Florida Courier - September 30, 2016

U.S. POSTAGE PAID DAYTONA BEACH, FL PERMIT #189

www.flcourier.com

CELEBRATING OUR 10TH YEAR STATEWIDE!

It took 100 years, but AfricanAmerican museum opens in D.C. See Page B1

www.flcourier.com

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

VOLUME 24 NO. 40

BLOWING MONEY FAST

Very little of the $12 billion spent in political advertising this year will find its way into Black hands.

Read Publisher Charles W. Cherry II’s related ‘No Chaser’ column on Page A4.

COMPILED FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON – Borrell Associates, an ad-tracking firm, said that of an estimated $11.7 billion that will be spent on political campaigns this elec-

tion cycle, $5.9 billion will go to broadcast television, $1.2 billion to cable, $1.2 billion to digital/online, $916.1 million to radio and $882 million to newspapers.

Presidential candidates and supporting political action committees could spend upward of $2 billion on political advertising.

But local African-Americanowned media outlets across the country – TV and radio stations, digital-only outlets, and newspapers – say they’re getting few ad buys.

It’s a long-standing complaint from African-American media owners and Black elected officials that’s gotten louder each presidential election year

EE FR

FC

PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL

Why won’t the Democratic National Committee and the Florida Democratic Party support Barack Obama’s call for change in our communities?

– even during Barack Obama’s successful 2008 and 2012 campaigns.

Nothing new “We’ve been traditionally frustrated,” said James Winston, president of the National Association of Black Broadcasters. “It seems that every campaign season, the parties view advertising in African-American-owned media as an afterthought, usually a week or two before the election.”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus say they’ve been frustrated, too. Congressman Alcee Hastings, who in a 2013 speech to the NationSee ADS, Page A2

A FEW FACTS n IF BARACK OBAMA WINS FLORIDA’S 27 ELECTORAL VOTES, HE WILL BECOME THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

n $6.5 MILLION in advertising has already been spent in all major Florida markets [on Obama’s behalf] — Radio and TV Business Report, 8/12/08

n The Democratic National Committee and the Florida Democratic Party have budgeted NOTHING for registration efforts by Black community-based or non-profit organizations.

n The Democratic National Committee is spending $20 MILLION for its Hispanic voter outreach effort — Wall Street Journal/Washington Wire, 7/28/08

n The Democratic National Committee and the Florida Democratic Party have purchased NO Black newspaper ads, and have run NO Black newspaper ads, and have run radio ads on a few Black-owned or Black-formatted radio stations statewide.

n The Democratic National Committee and the Florida Democratic Party have budgeted NOTHING for get-out-the-vote efforts

by Black community-based or non-profit organizations.

TELL DEMOCRATS it’s time to stand up with Black Floridians.

They must do what it takes to get out Florida’s Black vote.

It’s now or never. CALL THEM. WRITE THEM. E-MAIL THEM.

Democratic National Committee 430 S. Capitol St. SE Washington, DC 20003 Phone: Toll-free 1-877-336-7200

Florida Democratic Party 214 South Bronough Street Tallahassee, FL 32301 E-mail address: email@fladems.com Phone: 850-222-3411

A public service of Florida’s Black-owned newspapers

In 2008, the Florida Courier ran this ad criticizing Democrats for not using Black-owned media outlets during the political season.

MIAMI BROWARD CARNIVAL 2016

It’s Carnival time again

SHIFTING RIGHT PART 1

Gov. Rick Scott is quietly reshaping Florida’s courts COMPILED FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

TALLAHASSEE – As speculation turns to Gov. Rick Scott’s first Florida Supreme Court appointment, with the upcoming retirement of Justice James E.C. Perry, a more dramatic makeover of the state’s judiciary system has gone almost unnoticed.

Perry announced his retirement earlier this month, opening an opportunity for Scott to fill his first state supreme court vacancy.

Florida’s mandatory retirement age for judges is 70. State law allows judges to finish their judicial terms if they reach the age limit toward the end of term, thus allowing Perry to turn 72 while still on the state’s highest court until his term ends Dec. 30.

Appeal courts packed

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Miami Broward Carnival kicks off its Carnival season with the Junior Carnival on Oct. 1 in Lauderhill and a series of events climaxing on Oct. 9, Carnival Day, at the Miami- Dade County Fairgrounds.

All of the state’s five district courts of appeal now have Republican-appointed majorities. Three have benches that are entirely comprised of judges named by governors who were elected as Republicans.

Scott alone has appointed nine of the 15 judges on the First District Court of Appeal, which is based in Tallahassee and hears most of the cases challenging the authority of the governor and the Legislature.

See COURTS, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS NATION | A3

Can Christian schools pray before games?

BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Tale of two cities on shootings FLORIDA | A6

New laws take effect this week SPORTS | B3

HEALTH | B4

Museum pays tribute to Ali

Miami-Dade and the war on Zika

ALSO INSIDE

TALLAHASSEE – A dispute over whether two Christian schools could use the loudspeaker for a prayer at a football championship game is headed to federal court after one of the schools filed suit against an organization that manages high school sports in Florida.

The nonprofit that operates Cambridge Christian School in Tampa said the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) violated its civil rights by banning the private school and its opponent from joining in prayer

over the loudspeaker at the game.

The quasi-public athletic association has said it couldn’t allow a prayer over the loudspeaker because of the First Amendment’s ban on government organizations endorsing religion.

‘Loud’ prayer forbidden The fight began in December, when Cambridge Christian was scheduled to play University Christian School, from Jacksonville, in the Class 2A football championship game in Orlando.

The two schools traditionally offer prayers before football games

at their home stadiums.

The FHSAA declined a request from both schools to allow them to use the loudspeaker for a prayer before the game, saying it would expose the association to “legal entanglements.” The association said it is subject to the same rules as government agencies because the Florida Legislature has recognized it as the governing body for high school athletics.

Loudspeaker necessary The two teams prayed together before kickoff of the championship game, but the lawsuit said fans couldn’t hear the prayer from the stands.

“Because the stadium is such a cavernous venue, it would be impossible for the Cambridge Christian and University Christian communities to join with

one another in a community prayer without the use of the loudspeaker,” the lawsuit says.

“As a result, the FHSAA’s refusal to allow Cambridge Christian to use the loudspeaker deprived the Cambridge Christian and University Christian communities of their ability to come together in a joint prayer.”

The suit argues that the move was a violation of Cambridge Christian’s rights to free exercise of religion and free speech, because the decision to ban the prayer was based only on religious content. It claims the FHSAA violated the U.S. Constitution, the Florida Constitution and the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The suit asks the court to block the FHSAA from continuing to follow its policy in the future, as well as payment of the school’s attorneys’ fees.

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: GLEN FORD: OCCUPATION MURDERS IN TULSA AND BAGHDAD | A5

FOCUS

A2

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

Let me tell you about Pharaoh’s police force I wish the editor and publisher of the Pensacola Voice, Jackie Miles, a healthy and speedy recovery from a significant health issue.

If you don’t know, Jackie and I are sort of like sister and brother.

We have worked together, traveled together, fussed and fought on more than one occasion. But we continued our love and support for each other. The Pensacola Voice has been one of the strongest supporters of The Gantt Report in the Sunshine State.

Get well soon, girl!

Personal loss On a more somber note, one of my very best friends and a longtime business partner, Vernon Bailey, has taken his final journey to The Land of Plenty. In my darkest hours and my lowest points in life, Vernon was always there for me with a kind word, a smiling face and even a dollar or two if I needed it.

He was one of the best husbands and fathers I have ever known and a true professional, an electrical expert, and a construction manager and engineer for NASA and for the federal government. Vernon’s spirit will live on in me, in his beautiful wife and everyone else that loved him. Rest in peace, my brother!

Hating the messenger I am a messenger and I know well how some folk like to attack the messengers.

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

Colin Kaepernick is a messenger, too.

I talk about beasts and devils at the drop of a hat. But Kaepernick’s message about police misconduct was soft, subtle, dignified and given in accordance with and in recognition of his (and your) constitutional right to protest.

Kaepernick is getting hate far and wide because of his response to questions about why he did not rise during the playing of the national anthem before professional National Football League contests.

Here’s the answer Haters ask the messengers, “What is the solution to violent confrontations between Black Americans and law enforcement officers?” Well, the answer is Jesus!

No, I’m not talking about Mary’s baby, the Lion of Judah, the bright and morning star, or the lily of the valley. I’m not even talking about what fake preachers call the Holy Ghost.

I’m talking about what Jesus called himself: THE TRUTH! Jesus said he was the truth, the way and the life! To solve the problem of police shootings and

killings of innocent, unarmed Black men, women and children, all everyone has to do is tell the truth!

Let me explain Back in the day, the Biblical Pharaoh had a huge group of law enforcers. The Pharaoh in ancient Egypt was the political and religious leader of the people and held the titles “Lord of the Two Lands” and “High Priest of Every Temple.”

Many of Pharaoh’s lawmen would beat, whip, lie on and cheat on people who had committed no crimes at all.

One day, the good people decided to leave Pharaoh’s kingdom and seek safety on the other side of the sea.

Well, Pharaoh ordered his “army” of police officers after the good people trying to get away from injustice, murder and law enforcement mayhem and misconduct. The people were saved when Pharaoh’s army of bad cops AND the “good cops” that supported the bad cops drowned in the Red Sea! The sea was blue, not red. It became “red” when Pharaoh’s army of bad cops got killed and bloodied the water!

Won’t stand up Don’t get it twisted. I’m not suggesting that cops get killed.

I’m telling you in a nice way that police murder and misconduct will never be stopped until good policemen stand up and stop bad policemen themselves!

Every employee in America’s police departments know who the bad policemen are on their police force.

The chief knows, the patrolmen know, Internal Affairs staff

COURTS And with his choices, Scott has at times overtly attempted to shape a more conservative bench – aided, critics say, by changes to the process for naming judges approved during Gov. Jeb Bush’s time in office – and will leave a judicial legacy that far outlasts his tenure.

Even if Perry’s replacement is the only justice the current governor installs on the Supreme Court, Scott’s legal legacy could be in place for a generation.

‘The rule of law’

COURTESY OF THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT

Justice James E.C. Perry, one of only four Black Florida Supreme Court justices in the state’s history, must retire from the court after a 16-year tenure. for most of the past 15 years, he has demonstrated a judicial philosophy that makes him unlikely to overstep the role of the judiciary.”

Some in the legal community were taken aback

by Scott’s explanation for

ADS

GOP no better Democrats aren’t the only ones complaining.

Clarence McKee, an African-American Trump supporter who was a Federal Communications Commis-

why he chose Conner.

‘Has an agenda’ “What it says to me is, the governor has an agenda with judges. It’s unsettling,” former Judge Gary Farmer, whose exit created the vacancy, told The

us, anyway,’” McKee said.

Could elect Trump

from A1

al Newspapers Publishers Association criticized Obama’s 2012 campaign for not spending enough in Black-owned media, said he’d taken his concerns directly to Clinton campaign officials recently.

“I’ve talked with (campaign Chairman) John Podesta, and they at least know my sentiments, and I’ve made it known to the public that I don’t think they are conducting the kind of ground game that I would conduct, and I don’t think they’re spending enough money in Black newspapers and radio,” he said.

I’m no threat Why are Black people, more often than not, shot just because they are Black? I’m not a “threat” and I don’t know any Black people that are threats just because of the way they look.

Innocent cops died when Pharaoh’s police force drowned in the Red Sea. Innocent cops will be killed in your city or town if they don’t help the people get rid of the bad cops!

You already know how I feel about city officials and county prosecutors that use taxpayer money to defend police devils.

But the “good cop” lies go far beyond that.

Even the president of the United States is hesitant and reluctant to say a word about bad cops that could and should be charged and punished for murderous acts that take place under the color of law enforcement.

Every time a bad cop murders a Black person, the people you love can’t wait to go on TV or ra-

Palm Beach Post. Farmer’s criticism was not about Conner, whom he recommended, but Scott’s mentioning the new judge’s political bent.

Scott would rarely again so bluntly link his judicial appointments to a particular philosophy. But he would use phrases popular in conservative legal circles, referring again and again to “the rule of law,” judicial restraint and a judge understanding the proper role of the branches of government.

Few attorneys, especially those who go before appellate courts, are willing to publicly discuss the political leanings of judges. But some, particularly among those whose areas of expertise might not be in favor with the current governor, privately concede that there has been a shift in the direction of the district courts of appeal – some of it preceding Scott.

from A1

In February 2011, a little more than a month after he had been sworn in as governor, Scott made his first appeals-court appointment.

He tapped Burton Conner to serve on the Fourth District Court of Appeal, which includes Broward, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties.

“Judge Conner represents the values and judicial conservatism I am looking for in our judges,” Scott said in a statement announcing the appointment. “He has a great reputation in the community and a great law-and-order demeanor. Primarily a criminal court judge

knows, legal counsel knows, the prosecutor knows, even the secretaries and the janitors know the cops in the department that are disrespectful, trigger-happy, biased. They all know the cops that are liable to take the law into their hands and murder or maim innocent law-abiding citizens of any race, creed or color!

The good police officers need to stop being police punks and point out to the world which cops prefer to shoot and kill, rather than to protect and serve!

Terrorists, in most cases, don’t get murdered, White children don’t get shot and killed, and White women don’t get found hanging by their necks in jail cells.

Clarence McKee

Alcee Hastings

sion attorney, thinks that Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party are leaving votes on the table by not courting African-Americans voters through local Black-owned media.

He said the party is missing out on reaching some of Florida’s 237,568 AfricanAmerican registered voters who aren’t affiliated with any party and may be persuaded to cast ballots for Trump and GOP congressional candidates.

“It’s one side saying, ‘We don’t have to worry about those folks’ and the Republican Party establishment saying, ‘We don’t need them. They won’t vote for

Black Republicans are especially disappointed, because focusing on turning out Black Republicans and Black non-party-affiliated voters could turn the tide for Trump in Florida, and put him in the Oval Office.

If Trump got into double digits among Florida’s Black voters, that could make it impossible for Clinton to win Florida’s 29 electoral votes. Obama got 96 percent of the Black vote in Florida in 2008 and 95 percent in 2012. Republican President George W. Bush got 13 percent in his 2004 re-election. “(Trump) doesn’t need to win every Black vote, he just needs to convince Black voters that Hillary is not their candidate,” Michael Barnett, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, said.

“I see Donald Trump winning a significant percentage of the Black vote.

Judicial litmus test?

Those attorneys’ complaints sometimes come around to the Federalist Society, a prominent conservative legal group that formed in 1982 by students at three of America’s elite law schools: Harvard, Yale, and the University of Chicago.

According to its website, “the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a group of conservatives and libertari-

When I say significant, I mean a bigger percentage than (Mitt Romney) won in 2012, somewhere around the high teens, the low 20s would be ideal and a big coup for a presidential candidate. And I think he can do it.”

‘Give me a chance’ Trump regularly devotes parts of his stump speech to explaining his view that life is so bad for African-Americans, especially in urban areas, that they should vote for him. One line of Trump’s reasoning is that African-Americans couldn’t fare any worse than they do now.

Barnett said Trump helped himself during one of his recent stops in Miami, where he met with a group of leaders in Little Haiti.

A CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker poll of Florida voters released Sept.

11 found that 93 percent of Florida voters said they definitely will vote. Among Black voters, 87 percent

dio and talk about why AfricanAmericans should support the people that put their lives on the line to protect and serve Black people.

Reciprocal support Well, I say support the people in law enforcement that support you and support the Black community. And the No. 1 way police officers can show that they support Blacks and everybody else in America’s communities is to abandon and discredit the police “code of silence” and point out the cops that enjoy pulling the trigger on people just because of their skin color, their religion, their sexual orientation or what they believe in.

Good cops should join good people, and begin the process of building and forming police departments that hire and employ officers that protect and serve everybody!

Historical figure If Colin Kaepernick doesn’t play another down in the NFL, he is going down in history as the guy who inadvertently exposed more racists than any other man in modern history!

I don’t know what will happen to The Gantt Report or me. I’m just a messenger that tries to tell the truth!

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.

“Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants. net.

ans dedicated to reforming the current legal order.”

The Federalist Society also mentions “the rule of law” in its statement of purpose.

“From a small student organization, in 30 years the Federalist Society has expanded to include many of the leading conservative lawyers in the country.

The society has come to be known for featuring participants who believe that the Constitution should be interpreted using ‘originalism,’ a doctrine stating that the basic meaning of the Constitution was set at the time the document was created at the end of the 18th century,” according to a Daily Beast article.

Notable members of the Federalist Society include all of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most conservative justices: John G. Roberts, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The late Antonin Scalia was also a member.

The group believes judges should “say what the law is, not what it should be” – an almost verbatim echo of Scott’s comment in 2011 about 1st District Court of Appeal Judge Stephanie Ray, who Scott described as committed to making sure “judges say what the law is, rather than what it should be.”

Six of the judges Scott has named to appellate courts since taking office either list themselves as members of the Federalist

Society or have been on the agenda to appear before one of the first two annual conferences of the Florida chapters of the society.

said they definitely would vote.

announced that it will air a radio ad aimed at AfricanAmerican millennials that will run in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“We are not taking anything for granted, and we have made key investments in the African-American community through outreach, paid media and grass-roots organizing,” said Marlon Marshall, Clinton’s director of state campaigns and political engagement.

“It won’t just be the big outlets,” Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said of the Clinton campaign’s Black media strategy heading into November. “It’s going to be small weekly newspapers as well.”

No Black ‘reach’?

Tad Devine, a political consultant who worked on Democratic presidential campaigns from Al Gore to Bernie Sanders, said he’s heard and understands the concerns. He said campaigns aren’t slighting local Black-owned media. It’s just a matter of economics.

“You know it’s really important to mobilize AfricanAmerican voters in Detroit if you want to win Michigan, for example,” he said.

“The owners of the AfricanAmerican outlets in Detroit say, ‘Well, listen, if you want to reach that audience our newspaper or our publication is the best way to do it.’

“You look at the numbers that are associated with the reach of that publication and they’re miniscule compared to buying an ad on network television that reaches a very large African-American audience.”

Tuesday, the campaign

Don’t bother applying There are also suggestions that Scott only appoints certain kinds of attorneys or judges to the appellate courts. Attorneys for plaintiffs, particularly those in personal-injury cases that many Republicans scorn, have come to believe that it’s pointless to apply for appellate-court positions or spots on the panels that nominate judges.

The courts now also feature fewer lawyers who have represented individual clients, critics say, and more who were prosecutors and government lawyers, or represented institutions or corporations at large law firms.

That can be as much or even more of an issue than the political balance of the courts, lawyers say, because it has more far-reaching effects than the few, highly publicized blockbuster cases on polarizing issues.

Next week: The outlook for increasing the number of Black judges in Florida is poor.

Brandon Larrabee of The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

William Douglas of the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Anthony Man of the Sun Sentinel (MCT) contributed to this report.

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

NATION

A3

In Tulsa, community members credited clergy in keeping demonstrations peaceful before video footage was released, while protests in Charlotte were initially less organized and erupted into riots hours after Scott’s death.

Though action in both cities was dominated by locals, the Charlotte protests also attracted a handful of high-profile activists from California, Missouri, South Carolina and other states.

Courtney, the North Carolina pastor, suggested that greater numbers of people may have protested in Charlotte because the city has a larger African-American population and more Black-run institutions. Among its 800,000 people, 34 percent are Black and 44 percent are White.

The city has one of the fastestgrowing poverty rates in the country, which is largely concentrated in poor Black neighborhoods on its west and east sides, fueling a larger sense of inequality that was on display at the protests.

But those trends don’t “explain or excuse violence,” said Courtney, noting that police in riot gear and memories of other recent police shootings made for a volatile cliJEFF SINER/CHARLOTTE OBSERVER/TNS mate.

Debris falls upon Charlotte officers and protestors as officers began to push protestors from the intersection near the Epicentre shopping area on Sept. 21 in Charlotte, N.C. The protestors were rallying against the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott by police.

Why Tulsa, Charlotte reacted so differently to shootings

BY JAWEED KALEEM AND KRISTI EATON LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The recent fatal police shootings of two Black men spurred soul-searching across the nation but drew vastly different reactions from the cities in which they took place.

In Tulsa, Okla., on Thursday, Sept. 20, a group of 50 demonstrators was preparing to march when people suddenly started cheering. “Have some ice cream!” activist Shay White told demonstrators from a microphone.

The officer who shot Terence Crutcher had just been charged with manslaughter. White told everyone to go home to rest, and the crowd quickly obliged.

At the same time, more than 1,000 miles away in Charlotte, marchers were just getting started. They attempted to take over a highway when police in riot gear hit them with tear gas.

“We want the tape!” they shouted, demanding that police release the video of Keith Lamont Scott’s death.

Reforms attempted Both cities have a fraught history with race and policing. But Tulsa, the more segregated of the two, has attempted reforms in recent years and embraced transparency in dealing with the community after a shooting.

Charlotte, on the other hand, is still reeling from an incident in September 2013, when a White

police officer fatally shot Jonathan Ferrell, an unarmed 24-year-old Black man, with 10 bullets after he crashed his car in a neighborhood a few miles from where Scott died.

A jury deadlocked in the trial last year and the dead man’s family settled a civil lawsuit with the city for $2.25 million. Police have faced criticism for being slow to implement the racial bias training and community outreach they promised after the shooting.

suggested charges — if any — would be pressed only after a protracted investigation.

He relented to pressure four days after Scott’s death, releasing inconclusive tapes that further fueled anger on the streets and demands from demonstrators for more evidence. The officer who shot Scott is on leave. The city-imposed curfew was lifted Sunday, Sept. 25.

Praise for Tulsa

Two days in Tulsa

“What (was) there to hide? Why did this happen in Tulsa and not here?” said the Rev. Rodney Courtney. “We look and we wonder.”

Courtney is an activist and pastor at Neely’s Grove AME Zion Church in Gastonia, outside Charlotte.

Marq Lewis, who helped organize protests in Tulsa, said the release of the police video there quickly eased building anger. Lewis praised the Tulsa Police Department, saying officers provided protection for demonstrators.

“That a lot of times tears down the tension,” said Lewis, president of the grass-roots group We the Death, destruction People Oklahoma, referring to the In Charlotte, protests left busi- group’s cooperation with officers nesses looted and a 26-year-old and the release of the tape. protester dead. Hundreds came into the streets of downtown as the National Guard patrolled with ri- Video laws In Charlotte, there was disdain fles.

Police showed Scott’s family even among community groups video of the shooting two days af- that have worked with police.

“To the police chief whom we ter his death, but vowed not to release footage to the public despite had worked with very closely in the past: Shame on you,” Corine family demands.

The police chief said he was Mack, president of the Charlotteagainst “full transparency” and Mecklenburg NAACP branch, said In Tulsa, clergy-led vigils followed Crutcher’s shooting, with the city’s police chief vowing to “do better.”

Within two days, video of his death was released to Crutcher’s family, who watched it with Black pastors and elected officials. At one point, the chief consoled a family member who couldn’t endure the footage.

Police publicly released video clips a day later, and charges were filed less than a week after the shooting.

CHRONIC

KIDNEY DISEASE

QUIZ

TIRED AND WEAK

‘A step forward’ The Rev. Traci Blackmon, a United Church of Christ pastor from Ferguson, Mo., who was on the front lines there after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, said both cities had learned from the social movement that has grown around police shootings but had diverged in their reactions.

“What I see is the consequence of seeing this play out in Ferguson, in Baltimore, in Chicago, in Texas. You have quicker responses by people who now come together,” said Blackmon, who met over the weekend with Black clergy including Courtney to plan the launch of a Commission on Reconciliation and Equity.

“I don’t give the kudos to charge an officer with manslaughter when it’s murder, but it is a step forward from what we have had in the past,” Blackmon said.

More differences

The city of Tulsa, with 400,000 residents, is 15 percent Black and 57 percent White, and has its share of controversy over policing. Black residents largely live on the city’s north side, where Crutcher died.

The scars of violent 1921 race riots linger, and activists said a collective memory of them may have made protesters more hesitant to express themselves through property damage.

The 1921 violence began after accusations spread that a Black teen had assaulted a White teen, and a White mob burned 1,100 businesses and homes in a Black neighborhood. As many as 300 people died.

Activists have criticized the city’s police, saying they have shifted in recent decades from a community policing model.

Transparency matters Crutcher’s shooting came nearly five months after a Tulsa County volunteer deputy was sentenced to four years in prison on a manslaughter charge for shooting and killing Eric Harris, an unarmed Black man, during an undercover operation in 2015. The White reserve deputy said he mistakenly reached for his gun instead of his Taser.

Small rallies have continued in Tulsa, where some residents have pressed for murder charges against the officer who shot Crutcher.

Nancy La Vigne, director of the Justice Policy Center at the Washington-based Urban Institute, said the contrasts between the two cities boiled down to the “difference between being open and transparent and not.”

“You can see for yourself,” La Vigne said. “It’s stunning.”

There were also significant differences in what the videos displayed. The footage of the Tulsa shooting clearly shows Crutcher had his hands up and that he had no gun; the video of Scott’s shooting doesn’t make it clear whether he had a gun and shows his hands at his side. But reaction to the Kaleem reported from Charshootings varied before the public or families had seen police ev- lotte and special correspondent idence.

Eaton from Tulsa.

ANEMIA SYMPTOMS ARE EASILY MISSED

CAN LEAD TO

ANEMIA LEAVING YOU FEELING

during a blistering news conference last week with Black leaders.

Oklahoma passed a law in 2015 that allows for the release of body camera video, with exceptions for footage that depicts a death unless it was caused by a law enforcement officer.

In North Carolina, a law will go into effect in October that prevents police from releasing such videos unless they are ordered to by a judge.

1921 remembered

COULD YOU HAVE ANEMIA DUE TO CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE?

Symptoms of anemia are very common to many other conditions and can therefore be easily missed. Common anemia symptoms include: Feeling tired often Shortness of breath Dizziness

YES

There are some things that you should know if you’ve been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. In certain people, chronic kidney disease can lead to a serious condition called anemia. Anemia occurs when your body doesn’t have enough red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the rest of your body, giving you energy to do your daily activities.

If anemia due to chronic kidney disease is left untreated, you are at risk for serious health consequences, including a higher risk of heart complications or needing a blood transfusion. If you are unsure if you have anemia, or it’s been a while since you’ve checked, a doctor can diagnose it through a simple blood test.

NO

Do you have chronic kidney disease?

Do you have any of the following symptoms:

Feel tired often Shortness of breath Dizziness Racing heartbeat

If you have chronic kidney disease and checked off at least one of the above symptoms, you may have a condition called anemia.

Racing heartbeat

ANEMIA DUE TO CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE CAN BE TREATED

Anemia due to chronic kidney disease is primarily treated with an injection of a medication that helps your body produce red blood cells. Because your body needs iron to make red blood cells, your doctor may also give you iron, either in pill form or as an IV.

A RESEARCH STUDY MAY BE AN OPTION

The PROTECT Study is a new research study evaluating an investigational oral medication for people with anemia due to chronic kidney disease. The study compares the effectiveness of the investigational oral medication to an approved anemia medication given by injection.

During the study, qualified participants will either receive the investigational oral study medication or the approved injection.

Treating your anemia may give you more energy and reduce your risk of serious health consequences.

LEARN MORE TODAY

Visit:

YourKidneyIQ.com

Call:

844-763-6363

EDITORIAL

A4

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

Yes, turnabout is fair play Why can’t more of us see that economics is the key to our freedom and the answer to the problems we talk about all the time?

This political year continues to bring this fact to light, but the Colin Kaepernick protest illuminates the issue of economics even more.

Here is a guy who chose to exercise his right not to stand at the playing/singing of the national anthem, and as a result folks have called him everything but a child of God. Folks who have burned the flag have not received the kind of treatment Kaepernick has gotten. Now, as other football players have joined in to do similar acts of protest, the real deal – economics – comes to the forefront.

Canceling endorsements Sponsors are exercising their rights to revoke their endorsements of these athletes, taking away their money in an effort to punish these players – the same thing they always do when a player says or does something they don’t like or agree with. It has happened to Black and White players alike.

Opinions abound on what the players should do now, and it’s amazing that some of us tell them to keep it up no matter how much money they lose. But we are unwilling to do the same thing at our jobs. Yes, they make a whole lot more money than most of us do, but it’s all relative.

Knowing that economics runs everything in this country and

JAMES CLINGMAN TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

the in world, Black folks in general and Black athletes in particular must exercise another basic right: use money for leverage and punishment.

What I mean Remember the incidents with Michael Vick, Adrian Peterson, Plaxico Burress, and Ray Rice?

Several NFL sponsors notified the league that they would withdraw their support if the NFL did not address those issues by punishing those athletes in some form. The league saw the dollar signs and acted accordingly.

Remember the Indiana state law that gay people said was discriminatory toward them? Corporations threatened to move their firms out of the state if the law was not changed. Governor Mike Pence took care of that problem right away by changing the law.

How about the latest issue in North Carolina with the transgender bathroom thing? The NCAA is sanctioning the state by pulling out games in all sports. The NBA refused to play the All-Star game there. That’s money talking. Black folks better take notice and start using our economic clout to get what we want.

The Obama legacy – corporate theft is no crime Today, we’re going to look for the Obama legacy in how the federal government treats those who steal from the public or from the poor.

The current bankster scam in the news right now is Wells Fargo, whose bosses deliberately incentivized thousands of $12 an hour employees to buckle down and sell connected financial services to customers who did not need or want them in order to keep their jobs or be eligible for promotion.

For the record, Wells Fargo is not the only bank to do this. It’s been a standard kind of corrupt bankster move all over the world for decades. Wells Fargo made billions doing it this time alone.

So how do scamming banksters get handled in the age of Obama, and is it any different from what

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

came before?

The answer is that a thousand or two bank workers will be disciplined or fired. For a small fine, a mere fraction of what its executives stole, Wells Fargo got the Obama Justice Department to cosign on their professed innocence of any crime and to guarantee their immunity to lawsuits filed by the people they robbed.

Too big to jail Obama’s first attorney general famously declared the banksters

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 284 Hey, folks, it’s been a while!

The Democrats’ presidential campaign strategy in Black Florida – On Sept. 28, 2012, I opined about the Democrats’ strategy to get Barack Obama reelected. Here is what I wrote then: Basketball fans know the “four corners” was a pre-shot clock stall tactic to hold the basketball and retain a lead until the game ran out. Most polls now have Bro. Prez leading by five to 10 points, with early voting starting next week in some states.

Bro. Prez’s strategy is now to get through the debates without a major mistake, stay away from major controversies, do no press conferences or interviews with real journalists, hope the Middle East doesn’t blow up, wait for Mitt Romney to again open mouth and insert foot, and air millions of dollars of anti-Romney TV attack ads.

Next week, I’ll tell you why that strategy won’t pull Black Floridians to the polls and how Obama’s folks are still running a risky 2008-style campaign in 2012. Bro. Prez, do you really want to continue to take Black Floridians for granted? If so, ask Alex Sink and the Florida Democratic Party

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

what happened in 2010...

A different day Now, things are substantially different. Hillary Clinton is flawed and unpopular, even among Black voters, especially youth.

And despite her history-making nomination, the race is still too close to call against Donald J. Trump, a man with a long and acknowledged history of greed, racism, sexism, etc.

Yet, Florida Democrats and the Democratic National Committee still run the “four corners” offense in the Sunshine State.

Delete “Barack Obama” in my passage above, and replace it with “Hillary Clinton.” Delete Mitt Romney’s name and replace it with Donald J. Trump. And it’s 2012 all over again.

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE FIRST CLINTON-TRUMP DEBATE

Do you remember Craig Hodges who played for the Chicago Bulls? He filed a federal lawsuit against the NBA accusing its owners and operators as co-conspirators in ‘’blackballing’’ him from the league because of his “outspoken political nature as an AfricanAmerican man.”

Letter to Bush When the Bulls championship team went to the White House after an invitation from President George H.W. Bush, Hodges wore a dashiki and handed the resident a letter that asked him to do more to end injustice toward the African-American community.

Sound familiar? ‘’It’s well known through the league that there may be repercussions if you speak out too strongly on some sensitive issues,’’ said Buck Williams, head of the players’ association at that time.

“I don’t know if Hodges lost his job because of it, but it is a burden when you carry the ‘militant’ label he has.”

Ironically and unfairly during that same period, stars like Dennis Rodman and Charles Barkley, both known for doing outrageous things, were tolerated and even celebrated. Craig Hodges stood on his beliefs as did Denver Nuggets star Mahmoud AbdulRouf (formerly known as Chris Jackson), who was probably second only to Michael Jordan on the offensive end of the basketball court.

MARIAN KEMENSKY, SLOVAKIA

Wouldn’t stand Long before Kaepernick, Abdul-Rouf refused to stand for the national anthem, and when he did, he prayed. This outstanding NBA player converted to Islam and soon after his conversion, his NBA career came to a screeching halt.

Both Hodges and Abdul-Rouf were vilified and sanctioned by the NBA for having the courage to stay true to their social, religious, and ethical convictions. Unfortunately, they stood alone for the most part. Their teammates and even the great Elgin Baylor turned their backs on him. I call that cowardly.

If just half of the Black players in the NBA and the NFL would do as

CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.

James E. Clingman is the nation’s most prolific writer on economic empowerment for Black people. His latest book, “Black Dollars Matter! Teach Your Dollars How to Make More Sense,” is available on his website, Blackonomics.com, and Amazon Kindle eBooks.

too big to prosecute or even investigate, and his second attorney general wrote the fine print on the similar “get out of jail free” and the “can’t be sued by the people I robbed” cards Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and of course Wells Fargo received in 2008-09. It wasn’t always this way.

When savings and loan officials scammed the public out of billions during the first Bush administration, federal prosecutors put thousands of them in prison.

Obama could have done, and was expected by millions of his voters to do the same. He simply chose not to, which helped Democrats lose the Congress in 2010.

In eight years, Democrat Barack Obama has gone further to protect criminal banksters and their investors than any Republican dared go before him.

Take a quick look at the Obama administration’s handling another kind of theft from the poor: wage theft.

Even winners lose

Hillary ain’t Obama

to publish SOMETHING-ANYTHING about her, despite the fact that their money-grubbing, election-losing consultants say Black media “has no reach.”

I get it. We reach Black audiences and influence readers as long as you don’t have to pay. But when it comes to buying an ad, “nobody will see it.”

And it was the same way during both of Barack Obama’s campaign cycles.

We said, “Buy some ads.” When we didn’t get on board, they shut hundreds of Black newspapers out of campaign advertising for most of the year. It took a sustained attack in this newspaper and a few others, and a Time magazine article saying Dems took Black voters for granted, to get them to use Black media a few weeks before the election.

Free, free, free!

In 2012, there was virtually NOTHING from Obama. In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign hasn’t spent a dime with us thus far, with absentee ballots set to go out. But still, Florida’s TV markets will get filthy stinking RICH, as they continue to air ads that people get sick of seeing and that haven’t worked to date.

Yeah, I’m hot. Many Black voters are in an abusive relationship with the Democratic Party, and are afraid to walk away. But don’t count me in that number. I’m a FREE Black mind and a non-party affiliated “swing” voter.

So to the DNC, the Florida Democratic Party and Black Democratic elected officials, my corollary definition of insanity is “doing a different thing the same way, and expecting the same results.”

Black votes only matter when you don’t pay to get them. I got more for y’all next week.

Democrats are running the same campaign strategy as if Obama is still on the ballot. And Democrats are expecting the same results, despite the fact that internal Democratic polls show Hillary running 10-12 percentage points behind Obama’s 2012 voting totals among Black Floridians.

Here’s a hint for non-basketball playing Democrats. You run a four corners offense WHEN YOU ARE LEADING.

It’s worse How is 2016 even worse than 2012 for Democrats? Those millions spent this year on TV and so-called “targeted” digital advertising have had ZERO effect on Trump’s popularity, and no effect on improving Hillary’s negatives.

Some folks may say, “Charles, are you just mad because there’s no advertising in your paper?”

My response? “Damn right I’m mad.” And I’m not the only small Black businessperson with a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to politics, the Black community, and money.

(Read any single installment of The Gantt Report over the last 20 years during election season and you’ll know exactly what I mean.)

I get an average of three emails EVERY HOUR from the Hillary Clinton campaign with the goal of trying to get this newspaper

Economist Richard Wolff estimates the yearly value of wages which employers refuse to pay, illegally withhold or otherwise steal from their workers in this country at several times the value of all the reported burglaries and armed robberies. Employers traditionally are not prosecuted, and in Los Angeles it’s reported that 83 percent of workers who WIN a case filed for stolen wages against an employer never recover a cent.

Wage theft seems to be an area where little has changed. Previous administrations never bothered themselves about it, and neither did the Obama administration.

Finally, not even the briefest of Barack Obama’s legacy on elite financial crime is incomplete without noting the president’s role in the massive expansion of the charter school racket.

The Obama administration spent $4 billion in federal stimulus money outside any congres-

Democratic leadership feels entitled to get Black votes for FREE. They hate paying Black businesspeople for ANYTHING. And if you say something about it, they try to “gangster” you and call you a “closet Republican” which, in their small minds, is akin to being called a member of Al Qaeda or ISIS. How do I know this? Personal experience.

Our radio stations’ Federal Communications Commission licenses were threatened by Al Gore’s campaign in 2000 when we refused to put Bill Clinton live on three of our Florida stations – for free – the week before the election. I know, because I took the phone call from a DNC-affiliated lawyer.

Obama’s 2008 campaign came to our Black newspaper convention and told us to “get on board.”

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

the University of Missouri players did – refuse to play just two games back-to-back –they would change those leagues. Money rules.

It takes sacrifice. But isn’t it worth it? Hodges and Abdul-Rouf did, and they lost a great deal for their willingness to take a stand.

They stood alone. acritical mass of Black athletes standing together can win.

Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Sales Manager

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sional or other oversight to incentivize the closing of thousands of so-called “underperforming public schools” mostly in Black and poor communities.

Educational crime wave The near-complete absence of public accountability on the part of charter schools predictably ushered in a nationwide whitecollar crime wave as charter school operators, their officers, contractors and their sugar-daddy investors scrambled for shares of the cash that used to go to public education.

Thus, the past eight years reveal the definitive Obama legacy on elite financial crime. It’s not just too big to jail. It’s simply not punishable, or even investigatable, as long as you steal from the poor or from the public.

Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport. com. Contact him at bruce.dixon@blackagendareport.com.

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SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

EDITORIAL

A critique of American policing My name is Gayle Fisher-Stewart and I am an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Washington, D.C. But priesthood is fairly recent.

For most of my adult life, I have been involved in policing and criminal justice, either as an active police officer, retiring with the rank of captain in 1992 from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington; as a consultant to police departments, local governments, and federal agencies; or teaching criminal justice at the university level. So, for over 40 years, I’ve been involved in this thing called American policing.

I am taking my lead from James Baldwin who, when assessing America’s relationship with racism, said that while he loved America, he had an obligation to criticize her.

For me, policing has been good; it has afforded me a standard of living that I’ve taken into retirement. But like Baldwin, I have an obligation, I have the responsibility, I have the right to critique American policing, particularly as it relates to how the police interact with people who look like me.

I am afraid I am afraid for my brother, my son, my nephews, and the male relatives of my friends, as we continue to see the killing of unarmed Black men in America by those who have sworn to serve and protect us.

As one young man said last week at a program at the Washington National Cathedral, he’s afraid – because all the police see is a 6’7,” nappy-haired Black man.

It doesn’t matter that he attends a prestigious private school, that he comes from a two-parent family; all the police see is a Black man and with that identification he can lose his life.

I’m also concerned for Black police officers because when they are off-duty, out of uniform, in their private vehicles and just by chance stopped by one of their fellow officers, they also invite death by engaging in furtive movements – attempting to quickly retrieve their police credentials to show the police that they are, in fact, one of the family.

We know that undercover or plainclothes work is dangerous for Black police officers. They’ve been confused for the “bad guy” who is Black, and have been killed or injured.

I am afraid for all police officers because there is a fringe in our society that is not concerned about anyone but themselves.

Some would feel no remorse using the breach between the police and the Black community to justify killing police officers.

No ‘cheap grace’ We who follow a crucified and risen Lord can no longer live under a cloud of “cheap grace.”

Cheap grace that allows us to turn our heads – to ignore what is happening – because we are not personally affected.

If we follow a marginalized Jew who lived in occupied territory, who spoke out against the oppression that his people were facing and was ‘lynched’ – crucified – because he threatened those in power; he threatened the status quo, and was lynched for the crime of calling out injustice, he received the penalty of capital punishment…If we are to follow him, then, we too, must face our cross.

We must take a risk and call out injustice wherever it is found, knowing that there will be blowback. We must do this whatever the cost.

There is a quote on the library wall at Virginia Theological Seminary – “See the truth come whence it may; cost what it will.” We must

ing a gun or reading a book. All I know is that another Black man is dead at the hands of the police and civil disorder has broken out.

Will anyone be held accountable?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that, “The riot is the voice of the GUEST COMMENTARY unheard.” We need to listen to risk all for the truth of how Ameri- those who are calling for change, can policing came to be. But it is a who are calling for accountability. risk that we must take. If policing is going to change, that change Deadly effect comes with a risk.

But I do know that walking while Black, running while Black, having car troubles while Nothing new But this issue of police exces- Black, reading while Black, selling “loosies” or CDs while Black, sive force is not new.

In the gospel of John, Jesus has playing music while Black – hell, been arrested and taken before living while Black – can have dithe high priest who questions sastrous or deadly consequences.

And something must be done him about his teachings and his disciples. Jesus answers, but ap- before we become numb to the parently it was one of those up- deaths of Black men at the hands pity “You don’t know your place” of police who seem to escape accountability. As if Black lives answers.

In John 18:22 (NRSV), we read, don’t matter – just one less Black “When he had said this, one of the person to have to deal with, taking police standing nearby struck Je- up White space. It shows Amerisus on the face, saying, “Is that ca how she has not lived up to her how you answer the high priest?” promise of liberty and justice for So even Jesus was the victim of all, and that promise is a lie. police excessive force – and then the victim of state-sanctioned How change happens murder.

If policing and the police culWe’ve taken the horror and in- ture is going to change, that justice out of the cross, which was change will have to come from a form of Roman capital punish- those who know policing, who ment. We want to get to the Res- know the culture because we were urrection without spending time a part of it. Right now, change just with the injustice that led to the might have to come from those cross. Sometimes we who wear who are retired, because we can’t the cross must lose all for the sake be held accountable for violations of the other. We are called to put of departmaental orders or the our very lives on the line. statute of limitations has run out.

We have to be willing to say Fair analysis change is not a word that the poGiven the number of contacts lice adjust to easily; that the pothe police have with the public lice are to maintain the status over the course of a year – which quo; and in this country, the stahas to be millions – the number tus quo is a racialized society.

Look at videos of the civil rights that result in death, in the words of researchers, would be statis- struggle. On which side were the tically insignificant. According police? They were not attempting to some sources, as of Sept. 20, to ensure equal rights for every702 people of all races have been one! They were beating up, arresting, and killing people who were killed by the police.

However, as a person of faith, trying to live into the freedom that even one death of someone cre- God wanted for them. When peoated by and in the image of God, ple are fighting for human rights, one life unjustly taken, has to be the police are on the side of the significant to God. Because when status quo. human beings kill, we put ourselves on the level of God. We kill Acknowledged what God has created. the problem Those of us who joined policA crime problem ing in the late 1960s and early ‘70s Before someone says, “Yes, came up in an era where it was but what about Black-on-Black admitted that the police and the crime?” I ask you not to create a community, particularly communities of color, were are opdistraction.

Crime in America is a problem. posite sides. Cities burned after Most crime is intra-racial. Any life Dr. King’s assassination. Law entaken is a sin and needs to be ad- forcement itself acknowledged dressed. However, right now, I’m that police had (have?) an us-verdealing with Black people be- sus-them mentality.

The push to bring minorities ing killed by the police because I have nephews who are 8 years old and women on police departand younger. I don’t want them to ments was to lessen racial tengrow up afraid of the police, and I sion. Those of us who entered don’t want the police to be afraid policing during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s had to take departof them. ment-sponsored courses on race relations, racial sensitivity, and The latest killings Terrence Crutcher, walking human relations. Later, these with his hands up back to his dis- courses morphed into cultural reabled vehicle, a motorist in need lations, cultural sensitivity, mulof assistance, is tasered and shot ticultural relations, cultural bias to death. How does a motorist and awareness training, and now needing assistance end up dead? it is implicit bias training. In none In the audio from the police he- of these courses did we ever deal licopter, voices are heard saying, with the White community.

“Community policing” was de“Have to taser that thing.” That veloped to lessen the tension bething? How do you dehumanize tween communities of color and someone?

Another voice is heard say- the police. White communities ing, “That looks like a bad dude, have always had community potoo.” Based on what evidence can licing – they get the policing they you come to the conclusions that demand; they pick up the phone a man, a human being, is a thing and the police respond. and “looks like a bad dude?” He is in need of assistance and that Different policing Those of us who are honest will need resulted in his death.

In the second case, the police admit that policing is different in were looking for someone with White, well-resourced commuoutstanding warrants and hap- nities than it is in Black and poor pen across Keith Lamont Scott. I communities and it will contindon’t know whether he was carry- ue to be that way until the truth is

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: POLICING REFORMS

REV. GAYLE FISHERSTEWART, PH.D.

Occupation murders in Tulsa and Baghdad The narrators of the murder were high in the sky, circling the scene of the unfolding, racist crime in their police helicopter.

Down below, a large Black man named Terence Crutcher was standing with his hands up next to his disabled car. Four Tulsa, Okla., cops had arrayed themselves like a firing squad; one of them, Officer Betty Shelby, was the wife of Dave Shelby, one of the cops in the helicopter. Dave Shelby provided the voiceover to Terence Crutcher’s last moments of life.

“He’s got his hands up there

A5

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

for her now,” said Shelby. “This guy is still walking and following commands.” You’d think that was a good thing.

But the other cop chimes in immediately: “Time for a taser, I think.” Dave Shelby says, “I got a feeling that’s about to happen.”

His partner clearly wants some

damage done to the Black man, below.

“That looks like a bad dude, too,” he said. “Could be on something,” he adds. Then, with heaven and her husband Dave watching, Betty Shelby blows Terence Crutcher away.

A reminder The helicopter police voiceover was a ghastly reminder of the video released by Wikileaks of a 2007 mass murder of Iraqi civilians by U.S. helicopter gun crews over Baghdad.

The Americans were engaged in what I’m sure some of them called “hajji-hunting,” what the good ol’ boys back home call “coon-hunting” – searching for colored folks to kill.

Circling unseen way above the city, the Americans opened fire

PAT BAGLEY, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

lem about “the White Man.” He says, “Oh, I say and I say it again. Ya been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!”

To those in blue who raised their hands to “serve and protect,” I say to you, “Oh, I say and I say it again, ya been had! Ya been took!

Ya been hoodwinked!

Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!”

You joined the police department of your choice because you wanted to make a difference; serve your community; give back.

But this community policing thing is a farce when your evaluation is based on arrests, tickets, and citations.

You are between a rock and a hard place. At the end of a tour of duty, your sergeant doesn’t ask, “How many pickup basketball games did you play? How many hands you shake? How many double-dutch tournaments did you organize?” That’s for the community relations folk, not I was infected you. You are the real police. You But I will admit that I did things lock up people.

I should not have done; I treated people, particularly people of colChiefs are silent or disrespectfully because I had In this whole discussion of been infected with the virus that #BlackLivesMatter since the is American policing.

But when the scales of injustice death of Michael Brown and were lifted from my eyes, I repent- the call for the police to change, ed. I realized that I treated people where are the voices of the nawho looked like me in a way that tional chiefs’ associations out in I would not treat a White person the public square? Are they willand something was wrong with ing to admit that the virus of racism has infected their people? Are that picture.

What is being taught to rookie they willing to lead the way for officers by their training officers change? Of course, these issues about how to police Black peo- are discussed when they meet; ple? What stereotypes, prejudices but where are their voices in the and biases are being passed on to public square calling for change?

There must first be confession those who enter policing today? before there is repentance. Chiefs know what is happening in their Warrior mentality departments. They know because The police are supposed to be they, too, are part of the system; guardians. Instead, they are war- they are part of the culture. riors going into battle – wearing and if they are honest, they will “BDUs” – battle dress uniforms. admit that they have done things; When you go into the communi- treated people in ways that were ty with a warrior mentality, ready not respectful, not human. And for battle, you look for an enemy. that dehumanization, that disAnd since the beginning of po- respect, continues today where licing in America, the enemy, the a Black man is presumed guilty threat to White society has been first, is presumed to be a criminal Black people, and in particular, first. the Black man. The peace officer To Black police chiefs – you part of policing has been lost – if it are not immune. Your badge was ever there for the Black com- and your rank will not protect munity. you. You are Black in a racialized It is not the rotten apples we America. must fear. It is the decent officer who came to policing to serve, to Up to us help the community. These offiWe who were retired will have cers are also soon infected with to call for change while those who the virus of American policing. are currently serving are couraThe police culture, its people, argeous enough to step forward, tifacts, argot (language), tradito risk everything to see that potions and values infect those who licing finally changes into what it join policing to do good. So the should be. total blame for what we are seeThere have been enough paing cannot be placed on the popers, studies, research. It is time lice officer. for action. Our future and the lives of our children are at stake. told. There have been calls for the culture of policing to change for, at least, the past 40 years, and still little has changed.

I remember my first day on the street after graduating from the academy. My training officer was White. It was in the days when the police could legally conduct random traffic stops, you needed to reason, not even a pretext reason.

So after riding around 4 hours, it was finally my turn to drive and so I picked at car – at random – to stop. The training officer asked me why I stopped the car. I answered, “because.”

He then said, “We don’t stop White people.” We don’t stop White people? Fool, do you see who is in the seat beside you?

I got my entry into racialized policing from the very start and throughout my career my eyes were open to any and all forms of injustice inside the department and in our communities.

Police ‘bamboozled’

In Spike Lee’s movie, “X,” about Rev. Gayle Fisher-Stewart, Malcolm X, there is a scene when Ph.D., is assistant rector at Malcolm, played by Denzel Wash- Calvary Episcopal Church in ington, speaks to people of Har- Washington, D.C.

at an innocent group of unarmed men on a street corner.

“Keep shootin.’ Keep shootin,’” hollered one of the killers. “Oh, yeah, look at those dead bastards,” said his partner. “Nice.

Good shootin’,” the other soldier complimented his accomplice in murder.

The gunship then attacked a van driven by a father with two of his children inside. American soldier No. 1 is heard saying, “Well, it’s their fault for bringing their kids into a battle.”

Same language

Occupations are always justified as “peace-keeping” missions. Domestic occupiers are called “peace” officers.

But their mission is war against a civilian population – to inflict preemptive terror on an entire mass of people. Since the actual mission cannot be justified, the Occupiers lie to themselves and everybody else about the real nature of their mission.

In the end, the Occupied peoples have no choice but to expel their tormentors, or become as insane and morally degraded as they are. This applies in Tulsa and in Baghdad.

We need Black community control of the police, and an end to the Occupation.

These voices over Baghdad and Tulsa speak the same language: the language of Occupation. When spoken by Americans, this language is always racGlen Ford is executive editor ist, but it also has its own particuof BlackAgendaReport.com. lar quality of horror.

TOJ A6

FLORIDA

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016 clerks of circuit court, property appraisers and tax collectors.

The Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research has indicated the change will result in $1.2 million in salary increases, which averages to an $18,540 increase per county.

Human trafficking HB 545 prohibits people under 18 from being prosecuted for prostitution and makes clear that sexually exploiting a child in prostitution should be viewed as human trafficking.

The measure also increases the penalty for people who knowingly rent space used for prostitution.

Electronic skimmers

JOE CAVERETTA/SUN SENTINEL/TNS

Sun Sentinel outdoors writer Steve Waters snags a Florida Spiny lobster on July 29 during the opening day of lobster mini-season off the coast of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

Laws on EBT cards, trafficking, spiny lobsters go into effect

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – County elections supervisors are up for pay raises, while penalties increase for trafficking in the modern version of food stamps and for stealing credit-card information at gas pumps, under new laws that go into effect Saturday, Oct. 1.

Those changes to state laws are among 26 that take effect this weekend after being crafted during the 2016 legislative session.

Lawmakers sent 272 bills to Gov. Rick Scott from the regular legislative session, which ended

in March. Scott vetoed three and signed the rest.

The majority of the new laws, including the state’s annual budget, went into effect July 1 or immediately upon receiving Scott’s signature.

Here are some of the laws that will take effect Saturday:

House arrest HB 75 expands rules regarding electronic monitoring devices.

The measure makes it a third-degree felony to ask another person to remove or help circumvent the operation of a monitoring device.

EBT cards SB 218 is aimed at reducing trafficking in electronic-benefit transfer cards. The cards, commonly known as EBT cards, are a higher-tech form of food stamps and help provide food assistance to low-income Floridians.

The measure, in part, would make it a first-degree misdemeanor to have two or more EBT cards and sell or attempt to sell one of the cards. A second offense would be a third-degree felony.

Disabilities protection HB 387 is named “Carl’s Law”

and increases civil and criminal penalties when victims are people with disabilities. Carl Stark, a 36-year-old autistic man from St. Augustine was shot and killed in 2015 after being targeted by teenagers looking to steal a car.

Threats SB 436 makes it a second-degree felony for making false reports about using firearms in a violent manner.

The law also makes it a firstdegree misdemeanor to threaten with death or serious harm a law-enforcement officer, state attorney or assistant state attorney, firefighter, judge, elected official or any of their family members.

Supervisors pay SB 514 adjusts salaries for county supervisors of elections to be calculated the same as for

SB 912 is part of a crackdown on illegal electronic skimmers that have been found on gas pumps and ATM machines. The measure, backed by Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, increases the penalties for people who possess counterfeit credit-card information.

The proposal includes requirements for gas-station owners and managers to use security measures on self-service fuel pumps.

Spiny lobsters SB 1470 revises rules dealing with stone-crab traps and spinylobster traps. In part, the law makes clear that a person with fewer than 100 undersized spiny lobsters may face a misdemeanor violation for each of the undersized crustaceans.

Possessing more than 100 undersized spiny lobsters is a third degree felony offense.

Official corruption HB 7071 is intended to ease the legal threshold to prosecute officials involved in public corruption. Rather than proving an official acted “with corrupt intent,” prosecutors will need to show the person “knowingly and intentionally” engaged in the corrupt act.

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IFE/FAITH

How Miami-Dade handled Zika See page B4

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

Minorities in starring roles in new western See page B5

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

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AT LAST President dedicates new Black History museum on the National Mall

BY D. KEVIN MCNEIR TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

PHOTOS BY OLIVIER DOULERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS

President and Mrs. Obama along with President Bush share the stage with the Bonner family during the opening ceremony. Ruth Bonner, the 99-year-old daughter of a man born a slave in Mississippi, helped to ring the Freedom Bell, a 500-pound, cast-steel bell from the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, Va.

T

he idea of erecting a museum that would highlight the contributions of African-Americans first received public attention more than a century ago after Black veterans of the Civil War proposed the idea.

But the real push occurred when Georgia Congressman John Lewis took up the mantle, securing the support of several of his colleagues. Finally, in 2003, then-President George W. Bush signed legislation that allowed the project to begin.

On Saturday, Sept. 24, with the ringing of a bell borrowed from the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, one of the nation’s oldest Black churches founded in 1776, President Barack Obama officially dedicated the newest addition to the family of Smithsonian institutions located on the National Mall — the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).

Tragedy to triumph

Patti LaBelle performs “A Change is Gonna Come” during the opening ceremony.

U.S. Rep. John Lewis received a standing ovation before speaking to the crowd.

In his address, the president said that the museum was an essential part of America’s story.

“What we can see of this beautiful building tells us that it is truly a sight to behold. But what makes it special are the stories contained inside,” Obama said.

“It is this national museum that

will help tell a fuller story of who we are. The African-American story is not a sidebar or a secondary tale. No, it is central to the American story — a glorious story that illustrates how African-Americans have been able to rise again and again from tragedy to triumph.”

Unrest noted Still, given the recent outbursts of civil unrest that have taken place in Charlotte, North Carolina and Tulsa, Oklahoma, following the shooting deaths unarmed Black men by police officers, the president also commented on what the museum cannot do.

“This museum won’t end job discrimination, violence in our cities or so many other ills and examples of injustice that we face – those things are up to us to change – by speaking out, protesting and voting,” he said.

“Hopefully it will help us begin to talk to one another, really see one another and listen to one another.”

From Wonder to Winfrey The president’s remarks served as the finale to a program attended by several hundred guests, many of whom were donors in a remarkably long fundraising initiative, led by Lonnie G. Bunch III, the founding director of the NMAAHC. Meanwhile, as far as the eye could see, hundreds and hundreds of men, See OBAMA, Page B2

‘What we can see of this beautiful building tells us that it is truly a sight to behold.

But what makes it special are the stories contained inside.’

President Barack Obama COURTESY OF NMAAHC

It took 100 years for the National Museum of African American History and Culture to become a reality.

EVENTS

B2

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

STOJ

JR. CARNIVAL

The Miami Broward Jr. Carnival is Oct. 1 at Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill.

It will feature more than 350 young masqueraders showcasing their culture and pride through a display of color, style and creativity. The event is noon to 9 p.m.

Details: miamibrowardcarnival.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LARRY AND TAKISHA FIDLER

ERIC BENET

The Times Union Center for the Performing Arts in Jacksonville will be the site of an Oct. 28 show featuring Anthony Hamilton, Lalah Hathaway and Eric Benet.

VANADY DANIELS

The Miami school principal and author of “The Power of Positive: Inspiration, Encouragement, Motivation and Enrichment,” will speak at a Literary Luncheon at 11 a.m. on Oct. 29 presented by the Collier County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority at The Club at Mediterra in Naples. RSVP at CollierDST@ gmail.com or by calling 239-450-5856.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Riverview: The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Hillsborough is planning a 3K Walk/Run on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 9 a.m. at YMCA Camp Christina, 9840 Balm Riverview Road. More information: www.namihillsborough.org.

St. Petersburg: The Uhuru Solidarity Movement will host a “Day in Solidarity with African People’’ on Oct. 2 at 4 p.m. at Akwaaba Hall, 1245 18th Ave. S. Details: 727-888-3797 or stpete@ uhurusolidarity.org.

Orlando: Hosted by Orange County, a Regional Affordable Housing Summit is set for Oct. 20 from 8:30 to 4 p.m. at the Orange County Convention Center. take place on October 20, 2016. Details: www.ocfl.net.

Miami: Cee Lo Green will perform Oct. 8 during a celebration of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County’s 10th anniversary. Tickets: www.arshtcenter.org.

Central Florida: Goodwill Industries of Central Florida will host its annual Job Fair

MUSEUM from Page 1

women and children lined the grounds surrounding the museum, watching the program on Jumbotrons, periodically shouting their affirmations throughout as participants including Stevie Wonder, Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Robert De Niro, Angela Bassett, Patti LaBelle and an a capella jazz choir from Howard University mounted the stage.

Cheers for Bush President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, also joined the special guests onstage.

Bush, passionate in his remarks, shared one statement that elicited a roar of agreement from the crowd

Day at all nine Job Connection Center locations in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Brevard, Lake and Volusia counties from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Applicants are asked to dress in professional attire and take copies of their resumes.

St. Petersburg: Lauryn Hill The MLH Caravan: A Diaspora Calling! Concert stops at The Mahaffey Theater on Dec. 6 and Dec. 8 at House of Blues Orlando.

Lakeland: Edward Waters College will play Southeastern University at 7 p.m.

Tallahassee: The Florida A&M University Rattlers football team will take on Savannah State at 6 p.m. Oct. 1 at Bragg Memorial Stadium.

St. Petersburg: 95.7’s Beats by the Bay Music Festival is Oct. 22 at Vinoy Park. Performers include Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Joe, Monica and August Alsina.

Daytona Beach: The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats will face North Carolina Central on Oct. 1 at 4 p.m. in Municipal Stadium.

Orlando: Chaka Khan will perform Oct. 24 and 25 during the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. Complete festival schedule: www.

and which Obama would reiterate during his address.

“A great nation does not shy away from the truth,” Bush said, referring to the countless lessons that he believes the new museum, through its many artifacts and exhibits, could provide to all Americans.

‘Great sense of pride’ Ken Chenault, one of the NMAAHC advisory council members and the CEO and chairman of American Express, commented on the willingness of so many to answer the clarion call to raise the millions of dollars that were needed to start the museum project.

“I look at this building with a great sense of pride,” said Chenault.

“Donors came from all across the planet — large donations and small do-

epcotfoodfestival.com Tampa: The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists (TBABJ) is accepting applications for its 2016 Griot Drum Scholarship Contest, which awards thousands of dollars to students of color majoring in journalism. Details: www. tbabj.com.

Jacksonville: Tickets are on sale for the “Puttin’ on the Ritz’’ show on Oct. 7 at the Ritz Theatre.

Tampa students hang out with Bucs in the team’s RV parked at the Moffitt Cancer Center.

Tampa Bay Bucs rookies visit patients, students at Moffitt Cancer Center Members of the 2016 Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ rookie class participated in their first community event together on Tuesday by visiting patients at Moffitt Cancer Center and then running football drills with area students who are part of Moffitt’s Healthy Kidz program.

The Tampa-based cancer center turned its lawn into a makeshift football field on Tuesday so the rookies could give middle school students lessons on how to tackle, make a touchdown and toss a football like a professional. The experience was part of the NFL’s “ Play 60” program. The 50 students who participated were from Sligh and Sergeant Smith middle schools in Tampa.

The Bucs Street Team RV was on site, giving the children, patients and Moffitt staffers an opportunity to experience an inside look into Buccaneers football from the comfort of the customized recreational vehicle.

Moffitt Healthy KIDZ is a community outreach program offered by Moffitt Cancer Center for children and adolescents of all ages focusing on cancer prevention, healthy living and positive life choices.

Roberto Aguayo, kicker for the Bucs, poses with a student.

Daytona Beach: Tickets are on sale for an Oct. 22 show with Jeffrey Osborne and Gerald Albright and Oct. 23 at The Mahaffey in St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg: Catch Tracy Morgan on Nov. 11 at The Mahaffey Theater and Nov. 13 at Hard Rock Live Orlando.

Miami: The King and Queen of Hearts Tour featuring Maxwell and Mary J. Blige stops at the AmericanAirlinesArena in Miami on Nov. 29.

Orlando: Tickets are on sale for the Nov. 19 Florida Classic game pitting BethuneCookman University against Florida A&M University at Camping World Stadium.

Details: floridaclassic.org.

nations — because so many people believed in the importance of building this museum. It will always remind us that what brings us together is stronger than what tears us apart.”

‘A nation’s story’ Bunch, overwhelmed with emotion, began his remarks by saying, “Today, a dream too long deferred is a dream no longer.”

Bunch continued: “This is not just about telling the story of a people, but a nation’s story and it will forever show how the lives of all Americans have been and will continue to be enriched, because of the contributions of AfricanAmericans.”

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from The Washington Informer.

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STOJ

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

SPORTS

B3

PHOTOS BY KEN CEDENO/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

A white terrycloth robe worn by Muhammad Ali is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Ali was heavyweight for social change, not just boxing Exhibit at new museum a tribute to famed boxer

BY CURTIS TATE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – The National Museum of African American History and Culture doesn’t just pay tribute to Muhammad Ali’s achievements in the boxing ring.

The museum’s Ali exhibit also emphasizes his role as an agent of social change – universally revered today but almost as universally reviled at the time.

The social activist side of Ali, who died in June at age 74, lives on in today’s athletes who are protesting injustices in their own way.

Strong backlash Ali protested the Vietnam War by refusing to be drafted. Some of today’s athletes are protesting the use of deadly force against

Black men by police by sitting or kneeling during the national anthem.

“If Ali was still alive, I imagine he would be very proud of these athletes,” said Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African and African-American studies at Duke University. “This is his legacy.”

And like Ali before them, they sometimes face a strong backlash.

“America hated him,” Neal said.

Knocked ‘sense into us’ Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Ky., the son of a painter and named for a 19thcentury Kentucky legislator and abolitionist.

Weeks after wresting the world heavyweight champion title from Sonny Liston in 1964, Clay converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Ali had begun attending meetings of the Nation of Islam a few years before.

“Ali was a radical even in a radical’s time; a loud, proud, unabashedly black voice in a Jim Crow world.’’

President Barack Obama Malcolm X became one of his mentors. They found common purpose in advocating for social justice for African-Americans.

“Ali was a radical even in a radical’s time; a loud, proud, unabashedly black voice in a Jim Crow world,” President Barack Obama wrote in a statement for Ali’s memorial service in Louisville. “His jabs knocked some sense into us, pushing us to expand our imaginations and bring others into our understanding.”

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Conviction overturned Ali’s most dramatic statement came in 1967, when at age 25 he refused to be drafted for the war in Vietnam. He cited his religious convictions, as well as the belief that the North Vietnamese had done nothing to him or other Black Americans and he had no reason to fight them.

He was convicted of draft evasion, sentenced to five years in prison and fined $10,000. He also was banned from boxing for three years. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction, but he was out of the ring in his prime.

His protest also cost him financially.

“We know what the stakes were for Ali,” Neal said.

In solidarity Although deeply unpopular at the time, Ali’s antiwar stance inspired other athletes to stand with him in solidarity. NBA greats Bill Russell and Lew Alcindor — now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — and NFL legend Jim Brown risked their reputations to support Ali. Other Black athletes mounted their own protests. When Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos — the winners of the gold and bronze, respectively, for the 200-me-

Boxing gloves worn by Muhammad Ali are on display at the museum. ter sprint in Mexico City in 1968 — raised their fists as the national anthem played in the medal ceremony, the U.S. Olympic Committee suspended them. Both received death threats.

Today, the Smithsonian’s new museum has a bronze statue of the two with raised fists.

reputation has taken a hit.

Some fans have burned his jersey. He’s received death threats. A poll conducted this month found that Kaepernick was the most disliked player in the NFL. “Not everybody is built for this,” Neal said.

Hate for Kaepernick

But two recent killings of Black men by police in Tulsa, Okla., and Charlotte, N.C., and subsequent protests have kept the issues facing African-Americans in the headlines and have inspired others to follow Kaepernick’s lead.

The entire West Seattle High School football team knelt in protest during the national anthem this month. So did the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.

“They’re all bowing down to the legacy of Ali, I think,” Neal said.

Neal said social media had brought these stories to a new generation of athletes.

“Social media has helped educate a generation of folks who didn’t know about those stories,” he said. “It has become an important teaching tool in these moments.”

Since San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first refused to stand for the national anthem in August, his public

Following his lead

B4

HEALTH

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

STOJ

How Miami-Dade got outgunned in war on Zika Despite early alarms, records show the county largely proceeded with business as usual as the summer mosquito season approached.

nearly free.”

But Miami-Dade mosquito fighters were closing a decade of reduced spending even as an array of mosquito-borne disease threats increased.

Audit results

BY JENNY STALETOVICH MIAMI HERALD/TNS

MIAMI – As the Zika virus spread across MiamiDade County this summer, a tiny staff of 17 that handles mosquito control for nearly 2.7 million people was outgunned, overwhelmed and maybe even a victim of its own success: In 2009 and 2010, the county managed to dodge a dengue outbreak that infected more than 100 people in Key West and four years later evaded a rash of Chikungunya.

But Zika was something different, a mosquito-borne virus with terrifying implications for expectant parents that had ravaged parts of South America.

As early as February, the county led the state in travel-related cases. In April, federal scientists issued dire predictions that ground zero for Zika in the U.S. would likely be Miami, a mecca for both Latin American tourists and the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmit the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention repeatedly warned it was a public health threat that called for serious advance planning.

Business as usual Despite the early alarms, records show Miami-Dade largely proceeded with business as usual as the summer mosquito season approached.

Mosquito staff set up a network of monitoring traps along the coast and marshes — a seasonal strategy designed to track nuisance biters but do little to assess the urban, diseasecarrying Zika mosquitoes.

A five-page action plan was drafted — with an initial prevention campaign focused on telling residents to dump and cover containers where mosquitoes breed, a strategy that almost never works.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez told staff to do what was needed and called for a $300,000 bump in the mosquito control division’s $1.7 million budget — a modest 18 percent boost that wouldn’t deliver more money until next year.

Other tactics, which better-financed mosquito control districts implemented, were not pursued. No additional surveys were done to scope out breeding grounds.

No special traps were distributed to track the presence of Aedes aegypti. No larvicide application, or neighborhood fogging outside the marsh mosquito zone in South Miami-Dade, was performed to knock down numbers in advance of the coming mosquito season.

More funds needed The county plan, for the most part, was to step up measures if and when Zika got a local foothold.

Outside experts say Miami-Dade could have done more. Given the dense urban population, preventing Zika was probably impossible. More aggressive and expensive tactics might have helped limit public exposure, but would have busted the budget in Miami-Dade, which has cut mosquito control spending in half since 2007.

The county now spends about 64 cents each year for every resident. The Florida Keys, in contrast, spends about $208 per resident — far and away the state’s gold standard for mosquito control.

“When you consider the population of Miami-Dade and the area you’re dealing

GASTON DE CARDENAS/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control inspector Sharon Nagel peers into a drain in Miami’s Wynwood district to detect any mosquito presence on July 30 in Miami. with, you can’t do anything of any consequence toward controlling mosquitoes with that little bit of money.

It’s just not possible,” said Ed Fussell, who helped pioneer aerial larviciding as head of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District between 1997 to 2011.

Borrowed traps As the outbreak spread, the county juggled a fastemerging public health crisis and public relations nightmare. The five-page plan posted on the division’s website was removed after Raquel Regalado, a mayoral candidate opposing Gimenez, complained in a televised debate that too little was done to prepare for the outbreak.

Officials discontinued compiling daily mosquito reports after the Miami Herald requested them, then resumed them in a new form that emphasized wider control efforts implemented after the local outbreak.

Throughout July, as travel-related cases mounted, trucks fogged just 10 locations countywide. Once health agencies confirmed local transmission in Wynwood on July 29, the small mosquito control division scrambled to confront the outbreak.

The daily reports show the division dispatched three to five inspectors with backpack foggers in the days that followed and deployed a truck fogger four times.

By the time a mosquito-fighting team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arrived in early August, just six Aedes aegypti traps, some of them borrowed, were being monitored by the county in Wynwood, CDC officials said.

‘Something new’ The summer battle has shown the proposed $300,000 bump estimated to for expanded mosquito control was absurdly low.

Gimenez now estimates that the county will spend about $10 million this year to fight Zika. The state has set aside, but not yet sent, another $5 million.

County officials defend the Zika campaign, rejecting the argument that more traps in different places would have made a difference. Chalmers Vasquez, chief of the mosquito control division, said it’s long been known that Zika mosquitoes infest much of the community.

“Miami-Dade County is a huge area. We have 300 square miles and we’re going to find these mosquitoes in the same number, maybe a little denser from block to bock, but in the same number all over,” he said. “We are learning.

This situation is something new.”

And comparing what happens in Miami-Dade to other parts of the state is unfair, Gimenez said.

“Miami-Dade is different. Our demographics are different and our visitors are coming from around the world,” he said. “Money was never the object. My directions were very clear: Don’t worry about the money.”

Sluggish response Within the tight confines of the Wynwood neighborhood, with its open-air restaurants and international travelers, preventing the virus would have been nearly impossible, he said.

“Monday-morning quarterbacking is really nice, but our experts did what they thought they had to do,” he said.

In fairness, Miami-Dade is not alone in getting caught flat-footed. The response of state and federal officials at times has also been sluggish or difficult to assess because of overlapping bureaucratic responsibilities and a lack of information.

Gov. Rick Scott has made numerous appearances to recap ongoing efforts, but the state has supplied few details about how it prepared in advance of the looming public health threat.

The Department of Agriculture usually oversees mosquito control but the state health department took over distributing money once Zika became a public health threat, a spokeswoman said. The health department did not respond to a request for what steps agency leadership took in advance of the outbreak.

Divvying up traps The agriculture department also failed to distinguish the elevated risk in Miami-Dade when it distributed a tight supply of traps designed to monitor Zika mosquitoes.

After the German company that manufactures the traps, called BG Sentinel, ran out as demands soared over the spring, the state back-ordered 310. But when they arrived in June, the state sent only nine to Miami-Dade, bringing the county’s total to 21.

The well-funded East Volusia Mosquito Control District, which has an operating budget of about $25 million for the Daytona Beach area, wound up with 45 traps.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Meale said in an email that the department based its decision on how to divvy up the traps to ensure every county had enough.

“The primary method of identifying local transmission of Zika is through in-

terviews of case patients; however, our goal in distributing traps and testing mosquitoes for Zika is to provide a secondary surveillance measure to detect the virus in mosquitoes,” she responded when asked why Miami received so few.

Weekly checks It took until Sept. 6, well after two transmission zones were confirmed in Wynwood and Miami Beach, for Miami-Dade County to complete a surveillance network that will include 61 BG traps.

Those traps will be checked weekly, said Miami-Dade’s Public Works spokeswoman Gayle Love, with another 50 traps ordered and expected to be put out before the end of the season. In recent weeks the county also deployed 200 In2Care traps, which are used to kill mosquitoes, in a field test of the relatively new product.

The CDC has also failed to follow through on some promised help.

In April, the agency rolled out a draft preparation plane that promised to provide counties with risk models showing where Zika was likely to pop up. But the agency has yet to produce the models despite three requests.

By August, the agency revised the plan to instead work with local authorities to investigate factors that might lead to Zika spreading. The agency also created grants to help locals assess risks in May, but the money wasn’t approved until August, CDC entomologist Janet McAllister said.

Battle over funding McAllister also conceded that while the federal health agency called for more surveillance to specifically track Aedes aegypti, “there really hasn’t been a lot of time for local jurisdictions to have the resources to do that.”

Meanwhile, the battle over federal Zika funding — $1.8 billion requested by the Obama administration in February — remains mired in Congress, with Republicans fighting to deny money to Planned Parenthood in Puerto Rico and Democrats demanding money for water problems in Flint, Mich.

Still, with all the early warnings pointed at South Florida, Miami-Dade’s poorly funded mosquito division stands out for its lowkey response.

Collier survey Other parts of the state, with far less risk, acted more aggressively when it became clear Zika was on the move.

At the start of the season, Collier County, for instance, conducted a survey using simple Ovitraps — small, inexpensive cups that mimic the containers where Zika mosquitoes breed, to map hot spots, said Mark Clifton, a research entomologist with the Collier Mosquito Control District.

“Ovitraps are cheaper and easier (than BG traps).

All you have to do is remember where you put them,” he said. “The problem with Aedes aegypti is it’s so very localized that one house may have a bunch and the house next door may be

In 2006, the division had a budget of nearly $3.7 million for a staff of 29. By 2012, after the Key West dengue outbreak, it fell to $1.4 million for 19 employees.

An audit that year found fewer than five employees were conducting inspections to look for mosquitoes around houses — where the Aedes aegypti and other disease carrying species largely live.

The staff also tended to over-estimate the time it took to complete inspections and usually came up empty-handed, the report said.

Part of the problem stemmed from the way inspections were conducted: residents were not contacted in advance, making it difficult to find the pots, broken bird baths, yard toys and other containers where mosquitoes breed.

About 96 percent of the time no breeding sites were found, suggesting the inspections amounted to a total waste of time. Auditors also reported that during the off season, other districts took advantage of free time to conduct surveillance and training, something auditors suggested Miami-Dade start doing.

With the Zika threat looming last year, county commissioners did take one step to speed the property inspection process, passing an ordinance allowing the county’s 12 inspectors to gain quicker access to yards and sites where mosquitoes might be breeding.

New strategies Another factor stacked against Miami-Dade. Attacking the urban Aedes aegypti requires a different set of strategies that are still not well understood, experts say, and Miami-Dade’s Zika battle may well provide a testing ground for weapons and tactics others areas will employ to combat mosquito-borne viruses in the future.

“It’s not like we go to a manual and say here’s how you control Aedes aegypti.

It’s a field that’s emerging and techniques advancing all the time,” said Clifton, the research entomologist with the Collier Mosquito Control District.

Because of that, surveillance can be tougher in dense, urban areas, he said.

“You could have 9,000 (BG traps) and it probably wouldn’t be enough for Miami,” he said. “Every corner you could have a new trap and it would give you totally new information than the one next to it.”

STOJ

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

Renée Elise Goldsberry, who won a Tony Award this year for best featured actress in a musical for her performance in “Hamilton,’’ is No. 30 on The Root’s 100 List of Black Influencers. Posted on www.theroot.com, it is a list of 100 Americans, ages 25-45, who are responsible for the year’s most significant cultural moments, social movements and big ideas.

B5

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

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

Funnyman Kevin Hart tops this year’s Forbes magazine list of the highestpaid comedians with earnings of $87.5 million. His recent roles are in the films “Central Intelligence” and “Secret Life of Pets.’’ He also has a lucrative “What Now?” comedy tour.

JAY L. CLENDENIN/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

A contemporary spin on all-White Western In the new remake of “The Magnificent Seven,’’ four of the title heroes are minorities.

making it one.

“I just think people are always looking for an angle, and that’s an easy angle,” Washington said.

“I didn’t really think about that at all. I am who I am. I’m the actor Antoine called to play this part.

Then they put a great cast together. We didn’t talk about diversity.

That’s something for the town to talk about. We’re in the business of making movies, not talking about what people think about them.”

BY JOSH ROTTENBERG LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

When director Antoine Fuqua first began contemplating how to go about remaking the muchloved 1960 western “The Magnificent Seven,” one image quickly popped into his head.

“I said, ‘I’ve got to see Denzel Washington on a horse,’” Fuqua recalled on a recent morning by phone from Italy, where the film was screening at the Venice Film Festival. “I’ve always thought about what Denzel would be like as a cowboy. Very few people have that kind of presence and power.”

Having grown up loving westerns, which he’d often watch with his grandmother, Fuqua knew as well as anyone that the heroes of the Old West in Hollywood movies of yesteryear were, with rare exceptions, usually White.

Brought up to date Director John Sturges’ original “Magnificent Seven,” the story of a band of gunfighters who join forces to protect a Mexican village from marauding bandits, was no exception.

Fuqua wasn’t looking to make any kind of statement by casting Washington as the bounty hunter who leads the gunslingers.

The role, played by Russianborn actor Yul Brynner in the original film, wasn’t written explicitly as one race or another.

But Fuqua did feel it was important to try to blow the dust off of a genre that has fallen somewhat out of fashion, to make a western that, though set in the world of 1874, felt — and in some ways looked — like the world of 2016.

“The western constantly changes depending on where we are as a society,” Fuqua explained. “What I wanted to do was bring it up to date and show people it’s an exciting genre. It represents who we are, what the promise of the United States is supposed to be.”

Catching up with times

SAM EMERSON/COLUMBIA PICTURES/TNS

Denzel Washington stars as Chisolm in the movie “The Magnificent Seven” directed by Antoine Fuqua. In its debut weekend, the movie was the top-grossing film with $35 million in domestic ticket sales.

More diverse heroes The 1960 “Magnificent Seven” — itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 epic “Seven Samurai” — had featured White actors in even some of the non-Caucasian roles, with Eli Wallach playing the bandit leader Caldera and Horst Buchholz as a young Mexican gunslinger named Chico.

In Fuqua’s remake, by contrast, four of the title heroes are non-White: Washington’s Sam Chisolm; Comanche warrior Red Harvest, played by Native American actor Martin Sensmeier; South Korean actor Byunghun Lee’s knife-throwing assassin, Billy Rocks; and Mexican actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo’s outlaw, Vasquez.

When Fuqua first met with Washington to discuss casting him in “The Magnificent Seven,” the idea instantly intrigued the actor — and not only because his previous collaboration with Fuqua, 2001’s “Training Day,” had been a box-office and critical success, earning him a best actor Oscar.

“You know, you don’t get that many chances to do westerns,” said Washington, who to this day

says he has never actually seen the original “Magnificent Seven.” “Hearing Antoine’s enthusiasm about it, I was like, ‘Oh, wait a minute.’”

No Hollywood agenda In the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, the issue of diversity has risen to the fore in Hollywood.

A recent study by the USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism found that the film industry has made scant progress in addressing what it calls “pervasive and systematic” inequality both in front of the camera and behind it.

Against that backdrop, the diversity of “The Magnificent Seven” cast has drawn extra attention; at the film’s press conference at the Toronto International Film Festival this month, the director and cast were asked about its significance in the context of the industry as a whole.

But Washington said, from his perspective, the diverse cast of “The Magnificent Seven” didn’t come out of any agenda. As he sees it, it only really became an issue when the media started

For Garcia-Rulfo, though, films like “The Magnificent Seven” show that Hollywood is catching up with the times.

“I think it’s really important that it’s opening up in this way,” he said. “You can see it in this film or, in the case of Mexicans, we have Diego Luna being one of the leads in the next ‘Star Wars.’

I think that’s really cool because that’s what life is.”

While the subject may not have been discussed much on the set, the notion of creating a more diverse “Magnificent Seven” first came up early in the process when screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto, creator of HBO’s “True Detective,” pitched the idea to the studio execs who were looking to develop the remake. (The film was co-financed by MGM and Columbia Pictures with MGM overseeing production.)

“Nic was the one who instigated the idea: Instead of having a group of Caucasians saving a village of Mexicans, why don’t we have a diverse group of seven?” said Jonathan Glickman, president of MGM’s motion picture group.

“Westerns are very tough to make if you can’t find a contemporary spin. At MGM, our goal was always, ‘How does this movie feel modern and current?’ And the cast was always first and foremost on our list.”

Global appeal As for the casting of Washington, Glickman said, “How do you not cast Denzel if he wants to do any movie? He’s a movie star who’s also a great actor, and it’s rare to find those combinations.”

As blockbuster franchises like

“The Fast and the Furious” and “Star Trek” have demonstrated, diversity in casting can be a boon at the box office.

While westerns don’t often perform strongly internationally, the casting of Washington, who has demonstrated strong global appeal for decades, as well as Lee, a major star in South Korea, could boost the film’s prospects in that regard. “(Lee) is incredible in the film, and it’s very helpful that he can be a spokesman for it overseas,” Glickman said. “Certainly that comes into the thinking, but only if it makes sense in the movie itself. It never works if it’s just a crass commercial move: ‘Hey, we can open in Brazil if we have this actor in it.’”

‘Proud to represent’ From a creative perspective, Fuqua didn’t want to force any kind of heavy-handed messages about race on the film. In developing the character of Chisolm, Fuqua and Washington left it up to the audience to decide what meaning, if any, to invest in the fact that he’s African-American.

This was no “Blazing Saddles”type scenario, in which the character’s race was a central plot point.

“There’s no Count Basie out there playing,” Washington said with a laugh. “When he walks into the saloon, do people look at him because they don’t know who he is? Because of his color? Because he’s good with a gun? Because they’re afraid of him? Pick one.”

‘No-man’s land’ The Old West in reality was a far more racially and ethnically mixed place than the one that’s been traditionally been shown in the movies.

Depicting that diversity, Fuqua said, is simply a question of historical accuracy.

“The West was quite a bag of tricks,” Fuqua said. “There were people of all colors coming from all around the world. People were coming out to the frontier to stake a claim and build a family. … It was the wild, wild West. It was noman’s land. It was this romantic dream.”

FOOD

B6

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2016

S

Celebrating everyday moments

FAMILY FEATURES

Finding time to celebrate family moments is always sweeter with a delicious ice cream dessert.

Breyers partnered with celebrity chef Curtis Stone and his wife, actress Lindsay Price Stone, to celebrate its 150th birthday. The couple created 12 delicious ice cream recipes inspired by each month of the year using Breyers Natural Vanilla ice cream. From January’s recipe featuring Fortune Cookies and Natural Vanilla Ice Cream with Mandarins and Oranges to December’s Spicy Hot Chocolate Floats, families have desserts to celebrate everyday moments all year long.

“Beyond a great taste, Breyers Natural Vanilla offers families peace of mind with its simple ingredients like sustainably farmed vanilla beans,” Curtis Stone said. “Also, it’s made with milk and cream from cows not treated with artificial growth hormones*.”

Start making the most of family time by visiting Breyers.com for more recipes and join in on the birthday celebration.

S’MORES ICE CREAM BIRTHDAY PIE Prep time: 20 minutes, plus 8 hours 40 minutes freezing time Cook time: 2 minutes Serves: 12 Nonstick cooking spray 8 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped, divided 2 1/4 teaspoons canola oil 30 chocolate wafer cookies pinch of salt 5 graham cracker sheets, broken into bite-size pieces 6 cups Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream, softened 4 large egg whites 1/2 cup sugar birthday candles (optional) Lightly spray 9-inch springform pan with 3-inch high sides with cooking spray.

In small bowl over simmering water, stir 3 ounces chocolate and oil until melted and blended.

In food processor, grind chocolate wafer cookies into fine crumbs (about 1 1/3 cups). Add chocolate mixture and pinch of salt and pulse

until moistened. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 1 1/2 inches up sides of pan. Freeze for about 10 minutes, or until crust hardens.

In large chilled bowl, fold graham cracker pieces and remaining chocolate into ice cream. Pour mixture into frozen crust and smooth top. Freeze for about 8 hours, or until ice cream hardens. Remove pie from pan and transfer to platter. Return pie to freezer.

In large bowl, using electric hand mixer on medium-high speed, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat for about 5 minutes, or until firm glossy peaks form.

Using large spoon, dollop meringue onto pie and spread decoratively, making sure no ice cream is exposed. Using kitchen blow­torch, torch meringue until browned all over.

Freeze pie for about 30 minutes, or until meringue has stiffened. Decorate with lit birthday candles, if desired.

Slice and serve immediately.

Note: Pie, without meringue topping, can be made up to 1 week ahead, covered and frozen.

ROASTED WHITE PEACHES WITH HONEYCOMB AND VANILLA ICE CREAM Prep time: 10 minutes, plus 20 minutes cooling time Cook time: 25 minutes Serves: 8 1 cup sugar, divided 1 lemon, zested 4 ripe but firm white peaches, halved and pitted 2/3cup water, plus 2 tablespoons, divided nonstick cooking spray 1/3 cup honey 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 4 cups Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream, divided Heat oven to 425 F. In small bowl, whisk 3 tablespoons sugar and lemon zest for about 1 minute, or until sugar is fragrant and moist. Arrange peaches, cut side up, in 13-by-9inch baking dish.

Pour water into dish.

Sprinkle lemon sugar mixture

over peaches and roast 25-30 minutes, or until peaches are slightly softened and have released their juices.

Meanwhile, lightly spray cooking spray on small baking sheet.

In medium-heavy saucepan over high heat, bring remaining sugar, honey and 2 tablespoons water to boil, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, without stirring, about 5 minutes, or until candy thermometer reaches 305 F. Remove from heat and whisk in baking soda until blended and mixture begins to bubble.

Gently pour hot mixture onto prepared baking sheet and cool.

Break honeycomb into small pieces and reserve in airtight container.

Spoon 1/2 cup ice cream into each of 8 bowls. Top with warm roasted peaches and warm juices. Sprinkle with honeycomb pieces and serve immediately.

Note: Honeycomb can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

BROOKIE CHERRY ICE CREAM SANDWICHES Prep time: 20 minutes, plus 2 hours 30 minutes freezing time Cook time: 25 minutes Serves: 8 1/2 pound fresh cherries, pitted and halved 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 4 cups Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream, softened 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted 1 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted 4 large egg whites, at room temperature pinch of salt 1/2 cup walnut pieces, coarsely chopped nonstick cooking spray In small saucepan over medium heat, bring cherries, granulated sugar and lemon juice to simmer, mashing cherries with potato masher or fork to break up. Simmer, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until mixture thickens. Transfer to shallow

container, cover and refrig­erate until cold.

In large chilled bowl, fold cherry mixture into ice cream until blended. Cover and freeze about 2 hours, or until firm.

Heat oven to 350 F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Meanwhile, in medium bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, egg whites and salt. Using electric hand mixer on low speed, beat for about 1 minute, or until just blended. Fold in walnuts.

Immediately drop 16 mounds of batter onto prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly. Spray underside of spoon with cooking spray and spread mounds into 2 1/2-inch rounds. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until tops are shiny and cracked. Cool cookies completely.

Scoop ice cream onto flat side of half of cookies. Place another cookie on top of ice cream and gently press down until ice cream spreads to edges. Return sandwiches to freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up before serving.

Note: Brookies can be baked up to 1 day ahead, stored airtight at room temperature.

My day is all about making