars Bodden allegedly owed Carswell and McDonald for past-due rent.

Case still open Though Bodden is dead, DBPD detectives continue to work on the case and consider it an open investigation. A warrant was served in Miami on Tuesday to inspect the vehicle in which Bodden fled to Miami.

Autopsies were performed by the Volusia County Health Department the day after the murders, but written reports have not been released.

DBPD refuses to answer many questions because the investigation is ongoing.

help the homeless, or help the jobless?

You tell me Who is the religious leader like Elijah was? Elijah stood up boldly for God in a time when idolatry had swept his land. In fact, his name means “My God is Yah(weh).”

The false god he opposed was Baal, the favorite deity of Jezebel, wife of King Ahab of Israel. To please Jezebel, Ahab had altars erected to Baal, and the queen murdered God’s prophets.

Confident of the power of God, Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the false god Asherah to a showdown on Mount Carmel. The idolaters sacrificed a bull and cried out to Baal from morning until nightfall – even slashing their skin until blood flowed – but nothing happened.

INCREASINGLY AFFLUENT, EDUCATED AND DIVERSE

Highlights of the report:

from A1

The details

Faith vs. fear

ly attributed to the surge in Black immigration from the Caribbean, Africa and some European countries, making the overall population very diverse.

DEATH ington was not shot, but had minor injuries.

“While on scene and being treated by medical personnel, Micah Parham informed (DBPD detectives) that ‘Cory’ or ‘Kroy’ shot him as well as the deceased females…”

‘Cory’ or ‘Kroy’ turned out to be a 27-year-old Miami-Dade native with a long and violent criminal past named York Zed Bodden. Right after the shootings, Bodden returned to his old stomping grounds in North Miami, was apprehended by cops, and then allegedly killed himself in a Miami-Dade jail system that is notorious for not preventing inmate suicides – all in the space of about 48 hours.

most of the year, or about why child molesters in the church should be forgiven and continue to get paid with church dollars.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONSUMERS: THE UNTOLD STORY 2015 REPORT

DIVERSE INTELLIGENCE SERIES

The latest Nielsen report is the fifth in an annual series on Black buying habits. achievement is improving. The rate of Black high school graduates enrolled in college increased in

2014 to 70.9 percent, exceeding the rate of all high school graduates in the nation. Twenty-three per-

‘America’s future’

Campus housing woes

“Every one of those (BCU) students were good young men and good young women who’ve never been in trouble with the law,” said DBPD Chief Michael Chitwood.

“They were good students and well-respected at Cookman, so that’s what makes this really difficult.

These are kids who had a brilliant future. These are kids who would be the future of what America is all about,” he added.

Three Michiganders McDonald was a Detroit native while Carswell and Parham are both from Inkster, a neighboring suburb.

Both women were preceded in death by a parent who succumbed to cancer. McDonald’s mother died of breast cancer just months ago. She is survived by an elderly father who reportedly said that Bodden has taken everything from him. Carswell’s father died of cancer when she was three.

Carswell and McDonald were music majors at B-CU and also active members of B-CU’s well-regarded Concert Chorale. They had been residents at the apartment complex for only two weeks.

Chitwood marveled when he saw how meticulous McDonald maintained the car she drove and the efficient manner in which her books and notes were left stacked on the back seat.

Classmates described the talented pair as “kindhearted.” Family members from Michigan sitting vigil at Daytona Beach’s Halifax Hospital describe Parham as “a fighter.”

One question: why did the two B-CU students move off campus?

Daytona Beach is a destination for thousands of students attending B-CU, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Daytona State College.

Many students initially reside in on-campus dormitories, but the allure to dwell in an off-campus apartment is intense. Students grow weary of restrictive rules and lackluster meal plans.

Ebony Harris of Greenville, S.C. is a B-CU freshman living in the dormitories. She is eager to make a transition and plans to move off campus next year.

“The (dorm) halls here are not everything we pay for. We spend $24,000 per year for tuition and board and the standards don’t live up to the amount we are paying,” said Harris.

“There’s mold growing in the halls and bathroom and they’ve gotten somebody out here to clean it, but it’s still growing back and they can’t control the air conditioning. One room would be too hot and the other too cold, and it’s just too much,” added Harris who is a political science and pre-law major.

Regretting the move DBPD Chief Chitwood knows about the off-campus lure first-hand.

“I can tell you that my daughter is a senior in college and she has been breaking my stones with, ‘Please, can I live off campus? Please, can I live off campus?’” said Chitwood.

“Well, her senior year, I let her live off campus and after what happened

Elijah then rebuilt the altar of the Lord, sacrificing a bull there. (All of the haters of African religious sacrifices should pay attention to this.) He put the burnt offering on it, along with wood. He had a servant douse the sacrifice and wood with four jars of water three times, until all was thoroughly soaked.

Elijah called on the Lord, and God’s fire fell from heaven, consuming the offering, the wood, the altar, the water, and even the dust around it. The people fell on their faces, shouting, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” (1 Kings 18:39.) Elijah then ordered the people to slay the 850 false prophets.

Punked out Then Elijah started acting like some of today’s religious leaders. That same Elijah, who had just killed 850 men, ran like hell because he was afraid of one

woman – Jezebel – who had swore to kill Elijah after her (false) prophets were killed!

A lot of religious leaders get blessing after blessing.

The bank will loan them money to buy big houses and fancy cars, but their followers can’t get a loan to buy a jalopy or a tent. They get church or mosque-paid healthcare and benefits – but their followers do not.

Many religious leaders enjoy a good lifestyle. But the followers have to wait until they are saved and wait until they die to live in a Heavenly Paradise!

Every day, the people who love their well-to-do religious leaders continue to follow while they suffer and smile!

Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net.

cent of African-Americans with annual household incomes of more than $100,000 search for jobs online (compared to 14 percent of Whites). Eleven percent of African-Americans with annual household incomes of more than $100,000 take college courses online (compared to five percent of Whites).

• Income growth rates – African-American income growth rates outpaced those of non-Hispanic Whites at every annual household income level above $60,000. The largest increase for African-American households occurred in the number of households earning over $200,000, with an increase of 138 percent, compared with a total population increase of 74 percent.

• Media and technology use – The year 2015 represented a tipping point as avid media consumption, powerful cultural influence and burgeoning population statistics created an unprecedented African-American impact on a broad range of industries, particularly in television, music and social media, as

well as on social issues.

• Purchasing power – The average dollar amount spent per household annually for African-Americans with household incomes of $100,000-plus surpasses that of other groups with regard to shopping in convenience stores (by 123 percent); toy stores (by 40 percent); bookstores (by 32 percent); automotive stores (by 15 percent); department stores (by 14 percent).

• Immigration impact – By 2060, one of out of every six U.S. Blacks will be an immigrant. Metropolitan areas that are home to some of the nation’s largest Black populations are where the impact of immigration is most apparent. In the Miami metro area, 34 percent of the Black population is immigrants.

In New York, it’s 28 percent; in Washington, D.C., 15 percent.

To download the full report, go to http://www. n i e l s e n. c o m / u s / e n / i n sights/reports.html.

the other day, I’m regretting every minute because like any girl, they meet a sweet-talking, good-looking guy, who’s got a little bit of money, and they don’t think he’s the picture of evil. They see this nice guy, but when the switch goes off, it’s too late.”

Johnson recalled.

‘Uncle Ira J’ The Florida Courier spoke with Ira Johnson, Carswell’s ‘uncle’ and pastor. Biologically, Johnson is a cousin. But his family raised her after cancer claimed her father’s life.

She always called him “Uncle Ira J” and the entire family affectionately called her “Lisa.” Johnson likes to share a particularly special story about his niece, whom he said was uplifting with a ready smile.

“Two years ago, I preached the funeral of her granddad, Joe Carswell. Lisa was his heart because she was younger; you know how grandparents like to dote on a child,” Johnson shared.

“Everybody held her close because she was all we had left of her father Tim. She was his only child and looked just like him. I flew from Detroit to preach that funeral and was so emotional.

“At the repast, I was in tears and she came up to me, hugged me and Lisa said, ‘Uncle Ira J, it’s gonna be alright. He’s in a better place now.’ She is the only one whose spirit did that.”

According to Johnson, other relatives in Georgia received the call regarding the murders. They called Johnson in Michigan the same night.

“The first thing we did was pray and thanked God for the life he gave us,”

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Target Market News.

Suicide to be investigated Miami-Dade County operates the eighth largest jail system in the country, with about 6,000 people incarcerated in six detention facilities at any given time.

The Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where Bodden was found dead, “has 1300 beds for male and female inmates of various levels of custody. Officers work inside housing units and directly supervise inmates 24 hours a day,” according to the county’s website.

According to the Miami Herald, the Miami-Dade County jail system has been under federal supervision since a 2011 U.S. Department of Justice investigation criticized it for inmate deaths and shoddy medical conditions.

At least eight inmates had committed suicide since 2007, and the federal report said that staffers were not trained to deal with suicidal patients. Three of the suicides involved accused murderers like Bodden who hung themselves with bed sheets in either the county’s main jail or at a county detention center.

Miami-Dade Department of Corrections spokeswoman Janelle Hall said, “There’s a full-fledged investigation going on” regarding Bodden’s alleged suicide.

As of the Florida Courier’s press time Wednesday night, Timesha Carswell’s family had raised $5,186 online from 174 donors to assist in paying funeral expenses. To donate, go to https://www.gofundme. com/ry4gc33g.

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

FLORIDA

A3

FAMU settles wrongful death suit with drum major’s family Champion’s parents get settlement and apology in 2011 hazing death FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Florida A&M University (FAMU) has settled a lawsuit with the family of Robert Champion over the hazing death of the “Marching 100’’ drum major in 2011.

Announced on Sept. 18 by FAMU spokeswoman Lisa Brock, the settlement includes $1.1 million and an apology.

According to the settlement, an insurance company is to pay $800,000 to Champion’s estate and the university will pay $300,000 through the Florida Department of Financial Services.

That’s the maximum allowed without the Legislature’s approval.

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., the Robert Champion Jr. insurance company, insured the hotel where the hazing occurred. The settlement ends the civil case.

In November 2011, the 26-yearold Champion died after being hazed in a band ritual on a bus at the Rosen Plaza hotel in Orlando. The band had stayed at the hotel during the Florida Classic weekend, the annual HBCU instate rival event against BethuneCookman University. Champion died after band members beat him with fists and boards after the Florida Classic football game on Nov. 19.

Plaque on campus FAMU also is to add a commemorative plaque in Champion’s memory at a location on campus – the university’s band room, at the band practice field called “The Patch,’’ or another site to be chosen by Champion’s family.

RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

The parents of Robert Champion Jr. – mother Pam Champion, second right, and Robert Champion Sr., father, right – listen as the verdict is read on Oct. 31, 2014, after a jury found Dante Martin, a former member of the “Marching 100’’ guilty of manslaughter.

A portion of the apology issued

by FAMU states, “On behalf of the FAMU Board of Trustees, please accept our sincere condolences and sympathies for the loss of your son, Robert Champion Jr., and please know that we are deeply sorry for your family’s and the world’s loss of such a fine and outstanding son, brother, musician and individual.

“We greatly appreciate the opportunity to honor Robert’s memory and spirit to help in-

spire and motivate people everywhere to forever eradicate hazing from our society once and for all.”

Criminal charges The drum major’s death led to the ouster of then-university President James Ammons and longtime marching band director Julian White, the band’s suspension and criminal charges against 15 former members of the band, including Champion’s

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– Book review, School Library Journal • How low expectations of Black students’ achievements can get them higher grades; • Want a great grade? Prepare to cheat!

• How Black students can program their minds for success; • Setting goals – When to tell everybody, and when to keep your mouth shut; • Black English, and why Black students must be ‘bilingual.’ …AND MUCH MORE!

www.excellencewithoutexcuse.com Download immediately as an eBook or a pdf Order softcover online, from Amazon, or your local bookstore ISBN#978-1-56385-500-9 Published by International Scholastic Press, LLC Contact Charles at ccherry2@gmail.com

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Twitter @ccherry2

fellow drum majors.

All but four of those charged in Champion’s death received sentences of community service and probation.

Dante Martin, the senior member of the band’s percussion section and the student leader accused of organizing the fatal hazing, received the harshest sentence, a six-year prison term that his lawyers are appealing.

Champion’s death led to criminal charges against 15 former

members of the band, which included his fellow drum majors.

Most of those charged received probation and community service. The harshest sentence went to Dante Martin, considered the band ritual organizer, who has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for manslaughter and felony hazing.

Information from the Orlando Sentinel/TNS was used in this report.

Prosecutors: Arrests show improved response to sex trafficking

BY MARGIE MENZEL THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – The announcement Monday of 21 arrests following a two-year investigation into a Central Florida sextrafficking and drug ring shows an improved response to forced prostitution, say the state’s top prosecutors.

The wide-ranging investigation brought about the rescue of eight trafficking victims, including a juvenile, and yielded “large amounts of cannabis, cash, cocaine and heroin, as well as several stolen weapons,” according to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office.

Speaking in Orlando, Bondi, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings and Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation Director Joseph Cocchiarella praised the complex, multi-agency investigation, which included the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Florida Highway Patrol and local law-enforcement agencies.

'There’s a marriage between drugs, dealing drugs, human trafficking and addicting these women to heroin, to cocaine, to various drugs to get them to perform multiple, multiple sex acts every day.'

Pam Bondi State Attorney

Dependent on drugs They also said the traffickers had forced their victims to perform paid sex acts through a combination of violence and drug addiction.

“There’s a marriage between drugs, dealing drugs, human trafficking and addicting these women to heroin, to cocaine, to various drugs to get them to perform multiple, multiple sex acts every day,” Bondi said.

Cocchiarella said the victims had endured a series of beatings and were “strung out on heroin, cocaine and pharmaceuticals.” Asked if they had Pam been held against their Bondi will, Cocchiarella replied that they were dependent on drugs throughout the day, “and if you have to have it or you go into a heroin sickness, that is just as bad as being held in a cage. There’s no difference.”

‘Stockholm Syndrome’ Nick Cox, head of the Office of Statewide Prosecution, compared the victims’ state to that of hostages suffering from “Stockholm Syndrome’’ – in which victims develop positive feelings for their captors.

“People don’t understand the grip” traffickers have on their victims through threats and drugs, Cox said. “They’re not leaving (because of ) fear. They’re not leaving because they’re high.”

Bondi said that as the investigation proceeds, she expects to see the criminal charges changed several times, like-

ly dropping charges against victims and “adding more defendants to the list.”

‘The trauma bond’ The approach of the law-enforcement officers who collaborated on the arrests shows that the state has come a long way in responding to human trafficking, said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, whose jurisdiction sees some of the highest levels of trafficking in the nation.

“It means they understand the dynamics of this crime,” she said. “It took us three and a half years to get here, but I think we have a really good model for the rest of the country.”

As a result of what’s called “the trauma bond” between a trafficking victim and a pimp, Fernandez Rundle said, sex-trafficking cases tend to be difficult and complex. Due to their involvement in illegal drugs and prostitution, the victims may not be easily identified as victims, at least at first.

Fernandez Rundle said in her own jurisdiction, she often starts out by charging victims who have committed crimes such as drug possession or prostitution – and holds them at least long enough to stabilize them in a safe environment.

The victims often face beatings from their pimps for having lost a night’s income after being arrested, she said – and thus are unlikely to cooperate with police.

EDITORIAL

A4

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

Beware of anti-Russian propaganda While the United States has repeated and very publicly stated its intention to bring down the Assad government in Syria, the Russian Federation has declared its intention to protect it.

Russia uses air space over Iran and Iraq as a route to send equipment and advisers to Syria. Both nations have given permission for these flights to take place and that should be the end of any questions.

Facts omitted But the American press hysterically follow Obama administration talking points and claim that none of these nations has rights that the United States need respect. Facts are omitted from socalled journalism if they call official narratives into question.

The United States government and its partners in corporate media are engaged in a sustained propaganda attack against the government and people of Russia. The tactic is an old one and is used precisely because it is so effective.

If a nation and its people are disparaged and dehumanized enough its enemies can attack in any number of ways without fear of debate or popular opposition.

The more effectively evil Obama administration knows this full well and instigates media scribes at opportune moments to make the case for American imperialism.

Governmental allegiance The idea that this country has

or are perhaps less human and therefore less deserving to live.

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

a free press, that is to say free of governmental influence, is accepted as an indisputable truth.

Yet every day, the corporate media demonstrate just the opposite. They show their allegiance to whomever occupies the White House or to the conglomerate of corporate owners who allow them to print or to stay on the air.

Some of the stories appear to be laughable on the surface, but there is nothing amusing about their intent. In just one week, a New York Times columnist opined that Russia has “lost its soul” and a reporter says that Russians hate Americans without ever presenting reasons why that may be true.

If Russians hate Americans, it could be because they broke a promise not to increase the number of NATO member states in Eastern Europe. Perhaps they hate Americans because Washington reserves the right to intervene anywhere in the world, while Russia is attacked for aiding its allies. Then again, economic sanctions and the hardships they have caused may be the reason for dislike.

A reader is given none of this information and is forced to conclude that Russians are unworthy of any serious consideration

Blacks missing from political circus Here is something to think about as we watch the political circus that is currently dominating the news.

Black people are nowhere to be found in the real action, nowhere to be found in determining the candidates from which we will eventually choose to compete for the presidency, and nowhere to be found in the debate questions or answers.

Watching quietly We are merely watching from the balcony, as we had to do back in the 1950s in segregated theaters and churches that relegated Black people to the rear of the building. We were also told to be quiet, especially in the churches, way back when.

Yeah, we talk a lot, from our vantage point in the peanut gallery, but we have absolutely zero skin in the political game at this point, which means we lack self-determination in the political process. Yes, we have the individual choice to vote, but that’s about it, y’all, and even in that

JAMES CLINGMAN NNPA COLUMNIST

act, we will only be choosing between the decisions that others have made.

Have you ever wondered why two small states, Iowa and New Hampshire, have so much impact on the national election? Is it simply because they are the first two states to conduct caucuses and primaries every presidential election year? Is it because they have such a large number of electoral votes?

Even though some candidates who win those states do not always get their party’s nomination, these two states are held up as the political “trend-makers” and benchmarks for a candidate’s success. That’s why they all flock to those two little states long before the election really be-

Black families crushed by prison, death The Brookings Institution, an establishment thinktank in Washington, D.C., commissioned researchers to answer the question: Is there a shortage of marriageable men in the United States?

Black women have long claimed that there is a shortage of potential Black husbands. The Brookings study shows that they were right.

It is more difficult for Black women to find a Black mate of roughly of the same age, income and education level. No such shortage exists among White Americans except, ironically, among the most highly educated.

Women of all races are better

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: JEB BUSH'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

educated than their mothers, and earn more money. However, male earnings on average have been stagnant or falling, especially for less skilled workers.

For highly educated White women, finding a husband of comparable status has, indeed, become more difficult, according to Brook-

Obama ‘doublespeak’ When President Obama recently visited Alaska, he simultaneously called for more oil drilling in the Arctic while also claiming concern about climate change. Not content with this doublespeak, he also said that Russia plotted to control the Arctic regions and that the United States lagged in the need to counter this imaginary threat.

It is one thing for the president to make a spurious claim but quite another for major newspapers to repeat his words without fact checking, analyzing, or presenting another point of view. It is true that Russia has more ice breaking vessels but that is hardly worthy of note. Of course the country with most of the territory surrounding the North Pole would have the most icebreakers. The Obama administration ought to be embarrassed for spreading lies but the media should be more ashamed for repeating it.

The president himself directly orchestrates some of the propaganda. Jon Stewart was a media favorite while his Daily Show aired for sixteen years. He was thought to be a liberal or progressive but like most people who answer to those labels he is just a water carrier for the Democratic Party.

He did not disclose that he met with the president on two occasions in the White House. After gins.

R.J. MATSON, CAGLECARTOONS.COM

one of those meetings in February 2014, Stewart began telling a series of jokes at Vladimir Putin’s expense. His opinions are influential and the comedy was in fact a very serious business. That is why Obama called upon Stewart to help with the dirty work.

It is exceedingly dangerous for Americans to remain so ignorant of world affairs but their lack of knowledge is a direct result of media complicity with the state.

One day we’re told that Russia has too much ice, the next that it has no right to help Syria, or that Putin’s spokesman is wearing an expensive watch.

Every report is intended to belittle or demonize and make it easier for the United States government to do what it wants without risking resistance. Any nation strong enough to counter American imperialism must be vanquished and that is much easier if it is feared and or hated. voters – or another indication of political impotence?

Few Blacks For all of you critical thinkers out there, try these stats on for size: Iowa is 91 percent White and 2 percent Black; it has six electoral votes. New Hampshire is 93 percent White and 1 percent Black, with four electoral votes.

There are 538 electoral votes among the states, 270 of which are needed to win the presidency of the United States.

Black folks, comprising a grand total of three percent of the total population of these two small states, have absolutely no influence, not to mention power, in what is taking place right now in the political arena. We are relegated to being spectators if we care to watch this current show; it is a rerun, so many of us are not interested anyway.

By the time you read this article, the séance for Ronald Reagan – known as the Republican debate – will have taken place at the Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. You remember that famous city, right? It’s the place where the White cops beat Rodney King within inches of his life were declared not guilty. I saw just five Black people in the seats at the CNN debate of the 500 there. Another insult to Black

A great show We are just spectators, brothers and sisters, watching the Dems and Repubs race toward the finish line in November 2016.

They will put on a great show for us though, as they invoke Rosa Parks’ name and cite the sanctity of the Black vote.

Each party will try to convince us that it can and will “take care of us” because God knows we can’t take care of ourselves. Then, in January 2017, Black people will settle in, once again relegated to their plantation of “choice” for four more years, without having gotten one ounce of quo for our quid.

My article, “Black Political Dilemma” (2014), posed the possibility of Ben Carson running against Hillary Clinton for president. Some folks responded by saying, “That will never happen,” “You’re crazy, Jim,” and “Carson will never be nominated.” Some folks even laughed at the question, “What will Black people do if that happens?” Well, you may want to stay tuned.

Deep hole Black people have dug our-

ings. Black women face a mating eight percent of White and Hisproblem of a whole different order. panic mothers who give birth out of wedlock are cohabiting with the fathers of their babies. However, Dead, locked up Black mass incarceration and in- only about 35 percent of the Black ner city violence have taken a dev- women who give birth outside of astating toll on the pool of poten- marriage are cohabiting with the tial husbands. According to Brook- baby’s father.

The lesson of statistics is unmisings, “Among Black male high takable: Not only are Black mothers school dropouts, 60 percent will be dead or incarcerated before the much less likely to be married; they age of 35.” These Black men won’t are also much less likely to live with be marrying or moving in with the fathers of their children. anybody, or paying child support, or acting as role models or protec- Brothers do care tors for their girlfriends’ children.

A 2011 Pew Research study Seventy-two percent of Black showed that Black fathers who births occur outside of marriage, don’t live with their children nevcompared to 29 percent of White ertheless spend more time with births. But lots of couples form the kids than their White counmeaningful partnerships without terparts do, which demolishes the getting married. myth that Black men don’t care In a majority of out-of-marriage about their children. births, the two parents nevertheBut the stark fact remains that less live in the same home. Sixty- Black men and women have been

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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Just believe Perhaps we shouldn’t bother having a news media any longer at all. If they are going to simply parrot White House statements there is no reason for them to exist. Let’s cut out the middleman and just accept what we are told.

A better alternative is to speak up against the mendacity and to be in solidarity with people fighting it all over the world. Our friends are often in other countries and our enemies are at the top of the heap here at home. We would do well to remember that when the next manufactured outrage about Russia hits the front-page headlines.

Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@ BlackAgendaReport.com. selves a deep political hole, and now we must figure out how to get out of it. It really doesn’t matter who wins the highest office in the land. Blacks will be in the same relative position as we have been under a Black president for the last seven years. In other words, we ain’t got nothin’ comin.’ Only we can save us; not Hillary, Carson, Sanders, or Trump.

Because we have tried to play politics without having a strong economic base, we have become impotent and irrelevant.

Reflect on the words of T. Thomas Fortune, journalist and co-founder of the National Negro Business League: “No people ever became great and prosperous by devoting their infant energies to politics. We were literally born into political responsibility before we had mastered the economic conditions which underlie these duties.”

James E. Clingman, founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce, is the nation’s most prolific writer on economic empowerment for Black people.

Contact him via www.blackonomics.com. less successful than Whites and Hispanics at living in the same household, whether married or not. The cause lies in the economic chaos and insecurity that this racist system has imposed on Black people since Emancipation, an historical crime that gets worse by the day under a capitalist system that no longer needs Black labor.

Black people are not supermen and women. They cannot create economically viable households with only one-twentieth of the wealth that White households possess. And they can’t build families when they are dead or in prison.

This is not about morality; it’s about power, and upending a power structure that has created a hostile environment for Black life and Black families.

E-mail Glen at Glen.Ford@ BlackAgendaReport.com.

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SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

EDITORIAL

‘A chain across generations’ Editor’s note: Here is an edited version of President Obama’s remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) 45th Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C. on September 20.

On the challenges of our times, from giving workers a raise to getting families health coverage; on the threats of our time, from climate change to nuclear proliferation – members of the CBC have been leaders moving America forward.

With your help, our businesses have created over 13 million new jobs. With your help, we’ve covered more than 16 million Americans with health insurance – many for the first time.

Progress made Three years ago, Republicans said they’d get the unemployment rate down to 6 percent by 2017. It’s down to 5.1 right now. You didn’t hear much about that at the debate...

The point is, though, none of this progress would have been possible without the CBC taking tough votes when it mattered most. Whatever I’ve accomplished, the CBC has been there.

I was proud to be a CBC member when I was in the Senate, and I’m proud to be your partner today.

But we’re not here just to celebrate – we’re here to keep going.

Because with the unemployment rate for African-Americans still more than double than Whites, with millions of families still working hard and still waiting to feel the recovery in their own lives, we know that the promise of this nation – where every single American, regardless of the circumstances in which they were born, regardless of what they look like, where they come from, has the chance to succeed – that promise is not yet fulfilled.

Never finished The good thing about America – the great project of America – is that perfecting our union is never finished. We’ve always got more work to do. And tonight’s honorees remind us of that. They remind us of the courage and sacrifices, the work that they’ve done – and not just at the national level, but in local communities all across the country.

We couldn’t be prouder of them. The heroes of the civil rights movement whom we lost last month remind us of the work that remains to be done. American heroes like Louis Stokes, and Julian Bond, and Amelia Boynton Robinson.

Ms. Robinson – as some of you know, earlier this year, my family and I joined many in Selma for the 50th anniversary of that march.

And as we crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I held Ms. Amelia’s hand. And I thought about her and all the extraordinary women like her who were really the life force of the movement.

Women were the foot soldiers.

Women strategized boycotts.

Women organized marches. Even if they weren’t allowed to run the civil rights organizations on paper, behind the scenes they were the thinkers and the doers making things happen each and every day – doing the work that nobody else wanted to do. They couldn’t prophesize from the pulpits, but they led the charge from the pews.

On front lines They were no strangers to violence. They were on the front lines. So often they were subject to abuse, dehumanized, but kept on going, holding families together.

Mothers were beaten and gassed on Bloody Sunday. Four little girls were murdered in a Birmingham church. Women made the movement happen.

Of course, Black women have been a part of every great movement in American history – even if they weren’t always given a voice.

They helped plan the March on Washington, but were almost entirely absent from the program.

And when pressed, male organizers added a tribute highlighting six women – none of them who were asked to make a speech.

Daisy Bates introduced her fellow honorees in just 142 words, written by a man.

Of course, Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson sang. But in a three-hour program, the men gave women just 142 words. That may sound familiar to some of the women in the room here tonight. The organizers even insisted on two separate parades – male leaders marching along the main route on Pennsylvania Avenue, and leaders like Dorothy Height and Rosa Parks relegated to In-

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: RELIGION IN AMERICA

Time to get paid PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA dependence Avenue. America’s most important march against segregation had its own version of separation.

Didn’t give up Black women were central in the fight for women’s rights, from suffrage to the feminist movement – and yet despite their leadership, too often they were also marginalized. But they didn’t give up, they didn’t let up. They were too fierce for that. Black women have always understood the words of Pauli Murray – that “Hope is a song in a weary throat.”

It’s thanks to Black women that we’ve come a long way since the days when a girl like Ruby Bridges couldn’t go to school. When a woman like Amelia couldn’t cast her vote. When we didn’t have a Congressional Black Caucus – and its 20 women members.

So I’m focusing on women tonight because I want them to know how much we appreciate them, how much we admire them, how much we love them. And I want to talk about what more we have to do to provide full opportunity and equality for our Black women and girls in America today. Because all of us are beneficiaries of a long line of strong Black women who helped carry this country forward.

Their work to expand civil rights opened the doors of opportunity, not just for African-Americans but for all women, for all of us – Black and White, Latino and Asian, LGBT and straight, for our First Americans and our newest Americans. And their contributions in every field – as scientists and entrepreneurs, educators, explorers – all made us stronger. Of course, they’re also a majority of my household. So I care deeply about how they’re doing.

The good news is, despite structural barriers of race and gender, women and girls of color have made real progress in recent years. The number of Black women-owned businesses has skyrocketed. Black women have ascended the ranks of every industry. Teen pregnancy rates among girls of color are down, while high school and four-year college graduation rates are up. That’s good news.

Persistent challenges But there’s no denying that Black women and girls still face real and persistent challenges.

The unemployment rate is over 8 percent for Black women. And they’re overrepresented in lowpaying jobs; underrepresented in management.

They often lack access to economic necessities like paid leave and quality, affordable childcare.

They often don’t get the same quality health care that they need, and have higher rates of certain chronic diseases – although that’s starting to change with Obamacare. (It’s working, by the way, people. Just in case you needed to know.)

And then there are some of the challenges that are harder to see and harder to talk about – although Michelle, our outstanding, beautiful First Lady talks about these struggles. Michelle will tell stories about when she was younger, people telling her she shouldn’t aspire to go to the very best universities. And she found herself thinking sometimes, “Well, maybe they’re right.”

Even after she earned two degrees from some of the best universities in America, she still faced the doubts that were rooted in deep social prejudice and stereotypes, worrying whether she was being too assertive, or too angry, or too tall. (I like tall women.) And those stereotypes and social pressures, they still affect our girls.

So we all have to be louder than the voices that are telling our girls they’re not good enough – that they’ve got to look a certain way, or they’ve got to act a certain way, or set their goals at a certain level. We’ve got to affirm their sense of self-worth, and make them feel visible and beautiful, and understood and loved. And I say this as a father who strives to do this at home, but I also say this as a citizen.

This is not just about my family or yours; it’s about who we are as a people, who we want to be, and how we can make sure that America is fulfilling its promise – because everybody is getting a chance, and everybody is told they’re important, and everybody is given opportunity.

And we got to do more than just say we care, or say we put a woman on ten-dollar bill, although that’s a good idea. We’ve got to make sure they’re getting some ten-dollar bills; that they’re getting paid properly. We’ve got to let our actions do the talking.

It is an affront to the very idea of America when certain segments of our population don’t have access to the same opportunities as everybody else. It makes a mockery of our economy when Black women make 30 fewer cents for every dollar a White man earns.

That adds up to thousands of dollars in missed income that determines whether a family can pay for a home, or pay for college for their kids, or save for retirement, or give their kids a better life.

And that’s not just a woman’s issue, that’s everybody’s issue. I want Michelle getting paid at some point. We’ve got an outstanding former secretary of state here who is also former first lady, and I know she can relate to Michelle when she says, how come you get paid and I don’t? How did that work?

When women of color aren’t given the opportunity to live up to their God-given potential, we all lose out on their talents; we’re not as good a country as we can be. We might miss out on the next Mae Jemison or Ursula Burns or Serena Williams or Michelle Obama. We want everybody to be on the field. We can’t afford to leave some folks off the field.

Close the gap So we’re going to have to close those economic gaps so that hardworking women of all races, and Black women in particular can support families, and strengthen communities, and contribute to our country’s success. So that’s why my administration is investing in job training and apprenticeships, to help everybody, but particularly help more women earn better-paying jobs, and particularly in non-traditional careers.

It’s why we’re investing in getting more girls, and particularly girls of color interested in STEM fields – math and science and engineering – and help more of them stay on track in school.

It’s why we’re going to continue to fight to eliminate the pay gap.

Equal pay for equal work. It’s an all-American idea. It’s very simple. And that’s why we’re going to keep working to raise the minimum wage – because women disproportionately are the ones who are not getting paid what they’re worth. That’s why we’re fighting to expand tax credits that help working parents make ends meet, closing tax loopholes for folks who don’t need tax loopholes to pay for.

It’s why we’re expanding paid leave to employees of federal contractors. And that’s why Congress needs to expand paid leave for more hardworking Americans.

It’s good for our economy. It’s the right thing to do. No family should have to choose between taking care of a sick child or losing their job.

And just as an aside, what’s not the right thing to do, what makes no sense at all, is Congress threatening to shut down the entire federal government if they can’t shut down women’s access to Planned Parenthood.

Congress should be working on investing things that grow our economy and expand opportunity, and not get distracted and inflict the kind of self-inflicted wounds that we’ve seen before on our economy. So that’s some of the things we need to do to help improve the economic standing of all women; to help all families feel more secure in a changing economy.

No mass incarceration And before I go tonight, I also want to say something about a topic that’s been on my mind for a while, another profound barrier to opportunity in too many communities – and that is our criminal justice system.

I spoke about this at length earlier this year at the NAACP, and I explained the long history of inequity in our criminal justice system. We all know the statistics.

And this summer, because I wanted to highlight that there were human beings behind these statistics, I visited a prison in Oklahoma – the first president to ever visit a federal prison. And I sat down with the inmates, and I listened to their stories.

And one of the things that struck me was the crushing burden their incarceration has placed not just on their prospects for the

DAVID FITZSIMMONS, THE ARIZONA STAR

future, but also for their families, the women in their lives, children being raised without a father in the home; the crushing regret these men felt over the children that they left behind.

Destroys communities Mass incarceration rips apart families. It hollows out neighborhoods. It perpetuates poverty. We understand that in many of our communities, they’re under-policed. The problem is not that we don’t want active, effective police work. We want, and admire, and appreciate law enforcement. We want them in our communities.

Crime hurts the African-American community more than anybody. But we want to make sure that it’s done well and it’s done right, and it’s done fairly and it’s done smart.

And that’s why, in the coming months, I’m going to be working with many in Congress and many in the CBC to try to make progress on reform legislation that addresses unjust sentencing laws, and encourages diversion and prevention programs, catches our young people early and tries to put them on a better path, and then helps ex-offenders, after they’ve done their time, get on the right track.

It’s the right thing to do for America.

And although in these discussions a lot of my focus has been on African-American men and the work we’re doing with My Brother’s Keeper, we can’t forget the impact that the system has on women, as well. The incarceration rate for Black women is twice as high as the rate for White women.

Women victimized Many women in prison, you come to discover, have been victims of homelessness and domestic violence, and in some cases human trafficking. They’ve got high rates of mental illness and substance abuse.

And many have been sexually assaulted, both before they got to prison and then after they go to prison.

And we don’t often talk about how society treats Black women and girls before they end up in prison. They’re suspended at higher rates than White boys and all other girls. And while boys face the school-to-prison pipeline, a lot of girls are facing a more sinister sexual abuse-to-prison pipeline.

Victims of early sexual abuse are more likely to fail in school, which can lead to sexual exploitation, which can lead to prison. So we’re focusing on boys, but we’re also investing in ways to change the odds for at-risk girls – to make sure that they are loved and valued, to give them a chance.

And that’s why we have to make a collective effort to address violence and abuse against women in all of our communities. In every community, on every campus, we’ve got to be very clear: Women who have been victims of rape or domestic abuse, who need help, should know that they can count on society and on law enforcement to treat them with love and care and sensitivity, and not skepticism.

Difficult job I want to repeat – because somehow this never shows up on Fox News. I want to repeat – because I’ve said it a lot, unwaveringly, all the time: Our law enforcement officers do outstanding work in an incredibly difficult and dangerous job. They put their lives on the line for our safety. We appreciate them and we love them.

That’s why my task force on 21st century policing made a set of recommendations that I want to see implemented to improve their safety, as well as to make sure that our criminal justice system is being applied fairly. Officers show

uncommon bravery in our communities every single day. They deserve our respect.

That includes women in law enforcement. We need more of you, by the way. We’ve got an outstanding chief law enforcement officer in our Attorney General, Loretta Lynch. We want all our young ladies to see what a great role model she is.

So I just want to repeat, because somehow this never gets on the TV: There is no contradiction between us caring about our law enforcement officers and also making sure that our laws are applied fairly. Do not make this as an either/or proposition. This is a both/and proposition.

We want to protect our police officers. We’ll do a better job doing it if our communities can feel confident that they are being treated fairly. I hope I’m making that clear.

We need to make sure the laws are applied evenly. This is not a new problem. It’s just that in recent months, in recent years, suddenly folks have videos and body cameras, and social media, and so it’s opened our eyes to these incidents. And many of these incidents are subject to ongoing investigation, so I can’t comment on every specific one.

Don’t ignore it But we can’t avoid these tough conversations altogether. That’s not going to help our police officers – the vast majority who do the right thing every day – by just pretending that these things aren’t happening. That’s not going to help build trust between them and the communities in which they serve.

So these are hard issues, but I’m confident we’re going to move forward together for a system that is fairer and more just. We’ve got good people on both sides of the aisle that are working with law enforcement and local communities to find a better way forward.

And as always, change will not happen overnight. It won’t be easy. But if our history has taught us anything, it’s taught us that when we come together, when we’re working with a sense of purpose, when we are listening to one another, when we assume the best in each other rather than the worst, then change happens.

Like every parent, I can’t help to see the world increasingly through my daughters’ eyes. And on that day, when we were celebrating that incredible march in Selma, I had Ms. Amelia’s hand in one of my hands, but Michelle had Sasha’s hand, and my mother-inlaw had Malia’s hand – and it was a chain across generations.

And I thought about all those women who came before us, who risked everything for life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, so often without notice, so often without fanfare. Their names never made the history books.

All those women who cleaned somebody else’s house, or looked after somebody else’s children, did somebody else’s laundry, and then got home and did it again, and then went to church and cooked – and then they were marching.

Crossing the bridge And because of them, Michelle could cross that bridge. And because of them, they brought them along, and Malia and Sasha can cross that bridge. And that tells me that if we follow their example, we’re going to cross more bridges in the future.

If we keep moving forward, hand in hand, God willing, my daughters’ children will be able to cross that bridge in an America that’s more free, and more just, and more prosperous than the one that we inherited. Your children will, too.

Thank you CBC. God bless you.

God bless this country we love.

TOJ A6

NATION

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015 between a truly integrated city — where people of different racial groups live and work together — and a city with a large, diverse minority population, researchers say. A diverse place has sizable proportions of different racial and ethnic groups, but they don’t necessarily live and work together or have equal access to opportunities.

Laxed enforcement

COURTESY OF HBO

Billie Rowan, played by Dominique Fishback, waits for her name to be called in the housing lottery in HBO’s miniseries “Show Me a Hero.’’

New pressure for cities to end segregation in housing HUD to apply stricter guidelines to ensure more fairness for Blacks

BY TERESA WILTZ STATELINE.ORG

WASHINGTON — “Show Me a Hero,” a new HBO miniseries, takes us back to the late 1980s, when the city of Yonkers, N.Y., was under a federal order to desegregate — or face massive fines. The show tracks the story of the city riven by race. There are riots. There are pipe bombs.

There are death threats.

Nearly 30 years later, many U.S. cities remain deeply segregated despite federal and state government efforts, say sociologists who have researched housing patterns. And now, municipalities face more pressure from the federal government to step up their efforts to break down segregation, which, social scientists say, affects African-Americans more than any other racial or ethnic group.

In July, the U.S. Department

of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced strict new requirements that local governments assess fair housing in their communities, publicly report details of segregation and pockets of poverty, and provide detailed plans on what they are going to do about it. If they fail to comply, local governments risk losing millions of dollars in HUD funding for community development.

Still exists The rules, said Douglas Massey, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, will hold local governments more accountable for concentrations of segregated living — even for middle-class African-American concentrations.

“If you look at a Black, middleclass neighborhood, it doesn’t have the same level of income, services or quality of education that a White person of the same income would enjoy,” said Massey, co-author of the 1993

book, “American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass.” “And the barriers to entry in more affluent White sectors remain quite high.”

The new rules arrive at a time when some social scientists say segregation has only intensified — even as the country becomes less White. Complicating things, some of the country’s most diverse cities — municipalities with large non-White populations — are among the most segregated.

Chicago, Baltimore, Milwaukee and St. Louis are classic examples of this. And cities with the smallest non-White populations, such as Lincoln, Neb.; Anchorage, Alaska; and Irvine, Calif., appear integrated because their very few residents of color are scattered rather than clustered.

Wealth gap Segregation is complex and pervasive. Despite significant gains by middle-class Blacks since the 1970s, segregation continues to hurt them in a variety of

ways, sociologists say, affecting everything from home values to health to access to quality public schools. Separate does not mean equal.

According to John Logan, a sociology professor at Brown University, the average upper-middle-class Black family lives in a much poorer neighborhood than the average working-class White family. White families making less than $40,000 live in wealthier neighborhoods than Black and Latino families earning almost twice as much, Logan’s research finds.

Although many African-Americans and Latinos are moving to the suburbs, Logan said these groups are often denied access to largely White neighborhoods, which have not changed much since 1980.

Generational problem The vast majority of AfricanAmerican families in poor neighborhoods have lived in similarly poor neighborhoods for at least two generations, though they might have moved from one place to another, said Kalima Rose, a senior director at PolicyLink, which advocates for fair public infrastructure. The same is only true for about half of white families living in poor neighborhoods, Rose said.

There’s also a big difference

The federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 not only outlawed discrimination in the sale and rental markets, but ordered government to “affirmatively further fair housing.”

But from the start, federal enforcement has been lax, housing advocates such as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund allege. Since 1974, HUD has given cities and states $137 billion in grants to fight discrimination, but rarely has withheld funding from localities that violate the law.

And in some instances, HUD itself has been accused of housing discrimination. In 1995, the Legal Defense Fund sued HUD, alleging that the agency had created and perpetuated racial segregation in Baltimore’s public housing. The case was settled in 2012.

Local governments have often flouted or fought fair housing efforts. And civil rights groups have often resorted to suing HUD in an attempt to get it to enforce the law.

Costly challenge The new HUD rules aim to set criteria that must be met by recipients of federal housing grants. What isn’t clear is how the agency will define segregated areas and what metrics it will use to assess a community’s efforts to make progress toward eliminating them.

The new rules are going to be a costly challenge for many cities. Although the nation’s big city mayors support fair housing, some of what will be required will depend on housing in the private sector and beyond their control, said an official who works closely with the mayors.

“We’re just going to have to see how difficult this is,” said the official, who didn’t want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

HUD officials are, however, clear in their intent: Jurisdictions must closely track housing disparities in their communities and identify barriers to integration and resulting barriers to opportunity in education and employment.

1 in 4 female college undergrads have been victims of sexual misconduct

BY TERESA WATANABE LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

More than one in four female undergraduate students reported they were victimized by nonconsensual sexual contact in a national survey of 27 universities released Monday.

But the survey for the Association of American Universities, one of the most comprehensive ever conducted on college sexual misconduct, found wide variation in the cases depending on campus, gender, age and type of offense.

Among undergraduate females, for instance, between 13 percent and 30 percent had been victimized by the most serious types of misconduct – sexual penetration or touching involving force, threats of force or incapacitation by alcohol or drugs across the campuses surveyed.

The risk was highest for freshman women, whose rate was 16.9 percent, compared with 11.1 percent for seniors in 2014-15.

But over the course of their college life, 26.1 percent of senior females reported being victimized.

150,000 surveyed The online survey of 150,000 students also found low rates of reporting sexual misconduct and a mixed response over whether respondents believed their university would conduct a fair investigation. But the vast majority of those who actually reported their cases gave high marks to officials for showing them respect and helping them understand their options.

The survey was aimed at helping campuses address the problem of sexual misconduct, according to Hunter Rawlings, the association’s president.

“The leaders of our universities are deeply concerned about the impact of these issues on

Andrea Pino, left, and Annie Clark were among five women who filed a complaint against the University of North CarolinaChapel Hill over its handling and reporting of sexual assaults. They also helped launch two websites to help other students file complaints.

They are shown on the campus of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, on Aug. 15, 2013.

their students,” Rawlings said in a statement. “Their participation in this and other climate surveys is an important part of their efforts to combat sexual assault.”

Conducted in April Many universities have moved to improve their response to campus sexual misconduct since the federal government began cracking down in 2011 with a record number of policy directives, fines and more than 100 investigations. Rawlings said the data can also be used to assist policymakers in crafting additional responses.

Estimates of the problem have varied widely. One frequently cited study of two large public universities found a rate of nearly 20 percent among female college seniors. The University of California’s 2014 survey of 104,000 students, faculty and staff members, however, asked its questions differently and found only 6 percent of undergraduates had experienced “unwanted sexual contact.”

The university association released only the aggregate results of the survey, which was conducted by the Westat research firm in April. Each of the campus participants, which included USC and Caltech in California, was expected to release its own findings separately. Other participants included Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Purdue and the University of Arizona.

Physical force used In a unique design, the survey asked students whether the nonconsensual sexual contact occurred by force, incapacitation, non-physical coercion or the absence of “affirmative consent,” an emerging standard that requires both partners to explicitly agree to the encounter. Physical force

JONATHAN ALCORN/TNS

was the most prevalent tactic and coercion the least.

Overall, 28 percent of female undergraduates reported they were victimized by any of the four tactics.

About 23 percent of female undergraduates and 11.7 percent of all students surveyed reported the most serious – physical force and incapacitation – had been used against them. The relatively low response rate of 19.3 percent could have produced a slight upward bias in the results, researchers said.

David Cantor, one of the lead survey investigators and a University of Maryland research professor, said one of the most striking findings was the wide disparity in campus experiences with sexual misconduct.

“This sends a very strong message that each institution fac-

es really unique circumstances and challenges when trying to change campus climates and prevent and respond to sexual assault and misconduct,” he said.

Other findings Rates of assault were highest among students who identified as transgender, genderqueer (a term the survey uses but does not define), non-conforming, questioning or a category not listed on the survey.

Rates of reporting ranged between 5 percent and 28 percent, depending on the behavior. More than half of those surveyed said they did not believe it was serious enough, while others said they were too embarrassed or ashamed, among other reasons.

Six of 10 female undergraduates said they had been sexually harassed. Gays and lesbians re-

ported harassment rates of 60.4 percent compared with 45.9 percent of heterosexuals.

The rate of nonconsensual sexual contact at private universities was 25.3 percent, compared with 22.8 percent for public universities. But researchers did not find a clear explanation for the disparity in campus results.

Most students did nothing while witnessing a drunk person headed for a sexual encounter or cases of sexual violence or harassment.

Nearly nine of 10 students who reported misconduct said the respect shown to them by investigating officials was excellent or good.

Only about a quarter of students surveyed said they were very or extremely knowledgeable about where to get help for sexual assault or misconduct.

HEALTH FOOD || HEALTH TRAVEL | |MONEY SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS LIFE | FAITH | EVENTS | CLASSIFIEDS | ENTERTAINMENT | SPORTS | FOOD COURIER

IFE/FAITH

Leymah Gbowee speaks at Florida college See page B2

SEPT. 25 – OCT. 1, 2015

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

Review of new show starring Chestnut See page B5

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SECTION

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COURTESY OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

The 1,671-seat theater (pictured above) is the first freestanding permanent structure ever built for Cirque du Soleil where La Nouba is exclusively performed at Downtown Disney.

THE SOUL OF SELLOANE The South African songstress is the vocal star of the Cirque Du Soleil show ‘La Nouba.’

BY PENNY DICKERSON FLORIDA COURIER

A

ttending the circus is a familiar part of American culture and arguably a childhood must. But a new trend under the big top exists with the innovation of Cirque Du Soleil’s “La Nouba” at Walt Disney World Resort.

The extraordinary, Quebecbased experience defies tradition and will mesmerize every generation with sunbursts of colorful imagination and a multicultural cast including its star vocalist who hails from Welkom, South Africa. Namely, she is, Selloane Nkhela, known internationally simply as Selloane.

For 10 shows per week exclusively at the Downtown Disney theater, Selloane can be heard as a lyrical offering of breathtaking arias whose voice literally bridges anticipation with applause for La Nouba’s high wire and flying trapeze performances during the one and a half-hour show comprised of 65 international artists.

Dangerous acts The latter may sound unorthodox for a circus, but integrating vocals and live acoustic music as a complementary layer to dangerous acts that usually encourage audience silence is all a part of what makes La Nouba “memorable, individual and universal.”

“It used to be very difficult for me because I come from a very different world, the theater world where everything is almost the same every day,” Selloane told the Florida Courier during a pre-show interview on Sept. 18.

“It’s very rare when someone would fall and actually hurt themselves, but here it happens a lot. Someone misses a cue or net or they fly all the

way over there. If you’re singing and someone misses a net, your voice takes you there with them. I used to just shut down.

Now I am able to incorporate riff, but it’s really a scream,’’ she quipped.

Singing since age 3 Selloane’s ability to improvise and adapt is embedded in artistic experience that emerged at the age of three when she began singing in church.

The soulful songstress was gifted with gospel chops that almost immediately led to accolades and acclaim and while she is petite in stature, her artistic reputation on African soil is anything, but small.

She was previously awarded the best soloist of the year at South Africa’s “Shell Road to Fame,” which catapulted her to recording artist success through a contract with Gallo Music Group South Africa.

On the Gallo label, she released “Thel’u Moya,” a gospel CD that remains one of the country’s most popular and lauded recordings. Industry giant Sony Music also recognized the vocal greatness of Selloane and invited her to record as a guest artist on the CD’s “Joyous Celebration Volumes 2 and 8.

‘The Lion King’ The breadth of Selloane’s burgeoning achievements have advanced her performing arts life to reach over 15 countries, but the hallmark of her American presence began with the magic of Disney when she was cast in the Los Angeles production of “The Lion King.”

She later joined the national tour and performed in Toronto, London, as well as U.S. tours where she played the roles of Cheetah and Gazelle.

All of the aforementioned cul-

COURTESY OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

La Nouba has performed over 7,200 shows since 1998 and more than 9 million guests have been entertained all the way to its final bow. daughter is also a part of the La Nouba Family. “I do yoga for fun, but come in, put on make up, warm up and do the show.

My daughter was married in May so some of us went down for her wedding and that was awesome,” she added.

South Africa’s pride

PENNY DICKERSON/FLORIDA COURIER

Selloane has been La Nouba’s lead since 2013. The South African talent came stateside to perform in “The Lion King” and continues to wow audiences. minated into the Broadway leading role of “Rafiki.”

Demanding show In 2013, Selloane was cast as the sole, female vocalist outfitted in white who is perched high above the rafters most of the show where she enjoys an aerial view.

The “fairy tale” focused

show’s title originates from the French phrase “faire la Nouba,” which means to party, to live it up, but for most cast members that partying is dedicated to their stage life – with a few exceptions.

“The show is demanding, but I don’t have to be here as much as the others,” said Selloane, whose 19-year-old

La Nouba is further described as an “encounter born in fear and ecstasy where two types of families or groups take a theatrical ride amidst magic and fantasy where the colorful Cirques (circus people) clash with the monochromatic world of the Urbains (urbanites).”

For Selloane, it is a befitting pinnacle for a stateside performing arts career that may have begun in South Africa but has since afforded her opportunities to appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,’’ the “Today’’ show, “The View’’ and the 2008 Tony Awards along with serving as a featured artist at the 2008 Lunas Awards in Mexico City.

Her angelic voice and presence have given color to the White House for President and Mrs. Bush along with honoring Ghana’s President John Kufuor and Mrs. Theresa Kufuor. All of her achievements are befitting a woman whose roots are South African strong and vocal talent that personifies what happens when dreams come true.

B2

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Tampa: The B.E.S.T. program will celebrate its 11th year with a “Diamonds in the Rough” gala on Oct. 17 at the Centre Club, 123 South Westshore Blvd. The program is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Candace McCowan, WFLA reporter, will be the guest emcee. Tickets: www.brainexpansions.org.

Fort Lauderdale: On Oct. 3, Haitian born author Jethro Francois will share his story at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center is at 2650 Sistrunk Blvd. The program is at 3 p.m. More information: www.broward.org/ library.

Jacksonville: Catch Mary J. Blige at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on Nov. 6, the CFE Arena in Orlando on Nov. 7 or the University of South Florida Sun Dome on Nov. 8.

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

Tampa: The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists’ annual Griot Drum Awards & Scholar-

CALENDAR ship Banquet is Nov. 12 at the Tampa Marriott Westshore. More information: www.tbabj.com.

Miami: Shaquille O’Neal will host Barry University’s 75th Anniversary Birthday Bash on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. Soho Studios, 2136 N.W. First Ave. Wyclef Jean will perform. Tickets: Call 305-8991156. Sponsorships: partnerships@barry.edu.

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

STOJ

BLACKSTREET

Catch the group during the first 95.7 Beats By The Bay music festival on Oct. 24 at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg.

The lineup includes Tyrese, Blackstreet, 112, Whodini and Rob Base.

Sarasota: The West Coast Black Theatre Troupe will present “The Color Purple’’ Oct. 14-Nov. 21.

More information http://westcoastblacktheatre.org.

Orlando: The Opal Network Alliance’s South Florida Women’s Summit is Oct. 28-29 at the at the Bonaventure Resort & Spa in Weston. More information: www.onatoday.com.

ISRAEL HOUGHTON

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

Tampa: Candy Lowe hosts Tea & Conversation every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at 3911 N. 34th St., Suite B. More information: 813-394-6363.

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

NEPHEW TOMMY

The Festival of Praise Tour featuring Kim Burrell, Fred Hammond, Israel Houghton, Donny McClurkin and Hezekiah Walker will make a stop at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville on Oct. 11.

Other stops are in Fort Myers, Lakeland, Jacksonville and Pompano Beach. More details: www. festivalofpraisetour.com.

The comedian and actor’s “I Got People Inside My Head Tour’’ makes an Oct. 2 stop at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando.

High school seniors can now apply for Cooke Foundation scholarship

years for tuition, living expenses, books, and other fees. Cooke scholarships are available to highachieving high school seniors with financial need who seek to attend the nation’s best four-year colleges and universities.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is inviting applications for its college scholarship program, the largest undergraduate scholarship in the country.

Students selected as Cooke Scholars will be awarded as much as $40,000 each year for four

Global opportunities The program also connects students to opportunities they might not otherwise have, such as internships, studying abroad, and funding of up to $50,000 per year for

graduate study.

Recipients will be chosen based on academic ability and achievement, unmet financial need, persistence, desire to help others, and leadership. Applications require students to provide their academic transcripts, standardized test scores, teacher recommendations, self-assessments, and essays.

The application period will close on Nov. 3.

For more information, visit http://www.jkcf.org/ scholarships/college-scholarship-program/.

SAMUEL JOHNSON/SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee speaks at Eckerd College on Sept.

17 as part of the school’s Presidential Events Series.

Liberian peace activist shares thoughts on women’s movement during lecture at Florida college

BY SAMUEL JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee is engaging as she urges for community outreach. On Sept. 17 at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, the Liberian winner of the Nobel Peace Prize spoke to students, staff and residents about the global women’s peace movement. Her demeanor – calm, erudite and deliberate – belies her deep passion.

Gbowee is a world-renowned peace activist. She regularly travels the globe conferring with diplomats and politicians about women’s rights and peace initiatives. Gbowee was instrumental in bringing and end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003.

In her memoir, “Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer and Sex Changed a Nation at War,’’ she describes, among many things, her personal struggles as an African woman. She also chronicles the challenges of forming a peace coalition of Liberian woman, both Muslim and Christian. This coalition was to stand up to the warlords of her country. For her efforts, she later won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 with two other women.

A mother’s insight Gbowee is adamant that

curbing urban plight, like drugs and guns violence, can only be accomplished by utilizing the social resources of women and mothers within that community. Gbowee says that any mother could point out the ringleaders.

Unfortunately, she reflects, “The socio-political space is not conducive or is not prepared well enough for their engagement.”

There are old, deep-rooted stereotypes, which view women as the ‘weaker vessel.’ This is what prevents the input of women at the national and community level, she said.

Gbowee further explains the need for enriched socio-political involvement of women as she compares statecraft to motherhood: “Imagine your parents’ house as the nation, you and your siblings as... (citizens).... Though your father is the president of that nation, your mother is the community organizer – is the leader.” The mother is, thusly, the one who has a finger on the pulse of the nation just like at home when the mother is acutely aware of things like her daughter’s sexual activity or her son’s drug use.’’

Burden and blessing She sees the notoriety as a female African Nobel Laureate more as a challenge and an obligation.

To her, the honor bestowed

upon her is also a moral burden. She is compelled to be the voice to those unheard when conditions are “not right.”

Often people come to her with situations of injustice of which she admittedly, has “no clue about.’’

This sometimes ratchets up the pressure and causes her to experience sleepless nights. Moreover, when Gbowee is in North America or Europe she is keenly aware that she is the representative of millions of Africans and African women.

All of the anxiety is offset by the good feeling Gbowee gets when she receives awards from people and groups in Africa. These people, she says, know that she is doing her “tiny best” for Africa.

Separating one’s own ego from the task at hand can be daunting, she admits. Shortly after winning the Nobel Peace Prize she spoke with fellow Noble Laureate Desmond Tutu about that conflict. Gbowee recalls that Tutu told her generosity of spirit makes men great and when it’s always about the other it makes men even greater.

This principle she continues to use to help her focus on helping others.

Samuel Johnson, a Tampa Bay-based journalist, wrote this story for the Florida Courier.

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CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES

STOJ

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

HEALTH

American kids prefer apples over other fruit Appeal crosses all racial and ethnic lines, survey shows

BY KAREN KAPLAN LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Skip the acai berries and pass on the pomegranate juice. When it comes to fruit, American kids prefer apples — by a long shot.

On any given day, apples account for 29 percent of the fruit consumed

by U.S. children and teens, according to a study published Monday by the journal Pediatrics. About twothirds of that is eaten as whole apples, and onethird is sipped as 100 percent apple juice.

Kids of all ages rely on apples to fulfill govern-

ment recommendations to consume up to two cups of fruit per day. Toddlers between the ages of 2 and 5 get 15 percent of their daily fruit from apples and 17 percent from juice. Children between the ages of 6 and 11 count on apples for 22 percent of their total fruit intake and apple juice for an additional 9 percent.

Adolescents in the 12-19 age group get 19 percent of their fruit in the form of apples and 7 percent from apple juice.

3,129 surveyed The appeal of apples is apparent across all racial and ethnic groups, consistently taking the top spot among all types of fruit, according to the study. Latino kids get 21.2 percent of their daily fruit from apples, as do 19.2 percent of

Latino kids get 21.2 percent of their daily fruit from apples, as do 19.2 percent of Asian-American kids, 18.5 percent of White kids and 17.2 percent of African-American kids.

Asian-American kids, 18.5 percent of White kids and 17.2 percent of AfricanAmerican kids. Apple juice adds an additional 9.8 percent, 7.7 percent, 10.4 percent and 10.5 percent to

those figures, respectively.

The information on apples came from interviews with 3,129 youth (and, depending on their ages, their parents or guardians) who participated in the

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2011 and 2012, the kids were asked to recall everything they ate and drank in the previous 24 hours.

The authors of the Pediatrics study, from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, found that just 12 items accounted for 86.4 percent of all fruit consumed by American kids. In addition to the 18.9 percent contribution from whole apples and 10.3 percent from apple juice, the other items were citrus juice (14.3 percent), other fruit juice (9 percent), bananas (6.8 percent), melons (6 percent), citrus (4.6 percent), berries (4.3 percent), peaches and nectarines (3.5 percent), grapes (2.8 percent) and dried fruits (0.6 percent).

Other fruits and mixtures of fruit in the form of fruit salad added up to 5.5 percent of total fruit consumption.

Whole fruit Altogether, the kids who participated in the survey consumed an average of

B3 1.25 “cup equivalents” of fruit on a typical day. Of that, 0.6 cup was eaten as whole fruit, 0.38 cup was drunk as 100 percent fruit juice and 0.15 cup came from the fruit component of mixed dishes, such as fruit smoothies.

Whole fruit is the most nutritious type of fruit, since it contains fiber along with vitamins and minerals while adding no extra sugars or fat. Whole fruit made up 57 percent of the total fruit consumed by children between the ages of 6 and 11, compared with 52 percent for adolescents ages 12 to 19 and 49 percent for toddlers ages 2 to 5.

The researchers also found differences according to race and ethnicity.

With all ages grouped together, Asian-Americans got 60 percent of their total fruit in the form of whole fruit, while the corresponding figure for African-Americans was 43 percent. Latino and White children were in the middle, with whole fruit accounting for 55 percent of their total fruit consumption.

New Alzheimer trial to use epilepsy drug that calms brain activity

BY SCOTT DANCE BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

EMILY MILLER/SUN SENTINEL/TNS

Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Toppel Family Place now serves as a breast milk depot for interested donors who qualify, on Sept. 1. One ounce of donated breast milk can provide 10 feedings for premature and critically ill babies.

Breast milk depot helps premature, critically ill babies

BY EMILY MILLER SUN SENTINEL/TNS

BOCA RATON — A hospital here has joined a movement in Florida and elsewhere to become a breast milk depot that has teamed up with Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida to help provide premature and critically ill babies the nutrition they need.

Boca Raton Regional Hospital now serves as a depot for interested donors who qualify. The milk dropped off at the hospital will be sent to Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida in Orlando to be distributed across the state.

“It’s really a gift to these babies who are born atrisk,” said Karen Kesler, founder of Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida. “You want to give them the best care possible. and that’s donor milk.”

The depot in Boca is one of nine in the state and one of three in South Florida, Kesler said.

Delray Beach resident Kacy Sallusto was a driving force behind the opening of the milk depot at Boca Regional Hospital, said

Karen Edlington, director of Women’s and Children’s Services at the hospital.

When Sallusto, 29, gave birth last November to twin girls nearly 10 weeks early, she insisted they receive only human milk during their six-week stay in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.

‘The very best start’ As is the case with many moms who give birth prematurely, Sallusto was not immediately able to produce milk for her babies.

“I said if you have to feed them before my milk comes in, then we’ll order donor milk,” she said.

At the time, the hospital did not have a policy to provide donor milk, so doctors made special arrangements to have human milk delivered from a milk bank in Texas at Sallusto’s expense, Edlington said.

“It never seemed right that we couldn’t offer that to all of our babies, and there were going to be some parents who maybe couldn’t afford to do that,” she said.

In August — roughly

nine months after Sallusto gave birth — the hospital opened as a milk depot, collecting donated breast milk for babies in need.

“These babies deserve to get the very best start, and we can be a part of doing that,” Edlington said.

Donors looking to drop off milk at the depot must be registered through Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida, Edlington said. Milk collected at the hospital is delivered to the milk bank in Orlando, where it’s tested and pasteurized before being distributed to neonatal intensive care units.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says, “if a mother’s milk is not available, then human donor milk is the next best thing,” Edlington said. “There’s a lot of evidence behind it.”

Health benefits Human milk improves health outcomes overall of premature infants and decreases the rate of necrotizing enterocolitis, a gastrointestinal disease that causes destruction of the bowel, Edlington said.

“It can decrease infection, it can decrease length of stay (at the hospital),” she said. “It’s tolerated better by a preemie (than commercial formula).”

Donor milk also helps babies with feeding intolerance, intestinal injuries and other life-threatening conditions.

As with medicine, par-

ents must provide consent before a baby can receive donated milk, Edlington said.

“We’ve had nobody really that hasn’t wanted to do this for their baby,” Edlington said. “At first people think, ‘Would somebody really want to use somebody else’s breast milk?’ But overwhelmingly, we’ve had such a positive response that we’re doing that.”

Best candidates The milk bank in Orlando follows guidelines set by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.

Healthy, lactating moms with a baby younger than 12 months can become a donor, Kesler said. The best candidates are new moms who produce more milk than their babies can drink.

Potential donors are screened for health issues at the milk bank’s expense.

Once approved, a donor expresses and stores her milk, and drops it off at the nearest depot within six months.

Within a week of the depot opening in Boca, at least three moms reached out to the milk bank to become donors. Julie Haggerty was one of them.

“I’m just lucky enough to produce a lot of milk at a time,” she said. “I think it’s a gift I can give to others.”

What could be one of the first treatments to delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease received a big boost from the National Institute on Aging, which is putting up $7.5 million to help fund the next round of trials for the drug being developed by a Baltimore start-up and the Johns Hopkins University.

The clinical trial will evaluate a drug used to treat epilepsy that has shown signs in smaller doses of calming brain hyperactivity linked to dementia.

“What this could mean for thousands of patients is they may never cross over into full-blown Alzheimer’s dementia,” said Jerry McLaughlin, CEO of AgeneBio, the Baltimore company founded by a Hopkins researcher who discovered that the drug might be useful in treating Alzheimer’s. “We’re very excited.”

Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disease that often begins with memory loss but accelerates over time, causing sufferers to lose other body functions and eventually killing them. The disease accounts for most cases of dementia, a general term for a loss in brain function.

Phase 3 trial While some treatments are available for Alzheimer’s symptoms, such as memory loss or changes in behavioral or sleep patterns, the once-a-day pill that researchers will test is among a small number looking to address the brain disease itself.

The institute’s money, which was awarded to Johns Hopkins, will be put toward the drug’s socalled Phase 3 trial over the next five years, covering about a tenth of the project’s cost, according to AgeneBio. Phase 3 trials test the effectiveness and safety of a drug or its application across a pool of a few thousand people. If such trials are successful, approval by the Food and Drug Administration is typically the next step.

For AgeneBio, the trial, which could start as soon as early 2016, could be a big step toward FDA approval and sale of the drug, McLaughlin said.

The researchers expect results in 2019, which could mean they file for FDA approval that year or in 2020.

Drug is AGB101 With the partnership with Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging — a division of the National Institutes of Health — AgeneBio joins the likes of Eli Lilly, Genentech and Novartis, which are also working with the NIH on treatments to prevent or cure Alzheimer’s.

The drug, known as AGB101, is composed of a proprietary low-dose formulation of levetiracetam, an FDA-approved treatment for epilepsy. In the Alzheimer’s trial, subjects will receive one-fifth to one-12th the amount of levetiracetam prescribed to patients with epilepsy.

Michela Gallagher, the Krieger-Eisenhower professor of psychological and brain sciences at Hopkins and director of the university’s Neurogenetics and Behavior Center, conducted the research that suggested the drug could be applied to Alzheimer’s.

Two decades ago, it was thought that brain overactivity observed in patients with dementia was the brain overcompensating for whatever was causing Alzheimer’s. But Gallagher and colleagues’ work showed that hyperactivity in the brain was instead causing it to atrophy.

“If you brought overactivity down and it was serving a beneficial function, you would expect their memory performance would get worse, but it didn’t,” Gallagher said of tests on animal subjects.

‘Atypical’ drug In rat trials, Gallagher tested various treatments to calm the brain activity.

While most other epilepsy drugs didn’t work, levetiracetam was effective.

The drug is considered an “atypical” anti-epileptic because it doesn’t dull broader central nervous system activity.

Those findings became the basis of AgeneBio, which Gallagher founded in 2008. While it was briefly based in Indiana, the company moved to Baltimore last year and now has offices at the Johns Hopkins at Eastern campus in Waverly.

An earlier study of the drug, published this year, found that low doses calmed the overactivity in the brain and improved memory performance in subjects who were experiencing memory loss and were considered to be pre-dementia.

ENTERTAINMENT

B4

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

TOJ

Historic Emmy win for Viola Davis ‘Murder’ star the first Black woman to win in the drama category

BY YESHA CALLAHAN THEROOT.COM

It was Viola Davis’ night and the rest of the nominees in the category for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series were along for the ride. Davis, who was joined by Taraji P. Henson in the same category, won Sept. 20 for her role on “How to Get Away with Murder.’’

During Davis’ emotional acceptance speech, her words particularly resonated with every Black actress in Hollywood. Davis opened her history making win, with historical words from Harriet Tubman.

“In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful, White women with their arms stretched out to me over that line, but I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line, “Davis stated.

“The only thing that separates women of color from everyone else is opportunity,” Davis said in her speech.

“You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”

Shout out to sisters Davis then gave shout outs to other Black actresses including Taraji P. Henson, Gabrielle Union and Kerry Washington.

Shonda Rhimes definitely had a hand in changing the landscape of television when it comes to their representation of Black women.

Before “Scandal’’ premiered in 2012, the last time there was a drama series starring a Black woman was in 1974. Rhimes, who also produced “How to Get Away with Murder,’’ has put the spotlight on lead Black women actresses. And with her picking Davis for the main role, it proves that Black women in Hollywood, not only stick together, but they strive for greatness together.

But it wasn’t only the Black women in Hollywood receiving all of this shine. Actor Reg E. Cathey, won the award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for “House of Cards.’’

During a moment at the beginning of the show, host Adam Samberg joked about the lack of diversity that the awards usually has, but this year was different.

“This is the most diverse group of nominees in Emmy history, so congratulations, Hollywood, you did it!” Samberg announced to the crowd. “Yeah. Racism is over! Don’t fact check that.”

ALLEN J. SCHABEN/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Viola Davis won the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sept. 20.

More winners On top of Davis’ win, Regina King also won an award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in Limited Series or Movie, for her role in “American Crime.’’

“Orange Is The New Black’s’’ Uzo Aduba won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as ‘Crazy Eyes’.

ROBERT GAUTHIER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS ALLEN J. SCHABEN/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Uzo Aduba won her second straight Emmy for her work as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.’’

Tracy Morgan surprises the audience when he walks on stage and presents the final award of the night at the Emmy Awards.

Washington taking August Wilson’s plays to HBO EURWEB.COM

Denzel Washington is giving folks more of August Wilson‘s classic material to chew on as he brings the playwright’s American Century Cycle series to HBO via a deal with the cable network.

Shadow and Act reports that Washington will serve as a producer of all 10 plays in the series, which portray the 20th-century African-American experience, from the early 1900s to the 1990s. The Oscar winner revealed that the deal will find him producing one play a year for the next 10 years, starting with Wilson’s hit play “Fences.”

The news comes as Washington gears up to direct the film adaptation of “Fences,” which he will star in with Viola Davis, next spring (2016).

Washington and Davis both won Tony awards for their performances in the 2010 Broadway production of “Fences,” which was directed by Kenny Leon.

Wilson’s request The play’s arrival on the big screen concludes years of trying to get a film adaptation of the production.

Shadow and Act referenced a long-standing story

son” – Set in 1936 Pittsburgh, the story of a brother and sister who have different ideas on what to do with the piano they own – keep or sell it.

• 1940s “Seven Guitars” – The story of a blues singer just released from prison and ready to right the past year’s wrongs.

• 1950s “Fences” – Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, the story of Troy Maxson, a restless trash-collector and former baseball athlete struggling Denzel Washington and Viola Davis to start in “Fences.’’ to provide for • his family.

• 1960s “Two Trains Running” – The story of a loon the delay, which attrib- Ocean” – A young man from cal diner owner who fights uted it all from Wilson’s in- Alabama visits Aunt Ester, to stay open as a municipal sistence that a Black director a 285-year-old renowned project encroaches on his cleanser of souls for help in establishment. helm the adaptation.

• 1970s “Jitney” – Set in a Wilson later reiterated his absolving the guilt he carstance on the situation, say- ries from a crime he’s com- worn-down gypsy cab station in Pittsburgh, the story ing that he wasn’t suggest- mitted.

• 1910s “Joe Turner’s of men hustling to make a ing a Black director be hired because he was Black. In- Come and Gone” – Set in living as jitneys — unofficial stead, he maintained that it Pittsburgh, the story of Seth and unlicensed taxicabs.

• 1980s “King Hedley II” be a Black director who was and Bertha Holly and the migrants who pass through – The story of an ex-convict qualified for the job.

Washington’s production their boardinghouse during trying to rebuild his life by of the American Century Cy- the Great Migration of the selling stolen refrigerators so that he can save enough cle series will be done in col- 1910s.

• 1920s “Ma Rainey’s money to buy a video store. laboration with the August Black Bottom” – Set in Chi• 1990s “Radio Golf” – A Wilson Estate. cago in 1927, the play ex- powerful African-American plores issues of race, art, reli- politician runs for the highThe plays gion and the historic exploi- est office of his career, but as The 10 plays in the series tation of Black recording art- he steps into prominence, are as follows. ists by White producers. his plans collide with his • 1930s “The Piano Les- past.

• 1900s “Gem of the

First lady to be guest on ‘Project Runway Junior’

BY NY MAGEE EURWEB.COM

There’s no doubt that First lady Michelle Obama is a fashion icon with impeccable style and a classic sense of glamour, which we’re hoping will inspire the young designers of tomorrow on “Project Runway Junior,” the teenage spin-off of Lifetime’s hit fashion designer competition show.

The new series features 12 fashionistas, ages 13 to 17, who will create designs based on weekly challenges, Variety reports. The winner will receive a full scholarship to California’s Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing, a complete sewing and crafting stuMichelle dio, a Seventeen Magazine feature Obama and a $25,000 cash prize to assist in launching their clothing line.

Mrs. Obama’s project will support her Let Girls Learn initiative for the 62 million girls worldwide who are not in school. Her challenge calls on contestants to create a design that will be used and sold on LandsEnd.com.

The judging panel on the series includes Kelly Osbourne, “Project Runway” season 4 winner Christian Siriano and Cosmopolitan and Seventeen Magazine executive fashion editor Aya Kanai. Actress Bella Thorne will be a guest judge for the final challenge, which will air on Feb. 4.

“Project Runway” favorite Tim Gunn serves as mentor and will co-host with supermodel Hannah Davis.

“Project Runway Junior” premieres November 12 on Lifetime, with Mrs. Obama’s episode airing Dec. 10.

STOJ

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

B5

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

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

jodi

Jodi is a third-year veteran cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins.

She is Miss May in the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders’ swimsuit calendar.

The 2016 calendar is available at www.

Dolphinscheerleaders. com. Above, she shows her team spirit during a swimwear fashion show held this month at Sun Life Stadium.

PHOTO BY KIM GIBSON/ FLORIDA COURIER

james James Moore describes himself as driven, ambitious and versatile. The current Abercrombie and Fitch model and aspiring actor is very athletic and has been scouted to attend a basketball camp in Houston. Contact James on Twitter and Instagram @greatness1012 or jbmoore1012@yahoo.com.

CREDIT: Dejohn Barnes

Houston to receive lifetime achievement honor Grammy-winning gospel singer Cissy Houston will be honored at Saturday’s Gospel Image Awards in Charlotte, N.C. The mother of the late Whitney Houston will receive the lifetime achievement award at the event, to be held at the Halton Theater.

Houston was in the well-known vocal group, the Sweet Inspirations, who Cissy performed alongside artists like Aretha Houston Franklin and Elvis. She won two Grammys in 1998 and 1996 for traditional soul gospel albums.

The Gospel Image Awards were created by The Praise Café TV Show to honor those who achieve spiritual excellence through Christian ministry.

Coates to write Black Panther series EURWEB.COM

Morris Chestnut and Jaina Lee Ortiz star in the new Fox series “Rosewood.’’

‘Rosewood’ is ‘man candy’ with a glossy Miami background EURWEB.COM

Morris Chestnut plays private pathologist Dr. Beaumont Rosewood Jr. in the Fox series “Rosewood,’’ and his appeal alone will certainly be a draw for the ladies, many of whom may not be fans of police crime dramas. However, they could find that a smartly dressed Chestnut – accented by the gloss of Miami – makes the business of solving murder sexy.

Rosewood is Miami’s most wanted consultant; he sees clues that the Miami P.D. can’t and works in a highly advanced lab alongside his sister (Gabrielle Dennis) and her girlfriend (Anna Konkle).

Sexy, talented cast The pilot episode found him taking on a murder

case at the assistance of his mother (Lorraine Toussaint), while being teamed with the humorless Det. Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz).

Morris and Ortiz, two sexy and talented actors whose onscreen dynamic is not as engaging as Benson and Stabler (“Law & Order: SVU”), or Mulder and Scully (“The X-Files”).

Rosewood is attracted to Villa, (a fiery, petite Latina who chases bad guys in high heels and can tackle 200-pound men), and she could be receptive to any advances he weaves her way, (once she sorts out her own demons), but unless these two stars uncover some chemistry under the dead bodies along the way, the question becomes: Will viewers care to be teased about them possibly hooking up?

Heart of the matter

Predictable pilot

Speaking of which, can he hook up? His heart could explode at anytime (even though he can run like an Olympic champion). Rosie has a lingering, and potentially fatal, health problem, which could be used to end the series if it doesn’t resonate with viewers, but this could also be resolved at the first sign that the show is a hit.

The EUR/Electronic Urban Report attended a private “Rosewood” screening of the pilot episode hosted

by Touissant and Dennis in Los Angeles. The two actresses expressed their excitement for the series and delighted in the richness of their characters. Dennis plays a lesbian in an interracial relationship with her co-worker, while Lorraine plays Morris’ overprotective mother.

Created by Todd Harthan (“Psych”), “Rosewood” tries to create a colorful atmosphere around dead bodies and in doing so, fails at luring you to the edge of your seat with heightened dramatic moments that you’d expect in such a format. While Chestnut is charming, there’s a hollowness in his approach to solving a case.

Pilots tend to be rushed and this one was certainly flat and predictable but it establishes clearly what motivates our hero, leaving you hopeful that the series will explore how Rosewood’s awareness of his own mortality drives the murder mystery plotlines in a way that entice fans of sophisticated “who done it” serials to tune in every week.

New York Times bestselling author Ta-Nehisi Coates will be writing a new Black Panther comic book series for Marvel titled “A Nation Under Our Feet.”

The storyline is inspired by Steven Hahn’s 2003 book of the same title, and “will find the hero dealing with a violent uprising in his country set off by a superhuman terrorist group called the People,” The New York Times reports.

Coates, a Marvel superfan, told the Times that the Marvel universe was “an intimate part” of both his childhood and adulthood.

“It was mostly through pop culture, through hip-hop, through Dungeons & Dragons and comic books that I acquired much of my vocabulary,” Coates said.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the most pro- Coates vocative writers about the AfricanAmerican experience and America’s long history with racism. He’s a national correspondent at The Atlantic, National Book Award nominee, and author of “Between The World And Me.” “How often do you find a literary voice as singular and powerful as Ta-Nehisi Coates, who also happens to be a hardcore fan of the Marvel mythology?” Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso told The Huffington Post about the announcement. “Through comic books’ first and greatest Black super hero, and the fictional kingdom over which he presides, Ta-Nehisi will shed unique insight into the world in which we live.”

“It’s going to be a story that re-positions the Black Panther in the minds of readers,” Alonso said. “It really moves him forward.”

Black Panther, whose real name is T’Challa, is the first Black superhero created by Marvel in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

FOOD

B6

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 1, 2015

STOJ

Not your grandma’s

COLLARD GREENS A new generation of cooks are coming up with modern recipes for the Southern favorite.

BY KATHLEEN PURVIS THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER/TNS

Who’s been messing with our mess of collards?

For a couple of hundred years in the South, cooks have been content with the same plan: Cut out the tough stems, cut up the big leaves, cook them for a long, long (long, long) time, until they’re falling apart and intensely collardy. Serve them up with a little pepper vinegar.

It was good enough for our grandmothers.

But these days, a new generation of chefs and cooks are taking collards to places our grandmothers never imagined.

They’re grinding them into pesto. They’re putting raw collards into salads and slaws.

They’re pickling the stems and turning the leaves into juice. And you know what? It’s all good. Really good.

For an episode of her PBS show “A Chef’s Life,” about cooking in Eastern North Carolina, Kinston chef Vivian Howard made collard dolmades, stuffed with sausage, cranberries and pecans, “kind of like Thanksgiving wrapped up in a collard.”

“There’s been this intense interest in kale,” Howard says. “We have this reaction, ‘well, collards are way better than kale.’”

The new kale In her cookbook on healthier Southern cooking, “Lighten Up, Y’all,” author Virginia Willis includes a vividly green collard pesto with a recipe for butternut squash and chickpea soup.

She doesn’t remember where she got the idea to blanch young collard leaves and grind them with pecans and orange juice. But she uses it in all kinds of ways — on sandwiches, as a pre-dinner spread on crackers.

“One of things I try to do is mash things up with Southern,” she says. When she’s developing recipes, she’ll ask herself, “What can I do to really celebrate Southern in not a typical fashion?”

Collards, chefs say, are starting to catch on around the country, but they still communicate a basic Southernness in your cooking style.

“Collards are so emblematic of the South,” says Howard. “If you cook with collards, it says, ‘I’m cooking Southern,’ and then you put a modern spin on it.”

Try collard chips At her Kinston restaurant, Chef & the Farmer, one best-seller is collard chips, a variation on kale chips. She cuts out the stems, slices the leaves into ribbons and drops them in a deep fryer for 10 seconds.

“It’s so simple,” she says. “I’ve heard it from so many people — ‘Boy, you really got me with those collards.’”

It is true that if you get collards while they’re young and still tender, rather than waiting until fall for the big “elephant ear” mature collards, you can do a lot of the things you’d do with kale. After all, they are in the same botanical family, along with cabbages, turnips and kohlrabi, all prized for high levels of vitamin C, selenium and fiber.

“I think there may be a little kale fatigue,” says Willis. “Or people are genuinely becoming aware of the benefits of other brassicas.”

Used for relish Thinking that way is what led Atlanta chef Steven Satterfield to collard kimchi, in his new vegetable cookbook “Root to Leaf.” Kimchi, the fermented Korean relish, is often made with cabbage, which led him to think of collards.

“Chefs right now are really experimenting with vegetables,” he says. “We’re all trying to come up with new ways to make them fresh.”

COLLARD COBB SALAD Adapted from “Southern Made Fresh,” by Tasia Malakasis (Oxmoor House, 2015).

2 bunches of collard greens, trimmed (about 6 cups) 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved 4 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and diced 2 ripe avocadoes, peeled and diced 1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted in a dry skillet 1/2 cup (about 6 slices) bacon, cooked and diced 2 ounces crumbled blue cheese Creamy Lemon Dressing: 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons) 1 teaspoon kosher salt 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1/2 cup olive oil Whisk together the lemon juice, garlic and mustard. Whisk in the olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Place the greens in a large salad bowl.

Add the tomatoes, diced egg, avocado, pecan halves, bacon and blue cheese. Toss well to mix. Drizzle with enough dressing to moisten it all, then toss again. Serve with any extra dressing on the side.

Yield: About 6 servings.

PHOTOS BY DIEDRA LAIRD/CHARLOTTE OBSERVER/TNS

The blue collard dip, shown with bagel chips, was adapted from Edible Piedmont magazine, which got it from Mindy Ballou Fitzpatrick of The Friendly Market in Morehead City, N.C.

BLUE COLLARD DIP This may be the perfect tailgate-season dip, and you can use it right through New Year’s. It was adapted rom Edible Piedmont magazine, which got it from Mindy Ballou Fitzpatrick of The Friendly Market in Morehead City, N.C. 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 to 2 yellow onions, peeled and sliced 6 to 8 slices bacon 2 cups cooked, chopped, drained collards (see note) 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, or 1 cup slow-roasted tomatoes, chopped 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1/2 tablespoon freshly ground pepper 1 tablespoon Texas Pete hot sauce 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 8 ounces softened cream cheese 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup sour cream Warm the vegetable oil in a skillet with a lid and stir in the onion. Cover and cook slowly over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and caramelized.

(Can be made in advance and saved to finish the dip.)

Cook the bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain on a paper towel and chop.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the welldrained collards with the onions, bacon and all the remaining ingredients. Turn into a 1-quart baking dish or ovenproof pie plate.

Place in a 350-degree oven and bake about 20 minutes, until bubbly. Serve with crackers, pita chips or raw vegetables.

Note: To cook the collards, slice away and discard the stems. Stack the leaves and cut into strips. Bring 4 to 6 water or a mix of water and chicken broth to boil in a large pot. Stir in the collards. Cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes to an hour, until very soft.

Yield: About 6 cups.

Satterfield puts collard leaves through a cold-press juicer, then mixes the juice with carrot and ginger juices as a pan sauce for pork.

He also makes collard slaw he serves with swordfish.

“People are like, ‘that’s kind of weird,’ but they take one bite and they’re sold.”

Messing with collards One trick to doing different things with collards is to understand your collards. Things like collard pesto work better with younger, more tender collards. If you have a big bunch of collards, you can find more tender leaves further inside the bunch.

The biggest leaves may still need long-cooking, although you can get creative with them, too. Willis loves to top cooked collards with an egg for breakfast.

“That is the breakfast of champions,” she says, laughing. “They’ve got a great flavor.”

She does encounter some pushback for cooking collards differently. On one TV segment, she did a collard variation on a Brazilian-style chiffonade of quickly sauteed kale.

After the show, one of her aunts said, “You took those out of the pan like they were done.”

She’s still experimenting, though. Instead of discarding the thick stems, she’s been slicing them thinly and sauteing them before she adds the leaves, sort of the way you’d cook Swiss chard.

Cabbage collards People always experiment with what they have, says Howard. In Eastern North Carolina, she’s been introduced to collard kraut, a very old tradition, and people in her area love cabbage collards, an heirloom-seed version that’s sweeter.

It’s all just adapting to the food of your place, she says. At a Thai restaurant in Greenville, N.C., Howard spotted a dish with a name that translates to “flavor bomb.” It’s a mix of dried shrimp, birds-eye chiles, dried coconut and a tiny wedge of lime rolled in a square of raw collard leaf.

The owner told her it’s common on Thailand, served with a different green. When they couldn’t find the same green, they improvised.

“Southern food isn’t just Southern food,” Howard says. “It’s our indigenous food.”

This Collard Cobb Salad is adapted from “Southern Made Fresh” by Tasia Malakasis. It was published this year by Oxmoor House.

Collards have suddenly been discovered by chefs and cookbook authors, and are being used in new recipes such as this collard pesto.

COLLARD GREEN PESTO From “Lighten Up, Y’All,” by Virginia Willis (Ten Speed Press, 2015).

4 ounces (about 4 cups) stemmed, chopped collard greens Juice of 1/2 orange 1/4 cup chopped pecans 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add the collards, working in batches if needed, and cook just until bright green, about 2 minutes.

Drain well.

Place blanched collards in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to grind. Add the orange juice, pecans, cheese and oil. Pulse to combine. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. (You can also chop the collards for a more rustic consistency.)

Refrigerate and serve at room temperature.

Yield: About 1 cup.

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

1 bunch collards, about 1 1/2 pounds 1/4 cup kosher salt 1 small head garlic, peeled and finely chopped 1/4 cup fish sauce 2 teaspoons ground arbol chile 1 teaspoon honey 1 bunch green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces 1 medium purple-top turnip, peeled, thinly sliced and quartered Separate the collard leaves from their stems. Chop the leaves into bite-size pieces and slice the stems into 1/2-inch pieces.

In a large bowl, whisk together 1 gallon water and 1/4 cup salt until the salt is dissolved. Put the collard greens and stems into the water and let sit for 2 hours. Place a weight on top to keep the greens submerged if necessary.

Combine the garlic, ginger, fish sauce, ground chile and honey in a large bowl. Add the green onions and turnip and toss.

Remove the collards from the salted water. Rinse and squeeze out excess water.

Add the greens to the spice mixture and toss well. Put everything in a large glass or ceramic container with a tight lid. Store in a cool, dark place at room temperature for 2 to 3 days, opening the lid daily to let the gases escape and assess the flavor.

Store, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 months.

Yield: 2 quarts.