Florida Courier - October 14, 2016

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OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

VOLUME 24 NO. 42

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

THEY’LL BE BACK Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump attack each other in separate campaign swings around the state.

COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

MIAMI – Hillary Clinton brought Al Gore to Miami on Tuesday to underscore her message that she will fight climate change – unlike Donald Trump, who has said he’s “not

a big believer.”

“We cannot risk putting a climate denier in the White House,” she declared.

Clinton mentioned increased damage from Hurricane Matthew due to higher sea levels. But it was former Vice President Gore, the academic climate change science evangelist, who scored the Miami disaster trifecta. He tied global warming to Matthew – “from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 36 hours, that’s extremely unusual” – and to the faster spread of the Zika virus.

Insurance claims mount from Matthew

‘Minimal’ insurance impact Data analysis firm CoreLogic is projecting the storm, which hammered Georgia and South Carolina as well as Florida, will result in $4 billion to $6 billion in insured property losses in all states.

The ratings firm Moody’s issued a statement Monday saying the long-term impacts of the storm on Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, are expected to be “minimal.”

Hurricane Matthew hit the state a little more than a month after Hurricane Hermine swept through North Florida.

As of Oct. 7, 18,222 claims had been filed as a result of Hermine, of which 12,877 were residential.

Insurance companies had made payments on 6,776 claims, with 5,717 closed without any payment being made, according to the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

The rest remain open.

What seemed to amuse the crowd most at Miami-Dade College’s Kendall Campus, however, was Gore’s painful recollection of the 2000 presidential election in Florida.

“Your vote really, really, really counts,” the former nominee said. “You can consider me as PEDRO PORTAL AND C.M GUERRERO / MIAMI HERALD / TNS an Exhibit A for that.” Some in Expect both Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton (campaigning this the audience of 1,600 – the old- week with former vice president Al Gore) to spend lots of time in See ELECTION, Page A2

Florida until Election Day.

Carnival time and Florida Memorial HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

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Debate 101: Let’s get ready to rumble B1 www.flcourier.com

OCTOBER 12 - OCTOBER 18, 2012

VOLUME 20 NO. 41

TIME TO REFOCUS COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

As many Black Floridians focus on this week’s presidential debate (which occurred after the Florida Courier’s press time Wednesday night), events in Washington, D.C. were unfolding that could have long-term impact on foreign policy and public education.

Benghazi attack Partisan sparring and angry questioning of witnesses underscored how the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, a State Department computer expert and two U.S. security contractors – and the Obama administration’s response to them – have become issues in presidential and congressional races four weeks before the elections.

Stevens and Sean Smith, a

State Department computer specialist, suffocated from smoke from fires set by the estimated 120 suspected Islamist militants who stormed the compound around 9:40 p.m. on the 11th anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the United States. Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, two former Navy SEAL serving as security officers, died in a subsequent assault on a nearby CIA safe house.

Partisan arguments Republicans and Democrats jousted over alleged security failures, the administration’s fluctuating accounts of what happened, and the State Department rejection of U.S. Embassy requests to extend the tours of security personnel even as the danger of being in Libya grew.

Democrats alleged that they were denied access to witnesses

and information, while Republicans sought to tar the administration with the U.S. fatalities.

“I believe, personally, with more assets, more resources, just meeting the minimum standards, we could have and should have saved the life of Ambassador Stevens and the other people who were there,” asserted Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who is helping lead the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigation into the attack.

“The fact is that since 2011, the House has cut embassy security by hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the panel’s top Democrat, who cited a bipartisan estimate that ending tax breaks for oil companies could save $2.5 billion annually. “We could fully replenish these emSee REFOCUS, Page A2

...on issues other than debates. The murder of four Americans in Libya is determined to be a terrorist attack; the U.S. Supreme Court examines affirmative action.

POOL PHOTO BY MOLLY RILEY/POLARIS VIA ABACA PRESS/MCT

A Transfer of Remains ceremony marked the return of the human remains of the four Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya on Sept.

11, 2012 to the United States.

MIAMI BROWARD CARNIVAL 2012 / SOUTH FLORIDA

Thousands ‘wine’ in Miami-Dade and Broward

‘Dreams take flight’

A group of ‘mas’ (masquerade) band members pose after a rain-drenched parade Sunday closed out the Fourth Annual Miami Broward One Carnival at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens.

FAMU band member pleads ‘no contest’ in hazing death

BY STEPHEN HUDAK ORLANDO SENTINEL / MCT

Former Florida A&M University band member Brian Jones pleaded no contest in Orlando Tuesday morning to felony hazing in the death of drum major Robert Champion.

ALSO INSIDE

Muslim and Arab Americans pushing voter registration

ALSO INSIDE

Aviation program buys new plane OPA LOCKA – The Florida Memorial University (FMU) Aviation and Safety Department ushered in a new era of excellence on Sept. 28 when more than 100 guests joined university officials and students at the Opa-Locka Airport to help dedicate the newest addition to the South Florida skies.

On a windy, blue-sky day, the new aircraft was taxied around to the canopy at Miami Executive Aviation where Dr. Henry Lewis III, FMU president, hopped out and addressed the enthusiastic crowd of elected officials, university representatives, airport executives, flight school personnel and FMU aviation students.

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Report: Blacks have longer wait time to vote

FMU is flying high SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

FLORIDA | A3

NATION | A6

Voter registration ends Oct. 18

BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

SNAPSHOTS Hurricane claims rolling into Citizens Property Insurance

Hurricane forces an extension

FLORIDA COURIER / 10TH STATEWIDE ANNIVERSARY

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Hurricane Matthew had spawned 29,697 insurance claims in Florida as of Tuesday, Oct. 11, according to the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

The county with the most claims filed was Volusia (Daytona Beach), with 8,973. Another 4,464 claims had been filed in Duval County (Jacksonville), 4,252 in Brevard County (Titusville) and 2,927 in St. Johns County (St. Augustine). Most of the claims, 26,147, were for residential properties.

The report didn’t list the amount of money requested per claim or break down the totals by company.

‘Every vote counts’

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THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

“Mother Nature is giving us a very clear and powerful message,” he said.

ing aboard a charter bus parked outside the Rosen Plaza hotel where the school’s famed Marching 100 was staying. The band was in Orlando for the Florida Classic, the annual rivalry game at the Citrus Bowl between FAMU and Bethune-Cookman University.

‘Crossing Bus C’

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

Robert Champion Jones, who will turn 24 later this month, is the first of the 12 band members charged in Champion’s beating death to withdraw a “not guilty” plea. The others are set for trial next year.

Champion, 26, died Nov. 19 after a haz-

According to fellow drum major Keon Hollis, Champion’s friend and his roommate during the Florida Classic, Champion reluctantly participated in a ritual known as “Crossing Bus C” – the percussion bus. The hazing required Champion to push his way from the front of the bus to the back while enduring an onslaught of physical abuse from band mates.

Hollis, who submitted to the ritual before Champion, said they hoped to earn the percussion section’s respect.

“We are here to serve notice that Florida Memorial University is a place where dreams also take flight,” declared Lewis. “This new airplane allows our students to gain experience on state-of-the-art equipment and provides the greater community with stellar aviation professionals.”

The orange-and-blue Cessna 172 SP with top-level avionics is a single-engine, four-passenger aircraft that will allow students to earn various pilot licenses and instrument ratings. Mychal Martin, a recent FMU aviation graduate, was at the controls. He is now a certified flight instructor at Endeavor Flight Training, Inc. “I never thought it would get to the point that FMU would have its own plane,” Martin said. “I felt very empowered and deeply honored to celebrate the moment.”

See PLANE, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS NATION | A3

New study calls for elimination of bail bonds FLORIDA | A6

Zimmerman’s brother’s media tour attacks Trayvon attorneys

ELECTION | B3

Do you know the scoop?

Presidential media quiz FINEST | B5

Meet Joe

See FAMU, Page A2

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: MARGARET KIMBERLY: HOW MASS INCARCERATION AFFECTS EVERYTHING ELSE | A5

Four years ago, the Florida Courier reported on South Florida’s annual Miami Broward One Carnival, and published a story about how Florida Memorial University’s rising aviation program.

TALLAHASSEE – Florida residents will have until Tuesday to register to vote, after a federal judge ordered an extension of the registration deadline because of Hurricane Matthew.

With lawyers for Gov. Rick Scott and Secretary of State Ken Detzner voicing no opposition to the extension, which was requested by the Florida Democratic Party in a lawsuit filed over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker approved the move during a brief hearing Wednesday.

The hearing came a day after the state’s original deadline for registering to vote. Walker had already issued an emergency order extending that deadline to Wednesday while he considered the further extension to help potential voters who fled Hurricane Matthew as it lashed the eastern side of the state late last week.

‘Major victory’ “We are thrilled the court agreed to extend the voter registration deadline a full week (from the original deadline) following Hurricane Matthew,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant said in a statement Wednesday.

“While we wish it had not taken a lawsuit to get the Scott administration to do the right thing, today’s ruling is a major victory for all Floridians and for the democratic process in the Sunshine State.”

Scott had initially resisted moving the date, saying “(e)verybody has had a lot of time to register.” But critics said that the 1.5 million Floridians who were under evacuation orders due to the storm deserved to have more time to return home, get their affairs in order and register – particularly after Scott urged residents to follow those orders.

“It came from him,” Cecile Scoon, second vice president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said after the hearing. “It should have come from him to allow people to have the extension to register.”

Legislative changes?

Scott’s office issued a statement Tuesday that signaled he might back down and also suggested that the Florida Legislature consider changes to the state’s voter registration law during the 2017 session. Florida has one of the earliest registration deadlines in the nation, and the law has no provision for what happens if a disaster strikes near the deadline.

Walker, while stressing that he wasn’t telling state lawmakers what to do, emphasized those points about Florida’s deadlines during the hearing – saying they contributed to his initial decision Monday to order an addition-

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: REV. GAYLE FISHER-STEWART: A CRITIQUE OF AMERICAN POLICING | A5

See EXTENSION, Page A2

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FOCUS

OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

GOP scheme to control Congress now tearing party apart

BY LISA MASCARO TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU /TNS

WASHINGTON – Across the country, Republicans in contested races face a terrible bind: They have to run from Donald Trump to hold onto swing votes, even if that angers some core supporters.

But in secure, heavily conservative GOP districts, Republicans face the opposite pressure: to cleave fast to Trump, who remains popular despite statements that have alienated many voters.

The crisis in the Trump campaign has split the Republican Party in two, and, ironically, the gerrymandering of districts that helped build the GOP congressional majority is now working to make that fracture worse.

Conservatives vs. ‘swingers’ The division of interests between Republicans who represent solidly conservative districts and those who represent swing areas – or senators who must run statewide – has seldom been more stark.

Their battlefield was once confined mostly to Capitol Hill, crippling the Republican legislative agenda, fueling the tea party movement and leading to a government shutdown.

Now it is upending the presidential race. Trump’s anti-establishment message has unleashed a conservative grass-roots movement inside the Republican Party that leaders are finding they cannot control.

And as Trump’s nationwide support begins to slip amid his unconventional behavior and offensive remarks about women and non-White, Republicans risk not only missing their shot at the White House, but losing control of the Senate and handing Democrats an opportunity to shift the Supreme Court to the left.

Their own doing The GOP infighting, in many ways, is no surprise and largely of the party’s own making.

A gerrymandering of congressional districts, completed six years ago, sought to secure a Republican House majority for years to come by packing Democratic voters into fewer, often ur-

ban and non-White districts and giving Republican candidates comfortable majorities in the ones they control.

But those tailor-made districts yielded a new crop of hardright, often uncompromising Republican members of Congress, running safely in mostly White, older and rural districts, where Trump’s support is strongest.

These conservative House members are increasingly at odds with Republican senators, party leadership and a handful of remaining House swing-district lawmakers, who are wringing their hands over Trump because they still must appeal to a broader swath of voters, including moderates, independents and minorities.

Dead end “The Republican Party has drawn itself into an ideological cul-de-sac that bears no resemblance to the larger electorate,” said David Wasserman, House editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. “The middle has shrunk dramatically.”

Trump’s candidacy is the latest and perhaps most consequential

issue forcing Republicans to pick sides.

A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found about two-thirds of Republicans, 67 percent, think GOP congressional candidates should stand by Trump, despite his comments and actions.

Senators don’t have the luxury of tailor-made districts as they run for office statewide, which is why so many more of them have abandoned Trump.

Early signs It’s rare to see a national political party come to this, but it isn’t hard to see how it happened.

Early warning signs that the party was in trouble emerged as soon as Republicans won control of the House in 2010.

Initially, the Republican sweep of that year’s House midterm election looked like a reaction to President Obama’s agenda as voters rejected his economic stimulus and tried to stop the new health care law.

However, the outcome was by design. Republican-controlled statehouses had redrawn congressional districts to give the

GOP all-but guaranteed seats, which by 2014 swelled the House majority to 247, the largest since President Herbert Hoover won the White House.

The takeover of the Senate four years later sealed the GOP majority in Congress.

Outside groups poured in campaign cash to shore up the dynamic, and the number of competitive districts dwindled to historic lows. Just 10 percent of the 435 House seats are seen as up for grabs this fall.

No negotiation But the hardened lines also meant GOP lawmakers were left with little room to stray from partisan orthodoxy lest they face a primary challenge from a more conservative candidate. That’s what happened to former Majority Leader Eric Cantor, ousted in a stunning 2014 upset by a tea party challenger.

Led first by the tea party and later the Freedom Caucus, the new partisan warriors fueled the showdowns and shutdowns, and ultimately chased former Speaker John A. Boehner into early retirement.

EXTENSION from A1

al day for registration. That ruling also argued the state law was unconstitutional.

“That’s the entire point of this court’s (earlier) ruling – namely, it is that gap that creates the problem that brings us here today,” he said.

Arguing for continuing the extension through Tuesday, a lawyer for the Democratic Party said the additional time would make up for the weekend lost to Hurricane Matthew. That could help replace some of the voter registration drives lost to the storm.

“It’s terribly important to have a weekend. ... Candidates and political parties take advantage of the weekend,” said Kevin Hamilton, the attorney.

Pushing for change Voting-rights groups that joined the Democratic Party’s lawsuit were already gearing up to push for changes in Florida law after Walker’s decision.

“The reality of Florida is that there are going to be natural disasters, and Florida needs to have plans and policies in place that account for this,” said Myrna Perez, a deputy director with the New York-based Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, which represented the League of Women Voters. “I hope that this is an opportunity for the Legislature to revisit Florida’s election practices.”

ELECTION from A1

er ones, Gore joked – groaned.

He lost the state, and the race, by just 537 votes.

“You won! You won!” people chanted.

Said Gore: “I don’t want you to be in a position years from now where you welcome Hillary Clinton and say, ‘Actually, you did win.’”

By the end of the rally, the supporters in attendance had heard him repeat himself so frequently that they recited in unison: “Every vote counts.”

Bill Clinton ridiculed Several hecklers interrupted Clinton, accusing her husband, former President Bill Clinton, of being a “rapist.” They were escorted out of the arena. One wore a Trump T-shirt. Another carried a printout of Bill Clinton’s face with the word “RAPE.” “My friends, please,” Hillary Clinton said calmly, continuing as the crowd drowned out the demonstrators, “let’s focus about what’s really important in this election.”

Unlike previous campaign rallies, Clinton’s event felt especially infused with Miami references.

She mentioned high-tide flooding on the streets of Miami Beach – which is inevitably invoked on all matters climate change – but also on the streets of Miami’s Shorecrest neighborhood. Gore also name-dropped Fort Lauderdale and Delray Beach.

JOE BURBANK / ORLANDO SENTINEL / TNS

Pushed by high winds from Hurricane Matthew, a sailboat lays beached in Port Orange, near Daytona Beach.

Ion Sancho, the outgoing supervisor of elections in Leon County, suggested that the problem could be at least partially ad-

dressed when the state moves to allow voters to register online following this year’s presidential election.

Walker also agreed to the Democratic Party’s request to allow counties to submit or change their plans for early voting by

Monday. Those plans were originally supposed to be in Sunday – shortly after Matthew pushed past Florida for good.

With Sanders fans

hoax, that it’s not happening, is just in denial. There is no much science. We need to start facing it and dealing with it.”

has suggested that previous documents released by that organization aimed at damaging Clinton were first illegally obtained

by Russian agents.

Critics say the emails, which include transcripts of private speeches Clinton gave after leaving her position as secretary of state, show that Clinton is disingenuous and gave special treatment to contributors to her family foundation.

Trump’s campaign announced a total attendance at the rally Tuesday night at 20,000 – including 10,000 inside the park and another 10,000 outside. It wasn’t possible to verify those estimates.

Rubio and Trump were once locked in a bitter battle for the presidential nomination, but Rubio has since endorsed the nominee and stood by Trump even after a tape from 2005 revealed the businessman and television personality making vulgar remarks about women. Rubio has said the remarks were offensive.

And Trump touted his multiple developments in the state.

“We’ve created a lot of jobs,” Trump said, playfully adding: “So … if you guys don’t vote for me as a victor, I’m going to be very angry at you.”

Another conspiracy?

Trump’s three-day swing through Florida – which is also set to feature appearances in Ocala, Lakeland and West Palm Beach – comes as polls show Trump slipping behind Clinton in the state. It is highly unlikely that Trump can win the White House without Florida’s 29 electoral votes.

The Panama City area is part of a Northwest Florida stronghold for Republican candidates in statewide races, something that state Rep. Matt Gaetz, running for a seat in Congress, referenced while talking to the crowd about former Gore’s visit to South Florida with Clinton earlier Tuesday.

“In 2000, we made sure Al Gore was never going to be the president of the United States,” Gaetz said.

The college venue drew fans of Clinton’s primary rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who made climate change a central plank of his campaign platform.

University of Miami student Rachel Siegel said she backed Sanders in March, but now “it is my duty as a Democrat to support Hillary.”

“It baffles me there are still women who support this man after he said those words,” she said, referring to a tape released Friday showing Trump making vulgar comments about grabbing women sexually. “I can’t mentally comprehend that.”

“I’m kind of nervous – I don’t want Donald Trump in office,” said Viviara Wallace, a 19-yearold Miami Dade College student.

“He is a liar. He is not a very solid man. He is very emotional.

I don’t trust anybody who gets mad on Twitter and goes on a Twitter rampage.”

One Gore fan At least one person attended because of Gore: Marian AzeemAngel, a no-party-affiliated 18-year-old Miami Dade College student studying environmental science.

“He is the one I’m most excited about,” she said. When AzeemAngel heard Gore was coming, she confessed, “I got heart palpitations.”

“Environmental topics a lot of people feel are out of reach, but he can help educate people – you don’t need to be extremely knowledgeable on the subject to get involved,” she said.

Trump, she said, is “someone who says global warming is a

Trump in Panhandle With less than a month to go before Florida could decide the fate of his campaign, Trump began a swing through the state Tuesday with a nearly apocalyptic warning of the stakes of the November election.

Speaking to thousands of cheering supporters at Aaron Bessant Park in Panama City Beach, Trump painted Hillary Clinton as a pawn of a global establishment who would usher in the destruction of the nation. He also opined on a variety of issues in Florida, including whether the management of Lake Okeechobee has caused droughts in the state.

“This election will determine whether we remain a free country in the truest sense of the word or we become a corrupt banana republic controlled by large donors and foreign governments,” Trump told the crowd. “The election of Hillary Clinton would lead to the destruction of our country.”

‘Surrendering sovereignty’ Trump later described Clinton as “the vessel (of ) a corrupt global establishment that’s raiding our country and surrendering the sovereignty of our nation.”

Trump grounded his argument in the release of hacked emails from Clinton campaign officials.

The documents were released by the WikiLeaks organization, but the U.S. intelligence community

The real-estate businessman, who is a part-time Florida resident, also touched on issues closer to the Sunshine State. Trump appeared to claim – perhaps jokingly – that the mismanagement of water releases from Lake Okeechobee caused chronic dry conditions in parts of the state.

“They’re always letting the water out,” Trump said. “Do you ever notice, we always have droughts. They’re always letting the water out. I said, keep it in.

We won’t have so many droughts.

We won’t have any droughts.”

Releases from Lake Okeechobee have long been controversial, but not because of suggestions that they cause droughts. Instead, the water is blamed for fouling coastal estuaries.

Backing Rubio Trump also repeated his endorsement of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s re-election effort.

Trailing Clinton

Patricia Mazzei and Amy Sherman of the Miami Herald / TNS and Brandon Larrabee of the News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

FLORIDA

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Hurricane claims rolling into state-backed insurer Because there was no direct hit by Matthew to Florida, overall losses are being called ‘manageable’

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Citizens Property Insurance policyholders have filed more than 1,100 claims regarding Hurricane Matthew as of Monday afternoon and more claims are expected, according to the state-backed insurer.

Meanwhile, an industry analysis projects overall losses from the storm being “manageable.”

Of the Citizens’ claims, 963 came from property owners in Volusia, Brevard, Flagler, St. Johns and Duval counties, the regions hardest hit by the storm that battered Florida’s coastline late last week.

No estimates of damages caused by Matthew were immediately available, Citizens spokesman Michael Peltier said Monday.

Billions in losses Hurricane Hermine, which hit northern Florida in early September, resulted in 827 claims, totaling $284,000 in damages, filed by Citizens policyholders in the first three weeks after the storm.

Because the more powerful and deadly Matthew didn’t make a direct hit on the Sunshine State last week, the overall impact on the insurance industry won’t be as bad as it could have been.

Data analysis firm CoreLogic is projecting the storm, which hammered Georgia and South Carolina as well as Florida, will result in $4 billion to $6 billion in insured-property loss.

CoreLogic’s projection – that about 1.5 billion residential and commercial properties are expected to have been impacted by Matthew – is based on insurance claims related to high winds and flooding, not on overall economic impacts.

DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Downed power lines and trees have created major road blockages and hazards in Daytona Beach like this scene on Keech Street.

Mostly wind damage Ninety percent of the anticipated Matthew claims are expected to be related to wind damage, and 10 percent from storm surge.

In comparison, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused between $35 billion and $40 billion in damages along the Gulf Coast, while Hurricane Sandy, which hit the Northeast in 2012, resulted in $15 billion to $20 billion in property damages.

The recent projections are a vast improvement over the prestorm outlook, when the major hurricane that caused hundreds of deaths in Haiti had prospects of making a direct landfall on the Atlantic Coast.

Better than expected Bloomberg News had projected that damages could reach $25 billion to $35 billion, while Moody’s Analytics forecast losses

near $70 billion, including economic impacts.

But by last Friday, as Matthew churned off northeast Florida’s coastline, the outlook was already improving.

Christopher A. Grimes, director of Chicago-based Fitch Ratings, projected the insurance losses from Matthew will be manageable.

“Hurricane Matthew will pressure the earnings of some insurance underwriters in Florida and other southeast states but is not expected to present a major capital challenge,” Grimes said in a press release Friday.

On Monday, Moody’s issued a statement saying the long-term impacts of the storm on Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, are expected to be “minimal.”

JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Workers from JAFLO Tree Service in West Virginia cut up a massive pine tree that fell on high-voltage power lines during Hurricane Matthew, along Beville Road on Oct. 10 in Daytona Beach.

Visit Florida tries to boost tourism after storms THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Florida’s tourism agency has launched a “four-pronged” marketing plan to help the industry after Hurricane Matthew caused destruction in parts of the state, according to Visit Florida President & CEO Will Seccombe.

“Last week, the Visit Florida team was focused on the safety of our visitors and

Majority of Floridians oppose ‘sanctuary cities’ THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

A majority of Floridians oppose giving more assistance to undocumented immigrants or creating so-called “sanctuary cities” where those immigrants could avoid deportation, according to a new poll from the University of South Florida and The Nielsen Company.

The annual Sunshine State Survey, which released the second batch of this year’s findings on Monday, shows 55 percent of Floridians opposed to giving more rights or assistance to undocumented immigrants, with the strongest opposition coming from older Floridians and residents of Tampa Bay and North Florida.

Among those surveyed, 23 percent were more supportive of immigrants, with much of that support coming from millennials, minority residents and low-income households.

On weapons ban Some 58 percent of Floridians opposed creating safe zones in cities where undocumented immigrants would not face deportation, with 33 percent in support.

Almost half – 49 percent – of Floridians support a ban on the sale of semi-automatic assault weapons, while 37 percent oppose it. Support for the ban is strongest among women, older residents and African-Americans.

Six out of 10 Floridians want to make it harder or impossible for a felon to regain gun ownership rights, with strongest support for the idea coming from women, older Floridians and households with a young child.

More results The survey also shows that only 23 percent of Floridians think the state is doing a good or excellent job in reducing human and sex trafficking.

Forty-two percent of Floridians support the recreational use of marijuana, with 40

fellow Floridians,” Seccombe wrote in a blog post emailed Tuesday by the agency.

“This week, we are shifting our focus to recovery and to letting the world know that the Florida tourism industry is open for business.”

In addition to a series of new videos, a social media campaign and a push to post images of the state with the hashtag “#LoveFL,” the plan will include a focus on communities directly impacted by Hurricane Hermine in September and last week’s Hurricane Matthew, Seccombe wrote. No price tag was announced with the marketing plan. percent opposed.

Thirty percent support repealing the death penalty, with 44 percent opposed.

Some 27 percent support repealing the Stand Your Ground self-defense law, with 43 percent opposed.

“Florida’s very diverse population has yielded intense debates about immigration, gun ownership, human trafficking and individual rights,” said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at USF who oversees the survey, which focuses on key issues in Florida.

“A common thread tying these issues together is a genuine concern for the personal safety and security of those who live in the Sunshine State. Stark differences are in opinions on how to make it happen.

Generational, racial and gender divides are the deepest on immigration, human trafficking and gun ownership.”

The 2016 Sunshine State Survey interviewed 1,248 Florida residents from Sept.

1 to Sept. 19, with a margin of error of 2.77 percentage points.

Zika cases now top 1,000

The number of reported Zika cases in Florida topped 1,000 on Tuesday as Gov. Rick Scott announced the state will send another $7.4 million to Miami-Dade County to help with mosquito control.

The Florida Department of Health reported nine additional cases of the mosquito-borne virus, bringing the overall total to 1,002. Eight of the new cases were classified as “travel related” – meaning people were infected elsewhere and brought the virus into Florida – while one new locally transmitted case was reported in Miami-Dade County.

Four of the new travel-related cases were in Broward County, two were in Pinellas County, one was in St. Lucie County, and one involved a pregnant woman.

The state does not list the counties in cases involving pregnant women.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Scott’s office said the additional $7.4 million will be used in Miami-Dade County for mosquito-control staff and mosquito spraying. The money is part of $61.2 million that Scott earlier authorized for fighting Zika.

EDITORIAL

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OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

Here’s my thinking Black folks in America have been so successfully programmed that many of us are still psychologically enslaved to the point that we truly believe we have “made it” when we have reached a certain financial plateau, or when we have attained a certain position or title.

Far too many of us, as a consequence of our psychological enslavement, have turned our backs on our own people, especially many affluent Blacks like OJ who have gained the status of being “accepted” by White society.

Our new “Talented Tenth” has turned out not unlike its predecessor of 1903, which W.E.B. DuBois lived to regret, as he stated in his speech to The Boule in 1948.

Forty-five years of watching the selfishness of his brothers and sisters was enough for DuBois to admit that he had made a mistake.

Sad, disgusted “I assumed that with knowledge, sacrifice would automatically follow. In my youth and idealism, I did not realize that selfishness is even more natural than sacrifice. There were especially sharp young persons [at Fisk University] with the distinct and single-minded idea of seeing what they could get out of it for themselves, and nobody else,” DuBois lamented.

DuBois left this country, a sad and disheartened man, never wanting to return again, and we have seen his words and his assessment of our people magnified.

Black people have an annual income of over $1 trillion, much of which is wasted every day on anything and everything other people make and sell. We buy it all, but we are dead last in every other economic category. We

JAMES CLINGMAN GEORGE CURRY MEDIA

also have the worst housing, the highest unemployment, the poorest healthcare, the highest infant mortality, the poorest education, and our life expectancy is not even long enough to collect our hard-earned Social Security payments.

Burying our talents We are not using our tremendous resources – or talents – to do good and to do well. We are not using our talents to help the least of our brethren. We are not multiplying our resources; instead we are virtually burying them in the ground by succumbing to every advertisement and marketing campaign laid before us by Corporate America. We have taken on the title of Conspicuous Consumption Champions of the World.

Second, we have placed too much emphasis on creature comforts and have allowed ourselves to be defined by what we do on someone else’s job, rather than what we can do to create our own jobs. We have devalued business ownership and business education, and we have lost sight of selfsufficiency, self-reliance, and collective economic empowerment.

We have been lulled into the trap of thinking “the man” will take care of us or the government will take care of us, or our local politicians will take care of us.

That is so far from the truth it is not even funny. Besides, anyone or anything that has the power

Africans vs. African-Americans – a White supremacist success I had a recent conversation with a young, intelligent, hardworking African-American during which he expressed deep hostility towards Africans. When asked why he felt that way, he told me of two incidents that occurred when he dated a young African woman from Nigeria and another from Ethiopia.

The Nigerian’s father exploded when she brought the young brother to her home. He demanded that the young man leave immediately since he didn’t want his daughter involved with any African-American.

When the young Ethiopian woman took him to an Ethiopian club, she was angrily pulled aside

A. PETER BAILEY TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE

by an Ethiopian male and asked loudly, “Why you bring him here?”

Again, he had to leave immediately.

I told him that I understood his feelings, having myself had several run-ins with Africans who spoke with hostility and contempt about African-Americans.

Goes both ways However, I continued, African-

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 286 Hurricane Matthew – We plan; God laughs. Twenty-four hours before we were scheduled to evacuate to Atlanta, Southwest Airlines texted me that the flight was canceled. The following day, Thursday, airport officials closed Fort Lauderdale’s airport two hours before the flight was scheduled to leave.

So we were forced to go to Plan B: board up and hunker down.

Our newspaper print deadline got moved up about 12 hours, which gave me much of Wednesday afternoon to prepare. That means an expensive trip to Home Depot to buy plywood, screws, tarps, etc.

“Big-box” stores like Home Depot, Walmart, Publix, etc. have hurricane preparation down to a science. They obviously follow the weather forecasts and pre-position additional supplies of plywood, water, etc. At Home Depot, most of the required hurricane supplies: batteries, flashlights, garbage bags, charcoal, lighter fluid, etc., were all in one loca-

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

tion. They never seem to run out of much of anything.

Though there was tension in the air, there was always also a sense of “we’re all in this together”-style unity. “Good luck and stay safe” was the phrase of the day.

After unloading 20 pieces of plywood by myself and lugging them to the various windows around the house, the rest of the family and a church member helped finish boarding up.

We all got a good night’s sleep on Wednesday, and got up Thursday – the day that Matthew was forecast to strike Florida – to make final preparations and evacuate to

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: DONALD J. TRUMP

to give you all you need, also has the power to take away everything you have.

With $1 trillion, coupled with trillions in intellectual capital, Black people in this country can do anything we set our minds to. I think we have gotten very lazy and complacent, because it makes absolutely no sense for us to be in the situation we find ourselves today. It simply means we have not been taking care of our business, while everyone else has.

Time to go back We must get back to the way it was before integration and before Black people in this country were “dis-integrated.” For nearly the last 50 years we have mimicked the children of Israel, wandering in this desert called America, whining, murmuring, and complaining about our situation since we left Egypt in 1964 when Pharaoh (President Lyndon Johnson) signed the Civil Rights Act. Some of us even want to return to Egypt. We must use our $1 trillion to “possess the land.”

What we have been given was not given to us just for us, just for our families, and just for our friends. It was given to us to help others – even strangers.

Rich athletes and entertainers, many of who are already doing some fantastic things with their wealth, must look deep inside themselves and consider their own mortality. Then they should each make a relatively small effort to help someone, maybe by pooling some of their dollars to start a business that will create employment or housing opportunities.

ALEN LAUZAN FALCON, CHILE, CAGLECARTOONS.COM

my dream is a beautiful world.

It’s a world where our children are educated properly, where our elderly are taken care of properly, where our youth are taught respect and responsibility, where our adults are not afraid to administer discipline with love.

It’s a world where our people are taking care of our resources, providing for ourselves, and making the necessary sacrifices to build a sure and certain founda-

tion for the next generation.

W.E.B. DuBois would be proud.

American are not innocent when it comes to dealing with Africans.

On numerous occasions I have heard some African-Americans speak with contempt about Africans, even going so far as to call them “jungle bunnies.”

The image of Africa for too many African-Americans comes from Hollywood films and from American television, newspapers and magazine reporting. The Hollywood films often depict Africans either as scantily-clad villages or providing some kind of service to “superior” White folks.

The journalistic reporting much too often can lead readers to believe that one-third of Africans are living in dire poverty, another third are sick or dying from AIDS, and the final third are killing each other in endless conflicts. I have actually heard some African-Americans wonder if

there are cities or universities in the continent.

discourage unity among them by any means necessary. So they use psychological toxins to encourage Africans to believe that they are better than African-Americans and African-Americans to believe that they are more civilized than Africans. Way too many Black people have been infected by these toxins.

It is time for serious Black folks from throughout the world to develop a psychological inoculation against this insidious, debilitating infection. It can be done; we just have to put our time, energy and resources into it.

If we don’t, the temporary success of the proponents of White supremacy will become permanent.

Lisa’s mom’s home, which had custom-built storm shutters for every door and window.

I was the last to leave. I loaded up our company van with my 10-year old hurricane emergency kit, a generator that hadn’t been in operation since 2005, and headed out. All Broward County roads were closed, so I-95 was as empty as I’ve ever seen it. I spent the time between 3 p.m. and sunset refreshing my hurricane kit and trying to resuscitate the generator.

Finally, the rain became constant and blustery and the wind picked up. I went inside, grabbed my favorite adult beverage, warmed some leftover pizza, glued myself to the Weather Channel, and waited for the inevitable power outage. It never came. And the house was so secure, we could barely hear the wind outside.

After a somewhat restless night, I emerged the following morning to a typically humid overcast Florida day. Other than an inordinate amount of leaves blown off various trees, there was no evidence that a 120 mph hurricane was anywhere nearby. Matthew had “wobbled” to the east, largely sparing South Florida as it ham-

mered the Bahamas and headed north. Thank God for the wobble.

However, my hometown of Daytona Beach was not so fortunate, as Matthew decided to wobble west. But even there, things could have been much worse. A solar panel blew off Mom’s house there, causing a hole in the roof (which her neighbor generously covered). She had evacuated to Tampa, and my sister and her husband to Orlando.

And where there are storms, there are unscrupulous construction companies following them.

Mom got a $33,000 roofing repair estimate. Needless to say, it was rejected.

Matthew didn’t loop around and hit Florida again as many hurricane prediction models forecast. Still, we won’t remove the plywood from the house until hurricane season officially ends on Dec. 1, assuming no storms are on the horizon then…

Weather, politics and media: As of this writing Wednesday morning, Hurricane Matthew has killed thousands of people in Haiti and 38 people in the United States, including 19 in North Carolina. More than one million structures have been destroyed in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina,

Let me dream If I am dreaming, just let me sleep, because the world I see in

Doesn’t matter I told the young man that such attitudes as mentioned above by Africans and African-Americans are among the most unfortunate victories of the proponents of White supremacy. I also told him that when the average person of European descent sees a Black man or woman, he doesn’t care if he or she are from Lagos, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Harlem, USA, Kingston, Jamaica or Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

All that person sees is a Black person who he has been told is inferior to him or her.

White politicians, educators and business persons also see a Black man, but they are clever enough to know that one of the best ways to keep the upper hand over all Black people is to

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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

A. Peter Bailey’s latest book is “Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher.” Contact him at apeterb@verizon.net. and South Carolina thus far, with an estimated damage of $10 billion. Both the death toll and damage estimate will rise as flooding continues.

All four “Matthew” states have Republican governors who relentlessly attack the federal government as too big, bloated, and incompetent. They brag about how states can handle their own business. They attack traditional media as unnecessary and untrustworthy.

Yet, they turn to traditional media to get info out because social media alone is insufficient. They ask for federal government relief before the first raindrop falls.

Then they get frustrated because people stay when governors say they should evacuate, and evacuate when governors say they should stay.

Continually feeding paranoia and distrust of institutions like government and mass media for political purposes has real world life-and-death consequences. Or do the consequences matter?

Contact me at ccherry2@ gmail.com. Follow the Florida Courier (@flcourier), the Daytona Times (@daytonatimes) and me (@ccherry2) on Twitter.

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OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

A critique of American policing Editor’s note: Dr. Fisher-Stewart’s original critique was published in the Sept. 30 issue of the Florida Courier.

My name is Gayle Fisher-Stewart and I am an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Washington, D.C. For most of my adult life, I have been involved in policing and criminal justice, either as an active police officer, retiring with the rank of captain in 1992 from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington; as a consultant to police departments, local governments, and federal agencies; or teaching criminal justice at the university level. For more than 40 years, I’ve been involved in American policing.

Calling on officers

REV. GAYLE FISHERSTEWART, PH.D. GUEST COMMENTARY

All too often, the police, rather than confess so repentance can take place, circle the wagons and play the “yes-but” game. They

A couple of weeks ago, I posted admit that there might a YouTube video which was a critique on American policing and be a problem, and the need for those with intimate knowledge of the system, current and retired police officers to then saying, “but” – come forward and “confess” concerning the origins of policing “but those are a few and how those origins affect how policing is conducted today with rotten apples”, or “but sometimes deadly results.

As a result of that video, I was asked for next steps – where do policing is tough,” or we go from this point in time to a point where police community “but officers put their relations are what they should be.

Long-term change requires time, commitment and resourc- lives on the line every es and the acceptance of major risk. And a group I’m working day.” with – of retired police officers – we are developing those next ment. It is out on Netflix. It should steps. be required viewing for anyone who calls him or herself an American and a lover of freedom.

Getting started According to information proSo, what I thought I’d do to get the conversation going in the moting it, this documentary rebroader community, because it frames American history and will only be in community that explores how the Thirteenth change will come about – when Amendment to the U.S. Constituthe police and community come tion, which abolished slavery, led together as one – and I include to an epidemic of mass incarcerathe faith community, to get the tion in the United States because conversation started I would pro- of a loophole.

Yes, slavery was abolished exvide some interim steps, some cept in the case of having been baby steps.

We must remember that our convicted of a crime. So if you are system of policing has as one of convicted of a crime, this country its guides the Metropolitan Po- can legally enslave you.

After the end of slavery, which lice of London and Sir Robert Peele, one of its founders. Peele literally destroyed the economsaid that the public are the po- ic system of the South, there lice and the police are the public; was still a need for cheap or that the police are paid full-time free labor. Laws were enacted to do what the public or the com- that criminalized activities that munity really has the responsibil- should not have been criminal, such as being without a job. ity to do.

These nuisance laws enabled This would be true community policing; however, as we well Whites to, in effect, re-enslave know, the community as a whole Black people while also perpetis either unwilling or unable to uating the lie that Blacks – partake on the task of policing. So we ticularly Black men – were danpay members of the community – gerous and needed to be conmembers of our community, the trolled. And so we see the begincommunities we live in – to do ning of the mass incarceration of Black men to steal their labor that job.

The police are members of the and to control and constrain their community who have come for- freedom. ward to take on the job of selfcommunity control, self-control Keepers of the gate – that the majority of the comWhat’s interesting about mass munity really doesn’t want to do incarceration is that to enter or doesn’t have the time to do. the criminal justice system, we find that the police are the gateInterim steps keepers. It is difficult to get to Watch Ava DuVernay’s doc- the courts and correctional sysumentary on the 13th Amend- tem without going through the

18 examples of criminal ‘justice’ systemic racism Editor’s note – This is Part 1.

Racism may well be the biggest crime in the criminal legal system. If present trends continue, 1 of every 4 AfricanAmerican males born this decade can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, despite the fact that the Census Bureau reports that America is 13 percent Black, 61 percent White and 17 percent Latino.

When Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954, about 100,000 African- Americans were in prison. Now there are about 800,000 African-Americans in jails and prisons: 538,000 in prisons and over 263,000 in local jails.

Black men are nearly six times as likely to be incarcerated as White men and Hispanic men are 2.3 times as likely, according to the Sentencing Project. Why? Because our country has dramatically expanded our jails and prisons and there is deep racism built into every step of the criminal legal system.

Some think the criminal legal system has big problems that need to be reformed. Others think the racism in the criminal

GUEST COMMENTATOR

legal system is helping it operate exactly as it has been designed to incarcerate as many Black and Brown people as possible.

Here are 18 examples of racism in parts of different stages of the system. Taken together, the racism in each of these steps accelerates the process of incarceration of African-American and Latino males. Together, they demonstrate that racism may well be the biggest crime in the criminal legal system.

1. Racism in police stops – Who is stopped by the police, either in cars or on foot, continues to be highly racialized as proof of racial profiling continues to accumulate. University of Kansas professors found the police conducted investigatory stops of African-American males at twice the rate of Whites.

A Black man in Kansas City 25 or younger has a 28 percent chance

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE SECOND CLINTON-TRUMP DEBATE

police. So the police have been a part of this re-enslavement of people of color.

I’d recommend watching this film in community. Bring together the police in your community, members of the larger community, to include the faith community and watch it together. As part of this process, I’d also ask you to “like” the Center for the Study of Faith in Justice at Calvary Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. – which is my church – on Facebook, where I will list questions to guide the discussion.

Protected space America was considered, and still is, to some degree, a White man’s country. We have seen laws that protected White space.

People of color who entered White space did so at their own peril. Just look at certain communities in our country where people of color are still not welcome. This protection of White space has morphed into “stand your ground” laws, also called “shoot first” laws.

These laws say that a person does not have to retreat from an encounter that may or may not be dangerous or life-threatening, and can use deadly force to protect that space. Trayvon Martin was a victim of Florida’s stand your ground law, and there are other states that have the law formally and informally.

To understand this law and how it negatively affects people of color, I’d like you to read a book, “Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God,”

by Kelly Brown Douglas. Rev. Douglas is also an Episcopal priest. Read this book, again, in community and discuss its implications for people of color in your community, and the role that the police – sometimes unwittingly – play in maintaining and protecting White space.

Lost its voice The second book I’m recommending is by Kenyatta Gilbert, a professor at Howard University Divinity School in Washington. It’s called “A Pursued Justice: Black Preaching from the Great Migration to Civil Rights.” This is really a call to Black churches to recover the prophetic voice that challenges injustice.

Our Black churches began because of the racism and discrimination that was rampant in socalled White churches. In the Black church, we found a Jesus who was a champion of the dispossessed, who lived in the margins, who was killed – lynched if you will – because he challenged the status quo. Unfortunately, too many of our churches have lost that prophetic voice that must be reclaimed if our children will not be having the same conversations we are having today.

Again, read the book in community. It is not just for those who are members of a faith community or for people of color; it is for everyone who seeks justice in an unjust world.

Black men are nearly six times as likely to be incarcerated as White men and Hispanic men are 2.3 times

BILL QUIGLEY

EDITORIAL

as likely, according to the Sentencing Project. Why? Because our country has dramatically expanded our jails and prisons and there is deep racism built into every step of the criminal legal system. of being stopped, while a similar White male has only a 12 percent chance.

In New York City, police continue to stop Black and Hispanics at rates far higher than

DAVE GRANLUND, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

Baltimore report On our Facebook page, I will include a link to the Department of Justice report on the Baltimore Police Department, which was investigated in the aftermath of the police killing of Freddie Gray. There will be certain pages I would like you to reflect on and ask yourself, “How can human beings do this to another human being?”

To do what you will read on those pages, a person of color must be dehumanized, defaced, made a thing, an object – which comes right out the system of slavery. There is no way another human being can look into the face, the eyes, of another human being and do some of the things that are recounted in the report.

For example, on page 32 of the report, the Department of Justice found that BPD officers frequently ignored legal requirements and strip-searched individuals prior to arrest – which is unconstitutional – in public view. In one case, the officers publicly stripsearched a woman following a routine traffic stop for a missing headlight.

Stopped and searched According to the report, officers ordered the woman to exit her vehicle, remove her clothes, and stand on the sidewalk to be searched. The woman asked the male officer in charge, “I really gotta take my clothes off?” The male officer replied, “Yeah,” and ordered a female officer to stripsearch the woman.

The female officer put on purple latex gloves, pulled up the woman’s shirt and searched around her bra. Finding no weapons or contraband around the woman’s chest, the officer then pulled down the woman’s underwear and searched her anal cavity. This search again found no evidence of wrongdoing.

The officers released the woman without charges. Indeed, the woman received only a repair order for her headlight. The search was conducted in full view of the street, although the supervising male officer claimed he turned away and did not watch the violation of both the woman’s body and the Constitution.

There was no indication that Whites, even though they are stopping many less people due to a successful civil rights federal court challenge by the Center for Constitutional Rights. One of the most illuminating studies is in Connecticut which showed racial disparities in traffic stops during the daytime – when the race of the driver can be seen – but not at night.

2. Racism in police searches – Once stopped, during traffic stops, three times as many Black and Hispanic drivers were searched as White drivers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. According to the same Bureau, White drivers were also given tickets at a slightly lower rate than Black and Hispanic drivers.

3. Racism in police use of force during arrest – A recent report by the Center for Policing Equity found that police are more likely to use force like Tasers, dogs, pepper spray and physical force against Black people than White people in making arrests.

4. Racism in juvenile arrests – Black youth are twice as likely to be arrested for crimes in school as White kids, over 2.5 times as likely to be arrested for curfew violations as White kids, twice as likely as White kids to be arrested for all crimes, and much more likely to be held in detention than White kids, according to the Sentencing Project.

5. Racism in transgender ar-

the woman had violated any law or was secreting any contraband. In this case, the woman filed a complaint and the male officer received only a “simple reprimand” and an instruction that he could not serve as an officer in charge until he was “properly trained.”

What were they taught?

Where did these officers learn that violations of human dignity and the Constitution were acceptable? And how do we ensure that these types of violations do not take place anywhere in this country?

As we seek to change American policing, there is a need that the police, particularly police leaders and chiefs, step forward and admit there is a problem and that problem needs to be fixed.

All too often, the police, rather than confess so repentance can take place, circle the wagons and play the “yes-but” game. They admit that there might be a problem, and then saying, “but” – “but those are a few rotten apples”, or “but policing is tough,” or “but officers put their lives on the line every day.”

All of that is true. However, until the police are willing to cross the lines that divide them from the community of which they are a part – remember Sir Robert Peele – problems will only get worse. More and more of our young people will learn to fear the police and the police will hesitate to take action when action is needed. Neither is good for this country.

So I ask you to consider these interim recommendations to begin the conversation in earnest, and join me and a group of retired police officers who are working to make policing what it needs to be in a country that says it loves freedom.

Rev. Gayle Fisher-Stewart, Ph.D., is assistant rector at Calvary Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. Contact her and follow her on Twitter at @ LadyCop19721992. rests – Hundreds of thousands of gay and transgender youth are arrested or detained every year.

More than 60 percent are Black or Latino, according to the Center for American Progress.

6. Racism in arrests for drugs – Start with the fact that Whites and Blacks use and abuse drugs at about the same rates. This is proven by the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

This study found drug and alcohol abuse among Whites and Blacks nearly the same, with Blacks reporting one percent higher on drug use than Whites, while Whites have three percent higher rates of binge alcohol and one percent higher rates of substance abuse or dependence.

But when it comes to drug arrests, Blacks are arrested at a rate more than twice their percentage in the population. Twenty-nine percent of drug arrests, according to FBI statistics, are of African-American people.

7. Racism in police arrests for marijuana – While marijuana use is similar in Black and White communities, Blacks are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana as Whites.

Part 2 concludes next week.

Bill Quigley teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans and can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com.

TOJ A6

POLITICS

OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

Report: Blacks have longer wait time to vote In Miami-Dade, 85 percent of voters had voting wait times that averaged 73 minutes after the polls closed.

TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

Black voters wait longer to cast ballots, discouraging them from voting, according to a study released by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. The report, titled “Reducing Long Lines to Vote,” states that African-Americans waited an average of 23 minutes to vote compared with 19 minutes for Hispanics, 15 minutes for Asians, 13 minutes for Native Americans and 12 minutes Spencer for Whites.

Overton The Joint Center, led by Spencer Overton, a George Washington University law professor, has released its report just prior to the 2016 presidential election and President Barack Obama encouraging African-Americans to vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.

Push for Clinton During the Congressional Black Caucus Dinner Sept. 17 in Washington, D.C., President Obama told the black-tie audience that it would be a personal insult to his legacy if the Black community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in the election.

There is a push to get a strong

TIM CHAPMAN/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Voters are lined up on Nov. 6, 2012, at precinct 797 at fire station No. 56 in Miami-Dade County during the 2012 General Election.

Black-voter turnout for Clinton.

The New York Post released a recent poll showing that a growing number of African-Americans prefer Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, to Clinton, but Clinton still holds an overwhelming lead among African-American voters, according to a CNN poll that has her at 90 percent.

Clinton, in 1996, called Black teens superpredators in a speech supporting the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforce-

ment Act. That act, signed by her husband, President Bill Clinton, was a tough-on-crime legislation that sent a lot of Black men to prison.

President Clinton also pushed through the North American Free Trade Agreement that has cost Black workers thousands of good-paying jobs.

42 minutes in Florida Until recently, Trump said President Obama was not born in

the United States to delegitimize Obama’s presidency.

The Joint Center said one study estimated that long lines deterred at least 730,000 from voting in the 2012 presidential election.

In Florida, a key state in the presidential election, wait times averaged 42 minutes compared with wait times of six minutes in New Jersey.

Florida’s Miami-Dade County had the highest percentage of people of color.

In Miami-Dade, 85 percent of voters had voting wait times that averaged 73 minutes after the polls closed.

Citrus, the Florida county with the lowest percentage of people of color, had no lines when the polls closed, the Joint Center reported.

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Louisiana Weekly.

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

PHOTOS BY CHARLES FOX/PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/TNS

Muslim men get ready for Friday jummah prayer on Sept. 30 at Masjid Al Furqan in Philadelphia. Offended by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s call to ban Muslim immigration as a way to end terrorism, Muslim-Americans are pushing back with grassroots voter-registration drives

Muslims and ArabAmericans push voter registration

• How low expectations of Black students’ achievements can get them higher grades;

BY MICHAEL MATZA PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

PHILADELPHIA – Ez-Zohra Baidouri, 73, left Morocco in 1986, settled with her family in Northeast Philadelphia, and became a U.S. citizen15 years ago.

On a recent afternoon, after prayers at Masjid Al Furqan mosque on Roosevelt Boulevard near Cottman Avenue, she signed a voter registration form — a first for her.

“Trump, not,” she said.

Zakir Ullah, 37, born in Pakistan and naturalized in 2007, stopped by the volunteers’ table outside the mosque to get a form for his wife, 30-year-old Husna.

“I’m registered, she is not,” Ullah said.

“We have to pick the person who will be better for the country. I prefer Hillary.”

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

– Book review, School Library Journal

• Want a great grade? Prepare to cheat!

• How Black students can program their minds for success; • Setting goals – When to tell everybody, and when to keep your mouth shut;

Ez-Zohra Baidouri, 73, of Morocco, registers to vote for the first time with the help of her daughter Amina Baidouri, center, on Sept. 30, outside of Masjid Al Furqan in Philadelphia. census figures. The institute contends the government undercounts Arab-Americans because of ambiguity in the census question on ancestry, and “distrust/misunderstanding of government surveys among recent immigrants.”

‘Yalla Vote’

Voting, not candidates

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s call to stop Muslim immigration, and his swipes at Arab countries as incubators of terrorism, have offended some Arab-American and Muslim American groups.

They are pushing back with voter registration drives.

“Yalla Vote” — roughly translated as “come on, vote” — is a national initiative of the nonprofit Arab American Institute, which is targeting the 12 states with the highest concentrations of Arab Americans.

Because voter registration forms do not ask for religious affiliation, no one knows how many Muslim Americans are registered voters.

As for numbers of Arab-Americans state to state, AAI’s estimates are higher than

Yalla Vote’s organizers say they are promoting voting, not candidates, and that their mission is to use the power of the ballot box to put Arab Americans at the forefront of national conversations on such topics as surveillance, profiling, immigration, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

At the Muslim American Society of Philadelphia, a mosque, school, and community center, director Naser Khatib has joined a national campaign by the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations to register one million voters. The driving force, the organization says, is a sharp rise in Islamophobia.

“We want to show Trump, and even Hillary, that we are here and we will vote,” he said. “Vote is power.”

• Black English, and why Black students must be ‘bilingual.’ …AND MUCH MORE!

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

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for info on speeches, workshops, seminars,

Twitter @ccherry2

book signings, panel discussions.

Check us out online at floridacourier.com Read All About Black Life, Statewide!

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IFE/FAITH

OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

More Blacks camping and hiking See page B4

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‘Birth’ meets box-office expectations See page B5

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SECTION

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PHOTOS BY CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

More than 10,000 masqueraders participated in the Parade of Bands on Sunday, Oct. 9.

Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converged on South Florida the weekend of Oct. 8 for concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions – and coincidentally, to celebrate being largely spared from the wrath of Hurricane Matthew.

MUSIC & MASQUERADERS

The ‘Panorama’ competition brought out the best in steel drum orchestras.

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF

S

OUTH FLORIDA – Schedule changes and travel difficulties caused by the brief presence of Hurricane Matthew the week of the annual Miami Broward One Carnival weekend didn’t stop the festivities.

Morning party In Lauderhill, just west of Fort Lauderdale, Central Broward Regional Park was the scene of J’ouvert, a pre-Carnival outdoor party featuring music, mud, paint, powder and water, on Saturday.

On Saturday evening, the costume competition went off without a hitch. Jean-Pierre DeGannes (king), Erica Hosein (queen), Jason Edwards (male individual) and Nicole DeNobriga (female individuals) were all first-place winners in their respective categories.

The costume contest was followed by Panorama, the annual steel drum orchestra competition that featured eight steel bands.

(The steel drums are known as “pans,” and are tuned percussion instruments made from 55-gallon steel drums. The pan is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, where it was developed.)

In the pan competition, Lauderhill Steel Ensemble de- A mas band marches behind an 18-wheeler. feated last year’s champion, Pantastik Steel Orchestra, with a new group, Melo Grove Steel Orchestra, coming in third. The Newtown Playboys Steel Symphony traveled from Trinidad as guest performers.

A painted masquerader leads the way.

Moving south On Sunday, the action moved south to the MiamiDade County Fairgrounds, where there were arts and craft vendors, a corporate village with exhibitor booths, and an outdoor food court.

More than 17 “mas” (masquerade) bands of more than 15,000 revelers danced and marched behind 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks with booming sound systems from 11 a.m. until nightfall while competing for honors. The Mas Band of the Year honors went to Big & Strong-One Island, with Generation X coming in second place and Mascots coming in third.

The 2016 Miami Broward One Carnival ended with a concert at the Fairgrounds featuring Alison Hinds, Burning Flames, Rock City and Julien Believe. Stacy Ann Rose, Third World’s Cat Coore, and R. City were the Carnival’s celebrity grand marshals.

The Newtown Playboys Steel Symphony brought musical greetings from Trinidad and Tobago.

Families enjoyed themselves on the open space at the Miami-Dade Fairgrounds.

EVENTS

B2

‘Martin’ actor Tommy Ford dies at age 52 COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

Actor Thomas “Tommy’’ Ford, best known as the straight man to Martin Lawrence in the 1990s sitcom “Martin,’’ died Wednesday afternoon in an Atlanta

OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

hospital surrounded by friends and family. Ford was 52.

According to news reports, Ford’s wife, Gino Sasso, said he had been on life support after an aneurysm ruptured in his abdomen. He had been mending from a recent knee surgery.

On “Martin,’’ Ford played the lead character’s best friend. Ford was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 1996 for his work on the show, which ran from 1992 to 1997.

His other credits included the Fox 1990s drama “New York Undercover,” the 1990 CBS sitcom “Uncle Buck” and NBC’s short-lived “Singer & Sons” from the same year.

TANK & KELLY PRICE

STOJ

Ford also appeared in the Kid ’n Play movie “Class Act’’ as Mink.

In “Harlem Nights,’’ he played Tommy Smalls, the brother of Arsenio Hall’s character. He was also in the crime drama “Against the Law,’’ “The Jamie Foxx Show’’ and “The Parkers.’’

According to his website, Ford had recently completed four seasons on TV One’s show, “Who’s Got Jokes’’ hosted by Bill Bellamy. Ford also was working on a documentary titled “Reverse the Lynch Curse, about breaking curses of fear distrust and envy.

The Gulfcoast Rhythm & Blues Fest is Oct. 1416 at DeSoto Square Mall in Bradenton. Artists will include Jaheim, Tank and Kelly Price. More info: gulfcoastribfest.com

Tommy Ford

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Tampa: Empowered Ministries will present a breast cancer awareness event on Oct. 15 at 9:30 a.m. at 1215 E. 109TH Ave. Hosted by a cancer survivor, the event will include a walk, breakfast and information session at Holy Temple Church.

Details: 813-866-0924.

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

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

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

SISAUNDRA LEWIS

The Rhythms at the Roost concert series starts Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. at Cranes Roost Park in Altamonte Springs. Performers: Sam Jaffe and Sisaundra Lewis, a former contestant on “The Voice.’’ Free admission. Details: www. uptownaltamonte.com.

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

Complete festival schedule: www. epcotfoodfestival.com Tampa: The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists (TBABJ) is

accepting applications for its 2016 Griot Drum Scholarship Contest, which awards thousands of dollars to students of color majoring in journalism. Details: www.tbabj.com.

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

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

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

Orlando: Tickets are on sale for the Nov. 19 Florida Classic game pitting Bethune-Cookman University against Florida A&M University at Camping World Stadium. Details: floridaclassic.org.

Naples: Miami school principal and author Vanady Daniels will speak at a Literary Luncheon on Oct. 29 hosted by the Collier County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority at The Club at Mediterra.

RSVP at CollierDST@gmail.com.

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

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIAMI DOLPHINS

Park Ridge Elementary School students exercise Tuesday with players during a Gatorade Junior Training Camp.

South Florida kids get in a workout with Miami Dolphins DEERFIELD – The Miami Dolphins on Tuesday hosted a Dolphins Blitz at Park Ridge Elementary. Dolphins players Dominque Jones, Jason Jones and Kenny Stills, along with alumni Lousaka Polite, Troy Drayton and Twan Russell and cheerleader Kristan, hosted students in a Gatorade Junior Training Camp.

The kids participated in several fitnessorientated stations and learned the benefits of hydration and staying physically active.

“We want kids to get out, get exercise instead of watching TV and playing video games all the time. At least get out for an hour and teach them how to be healthy and live a healthy life,” Jason Jones said.

“These kids light up when we come out here and participate in these drills.”

Kits for Haiti The Dolphins highlighted the importance of education, physical fitness and positive choices. Additionally, the kids packed hygiene kits as a hurricane relief effort service project for Project Medishare to distribute in Haiti.

“About 300,000 people were affected in Haiti by Hurricane Matthew, and they’re lacking basic supplies like food, water, hygiene products and medical care. So we’re here today to work with the students at Park Ridge and the Miami Dolphins

Elementary school students write notes to put in hygiene kids to be sent to Haiti. to make a difference and send these kits down to Haiti to make an immediate impact for the hurricane victims. They’ll be grateful for that,” Medishare Director of Development Jenna Green said.

“The Dolphins helped after the earthquake in 2010. They took a trip down, they donated funds and a lot of resources and were an amazing community partner.

When Hurricane Matthew hit, they were actually one of the first in the community to reach out and ask what they can do to help. It’s incredible because of their reach and the awareness they can bring to the issue.”

The Miami Dolphins Youth Programs’ mission is to emphasize the importance of education, physical fitness, and positive choices for kids in a safe and fun environment. The Miami Dolphins Youth Programs’ vision is to prepare the next generation of leaders in staying physically active through our Junior Training Camps (JTC), Youth Football Clinics, and Youth Football Camps.

UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTSCO- A HARTBEAT PRODUCTIONEDITED MORRISON BY GUY HARDING KEVIN HART “KEVIN HART:DIRECTOR WHATOFNOW?” PRODUCER BLAKE EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION DESIGNER BRUCE RYAN PHOTOGRAPHY CAMERON BARNETT PRODUCERS KEVIN HART DAVE BECKY WRITTEN PRODUCED

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CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES

TOJ

OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

HEALTH

B3

Who diagnosed it best? Doctor or an app?

School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Human Diagnosis Project in Washington, D.C. — asked 234 physicians to read through a selection of 45 “clinical vignettes” to see how they would handle these hypothetical patients.

Each vignette included the medical history of the “patient” but no results from a physical exam, blood test or other kind of lab work.

Most of the doctors were trained in internal medicine, though the group included some pediatricians and family practice physicians too. About half of them were in residency or fellowship, so their training was not yet complete.

Even so, of the 1,105 vignettes they considered, they listed the correct diagnosis first 72 percent of the time, according to the study.

DREAMSTIME

If you have a medical problem, you’re better off seeing a real doctor than relying on the diagnosis of a program on your computer or smartphone, according to a new study.

BY KAREN KAPLAN LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

If you’re feeling sick and you want to know what’s wrong with you, there’s an app for that. But the diagnosis won’t be as accurate as the one you’d get from

a doctor — not by a long shot.

In a head-to-head comparison, real human physicians outperformed a collection of 23 symptomchecker apps and websites by a margin of more than 2 to 1, according to a re-

port published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Even when the contestants got three chances to figure out what ailed a hypothetical patient, the diagnostic software lagged far behind actual doctors.

Indeed, the apps and websites suggested the right diagnosis only slightly more than half of the time, the report says.

‘Clinical vignettes’ The research team — from Harvard Medical

Comparing diagnoses The 23 symptom checkers evaluated a total of 770 vignettes in an earlier study by some of the same researchers.

The apps and websites (including several from professional medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Dutch College of General Practitioners) listed

the correct diagnosis first just 34 percent of the time.

Both the doctors and the computer programs were able to include more than one ailment in their differential diagnosis. So the researchers also compared how often the correct diagnosis was among the top three responses.

For the doctors, that happened 84 percent of the time. For the symptom checkers, it was 51 percent of the time.

By the numbers Though the humans trounced the computers across the board, there were situations in which did a particularly good job of naming the correct diagnosis first.

For instance, their margin in cases with common conditions was 70 percent to 38 percent. In cases with uncommon conditions, it grew to 76 percent to 28 percent.

The seriousness of the malady made a difference too. In cases with low acuity, doctors bested software by 65 percent to 41 percent.

But in cases with high acuity, that gap widened to 79 percent to 24 percent.

“Physicians vastly outperformed computer algorithms in diagnostic accuracy,” the researchers concluded. Full disclosure: Three of the study authors are doctors, and none are apps.

How to tell if you have a cold, flu or allergies MAYO CLINIC NEWS NETWORK/TNS

As autumn approaches, chances are you, your co-workers or family members will begin sneezing, wheezing or coughing. How can you tell when it’s a cold, allergies or the flu?

Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist Dr. Pritish Tosh says that during the spring and fall, it can be difficult to discern what is an allergy symptom versus what is a viral upper respiratory illness that is getting passed around.

“It is important to people to make the distinction, somewhat for themselves, and for the people around them,” says Tosh. “If it is a viral respiratory infection, it is important to avoid being around other people and not showing up for work.”

Allergy or infection?

Tosh says there are a few things you can do to tell if you have an allergy or possible viral respiratory infection.

“Allergies should not come along with a fever. If you have a runny nose, cough and sneezing along with a fever, it’s probably a viral upper respiratory infection. However, if you have itchy eyes, sneezing and reactions when you go outside or enter a building, it’s probably an allergy.”

“Good sneezing and cough etiquette is not only polite, it can stop the spread of an illness,” adds Tosh. “Whether you have an allergy or think you have a viral respiratory infection, it’s important to have good etiquette and do so into the crook of your arm.”

Tosh says the old school idea of coughing into your hands can spread more disease.

DREAMSTIME

That euphoric feeling many people get from running, aka “runner’s high,” may be triggered not by endorphins but by marijuana-like chemicals in the brain called endocannabinoids, research suggests.

Scientists still chasing after cause of runner’s high

BY ALLIE SHAH STAR TRIBUNE/TNS

For many marathon runners, the reward for pushing themselves during the race extends beyond the finish line in the form of a hidden perk: runner’s high.

But knowing what

causes that euphoric feeling — and how to achieve it — has been a bit of a mystery.

First identified in the 1980s, runner’s high has long been attributed to the body’s release of endorphins, the feel-good hormones. But a flurry of research in recent years suggests that the source of that floaty sensation many runners experience might be more complex than previously believed.

Scientists from the University of Heidelberg led a groundbreaking study published last year that

tested mice before and after spins on a running wheel. Not surprisingly, the mice were less anxious and less sensitive to pain after their runs.

Leptin too But when the scientists suppressed the part of the brain that contains “endocannabinoids” — chemicals that have the same relaxing effect on the brain as marijuana — and tested the mice again before and after exercising, they found no change in the anxiety and pain levels. Thus, they concluded, the endocan-

Helpline available for residents stressed by the hurricane Feeling stressed since Hurricane Matthew? This national helpline could help.

The Disaster Distress Helpline, operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), provides crisis counseling and support to people experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters.

This toll-free, multilingual and confidential crisis support service is available to all residents in the United States. The hotline provides year-round immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. Stress, anxiety and other depression-like symptoms

nabinoids were behind the runner’s high.

But other research points to yet another source: a hormone called leptin that is linked to hunger feelings.

The theory involving leptin says that when we have lower levels of leptin, we are more likely to run farther like our ancestors had to in order to find food. On longer runs, some researchers believe, our bodies are more likely to achieve a runner’s high.

The Star Tribune is based in Minneapolis.

are common reactions after a disaster.

When you call or text, crisis counselors will listen to what’s on your mind with patience and without judgment. There is no need to give any identifying information when you contact the helpline.

The helpline is staffed by trained counselors from a network of crisis call centers located across the United States. These counselors provide: • Crisis counseling • Information on how to recognize distress and its effects • Tips for healthy coping • Referrals to local crisis call centers for additional follow-up care and support Call 800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.

Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing can text TalkWithUs to 66746 or use their preferred relay service to call the helpline at 800-985-5990.

Persons who speak Spanish can call 800985-5990 and press 2 or text Hablanos to 66746.

B4

TRAVEL

OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

STOJ

PHOTOS BY IRFAN KHAN/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Nadine Jackson spends time with her grandkids on E Portal Trail in Ranch Palos Verdes, Calif.

More minorities hiking and camping The boost is good news for makers of outdoor equipment and clothing.

ents we have for our parks,” said Karl Knapp, who is part of a team at the California State Parks trying to make parks more relevant to the state’s diverse population.

“It’s not just a numbers game. It’s an appreciation.”

BY HUGO MARTIN LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

LOS ANGELES – Recalling the childhood fun she had at summer camp, CiJi McBride has decided to go back to the outdoors.

The 41-year-old African-American beauty consultant from Los Angeles’ Baldwin Hills section recently joined the Sierra Club, began taking day hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains and is planning a camping trip to Yosemite National Park next summer.

“As a kid, I always liked being in the outdoors, and as I approached my mid-30s and 40s, I said, ‘What are some of the things I like to do,’ ” she said.

“You can go to bars and movies, and that’s all great, but we live in a state with great weather.”

Significant shift McBride’s renewed interest in hiking and camping reflects the growing percentage of minorities spending time in the great outdoors, a significant shift for a demographic long underrepresented among campers and hikers in the U.S. even as the nation’s population becomes more diverse.

The development holds the promise of a potentially lucrative new market for state and national parks as well as makers of outdoorsy equipment and clothing.

A recent survey of nearly 3,000 Americans and Canadians found that among the 1 million people who began camping for the first time last year, nearly 1 in 5 was Black and 11 percent were Latino, nearly twice the rate for those groups in 2014.

Untapped market The survey, commissioned

by Kampgrounds of America, showed that the latest generation of campers more closely represents the nation’s overall ethnic

Technology helps

Nadine Jackson, 46, is one of the minorities spending time in the great outdoors, a significant shift for a demographic long underrepresented among campers and hikers in the U.S. breakdown.

“The changing demographics of the U.S. is the demographics of consumers,” said Ivan Levin, deputy director for the Outdoor Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the trade group that represents the outdoor recreation industry.

“It’s important to get these people interested in the outdoors now.”

Minority groups represent a growing and largely untapped market for outdoor gear manufacturers and retailers with buying power that is rising much faster than for the general population, marketing experts say.

Buying power U.S. Latinos’ buying power — defined as household income minus taxes — increased 167 percent from 2000 to 2015, while the overall buying power of all U.S. consumers rose 82 percent in that same period, said Jeff Humphreys, director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.

The same 15-year period saw 91 percent growth in AfricanAmericans’ buying power and a 199 percent increase for AsianAmericans, he said, based on annual studies by the Selig Center.

“The reason why these multicultural markets are so compel-

ling is that they are quite large and are exhibiting extraordinary growth,” Humphreys said. Buying power is surging for all three groups, he said, because of a rising level of education, above-average population growth and increasing entrepreneurship.

Participation rate Increased interest by diverse groups is redefining the $646 billion outdoor recreation industry, which despite annual sales growth of about 5 percent a year hasn’t managed to increase the overall participation rate in outdoor activities such as biking, hiking, camping and fishing.

Close to half of the nation’s population participated in an outdoor activity in 2015, a rate that has been almost unchanged for the last nine years, according to annual studies by the Outdoor Foundation.

In California, attendance at state parks has dropped 6 percent since 2006. National parks fared better, with a 13 percent increase in visitors during that same period.

Managers of state and national parks say that boosting visitation will help parks generate more funding to stay open.

“The more people appreciate the parks, the more constitu-

One of the reasons more minorities are venturing into parks and forests, according to the Kampgrounds of America survey, is that technology, including smartphones and online apps, makes it easier to book campsites, locate hiking trails or meet up with fellow outdoor enthusiasts.

Nadine Jackson, an AfricanAmerican cafeteria manager from Compton, said she was prompted a few years ago to spend more time in the outdoors when she saw the Facebook posts of a friend who enjoyed hiking near Rancho Palos Verdes.

After checking out videos and photos on Facebook of other people having outdoor adventures, Jackson, 46, said she decided last year to take 17 family members to Sequoia National Park.

“I’m on a mission to see as many national parks as I can before I leave this world,” she said.

McBride agrees that technology has helped encourage her to spend time in the outdoors. She said she recently used a sky map app on her smartphone to look at a meteor shower.

“Things are much more accessible,” she said.

Outreach programs In opinion surveys, the top reasons African-Americans and Latinos have said they don’t spend more time on outdoor activities are the expense or the lack of time or skills to participate.

Recognizing the need to draw more minorities into the outdoors, park managers and outdoor industry groups have launched several outreach programs in the last few years.

The Outdoor Foundation launched a program in 2014 called the Outdoor Nation Chal-

lenge that rewards college students for taking time to birdwatch, hike, camp or do other activities. The college that scores the most points gets a trophy and up to $5,000 in cash and outdoor gear.

The program started with 10 colleges and 8,000 participants and has expanded to 90 colleges and nearly 20,000 participants.

The contest is designed to pique the interest of young, ethnically diverse populations, Levin said.

Community liaison program In California, the state parks department launched a “transformation” effort in 2015 to draw more Californians into state parks.

Among the initiatives of the group is to create a community liaison program to encourage young people in urban areas to venture into the parks.

The program includes a partnership with Google to map state parks, making it easier to find trails and landmarks. The state parks also are working to install more wireless internet access at campgrounds.

“It’s a more digital generation than in the past,” Knapp said.

Drawing artists, bloggers The National Park Service also has launched an effort to get minorities into the outdoors by inviting artists, photographers, bloggers and writers who have huge followings on social media to visit parks and post videos, stories and photos of their experiences.

Will Shafroth, president of the National Park Foundation, the official charity of the national park system, said the future of the national parks depends on getting a more diverse generation of millennials to be regular visitors.

“We are going to need people to stand up and fight for the parks,” he said. “We are going to continue to need financial support.”

What flight attendants know but don’t tell passengers

BY PATRICK CLARKE TRAVELPULSE/TNS

It turns out there are a lot of things flight attendants know that they don’t always share with passengers.

Quora recently polled flight attendants on what they “know about flying that they don’t tell passengers,” prompting some helpful and horrifying responses. While some details are juicier than others, there’s a lesson to be learned from each.

Ishrat Parveen’s August post reveals that “the most unhygienic thing in the aircraft is your seat belt, then the tray tables,” adding that passengers sometimes “get served frozen food which is kept for up to 72 hours.”

While you’re wiping down your seat belt, remember to disinfect your tray if you plan on us-

ing it. “Yes, people do put their feet and dirty diapers on the tray tables,” writes Amar Rama.

Fly early It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Parveen writes that “at times, the crew offers you their own meal to make sure you are fed on the flight.”

As for some of passengers’ biggest fears, Anya Mary points out that sometimes rough landings are necessary, especially when it’s raining. Mary also reminds passengers that airplanes are built to withstand thunderstorms and turbulence.

However, Parveen also warns that injuries can happen if passengers don’t heed the seat belt sign.

Another bit of advice, book an early flight for a smoother trip.

“One of the things, that flight attendants won’t tell you, is that morning flights are better because the air is less bumpy,” writes Mary.

“Obviously, the airline wants you to book at any time of the day.

There is also less chance to hit a thunderstorm, as these tend to happen mostly in the afternoon.

“So set your alarm clock early.”

Be nice If there’s one lesson to take away from Quora’s query, though, it’s that most of the time flight attendants are there and willing to help if you know how to ask.

“We will help you as long as it’s within our power,” writes Rama.

“Flight attendants only work onboard the plane, therefore many of us do not know anything regarding your connection or lost bags or even where baggage

DAVID WOO/DALLAS MORNING NEWS/TNS

Southwest Airlines flight attendant Margo Valencia, who trains new flight attendants, demonstrates how she instructs flight attendants showing passengers the exit doors on a simulator at Southwest Airlines on July 23, 2014, in Dallas, Texas. claim is. That is a totally different department. That being said, if you are nice we will try to go above and beyond our job to help from a human-to-human level.”

TravelPulse is a leading travel authority on the web, providing consumer travel news and insider tips and advice for an ever-changing travel world.

STOJ

OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

B5

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

Nat Turner marries Cherry, a slave on a neighboring plantation, in “The Birth of a Nation. Nate Parker and Aja Naomi King star in the film.

‘Birth of a Nation’ meets box-office expectations Controversy and mixed reviews could diminish Oscar prospects

BY TRE’VELL ANDERSON LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

LOS ANGELES — Following the recent controversy around Fox Searchlight’s “The Birth of a Nation,” fervor for the film about Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion is down — including its Academy Award prospects. But with the film’s release in theaters nationwide last weekend, it might not be down for the entire count.

The picture pulled in an estimated $7.1 million in the U.S. and Canada, barely meeting analyst projections of $7 million to $9 million.

The studio, which expected $7 million to $8 million going into the weekend, is happy with the debut, said Frank Rodriguez, Fox Searchlight’s senior vice president of domestic distribution.

“A ‘disappointment’ would’ve been if we came in with $5.8 million or $6.1 million,” he said, also noting that Hurricane Matthew in the Southeast closed a significant number of theaters where the film was expected to soar. (Rodriguez admits the difference might have been only a few hundred thousand dollars.)

Sixth place As for the rest of the box office, fellow new release “The Girl on the Train” from Universal took the top spot with $24.7 million. It was followed by Fox’s “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” ($15 million), Lionsgate’s “Deepwater Horizon” ($11.8 million), Sony’s “The Magnificent Seven” ($9.2 million) and Warner Bros.’ “Storks” ($8.5 million).

“Birth of a Nation” landed in sixth place, with Lionsgate and CBS Films’ new release “Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life” in seventh with $6.9 million.

In “Birth,” Nate Parker stars as Turner, the real-life slave minister who, inspired by the gospel he taught, led a violent and historic rebellion in Southampton County, Va. The film also stars Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer and Gabrielle Union.

“Birth” made its name earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received standing ovations and rapturous praise for the multi-hyphenate Parker, who also produced, directed and cowrote.

Shadowed by case After a bidding war, 20th Century Fox’s specialty division, Fox Searchlight, bought the rights to the movie for a staggering $17.5 million, a festival record.

Its price tag flagged the industry that the studio felt strongly it had an awardsseason contender on its hands, and perhaps a necessary remedy for the #OscarsSoWhite hubbub.

Praise for the film, however, has diminished: Many critics have, in ways subtle and nuanced, retracted the unbridled accolades lodged at the picture out of Sundance, while 79 percent of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes rated the picture positively.

And all of this comes in the shadow of

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renewed attention to a 1999 case in which Parker was accused of sexually assaulting a female student while at Penn State University.

Parker was acquitted in 2001 and has maintained that the sex was consensual.

Parker’s college roommate, Jean McGianni Celestin, who co-wrote “Birth,” also was accused in the assault. He successfully appealed his conviction. The men’s accuser committed suicide in 2012.

An A grade Its Oscar prospects, too, seem to have withered. One Hollywood insider who has worked on past Oscar campaigns predicted the film’s awards chances will be hurt not only by the controversy surrounding Parker, but by mixed reviews and the movie’s lackluster opening.

“It’s not a tour-de-force effort,” said the source, who declined to be identified so as not to be seen criticizing those who’ve worked on the film. “I think it’s going to fall off a cliff (in the Oscar race), especially as it looks like it’s going to lose money for the company that overspent on it to begin with.”

Rodriguez said they have been “toning down” some of the studio’s hopes, presumably regarding Oscar glory.

Fox Searchlight remained confident in “Birth” in the wake of the controversy, adding about 400 theaters to its opening run during the last month to bring its footprint to over 2,100 locations. Despite what some already have termed a box-office failure, the picture seems to be performing well with those who see it.

The film received an A CinemaScore from audiences, which were overwhelmingly older than 25 (60 percent) and primarily African-American (50 percent).

Forty percent of the audience was White.

‘Encouraging’ outcome Rodriguez said the A CinemaScore is promising and “encouraging” regarding the picture’s future play. “What we can hope for and what we expect is there to be some good word-of-mouth on the film,” he said.

The controversy may or may not have contributed to the film’s performance, Rodriguez added.

“I cannot say that it didn’t affect it at all, but I don’t have a metric,” he said. “I don’t know how to measure that. It’s hard to say. Do we wish the discussion was not always involving the controversy? Sure. But it’s there.”

Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst at ComScore, agreed, saying, “It’s almost impossible to know” whether the controversy had an impact.

“I don’t know what this movie would have done if the controversy never came up,” he said.

While no break-even point makes a film “a success,” Rodriguez said, a total of $25 million to $30 million would “ensure” a solid performance of “Birth.” Rodriguez thinks the studio is “within reach” of that, taking into account the film’s international rollout potential and home-viewing options.

These masqueraders participated in the Seventh Annual Miami Broward One Carnival’s Parade of the Bands at the Dade County Fairgrounds on Oct. 11. The Florida Courier staff selected them as this week’s Florida’s Finest – for obvious reasons.

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Times staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this report.

Henson shares life story in ‘Around The Way Girl’ FROM WIRE REPORTS

Taraji P. Henson can now add author to her list of accomplishments.

“Around The Way Girl’’ is Henson’s newest project that details the life of the Academy Award-nominated actress, chronicling her time in an abusive relationship and getting pregnant while still in college at Howard University.

She recently told the “Tom Joyner Morning Show’’ why she decided to share her life story and

“Hidden Figures,’’ her new film in theaters in January.

Encouraged by fans “I felt like the story was needed. It wasn’t something that I said I was going to do. Once social media became very popular, I was able to talk to my fans. They would say ‘your story is so inspirational, you should write a book’. God gave me this cross to bear so I can share it,” Henson said.

“I’m so excited. The temperament of the world at

that time was very scary.

Who knew these women were behind all these men getting to space.”

Family life explored In the book, which debuted this week, Henson writes about her family, the one she was born into and the one she created.

She shares stories of her father, a Vietnam vet who was bowed but never broken by life’s challenges, and of her mother who survived violence both in the

home and on D.C.’s volatile streets.

She also opens up about her experiences as a single mother, a journey some saw as a burden but which she saw as a gift.

With humor and candor, she shares the challenges and disappointments of her journey and shows readers that behind the red carpet moments, she is ever authentic.

Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe win-

An article by Black- ner Taraji P. Henson writes about family, friends, the AmericaWeb.com was hustle required to make it from DC to Hollywood, used in this report. and the joy of living in your own truth.

FOOD

B6

OCTOBER 14 – OCTOBER 20, 2016

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Fresh flavors with friends FROM FAMILY FEATURES

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othing beats a meal filled with flavorful ingredients fresh off the farm – unless you add a table filled with your closest friends to enjoy the bounty. From sides to main dishes to desserts, these recipes show you how to transform wholesome farm-raised foods into a crowd-pleasing menu you can enjoy from start to finish.

FESTIVE PAPAS TAPAS Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes Servings: 6 2-4 medium Wisconsin russet or gold potatoes 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon sea salt Heat grill or oven to 400 F. Thinly slice potatoes lengthwise to 1/4-inch thick, discarding ends.

Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place on grill or prepared baking sheet in single layer.

Cook 10 minutes on each side. Add toppings.

TOPPING IDEAS Bruschetta: In bowl, mix together 2 medium tomatoes diced, 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, 2 cloves minced garlic and 1 tablespoon olive oil and spoon on top of potatoes.

Baked Potato: In bowl, mix together 1/2 cup plain

nonfat Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup shredded reducedfat cheddar cheese, 2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped, and spoon on top of potatoes. Garnish with 1 tablespoon chives.

Mediterranean: In bowl, mix together 1 con­tainer (6 ounces) feta cheese; 1 can (2 1/4 ounces) sliced olives, drained; 1 medium tomato diced; salt and pepper, to taste; and spoon on top of potatoes.

Creamy Greek Yogurt with Lemon and Herbs: In bowl, mix together 1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill; juice from 1/2 lemon; salt and pepper, to taste; and spoon on top of potatoes.

Garnish with dill sprigs.

MIXED BERRY SHORTCAKES Recipe courtesy of Nestlé 2 pounds fresh strawberries, sliced (about 6 cups total)

2 containers (6 ounces each) fresh blueberries (about 2 1/2 cups total) 7 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided nonstick cooking spray 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces 2/3 cup lowfat milk 1/4 cup lowfat Greek yogurt or sour cream sparkling sugar (optional) 3 cups light Vanilla Dreyer’s or Edy’s Slow Churned Light Ice Cream In large bowl, combine strawberries, blueberries and 3 tablespoons granulated sugar; stir gently. Let stand, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

If I don’t have the answer,

Heat oven to 425 F. Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In large bowl, whisk flour, remaining granu­lated sugar, baking powder and salt; cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add milk and yogurt; stir just until moist dough forms.

Turn dough onto floured work surface. With floured hands, knead 6-8 times until dough is smooth. With rolling pin, roll dough into 9-by6-inch rectangle, or about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into six 2 1/2-inch circles. Transfer to prepared baking sheet.

Sprinkle with sparkling sugar.

Bake 10-12 minutes, or just until golden. Trans­fer biscuits to individual plates; split open. Top each with about 1 cup berry mixture and 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream.

PAN ROASTED MAPLE DIJON CHICKEN WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND BRUSSELS SPROUTS Servings: 4 1 tablespoon olive oil 4 chicken thighs 4 chicken drumsticks 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 16 Brussels sprouts (about 8 ounces), bottom trimmed, outer leaves removed and halved 2 cups diced (1/2 inch) butternut squash 1 1/2 cups chicken stock 2 tablespoons maple syrup 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard In saute pan large enough to hold chicken in single layer, heat olive oil over mediumhigh heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan, skin side down, and saute about 4-5 minutes per side, or until chicken is browned.

Remove chicken from pan and reserve. In same pan, add butter. Allow butter to melt over medium heat. Add sprouts and squash to pan and saute, tossing occasionally, until outsides are golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan and hold separately from chicken. Turn heat to high and add stock, syrup and mustard. Stir and bring to boil, stirring to scrape up brown bits on bottom of pan. Add chicken back to pan, cover and reduce heat to medium-low.

Cook over medium-low heat 20-25 minutes, or until chicken registers 170 F with instant read thermometer.

Add vegetables back to pan, cover again and cook another 8-10 minutes until vegetables are tender. Move chicken and vegetables to serving platter, placing vegetables around chicken. Turn heat to high and boil sauce until it is reduced and slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes.

Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.