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VOLUME 22 NO. 41
www.flcourier.com
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
BLOWN OPPORTUNITY
If incumbent Gov. Rick Scott loses a close race against Charlie Crist, the cause may be how and why he dumped Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll – an act that may have destroyed Republicans’ best chance to woo Black voters for years to come.
BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF
Lucius Gantt and his All World Consultants, a Tallahassee-based political consulting, media-buying, and lobbying firm, is a hired gun. Over his long career as a political consultant, he has worked for both Republicans and Democrats. In last week’s Part 1 of this series, Gantt bemoaned the fact that state and national Democratic Party apparatus became the major funding vehicles for local and statewide campaigns in Florida. According to him, candidates at all levels lost control of FLORIDA COURIER FILES whom they could hire.
The political ‘ghost’ of former Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll, left, may haunt Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican Party of Florida.
PART 2
FLA GOP
THE STATE OF THE PARTY
ing Blacks or paying decent contracts,” Gantt explained. “They know if you get Black consultants involved, they’ve got to be paid well and on time. They always want to win. “The Democrats are different. They know they can ask some inexperienced or unqualified Black person to try to do what needs to be done, and that person will do it for free. So the Democrats get what they pay for, and it results in losing elections in Florida.”
to the Republican Party of Florida as well as the Republican National Com- No difference mittee and its affiliates, he says. But Still, the ‘good ol’ boy network’ he adds that the GOP’s attitude to- makes it as difficult for Black political ward consultants gives a clue as to consultants to work in both parties. why they win elections and why Dem“Political hiring in both parties is The GOP pays ocrats lose. See GOP, Page A2 “The GOP has no problem hirThe same holds true with regard
NBA 2014-2015 SEASON
Heat go back to work
Another state prison killing Family demands federal probe BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Lawyers for an inmate who died at a Florida prison after telling her family that a prison guard had threatened her life are asking the U.S. Department of Justice for an investigation. Latandra Ellington, 36, died Wednesday at Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, less than 24 hours after her family called prison officials to express concerns about her safety. Ellington was in solitary confinement when she died after being placed there by prison staff in response to her complaints about the threats. In a letter to her aunt a week before she was put in confinement and died, Ellington wrote that a guard, identified as “Sgt. Q,” had threatened to “beat me to death and mess me like a dog.”
DAVID SANTIAGO/EL NUEVO HERALD/MCT
The Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade, left, photobombed teammate Norris Cole’s photo shoot during the team’s Media Day in Miami last month. LeBron James returns with the Cleveland Cavaliers to play the Heat on Saturday.
SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3
‘One step’ closer’ to gay marriage
ALSO INSIDE
NATION | A6
CULTURE | B4
Record number of Blacks seeking office
Black police officer in Ferguson speaks out
“Do you trust that same institution to do a fair investigation?” Crump said.
‘A death sentence’
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is scrutinizing 108 inmate deaths, at the request of Department of Corrections Secretary Mike Crews. Crews ordered the investigations in the wake of reports about cover-ups of inmate deaths, including a report by the Miami Herald earlier this year about the death of mentally ill inmate Darren Rainey, who died after allegedly being forced to shower in scalding water at Dade Correctional Institution in 2012. “Being sentenced to the Department of Corrections is not a death sentence, but lately to many families that’s what it has become,” said Crump, who gained fame representing the parents of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Black teenager shot Private autopsy to death by neighborhood Benjamin Crump and watch volunteer George Darryl Parks, lawyers repre- Zimmerman in 2012. senting Ellington’s aunt Algerene Jennings, wrote in a State investigates letter to U.S. Attorney GenCrews told The News Sereral Eric Holder on Monvice of Florida that Ellingday that a private autopsy by ton’s death is being investia doctor hired by the famgated by FDLE and that the ily “revealed hemorrhaging corrections department’s caused by blunt force trauinspector general has also ma consistent with kicking opened an inquiry into Elor punches to the lower ablington’s allegations about domen.” The lawyers asked Holder the threats. Contrary to the findings to open an investigation into by the private doctor hired her death, citing a backlog of inquiries into inmate deaths by the family, an autopsy by by Florida officials and a the medical examiner found lack of confidence about the “that there was no identilikelihood of an impartial fiable trauma anywhere in and timely investigation by the body,” Crews said. Toxistate and local law enforce- cology reports have not yet been completed and a cause ment. The family has not been of death has not yet been degiven any information about termined, he said. “At this point, that’s all we Ellington’s death other than a telephone call from the know. So right now what we prison chaplain, the lawyers have is conflicting informasaid in the letter to Hold- tion between the medical er, adding that the family is examiner and whoever this concerned that the investi- physician is or doctor is that gation will not be timely or the family decided to hire,” Crews said. impartial. But he also acknowledged Crump told reporters at a news conference Tuesday that the circumstances surthat a major at the prison rounding the death of the promised Jennings the night mother of four, who had sevbefore her niece died that en months left in her senEllington would be placed in tence for fraud charges for confinement and she would filing fake tax returns, would See KILLING, Page A2 be looked after.
COMMENTARY: LUCIUS GANTT: DEMOCRATS MUST CORRAL THE ‘CRACK’ VOTE | A2 COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4
FOCUS
A2
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
Democrats must corral the ‘crack vote’ Conservatives hire political consultants that can generate votes from their “base” of Tea Party members, military personnel, small business owners, corporate bigwigs and others. The “truck vote” is a Republican vote today and everyday, because the GOP knows how to influence and turn out their voter base.
GOP hired anybody In past years, the Republican Party has hired anybody and everybody that could help Republican Party candidates win. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was not unusual to see Whites, Blacks, Democrats, independents and people with no party affiliations all working together to get Republicans elected in predominately Democratic states like Florida. When Dale Padgett and Jim Rathbun coordinated Republican legislative campaigns in the Sunshine State years ago, they hired a Black political consultant to handle all of their statewide media production and placement. Yes, it was a Black political consultant that wrote Republican ads calling for the death penalty, lower taxes and other conservative-type issues. The Republicans did what they had to do to win. They won, and now they dominate politics in the Sunshine State!
Copied the GOP After political defeat after de-
LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT
feat, Democratic parties in America thought the way they could take back the government was to be more “Republican” than Republicans. Democrats ignored liberals and liberal issues. They ignored students, Hispanics, and women. They totally discarded cultivating their most loyal base of Black voters, because courting Black voters wouldn’t be considered being conservative. Now, Democrats are spending money hiring women. Democrats are hiring Hispanics. Democrats are taking about birth control and immigration. Problem is, many women still vote Republican and so do many Hispanics. The only group of voters that vote in overwhelming percentages for Democratic candidates are African-American voters.
Dems always first Black voters always put Democrats first and Democrats always put Blacks last, because the highest-paid Democratic consultants say, “Don’t spend money generating Black votes. Blacks are so dumb they will vote for Democratic candidates” no matter how uncaring, how insensitive, how disrespectful or how racist they may be. Sadly, the consultants are par-
tially right. Of the 25 percent or 35 percent of registered Black voters that always vote, about 90 percent of them will vote Democratic. But GOP consultants know if only 35 percent of registered Black voters go to the polls, Democratic candidates won’t even be able to win a rat race!
Turnout is critical To win national or statewide elections, Democrats must turn out an extraordinary number of Black voters and all of those voters must vote Democratic. White Democrats can never get the number of Black votes that President Obama got, but they must get well over 50 percent of registered Black voters to cast ballots to have a chance. So does the national and state Democratic Parties rush to hire qualified Blacks that can influence Black voters and get Blacks to the polls? I know the answer to the question. But history is the very best teacher, not me.
Miserable failure Blacks recently hired by Democratic parties over the last two decades have failed miserably – if you discount the love and willingness of Blacks to vote for and support Obama when he ran. Even when the president won, White Democratic candidates could not ride into office on the president’s coattails because Black voters are smarter than the average dumb Democratic consultants.
KILLING from A1
likely be met with skepticism by an already suspicious public. “If I’m the citizens of the state of Florida, and you read everything that transpired in this incident, this tragedy, from the beginning to the end, I certainly would have questions in my mind about what happened,” he said. “What we need to be able to do is to answer those questions about not what we think happened but what actually happened.”
Didn’t notify family
Latandra Ellington, left, and Darren Rainey died violently in separate Florida state correctional institutions after being incarcerated for non-violent felonies.
GOP from A1
controlled from the top down,” he said. “Even if you are successful, unless you are a son or daughter of a contributor or a friend of party, you get nowhere. “In Florida, the same people are running the Republican Party of Florida that ran it 20 years ago when they used to hire Black people. But Black people are not their choice anymore. Somebody is telling them who to hire and who to spend money with.”
Carroll as litmus test Will Black voters cast votes for Rick Scott? Gantt thinks not. “If you want to know the relationship between Rick Scott and Black Floridians, look at the relationship he had with (former Lieutenant Governor) Jennifer Carroll,” Gantt opined. “She could get you a meeting, but Scott would kill your idea. “Anything she wanted to do, he killed. He cut off the Office of Supplier Diversity, which tries to help Black business do business with the state. He cut funding for the Black Business Investment Corporation, which helped fund Black businesses. It was terrible. He’s the worst enemy of Black Floridians in the last 20 years.”
Close win Clarence McKee is the principal government, political and media relations consultant for his own
Barbara Howard
Clarence McKee
company, McKee Communications, Inc. in South Florida. He has a long résumé in the Republican Party, including serving as a US Senate staffer and as a political appointee in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. In 2010, McKee, a former media owner himself, coordinated the Black media outreach effort for the 2010 Scott-Carroll gubernatorial campaign. He and Carroll are generally given credit for initiating and executing a successful strategy to fight for Black votes around the state – something that Carroll claims in her new book, “When You Get There,” that Scott was against. The strategy became critical in 2010 when Democratic candidate Alex Sink, in the last month of the campaign, was accused of taking Black voters for granted by ducking a popular South public political forum at Miami-Dade’s largest Black church. Carroll showed up, impressed the largely Black Democratic crowd, and thereafter seemed to appear at any event where Black voters would congregate. Sink spent critical days in the tail end of her campaign apologizing for not showing up, and try-
The lawyers also said Jennings has received no information about her niece’s death from prison officials and that no one has contacted the family since the chaplain called them. Prison chaplains generally are responsible for sharing the news
ing to convince Black voters that they hadn’t been dissed. Scott and Carroll won the campaign by about 61,000 votes out of almost 5.2 million that were cast. Even with that success, McKee is not involved with the Scott campaign. When asked whether he was providing consulting services to Scott or any statewide Republican candidate, he simply said, “No.”
A ‘first’ With the 2010 win, Carroll became the first African-American and the first woman elected to the position. She also was the first Black person elected to statewide office in Florida by either party since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. She held the office for only about two years. She resigned as lieutenant governor on March 12, 2013, following allegations that she had done business with Internet cafés that were allegedly fronts for gambling and were the subject of federal and state criminal investigations.
Moving on She was never criminally charged. Soon after her resignation, she took a job as a senior advisor with Global Digital Solutions Inc., a defense and weapons contractor, then wrote a memoir. During this election cycle, she will act as a political analyst for WJXT-TV4 in Jacksonville. During a book tour stop in Philadelphia, Pa., she paused to speak to the Florida Courier for this story.
What happened? What is happening? It’s about the base! Democrats disrespect their most loyal voter base! It seems if you want to help Democratic candidates you have to do a few things. First, you have to donate money to the party to pay White consultants and to purchase White media. You have to beg party administrators and Negro politicians that will help you beg party officials. You have to be willing to be controlled. And you have to agree to never tell Black voters the political truth. As I’ve said before, Black political sheep can always recognize the voice of the Black political shepherd, because Black voters have heard that honest voice before. Democrats feel all they have to do is shout, “We’ve hired Jezebel We’ve hired Jemima, and we have Samba on retainer for a week or two, so we will win!”
‘Crack’ vote Where did all of those Black votes come from that Obama got? They came from ghettos, from barrios, from street corners, from homeless shelters. They also came from crackhouses and dope dealers! If Democrats refuse to hire Black consultants that can go into Black communities and influence and generate all Black voters, Democrats are doomed to die another political death! Republicans can get the truck vote. Democrats need to hire consultants that can create a
about inmates’ deaths with their families, Crews said. “Now because this one was a little bit different, because of the timing and the allegations and ultimately the death, if it wasn’t warden or assistant warden that called, then we probably need to look at that,” he said.
‘Cover-up mentality’ The lawyers were joined by Dale Landry of the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches, and George Mallinckrodt, a former mental health counselor at the Miami institution where Rainey died. Mallinckrodt accused the department of having a “cover-up mentality” about abusive guard behavior. Counselors are unlikely to report abuse because they run the risk that guards will not protect them from dangerous inmates.
Years of abuse Allegations of cover-ups of in-
Who is she supporting in the gubernatorial race? She says she must remain “unbiased” as a consequence of her TV contract. She did, however, note that Black Republicans in Florida are walking away from the party. “From 2012-2014, Black Republicans have decreased in voter registrations,” she said. “There’s an uptick in the number of independents, and some have even gone Democrat.” Carroll pointed to a number of reasons why. Qualified Black Republicans work hard for GOP candidates and “take punches from Democrats and everyone for being Black Republicans,” but they are not appointed to boards, staffs, commissions, or committees by Scott. “They (Black Republicans) are not invited to the table when policies are being discussed,” she said. “It’s as if they are needed only for elections.” The GOP does not support its Black candidates. She called names of current legislative candidates, including Mike Hill in the Panhandle, Phillip Walker of Polk County, Derek Hankerson in St. Johns County, and Prince Brown in Orlando. She also said she didn’t get support for her congressional and state House seat campaigns. “All those things culminate” over the years, she says. “We say, ‘Why are we taking all the heat and not getting any award for it, not even any appreciation, for the level of commitment we are making?’” Carroll says there was no “level playing field” for
campaign plan that will corral the “crack vote,” so to speak! (That means that high-paid consultants must craft a message that motivates people to stop daily activities and take a moment to cast a vote for desired candidates.) Henry Crespo, leader of the Florida Democratic Black Caucus, had excellent plans and strategies to work with community leaders to generate votes in African-American neighborhoods, but his efforts were shot down by political neocolonialists who sought to ‘out-White’ Democratic Party leaders and urged them not to work with Black people that Black voters trusted. The Black political puppets apparently threw Henry Crespo under the bus! Negroes hating and criticizing Black people always happens when fake leaders tell White party leaders and politicians not to work with Blacks that can generate the Black votes needed to win an election. Some of the politicians that look like you think like your enemies and are nothing more than political backstabbers! Bad candidates plus bad political strategy plus incompetent consultants equal a bad Election Day for the you-know-what party!
Excerpts from Gantt columns are now posted every week on The Gantt Report’s Facebook page; become a fan. Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. mate abuse span years within the department, which is responsible for about 100,000 prisoners and more than four dozen institutions. Six Department of Corrections investigators filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Crews and others, alleging they were retaliated against after revealing a cover-up about the death of Randall Jordan-Aparo, an inmate who died in solitary confinement after being gassed by guards at Franklin Correctional Institution. Also, whistleblowers at a North Florida prison were punished by their bosses after exposing abuse of inmates, including an instance where one guard sprayed noxious chemicals into a prisoner’s mouth, according to a 2011 investigation by the state’s Commission on Human Relations which concluded that “punishment for disclosing wrongdoing is part of the culture” within the corrections department.
Black Republicans to get on boards and commissions, and that the Scott administration didn’t even bother to interview them. “I had more than seven qualified Black attorneys who were nominees for Judicial Nominations Commissions (the committees that select local judges around the state),” she explained. After giving the names to Scott and his staff, they were never called, she said.
anybody Black,” she said. “That’s why he wasn’t as successful as Jeb Bush was. “The Bush family has Black friends. They spoke to them between campaigns. They were involved with Black folks, not just when it was time to ask for votes.”
Scott ‘handicapped’
The state GOP now has “a long row to hoe,” Carroll said, after Republicans lost six percent of its Black Republican base in two years. “They have to try to work to get them back, and work to get new people into the fold.” “What’s gonna be your message? If you treated the ones that were there with disregard, why should any new registrants want to come over to the Republican side?”
She said Scott doesn’t have relationships with Black people and has no Black friends. “He’s handicapped when it comes to getting Black involvement. He doesn’t know anybody and doesn’t talk to anybody.” Howard says that for her and other Black Republicans, Carroll’s resignation was a bitter pill to swallow, and it has impacted Black Republicans’ willingness to campaign for Scott. “Nobody wants to get involved because of the way he treated Jennifer,” she explained. “And he did nothing, zero, zip, for Black Republicans.”
‘Dysfunctional’ GOP
‘Dumb and dumber’
Barbara Howard, a longtime Black Republican, is trade and travel goodwill ambassador to Kenya and Florida state chair of the Congress of Racial Equality. For years, she has written a column, “The Politics of Blackness,” that has been published in Black newspapers around the state, including the Florida Courier. She calls Florida’s current Republicans “truly dysfunctional” with regard to the current gubernatorial campaign. “Rick Scott’s people don’t have connections to
Still, she intends to vote for Scott. Why? “The choice is between dumb (Scott) and dumber (Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist),” she sighed. “Crist is a fool and a liar who can’t be trusted. We can’t afford the luxury of Democratic governors. We have to keep Republican governors in the states. “I have to vote for Scott. Charlie Crist is a snake. If Black Republicans put that devil in the governor’s mansion, it will destroy the state and maybe the nation,’’ she added.
Uphill climb
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
FLORIDA
A3
‘One step closer’ to same-sex marriage Temporarily blocked
Supreme Court decision could boost gay marriage in Florida
Hinkle, who hears cases in Tallahassee, issued a strongly worded ruling Aug. 21 in favor of plaintiffs in two combined lawsuits challenging the gay-marriage ban. The plaintiffs included Florida couples who were married in other states where same-sex marriage is legal, a couple seeking to get married and the surviving spouse of a samesex couple married in New York. But while Hinkle found that the ban interfered with the couples’ constitutional rights, he also issued a stay that at least temporarily blocked same-sex marriages from taking place. “There is a substantial public interest in implementing this decision just once – in not having, as some states have had, a decision that is on-again, off-again,’’ Hinkle wrote at the time. “This is so for marriages already entered elsewhere, and it is more clearly so for new marriages. There is a substantial public interest in stable marriage laws.”
BY JIM SAUNDERS AND DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
TALLAHASSEE – With the U.S. Supreme Court clearing the way for samesex marriages in other states, gay-rights supporters said Monday they will ask a federal judge to follow suit in Florida. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in August struck down Florida’s ban on same-sex marriages, but he also placed a stay on the ruling while cases from Virginia, Oklahoma and Utah were pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices declined Monday to hear those cases and similar cases from Indiana and Wisconsin, giving victories to gay-marriage supporters who had won in lower courts.
ACLU: Lift the stay The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which represents plaintiffs in the challenge to Florida’s ban, quickly said it would ask Hinkle to lift the stay on his August decision. In a prepared statement, ACLU attorney Daniel Tilley said “we are now one step closer to the day when every Florida family can have the respect, protection and responsibilities that come with marriage.” “We are preparing now to take the necessary steps to ask the court in our case to lift the stay and allow
JIM RASSOL/SUN SENTINEL/MCT
People gather at the Palm Beach County courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach to show support for a judge’s ruling allowing gay people to marry on July 17. Florida couples who are married out of state or who wish to be married to have those marriages respected by their home state as soon as possible,’’ Tilley said. Hinkle’s decision finding Florida’s voter-approved ban unconstitutional was similar to rulings by state circuit-court judges in South Florida. Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose
office is defending the gaymarriage ban, has pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s consideration of cases as a reason to put on hold at least some of the Florida legal battles. Whitney Ray, a Bondi spokesman, gave little indication Monday how the attorney general might respond to the justices’ decision against hearing the cases.
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“We are reviewing the impact of these decisions, as well as other cases around the country,’’ Ray said in an email.
Strong opposition But John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, which helped lead efforts to pass a 2008 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, disputed arguments that the Supreme Court’s decision resolves the issue in Florida. Stemberger said it “has no legal effect in Florida
and is only legally binding in the five states where the appeal was brought.” “Unless and until a federal appeals court over Florida issues an adverse ruling, then Florida’s current valid marriage laws should continue to be upheld by the attorney general and Florida judges alike,’’ Stemberger said. “Further, no same-sex marriage licenses should be issued, and any decision otherwise by a Florida court or a clerk of court, would be irresponsible and illegitimate.”
BY MARGIE MENZEL THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Work with shelters
• Setting goals – When to tell everybody, and when to keep your mouth shut;
TALLAHASSEE – With domestic-violence issues drawing widespread attention nationally, Florida’s 67 county clerks of court on Monday offered victims help with injunctions for protection and connections with other services. St. Lucie County Clerk Joe Smith, president of the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, said his group wants to “shine a light” on the impact of domestic violence, adding that one in four American women and one in seven men suffers physical violence at the hands of a loved one. “Clerks can help,” he said. “Florida’s clerks are here for victims of domestic violence.”
• Black English, and why Black students must be ‘bilingual.’
About six every day
Video affects locals
• How low expectations of Black students’ achievements can get them higher grades; • Want a great grade? Prepare to cheat! • How Black students can program their minds for success;
…AND MUCH MORE!
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In the order, Hinkle tied the length of the stay to the Virginia, Oklahoma and Utah cases, which had been filed in the Supreme Court. Justices on Monday did not explain the reasons for not hearing those cases. But the decision could have ramifications for other states, along with Florida. In his statement, Tilley, the ACLU attorney, described legal same-sex marriage as a “clear historical inevitability.” “We said that marriage equality is coming to Florida,’’ Tilley said. “After today’s message from the nation’s highest court, we know that it is coming even sooner.”
County clerks step up for domestic violence victims He said the clerks are well-positioned to help because they work closely with their local batteredwomen’s shelters and their county sheriff’s offices. Not all clerks of court work as closely with their local shelters as does Inzer, whose office has partnered with Refuge House, which serves eight counties in the capital area, since 1992. Refuge House assistant director Emily Mitchem credited the clerk with giving domestic-violence victims the chance to see a counselor at the courthouse in a safe environment. She said for many victims, the mere thought of getting an injunction for protection is overwhelming. “Just the thought of entering a courthouse can bring on a feeling of absolute panic and dread for the victim,” Mitchem said.
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No reason given
Smith and five other clerks of court met with reporters in the Leon County Courthouse to encourage victims who are considering seeking help to come forward. He also urged state residents “…to no longer remain silent upon experiencing, witnessing or hearing about incidents of domestic violence.” Leon County Clerk of Courts Bob Inzer said his office received more than 1,300 petitions for relief from domestic violence last year – “roughly six every business day.” “That’s a lot of citizens that are victims,” Inzer said. “But more than that, that’s a lot of families that are victims as well.”
The clerks’ action came as domestic violence is all over the news, given its role in recent coverage of the National Football League. The spark was a video of former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiancée – and now wife – in an Atlantic City elevator. Tiffany Carr, executive director of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, told the Florida Cabinet last month that national attention to the crime has driven up the demand on local shelters. “(It’s) for unfortunate reasons, but a record number of survivors have reached out for help, asking for emergency shelter,”
Carr said. “Our shelters are over capacity. There’s cots, there’s cribs in the hallways.” Florida’s 42 domestic-violence shelters had already seen the demand for their services spike during the recession – just as foundations, donors and government programs were cutting back their financial support.
Turned away According to the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, more than 108,000 domestic-violence crimes were reported to state law enforcement last year, but all the shelters together have fewer than 2,000 beds. Linda Osmundson, director of Community Action Stops Abuse (CASA), the battered-women’s shelter in St. Petersburg, said her 30-bed facility turned away 1,400 people last year, half of them children. “I look in the paper every day, to make sure that we didn’t lose one that we couldn’t shelter,” she said, adding that the most stressful thing her staff does “is to say to a woman with three children who has gotten up the courage to call that we don’t have space for her.” On Monday, the clerks and advocates urged victims to come forward, pointing to partnerships like the Leon County partnership. “The laws have been expanded and broadened, and they’re much more inclusive than they used to be,” Inzer said. “And there are more opportunities, if you will, for people to seek and find relief.”
EDITORIAL
A4
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
The Ebola Case in Dallas Editor's note: This column was written before Thomas Eric Duncan's death was announced on Wednesday. Amid heightened concern in the U.S. about the ferocious Ebola disease, two prominent Republican officeholders last week seized upon the proper concern over a Liberian national in Dallas testing positive for the virulent disease as a chance to show they think the GOP’s political cesspool has no bottom. Both Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, asserted that the president’s sending 3,000 troops to West Africa to aid those nations’ efforts to contain the spread of the virus there, was en-
whole ship of our soldiers catch Ebola? I think because of political correctness, we’re not really making sound, rational, scientific decisions on this,” Paul told conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham.
LEE A. DANIELS NNPA COLUMNIST
dangering America itself by exposing these troops to the virus, which they, in turn, would spread to other Americans once they got back to the states. Paul voiced his concern “about 3,000 soldiers getting back on a ship. Where is the disease most transmittable? When you’re in the close confines on a ship – we all know about cruises and how they get these diarrhea viruses that are transmitted very easily. Can you imagine if a
Not a cruise ship Paul didn’t specify what “political correctness” has to do with the vital global effort to prevent Ebola from spreading beyond its current “hot spots.” When the White House unveiled its plan last month to send the troops, it drew widespread agreement in Congress, including from the GOP’s Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Ohio’s John
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: EBOLA AND FREEDOM
JOHN COLE, THE SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE
Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 228 The gubernatorial election – Black voters are in a quandary. Black Republicans can’t point to any successes or benefits gained from Rick Scott’s administration, and the forced resignation of their “First Black,” Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll, will stick in their craws forever. Scott selected Carroll as his 2010 running mate. She carved off enough Black votes to win a close race against hapless Democrat Alex Sink. Scott is running the same game again, selecting a Hispanic running mate to carve off enough Hispanic votes in South Florida to win. Scott used Carroll then threw her out. He then flushed Black Republican supporters away like used toilet paper. It’s no better for Black Democrats. When White voter turnout looks uncertain, Democrats spend millions to convince Whites to vote. When Black voter turnout looks uncertain, Democrats spend a few dollars a month prior to the election, whip Black Democratic leadership to get out ‘their’ vote – and blame us all when they lose. Black Democrats aren’t feeling Charlie Crist because they don’t know who he is anymore. Still, Black Democratic politicians, both current and retired, are begging everyone in sight to vote for Crist. They argue that if Blacks don’t vote in high numbers, they can’t make demands if Crist wins. Well, Black people turned out for Barack Obama. The same Black political ‘leader-
QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER
CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER
ship’ never made any demands on Obama or the Democrats – other than for themselves for favorable legislative committee assignments, private sector jobs, consultancies, campaign contributions, donations to their sponsored sports tournaments, etc. They shouted down anyone who made demands on Obama and Democrats as “attacking the president” and siding with the enemy. Black supporters of both parties are urging Black voters to vote in “the most important election in our lifetimes” – something we hear every two years. “Lesser of the evils” doesn’t BEGIN to describe the two major party candidates that Black voters are considering right now… DON’T VOTE YET…until you read our recommendations next week on candidates and amendments.
Holler at me at www.facebook.com/ ccherry2. Click on this story at www. flcourier.com to write your own response.
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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Boehner, the Speaker of the House. But then, it’s also nonsensical that Paul would liken a military transport ship – undoubtedly operating under the strictest military discipline and specially outfitted for this tour of duty with the most sophisticated medical facilities and medicines – to a civilian cruise ship. However, Obama-bashers Paul and Gohmert also got some interesting company. MSNBC talk show host Chris Matthews seemed to blame the president for not preventing the Liberian national who has been diagnosed with Ebola, Thomas Eric Duncan, from entering the country. Matthews contended “that
the president said it would be unlikely if we had a case in this country. Unlikely to have even one case … Well, it’s not the unlikely. It has happened. It’s here.”
Cheap shots This, too, is the attempt to score cheap political points. To say that Ebola is “here” because one individual has it out of 300-plus million people in America, or even just among the citizenry of Dallas is abominable. True, we won’t know for another three weeks – the time for the Ebola infection in individuals to manifest itself – if the now10 people in Dallas government officials think he might have exposed to the virus are infected. Nothing untoward in that regard has surfaced so far, and all those people are being monitored.
It’s also worth noting what Matthews did not: that the Ebola virus actually was first brought “here” deliberately when the three American aid workers who had been working in West Africa to treat the ill themselves became infected and were repatriated to U.S. hospitals for treatment under the strictest conditions. All have recovered. The success of their treatment and the lack of any evidence that the Ebola virus escaped those hospitals’ special treatment facilities is evidence that the Ebola virus is not in the United States.
Lee A. Daniels is a longtime journalist based in New York City. His latest book is Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.
Managing conflict Every relationship will eventually face some kind of conflict. Because you’re bringing two people together with different perspectives and points of view, you’re bound to have conflict. However, this conflict doesn’t have to turn violent. In a real sense, when you know how to work through your conflict, the stronger your relationship will be. With so much attention on domestic abuse/violence, what has been overlooked and neglected is how to resolve conflict. All of us should know that violence is never the answer. No matter if a person says their partner provokes them, violence should never be initiated, condoned, tolerated, or justified. There’s no plausible excuse a person can use to justify resorting to a physical altercation. Managing conflict is important to the health of any relationship. Here are a few ways in which you can manage conflict in any relationship: Listen to your partner. While this may sound easy to some people, the dif-
DR. SINCLAIR GREY III GUEST COLUMNIST
ficulty most people have with this is that they hear words but never really comprehend what’s being said. Without listening to your partners concerns, you’ll fail to understand what’s going on Respect your partner’s point of view. Even though you may not agree with it, you must never dismiss it. If it’s important to them, then it’s important for you to respect it Use eye contact. Failing to look your partner in their eyes while they’re communicating their concern(s) to you shows them you’re not considerate of their feelings Be willing to compromise. You cannot be right all the time. Through compromise, you’re allowing your partner to feel valued and appreciated Deal with the problem and work towards a solution. The mistake ma-
ny people make when engaged in conflict is that they bring up other issues that don’t pertain to the immediate conflict. Address the conflict at hand and find a solution that you and your partner can work towards Commit yourself to working things out. If you like, love, and care about your partner, you will do what’s necessary to bring about peace and tranquility to any conflict. It’s not about doing what seems to be popular; it’s about doing what’s right.
Dr. Sinclair Grey III is an inspirational speaker, motivator, author, life coach, and host of The Sinclair Grey Show heard on Monday’s at 2 p.m. on WAEC Love 860am (iHeart Radio and Tune In). Contact him at drgrey@sinclairgrey.org or on Twitter @drsinclairgrey. Write your own response at www.flcourier. com.
Eric Holder: A champion for equal justice “Throughout his long career in public service, Eric has built a powerful legacy of making sure that equal justice under the law actually means something; that it applies to everybody – regardless of race, or gender, or religion, or color, creed, disability, sexual orientation.” — President Barack Obama at last Saturday’s Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Awards Dinner As I stood with a group of civil rights leaders and grieving family members two weeks ago at a press conference in Washington, D.C. to demand a full federal investigation of the police killings of two unarmed Black men – Michael Brown of Ferguson, Mo. and Eric Garner of Staten Island, N.Y. — we learned that Eric Holder, our nation’s first African-American Attorney General, was resigning as head of the Justice Department. After six years of serving as “the people’s lawyer,” Holder will also leave as the most ardent and effective Attorney General for civil rights in American history. President Obama praised him as both “a great friend of mine” and “a faithful servant of the American people.”
Significant achievements Since 2009, Eric Holder has overseen the Justice Department’s large portfolio of responsibilities – from counter-terrorism to government corruption to white collar crime. Under his leadership, the overall crime rate and the overall incarceration rate declined by 10 percent – the first time we have seen
MARC H. MORIAL TRICE EDNEY WIRE
such a simultaneous decline in more than 40 years. Among his many accomplishments, we are especially grateful that he honored his pledge to reinvigorate the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. As my civil rights colleagues and I stood together at the press conference devoted solely to calling for justice for Michael Brown, Eric Garner and their families, we knew that Eric Holder was standing shoulder to shoulder with us and with millions of citizens across the nation who are committed to protecting voting rights, combating human trafficking and hate crimes, eliminating sentencing disparities, creating alternatives to incarceration, guaranteeing equality for our LGBT brothers and sisters, and ensuring that Americans of all races and walks of life are treated equally and fairly by our criminal justice system. We have been especially encouraged by Holder’s pledge to pursue civil rights investigations in the wake of the recent spate of killings of unarmed Black men by police and other law enforcement officers.
Thankful for his service His visit to Ferguson to meet with Michael Brown’s family and other concerned citizens demonstrated tremendous compassion and courage. When local officials, including Darren Wil-
son, the police officer who killed Michael Brown, were nowhere to be seen, Eric Holder’s presence assured the people of Ferguson and across the nation that their voices were being heard at the highest levels of government. Attorney General Holder has been disparagingly accused by his critics of being too activist and too partisan. But as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, he had a clear mandate to ensure that our civil rights laws were protected, strengthened and enforced – and he has fulfilled that duty. As the son of working-class parents, Eric Holder had an upclose and personal experience with racial and economic hardship, and these humble beginnings gave him a special insight into and empathy for the challenges facing so many of our citizens in these perilous times. Eric Holder has been an impactful Attorney General and a bold and unapologetic champion for civil rights – and our nation is better for his service and leadership. While he is stepping down as head of the Justice Department, we are encouraged by what he said at his resignation announcement, “I will never leave the work. I will continue to serve and try to find ways to make our nation even more true to its founding ideals.” We certainly hope to see him on the front lines of civil rights and equal justice for many years to come.
Marc H. Morial, former mayor of New Orleans, is president and CEO of the National Urban League. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
Libraries, the Loud Church and raising ‘Dance Babies’ The little school my hubby Baby, sister Peaches and I discovered on Gold Street turned into a heartfelt family project. We continued to visit, help out with classes, create recordkeeping methods, and provide much-needed school supplies to the students and teachers. Subsequently, as word got around the neighborhood that the “Americans had landed,” one school turned into THREE more struggling but striving kindergarten-to-junior high institutions. With our personal monies and donations from family and friends in the US, we were able to continue our newly found, everevolving mission to “provide tools for a better education” to the area children. One day, we stumbled upon Ghana Book Trust, a used bookstore overflowing with books! We’d found a treasure trove of children’s publications and educational readings, school text books for ALL ages, teacher’s aid materials, fiction, non-fiction, encyclopedia, dictionaries, translators, classics and many other resources that could excite, entertain and educate many a young mind in our “hood.” Among the three of us, we accumulated quite a hoard of volumes. The little school received them with a glad heart but, since their schoolrooms were literally out of doors, they had no means of storing their new materials. We ended up checking them out to the teachers and students each morning and checking them back in at the end of the day.
Here’s a story There once was a mighty chief from Ghana’s Volta Region who became ill and was brought to the 37 Military Hospital here in Accra for treatment. THOUSANDS of fruit bats from his kingdom followed him and perched in the trees outside his hospital room window. The Great Chief died but obviously, no one informed the
CASSANDRA DIANE BACK TO THE HOMELAND
bats. They have occupied the four or five trees at the hospital for decades awaiting his medical discharge. They remain there to this day, migrating back each evening to feast in the Volta – only to return again each morning to resume their eternal wait. One afternoon, Baby, Sister and I were sitting on the back porch guzzling ice-cold Star beer and watching the fruit bats overhead on their nightly migration. We decided to open a community library so we could share our wellspring of great gifts with the neighborhood folk; and we did. We applied for and became a Non-Governmental Organization – kind of like an American nonprofit – and set out to save the world from illiteracy! We became Education Impact Family Group, and swore tooth and nail to do ALL we can to make a positive IMPACT on learning by giving the children of Ghana what they need to achieve success.
Our own library We opened a mini-library facility right in the receiving room of our much-too-huge house. During our remaining months on Gold at Diamond, we opened our doors three days a week and each weekend to more than 80 school-aged children per day, who sucked up every word of information between the covers of more than 700 books and reading materials. We were even on TV!!!! We could hardly WAIT to Facebook the folk’ back home!! They were ‘proud as peacocks…and so were we! When our house lease expired, Peaches moved to the beach and Baby and I headed for the hills.
Before we left though, we turned over the library – lock, stock and barrel – to one of the more established community schools which presently house the Joe Green – Dome’ Pillar II Community Library, where children from all over can come and expand their knowledge. Joe Green is one of our “homeboys” who pastors a very wonderful and supportive congregation back in Central Louisiana and was the first to heed our call for “HELP!!” from the Motherland! Baby and I continued our journey through various communities in Accra, moving each year from place to place. We are learning all we can about this unique land and culture, leaving a trail of “tools for a better education” to more than 1,500 great students and five schools in our wake.
The Loud Church Things settled down a bit and we finally found the perfect homestead. Like Goldilocks, we happened upon one that was juuust right – not too small and not too big. But we were back in the “country” with dirt roads; flooded ditches; overgrown lots; cow-, sheep- and goat-powered hedge trimmers and grass cutters; freeroaming chickens and ducks; mud huts and mansions all in a row; construction EVERYwhere; AND a Loud Church. We moved into this neighborhood, I suppose, right at the height of their soul-winning revival because they “serviced” ‘til 4 a.m. for almost a fortnight. A state-of-the-art sound system amplified their celebrations and pegged meters to red-zone decibels throughout the neighborhood. Thankfully, after a while, the Loud Church fell into its routine Sunday morning services and less frequent night watches. Our gardener recommended a wash lady to help me keep up with the clothes. I’m not all that good at hand-washing yet and
EDITORIAL
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VISUAL VIEWPOINT: EBOLA SYSTEMS
MIKE KEEFE, CAGLE CARTOONS
was falling a bit behind with the laundry. So, the Wash Lady came and helped and hummed and sung while she worked. COULD THAT be the SAME VOICE I hear each week hymning it up on the Loud Microphone? Well, it was.
Something unexpected I respectfully expressed my dismay at being awakened early and kept up late. I gently attempted to convey the UN-necessity of loudness when talking to the Lord. She smiled and nodded, but I don’t think she fully comprehended that she was to relay my tendered complaint to the official board because the Loud Preacher preached; the Loud Choir sung; peaceful sleep evaded us as the Loud Band played on! In the course of our friendship, I discovered there were more than 150 community children – many disadvantaged – in their congregation and the Wash Lady, in turn, discovered that I could dance. To make a long story short, I, with vital support from the “Family,” ended up forming a community dance team of 12 young performers between the ages of 7 and 14 who made their debut at their church’s anniversary last week. The dance team has worked hard for the past six months on liturgical dance routines which they performed splendidly,
donned in breath-taking “uniforms” and nice spiffy dance shoes – ALL made possible by a couple of good ol’ folk from back home!
Nothing happens by chance Naturally, the “Dance Babies” get school supplies on a regular basis. That’s what we do. They are talented and outstanding in their school works and everyone is ‘full as a sea tick’ with pride for them. After learning a couple more routines we will take our show on the road, conducting fundraisers and taking educational excursions to places and spaces they’ve never seen before. These funds will ensure the continuous imbursement of the children’s school fees for as long as they are in the troupe. That’s what we do, too. Yep! We are having SO MUCH FUN in the Mother-Hood; and, for some strange reason, the Loud Church just doesn’t seem all that loud anymore!
Contact Cassandra at Back to the Homeland Tours on Facebook, or www.weregoingtoghana.com. Donate to schools in Ghana at www.educationimpactfamilygroup.org. Write your own response at www.flcourier. com.
Muhammad Ali, a hero of our time The Muhammad Ali Center has awarded football great and courageous civil rights advocate Jim Brown and Bill Russell its Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award. But the real celebration was for Muhammad Ali himself, a giant now weakened by his three decade struggle with Parkinson’s. Ali was a champion in the ring. “I am the greatest,” he said, and he was telling the truth. He won his first heavyweight championship at the age of 22, a massive underdog against reigning champion Sonny Liston. He said he would “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” and so he did.
The greatest And later, as age diminished his speed, he showed a remarkable capacity to take a punch, even inventing what was called the “rope-a-dope” strategy against George Foreman. He is recognized as the greatest fighter of his generation, and along with Joe Louis, of all time. But Ali was more than a remarkable champion in the ring; he became a hero outside the ring. He stood up to assert his rights, and used his prominence to fight for religious freedom and racial jus-
REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR. TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM
tice. He stood on principle against the fury of the crowd — and sacrificed enormously for his beliefs. After defeating Liston, Ali announced his conversion to Islam, joining the Nation of Islam. In 1967, he refused a draft order to join the military in Vietnam, claiming conscientious objector status. He stated that “War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur’an. We don’t take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers.” More succinctly he remarked that, “No Vietcong ever called me nigger...Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?”
Ali was a champion in the ring. “I am the greatest,” he said, and he was telling the truth. He won his first heavyweight championship at the age of 22, a massive underdog against reigning champion Sonny Liston. He said he would “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” and so he did.
venom, and official prosecution and conviction for draft avoidance. Ali was stripped of his title, his license to fight and his passport. In the prime of his athletic life, he went nearly four years without being able to fight. It is hard to imagine a more costly sacrifice for a world champion. Ali responded not by getting bitter but by getting bigger. He spoke at colleges against the war and for African-American pride and for racial justice. His courage inspired millions, Stripped of his title including Dr. Martin Luther King. This stance generated public Before King delivered his historic
The Secret Service: Friend or foe? I doubt that anyone old enough to remember the events of November 22, 1963, will ever forget them. On that afternoon, President John Kennedy was assassinated. Images that seared in the minds of those who witnessed it were the courageous actions of Secret Service Agent Clint Hill as he chased the limousine of the stricken President and jumped on the bumper, then crawled across the trunk of the car to shield the President and First Lady with his body. It’s doubtful you could find any American who didn’t believe the Secret Service Presidential Protection Division would take any action, including “take a bullet,” to protect the President, his family or entourage. That day, they were “heroes” to all Americans and no wrong could be found in their actions.
On March 30, 1981 President Ronald Reagan, and three others, fell victim to shots as they were leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel. In response to the gunfire of John Hinckley, Agent TRICE EDNEY WIRE Jerry Parr pushed President Reagan into his limousine, while Courage without Agent Tim McCarthy was struck concern in his abdomen by a bullet as he September 5, 1975, in Sac- threw himself over the President ramento, California, President to protect him. Gerald Ford survived the first of two attempts on his life. Lynette Current competence “Squeaky” Fromme, a member Given these past acts and its of the infamous Charles Manson Family, approached President storied history of selfless service Ford and aimed a .45 caliber semi- to the Office of the President, automatic pistol at him. Before one has to seriously question the she was able to fire a shot, she was character and competence of the tackled by Secret Service Agents current Presidential Protection and wrestled to the ground. Once Division. With the exception of those again, Secret Service Agents acted with courage, without concern for who harbor extreme enmity totheir personal safety, averting an- wards President Obama, we were other disaster. shocked and appalled by the Se-
DR. E. FAYE WILLIAMS, ESQ.
Riverside Church address against the war, Ali and Jim Brown visited with Dr. King. He returned to the ring in Georgia in 1970, with the assistance of State Sen. LeRoy Johnson, the lone African-American in the Georgia State House. I was there that evening and had prayer with Ali — what a night. He was victorious on a third round knockout over Jerry Quarry. Later, in 1971, when Ali’s conviction was overturned by a unanimous Supreme Court, he avenged a title match loss to Joe Frazier — he fought three of the greatest fights ever with Joe Frazier. cret Service sex scandal in Columbia. We understood the behavior attributed to the President’s protective detail to be a violation of their oath and the trust placed in them by the President and the Nation. Although the Agents’ behavior there was a serious breach of standards, their failure at the funeral of President Nelson Mandela in South Africa foretold of their increasing ineptitude. When one is familiar with the attention to detail that is required for Presidential security, it’s impossible to understand how a phony sign-language interpreter could be allowed to stand within feet of the President.
Shots fired These acts were egregious. Then we learned that an intruder jumped the White House fence and just walked inside. Next, we heard shots were fired at the White House, resulting in structural damage.
Title regained Three years later, against the odds, in “the Rumble in the Jungle,” against George Foreman in Kinshasha, Zaire, at the age of 32, he won back his title. By the time the fight was over, Ali was not simply a champion, but a HERO — known across the world. Ali kept growing and living his beliefs. He helped deliver food to millions in Africa. He brought needed medical supplies to embargoed Cuba. In the first Gulf War, he traveled to Iraq, met with its dictator Saddam Hussein, and worked to free 15 U.S. hostages. He did much of this even as he struggled with an increasingly debilitating Parkinson’s disease. Now Ali, once reviled, is hailed across the world. President George W. Bush presented him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of this nation’s highest awards. He was named Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and Sports Personality of the Century by the British BBC.
Jesse L. Jackson Sr. is the president and founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Write your own response at www.flcourier.com. Thinking things could get no worse, we learned a man with a criminal record and a gun, shared an elevator with President Obama! A Richard Pryor comedy skit suggested mortal threat to the first Black President. It was easy to laugh then, but when faced with the serious failures of those entrusted to protect the real first Black President, that skit isn’t funny at all. I wonder about the value placed on the President’s life by his protective detail. Sadly it appears to be the same one placed by his detractors in the extreme right who whip up hate for the President daily. This foolishness must stop lest we lose credibility around the world.
Dr. Williams is President of the National Congress of Black Women. www.nationalcongressbw.org. Write your own response at www.flcourier. com.
NATION
TOJ A6
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
Record-setting number of Blacks seeking office
Felony charges dropped against Detroit officer in death of 7-year-old
Analyst expects five more AfricanAmerican women to be elected to Congress
FROM WIRE REPORTS
BY FREDERICK H. LOWE TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE
A record number of African-Americans are candidates for federal and state offices in the midterm elections in November. Eighty-three AfricanAmerican candidates are running for federal office exceeding the previous high of 72 set in 2012, said Dr. David A. Bositis, an independent political consultant and former senior research associate for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank for Black elected officials. Sixty-six of the candidates are Democrats and 17 are Republicans, Bositis said. Sixty of the Democrats are running for the U.S. House of Representatives and two are nominees for the U.S. Senate. The number of Democratic nominees is record setting, surpassing the previous high of 59 in 2012.
Record statewide candidates
Boost in Congress He predicted that five Black women would be elected to Congress. They are Democrats Brenda Lawrence of Michigan, Alma Adams of North Carolina, Stacy Plaskett of the Virgin Islands and Bonnie Watson Colman of New Jersey. Mia Love of Utah is expected to become the first Black woman Republican to be elected to Congress. The increase in the number of Black women in Congress will boost the 42-member Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) by two to 44, Bositis said. The CBC is expected to pick up two additional seats with the possible elections of Lawrence, who is expected to replace John Dingell Jr., who is retiring; and Coleman, a New Jersey Democrat, is expected
JAMES BORCHUCK/TAMPA BAY TIMES/MCT
Mia Love of Saratoga Springs, Utah, speaks at the Republican National Convention in Tampa on Aug. 28, 2012. She is expected to be the first Black woman Republican from Utah to be elected to Congress. to replace Congressman Rush Holt Jr., who also is retiring. Adams and Plaskett are replacing Demo-
cratic incumbents. It is not clear if Love will join the CBC. Sen. Scott refused to join.
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A Detroit police officer is facing reduced charges in the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones. On Oct. 3, Wayne County Circuit Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway dismissed felony charges to involuntary manslaughter against officer Joseph Weekley. The charges stem from a May 2010 incident where the child was hit by a bullet while Joseph was searching for a murder suspect. Weekley still faces careless discharge of a firearm causing death, a misdemeanor, in the shooting. Roland Lawrence, chairman of Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee, released a statement saying the group is pushing for a review by the Michigan Supreme Court. An appellate court ruling indicates that the circuit judge’s decision will stand. "Because the oral granting of defendant's motion (to dismiss the charge) and the trial court's entry of its written order to this effect took place before any appellate review was able to occur, this Court is barred from reviewing the trial court's decision," the Michigan Court of Appeals order issued Monday stated.
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In statewide races, 25 Black candidates are running for office, well ahead of the record 17 nominees in 2002. This includes 24 Democrats and one Re-
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IFE/FAITH ‘The Game’ coming to an end See page B5
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
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New director of Head Start in Duval County shines light on early childhood program
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories about people and programs in Florida that are serving the African-American community. SPECIAL TO THE COURIER
O
ctober marks National Head Start Awareness Month and for Nacole Guyton it has an extra special meaning this year. Guyton is the new Head Start and Early Head Start executive director for Lutheran Services Florida (LSF) in Duval County. With more than 16 years of early childhood education experience, she is on a personal mission to spread the word about the organization’s programs. Head Start and Early Head Start (which serves infants and toddlers) are federally funded early childhood programs for low-income families with children through age 5, including those with special needs. Both comprehensive programs promote school readiness by strengthening children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. Guyton grew up in Savannah, Ga., and earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, a master of education degree in instructional technology, and an education specialist in reading education from Georgia Southern University.
2. 1. The unveiling of the Don Brewer Center as an LSF Head Start site took place this summer. 2. The comprehensive programs promote school readiness by strengthening children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. 3. Kids in Duval program get some personal attention.
In a good place She began working with LSF shortly after the nonprofit was awarded a federal grant in April 2014 to take over and manage Head Start and Early Head Start programs in the Jacksonville area. At almost two months into the school year, Guyton feels the programs are in a good place. “It’s exciting to see the progress that we’ve made in such a short amount of time,” she said. “With hundreds of children and families depending on and benefiting from our programs, we want to ensure that we maintain our level of quality.” With more than 1,500 children enrolled, the LSF team continues to fine-tune and improve systems. Like any transition, it didn’t come without its share of challenges. From the time the organization was fully operational in Jacksonville in June to August, 16 centers were furnished, licensed and staffed. In addition, some enrollment adjustments to existing partnerships also were made.
4. Mia Evans, Nicole Guyton and Marie Mitchell all participate in the Head Start program. PHOTOS COURTESY OF LSF CHILDREN AND HEAD START SERVICES
3.
More slots The changes brought more options for parents in neighborhoods where Head Start and Early Head Start services are needed the most. This school year, LSF has a total of 25 centers around the Jacksonville area and programs were extended an additional two hours per day as well as increased from 160 to 227 days per year. Parents are required to meet certain requirements for acceptance into Head Start and Early
4. Head Start programs. That includes providing a child’s birth certificate, verification of all income received (federal poverty guidelines must be met) and verification of residency. Not every qualified parent however, may know these services exist and are available to them. For instance, in Duval
County there are still close to 100 Head Start slots open for 4-yearolds.
‘Holistic approach’ “We want parents to know about the holistic approach LSF takes when it comes to education. We don’t stop at just teach-
ing children but we also ensure that they are healthy and safe,” said Guyton. “Children in Head Start go through a vigorous screening process aimed at identifying any factors that may impede their ability to learn such as hearing and vision impairments, physical or developmental deficits as well as nutritional risk factors.” There is also a strong parent engagement component, as a child’s family and home environment can affect his or her ability to learn. LSF provides human services throughout Florida, helping all people in need. Headquartered in Tampa, the agency has more than 60 programs, including the Child Care Food Program, Head Start and Early Head Start, and Family Crisis Counseling.
‘Vital role’ The organization is the largest nonprofit Head Start grantee in the Southeastern United States and one of the largest in the country. In addition to Duval County, the organization is
also a Head Start grantee in Palm Beach County, the City of Belle Glade and Pinellas County as well as a delegate agency in Hillsborough County. “As LSF continues to grow our Head Start and Early Head Start services throughout Florida, we are keenly aware of the vital role they play for low-income children and their families,” said Louis Finney, executive vice president for Children and Head Start Services at LSF. “Our goal is to ensure every child has what they need to begin a successful educational journey.” It’s a journey Guyton does not take lightly. Head Start and Early Head Start remain for her, the most comprehensive early childhood educational programs. “LSF Head Start and Early Head Start cares. We care about the children in Duval County and we care about the families too. We work hard every day because children deserve no less,” said Guyton. For more information on Head Start services in Florida, visit http://lsf-hsehs.lsfnet.org/Pages/ Home.aspx.
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CALENDAR & OBITUARY
Multitalented actor Geoffrey Holder dies BY HERB BOYD NNPA NEWS SERVICE
NEW YORK – His voice arrived first, deep and sonorous, prefiguring a man of enormous life and vitality, and such was the often imposing but impressive visage and physique of Geoffrey Holder, who many remember mostly from his promotion of Seven-Up “Uncola” commercials. But the multitalented Holder was much more than a pitchman. This artist with almost magical gifts died Sunday, Oct. 5 at this home in New York City. He was Geoffrey 84. Holder According to Charles M. Mirotznik, a spokesman for the family, Holder’s death was the result of complications from pneumonia. Standing 6 feet 6 inches, Holder commanded practically every room he entered, and the niches not covered by his giant-like presence were filled with his resonant voice and laughter, his flamboyant style and persona, something magisterial, je ne sais quoi. If viewers were reminded of the Jolly Green Giant or Mr. Clean from the many films and Broadway productions, it was understandable inasmuch as he had that same powerful countenance but embellished by a graceful sense of movement and artistic savoir faire.
More than an ‘artist’ Even the swerving arc of his autograph provides some semblance of his absolutely total absorption in the theater, dance and art as writer and dance authority Jennifer Dunning captures so well her biography. “Who is Geoffrey Holder?” Dunning asks rhetorically in the preface to her book. “He paints and photographs, but he has never wanted to be called simply an ‘artist.’ He dances and choreographs, but he has no desire to be categorized as a ‘dancer and choreographer.’ He designs costumes and has directed shows on Broadway, but do not call him a ‘man of the theater.’” Through these things he chose not to be called, we gather some idea of the complexity of his life, the expansiveness of his endeavors and successes. “Life is strange and sweet and divine,” Holder told Dunning during one of her many interviews with him as he folded his long frame into a delicate white chair in the garden corner carved out his wife, the actress and dancer Carmen de Lavallade, in their loft in Soho.
He was everywhere She notes that Holder’s paintings are everywhere. And Holder throughout his remarkably productive career seemed to be everywhere—on stage, on film, in the studio, galleries, and anywhere a convivial ensemble was ready a night of gaiety and cultural chitchat. Whether surrounded by a gaggle of his admiring friends or strolling the streets of Manhattan that he dearly loved and became fond of many years ago when he arrived from his homeland in Trinidad, Holder was immediately recognized and onlookers were not sure if it was Punjab from the movie “Annie,” or Baron Samedi from the James Bond movie “Live and Let Die.” Or he could have been, for some of his older fans, the principal dancer in the Met’s production of “Aida.”
From Barbados to Broadway If left to him, he was Geoffrey Holder, born Aug. 1, 1930, to parents who had migrated from Barbados to Port of
Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. He attended Queen’s Royal College and at very early age began demonstrating his prowess as a dancer in his brother Boscoe’s company. It was from this older brother that he got his first lessons in choreography and design. Given his height and agility he easily stood out in a troupe and got the eye of dance maven Agnes de Mille in the early 1950s during a performance in the Virgin Islands. She invited Holder to New York City and subsequently he was hired to teach at the famed Katherine Dunham School of Dance. After a brief stint as the lead dancer at the Met, he made his Broadway debut in “House of Flowers” with book and lyrics by Truman Capote and music by Harold Arlen. Here, he met another dancer, Carmen de Lavallade, who became his lifelong companion. Their only child was Leo.
His movies, muses With excellent reviews from his performances on Broadway, he appeared in a series of films, beginning with “All Night Long,’’ a British film in 1962. Five years later, he was featured in “Doctor Dolittle,’’ then he was the sorcerer in Woody Allen’s “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex,” and there was his voodoo turn in the Bond movie mentioned above in which he was also the choreographer. For the most part, Holder appeared to be caught between two very jealous muses – dance and painting. And they both were somewhat pacified when he was the choreographer, set and costume designer as he did on many occasions, but with particular panache in 1968 with “The Prodigal Prince’’ for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Revered Haitian art According to Kina Poon, an assistant editor at Dance Magazine, this was his love letter to Haiti. “I wanted to do the same with Haitian folklore as we with Greek mythology,” he told her. “I revere Haitian art and I treat it with the same sense of grandeur and respect.” Grandeur is certainly a word that is evoked when visiting a gallery of his paintings. Most impressive are his study of the human form and his nudes, male and female, are full of the freedom and abandon that characterized Holder’s restless spirit.
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
TOJ
DONNIE MCCLURKIN
Festival of Praise 2014 featuring Fred Hammond and Donnie McClurkin is Oct. 16 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa and Oct. 18 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami.
PATTI LABELLE
A show featuring Patti LaBelle is set for Nov. 15 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale and Nov. 16 at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.
USHER
Tickets are on sale for a Dec. 14 show featuring Usher at the Amalie Arena, formerly known as the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Jacksonville: Northside Community Involvement, Inc. and the Sister to Sister Mentoring Program presents the seventh annual Girls Empowerment Summit on Oct. 11 at Northside Church of Christ, 4736 Avenue B. It’s for girls 9 through 19 and begins at 8:30 a.m. Register at 904-708-9110 or www. sistertosisterjax.net. Tampa: Bible-Based Church of Temple Terrace will present a 25th anniversary concert for Pastor Earl Mason featuring the Florida Mass Choir on Oct. 11 at the Center for Manifestation, 3102 E. Lake Ave. Ticket info: www. eventbrite.com and type in Florida Mass Choir Concert. Sanford: A Seminole Prevention Coalition meeting takes
place at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 24, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, 100 Bush Blvd. Marijuana and its impact on youth will be discussed. More info: www.SeminolePreventionCoalition.org. Plantation: Judah Worship Word Ministries International, 4441 W. Sunrise Blvd., will host a “Women Who Win’’ conference Oct. 15-17 with services beginning at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 19 at 8:15 a.m. More information on speakers and service information: 954-791-2999. Tampa: The Tampa Funk Fest 2014 is Oct. 18 at Raymond James Stadium. Performers include Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, Fantasia and Doug E. Fresh. More information: www.funkfest2014.com. Lauderdale Lakes: The Lauderdale Lakes Health Center’s open house is Oct.
21 from 1 to 4 p.m. at 3716 W. Oakland Park Blvd. RSVP by Oct. 15 at 954-759-7400. St. Petersburg: The Steve Harvey “Act Like A Success’’ Tour will stop at The Mahaffey on Oct. 18. St. Augustine: Tickets are on sale now for an Oct. 11 show at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre featuring Earth, Wind & Fire. The group also will be at Hard Rock Live on Oct. 15. Tampa: Candy Lowe hosts Tea & Conversation every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at 3911 N. 34th St., Suite B. More information: 813-3946363. Hollywood: Natalie Cole is scheduled at Hard Rock Live on Nov. 5 for an 8 p.m. show. Miami: The Commodores take the stage at the James L. Knight Center on Nov. 7 for an 8:30 p.m. show.
Tony winner To list even a portion of his awards is daunting, but it’s hard to ignore the stunning work in “The Wiz,’’ which earned Tony for direction and design. In both categories were first for a Black man. One of his most spectacular productions was “Timbuktu,’’ which he choreographed and directed, featuring Eartha Kitt. Here again, the full arsenal of his artistic genius unfolds. “Geoffrey is someone who speaks with movements and with images more than some other people might,” said Clifton Taylor, a lighting designer who worked with Holder in several productions, including a revival of “The Prodigal Prince’’ four years ago. “Another choreographer might say ‘This is what I want the lights to look like.’ Geoffrey is really about giving images to people, both the dancers and the designers. He’ll say, ‘We’re in a village at night. It’s stars and it’s gorgeous.’ He’ll go on in kind of rhapsodic prose. ‘Dahling,’ right? And then we go with it.” Then, to express his appreciation, might come that drawn out but melodious “maarvelous,” in a voice as inimitable as his life and legacy.
UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND LEGENDARY PICTURES PRESENT A MICHAEL DE LUCA PRODUCTION “DRACULA UNTOLD” LUKE EVANS DOMINIC COOPER SARAH GADON AND CHARLES DANCE EXECUTIVE MUSIC BY RAMIN DJAWADI PRODUCERS ALISSA PHILLIPS JOE CARACCIOLO, JR. THOMAS TULL JON JASHNI SCREENPLAY PRODUCED BY MATT SAZAMA & BURK SHARPLESS BY MICHAEL DE LUCA p.g.a. DIRECTED A UNIVERSAL PICTURE BY GARY SHORE SOUNDTRACK ON BACK LOT MUSIC
© 2014 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
STARTS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10
CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES
TOJ
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
B3
BUSINESS
ESPN, Turner Broadcasting reach nine-year deals with NBA BY RYAN FAUGHNDER LOS ANGELES TIMES (MCT)
The National Basketball Association has renewed its contracts with ESPN and Turner Broadcasting for nine years, the networks said on Monday. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed, but a person familiar with the contracts said the NBA
Client: Allstate Campaign: 2014 EA Local Print Agency Job #: 610-ALRECMG4005 AD #/AD ID: AHRT0373 Date Modified: CR: AD Round: will receive a combined
Bleed: ” x ” Trim: 8.33” x 18” Live: 8” x 17.75”
Region: US Language: English Notes: None
Keyline Scale: 1”=1” Output at: combined $930 million Page:
a a 2016-17-basketball season ESPN or sister broadcast and run through the 2024- channel ABC each year, $24 billion over nine years, year. A breakdown for theTO two 25 season and offer en- bringing their total to 100. as first reported in a New NOT BE USED FOR COLOR APPROVAL new deals wasn’t available, hanced rights for the net- ESPN, which is owned by York Times story, nearly CW: J. Kistner AD: S. Smith AM: S. Balicki BM: E. Schmidt P: N. McCarthy the Walt Disney Co., said tripling the yearly average but ESPN will continue to works. Turner’s TNT network it and the NBA plan to under the current arrange- pay more than Turner for ment that expires after the its package, people famil- will add 12 regular season launch a digital network, iar with the negotiations games a year to its sched- but declined to give further 2015-16 season. ule, raising its package to details. Under the existing agree- said. 64 regular season games a ments, ESPN has been payRatings driver year. ing the NBA $485 million a Effective in 2016 Ten additional regular year, while Turner has paid The new contracts will Turner already runs NBA $445 million annually, for take effect at the start of the season games will air on League Pass, a subscrip-
PUT YOUR LEADERSHIP TO WORK. LIKE DAMION. ~ DA M I O N A N G L I N A l l s t a t e A g e n c y O w n e r s i n c e 2 0 07
tion service that carries live basketball games online. It also owns the sports website Bleacher Report. The latest deals illustrate the increasing amounts television companies are willing to pay for live sports, which is a significant driver of ratings. Last week, DirecTV agreed to pay the National Football League $1.5 billion a year for eight years to continue offering its NFL Sunday Ticket satellite TV package.
Facebook closes deal with WhatsApp for $21.8 billion BY PARESH DAVE LOS ANGELES TIMES (MCT)
Facebook Inc. welcomed WhatsApp to its family on Monday as the Silicon Valley social media company closed its $21.8-billion purchase of the popular chat app. First announced in February, the deal set a stunning high-water mark for an acquisition of a venturecapital-backed technology startup. Facebook paid about $13.7 billion in stock and $4.59 in cash. It’s also awarding $3.5 billion in restricted stock to WhatsApp employees, including nearly $2 billion to Chief Executive Jan Koum and $1 billion to co-founder Brian Acton. WhatsApp is set to remain a separate unit from Facebook’s core social network.
500 million ‘active’ users
Ten years in the military taught Damion leadership. The kind he uses today to run his own successful Allstate agency and to help protect his customers. Taking the lead in looking out for others is why people look up to Damion.
Koum, who is accepting the same $1 salary as Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, joined Facebook’s board of directors last week. In April, WhatsApp said it had 500 million “regular, active” users with growing numbers from Brazil, Russia, India and Mexico. WhatsApp charges users $1 a year to use the service after a 1-year trial and has pledged to avoid ads and gimmicks. In February, Zuckerberg called WhatsApp the only popular app to have produced stronger engagement with users than Facebook itself. While future development plans haven’t been announced, he recently said it would take years before WhatsApp became a “huge” business for Facebook.
Learn how your leadership skills can help you build a good life with Allstate. TALK TO YOUR LOCAL ALLSTATE RECRUITER IN THE JACKSONVILLE AREA TODAY. Jeffrey Moore, Executive Recruiter 877-470-8110 Jeffrey.Moore@Allstate.com
H e a r m o r e o f D a m i o n’s s t o r y a t
A l l s t a te A g e n t . c o m Subject to all terms and conditions as outlined in the Allstate R3001 Exclusive Agency Agreement and Exclusive Agency program materials. Allstate agents are not franchisees; rather they are exclusive agent independent contractors and are not employed by Allstate. Allstate is an Equal Opportunity Company. Allstate Insurance Company, Northbrook, IL. In New Jersey, Allstate New Jersey Insurance Company, Bridgewater, NJ. © 2014 Allstate Insurance Co.
FRANCINE ORR/ LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT
WhatsApp reportedly had 500 million “regular, active” users in April with growing numbers from Brazil, Russia, India and Mexico.
B4
CULTURE
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
STOJ
Reflections from a Black officer in Ferguson Sgt. Harry Dilworth talks about life in Missouri town since Brown shooting BY CHRISTINE BYERS ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (MCT)
FERGUSON, Mo. — Seeing that a fellow African-American police officer had endured his fill of racial slurs shouted by other Blacks, Sgt. Harry Dilworth tapped the man’s shoulder and took his place facing protesters. Riots after the Aug. 9 shooting of an unarmed Black teenager by a White officer make it a tough time to be on the Ferguson police force — and for Dilworth that goes double if the person in blue happens to be Black. Most of the insults he heard on the line that day are too graphic to print. Among the more polite are “sellout,” and “Uncle Tom,” Dilworth said. He had stood with two other Black officers, one from the Missouri Highway Patrol and one from the St. Louis County police.
‘Stood there and took it’ “We didn’t blink,” he said in an interview. “We didn’t say anything to them. We stood there and took it. We all talked about it afterwards. I said, ‘Don’t address ignorance with ignorance.’ “But it’s hard to hear that from the minority group that you are representing. ... You tune it out, but psychologically you’re dealing with scars. Some officers are going to see counselors. We’re not robots.” Dilworth believes their hard facade is fueling some of the fire. “I think it pisses them off even more because they think we’re unemotional,” he said. “We feel, but we can’t show that because as soon as we say something we will be all over the news ... I can’t so much as spit on the sidewalk right now without someone throwing it on social media.”
Safer overseas? Black and White officers agree that the Blacks have been targeted more on the front lines of policing the troubles after Michael Brown’s death. They feel caught between empathizing with a brother officer who used deadly force and understanding a community that is venting pent-up rage against police. Dilworth, 45, wishes he could retire, but feels a draw to stay in the community he has served for 21 years. Even on ordinary calls for service, some taunt him with the “hands up don’t shoot’” gesture widely adopted by protesters. “You can only take so much of this,” Dilworth said. Dilworth had been at Fort Leonard Wood fulfilling his duties as an Army reservist the day of the shooting. He said his wife wishes he were back in Iraq or Afghanistan. “She thinks I would be safer there,” he said.
Black-on-Black crime Dilworth is the only Black supervisor and one of four AfricanAmerican officers on a force of 53 in a community where twothirds of the 21,000 residents are Black. His teeth clenched as he drove past a protester holding a sign
PHOTOS BY ROBERT COHEN/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/MCT
Ferguson police Sgt. Harry Dilworth talks with protesters as officers try to get them to disperse the area on West Florissant Avenue after looting on Sept. 23 in Ferguson, Mo. Sgt. Harry Dilworth of the Ferguson Police Department talks to a witness on a disturbance call on Oct. 1. Dilworth says that since the shooting of Michael Brown and subsequent protests, he, as one of the city’s four Black police officers, has received more hostile reaction from some members of the community.
that read “Stop Killing Us.” He questioned why protesters don’t hold such signs at the scenes of murders, such as the recent killing in St. Louis of Donnie White. Dilworth said he knew White, who was on the way home from work when he got caught in crossfire between suspected Black gangs. “We are not killing you, you are killing yourselves,” he said, his voice rising inside his police SUV. “This is a systematic problem that’s been going on for years. I want to tell them to wake up! And look at exactly what the problem really is! Look at the statistics. The number of officer-involved shootings is relatively low. I stand a better chance of being killed by you.”
Heightened threat A call for a disturbance echoed on his radio. Foremost on his mind, he said: Are his officers going to be safe? If something happens, what will he tell the spouse? “It’s different now because the threat has been heightened,” Dilworth said. “I worry about the guys I supervise, I worry about their physical and mental wellbeing.” Dilworth said that after Brown was killed, one of the officers he supervises was mistakenly identified on social media as the shooter, and ended up moving his family out of state. Dilworth said computer hackers published personal information about him, on the Internet. “Someone tried to buy a $37,000 truck in my name,” he said. Some fellow officers moved, forsaking $100 a month incentives to live in Ferguson. They changed phone numbers. Take-home patrol cars are now parked at police headquarters. “Imagine having a Ferguson police car parked in front of your house right now?” Dilworth said. “It’s like walking around with a scarlet letter. “The community has become divided because people are looking at this as a Black and White thing, like a poor Black kid got
shot by a White guy. It wouldn’t be that way if it was a Black officer. I guarantee you that.”
Confused with shooter Once Officer Darren Wilson’s name came out, some confused him with a Black St. Louis police sergeant of the same name. Sgt. Darren Wilson said he was inundated with threats and harassment. He is president of the Ethical Society of Police, whose members are mostly Black city officers. “I don’t know the other Darren Wilson, and unfortunately now he’s been stigmatized because of this entire event,” Sgt. Wilson said. “It has become a racial one, not from my standpoint but from a societal standpoint. “We’ve all been subjected to Monday morning quarterbacking, so we don’t know whether he made a good or poor decision that day ... No one wants to be in the other Darren Wilson’s shoes.”
Reluctant to judge Dilworth didn’t know Brown. He said he barely knows Wilson, who was in a different squad. They had occasional conversations about cases. He is reluctant to judge the shooting. “It’s hard for me to question because I was not put in that situation ... For every one witness that said they saw it one way, there are those who said they saw it another way.” Dilworth hates that his department is being portrayed as a predator, raising revenue by writing traffic tickets to poor minorities. Surviving in the stressful conditions, “Starts from the top down,” Dilworth said. He praised Chief Thomas Jackson, who had promoted him to sergeant, saying he stands behind Jackson’s sometimes controversial handling of the situation “110 percent.” “No matter what he says and does, he’s going to be scruti-
nized,” Dilworth said. “That kind of weight has got to be unbearable.”
Some positive response He said he appreciates that Jackson reached out to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. Its president, Cedric Alexander, who is public safety director in DeKalb County, Ga., said, “Chief Jackson has been cooperative and open as he and I have worked together in trying to move forward and go through this very tough time.” Dilworth draws some strength from the loyalty of residents to their community. He could hardly turn down a street without seeing an “I Love Ferguson” sign in someone’s yard. He waved to a Black man mowing his lawn. The man waved back. “He waved and had all his fingers up,” Dilworth said. “I consider that as a positive thing.”
CBC event focuses on need to love, nurture young Black males BY JAMES WRIGHT TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE
support for “My Brother’s Keeper.”
The My Brother’s Keeper program inspired U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), to leave her work as a principal in a public school to run for a political office to help young Black men succeed. “I was wondering why these young Black boys were always acting up,” the representative said. “I realized later that these boys had no Frederica fathers or grandWilson fathers in their lives.” Wilson said she was determined to do something about it and launched a political career that took her from Miami’s school board to representing South Florida on Capitol Hill. She was joined by her colleagues, Reps. Hakeem Jefferies (D-N.Y.) and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), in voicing
Hundreds at D.C. event The braintrust for “My Brother’s Keeper,” President Obama’s initiative designed to help with the problems that young Black males face, drew hundreds of attendees at the 44th Annual Legislative Conference for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Sept. 26 at the Washington Convention Center in Northwest. It featured a panel of 14 speakers including scholars, community activists, and leaders of non-profit organizations that deal with the problems of Black males. Broderick Johnson, the chairman of the “My Brother’s Keeper” task force and Jim Shelton, its executive director, both said that the Obama administration is committed to positively shaping the lives of young Black males and is pleased with the response the initiative has gotten from the public and private sectors.
Relating to youth Horsford, who comes from the Las Vegas metropolitan area, specifically called out a group of young Black men from Miami’s Coral Park High School in the audience. These young men wore white dress shirts, red ties and black pants and shoes. “I came from your situation and we love you and we want you to succeed,” he said. Horsford, raised by a single mother who struggled with drug addiction, said he lost his father to gun violence. The Rev. Al Sharpton said he came from similar circumstances and that young Black men should strive for a better life. “I may be responsible for you getting down but it is your responsibility for getting up,” he said. “I encourage Black men not to accept being down.”
Athletes participate The need for young Black males to be nurtured and emboldened was stressed by the
braintrust’s speakers. “Black males are not used to being loved,” said Howard Jean, who used to be employed by the “Call Me Mister” program at Cheney University. “They are not used to being approached in a loving way and we need to change that.” Professional athletes are popular role models for young Black men and two former National Basketball Association players, Etan Thomas and Allan Houston, participated in the braintrust. Houston, who is the assistant general manager for the New York Knicks, said that this organization will work with Obama’s initiative and encouraged the audience to get involved in helping young Black males. “Everyone has the capacity to lead and to mentor,” Houston said. “We need to lead them and teach them good values. They watch us as adults and we have to be good examples for them.”
Parents speak out
One of the most moving parts of the braintrust took place when the parents of slain Black males had the chance to speak to the audience. Participants included Valerie Bell, mother of Sean Bell; Michael J. Brown Sr., and Lesley McSpadden, the parents of Michael Brown Jr.; Queen Brown, mother of Eviton Brown; Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner; Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; as well as Robbie Tolan of the Tolan Foundation. Queen Brown said that the one common thread among the slain Black males was their physical size. “Black men who are big are feared and should be loved,” she said. Valerie Bell addressed the young men from Coral Park and told them to keep striving. “We may have lost our sons but our justice is being here today,” she said. “Don’t give up your dream.”
This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper.
STOJ
OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT
Meet some of
FLORIDA’S
finest
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Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest? E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.
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Delpha Clarke represented Fort Lauderdale in the Miss Florida USA 2009 pageant and originally appeared as one of Florida’s Finest in July 2008. Nick Brown originally appeared as one of Florida’s Finest in March 2006.
‘The Game’ ending in 2015; creator reflects on the show’s success EURWEB.COM
BET’s “The Game” from Mara Brock Akil, creator and producer, is coming to an end after the conclusion of seasons eight and nine, which are being taped now to air in early 2015. “All good things must come to an end and after celebrating four successful seasons of “The Game” on BET, the network has announced production is under way on the show’s final two seasons. In January 2011 the cult following of “The Game’’ proved that the show was a fan favorite with 7.7 million viewers for its premiere debut on BET. With seasons eight and nine, we’re excited to end on a high note by giving Sabers fans a chance to bid farewell to their favorite players on and off the field,’’ she stated. But the show was doing well, so why end it? Here’s what Brock Akil had to say in an interview with BET. BET: What made you decide that seasons eight and nine would be the last for Mara “The Game?” Brock Akil MBA: Shows do end; that is a part of the business. I’m very happy BET gave The Game five additional seasons to explore these characters and this world. We made history when we got to the network and it’s nice to be
Leakes now the highest-paid star on Bravo BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM
NeNe Leakes, the lone remaining original cast member of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” is now the highest paid star on all of Bravo, thanks to her reported pay raise. According to RadarOnline, NeNe will earn $1.5 million for the upcoming season. A source said she was able to “broker the huge pay increase be-
B5
FLORIDA COURIER FILES
Davis opens up about why she wears wigs BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM
Viola Davis is one of Hollywood’s most accomplished actresses. But even she struggles with everyday issues. The “How To Get Away With Murder” star, who has been vocal about her thoughts on being called “less classically beautiful,” recently opened up about her own struggles with beauty. In the Vulture magazine interview, Davis shared her thoughts on losing half her hair at age 28 to Alopecia Areata and how she would wear a wig everywhere to feel beautiful: The following is an excerpt from the interview: “We need to use the same adjectives as we use for any woman. Which could be dangerous, too, but I’ll accept that. Any day.”
Above is the latest cast of “The Game.’’ able to celebrate the great achievements of the show.
Show’s legacy BET: Looking back, is there any storyline that you would have changed? MBA: No, I don’t live in that place. I don’t regret anything that we’ve done. BET: What is the legacy that you hope “The Game” will leave behind to its audience? MBA: I’m really proud of the look of our show, that we took a multicam budget and turned it into a single camera show. Its look, its tone, its approach, the characters’ development — that, yes, we were a halfcause she is the most popular housewife of any of the Bravo franchises.” “Without NeNe, ‘RHOA’ wouldn’t be the ratings blockbuster that it continues to be. While some of the other shows including ‘RHONJ’ and ‘RHONY’ have endured ratings slumps, Atlanta has never had to endure that,” the source said. “NeNe made it known she would need a significant raise to do the upcoming season, and Bravo had no choice but to agree to it.”
‘Smart businesswoman’ Earlier this year while appearing on Arsenio Hall’s show, Leakes called her salary at the time “okay.“ “You know what, the pay is okay,
hour comedy but we used our moments to deepen the characters. We also offered drama in a half-hour space. And that was my own personal desire, but it was also reflective of what the audience has been wanting, which is more well-rounded, deeper, richer, layered characters, and they got that in “The Game.” I believe”‘The Game’’ and the richness of the characters, including building off of “Girlfriends,’’ back when, has contributed to the conversation of where we are today in media, both in television and film as it relates to what we demand and what we want from characters that look like us, and stories that look like us. but I don’t know if it’s worth what you saw on the clip. I began this so many years ago with other girls,” she said. “And I’m the only original that’s left. It has changed a lot over the years. I thought, or at least I think, people would tune in to see the ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ because they would get to see fabulousness, and a good old read, and never the hair pulling and the punching and all that kind of stuff.” Leakes, 46, launched a clothing line for HSN, which was a huge success. Most of the clothes in her NeNe Leakes Collection sold out in a day. The source added, “NeNe is a very smart businesswoman. She knew she could demand it and get it.”
Hair loss at 28 When Davis was 28, she lost half her hair to alopecia areata. “I woke up one day and it looked like I had a Mohawk. Big splash of bald on the top of my head,” she says. “I was like, What is this? Until I found out it was stress related. That’s how I internalized it. I don’t do that anymore. My favorite saying in the world is, ‘The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.’ I am telling you, I have spent so much of my life not feeling comfortable in my skin. I am just so not there anymore.” After alopecia, she wore a wig everywhere. “I wore a wig in the Jacuzzi. I had a wig I wore around the house. I had a wig that I wore to events. I had a wig that I wore when I worked out. I never showed my natural hair. It was a crutch, not an enhancement … I was so desperate for people to think that I was beautiful. I had to be liberated from that [feeling] to a certain extent.” So at the 2012 Oscars, she exposed her “natural hair.” She still has her wigs; she wears them on “Murder, ‘’ she wears them to photo shoots, she wears them when she doesn’t have time to pick out her hair and get rid of her grays, but she no longer wears them in her everyday life. What matters, she says, is that “it’s an option … when it used to never be an option. I had something to hide.”
Viola Davis is the star of “How to Get Away with Murder” on ABC.
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OCTOBER 10 – OCTOBER 16, 2014
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Mediterranean Baked Chicken
Thyme for a change Recipes for cooking with the popular herb BY DANIEL NEMAN ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (MCT)
Thyme is as essential as parsley, sage and rosemary. It has to be one of the most popular spices in this country and is certainly one of the most useful. It grows anywhere that gets some decent sun and has a warm summer, and it goes well with practically anything you want to put it on: poultry, lamb, beef, fish, mushrooms, onions, cheese and so much more. You can use it to flavor vinegar, and sometimes bees use its pollen to make thyme-flavored honey. With so many potential ways to use thyme, I decided to try a nicely representative three. One chicken dish, one beef dish, one vegetarian. One way is as a marinade, one a sauce and one a flavoring. Because thyme originated around the Mediterranean Sea, I decided to stick with recipes that at least had echoes in southern Europe. Thyme can be used in any sort of dish from anywhere, but herbs are generally a most natural fit with food from the region where it first grew wild.
Ragout of White Beans
Tweaked a Greek dish For that reason, I decided to call my first dish Mediterranean Baked Chicken. It is the easiest and most basic of the dishes I made. I took a well-known Greek dish and tweaked it by taking out some of the Greece and adding a bit of France. The result, I suddenly realized, is not dissimilar to a very familiar and popular shortcut that busy cooks use to make dinner. They marinate their chicken in bottled salad dressing. I more or less marinated mine in a homemade salad dressing. Obviously, I think my way is better, and it is not significantly harder than buying dressing at a store. It’s faster, too — if you have to go to the store to get the dressing. I made a simple vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice (that’s from the Greek dish), garlic, Dijon mustard (that’s the part from France), thyme and salt. Then I plopped a couple of bone-in chicken breasts into it — the bones add much more flavor while it cooks, but you could use skinless and boneless if you wish — and let them marinate overnight. The next day, I just baked them in the oven. They would have been great grilled, too, or panfried if they were boneless
and skinless. But I wanted the dish to be the most tender and juicy it could be, so into the oven it went.
Nice sauce for steak For my second dish, I started with the idea of serving duxelles with steak. Duxelles is an intensely flavored, traditional French mixture of sautéed minced mushrooms and shallots. Thyme happens to go blissfully well with both mushrooms and shallots, so it is often included in duxelles. Because I wanted to serve my duxelles with steak, I decided to add red wine to the mixture and let it all nearly evaporate away, so that all that was left is the wine’s rich essence. And because nothing, absolutely nothing, goes better with mushrooms than cream, and vice versa, I decided to add just a bit of cream at the end. Not too much cream, because I didn’t want it to be too creamy, I didn’t want it to be a sauce. I wanted to maintain the distinctive coarse-paste texture of duxelles.
Protein-rich veggie dish Finally, I love the taste of thyme with white beans, so
I went in search of a recipe making use of both ingredients. I found one by Jacques Pepin, a celebrity chef before chefs were celebrities. He calls it a ragout, which would technically be a stew, but he also admits it is really just a carefully seasoned, partly puréed pot of plain white beans. Most bean recipes call for meat for flavoring, as this one did, but I wanted to make it vegetarian (in fact, my version is vegan). So I took Pepin up on his suggestion of using aromatics — I used carrots, celery and a red bell pepper — to create a full-flavored, protein-rich veggie dish. It could be either a side dish or a main course, and it is the sort of food you will want to make over and over when the nights become chilly. You can make it quickly with canned beans, if you want, or spend less money and hurry up the cooking process at least a little bit by soaking the beans overnight. I chose the more extended way to do it, by not soaking the dried beans first and simmering them for longer. It’s definitely worth the effort, if you have the thyme.
MEDITERRANEAN BAKED CHICKEN Yield: 4 servings 2 large bone-in chicken breasts 1/4 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme 1 clove garlic, minced Note: This recipe marinates overnight. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt, thyme and garlic until thoroughly mixed. Add chicken breasts and turn in bowl until coated on all sides. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Shake excess marinade off chicken breasts and place skinside up in a baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, depending on the thickness of the breasts. Per serving: 230 calories; 12 g fat; 2.5 g saturated fat; 80 mg cholesterol; 29 g protein; no carbohydrate; no sugar; no fiber; 155 mg sodium; 15 mg calcium. CREAMY DUXELLES STEAK SAUCE Yield: About 1 cup 1 tablespoon butter 1/4 cup minced shallots (about 2 small shallots) 1/2 cup red wine 8 ounces mushrooms, minced 1 teaspoon fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dry thyme 3 tablespoons cream Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat; add shallots and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in red wine and cook until wine is almost evaporated. Add mushrooms and thyme, and season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms release their liquid and it evaporates. Stir in cream and cook until slightly thickened. Serve alongside or on top of steak or hamburger. Per serving: 25 calories; 2 g fat; 1 g saturated fat; 6 mg cholesterol; 0.5 g protein; 1 g carbohydrate; 0.5 g sugar; no fiber; 5 g sodium; 5 mg calcium. RAGOUT OF WHITE BEANS Yield: 10 to 12 servings 1 pound dried Great Northern beans or 7 (15-ounce) cans, see note 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 1/2 cups chopped onions 2 carrots, sliced
1 rib celery, chopped 1/2 red or green bell pepper, chopped 3 tablespoons peeled and thinly sliced garlic (5 large cloves) 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, for garnish Note: If using canned beans, skip to step 3. If you want to, soak the dried beans overnight in water that covers them by a couple of inches (this will make them softer and faster to cook, but is not necessary). Drain the beans if you have soaked them or wash the dried beans and put them in a large, 5- or 6-quart pot. Add 6 cups of water if you soaked them or 8 cups of water if you did not, plus the salt. Bring to a boil and simmer gently, partially covered. After 40 minutes of cooking, taste several beans to check for doneness — you want them all to be tender to the bite but not mushy. Simmer longer if necessary. If using canned beans, put them in a large, 5- or 6-quart pot and bring to a simmer. While the beans are cooking, heat the oil in a 10-inch frying pan. Stir in the onions, carrots, celery, red or green pepper, garlic, thyme and black pepper and cook over moderately low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring and tossing frequently until the vegetables are soft. Set aside. When the beans are nearly tender, stir in the sautéed vegetables and return to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or until the beans are fully cooked and soft. Remove from heat. Strain or ladle out any liquid covering the beans (save it for soup). For a thick and creamy texture, remove a cup of beans and purée them in a blender or food processor, or use an immersion blender for a few seconds in one small area of the bean pot to make a small amount of purée. Stir the purée through the rest of the beans. Taste and adjust seasoning. Just before serving, sprinkle the chopped parsley over the beans. Per serving: 140 calories; 1.5 g fat; no saturated fat; no cholesterol; 8 g protein; 24 g carbohydrate; 1.5 g sugar; 8 g fiber; 305 g sodium; 80 mg calcium. This recipe is adapted from “Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home’’ by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin.
Creamy Duxelles Steak Sauce