Florida Courier - October 09, 2015

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OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

VOLUME 23 NO. 41

CALL THE AUDITORS OR I’LL CALL THE FEDS In 2013, B-CU trustees (left to right) Dr. Larry Handfield, Johnny L. McCray, Jr., the Rev. Dr. Eugene Zimmerman and Ray Brinson watched as B-CU President Dr. Edison Jackson spoke about his objectives for the school.

That’s what a disgusted BethuneCookman trustee is telling his alma mater amid questions about forged signatures, financial mismanagement and millions allegedly spent without the knowledge of the school’s leadership.

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF

DAYTONA BEACH – In a scathing six-page letter dated Sept. 15, Johnny L. McCray, Jr., a Pompano Beachbased attorney and longtime member of the Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) Board of Trustees, issued an ultimatum demanding that the board bring in forensic auditors to probe the school’s finances for fraud and fiscal mismanagement – or he would file lawsuits against individual board members and request a state and federal criminal investigation.

McCray’s letter is the first public glance at a boardroom dispute that has been

JOHN REEVES / B-CU

Black, Hispanic media link up Agency to lead drive for ad dollars

roiling in the wake of the university’s decision to spend $72 million to build new on-campus housing that is being financed by a Maryland-based housing project company, TG Quantum, LLC. Quantum calls itself “a one-stop solution for public sector entities that seek to utilize private sector funding options and/or public private partnership (P3) strategies as a tool to accomplish public sector goals,” according to Internet research.

A YouTube video Quantum prepared for B-CU cites student housing projects at Baylor University, See OPEN, Page A2

2015 MIAMI BROWARD CARNIVAL

It’s Carnival time!

SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Refuel Agency, a leader in youth, military and multicultural marketing and media placement, along with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and National Association of Hispanic Publishers (NAHP), announced last week the formation of a National Advertising Task Force to educate marketers on the benefits and importance of the African-American and Hispanic newspaper market.

Both boards of directors unanimously agreed to this historic alliance. This is the first time the NNPA and NAHP have joined forces for such an effort.

Leading organizations Refuel Agency has locations nationwide, with headquarters in New York City, and offices in Chicago; Los Angeles; Santa Barbara, Calif.; and Princeton, N.J. NNPA is the leading trade association of the more than 200 African-American-owned community newspapers from around the United States. Since its founding 75 years ago, NNPA has consistently been the voice of the Black community and an incubator for news that makes history.

As the largest and most influential Black-owned media resource in America, NNPA delivers news, information and commentary to over 20 million people

each week. Americans from all backgrounds seek news from the Black perspective from the NNPA member newspapers around the country.

NAHP is a non-partisan trade advocacy organization representing the leading Spanish language publications serving 41 markets in 39 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, with a combined circulation of over 23 million.

NNPA and NAHP have a combined total reach of more than 43 million readers per week. Contrary to general market daily newspapers, African-American and Hispanic newspapers are on the rise and thriving and, for the last 100 years, have been the trusted voice of their respective communities.

Increase awareness, revenue The task force will be in charge of increasing awareness and advertising for member newspapers and will be meeting with major auto, financial and political advertisers in the coming months.

“With close to 97 million African-Americans and Hispanics in the U.S. today, representing 33 percent of the total population, See MEDIA, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

NATION | A6

Senate control up for grabs next year HEALTH | B3

Star of OWN show to speak at FAMU

ALSO INSIDE

Who should be taking aspirin a day

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

More than 15,000 masqueraders are set to provide a spectacle of colors and pageantry as this year’s Miami Broward Carnival reaches its climax with the Parade of Bands and a concert on Sunday, Oct. 11, at the Miami-Dade Fairgrounds. The action starts at 11 a.m. and won’t end till 11 p.m.

Get more info online at miamibrowardcarnival.com.

COMMENTARY: LUCIUS GANTT: CONNIE, SIDDEEQ AND YOU | A4 COMMENTARY: JULIANNE MALVEAUX: BEN CARSON – THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET | A5

FOCUS

A2

OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

MEDIA from A1

COURTESY OF REFUEL AGENCY

NNPA President/CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis signs a joint agreement as NNPA Board Chair Denise Rolark Barnes, NAHP Vice President Martha Montoya, NNPA First Vice President Francis Page, and NAHP Manager Jose Sueiro look on.

this consumer segment demands attention,” said Martha Montoya, NAHP vice president. “The buying power of the African-American and Hispanic communities, currently at over $2.3 trillion combined, continues to outpace the national average.”

“This historic media alliance is a gigantic step for our organizations,” said Dr. Benjamin Chavis, NNPA president and CEO. “We believe our working together has tremendous potential mutual benefits in to-

FOR MORE INFORMATION To advertise or for more information, contact Greg Anthony, EVP National Sales Manager at 805-6907011 or ganthony@ refuelagency.com. day’s marketplace.”

“This task force also marks a historic partnership between the NNPA and NAHP, the nation’s most influential publishing organizations that are currently led by women. Martha and I have a shared vi-

sion and commitment to empower our communities by strengthening the voices of the media we serve,” said NNPA Chairwoman Denise Rolark Barnes.

Refuel Agency will officially spearhead centralized advertising efforts on behalf of NNPA and NAHP. “We are thrilled to be a part of this initiative to bring one united voice to this very important mission. With African-American and Hispanic populations continuing to surge, it is the perfect time to promote the importance of reaching these communities and consumers,” said Derek White, president and CEO of Refuel Agency.

B-CU from A1

the University of Tampa and Texas Christian University as some of its success stories.

Millions spent According to McCray’s letter, in February 2014, BCU agreed to pay Quantum and the other project partners nearly $6 million in periodic payments ranging from $250,000 to $1.7 million each, even before the board gave final approval to the dormitory project.

McCray states that the board did not become aware of the Quantum agreement until April 2015 – more than a year later – and only then by accident. “…the TGQ (Quantum) Agreement first came to the attention of the Board in a report by independent auditors commissioned after the departure of impugned CFO Emmanuel Gonsalves, whose tenures at prior institutions were marred by public and well documented allegations of financial impropriety and fiscal mismanagement,” McCray states.

“But for the report of these independent auditors, the Board would not have been aware of the TGQ Agreement, nor would the Board have been aware that $5.6M of unauthorized and theretofore undisclosed expenditures had already escaped the University’s coffers.”

Checkered history Gonsalves, B-CU’s former chief financial officer, left his last two jobs under professional clouds.

Prior to 2008, Gonsalves, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, served as a top administrator at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.

B-CU’s current president, Dr. Edison O. Jackson, was president of the college and was Gonsalves’ boss there.

In September 2008, Gonsalves returned to his native country to became the president of the College of Science, Technology and applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago, known there as CONSTATT. In 2012, Gonsalves was placed on “administrative leave” by the CONSTATT board of trustees, according to local press reports.

The CONSTATT board ordered “an audit into all aspects of the college’s finances, and administration and has instructed employees not to destroy any of the school’s documents,” according to an article in the New York Carib News dated July 9, 2012.

After Gonsalves left CONSTATT, Jackson brought him to Daytona Beach. A decision by Gonsalves last year to establish a community development corporation (CDC) without the B-CU board’s knowledge raised eyebrows, and Gonsalves left B-CU in January to “pursue his personal and professional ambitions,” as Jackson told the Florida Courier in a previous interview.

McCray’s letter indicates that the B-CU board also hired auditors to review Gonsalves’ work in the wake of his departure from B-CU – just as the CON-

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Despite the drama surrounding Bethune-Cookman University’s $72 million dormitory construction development, the building process on both phases continues unabated. in such disregard for governance?”

No partial reimbursement

Johnny L. McCray, Jr.

Dr. Edison O. Jackson

STATT board did before them. According to McCray, the auditors discovered the Quantum agreement during the B-CU audit.

Who signed it?

McCray writes that Jackson denied having signed the Quantum agreement.

The B-CU board then hired a handwriting expert whose conclusion about whether Jackson signed the document was “inconclusive,” according to McCray.

“The examiner’s report…did not establish to any reasonable degree of certainty the inauthenticity of the subject signature…the examiner opined ‘it is probable that the writer of the signature was not [President] Jackson.’ More importantly, the examiner’s report failed to shed any light on who may have been the signor of the TGQ Agreement,” McCray reports.

He urges his fellow board members not to stop asking questions.

“Given the recent inconclusive report…and other developments at the University which raise serious questions about the current financial health of the University, I fervently believe that the fiduciary duties entrusted to each of us mandate nothing less than the probing investigation of a forensic audit,” McCray states.

A forensic audit is an intensive, specialized review of financial records that attempts to find the source of transactions with an eye toward revealing and prosecuting fraud, financial malfeasance and economic crimes. It is different from the regular yearly audit that many non-profit educational institutions generally undergo.

Credible critic McCray, a B-CU Class of 1978 graduate, is a longtime supporter of the

Dr. Joe Petrock

school. He was president of his graduating class before matriculating to Howard University, where he earned a law degree in 1981 before being admitted into the Florida Bar in 1982. He has practiced law in his Pompano Beach hometown for more than 34 years.

He has been on the Bethune-Cookman board for more than seven years, and served on various board committees over the last two presidential administrations there. He’s won various alumni awards from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, the school’s National Alumni Association, and from the university itself as a distinguished B-CU alumnus.

How could this happen?

The “most vexing question,” according to McCray, is how a legally binding $5.6 million contract, as well as regular payments of millions of dollars, could get past the president, his staff, the school’s attorney, and the board at a school the size of B-CU. “If such a substantial amount of funds was expended unbeknownst to the Board and the President, only the Good Lord knows what, if any, additional improprieties our current knowledge may portend,” he fumes.

“What is the true financial condition of the University in the wake of confirmed revelations of fiscal improprieties? If $5.6M is expended unbeknownst to the President, key administrators and staff members, the University’s General Counsel, and the Board’s finance committee, the University has a problem.”

He adds, “How can an educational institution the size of our university not realize $5.6M has been expended? What void in institutional controls could have coalesced to spin the maelstrom which resulted

McCray’s letter implies that after questions were raised about the Quantum agreement, Jackson convinced Quantum to refund the payments – if the B-CU board gave final approval on the $72 million project.

“President Jackson assured the Board that he had secured an agreement from TG Quantum and/ or its partners to reimburse the University $4M within 60 days of closing on the Dormitory Project, with the remaining $1.6M to be reimbursed at a later date(s). At the time, the Board was advised that closing was slated to occur within days of the adjournment of the April 2015 meeting of the Board.

“We are now approaching six (6) months onward, and the Board has received no indication that a dime of those monies have been replenished to the University’s coffers,” according to McCray.

Spending freeze McCray points to a lack of urgency in getting the funds back from Quantum, despite signs the B-CU is tightening its financial belt. “…(T)he President has disseminated to the University at least two memoranda, on April 23, 2015 and June 6, 2015, imposing university-wide spending freezes. Not only may the failure to timely reimburse the funds, coupled with the recent memoranda raise questions about the University’s financial condition, such failure may constitute a material breach of the project documents by a party(ies) with whom the University is otherwise committed to long-term contractual relationships,” McCray states.

“Nevertheless, even if the monies were reimbursed, unless and until the Board is fully apprised of the current financial condition of the University, such reimbursement is merely a palliative to conceal known improprieties and an unsightly plaster covering the weightiest questions raised by the little which we already know.”

In subsections of the letter titled, “Role of the Board Member in Financial Oversight,” “Fiducia-

ry’s Duty of Care,” and Personal Liability of Fiduciaries, McCray writes that board members’ responsibilities are to “exercise… three core duties: the duties of good faith, of loyalty and of care,” which includes the duty to “read and review the financials, and ask questions about their content.”

Other concerns He points out other concerns that he says should give board members pause: • Gonsalves allegedly spent $500,000 to acquire a facility in Deltona – about 20 miles away from the school’s Daytona Beach campus – that was unapproved by the board and that was reported “belatedly” to certain committees of the board.

• Gonsalves formed the CDC without the board’s knowledge. Then he chose as a CDC board director a man who had been forced to resign from the United Way of New York City following an investigation that determined that he had converted $225,000 of its funds to his personal use.

• Recently published Daytona Beach-area newspaper reports indicate that B-CU hired a convicted felon to serve as an accountant at the university.

After informing board members that they could be sued personally for failure to abide by their duties, McCray gives a stern warning: “…(I)f this Board fails to conduct an appropriate investigation, I am prepared to prosecute a derivative lawsuit, on behalf of the University, against the appropriate persons for breach of fiduciary duty.

At this time, I also believe it may be appropriate to involve state and federal law enforcement officials to investigate whether embezzlement or other criminal acts may have been committed against the University.

“A forensic audit of the University’s books and records for the fiscal years 2011 to 2014 is necessary for the Board to have a fair and accurate picture of the University’s financial position, and more particularly, to ferret out potential wrongdoing, whether civil or criminal, that may impact on the University’s financial health.”

Previous interview In an April 2015 interview with the Florida Courier, Jackson beat back concerns about the school’s operations and financial condition. He mentioned that the university has an annual audit that showed “We’ve got a clean bill of health.

“It’s not like we aren’t open. Yes, we are. Every board member knows the fiscal health of the university,” he said then.

In response to an online petition from B-CU alumni requesting a forensic audit, Jackson said three B-CU alumni on the board represent B-CU’s National Alumni Association.

“They voted for this project,” he said, referring to the $72 million dorm construction deal. “…the board made that decision.”

He added that there are seven B-CU graduates on the board. “And so the question is, what do you want to see… and you have elected representatives on the board and they have not raised any questions at the board meetings.

“You can, I guess, throw stones at anything. This project is a good project.”

Nothing else to say When finally reached to confirm the existence of the letter after numerous attempts, McCray replied with a curt “No comment,” then hung up on a Florida Courier reporter.

The Florida Courier reached out to B-CU officials last week for comment and submitted a copy of McCray’s letter to them prior to publishing this report. A B-CU spokesperson indicated that B-CU Board Chairman Dr. Joe Petrock would respond on behalf of the board, and offered this newspaper an exclusive interview with Petrock and B-CU President Jackson to discuss McCray’s allegations.

Scheduling conflicts did not allow the interviews to take place prior to publishing this report. To date, the school has not issued any formal written response.

The Florida Courier will publish B-CU’s response whenever it is issued.

To read McCray’s letter as well as previous stories about the B-CU dorm project, go to www.flcourier. com. You also can see a Youtube video rendering of the $72 million dorm project.

OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

FLORIDA

A3

BP settlement nets more than $3 billion for state THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

The U.S. Department of Justice formally announced a settlement Monday to resolve civil claims against BP arising out of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, with the deal expected to mean about $3.25 billion for Florida.

The $20.8 billion deal to resolve the government’s claims under the Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act is the largest ever for the Justice Department and was initially announced in June.

“This historic agreement will help Florida recover from the disastrous economic and environmental consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and end a potentially lengthy litigation process,” state Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a release Monday.

“The agreement formalized today represents the largest single total recovery in American history for an environmental disaster.”

Millions for restoration

EMILY MICHOT/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

President Barack Obama and then-Florida Governor Charlie Crist walk along Casino Beach on Pensacola Beach on June 15, 2010, as they visited the Gulf Coast region affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Florida stands to receive $2 billion for economic damages, the most of any Gulf Coast state, and $680 million for restoration projects. Florida is also in line for $572 million as part of the 2012 Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States (RESTORE) Act, with that figure potentially growing to $1.25 billion.

The deadly explosion aboard the

Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and ensuing massive spill affected the environment, tourism and the fishing industry along the Gulf of Mexico, but its effects rippled throughout the state.

Water, wildlife request Audubon Florida Executive Director Eric Draper said the money should be used to help restore and maintain wildlife habitat along the Gulf Coast and improve waterquality projects along the coast.

“Florida appears to have fared well in the settlement with BP,” Draper said.

“Florida’s share of natural resource damage funds seems appropriately targeted toward water quality improvements and restoring wildlife in Florida’s coastal areas.”

More for Louisiana Louisiana, hardest-hit by the environmental impacts of the disaster, is slated to receive $5 billion for restoration projects, the most of any of the five states in the settlement.

In Florida, Triumph Gulf Coast Inc., a non-profit corporation created by the Legislature in 2013, will manage 75 percent of the economic damages money.

Triumph, set up to help the eight Panhandle counties most economically impacted by the spill, is expected to award the money over 30 years for recovery efforts.

‘Haves and the Have Nots’ star to be FAMU’s homecoming guest “The Haves and the Have Nots” star and Florida A&M University (FAMU) alumna Angela Robinson will highlight the university’s weeklong homecoming festivities.

This year’s theme is “Straight Outta FAMU” in tribute to FAMU alumnus and acclaimed movie producer, Will Packer.

Robinson, who graduated from FAMU in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, will be the keynote speaker at a 10:10 a.m. Homecoming convocation on Oct. 17.

She is a native of Jacksonville, who began her acting career on the stage on Broad-

way and Off Broadway. On Broadway, she performed in “The Color Purple” and Off Broadway in “Dream Girls” and “The Wizard of Oz.” Before becoming a star on OWN’s (Oprah Winfrey Network) prime-time hit show “The Haves and the Have Nots,” Robinson appeared on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

One to watch This year, she received the Gracie Award for Outstanding Female Actor-One to

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE FOR BLACK STUDENTS. NO EXCUSES. The classic guide from Florida Courier publisher, lawyer and broadcaster CHARLES W. CHERRY II PRAISE FOR ‘EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE’:

Watch. The Gracie Awards celebrate and honor programming created for women, by women, and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary contributions in electronic media.

Commenting on the week of festivities, FAMU President Dr. Elmira Mangum said, “It is exciting to have Rattlers come back to the ‘Hill’ to see the great things that are happening on campus every day and to connect with our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends. Homecoming is a time of revival and renewal.”

“We are also delighted that Ms. Robinson has agreed to share words of wisdom and inspiration to the FAMU family,” added Mangum.

The Rattlers’ football team will face Delaware State University on Oct. 18 Angela during the 3 p.m. game at Robinson Bragg Memorial Stadium.

Visit www.famu.edu for more details on the homecoming weekend.

Senate panel backs social media privacy for employees

However, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, noted that many companies can block access to social media websites on company equipment and that a business can still investigate cases of harassment as the recipient would have copies of any electronic messages.

“This is the same legislature that in the last two or three years we’ve restricted the use of drones, we’ve attempted … to restrict police officers looking at people’s cell phones and who they’ve called,” Latvala said. “We’ve done a whole lot of things to protect people’s privacy and this is a glaring example of something that I think needs to be done.”

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

• Want a great grade? Prepare to cheat!

TALLAHASSEE – Most employees and job seekers could refuse to turn over private user names and passwords for social media sites without retribution, under a revived measure approved by a Senate panel Monday.

The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee voted 5-1 to support the measure (SB 186) by Lake Worth Democrat Jeff Clemens. The measure, which Jeff is filed for the 2016 legislaClemens tive session, would prohibit employers from requesting access to private social media accounts.

“People have the right to privacy, and they have a right to not be put under pressure in a job interview to disclose things that maybe they wouldn’t want to disclose and that really has no relation to their ability to do a job,” Clemens said after the meeting.

• How Black students can program their minds for success;

Some opposition

“This guide for African-American college-bound students is packed with practical and insightful information for achieving academic success...The primary focus here is to equip students with the savvy and networking skills to maneuver themselves through the academic maze of higher education.”

– Book review, School Library Journal • How low expectations of Black students’ achievements can get them higher grades;

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

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

Facebook ccherry2 excellencewithoutexcuse

for info on speeches, workshops, seminars, book signings, panel discussions.

Twitter @ccherry2

Clemens said in the past few years, as social media has become more prevalent, about 30 states have adopted similar legislation.

But Clemens’ proposal, which is before lawmakers for the third consecutive year, continues to face opposition from influential business groups, in part, because it would allow employees and prospective hires to sue.

“Employers should have access to any social media platform that employees access during work hours on hardware that they, the employer, actually own,” said Brewster Bevis, senior vice president of Associated Industries of Florida. “We believe the employer can be held legally responsible for information or leaking that is done over that platform.”

Bevis also argued Monday that the measure could block internal investigations into matters such as sexual harassment and bullying.

Privacy on the job Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, supported Bevis’ contention about blocking access to internal investigations and provided the lone vote against the measure.

No user name, password Committee Chairwoman Nancy Detert, R-Venice, said the bill may still need to be amended to focus more on prospective hires.

Clemens said he’s willing to discuss ways that the civil liability issue could be altered, but added that going through an individual’s private social media is similar to going through a person’s private mail.

“I don’t think there is any court in the world that would tell you a business was negligent because they didn’t go through their employee’s mail,” Clemens said.

This bill would prohibit an employer from requesting the user name, password, or any other means of accessing the social media account of an employee or prospective employee, if the social media account’s contents are not available to the general public.

Some exemptions However, people might want to rethink “friending” a boss, as there is nothing in the bill that would prohibit an employer from checking out anything the employee or prospective hire posts that is publicly available.

Also, employers wouldn’t be prohibited from requiring access to a social media account used by the employee for the employer’s business purposes.

The proposal includes some exemptions, such as for employers complying with state or federal laws and for law-enforcement agencies when screening prospective employees or investigating employees.

A similar measure introduced this spring by Clemens failed to get backed by any committees. Two years ago, after a provision was added allowing employers to access employees’ social media information for business-related sites, a proposal was able to clear two of its four scheduled stops.

The new proposal still would need approval from the Senate Judiciary and Rules committees.

EDITORIAL

A4

OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

Putin trumps Obama at the UN If the peevish expression on Barack Obama’s face was any indication, Vladimir Putin is a force in the world who cannot be ignored.

Ever since Russia annexed Crimea in response to the United States-and NATO-backed coup in Ukraine, Obama and the corporate media have falsely declared that Putin is isolated from the rest of the world. They claim he is a monster, a despot and an irrelevance on the world stage.

Other friends While the G8 member nations turned themselves into the G7 in order to snub Russia, President Putin was making friends elsewhere. He may have been isolated from the United States and its clique, but not from China and the other BRICS nations (other developing nations, including Brazil, India, China and South Africa) or Syria or Iran or Iraq.

While Western nations use the Islamic State (ISIS) as a ruse to exact regime change in Syria, Putin has formed an alliance to carry out the task of eradicating that danger – which was created by Western intervention.

Presidents Obama and Putin both made their respective cases before the United Nations General Assembly at its annual meeting. Obama’s speech was an apologia for imperialism and American aggressions. He repeated the lies which no one except uninformed Americans believe.

Licensed to kill If he calls a leader “a tyrant,” he

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

claims the right to destroy a nation and kill and displace its people. Despite the living hell that the United States made out of Libya, Obama continues to defend his crime. He blandly adds that “our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind.” Apparently he hopes that no one is paying attention to the horrors inflicted on Libya or the ripple effect which created numerous other humanitarian crises.

Not content to defend the indefensible, the president made it clear that the Obama doctrine of regime change and terror is alive and well: “I lead the strongest military that the world has ever known, and I will never hesitate to protect my country or our allies, unilaterally and by force where necessary.”

Sovereign independence In contrast, the man labeled a dictator acknowledged the importance of respecting every nation’s sovereignty.

“Rather than bringing about reforms, an aggressive foreign interference has resulted in a brazen destruction of national institutions and life itself. Instead of the triumph of democracy and

Alabama’s new Jim Crow far from subtle In Alabama, 50 years after Selma, voting rights are once more under assault. Even as Alabama finally took down its Confederate flags this year, it has raised new obstacles to voting.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder to gut the Voting Rights Act, supported by the five conservative justices alone, opened the floodgates to legislation in over 21 states erecting new obstacles to make voting more difficult. These have included limiting the days for early voting, eliminating Sunday voting, requiring various forms of ID, shutting down voting sites and more.

Latest efforts Alabama – the home of Selma and the Bloody Sunday police riot that spurred the passage of the original Voting Rights Act 50

REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR. TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

years ago – is one of the leaders in the new forms of voter suppression.

Alabama passed a bill requiring for the first time a photo ID for voting, hitting African-Americans, the poor, the young and the old disproportionately. Now Alabama is using a budget squeeze to shut down 31 satellite offices that issue driver’s licenses, the most popular form of voter ID.

Black counties targeted This new Jim Crow isn’t sub-

Connie, Siddeeq and you I recently attended the homegoing services for Connie Tucker, a true revolutionary.

I didn’t know Connie personally, but I knew a lot about her.

Almost everyone in the Black Power movement, the Pan-African movement, the Black activist movement, the environmental rights movement, the civil rights movement and other progressive periods and activities related to the empowerment of African-American and African people across the globe knew about Connie Tucker.

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE

progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster. Nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life.”

Making good use of his time in the spotlight, he made clear that he wasn’t fooled or cowed by the United States.

“I cannot help asking those who have caused the situation, do you realize now what you’ve done? But I am afraid no one is going to answer that. Indeed, policies based on self-conceit and belief in one’s exceptionality and impunity have never been abandoned.”

Standing against America Obviously Putin has self-interest in supporting his allies in Syria and for fighting ISIS. He acknowledged that his country is at risk from some of its own citizens who have sworn an allegiance to that group. Nonetheless, it is important that at least one nation in the world is capable of standing up to American state-sponsored destruction and is willing to take action in that effort.

Before the United Nations proceedings took place, Russia announced that it would share intelligence with Iran, Iraq and Syria in order to combat ISIS. If the United States were true to its word, that alliance would be welcomed instead of scorned.

Not since the late Hugo Chavez declared that George W. Bush left a “smell of sulfur” has an American president been so openly confronted at the United Nations. Putin’s presence makes it

tle. Al.com columnist John Archibald reported that eight of the 10 Alabama counties with the highest percentage of non-White registered voters saw their driver’s license offices closed.

“Every single county in which Blacks make up more than 75 percent of registered voters will see their driver license office closed,” Archibald wrote, “Every one.”

First the state demands that you get a photo ID, and then it makes it harder to do so, particularly in areas heavily populated

by African-Americans.

Calling for help Not surprisingly, civil rights activists are asking the Justice Department to intervene. Rep. Terri A. Sewell, who represents Selma and is the only Democratic member of the Alabama congressional delegation, called the restrictions “eerily reminiscent of past, discriminatory practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests that restricted the Black vote.”

State officials claim that other ways of obtaining photo IDs are

released a new book entitled, “Where Are You, Daddy: Black Lives Didn’t Matter When Indianapolis Police Murdered Michael Taylor & Lied.” Knowing Siddeeq, the book must be nothing but the truth!

I highly recommend Siddeeq’s book because I highly recommend Muhammad Siddeeq. He wrote the foreword to my book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing.

No one has described and captured the essence of Lucius Gantt the way that Siddeeq did.

Siddeeq, like Connie Tucker, is a soldier in God’s Army, a freedom fighter for life! He has been so much to me – a friend, comrade, protector, ally, supporter and a surrogate father to me, because whenever I needed Siddeeq he was always there for me – just like my biological father, Lucius II.

DAVID FITZSIMMONS, THE ARIZONA STAR

clear that Obama can no longer expect to carry out his international dirty work without effective opposition.

While the corporate media noted the tense photo opportunity between the two presidents, they neglected to mention the real issues behind the bad feelings.

At a press conference after his address, Putin was asked about French President Hollande’s insistence that Assad leave the Syrian presidency.

‘Not involved’

port their own terrorist groups and destroy anyone who doesn’t do what they want. Putin is making a case for non-interference and that makes him persona non grata in the eyes of the supposedly more democratic West.

The world ought to fear Pax Americana, not a Russian military presence in Syria. There cannot be true peace and stability unless nations and peoples are left to their own devices. The helping hand of United States democracy is anything but. It is a recipe for disaster and requires forceful opposition.

If Russia can be a reliable counterforce the whole world will benefit, even if Barack Obama frowns before the cameras.

“I relate to my colleagues the American and French presidents with great respect, but they aren’t citizens of Syria and so should not be involved in choosing the leadership of another country.”

That simple statement explains the totality of American enmity towards Russia. The NATO nations claim a right to choose leaders, create and sup-

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

available for voters. But this is Alabama, infamous for its segregationist history, for its rejectionist Gov. George Wallace, for bloody Sunday in Selma, for the murder of four little girls in the bombing of the Birmingham church.

Under the original Voting Rights Act, Alabama’s measures would have required preclearance from the Justice Department. With the bipartisan leadership of Rep. John Conyers, Sen. Pat Leahy, and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a bill to resuscitate the Voting Rights Act is now pending in Congress, although it has yet to get a vote.

It revives preclearance measures, applying them to states with five violations of federal law to their voting changes over the past 15 years. While the old law applied to nine Southern States and parts of several others, this standard would apply only to Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

would other states with an extensive history of voting discrimination such as North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona and Virginia.

The right to vote is fundamental to any Republic. Voting should be facilitated, not obstructed.

We should register citizens automatically. Early voting should be extended and easy. Voting day should be a holiday, so workers have time to cast their votes.

American voting rates are scandalously low, largely because we make registration and voting so difficult.

It is particularly outrageous that 50 years after Selma, when the country celebrates the courage of the civil rights marchers, we still witness efforts to suppress the vote, skewed to discriminate against minorities. Alabama’s actions demand a Justice Department investigation.

And that demand should be met immediately.

Exempt from scrutiny Yes, Alabama would still be exempt from preclearance as

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is president and CEO of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

dying out or selling out!

Back in the day, you could put a rally, march or serious protest together with only a rumor about one Black person being mistreated. Nowadays, you can beat a Black woman to the ground, choke a Black man, or shoot a Black child in the back in broad daylight and nothing will happen – other than a surge of Facebook posts or Twitter tweets!

It’s hard to be a person that is willing to fight for his or her beliefs. But if you truly want to live, you have to be willing to die.

Too many Black neighborhoods, Black communities and Black colleges are becoming sanctuaries for punks, stages for freaks, homes for hoes, and warehouses for the weak, the scared and the disinterested!

we need more and new freedom fighters in America and around the world!

What young person is going to get up from the union bid whist table and get down in the projects, barrios, ghettos and other areas where young freedom fighters are needed?

The movements and struggles in which Connie Tucker and Muhammad Siddeeq participated didn’t start with thousands of followers. The movement of today can start with you. When people see you doing the right, the brave, the caring, or the smart thing, the masses will soon be right there with you.

God, please send us another fearless woman like Connie Tucker and more righteous men like Muhammad Siddeeq!

to Black progress equaled, or surpassed the exploits of the more famous Angela Davis!

Angela was smart academically; Connie was book-smart and street-smart. Connie had a greater impact on many more Black people because she was constantly on the front lines in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and in many other Never stopped states and cities.

Rest in peace, Connie Tucker.

Once Connie became active in the struggle for human rights, The struggle continues.

New fighters needed Buy Gantt’s latest book, she never stopped standing up, What about you? speaking out and fighting for A new book We can mourn for Connie Tuck- “Beast Too: Dead Man Writequal rights and justice. In my The Black Power enthusiasts of er. We can enjoy the remaining ing” on Amazon.com and from My friend, leader and brothmind, her level of contributions er Muhammad Siddeeq has just the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s are either days of Muhammad Siddeeq. But bookstores everywhere.

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

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OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

‘Justice and equity cannot wait any longer’ Editor’s note – Here is an open letter to America from Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan.

This October will mark the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March, which was the largest public gathering in the history of America and the largest gathering of Black men in world history.

We set an example before the world on October 16, 1995 as Black men stood in ranks; a spirit of love, peace and unity was pervasive. We stood at that time for the necessity of “Atonement, Reconciliation and Responsibility,” and in particular the need for Black men to appeal for God’s pardon for our failures to be the men that we hoped to be and ought to be.

A different time Twenty-years later, however, conditions we face and rising levels of tyranny and oppression have brought us to another point in our sojourn in America.

Today, we suffer from an unbearable level of violence as law enforcement and Whites are able to abuse and murder us but the federal Department of Justice does little and state governments do virtually nothing. Death stalks the Black man, woman and child in America; few seem to care.

Our Native American brothers and sisters often live in abject poverty and are fighting to keep the little land that they have from the hands of a duplicitous U.S. government and corporate liars and thieves.

The Latino community is subjected to scrutiny, mistreatment and disrespect. Women struggle for full recognition of their value and their worth. Soldiers who have served their country in ill-conceived wars and conflicts based on lies, return home to be ignored and their broken bodies and minds left unattended.

Even the poor Whites of this nation have no voice as a cruel oligarchy rules on behalf of a small group of individuals.

MINISTER LOUIS FARRAKHAN SPECIAL TO THE TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE FROM JUSTICEORELSE.COM

‘When our lives are taken unjustly, it is the responsibility of government to act to prosecute and punish the killers. The federal government, in particular, has the responsibility to end assaults and killings under the color of law and mob attacks.’

How much more?

It is time that we say enough is enough. Scripture teaches us that inequity and injustice would call God Himself out of his hiding place to address the cries of those who yearn to breathe free. We are at that time.

The time requires that we step forward and demand that the U.S. government address the failures of American society and the systemic deprivation of freedom, justice and equality from the masses of the American people. The time requires that a demand be made on the U.S. government and we must deliver a fearless cry of “Justice Or Else!”

We have tried praying in, singing in, lying in and young activists have even employed dying-in to dramatize and appeal for a proper government response to our suffering.

‘Uncompromising message’ I am convening “Justice Or Else!”

– the 20th anniversary gathering of the Million Man March – on October 10, 2015 in Washington, D.C.

By Allah’s (God’s) grace I plan to deliver an uncompromising message and call for the government of the United States to respond to our legitimate grievances.

The other side of this “war on two fronts” is effective organizing of our community to end fratricidal violence fostered by social conditions that breed lesser crimes, while the creator of the social conditions engages in killing, theft, kidnapping and extortion on a global scale. We, however, are clear that it is our responsibility to halt the killings among ourselves and our disrespect of Black life.

Debate reality show During the first Republican debate, I thought I was watching a ten-person episode in a standup comedy reality show. Since

No experience

TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

that debate, former governors Scott Walker and Rick Perry have dropped out.

Given his position in the polls and his now-expanding pocketbook, Carson is not likely to go anywhere. Will we be stuck with the brother from another planet as nominee, and possibly president of the United States?

Carson admits that he does not know what he is taking on. When asked how, as president, he would handle the hurricane that threatened the East Coast on Sept. 30, he responded, “I don’t know.” Many of his other responses to questions mirror those of Donald Trump’s, which boil down to, “We’ll figure it out.”

When will it end?

After all of the senseless killings in schools, in churches, in workplaces, on streets by civilians and by those charged to protect and to serve us; I cannot help but wonder, “When will it end?”

Our world has become increasingly mean and violent. Tempers are short. People take what doesn’t belong to them. Arguments happen over practically nothing. Members of Congress refuse to compromise – making life miserable for those they were elected to serve.

We see adults acting like children. In the past few days, we’ve seen a leading candidate for president resorting to vulgarity to express himself.

DR. E. FAYE WILLIAMS, ESQ. TRICE EDNEY WIRE

participate in events where rappers are on the program, I decided to research some of them, and take a look at the words to some of their songs. I was blown away with the words young boys and some older men use in describing women!

I’m painfully aware that a few women lower themselves to act in ways that would make their mothers and grandmothers blush and pray hard for their children to recognize the error of their ways.

Words matter Don’t the words peace, respect, Since I‘m sometimes asked to love, truth, honor, tolerance, dig-

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA

Making demands

How much more of this can we stand and how much more oppression must we suffer?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the great preacher and fighter for the poor, spoke of justice. He noted that, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

What is justice? The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught several important truths about justice. Justice is the greatest principle of fair dealing. Justice is the law that distinguishes between right and wrong. If there was justice, there would be no need for Not a march a judgment. Justice is the weap“Justice Or Else!” is not a march, on that God will use in the Day of but a gathering of those who are

JULIANNE MALVEAUX

A5

Judgment.

We are living in that Day of Judgment at this present moment. And if we are denied what rightfully belongs to us, then there has to be unified action that we take that will force the justice that we seek.

Ben Carson – the brother from another planet When neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson started flirting for a presidential run, I thought he had lost his mind. Now that he has jumped into the fray, opening his mouth one too many times, I know he has.

Too many people disagree with me. He raised $20 million in the last quarter, more than any of his competitors (Donald Trump is self-financing his campaign). For an outsider, he has done extremely well, raising $31 million in just a few months.

Why are people supporting him? Many are signaling their disgust with Washington politics by supporting the nerdy neurosurgeon Carson, and caustic former CEO Carly Fiorina. In a recent CNN poll, Trump, Carson, and Fiorina beat more established candidates.

EDITORIAL

RJ MATSON, CAGLECARTOONS.COM

sober-minded and serious about placing a demand on the United States government and putting power behind that demand to force the government to give us what we deserve.

This is not a march, but a gathering of those who understand that freedom has never been obtained without the loss of life and who step forward willing to give whatever sacrifice that the time and the God of this time demands.

We are certain that God would not bring us out to slaughter. But He does require that we take the ultimate stand in order that He may show his power. We recognize that there comes a time in the life of all suffering people where there must be a willingness to lay down their lives for the cause of freedom and a future.

The most powerful weapon in our arsenal is our unity backed by the might of God Himself, as this is the time foretold of in scripture as a Day of Judgment, a harvest time for all who have sown evil and who have sown good. Our hope is not in carnal weapons of this world, but in the power of the Master of this Day of Judgment in which we now live.

Unfinished work We recognize that the work of Dr. King, Jr., and all who came before him, remains unfinished. In his last public message, the civil rights stalwart talked of spreading that we are open to manipulation.

Why didn’t he say that his White conservative allies are being manipulated by his homophobic, jingoistic comments?

Carson has said many of the things conservatives want to hear.

He has described marriage as a union between a man and a woman, even as the LGBT community has waged a successful struggle for marriage equality. He has associated the gay community with “bestiality” and referenced marriage equality advocates with extreme groups like NAMBLA (the North American Man/Boy Love Association), which few support. He says homosexuality is “a choice” because people go to jail straight and come out gay.

Voters are expecting Carson or Trump to “straighten out” the government just because of their reputations, even they have no experience in running a country.

How can we trust people who would build walls between the U.S. and Mexico, or who could not accept Muslims in government?

How can we trust a prevaricator like Fiorina who uses nonexistent videos as a talking point in her campaign?

The brother from another planet may be doing so well in the polls Incorrect or bigoted? because he is pandering to preHe crosses the line between bedominately conservative White ing politically incorrect and being audiences with his extreme views. offensive, inhumane, and bigoted.

He would not trust a Muslim to be Contempt for Blacks commander-in-chief. Half a cenHis clear contempt for African- tury ago, there were fears that John Americans who are not in his cor- F. Kennedy, a Catholic, might be unfit for the presidency because of ner is troubling.

He says that the media has his religion.

The quote that catapulted Car“manipulated” African-Americans. His comments seem to sug- son onto the public stage was one gest that African-Americans do he made at the National Prayer not have minds of our own, and Breakfast. He described the Af-

nity and unity mean anything nouncement. anymore? Doesn’t life mean anything to those who so easily take Goodwill gone the lives of others?

The pope left town and it seemed that all the goodwill we Happy influence experienced for a few days left Pope Francis visited our nation with him. Congress went back to and experienced the ultimate in talking about shutting down the love and respect. People seemed government. Republican men to have been affected positively began a shameful tag team grillby his presence and his words. ing of Cecile Richards, president I went to the National Mall of Planned Parenthood. when the pope spoke to ConRussia announced its bombing gress, and people were happy. in Syria; a teen was shot at a local The crowd was diverse. People recreation center in Washington, were applauding every time “jus- D.C. for no apparent reason; and tice” was mentioned. They were soon thereafter, it was announced courteous. People of all persua- that a mass murder had occurred sions were laughing and talking on a community college campus with one another and all seemed in Roseburg, Ore. Why? When to be well. will it end?

Nobody had a fight. Even John Talking with each other seems Boehner bid a happy farewell to to have become a lost art. If each his job as speaker of the House of us would think of just one thing of Representatives! He exhibited we could do to make life better, no bitterness or regret. He even isn’t it possible we could get rid of sang a happy little tune at his an- some of the anger, the disrespect,

the pain by engaging in economic withdrawal with strategic pooling and use of over $1 trillion in Black spending to put power behind our demands.

We will engage in economic withdrawal in 2016 with a boycott of Christmas holiday spending, with its manipulation and exploitation of the emotions of children, parents, families and those we love, with its root in crass commercialism and its perpetuation of pagan practices and base desires – when the focus is supposed to be on a righteous man and divine servant.

When our lives are taken unjustly, it is the responsibility of government to act to prosecute and punish the killers. The federal government, in particular, has the responsibility to end assaults and killings under the color of law and mob attacks. We cannot continue to suffer like this and not organize and demand that government respond to our needs – or admit that we are still not true citizens.

Justice and equity cannot wait any longer, and in October, we will remember those killed in Charleston, S.C., those killed before Charleston, and those killed in fratricidal violence in the Black community. We will speak directly to government and to the challenges this country faces if it wishes to have any perpetuity and as the divine hand is ever moving toward justice.

For more details on the Oct. 10 gathering, go to JusticeorElse.com. fordable Care Act (often known as “Obamacare”) as worse than slavery. President Obama was in the audience, and Republicans applauded Carson for his audacity in confronting our president to his face. Since Carson had never been a slave (except clearly mentally), his comments were absurd.

If Ben Carson were anybody other than a reportedly smart African-American neurosurgeon, would he be holding his own in the polls? If he had not described the Black Lives Matters movement as “divisive,” would he have any traction?

Anything could happen In the weeks since the September 16 debate, he has gained almost a million Facebook followers – 50,000 more than Donald Trump.

Does that mean he could be president? I trust that the brother from another planet will fizz out, but given this Republican race, anything could happen.

Are we ready for an anti-Muslim, anti-gay, evangelistic hardliner to preside over our country? Wake up, voters. Carson is an impending disaster.

Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist in Washington, D.C.

the hate that’s leading to all the problems we are currently experiencing?

Act of kindness If our leaders would try just one act of kindness on their jobs each day, I think that would be the beginning of change that could lead others to change their behavior.

I have enough hope to believe it would make a difference.

Pope Francis left us with the reminder of something most of us learned in Sunday school or at home when we were very young when he said, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” If we did that, just maybe some of the senseless tragedies would end.

Dr. E. Faye Williams is national chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. Contact her via www.nationalcongressbw.org.

NATION

TOJ A6

OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

Senate control of Congress up for grabs in 2016 uations or responding poorly or not prepping them right. Whatever it might be, there’s a twopronged problem here: It all rests on the candidate’s shoulders, but the staff has to be up to speed as well.”

BY KYLE TRYGSTAD CQ-ROLL CALL

Ward Baker has a tough act to follow: His own. As the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s political director for the 2014 elections, he helped orchestrate a stunning nine-seat Republican gain, seizing Senate control for the first time since 2006.

Baker’s reward was a promotion to executive director — and a 2016 election map so unfavorable to his party that the Democratic path back to control of the Senate need not veer outside states that Barack Obama carried twice.

Baker is well aware of the challenge of playing mostly defense, with more than twice as many Republican senators up for reelection next year as there were in 2014. Democrats faced a similar hurdle last year and were pummeled.

His counterpart at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in March predicted “a very Democratic Senate” in the next Congress.

Excited about map The initial conditions appear ideal for Democrats: defending just two competitive seats (Nevada and Colorado), strong opportunities in six states that Obama won twice, and presidential-level voter turnout, which tends to benefit Democrats.

“I continue to feel excited about the map,” said Tom Lopach, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “When we got here we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we knew it was a damn good map and a good year.”

At the same time, as helpful as the map is for Democrats, it’s not as bountiful as the one Republicans profited from last cycle.

Based on 2012 presidential results, the GOP’s advantage was far greater when comparing its

Presidential candidates’ impact

ALLISON SHELLEY/MCCLATCHY/TNS

U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is running for re-election in 2016, speaks at an event sponsored by the South Carolina Business Council and South Carolina State Society on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 8. The event honored the worshippers who died in Charleston at Emanuel A.M.E. Church. top six pickup opportunities in 2014 (Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia, all of which Republicans won) with the top six for Democrats next year (Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin).

Strategy seminar In the last presidential election, Mitt Romney carried the six top GOP targets in 2014 by an average of 19 points, while Obama in 2012 carried the six top Democratic targets in 2016 by an average of just six points, with a 17-point victory in his home state of Illinois a notable outlier.

For Republicans, the aim is clear: Keep Democrats from a net gain of more than three seats next year. A five-seat gain would

give Democrats 51 seats, but the party could also control the chamber by picking up four seats and retaining the White House, giving the vice president the tiebreaking vote.

Fifteen campaign managers, all but one working for an incumbent, attended a four-day seminar at the Republican campaign committee in July. They sat through classes with specialists on data, technology, media, polling, vote goals and field programs, with representatives from companies including Periscope and Pandora promoting their campaign products.

Bad situations Before the success of 2014, Republican attempts at securing the majority had been tripped

up by ultraconservative or gaffeprone nominees whose mistakes in some cases — Missouri’s Todd Akin’s, for one — hurt fellow GOP candidates in races across the country.

After the 2012 and 2014 elections, Baker and others at the Republican committee interviewed campaign operatives and candidates from the past several cycles in search of what the committee could do to improve the party’s prospects.

“The bad candidates, everyone thinks the solution is working with the candidate,” said Deputy Executive Director Kevin McLaughlin, who ran a training program for press secretaries in 2014. “But a lot of times we had underqualified staff putting their candidates in bad sit-

Running in a presidential year is also inherently different from running in a midterm election, when voters can best express unhappiness with the current president by voting against his party in a congressional race.

There is also a trend away from split-ticket voting, which places a heightened importance on the electability of the two presidential nominees. With the Republican nomination fight a toss-up, and Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont challenging Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Democratic side, it’s enough to keep Senate strategists up at night.

It’s most troubling for Republican incumbents such as Mark S. Kirk of Illinois, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who represent states likely to be carried by the next Democratic nominee, no matter who it is.

The fortunes of those GOP incumbents, with New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte, Ohio’s Rob Portman and Rep. Joe Heck — who’s running for the GOP’s top pickup opportunity, the open seat in Nevada — will hinge on a significant number of voters choosing both them and the Democratic nominee.

Democrats would face the same issue if they are serious about being competitive in states more favorable to Republicans, such as Indiana and Missouri.

In an effort to expand the Senate map as much as possible, Lopach said to expect to see more Democratic announcements from “uniquely capable candidates in places folks didn’t expect us to be playing.”

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OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

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Kim Fields tells why she joined ‘RHOA’ See page B5

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West African chic

Wedding trends are shifting from traditional to West African chic to rustic romance on a ranch.

BY PENNY DICKERSON FLORIDA COURIER

he universal language of love is spoken with a unique variance in Black culture and across continents.

Wedding traditions date back to the West African tradition of “jumping the broom” to the 21st-century bride who embraces European conventions – white dresses trailed by long trains, a legion of bridesmaids and exorbitant receptions held at venues with restrictions that confine creativity.

Despite cultural disparity, the common denominators are expense and fuss. More millennia couples are seeking affordable options and opting for the beauty of the outdoors.

Trending are “rustic chic” themes, and while it may require courage for brides to skirt tradition, a dude ranch destination is innovative, affordable and won’t require parents to seek a second mortgage.

TO

T

Luxury at a price Marriage used to be a simple ritual that left no one in debt. Historically, Black couples required a preacher, a chapel, a Bible and a broom.

Onlookers witnessed bliss for free and picnic table receptions were outdoors with enough fried chicken to feed a tribe.

The cost of becoming “Mrs.” has since significantly changed. According to CNNmoney.com, American couples spent an average of $31,213 on their big day in 2014. The figure is up more than 4 percent from $29,858 in 2013 (Source: The Knot).

Renting a venue is the most expensive budgeted item with an average of $14,006, followed by the engagement ring at $5,855 and the band at $3,587. The average catering price per guest rang up at $68 in 2014.

West African opulence Funke Bucknor, founder of Nigeria’s leading wedding and events company, was the first planner to establish a company 12 years ago and seized the West African Wedding Market. She realized that money was no option for brides-to-be who desired the best at any cost.

dude ranch romance

Wedding trends these days range from an opulent affair in Dubai to a horseback event at a Central Florida resort.

In Nigeria, weddings are opulent affairs that cost millions.

“Our core clientèle is mainly made up of millionaires. They will not hesitate to spend the money in order to get what they want. If they need to fly in an artist from America or a decorator from Dubai or London, they will do so,” Bucknor remarked.

The Nigerian bride is blessed by tradition, which doubled Bucknor’s profit margin.

“First, there is the traditional wedding – the only wedding recognized by the family – followed by the white wedding, which is similar to that which we know in the West,” said Bucknor, who added that Dubai and London are the most popular destinations, followed by Cape Town, Seychelles and the Maldives.

Champagne chic In a country rich in oil reserves and a rising entertainment industry, the average Nigerian is known to host 1,000 people for a small affair with 2,000 to 3,000 guests for larger weddings.

A West African matrimonial celebration is daylong with food and drinks available from 2 p.m. to midnight along with endless champagne. In fact, a 2013 study, research by Euromint revealed Nigeria had the world’s fastest growing rate of champagne consumption, second only to France, while ahead of U.S. and China.

Dude ranch romance In the unfortunate case that an American bride is neither a millionaire nor an heir,

PHOTO COURTESY OF WESTGATE RESORTS

The chapel at Westgate River Ranch Resort accommodates 200 wedding guests. a themed wedding in Central Florida is a fast-growing option. Whether it’s your first marriage or not your first time at the rodeo, a rustic themed wedding at the 1,700-acre Westgate River Ranch Resort has gained romantic appeal.

“Weddings are a very popular option here at the ranch,” said Westgate Resorts COO Mark Waltrip. “We offer a variety of experiences for the couple looking to add a unique flair to their special day.”

All-inclusive The dude ranch is centrally located between Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf beaches and the entire wedding experience can be hosted at one location.

From the rehearsal dinner

to the honeymoon, couples can choose from a variety of wedding packages, a licensed officiant and a team of professionals on site.

Wedding options range from a traditional white chapel ceremony to a horseback affair and couples can choose to host a reception at several locations, including the ranch’s intimate saloon or a 2,000-square-foot grand hall.

Imagine the stumps of once majestic oak trees transformed into centerpieces accented with sprigs of wheat and fresh floral. Nostalgia reigns as guests are seated beneath moss-lined trees or sip sweet tea from old-fashioned mason jars.

Endless possibilities exist beneath blue skies and the natural light alone makes it all affordable.

Rustic wedding themes open doors to quaint creativity.

CALENDAR

B2

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Lakeland: The Mu Zeta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Oct. 10 from 8 p.m. to midnight at Hallback’s Bar and Grill, 3900 Don Emerson Drive (Lakeland Linder Regional Airport). Tickets are $30 each and can be purchased online at https:// polkalphas40thanniversary.eventbrite.com.

Tampa: The Hillsborough County NAACP’s annual Freedom Fund Dinner is Oct. 30 at the Embassy Suites on Spectrum Boulevard. More information: www.hillsboroughnaacp.org.

Jacksonville: The Festival of Praise Tour featuring Kim Burrell, Fred Hammond, Israel Houghton, Donny McClurkin and Hezekiah Walker will make a stop at the Veterans Memorial Arena in on Oct. 11. Other stops are in Fort Myers, Lakeland, Jacksonville and Pompano Beach. More details: www. festivalofpraisetour.com.

OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

STOJ

SALT N PEPA

The Legends Of The Old School tour makes stops in Coral Gables, Estero and Orlando in November.

Performers scheduled are Vanilla Ice, Salt N Pepa, Coolio, 2 Live Crew, Color Me Badd, Rob Base, DJ Laz and Gucci Crew II.

St. Petersburg: Catch the group during the first 95.7 Beats By The Bay music festival on Oct. 24 at Vinoy Park. The lineup includes Tyrese, Blackstreet, 112, Whodini and Rob Base.

Tampa: The B.E.S.T. program will celebrate its 11th year with a “Diamonds in the Rough” gala on Oct. 17 at the Centre Club, 123 South Westshore Blvd. The program is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Candace McCowan, WFLA reporter, will be the guest emcee. Tickets: www.brainexpansions.org.

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

Tampa: The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists’ annual Griot Drum Awards & Scholarship Banquet is Nov. 12 at the Tampa Marriott Westshore. More information: www.tbabj.com.

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

More information http://westcoastblacktheatre. org.

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

JOE ERIC DARIUS

The Gulf Coast Rhythm and Ribs Music Fest is Oct. 9-11 in Bradenton at McKechnie Field. Performers will include Biscuit Miller, Joe and saxophonist Eric Darius. Weekend lineup: http://gulfcoastribfest.com.

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

Daytona Beach to host NAIA football championship game

pact thresholds were exceeded in 2014.

“The City of Daytona Beach and our partners provided a first-class experience for evFor the second year, Daytona Beach will host the National Association of Intercol- eryone involved last year – from the coaches, legiate Athletics (NAIA) Football National student athletes, fans and our community – Championship game in December. The title and we look forward to doing the same this year,” said Daytona Beach contest will be played on Saturday, Dec. 19 Mayor Derrick L. Henry. at 6 p.m. at the 10,000-seat Municipal Stadi“We want to build on last um operated by the City of Daytona Beach. year’s successful event and The game will mark the second annumake 2015 even better.” al game of a three-year agreement to host “This national event NAIA’s national championship game. The shows that Daytona Beach championship game in 2014 featured a can deliver on a large scale game between Southern Oregon and Marwhile maintaining a great ian (Indiana), with Southern Oregon winMayor Derrick guest experience for the inning by a score of 55-31. dividual participants and This year’s game will be broadcast nation- Henry their families,” said Tom ally. In 2013, thec934 city partnered with the Day926 2 9:25 2/16/01 JC executive65direcCaradonio, tona Beach Area Convention and Visitors tor of the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Bureau (CVB) to secure the marquee event, Visitors Bureau. which will also return in 2016.

Daytona Beach Municipal Stadium, also “The NAIA is extremely excited about year known as Larry Kelly Field, was built in 1988 two in Daytona Beach,” said Austin Bennett, and has seen a variety of sporting events NAIA Associate Director of Championship during its lifetime. Recently the stadium has Events. “The city and CVB rolled out the red undergone $2.3 million in upgrades includcarpet last year, and we’re looking forward ing the installation of field turf, renovations to giving another set of student-athletes, to its bleachers, locker rooms, press area and coaches and fans a similar experience.” a new video board and sound system. The stadium is the home field of NCAA Division 4.25" I Bethune-Cookman University alongside Economic impact The championship game is projected to several local high schools. realize over $1 million in economic impact For more information about the game in and generate 1,000 hotel room stays in the Daytona Beach, visit http://bit.ly/NAIARDaytona Beach area. These economic im- aceToDaytona2015.

SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CURIER

Dolev

This is the watch Stephen Hollingshead, Jr. was wearing when he encountered a drunk driver.

Time of death 6:55pm.

Photo by Michael Mazzeo

3.5"

Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk.

LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES STARTS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16 CHECK

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OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

HEALTH

B3

Putting the brakes on stress during commute

DARREN BAKER/FOTOLIA/TNS

Obviously, you have to pay attention while driving, but you can create a climate in which you no longer dread the experience.

Benefits of mindfulness can turn a long drive into a productive and positive experience

BY ALISON BOWEN CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Flu shot.

Get your flu shot for a $0 co-pay for members of Medicare Part B and most insurance plans. Next time you’re shopping at Publix, stop by the Pharmacy to talk to your pharmacist about the available vaccine options and which one is best for you.

Commuters are sentenced to spend part of each day stuck in a compact space, all to get to work.

That time can be stressful, full of other drivers’ raging honks or crammed-in strangers’ blaring phone conversations.

But it doesn’t have to be drudgery — in fact, if you can believe it, some say it should be a time of Zen. “We can say, ‘OK, I’m going to be in the car for an hour,’” said actor Jeff Kober, who teaches meditation in Los Angeles. “‘Now, what can I do to improve my quality of life during that hour?’”

Resist the urge to relinquish that hour to an inner monologue of traffic complaints, work worries and side-eye looks at coughing riders. Instead, treat it as a time when you can incorporate more contentment, either by getting more meditative or taking measures to create your own oasis.

“Because we’re essentially captive, why not make it into something really productive?” said Maria Gonzalez, who teaches the benefits of mindfulness in business as founder of Argonauta Strategic Alliances Consulting in Toronto.

Refocus thoughts She cautions that she doesn’t mean productive in the sense of pulling up work email. Relaxing your commute can include parts both physical and mental — focusing on breath, rearranging posture, tiny massages while waiting at a red light.

Plus, taking time to refocus thoughts and transform your mindset from zombielike zoning out to borderline pleasant can influence your life and workday.

“I can’t change the thoughts that are coming through me; I can’t change my emotions; I can’t change the way my body feels; I can’t change the traffic,” said Kober, who recently created a meditation guide for Buick’s “24 Hours of Happiness Test Drive,” geared toward curbing stress.

Experts say, however, that it is possible to change how you embark on, endure and exit your commute.

Before: First, build an enjoyable space for yourself within your commute.

The right car

More information at: publix.com/flu

If you drive, choose your car carefully — make sure it’s something comfortable that you enjoy spending time in. Try to keep it clean.

“Become conscious that a car itself is a destination,” said New York spine specialist Dr. Kenneth Hansraj.

“You would think better if

you realize you’re spending all the best hours of your life in this machine.”

Then, think through how pleasant a commute can be. Sure, “pleasant” is not a word many would associate with it, but consider the possibilities.

“If we could just allow it to be what it is, which is slightly uncomfortable, we have an opportunity of being able to enjoy it sometimes, if the right song comes on the radio or somebody smiles at us from a car,” Kober said.

Really become present Consider setting a goal or an intention. Recognize that you’re putting expectations on it either way.

“The intention that naturally exists — my intention is to get done with this commute,” Kober noted.

“So I’ve just doomed myself to an hour of discomfort, because my intention will not be met until I get out of the car.”

A goal can be to simply become present: paying attention to your surroundings in a way that acknowledges what’s around you.

Clouds in the sky, feeling of the seat, your hands on the steering wheel.

Kober said that if you can focus your thoughts even just three times — at the very beginning, middle and end of a commute — you’ve accomplished something.

Finding one central focus is the key, she said. And good news — this doesn’t mean you have to give up scrolling Facebook.

Staying focused Focus on one thing that relaxes you, and return to that if you’re distracted. So whether music, a book or even perusing social media makes you happy, home in, and if you get distracted, return to that thing.

“Just come back to what you’re reading, because how many times have we started reading something and we say, ‘Oh my God I’ve read this paragraph 10 times,’” she said. “The mind did not stay focused.”

As a bonus, this serves as a separation from work.

“This moment means there is a point of separation, and you’re going home,” Gonzalez said.

Keeping your brain on topic helps calm it, she said. And training it to do that can carry over into other moments, work and otherwise.

“As you’re doing this, you’re gaining a benefit, because you’re seeing how you can apply this in your day,” she said. “Going into a stressful meeting or a deadline, now you know what to do.”

Of course, don’t relax so much that you fall asleep.

Massage techniques

During: Those traveling by bus or train can listen to a 16-minute guided meditation led by Kober available on YouTube. An idea for those new to meditation might be listening to it once, during one commute, and noting any effects.

“See what the world looks like before you do the guided meditation; see if anything has changed (after),” Kober said. “See if it’s a little brighter.”

The easiest way to fold Zen into your commute?

Simple breaths.

“Before you actually start driving, just focus on the breath,” Gonzalez said. “Take three mindful breaths. Be aware that you’re right there right now, as opposed to, ‘I wonder how long it’s going to take me today. I wonder how many meetings are going to be on my calendar.’”

After: Effects of a commute can persist after you settle into your cubicle chair or your couch at home.

New York masseuse Dot Stein, known by the name of her business, Dr. Dot, which employs masseuses around the world, crafted car-focused massage techniques. Designed to ease pain in the head, ears, jaw, neck and shoulder, they’re targeted at places that tense up while traveling.

She knows of what she speaks — Stein built her career giving musicians massages, building up a lot of on-the-road experience.

For example, she said, during driving, stress can tighten the scalp. After your commute, or even during if you’re on a bus or train, slowly massage your temples. Grip small handfuls of your hair and tug, she said.

And the ears also need comfort — honks and screeching tires take a toll.

Not easy

Make it positive

Cultivating awareness can force your mind to slow down.

“You become aware that you’re right there, right now, and that’s incredibly powerful,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez added that this also stops us from our mind’s natural wanderings toward the past (How long was the commute yesterday? Will today be better?) or the future (I really don’t want to go to lunch with my boss today).

She acknowledges that this isn’t an easy task.

“We’re bombarded by unconscious thinking, thinking that just happens to us,” she said.

Squeeze earlobes as if you’re ironing out the folds of your ears with your fingertips, Stein advised. Place a palm over each ear, and use your hands to move your ears up and down.

From the moment you leave home or work, traveling to the other, think of your commute in a fresh way.

Besides, experts point out, you’re expending energy either way. You might as well make it positive.

“If I have determined that that’s just wasted time, then there’s no way I’m ever going to be OK with it,” Kober said. “I’m just going to be waiting until it’s over.”

Mindful breaths

B4

POLITICS

OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

STOJ

Race helped shape politics of this Senate candidate California Attorney General Kamala Harris talks about life as daughter of Indian mother, Black father

store alliances with law enforcement. She conceded that she had been “politically naive” to decline a death penalty prosecution so soon after Espinoza’s killing.

But she said the killer’s seconddegree murder conviction and sentence of life in prison without parole showed that her decision was justified.

BY MICHAEL FINNEGAN LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

BERKELEY, Calif. — California Attorney General Kamala Harris has never liked it when people try to wedge her into “this box or that box” of racial and ethnic groups.

So as an undergraduate at Howard University, Harris, now a candidate for U.S. Senate, appreciated that students at the historically Black university in Washington could be “anyone you want to be and just go for it.”

“Nobody’s putting you in a box and saying, ‘This is what it means to be Black.’ The homecoming queen and the president of the student government and the chief editor of the newspaper are all Black.”

The daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, Harris, 50, rarely talks publicly about her personal experience of race in America. But a long conversation with her on a recent visit to the Berkeley neighborhood where she grew up illustrated the role of race in shaping her politics.

At a time when police shootings of unarmed African-Americans have put discrimination high on the nation’s political agenda, race is an inevitable facet of her Senate campaign. She is, after all, California’s top law enforcement officer.

Inspired by legal giants Harris, a Democrat, backs major changes in the criminal justice system, in part to address racial disparities. She calls for shorter sentences for low-level drug crimes and wants to shift money from prisons to crime prevention, starting with programs to curb school truancy.

She is ambivalent about discussing race in personal terms, sharing reluctantly her searing recollections of overt racism. “I don’t feel compelled to sing long ballads about my experiences with injustice,” she said.

But race sometimes infuses her remarks in political settings.

She tells crowds that three legal giants in the civil rights movement — Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston and Constance Baker Motley — inspired her to become a lawyer.

Her family was skeptical when she sought work as a prosecutor. But the point, she said, was to protect society’s most vulnerable people.

Crisis during campaign

MARK BOSTER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

California Attorney General Kamala Harris shakes hands with supporters in Los Angeles on Sept. 2.

“It was about speaking truth to power,” Harris told a group of Black Democrats in May.

Black, Indian heritage In politics, Harris is cautious, seldom straying from prepared remarks, apart from one-liners punctuated with a big laugh.

Her parents, Shyamala Gopalan and Donald J. Harris, met as graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley. They divorced when Harris was 5.

“My Indian mother knew she was raising two Black daughters,” said Harris, whose birth in 1964 came two weeks before Californians voted to allow racial discrimination in housing. “But that’s not to the exclusion of who I am in terms of my Indian heritage.”

Steeped in Indian culture, Harris and her sister, Maya, who is now a civil rights lawyer and senior policy adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton, visited family in Madras on occasion. Harris said Aretha Franklin’s gospel rendition of “Young, Gifted and Black” was a soundtrack of her youth in a Black middleclass neighborhood in the flats of Berkeley. Her parents often joined civil rights protests.

“I grew up going to a Black Baptist Church and a Hindu temple,” Harris said.

Discriminated against early On weekends, the girls would visit their father in Palo Alto, where he was an economics professor at Stanford University.

“The neighbors’ kids were not allowed to play with us because we were Black,” Harris said.

“We’d say, ‘Why can’t we play together?’ ‘My parents — we can’t play with you.’ In Palo Alto. The home of Google.”

Harris tells crowds that even liberal Berkeley waited nearly two decades before carrying out the Supreme Court’s 1954 mandate to desegregate public schools. Her elementary school class in the 1970s was only the second one to integrate Berkeley schools with busing, she recalled.

Harris spent her high school years in Montreal, where her mother worked as a breast cancer researcher at a McGill University hospital. After Howard University, Harris got her law degree at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

She landed jobs as a prosecutor — first in Alameda County, and then in San Francisco. For more than a decade, she tried cases involving charges of drunken driving, sex crimes, assault

and homicide.

Her transition to electoral politics was messy, starting in 2003 with a brutal but winning campaign to unseat San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, her former boss.

Controversial decision As district attorney, Harris was quickly consumed by political trouble. Three days after the 2004 murder of San Francisco Police Officer Isaac Espinoza, she infuriated police by announcing that she would not seek the death penalty.

Top Democrats took sides against Harris. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein told mourners at Espinoza’s memorial that the case warranted the death penalty, and then suggested outside the church that she never would have backed Harris for district attorney if she had known she opposed capital punishment.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer — whom Harris aims to succeed in the Senate — called on San Francisco’s U.S. attorney to prosecute the killer under federal death penalty laws. And Bill Lockyer, the state attorney general, opened an inquiry into whether Harris abused her discretion by declining to seek a death sentence. (She did not, he found.)

It took years for Harris to re-

Later, as attorney general, Harris dodged a political dust-up by defending California’s death penalty system in court after a federal judge declared it unconstitutional.

Another crisis erupted during her 2010 campaign for attorney general. The theft of cocaine by a technician in San Francisco’s police crime lab forced Harris to drop drug charges in about 1,275 cases.

Campaign rivals used the scandal against Harris, to no avail.

She defeated Republican Steve Cooley, the L.A. County district attorney, by less than 1 percentage point.

In the Senate contest, Harris’ agenda includes a higher federal minimum wage, an end to the federal ban on medical marijuana, protection of abortion rights and a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally.

She has also been outspoken on crime, bemoaning “mass incarceration” for drug offenses. Harris has long emphasized crime prevention, including job training, mental-health treatment and drug rehabilitation, as alternatives to prison.

“If we’re dealing with it in a reactive way, in the emergency room or the prison system, it’s far too late and much too expensive,” Harris said.

Called the ‘n-word’ On the recent visit to Berkeley, Harris said it was partly her experience of racism that shaped her views on how to improve the criminal justice system at a time of roiling national debate over police tactics and racial inequalities.

“I’ve got a lot of stories — getting stopped, getting — oh, yeah. Lots of stories,” said Harris, who calls herself California’s “top cop” and often praises police for their dangerous work.

She recalled having “the nword used against me a number of times.”

“I don’t wear my experiences on my sleeve,” she said. “But my experiences do inform my perspective on the work I do, and on what I believe is possible.”

Vice president’s 2012 gay-marriage ‘gaffe’ now looks like an asset

BY MICHAEL A. MEMOLI TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON — As Vice President Joe Biden decides whether to run for president, one factor pushing him toward another run is the view that the political climate could be more favorable than ever before in his career of more than 40 years.

The vice president’s advisers sees a yearning in the electorate for a candidate of authenticity and blunt talk, and believe that Biden represents that and more, turning what in the past has been seen as a negative into a positive.

That view was on display on Oct. 3 as Biden delivered the keynote address at the Human Rights Campaign dinner. There, his 2012 declaration in a “Meet the Press” interview that he supported same-sex marriage was praised as an example of political courage.

Longtime support At the time, however, it was added to the catalog of supposed Biden gaffes, in part because President Barack Obama had yet to say the same.

“This man is not afraid to speak his mind, and he has never shied away from speaking up for us,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in his introduction.

Biden has welcomed the support of the LGBT community, casting his 2012 comments as part of a longer-term fight in his career for justice that goes back

to his campaign against Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Encouraged to run But last Saturday night Biden said more credit for the nation’s growing embrace of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality goes to the grass-roots activists.

“Some of you credited me with taking a political risk and thought I was doing something special.

But folks, I was just answering in a straightforward, direct way what I’ve known my whole life,” he said. “The very fact that we finally recognize that love is not a political matter, it’s a basic human right … is because of all of you.”

Biden made no mention of the 2016 presidential contest in his remarks, though some in the audience shouted encouragement for him to join the Democratic field.

But the vice president did with characteristic candor take on some of the Republicans he said would reverse continued progress.

“There are still those shrill voices in the national political arena trying to undo what has finally been done. But they’re not going to succeed,” he said. “The American people are with you.

Skipping debate Eight years ago, such talk might have added to questions about Biden’s candidacy. Consider a question Biden faced as a

LARRY ROBERTS/PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE/TNS

Vice President Joe Biden greets people as he walks along the Labor Day parade route on Sept. 7 in Pittsburgh, Pa. candidate in a 2007 primary debate, when NBC’s Brian Williams cited a Los Angeles Times editorial calling Biden a “gaffe machine” prone to “uncontrolled verbosity.”

“Can you reassure voters in this country that you would have the discipline that you would

need on the world stage?” Williams asked.

Biden answered as succinctly as he could: “Yes,” to laughter and applause.

He is expected to sit out of the first Democratic primary debate on Oct. 13. But he’ll remain with events like one scheduled Oct.

8, in which he was to follow Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in delivering a keynote address at an infrastructure conference.

The first candidate filing deadlines are only weeks away, including for New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Nov. 20.

STOJ

OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

D. Andre of St. Augustine and Jacksonville, back in the Florida Courier Finest by popular demand, loves fitness and bodybuilding.

He says he’s a God-inspired athlete who is highly motivated to succeed. The current club promoter and bouncer enjoys spending time with family, friends, and, most of all, passionately pursuing bodybuilding competitions.

He wants to someday become a champion in the sport. Contact Andre at trueimagephil@ aol.com.

T I Photography

by Phil

submitted for your approval

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.

d. andre

candi

Bravo has officially announced that Kim Fields has been hired on as the newest cast member of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

Fields, most fondly remembered for her role as Tootie from the 1970s hit series “Fact of Life,” is an award-winning actor and director whose credits include a leading role on the 1990s hit comedy series “Living Single.”

She has directed successful televisions shows on TBS, BET and TVOne. Fields, who says, ”I’m an actor, director, producer, entrepreneur, mom and wife,” recently indulged the Huffington Post with a one-on-one in which she reflected on her impressive 30-plus year career in the entertainment business. She also spoke about her supportive husband, balancing motherhood at 46 and landing her new reality TV gig.

Below are excerpts from her interview with blogger Tanya Young Williams.

What made you decide to sign

Candi Ni’Chelle has done fashion shows, print work, independent films, commercials, and has hosted and been featured in music videos.

The model, of Black/PuertoRican/Asian, descent, can be reached at nichmine@ gmail.com or Facebook.com/ JusLikeCandi.

Credit: LEE MCDOWELL www. leemcdowell. com

Kim Fields tells why she joined the ‘Real Housewives’ EURWEB.COM

B5

I’m sure many moms and wives go down that same rabbit hole.

I realized that I hadn’t really had ‘me’ time since 1998.

Kim Fields on to The Real Housewives of Atlanta?

Fields: I’ve been asked for years to do a reality show. One of my criteria is that I would be given the opportunity to show a strong family unit. When they came to me to do the show, they said, “We love you. We love your light and we love your opinions and you can give them in your way.” So far they have been great in letting me be me.

In order to be a part of the Housewives of Atlanta cast, the ladies live in the Atlanta area.

Actress Kim Fields has been hired on as the newest cast member of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

What brought you to Atlanta from California?

Fields: There has been a tremendous growth in the entertainment industry throughout Atlanta. There are many opportunities in film, television and theater. I was offered an opportunity to direct Tyler Perry’s “Meet the Browns.’’ It was a time when I was thinking about leaving California anyway so it was a great fit.

How has your experience been during taping The Real Housewives of Atlanta?

Fields: It’s been quite the adventure. Let me just say, it’s been “different.” But at this stage of my life I welcome – “different.” This

experience has awakened many creative voices in me. I love that I get to be me and not play a character.

How has it been working with the ladies in the cast?

Fields: For 14 years I was in an ensemble cast filled with women. I can surely navigate my way through this. Throughout the process, I’ve gleaned a little something from each lady. A pinch of each of them is in me. Kenya is very girly…..Candy is straight forward – all the time. I’m a bit more diplomatic – sometimes to a fault.

Yet I say, how can I use some of her candid style. Going out with ladies and having ladies night

out has been very healthy for me.

I give and give and sometimes I can’t find me. I’m sure many moms and wives go down that same rabbit hole. I realized that I hadn’t really had “me” time since 1998.

What is your take on your cast mates individually?

Fields: It’s way too early to know how my relationships will pan out. In fact, we went on a trip and things got out of hand and I bounced. A cast member said, you have to stay, we are all in this together and I said, “I just met you, I don’t owe you that!”

You are married and have two children. How do you balance your career and family?

Fields: My husband’s name is Christopher Morgan and we met in Atlanta. My two children are Sebastian and Quincy. I am 46 with a 2-year-old and an 8-yearold. You’d think I would be a size 2 running after my kids like a do. There is no nanny. We have the occasional sitter. If my work causes me to be gone more than two days, the kids come with me.

My husband and I are involved in school activities. Again this year, I am the chair of the Black History Month events. The kids have lots of extracurricular activities too.

We are 1,000 percent hands on.

We just make it work.

“The Real Housewives of Atlanta” premieres Sunday, Nov. 8, at 9 p.m. on Bravo.

EEOC reaches out to female film and TV directors on gender bias

BY REBECCA KEEGAN LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has begun contacting female directors to investigate gender discrimination in Hollywood.

In a EEOC letter sent out this month, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, the agency asks to schedule interviews with the women, “so that we may learn more about the gender-related issues which you are facing in both the film and television industries.”

In interviews with several of the women who have received letters from the government agency — which is following up on a request the American Civil Liberties Union made

in May — the directors said they were grateful that longtime complaints about gender discrimination in Hollywood are being taken seriously.

“It feels historic,” said Lori Precious, a director of commercials and music videos who received a letter from the EEOC. “We were all hoping it would go this far. I’m so tired of hearing, ‘There aren’t qualified women.’ There are qualified women to do every directing job in Hollywood.”

Long time coming That was a sentiment echoed by other women directors who had not yet been contacted by the EEOC but who spoke with The Times about the investigation.

“I’m so glad we’re finally attacking this,” said Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the 2008 box-office juggernaut “Twilight” and whose next movie, “Miss You Already,” opens in November. Hardwicke was not one of the women who received the EEOC’s letter. “When I started out I was so naive I didn’t realize what I was up against.”

Maria Giese, whose initial overture to the ACLU incited its investigation, and Melanie Wagor, who is a former co-chair of the Directors Guild of America’s Women’s Steering Committee, also confirmed that they had received letters. They said they planned to schedule interviews with the agency as early as next week.

Legal action possible A spokesman for the EEOC declined to confirm whether an investigation is underway, citing federal law.

“Information on specific charges are made public only when the EEOC files a lawsuit, which is typically a last resort,” EEOC spokesman Joseph Olivares said in an email. “We also encourage the industry to publicly address the serious issues raised by the ACLU and to take proactive steps to address these issues.”

If the EEOC ultimately determines that a pattern of discrimination exists, it could take legal action against the studios or seek to mediate a solution aimed at boosting the ranks of female di-

rectors. But the complex process by which films get greenlighted and directors selected could make a legal solution tricky, due to the large number of parties involved in hiring, including agents, managers, producers, studio executives and the DGA. In May, the ACLU contacted multiple government agencies, citing a USC study that found that only 1.9 percent of directors of the top-grossing 100 films of 2013 and 2014 were women. The group also cited a DGA report that found women represented just 14 percent of television directors in 2013 and 2014.

The DGA did not respond to a request for comment on the EEOC investigation.

B6

FOOD

OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 15, 2015

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

Crowding around a table eating ice cream is one of the tastiest ways to enjoy family time. Parent, chef and cookbook author Antonia Lofaso knows this very well and has created delectable ice cream desserts, such as her Pound Cake and Peaches Sundae, that bring back fond childhood memories to inspire fami­lies to take a step back and appreciate every moment.

“My mom would have ‘ice cream parties’ in her bedroom when my dad had to work the graveyard shift,” Lofaso said. “She would snuggle us in her bed and give

UNCOMMONLY VANILLA Vanilla ice cream has always been a great foundation for family desserts and Breyers believes vanilla is anything but plain and bor­ing. With four different varieties of vanilla to choose from, you’re sure to find a flavor that pairs perfectly with your favorite treats. Here’s what you need to know about each variety.

Natural: Its distinctive taste brings out the natural goodness of your favorite fresh fruit recipes, like classic apple pie a la mode or peach cobbler.

French: Inspired by the traditional French custard, it’s the perfect complement to deli­cious breakfast-style desserts, like French vanilla puff pancakes or a fruit salad parfait.

Homemade: Thick and smooth like it was just churned, Homemade Vanilla is the perfect pairing to your favorite homemade treats, such as ice cream sandwiches, pies and cakes.

Extra Creamy: Fresh cream and sweet vanilla come together to make your favorite frozen treats, such as sundaes and shakes, velvety smooth.

POUND CAKE AND PEACHES SUNDAE Prep time: 10 minutes Serves: 4 2 fresh summer peaches, diced 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons thinly sliced basil 4 (1/4-inch-thick) slices plain pound cake, toasted until golden 1 cup Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream (1/4 cup per scoop) In small bowl, mix peaches, sugar, lemon juice and basil.

To make each sundae, place a slice of toasted pound cake on a plate, then top with a scoop of ice

S

us toasted pound cake with ice cream and fresh fruit. My dad would come home to find us all asleep in one bed with scattered bowls and spoons everywhere.”

Special family moments are even sweeter when the recipes are served with real, high-quality ingre­dients everyone can feel good about.

“On top of the great taste of Breyers Natural Vanilla, families can feel good about enjoying a scoop of Breyers,” said Lofaso, who partnered with Breyers to create these recipes. “The brand is now only using milk and cream from cows not treated with artificial growth hormones*, and sustainably farmed vacream and cover generously with macerated peaches.

TOASTED ALMOND AND VANILLA ARANCINI Prep time: 20 minutes (including freezing) Serves: 2 4 tablespoons mixed, chopped, toasted whole unsalted almonds and hazelnuts 1 tablespoon toasted and crushed amoretti cookies 1/2 cup Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream (1/4 cup per scoop) Place ice cream on baking sheet in freezer for 10 minutes to harden.

In bowl, mix nuts and amoretti cookies.

Dredge frozen ice cream balls in nut/cookie mixture

nilla beans.”

Here are three of Lofaso’s favorite new ice cream creations. Start sharing delicious moments together with your family with these recipes. For more recipe inspiration and nutritional information, visit www.Breyers.com/ recipes. *Suppliers of other ingredients such as cookies, candies and sauces may not be able to make this pledge. The FDA states that no significant difference has been shown between dairy derived from rBST-treated and non-rBSTtreated cows. Find out more information about the Breyers pledge at www.breyers. com. and refreeze 5 minutes before serving.

Note: May be made and stored in advance.

TROPICAL ICE CREAM SANDWICH Prep time: 10-12 minutes Serves: 2 2 (1/4-inch-thick) slices fresh pineapple 1 cup Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream, lightly softened 2 tablespoons toasted coconut shavings Grill pineapple slices over low to medium heat for 90 seconds per side. Allow to cool briefly.

Sandwich softened ice cream between pineapple slices. Coat sides in toasted coconut. Slice in half and serve.