Florida Courier - September 27, 2013

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SEPTEMBER 27 - OCTOBER 3, 2013

VOLUME 21 NO. 39

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$1,000,000,000,000 Black America now spends more than $1 trillion a year on goods and services.

Black media owners have to fight for their piece of the advertising pie.

Cloves Campbell, chairman of the television (with special emphasis on NNPA and publisher of the Arizona cable); and 15 percent higher on moInformant newspaper, released the bile phone advertising.

WASHINGTON – Although annu- findings.

‘Compelling read’ al Black spending is projected to rise from its current $1 trillion to $1.3 tril- Small percentage “The consumer insights this year “Advertising expenditures geared are some of the most varied yet,” said lion by 2017, advertisers allot only 3 percent of their $2.2 billion yearly specifically toward Black audiences Pearson-McNeil. “From store brand budget to media aimed at Black au- reflected only three percent of adver- loyalty, to top watched television netdiences, a new Nielsen report has tising dollars spent,” the report stated. works, which mobile apps are most “Advertisers spent $75 billion on tele- popular, a deep dive into how Blacks found.

The study, “Resilient, Receptive vision, radio, internet, and magazine spend their digital time, and how and Relevant: The African-American ads in 2012, with only $2.24 billion companies can reach 10 million Black Consumer 2013 Report,” was released of that spent with media focused on consumers by developing a Southern at a news conference last week at the Black audiences.” regional strategy – this year’s report is The report said if consumption pat- really a compelling read for both adCongressional Black Caucus Legislaterns dictated a company’s advertistive Weekend by Nielsen and the Navertisers and marketers.” tional Newspaper Publishers Associa- ing budget, then spending with the CHARLES BERTRAM/LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER/MCT A 2011 study by Burrell CommuBlack media should be 44 percent tion (NNPA). nications showed that 81 percent of Brittany Fulz of Lexington, Ky. is loaded down as she Cheryl Pearson-McNeil, senior higher on education and career webBlacks believe that products adver- shops at Toys “R” Us/Babies “R” Us on Black Friday sites; 38 percent higher on streamvice-president, public affairs and govSee SPENDING, Page A2 2012. ernment relations for Nielsen, and ing websites; 37 percent higher on

BY GEORGE E. CURRY NNPA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

‘CUPCAKE SATURDAY’ / COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Black colleges take beatdowns

In the dark Deacon’s death is still a mystery

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF

A host of Ohio State University Buckeye defenders tackled Florida A&M running back Omari Albert in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 21. That weekend, the Buckeyes blanked the Rattlers, 76-0; Florida State rolled over BethuneCookman, 54-6; the University of Miami beat Savannah State, 77-7.

See related commentary on page 2.

FORT LAUDERDALE – It’s been a week of agony for the family of the late Clayton Bailey.

Members of his large family are heading to South Florida from Jamaica and from around America as they prepare to say a last goodbye this weekend at the small South Florida church that he loved and supported.

His six-year-old daughter Trinity, who started first grade this year, keeps trying to text messages to her father. He doesn’t respond. When told that her father had “gone to heaven,” she asks, “Why did he leave me here?”

Range of emotions His wife Patdrica, his sister Donna, his immediate and extended family, and many in his small church congregation are sleepwalking in a daze of confusion, shock and grief. In some, grief may be slowly becoming anger.

And as of right now, no one can provide any answers as to how and why an experienced, hardworking pipelayer who was adamant about work safety, and “kept his head on a swivel,” was killed in broad daylight on a sunny South Florida day.

Bailey was allegedly crushed by construction materials as he worked on an infrastructure project in a south MiamiDade County neighborhood. His family heard about his death “through the grapevine” more than eight hours later.

Investigations pending ADAM CAIRNS/COLUMBUS DISPATCH/MCT

Clayton Bailey was 38 when he was killed last week. Bailey was employed

by Ric-Man Construction Florida, Inc., See BAILEY, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

Brise, Graham reappointed to Public Service Commission

planned to replace the math, reading and writing sections of the FCAT – currently given to nearly 2 million students – TALLAHASSEE – Florida re- with new multistate exams. treated Monday from a new multistate testing system that Tests new standards was to replace the state’s comThe PARCC exams are deprehensive assessment test, signed to test student mastery known as FCAT, a move that of Common Core standards, could appease conservatives which are benchmarks for what opposed to Common Core ac- they should learn in language ademic standards on which the arts and math classes. Florinew tests were to be based. da is among the 45 states that In an executive order, Gov. have adopted the new stanRick Scott directed state edu- dards, and its public schools cators to end Florida’s role as are now phasing them in. the “fiscal agent,” or money In issuing his executive ormanager, for the Partnership FLORIDA COURIER FILES der and sending related letfor Assessment of Readiness ters to state and federal educa- Former Gov. Jeb Bush, at left, and current Gov. Rick Scott for College and Careers. tion leaders, Scott waded into don’t see eye-to-eye on Florida’s new academic standards Florida has been a leader See TEST, Page A2 for public schools. in the PARCC group and had

BY LESLIE POSTAL AND KATHLEEN HAUGHNEY ORLANDO SENTINEL / MCT

NATION | A6

African-Americans Another call to be accepted in for end to gun violence in streets Alabama sororities FOOD | B4

Cool cooking with red-hot FINEST | B5 tomatoes Meet Davon

ALSO INSIDE

Scott bows to Tea Party on FCAT replacement

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: LT. COL. TIMOTHY WASHINGTON: MILITARY LED WAY TO ENDING SEGREGATION | A5

FOCUS

A2

SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013

Big college vs. small college football games may cause death I have never been a proponent or advocate of major-college NCAA Division 1A (D1-A) football teams competing against smaller Division 1-AA (D1-AA) teams. My primary concern is the disparity in physicality that will ultimately cause a catastrophic injury to a D1-AA football player: A player succumbing to paralysis and even death is an accident waiting to happen!

Most major college football players are bigger, stronger, faster and more talented than D1-AA football players. They also have the latest state-of-the-art athletic infrastructure, resources, equipment, and other high-tech weightlifting facilities to get even stronger, faster and bigger than their D1-AA counterparts.

Tough to watch It was extremely difficult for me to watch the three Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) football programs compete against major colleges on television last weekend. Florida A&M, Savannah State and Bethune-Cookman football players played their hearts out, but they were outmatched and overwhelmed as far as physicality is concerned.

Those games were not actually legitimate contests. Florida State and Ohio State stopped trying, substituted liberally, and shut their offensive machine down at halftime. The University of Miami used a running clock in their game, thus not playing a full 60 minutes of competition.

BILLY JOE GUEST COMMENTARY

They were not legitimate football games, and the major college football coaches were more embarrassed about the lopsided scores than anyone. Both coaches feel the pain, mental anguish, emotional stress and embarrassment of lopsided scores.

Wide gap Of course, there are a few football players on lower levels who are just as proficient and talented as major college football players, but when you juxtapose the major college athlete with the small college athlete, the chasm is humongous. This variance in height, weight, speed, size and talent is my paramount objection because it is going to cause a cataclysmic and calamitous injury.

Football is innately dangerous.

The differentiation in physicality heightens the incident of lifethreatening injury. Then, when it happens, we will be infamously in a state of contrition and bereavement; it will be etched in our hearts and minds for time immemorial.

Noncontact sports OK I am a proponent of minor sports at small colleges competing against major colleges in mi-

nor sports. Basketball, golf, tennis, baseball and swimming are noncontact sports. There is very little probability for serious bodily injury.

Who would you rather compete against for a championship if you had a choice between fighting Mike Tyson or playing golf against Tiger Woods? You would choose Tiger Woods because Mike Tyson would pummel you into submission with brain damage and a coma!

Tiger Woods will beat you by 40 strokes, but you will not be physically harmed; just embarrassed.

Stop these games Athletic directors of HBCUs, please cease and desist with these unscrupulous and scandalous games. Presidents of HBCUs, stop genuflecting to the almighty dollar. You are putting your student-athletes in harm’s way with these shameful games.

Gentlemen, stop prostituting your football programs out to the highest major college bidder when it is more than obvious that the major college teams will have its way with your players. Don't play these games at the football players’ expense when there is no financial reward forthcoming to them.

Football is a collision sport; dancing is a contact sport. The game is relentlessly dangerous when two teams of decisively unequal talent are competing against each other. It is pure hell and damnation, not purgatory!

Oftentimes, after a D1-AA team

BAILEY from A1 a heavy construction company located in Deerfield Beach. He had worked there as a pipelayer for almost nine years.

Bailey’s death set off investigations by the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Homicide Division, the Fort Lauderdale office of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Department.

The family continues its agonizing wait for answers.

Native of Jamaica Clayton Hugh Bailey was born Dec. 4, 1975 to the late Quebert Bailey and Kathleen Bailey in Manchester, Jamaica.

He was educated there, then joined the Jamaican military before moving to Fort Lauderdale to start a new life.

He met his wife Patdrica while he was repairing her car, and they were married in 2006.

That same year, Bailey joined St. Ruth Missionary Baptist Church in Dania, his wife’s church from childhood.

In January 2008, Bailey was ordained as a deacon. When he wasn’t working on Sundays, he attended Sunday School.

He was St. Ruth’s youngest deacon, and was well-known and beloved by his church family for his powerful and effective short prayers delivered in a lilting Jamaican accent.

COURTESY OF ST. RUTH MBC

Family, friends and church members are still waiting for answers about the tragic death of Deacon Clayton Bailey.

SPENDING from A1 tised in Black media are more relevant to them.

Businesses that bypass the Black media, the report said, limit their potential growth.

“Companies mistakenly believe there are no language barriers, that a general market ‘onesize-fits-all’ strategy is an effective way to reach African-Americans,” the Nielsen study said.

“Just the opposite is true.”

Top advertisers The Nielsen study names the companies that do the most advertising with Black media. They are Procter & Gamble ($75.32 million); L’Oreal ($52.34 million); McDonald’s ($38.24 million); Unilever ($31.48 million); the U.S. government ($28.36 million); Berkshire Hathaway ($27.81 million); Comcast ($27.69 million); and Hershey ($27.01 million).

Others include PepsiCo ($25.07 million); Wal-Mart ($24.40 million); Fiat ($23.60 million); AT&T ($22.49 million); Verizon Communications ($22.08 million); Toyota ($21.43 million); General Motors ($20.81 million); Sony ($19.88 million); Johnson & Johnson ($19.59 million); Ford

Needed help “After a conversation with another deacon, he found out the church needed to fill in the lowest part of some church land,” recalls Patdrica. “He spoke to his managers regarding the extra landfill that they were not using.”

Within days, dump trucks begin delivering some 30 loads of landfill to the property that

will be part of the church’s expansion. Bailey also convinced his employers to level the dirt pile at no charge to the church.

Birth, citizenship In 2008, daughter Trinity was born. The blended Bailey family now includes five children: Trinity, two of Clayton’s, and two of Patdrica’s, both

($19.11 million); Allstate ($19.06 million); and National Amusements, Inc. ($18.92 million).

Increases, decreases Advertising by the top 20 companies increased by 2.5 percent between 2011 and 2012. The companies with the largest increases in spending with Black media were Unilever (40.1 percent); PepsiCo (39.1 percent); Wal-Mart (27.2 percent); the U.S. government (26.4 percent); L’Oreal (19.6 percent); Berkshire Hathaway (15.1 perCheryl cent); and ComPearsoncast (13.2 perMcNeil cent).

Top 20 advertisers with the largest decreases were: Johnson & Johnson (30.7 percent), National Amusements (26.2 percent) and Verizon (24.6 percent).

“Until we do a better job as consumers in the choices we make and invest in companies that invest in us, we are not going to have any changes,” said Pearson-McNeil.

Utilizing Black media makes good business sense, the report said.

“By aligning additional mar-

receives their "blood money," the players are so psychologically demoralized and injured they are unable to compete admirably against teams on their same level.

Sometimes their entire season goes spiraling down; they can't beat their way out of a wet paper bag with holes in it. The residual effect of a traumatic defeat by a major college football team can destroy an entire season for a lower-level division college football team.

Furthermore, it is not the major colleges’ fiduciary responsibility to balance small colleges' athletic budgets. If a D1-AA college cannot financially accommodate its football program, it needs to drop down to Division II; if it cannot handle its Division II football program, it needs to drop down to the Division III (no scholarship) level. If it cannot handle a Division III football budget, it needs to emphatically drop football altogether.

Glory days gone If those same three HBCU teams played major colleges in football in the pre-integration era of the United States, I vigorously believe those teams would have a great opportunity to defeat those major colleges. If HBCUs could extract all of the Black football players from the Historically White Colleges and Universities, the HWCUs would have difficulty staying within 100 points of HBCU football teams.

But HBCU football is not able

from previous relationships.

On June 24, 2009, Bailey proudly became a naturalized American citizen. Several deacons from St. Ruth along with his family accompanied him to this auspicious occasion.

They will all gather again this week to bid him a final farewell.

Survivors include his wife, Patdrica Grace-Bailey; mother Kathleen Bailey (Jamaica); mother-in-law Betty Grace (Dania Beach); father-in-law John Grace (Dania Beach); daughters Dezondria Grace, Keyerra Francoeur, Trinity Bailey (Dania Beach) and Jhanelle Bailey (Jamaica); son Clayton Travon Bailey (Jamaica).

His siblings include brothers Trevor, Derrick, and Ainsley Bailey (Jamaica); sisters Donna Bailey (Fort Lauderdale); Merva Bailey (Jamaica); Althea Bailey (North Carolina); Narda Bailey (Jamaica); Michelle Bailey (Jamaica); Andrea Bailey (Aruba); Comel Bailey (Orlando); and Analisa Duncan (Palm Bay). His father Quebert and sister Maureen preceded him in death.

The Bailey family will receive visitors at a wake today ( Friday) from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Ruth Missionary Baptist Church, 145 N.W. 5th Ave., Dania. Homegoing services are set for Sept. 28 at 10 a.m., also at St. Ruth.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made online on www.giveforward.com for an educational fund. (Search Clayton Bailey on the website’s home page.)

keting support and more focused strategies using media sources such as Black newspapers, Black radio, Black online sites and other media outlets trusted and relied on by Blacks for their unfiltered information, companies can develop more culturally relevant messages….” the report stated.

Spend more than average It noted that Blacks “overindex” in certain categories, including health and beauty aids, unprepared meat, frozen seafood, feminine hygiene, women’s fragrances, and detergents.

“An examination of AfricanAmericans’ overall category uses reveals some notable and perhaps newly discovered behavioral distinctions between Blacks and the Total Market,” the report found. “Blacks spend 44 percent more time on Education and Career sites and 21 percent more time on Family and Lifestyle sites than Total Market consumers, breaking the myth that Blacks are disinterested in education and the family’s well-being.

Additionally, African-Americans continue to be resilient in their role as early adopters of technology as 14 percent are more likely to spend time on Telecom/Internet Services sites.”

to do that in this modern and racially integrated era. Presently, HBCUs are unable to recruit and attract a bevy of five-star, blue chip, quality student-athletes to their campuses.

Let's not equivocate and use phony hyperbole to justify conjured-up explanations for playing these outlandish football games. I don't see HBCUs recapturing the glorious days of Jim Crow football.

Let's bring about an abatement of these games because they do not ingratiate us with anyone, especially major colleges. I am convinced that within five years the NCAA will bring about a prohibition or an abrupt halt to these games, and I am confident players will receive substantial financial remuneration for their services on the gridiron.

My greatest accomplishment I have been inundated with a plethora of honors throughout my 34 years of coaching Black college football as a head coach.

But I am most proud of the fact that no player was ever paralyzed or killed on my watch, or during my tenure as their head football coach. And for that, I am truly thankful.

Billy Joe is a former FAMU head football coach and is the second-winningest coach in Black college football history.

Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

TEST from A1 the controversy surrounding Common Core and its affiliated tests, seeming to side, at least partially, with Tea Party activists who have complained the standards represent “federal intrusion” in local schools.

The standards, however, were devised by state leaders, not the federal government – with encouragement and support from the Obama administration.

Bush backs Common Core Common Core advocates say the standards will be better and tougher than Florida’s current ones, and will require students to learn topics with more depth and better prepare them for college and decent-paying jobs after high school.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush and his education foundations have championed them.

Once the new standards are fully in place in the 2014-15 school year, the state will need a new batch of tests to judge student mastery. Florida needs to pick a new test by March, so that it can be given to students in the spring of 2015.

Millions budgeted PARCC exams were touted as the next generation of standardized tests, ones that would be given on computer, require lots of writing and show-your work math problems. They were developed with the help of a $186 million federal grant.

K.T. Caldwell, president of the Seminole Education Association, said, “the actual Common Core is not bothering the teachers,” despite some hiccups in transitioning to the new standards.

Nevertheless, the union leader added, “The time and money that goes into the PARCC is really unconscionable.”

More TV, smartphones Blacks are also likely to spend far more time watching television.

“Blacks are voracious media users and leaders when it comes to setting pop culture trends. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in Blacks’ television habits where Blacks watch 37 percent more television than any other group, spending seven hours and 17 minutes per day viewing TV, compared to five hours and 18 minutes of total viewing for Total Market,” the Nielsen study stated.

It continued, “Black women, especially those 18-49, tend to be heavier viewers than their male counterparts. Not surprisingly, media outlets dedicated to Black audiences have a higher composition of Black viewers, which should be of interest to businesses who incorporate media buys into their marketing strategies.”

Blacks outpace Whites in buying smartphones. The Nielsen report found that 71 percent of Blacks own smartphones, compared to 62 percent of the total population.

Most African-Americans prefer Androids (73 percent) to iPhones (27 percent).

Growth and culture Although a lot of attention is being placed on the growth of La-

tinos in the U.S., the Black population, which now stands at 43 million people, grew 64 percent faster than the rest of the country since 2000, the study said. The average age is 35, three years younger than the overall population; 53 percent of Blacks are under the age of 35.

Significantly, 73 percent of Whites and 67 percent of Latinos identified Blacks as the driving force for popular culture.

Minimal advertising Fortune 100 companies not ranking in the top 20 advertisers with Black media included: General Electric, Citigroup, IBM, Philip Morris, AIG, Home Depot, Bank of America, Fannie Mae, J.P. Morgan Chase, Kroger, Merck, State Farm Insurance, Hewlett-Packard, Morgan Stanley, Sears Roebuck, and Target.

Others include Merrill Lynch, Kmart, Freddie Mac, Costco, Safeway, Pfizer, J.C. Penney, MetLife, Dell Computer, Goldman Sachs, UPS, Prudential Financial, Wells Fargo, Sprint, New York Life, Microsoft, Walt Disney, Aetna, Walgreen, Bank One, BellSouth, Honeywell, UnitedHealth Group, Viacom, American Express, Wachovia Corp., CVS, Lowe’s, BristolMyers Squibb and Coca-Cola.

The Florida Courier will publish a four-page summary of the report next week. You can view the full report at www.flcourier.com.

SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013

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FLORIDA

Dream Defenders unhappy with Capitol access rule Group to continue focusing on racial profiling and stand your ground law

Kweli. Another visitor was longtime activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who touched off his own media storm by claiming that Florida practiced apartheid and comparing Gov. Rick Scott to segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace.

The Dream Defenders spent Monday afternoon training about 40 members in the Old Capitol about how to lobby legislators, who are in Tallahassee this week for the first committee meetings leading up the 2014 session.

The group remains hopeful that lawmakers will advance proposals, beyond a one-day House hearing on the “stand your ground” law that is expected in October.

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – The Dream Defenders, a group that held a month-long summer encampment outside the governor’s office, returned to Tallahassee on Monday and called a proposal to limit afterhours access to the Capitol a “ridiculous” stifling of the public’s right to free speech.

However, the Hialeahbased group intends to remain focused on the difficult task of changing laws about self-defense and racial profiling rather than contesting the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s proposal, which would try to spur the public to leave the Capitol by 5 p.m. on weekdays or within 30 minutes of the end of public meetings.

Those who don’t leave when requested could face trespassing charges.

FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said Monday afternoon the agency continues to await approval or comment from the offices of the governor, the Senate president and the House speaker.

Bills and proposal DREAM DEFENDERS/FACEBOOK

The Rev. Jesse Jackson stands with the Dream Defenders during their sit-in at the Capitol.

Additional restrictions Dream Defenders Legal and Policy Director Ahmad Abuznaid said Monday that the proposed rule is a danger to free speech and the right to assemble.

“We feel like if we were big money and had millions of dollars to come voice our opinion to the legislators this wouldn’t be a problem,” Abuznaid said.

The stated purpose of the rule is to enable the police to better secure the Capitol complex.

The FDLE proposal would also prohibit people from staying overnight or preparing food in publicly accessible parts of the building. There would also be additional restrictions on people who have access cards to the building and how many other people who would be allowed to accompany them.

$505,248 protest tab The Dream Defenders held a 31-day sit-in inside the Capitol from July 16 to Aug. 15, arriving after the

acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 shooting death of teen Trayvon Martin in Sanford.

The FDLE has estimated the around-the-clock protest ran up a tab of $505,248 for Capitol police. The total included regular pay plus overtime, which has been put at $172,592.

“It’s a little ridiculous,” said Dream Defenders Political Director Ciara Taylor. “We’re asking for FDLE to look into discrimination, to take a deep look at racial profiling and how

law enforcement connects with black and brown people across the state, and it seems like they don’t have time to do that. But they do have time to come up with a rule against taxpaying citizens of this state, basically making the Capitol inaccessible.”

Drew celebrity protesters The sit-in drew a steady stream of visitors, including entertainer and civilrights veteran Harry Belafonte and rapper Talib

Brise, Graham reappointed to state’s Public Service Commission

BY JIM SAUNDERS THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott last week kept the Florida Public Service Commission intact, reappointing commissioners Ronald Brise and Art Graham to four-year terms.

Brise and Graham, whose curRonald rent terms were Brise set to expire in January, were selected over four other finalists.

Brise serves as chairman of the utility-regulatory commission, while Graham is a past chairman.

Art Last SeptemGraham ber, Scott also reappointed Commissioner Lisa Edgar to the fivemember panel. Commissioners make $130,036 a year, a salary that is expected to increase by $1,000 on Oct. 1, according to the state budget.

Appointed by Crist Brise and Graham were ap-

pointed to the commission in 2010 by former Gov. Charlie Crist and then were reappointed to their current terms by Scott.

Brise, 39, previously served as a state House member from Miami-Dade County, while Graham, 49, served on the Jacksonville City Council.

The new terms will begin Jan. 2 and end Jan. 1, 2018. The four other finalists included Ken Littlefield, a former House member who briefly served on the commission before Crist replaced him in 2007.

Brise and Graham, along with other members of the commission, have grappled with a series of major issues during the past year. As an example, the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments on Sept. 19 in a challenge to the commission’s approval late last year of base-rate increases for Florida Power & Light.

Also, the commission has dealt with a controversy about a damaged nuclear plant in Crystal River – a plant that Duke Energy Florida ultimately decided to permanently shut down. Commissioners also have considered base-rate cases for Gulf Power Co. and Tampa Electric Co., approving a settlement agreement this month in the Tampa Electric case.

Florida to seek more funds to help hospitals service low-income patients

BY JIM SAUNDERS THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Florida will seek federal approval to expand funding for a program that is critical to hospitals serving large numbers of low-income and uninsured patients, the state Medicaid director told lawmakers Tuesday.

The $1-billion-a-year “Low Income Pool” program will come up for federal renewal in 2014, and Justin Senior, deputy secretary for Medicaid at the state Agency for Health Care Administration, said Florida will seek to boost the amount of money – possibly to about $3 billion a year.

Expires next June The Low Income Pool, or LIP, program began in 2006 and funnels additional money to hospitals and other health-care providers that serve large numbers of poor and uninsured people. In the program, local governments and taxing districts put up money, which draws down federal matching funds.

Created under what is known

as a federal “waiver,” the LIP program expires June 30, 2014, and must be renewed by the federal government to continue operating.

Complicated program Senior told the House subcommittee that he thinks federal officials are “generally receptive to the idea of making it larger.” But he also said the federal government could attach conditions to the increased money, such as conditions aimed at improving the quality of care in hospitals.

The LIP program is highly complicated and supplements money that hospitals and providers otherwise get through Medicaid.

Tony Carvalho, president of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, told lawmakers that Florida trails other states, such as Texas, in funding for such programs.

“Florida is embarrassingly low in the amount of money it gets from the federal government in supplemental payments,’’ said Carvalho, whose group represents facilities such as teaching, public and children’s hospitals.

Several already-filed bills are directed at the law, with a proposal (SB 130) by Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, expected to have the best chance to advance.

Simmons’ proposal would require local law enforcement to issue “reasonable” guidelines for the operation of neighborhood watch programs. Zimmerman was a neighborhoodwatch volunteer when he shot Martin during an altercation.

The bill closely matches part of a broader proposal (SB 122) that Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, filed to address the “stand your ground” law.

Trail Life USA is an outdoor Scoutinglike program designed for boys ages 5 to 17 focused on adventure, character and leadership.

YOUTUBE

Christian alternative to challenge Boy Scouts of America Trail Life USA won’t allow openly gay boys to join troops

BY JEFF KUNERTH ORLANDO SENTINEL (MCT)

Chris Collier’s grandfather was an Eagle Scout. Collier was an Eagle Scout. But his son never will be.

Collier is leaving the Boy Scouts of America for Trail Life USA, a conservative Christian alternative to the Boy Scouts that will start chartering its first troops at the end of September.

Collier will be among those starting a Trail Life troop, which he said one day will include his son, who’s now 4 years old.

“I’m glad I am building something my son can enjoy from next year to when he’s 18,” said Collier, a 41-year-old utilities field manager from Windermere. “I left the BSA because they compromised their own belief system. Trail Life USA is going to stick to the standards that the BSA abandoned.”

Significant differences Conceived in the aftermath of the Boy Scouts’ decision in May to drop its ban against openly gay Scouts, Trail Life in many ways mirrors the BSA. It is a character-building, outdoors-oriented youth organization whose leadership comprises former Scouts and Scout leaders.

To some, Trail Life comes across as off-brand Boy Scouts — a close imitation, but not the real thing.

“It’s Boy Scouts lite,” said Randy Stephens, a former Boy Scout and executive director of Orlando’s GLBT Community Center of Central Florida.

While the two organizations mirror each other in many ways,

there are some significant differences.

‘Gender confusion’ counseling Boys of any race and religion can join Trail Life, same as the Boy Scouts, but all adult leaders must be Christian — no Jews, no Muslims. The BSA opens its leadership to adults of all faiths.

Many churches and religious organizations sponsor Boy Scout troops, but basically provide meeting spaces for the organizations. Trail Life troops will be part of the ministry of the churches that charter them.

And while Trail Life will ban openly gay boys, if a child shows same-sex attraction or “gender confusion,” he will be counseled by the church ministry along with his parents.

“Twenty-five percent of younger boys experience some sense of gender confusion or sexuality fluidity and we will help guide him in a way that affirms his God-given physical biology,” said Trail Life board chairman John Stemberger, an Orlando attorney and Eagle Scout who fought the inclusion of gay scouts.

Stemberger, whose OnMyHonor.net gave birth to Trail Life, contends that Trail Life isn’t an imitation of the Boy Scouts — it’s better.

“We are aiming to build a program that is safer, stronger and more principled in every way,” he wrote.

To Collier, Trail Life represents a return to what the Boy Scouts once were before they compromised their values to reflect a changing society.

“We are honoring the legacy of BSA, but raising the standard,” Collier said. “The BSA compromised their standards. We will not compromise this mission by

being weak and succumbing to pressure.”

Jan. 1 launch date Stephens views Trail Life as a desperate and futile escape to a past that no longer exists.

“What they want is the Norman Rockwell Boy Scouts. Well, we’re not in the Norman Rockwell world anymore,” Stephens said.

Stemberger contends Trail Life — which expects to formally launch on Jan. 1 when the Boy Scouts’ policy on accepting gay Scouts goes in effect — is poised to capture those dissatisfied with the acceptance of gays in society and the Scouts.

In an organizational meeting held in Nashville, Tenn., this month, Trail Life attracted about 1,200 adult leaders from 44 states.

What is happening with the Boy Scouts now is what happened to the Girl Scouts of America in 1995when they started accepting lesbian girls, Stemberger has asserted. That decision led to the creation of American Heritage Girls, which now has more than 20,000 members, compared with 2.3 million Girl Scouts.

No mass exodus So far, there’s no sign of a mass defection of Boy Scouts to Trail Life.

The Central Florida Council of Boy Scouts says only three churches have withdrawn their sponsorship of Scout troops.

Since the decision was announced in May, the sevencounty district has added 2,000 new families, and expects to attract 6,500 by the end of October, said Bill Gosselin, director of operations.

“This year we are on pace to have more growth than last year,” Gosselin said.

BSA National Commissioner Tico Perez, an Orlando attorney, says fewer than 1 percent of the organization’s 2.6 million youth members have left the Boy Scouts since the change in policy.

“Ninety-nine percent of our units are happily still with us,” Perez said. “We are trying to serve all of America, and we believe that we’re are doing it successfully.”

EDITORIAL

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SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013

Solutions to Navy Yard tragedy remedial Our office, the national headquarters of the National Congress of Black Women and my home are about a mile from the Washington Navy Yard. By now everyone’s more than familiar with the national tragedy that occurred there.

Anchored by strong community organizations that protect the vested interests of local residents, the area surrounding the Navy Yard epitomizes the good in urban growth. The shooting tragedy at the Navy Yard is antithetical to the spirit and goals of our neighborhood.

Analyzing tragedy The complexities of analyzing such a tragedy are myriad. With complete certainty, we’ll see a renewal of the debate to modify current gun laws. We can be just as sure to see a re-examination of the role of contracted services in the execution of government

vent a recurrence of such a horrific event. The theme of the day was Dr. E. Faye “a comprehensive solution”. Integral to that initial conversation Williams, was the question of how to take Esq. weapons from the hands of the TRICE EDNEY WIRE mentally ill. The events of the Navy Yard reinforce the need to adfunction and the manner in which dress that issue specifically. contract employees are screened to qualify for employment.

Mental illness Unfortunately, I’m not sure Based on behavioral informawe’ll engage in a complete or thor- tion that has surfaced about the ough examination or discussion current alleged shooter, more than of the question of mental illness several incidents that brought his and its impact in mass shooting mental stability into question events. Among discussion points, were ignored. Although I abhor this remains one of the most im- his actions, I cannot lay complete portant. I say this because a com- blame at the feet of someone who mon element among recent mass was non compos mentis. That shootings has been attribution of said, I must question the judgsome level of mental illness upon ment of those who discharged the shooters. him, those law enforcement offiImmediately after the Sandy cials who minimized his potenHook Massacre, we, as a nation, tially criminal acts, and the naval were willing to entertain a wide- officials who took and ignored reranging discussion on how to pre- ports of his aberrant behavior.

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: NEW POPEMOBILE

I also question the judgment and concern of family and friends who would ignore or deny the clues of a fully-grown man locking up in a room for hours playing violent video games or behaving menacingly towards neighbors.

Reportedly, the alleged shooter’s father justified one of his son’s shooting rampages by claiming PTSD related to trauma suffered during the events of 9/11.

Ball dropped It is clear that along the way the ball was dropped - multiple times. These failures almost excuse the lack of attention paid to his behavioral background by the contractor that hired him. Almost, but not quite.

In retrospect, many seem to recognize the problems that were affecting the alleged shooter. In afterthought, folks are willing to disclose their understanding of the clues that signaled mental ill-

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 187 ‘Cupcake Saturday’ – HBCUs all over are taking the same beatdowns during football and basketball season, primarily due to alumni and community nonsupport. HBCU athletic directors know that revenue from a single University of Florida, Ohio State, or University of Miami football game, or a Duke University or University of Kentucky basketball game, can generate enough money to completely subsidize a season of some non-revenue sports like volleyball and baseball.

I wholeheartedly agree with former FAMU Coach Billy Joe’s analysis on Page A2 this week. But his analysis is incomplete.

Look at our front-page story. Black America spends a TRILLION dollars a year on goods and services. And it ain’t spent just on food, clothing, and shelter.

It’s all up to Black America. If we donated more money to our schools on a regular basis like we buy ethnic hair and beauty aids, we could build up their financial endowments, and these money games wouldn't be an issue. HBCU presidents and athletic directors would not be forced to “prostitute themselves,” in

quick takes from #2: straight, no chaser

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq. PUBLISHER

Coach Joe’s words, and literally put their students’ health at risk.

And you FAMU Rattlers should especially blame themselves. You wouldn't even support the Florida Classic, the biggest revenue-producing game of the season, against your archrival BethuneCookman University last year because the Marching ‘100' didn't show up. I’m shaking my head at all y’all. It’s hard for me to believe the Wildcats would desert their school the same way.

So what’s it gonna be? Your hair or your school?

Contact me at ccherry2@gmail. com; holler at me at www.facebook. com/ccherry2; follow me on Twitter @ ccherry2.

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

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Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1928-2004), Founder Julia T. Cherry, Senior Managing Member, Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Cassandra CherryKittles, Charles W. Cherry II, Managing Members Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Chief Executive Officer Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher Dr. Valerie Rawls-Cherry, Human Resources Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor Lynnette Garcia, Marketing Consultant/Sales Linda Fructuoso, Marketing Consultant/Sales, Circulation Angela VanEmmerik, Creative Director Chicago Jones, Eugene Leach, Louis Muhammad, Lisa Rogers-Cherry, Circulation James Harper, Andreas Butler, Ashley Thomas, Staff Writers Delroy Cole, Kim Gibson, Photojournalists MEMBER National Newspaper Publishers Association Society of Professional Journalists Florida Press Association Associated Press National Newspaper Association

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Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Lessons of ‘The Butler’ still relevant today “Everything you are and everything you have is because of that butler.”

– Gloria Gaines, wife of Cecil Gaines as played by Oprah Winfrey in “The Butler.”

NATE BEELER, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

ness. Now that it’s too late, numerous remedial solutions are being floated.

The larger picture of this event confirms for me that mental illness is a more pervasive problem that’s increasingly expressed with violent outcomes. I believe we can no longer ignore, deny or excuse the acts of our associates because we don’t want to cause problems for them. There’re no easy answers, but we surely reject actions and behaviors that bring death and mayhem upon those who do not deserve it.

We tend to think of politicians, pundits and school books as the great troubadours of history and shapers of public opinion. But when a movie like “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” comes along, we are reminded that nothing moves the spirit or traces time like simple storytelling.

The film not only offers a rare glimpse inside the everyday world of the dignified men in tuxedos who silently serve American presidents and their guests, in two hours it covers four decades of civil rights history as seen through the eyes of a Black White House butler who worked through eight administrations.

After seeing the film, three observations stood out for me. First, the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin reminds us of the 1955 murder of Emmitt Till as described in the movie. Second, the re-

MARC H. MORIAL TRICE EDNEY WIRE

cent extremist and Supreme Court attacks on voting rights are wake up calls as chilling as the 1960’s Freedom Ride bus bombings depicted in the film.

Lastly, growing income inequality and the less-than– living-wages paid to millions of African-American and working class citizens today recall the decadeslong fight for equal pay that was waged by Black White House butlers in the movie.

Generational divide “The Butler” also has some interesting insights into the ideological and generational divide within African-American families that has sometimes caused rifts between fathers and sons, as well as mothers and daughters, who have different perspectives on the pace and methods of civil rights activism.

The movie also explodes the myth of mindless subservience often associated with Black maids and butlers by highlighting their dignity, intelligence, and sometimes subversive contributions to African-American progress. Young people today must not forget that “everything they are and everything they have” was made possible by the grandmothers and grandfathers who came before them, many of whom struggled to make a better life for the next generation.

Finally, the admonition to “The Butler,” Cecil Gaines, that “the room should feel empty when you are in it,” reminds us of the phenomenon of “double consciousness” – the need to assume a dual identity – first described

by W.E.B. Du Bois that many African-Americans from all walks of life still experience today.

Marc Morial is president/CEO of the National Urban League. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Kudos to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation In a recent article I posed the question, “Hey, Chocolate City, Where Da Money At?” Well, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) gave a resounding answer to that inquiry on Tuesday, September 17, 2013.

Starting a new campaign to strengthen the economy in Black communities, the organization, under the leadership of Board Chairman, Congressman Chaka Fatah, (D-Pa.), announced it would invest $5 million with Black banks, “as part of a broader effort to increase the availability of loans for businesses and individuals in African-American communities.”

I applaud the CBCF for this initiative; it is a great example of how we can leverage the dollars over which we have control and stewardship.

In essence, the CBCF said here’s our money, and our members are doing the right thing with it.

Of course, after my kudos come my questions. As commendable as the actions of the CBCF are, they do bring forth questions in my mind regarding other institutions, organizations, and associations.

NAACP questioned I want to start with the NAACP because Mr. Ben Jealous recently announced his resignation, and while doing so lauded the organization’s tremendous increase in fundraising under his leadership. Under Jealous, the donor base grew from 16,422 in 2007,

NAN AWOL JAMES CLINGMAN NNPA COLUMNIST

just before he started, to 132,543 last year. Revenue has grown from $25.7 million in 2008 to $46 million in 2012, according to an article in USA Today.

Forty-six million dollars is a lot of money.

How much is deposited or invested in Black banks, NAACP? With both Harbor Bank and Industrial Bank in the immediate vicinity of NAACP national headquarters, I am sure most - if not all - of those funds are already nestled away and doing great work in those two fine Black banks. The CBCF had $5 million and they did the right thing with it. Has the NAACP done the same with its $46 million? I trust they have.

NUL missing Hey, Marc Morial, and the National Urban League, you’re next. Where is your money? How many millions do you control? Any Black banks listed on your financial statements?

This is not a trivial or unimportant question. Here in my hometown, back in 1996-99, a Black owned credit union was started just across the street from our local Urban League Office Building. Although asked to do so, the Urban League did not have an account at the credit union.

All right Al Sharpton, you’re up next. How many millions does the National Action Network (NAN) have in Black-owned banks?

With your clarion call for, “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!” surely NAN has taken the economically positive step of keeping its funds in banks that can help create those much needed jobs.

Other Black groups Uh-oh, I am running out of space. So what about the rest of our Black organizations? Rainbow PUSH, SCLC, Masons, Shriners, Fraternities, Sororities, Social Clubs, Links, Black entertainers, Black rappers, Black athletes, Black business owners? Are you even considering putting some of your millions into Black banks?

Finally, “as I close,” Black churches, where is your money? Is any of it sitting in a Black bank? Churches that are domiciled in cities where Black banks exist should all have accounts at those banks/and or credit unions.

This is too easy, brothers and sisters, and it’s all about a Biblical principle: Good stewardship. It’s now time for the altar call. Let the Black church say, Amen!

Jim Clingman is an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati and can be reached through his website, Blackonomics.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013

EDITORIAL

Military led the way to ending segregation in America A few weeks ago, the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington was commemorated in cities and towns across the United States with an emphasis on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and his call for an integrated nation and a tearing down of the walls of segregation.

But unknown to many AfricanAmericans is that 15 years before the March on Washington, President Harry S. Truman had signed Executive Order 9981, which directed an end to the official policy of segregation in the military.

The presidential order did not change the reality of race relations in the military overnight, but the invasion of the Republic of Korea on June 25, 1950 by North Korean forces seeking to unify the Korean peninsula under communist rule set the stage for our nation’s first integrated fighting force.

When the Korean War began, there were 100,000 African-Americans in the military with most of them serving in segregated units.

When the Korean War Armistice was signed in July 1953, there were over 600,000 African-Americans serving their country in integrated units.

In three years of vicious fighting in Korea, African-Americans repeatedly demonstrated their bravery in combat. They fought to keep the Republic of Korea free and democratic even though they were denied the ability to vote and other rights in the United States. They fought because it was the right thing to do and it was their duty.

LT. COL. TIMOTHY WASHINGTON TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

rican-American Navy fighter pilot. He ultimately became the first African-American aviator to be killed in action in the War in December 1950. Ensign Brown’s wingman, Lt. Thomas Hudner, crashed his aircraft to conduct a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to rescue Brown. Hudner did not see a downed African-American pilot. He saw a fellow American and risked his life to save him. For his heroic actions, Lt. Hudner received the Medal of Honor and Brown was posthumously honored with the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Daniel Chappie James

tegration of the military during the Korean War changed the Armed Forces forever and set the tone for segregation to be eliminated from all aspects of American society.

When fighting ended in Korea, there were more African-American military officers than ever before and expanded opportunities for minorities to be promoted.

Korean War veterans used GI benefits and the experience they gained while serving to earn college degrees, buy homes, secure jobs with corporations and the federal government, and become community leaders. Many veterans, and particularly Korean War veterans, made significant contributions in the struggle for equality and integration.

Innis, Meredith, Evers Roy Innis and James Meredith are both Korean War veterans. Innis served in the Army from 1950 to 1952 and became the leader of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). James Meredith served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1960 and was the first African-American admitted to the University of Mississippi in 1962. He later led the 1966 “March Against Fear” from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi.

Medgar Evers was a WWII Army veteran and fought in the Battle of Normandy. After the war, he earned his college degree and became a civil rights activist. Evers was assassinated in 1963 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

Daniel Chappie James flew fighter planes in WWII and Korea and was one of many Air Force pilots in the Korean War who were Tuskegee Airmen. James went on to provide inspiration to me and some of my friends as we considered a career in the military when he became the first African-American Four Star General in the military.

The Marine Corps began integrating early in the Korean War and African-American Marines fought gallantly at the battle of Pusan, one of the first major battles of the War. The Army disbanded the 24th McKissick, Conyers, Infantry Regiment (Buffalo SolJesse Brown diers) and other all African-Amer- Rangel Floyd McKissick was also a Jesse Brown, an Ohio State ican units during the War and sucgraduate, was the nation’s first Af- cessfully integrated its troops. In- WWII Army veteran and served

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VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE FED

ERIC ALLIE, CAGLECARTOONS.COM

in the European Theater. After the war, he graduated from Morehouse College and later became the first African-American student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Law School. In 1966, McKissick became the leader of CORE. Two African-American members of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Conyers and Charles Rangel, are Korean War veterans.

Conyers has been a congressman for almost 50 years representing a district in Detroit and serves on the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

Congressman Rangel, a native New Yorker, is known as a “Champion for Justice.’’ He received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his actions at the Battle of KunuRi while fighting in Korea and he continues to fight for freedom and justice even today.

The U.S. military, and specifically our nation’s involvement in

the Korean War, was the beginning of the end of institutionalized segregation in America and helped create an environment that led to President Johnson signing legislation and the Supreme Court rendering decisions that called for the fair and equal treatment of all citizens.

As we continue to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Signing of the Armistice that ended fighting in Korea, we should remember that African-American service members helped to save that nation from communist oppression and opened doors for all African-Americans in the United States Americans through their service and sacrifice.

Lt. Col. Timothy Washington is Deputy Director of the Department of Defense 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee. Click on this story at www.flcourier. com to write your own response.

Black America more pro-war than ever Barack Obama has proven to be a warmongering thug for global capital, many times over. The question is: Have African-Americans, his most loyal supporters, joined the bi-partisan War Party, rejecting the historical Black consensus on social justice and peace (or, at least, the “peace” part)?

Ever since national pollsters began tracking African-American public opinion, surveys have shown Blacks to be consistently clustered at the left side of the national political spectrum.

More than any other ethnicity, African-Americans have opposed U.S. military adventures abroad, by wide margins. Indeed, the sheer size of the “blood lust” gap between the races indicates that the Black international worldview differs quite radically from White Americans and, to a lesser but marked degree, from Hispanics.

That is, until the advent of Obama.

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

A Washington Post/ABC poll conducted between August 28 and September 1 showed 40 percent of African-Americans supported President Obama’s threats of airstrikes against Syria – two points more than Whites and nine percent more than Hispanics.

Majorities of all three groups opposed bombing Syria – 56 percent of Blacks, 58 percent of Whites and 63 percent of Hispanics – but African-Americans were, for the first time in polling history, the most bellicose major ethnicity in the United States.

A Pew Research poll from the same period showed Blacks

somewhat less supportive of airstrikes, with only 22 percent of African-Americans and 29 percent of Whites in favor.

Fifty-three percent of Blacks and 47 percent of Whites were opposed (Hispanic data were not made available.) However, about one-quarter of both Blacks and Whites were allowed to choose “undecided” in the Pew survey, without which option the results would likely have been more in line with the Washington Post/ ABC poll, with large numbers of Blacks aligning themselves with Obama.

Obama’s cheerleaders Black elected officials, overwhelmingly Democrats, act as role models of impotence, eunuchs in Obama’s harem and, when required, cheerleaders in his wars.

Had Obama not “postponed” his attack on Syria, there is every rea-

What do we learn from the poverty data?

When the poverty data was released on Sept. 17, comparing the poverty situation in 2011 to that in 2012, many hoped that poverty levels would drop as an indication of economic good news. But while the GDP (gross domestic product) has risen, and the wealthy are gaining income, those stuck at the bottom are still simply stuck.

Poverty rates in 2013, at more than 15 percent, are almost the same as they were last year. Poverty in the African-American community, at more than 27 percent has not improved. Similarly, Latinos experience an unemployment rate over 26 percent. Again no improvement.

In the face of this data, Congress decided to cut food programs by $40 billion, which kicks between 2 and 4 million people out of the program. Additionally, there are work requirements now imposed on those who receive food stamps. With official unemployment rates exceeding 7 percent, where are the poor supposed to find employment?

Congressional stereotypes

DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

Mayors across the country are faced with these kinds of choices, so this can’t be local policy. It has to be national policy to raise the wages of those at the bottom.

Sure, the business community will fight this, asserting that they won’t hire if wages rise. That’s not necessarily true. Higher wages may cut their profits just a bit, but shouldn’t employers be willing to see slightly lower profits in exchange for the economic survival of their workers?

No wages Those who aren’t on the bottom now exhale and say this issue doesn’t matter to them. But the way we are going, the person who is living high on the hog today might be making low wages (or no wages) tomorrow. The low wage issue is important to all of us.

This poverty issue affects all of us, and we need to respond to the fact that too many of our brothers and sisters (of all races) are poor and unemployed or under employed. Our indifference is a profound concurrence in the oppression of others.

It appears that this is a war, or at least a series of aggressive actions. Congressional stereotypes about the poor has driven their policy decisions to cut back programs like food stamps and to require work as a condition of receiving nutritional assistance.

In Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed legislation that would raise the wage for those who work in “big box” Dr. Malveaux is an author and econstores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy. He was stuck between the choice to create more omist based in Washington, D.C. Click jobs or to impose fair wages. He chose the on this story at www.flcourier.com to former. write your own response.

son to believe that he would have gotten the support of about half the Congressional Black Caucus – just as when his war against Libya was challenged, in June of 2011.

Perhaps the most curious and, in a sense, encouraging aspect of Obama-whipped Black political behavior is that most of those afflicted pay little attention to the first Black president’s actual policies.

Political convictions The topic of Black conversation is usually not “What is Obama doing,” but, rather, “How is Obama doing?” His fans aren’t concerned about his legislative agenda, and are often shocked when informed that their icon engineered preventive detention laws and wants to cut Social Security.

You are liable to be called a lying bastard, or even attacked, simply for citing his political re-

cord in Black settings where, typically, it is never debated or scrutinized. Instead, the subject of constant discussion is: Who is making trouble for Obama? What are they doing now to smear the man?

In short, Black people aren’t expressing their political convictions when giving tacit or active support to Obama, on the foreign or domestic fronts. They are, in fact, ignoring their own convictions in favor of upholding the icon.

As a result, what Cornel West calls the “Black prophetic tradition” slips into a coma. We know it will awake, but not without damage.

Glen Ford is executive editor of the Black Agenda Report. He can be contacted at Glen.Ford@ BlackAgendaReport.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Five years after the crash began Five years after the beginning of the financial collapse and the Great Recession, where are we? President Obama has offered Americans a progress report.

He hailed the steps taken to turn the economy around and rescue the auto and financial industries. He used the occasion, sensibly, to challenge Republicans in the Congress not to do more damage to the slow recovery by manufacturing another unnecessary budget crisis.

The president was candid about how far we have to go. He suggested that the very trends that were destroying the middle class prior to the Great Recession have gotten worse. The wealthiest 1 percent has captured virtually all of the rewards from growth coming out of the recession, while most Americans haven’t experienced a recovery at all.

This isn’t an accident. The auto industry was rescued, and the big three are generating profits and beginning to hire more workers. The big banks were rescued, and are now bigger, more concentrated and more dangerous than ever. But while the big boats were righted, too little was done for the boats on the bottom.

Mass unemployment

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

ers, or those displaced from jobs. Citibank was saved from bankruptcy; Detroit was allowed to sink. Now, House Republicans are manufacturing another budget crisis, once more holding the economy and the government hostage, to get what they want.

And what they want is to force working and poor people to pick up more of the cost of cleaning up Wall Street’s excesses. They say they are concerned about deficits and about making government smaller, but that’s simply a cover story.

Shared sacrifice They want to cut education, child nutrition, Head Start, Meals on Wheels for seniors, Medicaid and other domestic programs, while providing more money for the Pentagon.

Americans respond to calls for shared sacrifice, but the current arrangement lavishes the benefits on the top and exacts the sacrifice from working and poor people.

That isn’t right. Five years later, President Obama says we have removed the rubble but not laid the new foundation for growth and good jobs.

But a new foundation will require a level playing field. And that will require politicians who will defend principles, not interests. Five years later, we still have a lot of work to do.

We still experience mass unemployment, with some 21 million people in need of full-time work. Wages for most workers are stagnant at best. The jobs being created have lower pay and fewer benefits than the jobs that were lost. The housing market is coming back, but about 20 percent of homeowners are still underwater. The rich are getting richer, while the middle class continues to sink. This is a matter of choice, not fate.

Rev. Jesse Jackson is president/CEO of The government acted quickly and boldly to bail out the big banks, and rescue the the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Click on auto companies. But it was slow and tim- this story at www.flcourier.com to write id in offering aid to underwater homeown- your own response.

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NATION

SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013 to get their hands on a gun, then we’ve got to work as hard as possible for the sake of our children.

We’ve got to be ones who are willing to do more work to make it harder,” he said to applause.

Other cities hit hard

E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/MCT

A shooting victim is taken from the scene near the intersection of 50th and Wood in Chicago on Sept. 19. Thirteen people were shot when a gunman opened fire on a basketball game at a park.

Another call for end to gun violence in the streets President focuses on Chicago shootings at Congressional Black Caucus awards dinner TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

In rare remarks about his hometown of Chicago, President Obama has called for an end to the scourge of gun violence that has plagued America for decades in Black neighborhoods and is becoming increasingly common in mass shootings in unpredictable places such as schools, movie theaters and among civilians on military bases.

“And finally, we can’t rest until all of our children can go to

school or walk down the street free from the fear that they will be struck down by a stray bullet,” the president said to applause at the Congressional Black Caucus (CBCF) Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner Saturday night.

“Just two days ago, in my hometown of Chicago, 13 people were shot during a pickup basketball game, including a 3-year-old girl.

Tomorrow night I’ll be meeting and mourning with families in this city who now know the same unspeakable grief of families in Newtown, and Aurora, and Tucson, and Chicago, and New Orleans, and all across the country – people whose loved ones were torn from them without headlines sometimes, or public outcry. But it’s happening every single day.”

‘Came up short’ The last time Obama spoke as strongly about gun violence, it was in his State of the Union Address Feb. 12, only weeks after the Jan. 29 shooting death of majorette Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old Chicago teen, who had participated in his inaugural parade. That was also only two months following the mass shooting of 20 children and six adult staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

“We fought a good fight earlier this year, but we came up short.

And that means we’ve got to get back up and go back at it. Because as long as there are those who fight to make it as easy as possible for dangerous people

The president also indicated his understanding that gun control alone is not the answer. Among the hardest hit neighborhoods around the country, including Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, Philadelphia and New Orleans are places that are also plagued by gross poverty, drugs, gangs and hopelessness – topics that the president also rarely address, but, vaguely alluded to on Sept. 21.

“So we’ve got to do more to rebuild neighborhoods, help some of the hardest-hit towns in America get back on their feet,” he said.

“We’ve got to raise the minimum wage. Nobody who works full time in the wealthiest nation on Earth should have to raise their children in poverty. Those are fights we need to win.”

Talks fizzled out In Chicago, the 3-year-old boy, among the 13 shot Sept. 19, remained in critical condition earlier this week after he was shot in the cheek. No one was killed in that particular shooting, but at least two other minors were also injured. Deaths by homicide have become a regular occurrence in American cities. Last year, more than 500 were killed in Chicago.

Talks of gun control legislation fizzled out early this year as Republicans and Democrats remain polar opposites on the political issue. As Black newspapers and media have long reported on the struggle to end the carnage based on the need to address deep social issues, the debate over guns and gun laws was thrust back into the national media last week after 12 people were killed by a mass shooter at the Navy Yard in Washington. The shooter was then killed by police.

The morning after the CBCF dinner, Obama spoke at a memorial for the victims. His remarks recalled just how common vio-

lence really has become in America.

“On the night that we lost Martin Luther King Jr. to a gunman’s bullet, Robert Kennedy stood before a stunned and angry crowd in Indianapolis and he broke the terrible news. And in the anguish of that moment, he turned to the words of an ancient Greek poet, Aeschylus: “’Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.’”

‘Keep marching’ Robert Kennedy himself would be felled by an assassin’s bullet only two months later. His brother, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated five years earlier.

Despite the increasing commonness of America’s gun violence, the press to end it has been mainly by those who refuse to accept it. Obama has promised to be one of those – driven by the quest to end the human suffering.

“The tragedy and the pain that brings us here today is extraordinary. It is unique. The lives that were taken from us were unique.

The memories their loved ones carry are unique, and they will carry them and endure long after the news cameras are gone,” he said at the Navy Yard Memorial. “But part of what wears on as well is the sense that this has happened before. Part of what wears on us, what troubles us so deeply as we gather here today, is how this senseless violence that took place in the Navy Yard echoes other recent tragedies.”

Facing a political uphill battle, what the president is able to do about the tragedies and how, remains a mystery. But, concluding his speech to the CBCF, he at least promised to stay committed: “We’re going to have to keep marching. And I’m proud that I’ll be, at least for the next three and a half years here in Washington and then a whole lot of years after that, I’m going to be marching with you.”

African-Americans to be accepted in Alabama sororities Exclusion of Blacks prompted protests at Tuscaloosa university TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Black women are joining traditionally White sororities at the University of Alabama amid efforts to end racial segregation within Greek-letter social groups, the head of the school said last week.

University President Judy Bonner said 11 Black students and three students from other minority groups received bids, or invitations, to join a historically White sorority. Of that group, four Black students and two students from other minority backgrounds have accepted those invitations, Bonner said. She expected the numbers to rise as the academic year continues.

“I am confident that we will achieve our objective of a Greek system that is inclusive, accessible and welcoming to students of all races and ethnicities,” Bonner said in a video statement. “We will not tolerate anything less.”

Passed over The university’s Greek organizations have been segregated by race since the first Black students enrolled and created social organizations. One oversight organization has been composed of White sororities and the other composed of minority sororities. Only a handful of Blacks attempted to join the historically White Greek groups at Alabama, where there are also historically Black fraternities and sororities.

But that system came under scrutiny when the campus newspaper, The Crimson White, reported allegations this month that two prospective Black members were passed over by all-White sororities because of pressure from alumnae, and in one case, an adviser.

The coverage caused a wide-ranging debate, even prompting Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, an alumnus, to say that fraternal organizations should choose members based on their qualifications, not their race.

Protest on campus The debate came at an embarrassing time for Bonner’s university, which is marking the 50th anniversary of its racial integration. Alabama admitted its first Black students in 1963 after then-Gov. George C. Wallace infamously stood in a schoolhouse door to protest their enrollment. Wallace relented under pressure from President John F. Kennedy’s administration.

Several hundred people marched on Sept. 18 at the university to oppose racial segregation, and professors at a Faculty Senate meeting denounced long-standing racial segregation in fraternities and sororities.

Bonner made changes meant to weaken racial barriers. She required that the historically White sororities use a recruitment process in which new members can be added at any time. She also expanded the maximum allowable size of the groups to 360 people to increase the chances for prospective members.

“While some sororities are farther along than others, I am encouraged that chapter members are proactively reaching out to a diverse group of young women,” she said.

JAY PRICE/MCT

Maj. Dawud Agbere, left, talks with Afghan soldiers at Camp Shaheen in Afghanistan. Agbere was the only Muslim U.S. Army chaplain in Afghanistan.

U.S. ready to begin major drawdown of troops, equipment from Afghanistan

BY JAY PRICE MCCLATCHY FOREIGN STAFF (MCT)

KABUL, Afghanistan — As the United States begins the major phase of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, military officials say equipment and vehicles are moving out of the country briskly but that planning the final details has been complicated because negotiations with the Afghan government have stalled over how many American troops might remain.

The complex push to get the equipment and vehicles out of landlocked Afghanistan and back to the U.S. is expected to cost up to $7 billion.

A year ago, the U.S. had about 50,000 vehicles in Afghanistan.

About 25,000 are left, along with 20,000 shipping containers. About 1,200 damaged, worn-out or outmoded mine-resistant trucks will be chopped up and sold for scrap, and other vehicles will be loaned to partners in the NATO-led coalition here,

turned over to Afghan forces or sold to friendly nations, said Brig. Gen. Duane A. Gamble, the deputy commander of the 1st Theater Sustainment Command in Kabul.

December 2014 deadline The coalition’s combat mission ends in December 2014. Senior U.S. commanders say they expect Afghanistan to sign an agreement calling for some U.S. troops to remain in the country as trainers and advisers, but negotiations over those remaining troops have been on hold for months now.

That’s forced logistics commanders to develop scenarios for what they’ll do if there’s no agreement and all U.S. forces are sent home, simply because they must have plans ready for all the possible situations.

An interim drawdown goal set by President Barack Obama is to reduce the 62,000 U.S. troops here to 34,000 by mid-February, and the departure of equipment and vehicles is essen-

tially keeping pace with that of the troops, Gamble said.

‘On a glide path’ The amount of materiel being shipped out has been relatively steady for months, but it’s expected to accelerate soon as the main part of that drawdown begins with the end of the summer fighting season.

It shouldn’t be a problem to handle that jump in volume, said Col. Jim Utley of U.S. Transportation Command, which oversees the logistics of getting people, vehicles and equipment to and from the United States and foreign operations.

“As the fighting season winds down and units start to redeploy, we’re sure the cargo pace will pick up, but I think we’ve built enough capacity that we can definitely meet the requirements, and we’re on a glide path to meet the presidential drawdown goals, so I think everything is going as well as could be expected,” Utley said.

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PHOTOS BY AL DRAGO/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/MCT

Michael Twitty hands a freshly cooked batch of sweet potato biscuits to Clarissa Clifton, a food historian from the Latta Plantation, during a fundraiser at Stagville Plantation.

How slaves would have cooked

BY ANDREA WEIGL NEWS & OBSERVER (MCT)

R

ALEIGH, N.C. — Michael Twitty was cutting up cooked racks of ribs.

Chef Hugh Acheson, known for his appearances as a judge on “Top Chef,” was on Twitty’s right, slicing pork shoulders.

Chapel Hill, N.C., cookbook author Nancie McDermott was on Twitty’s left, sorting cut ribs onto platters to take to a waiting buffet table. Meanwhile, a half dozen video cameramen and photographers circled the table, swooping in for close-ups.

Clearly, the star of the night was Twitty.

A culinary historian and living-history interpreter from Rockville, Md., the 36-year-old Twitty was virtually unknown outside a small circle of food writers, historians and academics before he composed a blog post in late June responding to revelations that Food Network star Paula Deen had previously used the “n” word and made other racially insensitive remarks.

Took Deen to task In the post, Twitty didn’t chastise Deen for her use of the racial epithet. Instead he took her to task, along with the food establishment, for failing to give credit to slaves for their starring role in the creation of Southern food.

“Systemic racism in the world of Southern food and public discourse — not your past epithets — are what really piss me off,” Twitty wrote.

Twitty’s post went viral via social media. The Huffington Post reposted it. Twitty’s blog, Afroculinaria.com, went from a few hundred visitors to 155,000 in one day. He was soon fielding calls from book agents and film crews.

One call was from internationally renowned chef Rene Redzepi, who invited Twitty to

The setting for this event was unlike any other. Stagville is one of the few historic sites that has original slave dwellings. Horton Grove is a collection of four houses that slaves built and then lived in for decades, four families to a house. The slaves likely cooked communally outside the row of houses, just as Twitty and others did on Sept. 7.

But a lot had changed for

Culinary historian Michael Twitty, who recently gained national attention for his Paula Dean blog post, explores the roots of Southern food at North Carolina plantation site

Ancestry traced

Cooked at plantation

Surrounded by history

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Dinner is prepared for guests as Michael Twitty, a culinary historian and living-history interpreter, awaits the genetic-testing results that will determine where his ancestors in Africa had lived.

speak at the annual MAD Symposium, a food conference held in Denmark. For those who don’t know Redzepi, whose restaurant Noma has been named the best in the world, that’s like being invited to perform during the food world’s equivalent of the Super Bowl halftime show.

In his blog post, Twitty invited Deen to cook with him at the Stagville historic site in northern Durham County, N.C. Before the Civil War, Stagville, owned by the Bennehan-Cameron family, was one of the largest plantations in the South, with 900 slaves and 30,000 acres.

Deen never responded to Twitty’s invitation, but Acheson, McDermott and other food writers offered to help Twitty at the event in early September.

McDermott, a longtime fan of Twitty, said, “He’s got so much knowledge that we don’t even know we don’t know.” About his recent fame, she added, “Nothing could make me happier than him getting the biggest microphone in the world.”

At Stagville, Twitty and several other living-history interpreters demonstrated how slaves would have cooked. They made potatoes and green beans in cast-iron pots nestled in coals, roasted meat on grills made from saplings and baked peach cobbler in Dutch ovens. The food was served as a fundraiser for the site’s foundation.

B

Pies are served up during a fundraiser on Sept. 7 at Stagville Plantation in Durham, N.C. Twitty since his initial invitation to Stagville. He had become news, and now a media entourage was there too — with or without Paula Deen.

Twitty grew up in and around Washington, D.C., surrounded by history. School trips took him to Mount Vernon, Williamsburg, Va., and Gettysburg, Pa. He was the child reading “Roll, Jordan, Roll,” by Eugene Genovese, and “The Slave Community,” by John Blassingame — big books he said he had “no business reading.”

Drawn to food and history He conducted oral history interviews with his grandparents.

Instead of saving his allowance to buy a car as a teenager, he spent it on slave narratives. Beyond history, he also was drawn to food, watching the Saturday morning lineup of cooking shows on PBS, including Southern food doyenne Nathalie Dupree.

When Twitty enrolled in AfroAmerican studies at Howard University, a professor encouraged him to focus on a few areas and hope to do one very well. Twitty choose culinary history.

He wanted to look at AfricanAmerican foodways through the

same lens that his mentor and cookbook author Joan Nathan looked at Jewish food. Twitty is Jewish and worked for a dozen years as a Jewish educator on weeknights and Sundays.

Undertook Southern Discomfort Tour Along the way, he became a living history interpreter. By 2005, Twitty’s side job began to take off. He went from doing one or two talks a year to 20 or more. Then he started The Cooking Gene, a project documenting African-American culinary traditions through his own family history.

Last year, he undertook a Southern Discomfort Tour, a 60day trip throughout the South visiting areas where his ancestors lived, researching his family’s genealogy and speaking at events.

This spring, Twitty realized it was time for a change. “I could earn more in a two-day presentation at a college than a month of teaching at Jewish school,” said Twitty, who quit teaching in May. “I closed that door. Then came Paula Deen.”

Asked about his life’s transformation, Twitty replied: “It’s too much to name.”

A month ago, he ate modernist cuisine and rubbed elbows with 600 chefs in Copenhagen. The next weekend, he was doing a Colonial cooking demonstration in Wheeling, W.Va. Then, he was up 20 hours straight cooking for the Stagville dinner, and almost his every move was documented.

A film crew from Raleigh’s Trailblazer Studio was on the scene, two writers and two photographers from Garden & Gun magazine, a photographer for the Stagville foundation, two friends taking photos for Twitty’s website, and local area media and local food bloggers.

Plus, there was a cameraman from African Ancestry, a genetics company that offered to conduct free genetic testing that would determine where Twitty’s ancestors in Africa had lived.

Twitty told them he wanted to learn the results at Stagville.

Mende and Akan Finally, after 6 p.m., the diners were seated and the buffet was laid with pork, ribs, biscuits, rolls, corn mush, green beans and potatoes. Before anyone could eat, Gina Paige, president of African Ancestry, pulled Twitty to the front facing a bank of photographers and videographers.

“I’m here today to tell Michael where in Africa his maternal ancestors come from and where in Africa his paternal ancestors come from. Ready?”

Paige asked.

Paige revealed that Twitty’s maternal ancestors came from the Mende people in Sierra Leone and his paternal ancestors were the Akan people of Ghana.

“I could not have done this in my living room. I had to do this in a place like this,” responded Twitty, in tears. “I had to do this with my family.”

And then he walked over and kissed the outside of one of the slaves’ homes.

CALENDAR

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SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013

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Onyx Awards to honor Brown, Morris, Dunlap The 10th Annual Onyx Awards will be held at the Rosen Centre Hotel, 9840 International Drive in Orlando, on Saturday, Oct. 26 beginning at 6 pm. This awards gala is the largest multicultural gathering throughout the state and recognizes the outstanding achievements of AfricanAmericans, and those of the African Diaspora.

Special honorees this year are Congresswoman Corrine Brown, Walter Morris and Ericka Dunlap.

Brown was elected to Congress in 1992. Brown was reelected to the U.S. House of Representatives for an 11th term in November 2012.

Morris, a 92-year-old World War II Veteran, who was the first African-American soldier selected to the original 555th Parachute Infantry test platoon, which became the first all-Black paratrooper platoon in the U. S. Army. He will be presented the “Legion of Merit” medal for the first time for his honorable service in World War II. Dunlap of Orlando was named Miss Florida 2003 and subsequently crowned Miss America 2004. Dunlap was the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss Florida.

For more about the honorees can complete details about the event, visit www.onyxawards.com.

Fair seeking minorities for Wall of Fame The Florida State Fair Authority is seeking nominations of outstanding African-American and Hispanic individuals who exemplify a commitment to excellence and have enhanced Florida’s rich heritage and culture within their respective communities.

Nominees must be Hispanic or African-American descent and may be from the public or private sector.

The nomination deadline is Oct. 31. Nomination forms are available by calling 813-627-4319.

All nominations will be reviewed by the Fair Authority’s African American and Hispanic Advisory committee members who will choose up to five candidates/nominees from each minority group.

Public to decide The public will then get to vote for their favorite nominee to determine those selected for the honor. Honorees will be recognized on the Wall of Fame at the Florida State Fair.

The honorees and/or their immediate family members (if the nominee is deceased) will be invited to the ceremony and presentation taking place during the fair on Feb. 8, 2014.

The 110th annual Florida State Fair will take place Feb. 6-17. The Florida State Fair – always in Tampa and always in February – is organized by the Florida State Fair Authority under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The Florida State Fair Authority operates from revenues generated from the annual State Fair and other ongoing events during the year.

For more information, visit online www.floridastatefair.com, call tollfree 800-345-32IR or 813621-7821.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Oldsmar: The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists’ 8th Annual Griot Drum Awards & Scholarship Banquet is Saturday, Oct. 12 at Nielsen, 501 Brooker Creek Blvd. The gala dinner will feature Dream Defenders executive director Phillip Agnew. More information: www.tbabj.com.

Fort Pierce: A free lecture on Oct. 12 by Minister Akbar Abdul Muhammad, International Representative of Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam is titled “Justice or Else: The Murder of James Anderson and the Attack on Black America.” The event is at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Marks Missionary Baptist Church, 921 Orange Ave. More details: Call Dr. Vibert White at 407-484-5673.

Apopka: Psychologist and author Dr. Robin Smith along with fitness expert Donna Richardson will be the guests at the “Take Back Your Life” Mind, Body and Soul Women’s Retreat Oct. 12 at Rejoice in the Lord Ministries. More information: www.tbyl.net.

St. Petersburg: Tickets are on sale now for Rick Ross at The Mahaffey Theater on Nov. 22.

Tampa: The George Edgecomb Bar Association and the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church are co-sponsoring the 2013 Learn Your Legal Rights–Community Workshop on Sept. 28 at New Hope Church, 3005 E. Ellicott St. RSVP to Attorney Henry G. Gyden at 813- 813 280-1385 or hgyden@ haaslewis.com.

Jacksonville: The city of Jacksonville has scheduled a First Coast AIDS Walk on Sept. 28. All funds above expenses will support the

Northeast Florida World AIDS Week Committee and the Vicki Hitzing Fund. More information: www.firstcoastaidswalk.org.

Orlando: Federation of Families of Central Florida will host its first Black Tie gala on Oct. 10 at the Rosen Centre, 9840 International Drive. More information on tickets and sponsorships: Visit www.ffcflinc.org, email jsheffield.ffcfl@gmail.com or call 407-334-8049.

Clearwater: John Legend and Tamar Braxton are scheduled at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Nov. 4.

Tampa: The Isley Brothers with Kem and Nephew Tommy are coming to the University of South Florida Sun Dome on Oct. 5 at 8 p.m.

St. Petersburg: Stephen “Ragga’’ Marley will perform Oct. 17 at Jannus Live.

Orlando: Soulbird will

present a SongVersation with India.Arie on Oct. 11 at the House of Blues Orlando and Oct. 17 at the Florida Theatre Jacksonville.

Daytona Beach: A Southern Soul Blues Concert featuring Mel Waiters, Sir Charles Jones and Bigg Robb is scheduled Oct. 5 at the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center.

St. Petersburg: Youths ages 7 to 11 can enjoy a night of football, kickball, ping-pong, foosball, video games and dance parties during “Freestyle Fridays” at the Fossil Park and Willis S. Johns Center, 6635 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N. First visit free; $6 each following visit. More information: 727893-7756.

St. Petersburg: First Fridays are held in downtown St. Petersburg at 250 Central Ave. between Second and Third Avenues from 5:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. More information: 727-393-3597.

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SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013

B3

HEALTH

Too many don’t know basic medical terms New Emory study reveals patients’ lack of understanding

Teri WagnerMorley, a patient who had a faulty replacement hip inserted, talks last year about her worries from her hospital room at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul, Minn. She has since had the faulty hip removed, but infection prevented doctors from putting in a new one.

BY HELENA OLIVIERO ATLANTA JOURNALCONSTITUTION (MCT)

When it comes to prostate cancer, patients sometimes need to make an important decision: Go with radical surgery or opt for a watch-and-wait approach? But what if the patient doesn’t understand basic medical terms?

A new Emory University study reveals a severe lack of understanding of the most basic medical terms, including “incontinence” and “urinary function.”

That raises concerns over whether patients are equipped to make meaningful decisions about their health care. The results of the study — involving 109 patients at urology clinics at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and Emory University Hospital — are published in this month’s issue of Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

ELIZABETH FLORES/MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE/MCT

What’s a prostate?

The participants agreed to answer questions about technical terms used in patient education materials that describe urinary, bowel and sexual function.

The findings included the following: only 15 percent of the patients participating in the study understood the meaning of “incontinence;” less than a third understood “urinary function” and “bowel habits;” and less than half knew the meaning of the word “impotence.”

“I was surprised by the magnitude of it, by just how poorly understand these terms are — these terms we use every single day with every single patient,” said Dr. Viraj Master, a physician and researcher at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute, also a lead investigator of the study.

“We have our work cut out for us.”

And, while most of the patients in the study were being seen by

a doctor for a prostate-related health concern, only a paltry 5 percent understood the function of the prostate.

Raising awareness The Emory study involved lowincome patients with a median reading level of a ninth-grader.

But other studies done on health literacy suggest this is a widespread phenomenon, Master said. Ultimately, Master said, a poor understanding of the meaning of potential side effects and other medical conditions could lead to a patient making decision he may later regret.

Rich Lapin, vice president of the Georgia Prostate Cancer Coalition, an Atlanta-based nonprofit focused on raising awareness of prostate cancer and encouraging regular screenings to help detect prostate cancer in its

earliest stages, said it’s critical for doctors to create an environment where patients feel comfortable asking questions.

Lapin, a 66-year-old prostate cancer survivor who was diagnosed with the disease more than a decade ago, said it’s also a good idea for patients to bring a loved one with them to doctor appointments to help take notes and ask follow-up questions. Lapin, who received his cancer diagnosis solo, said he wishes his wife had been with him to help him take in all of the information.

Still, Lapin said confusion over medical terms is only one barrier to going to the doctor. Lapin said the biggest hurdle is getting men to simply go to the doctor in the first place. Lapin said men are often so fearful or so averse to going to the doctor for prostate cancer screening, which typically in-

volves getting a digital rectum exam, they will put off getting the care they need.

“They worry it threatens their sense of masculinity,” he said.

Helpful tools Master agreed that the trepidation men experience is “very real.”

“And the onus is on us, once that patient comes to the doctor, we need to provide all of the necessary tools to facilitate understanding.”

Going forward, Master said Emory and Winship are working on computer programs to help explain medical terms and procedures. The plan is for the information to be presented on a hand-held device that would allow patients to replay and review until the information is fully understand. Watching a video, he

said, can be more effective than printed reading material. And, while he uses anatomical models during doctor’s visits, he said doctors need to develop better tools.

“We need tools that go beyond the 1950s models,” he said.

Working to make sure patients understand medical terms and conditions is also an area of concern at other hospitals.

Piedmont Healthcare is in the process of revamping its discharge protocol, which includes rewriting parts of the paperwork in more easy-to-understand language. Piedmont is also adding face-to-face time with patients and their caregivers as patients are discharged from the hospital to ensure that they understand the paperwork, their condition and what happens next in their care plan.

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FOOD

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SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013

Cool cooking with red hot tomatoes From family Features

Ketchup may be the first thing you think of when tomatoes are mentioned. But tomatoes are also the main ingredients in many other delicious meals.

“Tomatoes are incredibly versatile, buy them when in season for the best taste and texture,” said Chef Justin Timineri, executive chef and culinary ambassador, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “When in season, tomatoes are always on the top of my shopping list.”

Find more “Cool Cooking with Red Hot Tomatoes” recipes at http://bit.ly/ fltomatoes.

Tomato Cornbread Servings: 6 to 10 1 box cornbread mix 1 Florida onion, diced small Olive oil Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste 1 cup Jack cheese, grated 2 large Florida tomatoes, chopped Follow directions on cornbread box to mix batter. Preheat oven as listed on cornbread box instructions.

Preheat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add diced onion and drizzle of olive oil to cast iron skillet. Season onion with salt and pepper to taste, and cook onion until tender.

Fold half of cheese into cornbread batter. Pour cornbread batter into pan with onions. Add remaining cheese to top of cornbread mixture. Add diced tomatoes to top of cornbread mixture. Bake as directed on box. Remove from oven when golden brown and cooked throughout. Let cool slightly and serve warm.

Kids can: Pour cornbread batter into pan with adult supervision.

Grown up alert: Have an adult help with oven.

Tomatoes on Toast Servings: 2 2 Florida tomatoes 4 slices whole-wheat bread 2 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese Remove the core from tomatoes and cut into thin slices. Toast bread slices and assemble openfaced sandwiches by plac­ing 1/2 tablespoon of mayonnaise on each slice of bread. Place tomato slices on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Kids can: Help place tomatoes on toast and garnish with Parmesan cheese .

Pita Perfect Servings: 2 1 whole-wheat pita pocket 2 teaspoons light mayonnaise 1/2Florida tomato, sliced 1/2 Florida avocado, sliced 2 leaves Florida lettuce 4 pieces low-sodium bacon, cooked Slice pita pocket in half and spread with 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise on the inside of each half. Stuff each pita half with 2 slices tomato, 2 slices avocado, 1 lettuce leaf and 2 slices of bacon.

Kids can: Help stuff the ingredients into pita pockets.

Grown up alert: Adults may need to help slice tomatoes and avocados.

Chef Justin Timineri

Tomato Basil Soup Servings: 4 to 6 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 large onion, diced 2 tablespoons garlic, chopped fine 5 large fresh Florida tomatoes, chopped 1 teaspoon sugar 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped (save 4 to 6 for garnish) 3 cups low sodium vegetable stock 1/2 cup heavy cream Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste Sour cream for garnish, if desired Preheat a medium-sized stock pot over medium heat. Add olive oil to preheated pot. Carefully, add onion and garlic. Cook onions and garlic until almost trans­lucent. Add tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, fresh basil and vegetable stock. Simmer ingredients for at least 20 minutes.

Puree soup in blender or with an emersion blender. Be very careful when pureeing hot ingredients. Add cream to soup, and stir to combine.

Season soup with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crusty bread.

Garnish with basil leaves and sour cream.

Kids can: Help add the ingredients to the pot with adult supervision.

Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce Servings: 8 1 large fresh Florida tomato, crushed 1 cup tomato sauce 1 tablespoon minced garlic 2 teaspoons dried parsley 1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves, chopped (save 4 to 6 for garnish) 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 1 pound spaghetti 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese 1/2 teaspoon salt In a large saucepan, combine crushed tomato, tomato sauce, minced garlic, parsley, salt, basil and pepper. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer, with cover, for 30 to 45 minutes.

As end of simmering time nears, cook spaghetti in large pot of boil­ing salted water until al dente.

Cover spaghetti with marinara sauce. Garnish with basil leaves and Parmesan cheese. Serve warm.

Kids can: Garnish meal.

Health Benefits Did you know?

Florida tomatoes are a good source of lycopene (helps prevent skin damage from UV rays), vitamin C (needed for growth and repair of body tissues) and vitamin A (helps vision and bone growth).

Botanically, the tomato is a fruit. However, they are legally con­sidered a vege­table after a ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court.

How to buy

The best test for a great tomato is aroma.

Smell the stem end for a strong sweet-acidic fragrance.

Choose tomatoes that are plump, shiny and give slight pressure when applied.

How to store

Tomatoes should be stored at a cool room temperature, out of their packaging and never in the refrigerator. Storing tomatoes in the refrigerator diminishes their flavor.

STOJ

SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

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.

FLORIDA'S

finest

B5

submitted for your approval

tikaD

A Philadelphia native, Davon Beale started his career as a hairstylist, model and actor at age 20, graduating from the Paul Mitchell School with his cosmetology license. He has been in such productions as “The Hunger Games” and has received his SAG-AFTRA certification. Additionally, he has participated in runway shows, including Charlotte and Charleston Fashion week. His goal is to create a brand for himself that will inspire others to be themselves and ultimately encourage them to inspire someone else.

CREDIT: LakeNormonPhoto Indiana native TikaD, 31, has been in Florida for nine years. She graduated with a criminal justice degree at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

She loves to travel and is very serious about fitness with plans to enter a fitness competition in the near future. Tika says her friends would describe her as a free bird, down to earth, carefree and sweet.

CREDIT: TikaD

davon

James Brown impersonator just keeps on giving

BY MICHAEL DEEDS IDAHO STATESMAN (MCT)

BOISE, Idaho — Few musicians give as much of themselves on stage as Charles Bradley, a 64-yearold former James Brown impersonator who released his debut album, “No Time For Dreaming,” in 2011.

Even fewer give as much off the stage.

That’s been the lifelong battle for “the screaming eagle of soul.” The 2012 documentary “Charles Bradley: Soul of America” depicts an uneducated man with the heart of a child. A born innocent, he cares for his elderly mother in Brooklyn, N.Y., forgiving the fact that she abandoned him as a baby and was a big reason he wound up sleeping on subways at 14.

Documentaries skew reality sometimes. Not this one, Bradley says.

“I always been that person,” he says, phoning from a Phoenix tour stop. “That’s why sometime I’m afraid of peoples — because I know my infinite heart inside.”

‘Black Velvet’ Bradley became enthralled by Brown’s music after his sister took him to see the legendary singer at the Apollo Theater as a teen. Two years later, he was coaxed into performing by musicians rehearsing in a Job Corps gym.

Bradley was shy, he says, until they “gave me a little gin.”

“I took that gin and felt a little pretty, and I grabbed the microphone and started singing,” he remembers. “Ever since then, I never put the microphone down.”

Music never paid the rent. Bradley has worked various jobs over the years to support himself.

When he was discovered by young hipsters from Brooklyn-based soul-revival label Daptone Records, he was performing locally as “James Brown, Jr., aka Black Velvet.”

On European tour In the film, Bradley cautiously puts down his Godfather of Soul wig and cape and, at age 62, embarks upon a search for his own musical soul. By the end, he headlines a triumphant, sold-out concert of original music from his debut album and leaves for a European tour — before returning to his low-income apartment.

In the time since “Soul of America” premiered at South By Southwest, Bradley has moved out of the projects. He used money earned in the past year to remodel and add heat to the basement of his mother’s modest house, where he now lives.

In April, Daptone released his second album, “Victim of Love.” Bradley’s voice has not gotten softer with success. Roughened by years of hardship, those rich, gravelly vocals wowed audiences nationwide this

STEPHANE ALLAMAN/ABACA PRESS/MCT

Charles Bradley performs at the 35th edition of La Defense Jazz Festival in Courbevoie, France on June 27. summer.

“This tour is going really beautiful,” Bradley says.

Heartaches and pain It’s his pleaser’s approach, contrasted with the harsh realities of his life, that make Bradley’s musical delivery and lyrics so powerful. Lines in songs such as “Why Is It So Hard” are as deep as the ones in his weathered face.

This is 1960s- and 1970slaced R&B that aches as it grooves.

Postal Service unveils Ray Charles stamp FROM WIRE REPORTS

A Ray Charles Forever postage stamp is now available. It was to be released on Sept.

23, his 83rd birthday.

It is part of the U.S. Postal Service’s Music Icons Forever series. The unveiling of the limited-edition was hosted by the Grammy

Giving his all on stage hasn’t been easy, Bradley says.

“Heartaches and Pain” is a song about his beloved older brother, who was murdered just over a decade ago, two doors down from their mother’s house at the time.

“How do you think it felt to sing that song?” Bradley asks. “I got on stage, and I said, ‘No, I want to go home’ and ‘I can’t do it.’” But over time, “Heartaches” has become a source of inspiration.

“When I walk out on that

stage, the way those peoples react to my soul? Oh man,” Bradley says. “Now I can sing it.”

58 Brown songs He still hasn’t watched “Soul of America” in its entirety, he says. Interviews with family members he hadn’t seen in decades were not kind to his mom.

And seeing re-enactments of his difficult upbringing?

“It was wild,” Bradley says. “I couldn’t take it.”

But he brims with joy when he talks about getting

Museum in Los Angeles.

Charles’ daughter Raenee Robinson-McClellan says, “I think I speak for all of our family that we are very grateful for the U.S. Postal service honoring Dad in such a way.”

In conjunction with the stamp’s debut, a retrospective CD/DVD set titled “Ray Charles Forever’’ was released on Sept. 24. The CD features 12 tracks, including covers of such memorable tunes as “A Song for You,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “Imagine” and “America the Beautiful.”

The DVD will offer 20 minutes’ worth of footage, including rare concert performanc-

the chance to showcase his own music to enthusiastic fans, even if he feels “like I’m walking through a dream sometimes.”

Bradley proudly admits that he still knows how to perform 58 James Brown songs. If someone asks, he’ll happily do one.

“But when I do it, I do it in my own image” he says.

“James Brown taught me a lot of things. When you go on stage, present yourself as an artist. Look the appearance. Bring the love out of you.”

es of “Imagine,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” and “A Song for You,” as well as vintage interviews with Ray. The complete list of the “Ray Charles Forever’’ CD is as follows: “Song for You”“I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town”“Ring of Fire”“Come Rain or Come Shine”“They Can’t Take That Away from Me”“Till There Was You”“Isn’t It Wonderful”“None of Us Are Free”“Imagine”“If I Could”“So Help Me God”“America the Beautiful”“I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” (bonus track).

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SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 3, 2013

STOJ