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NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
VOLUME 23 NO. 45
‘BLACK PEOPLE HAVE ACCEPTED DEFEAT’ A Baltimore-based group of young Black men is fighting against the odds by attempting to decrease the city’s homicide rate among their peer group with little financial support. BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE
BALTIMORE – Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake gave this reporter a blank stare in response to a question. To be asked whether she is familiar with the Baltimore-based group called 300 Men March was apparently baffling to her. She explained, “That’s like asking me if I’ve heard of the Baltimore Orioles. I’m from Baltimore. I get it.”
Made a name As indicated by the mayor’s response, this group of men, known for their patrolling the Baltimore streets as a display of posi-
tive force and responsible manhood amidst an oftenviolent backdrop, has made quite a name for themselves. But as police violence against African-Americans has dominated the media air space, the support needed to help those doing the work against street violence appears stagnant, despite rising homicide rates across the country. “You certainly get a whole lot of activity from people when it comes to police brutality, every time something goes on with the police and the Black man,” says the group’s founder and president, Munir Bahar, in a recent interview
with the Trice Edney Newswire. “But yet, there’s not enough support and involvement on a day-to-day basis of men of color especially, but all men around the country with regards to community violence.”
ROY LEWIS/ TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE
Rates rising
Bahar Munir talks to The surge in national ho- reporters after marching micide statistics has been from Baltimore to Washwell-documented by local ington, D.C. and national media. This week, a heartbreaking national news story focused on the Chicago police investigation of the shooting of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee. The boy, killed Nov. 2, while walking through an alley near his grandmoth-
er’s house, is believed to have been the target in a feud involving one or more of his relatives. The indiscriminate killings of Black people – including babies, children,
Nine-year-old Tyshawn Lee of Chicago is among the latest Black homicide victims nationwide. According to reports, he was shot multiple times Nov. 2 while passing through an alley near his grandmother’s house. teens and adults – are a scenario that has become all too common, says Bahar. At this writing, in Baltimore, the count has surpassed 235, well above last year’s total of 211; in Chica-
OUT AND ABOUT / ANIMATE! MIAMI 2015
Getting ‘zombiefied’
go, it’s now more than 300, 20 percent up from the 244 all of last year. It’s the same story in cities across the country. For See BALTIMORE, Page A2
Cops and Black youth don’t mix Report says police abuse is rampant BY MICHAEL MUSKAL LOS ANGELES TIMES / TNS
More than half of Black “millennials” in the U.S. say they or someone they know had been harassed or treated violently by police, a far larger number than their White or Latino peers, according to research findings released Wednesday. “Black Millennials in America,” a report by the Black Youth Project at the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago, assembled surveys and government statistics over more than a decade to paint a dire portrait of African-American men and women between 18 and 34 years old when compared to their peers in other racial groups.
Poor, jobless
COURTESY OF ANIMATE! MIAMI / PEDRO RIVERA
Approximately 12,000 people, including costume players, videogamers, and animation fans attended the annual Animate! Convention in Miami-Dade on Oct. 23-25. The event included celebrity panels, costume competitions and onsite makeup preparation.
In general, Blacks were more likely to be poorer and unemployed and said they faced a greater possibility of gun-related violence and discrimination than those in other groups, according to the report, based on survey data and government statistics. Authors Cathy J. Cohen and Jon C. Rogowski said they hoped the report would spread knowledge of the real-life experience of young Blacks, giving a voice to See REPORT, Page A2
SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3
BUSINESS | B3
FAMU Trucking industry reports president shortage of drivers not deterred by trustees’ votes NATION | A6
HEALTH | B4
Episcopalians install first Black presiding bishop
Surgery helps restore sight of blind artist
ALSO INSIDE
Courier ‘family member’ dies BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF
DANIA BEACH – Wardell Jackson Lee, stepfather of Florida Courier staffer Lisa Rogers-Cherry, died Oct. 28 due to complications from a stroke he suffered more than two years ago. He was 75. Lee was born on Oct. 12, 1940 at Redfish Point (now a part of Tyndall Air Force Base) in Bay County (Panama City). Redfish Point was a historically Black community founded by his maternal great-grandfather Jose Masslie-
no, a Spanish sailor who jumped ship in the year 1812 and swam ashore there. Wardell was the second son of five children born to Edward Lee, Sr. and Sarah Mildred Masslieno. They moved the family across the bay to Panama City, where Lee graduated from Rosenwald High School in 1958. At an early age, he joined New Judson Missionary Baptist Church, which was established in 1877 and cofounded by his maternal grandfather, Narcisco “Hawk” Masslieno, a Civil War Federal Navy veteran who is al-
so considered to be an early Bay County pioneer. After graduating with degrees from both Bethune-Cookman College and Florida A&M University, Lee wed Etter Smith. To this union, Deacon three children were Wardell Jackson Lee born. He moved his young family to South Florida in 1967, where he was hired as a guidance counselor at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach. He finished See LEE, Page A2
COMMENTARY: MARGARET KIMBERLEY: YES, AMERICANS ARE POOR | A4 COMMENTARY: MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN: BLAME TODAY’S PROBLEMS ON ADULTS, NOT KIDS | A5
FOCUS
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NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
Black America’s perfect public servant It’s November 2015. For the next 12 months, politicians and their surrogates will be parading through America’s AfricanAmerican neighborhoods telling Black people to vote for this or that candidate. Why? Because the United States presidential elections will be held in November 2016, and the political vampires are fully aware that no national candidate will be able to win a rat race without considerable Black voter help. Four years ago, many people in office right now got there riding on the coattails of current President Barack Obama. In 2015, there will be no Obama coattails because Obama will be termlimited, meaning he can’t run for a second re-election. But the tricky political devils will find some Negro to run for national or statewide office in every state. The political parties won’t fund the campaigns of Blacks running for office. In fact, they won’t help Black candidates at all, because history shows that Black votes are always taken for
LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT
granted. Women, Hispanics, gays and every other group will be courted and begged for their votes. What should Black voters do? Who should be the choice of voters in our communities? Well, why can’t we chose the perfect public servant? Every politician will lie and say he or she is the best candidate, the most experienced candidate and the one most worthy of Black votes. Negroes will endorse whoever they think will give them a job. But no one will tell you the very best candidates to vote for but The Gantt Report!
Now read carefully The political incumbents, or the ones currently in office, will
usually have the best chance of getting votes because in a capitalist society oftentimes – if not at all times – votes and elections can be bought and incumbents can raise the most money. It is easy to recognize a political incumbent. They are the men and women that want voters to bow down to them. They are the ones that can walk into the government buildings without be searched. The incumbents are the ones given silly-looking lapel pins so they can recognize each other. They are the ones that get the best front row tables and seats at the legislative receptions and galas. The incumbents are mostly the ones that suck up to the federal and state associations and their high paid lobbyists while turning up their noses to you and other voters! No matter how many times you vote to re-elect an incumbent you’ll never get to talk to them after Election Day. They won’t take your calls, they won’t respond to your emails and don’t go to sleep
and dream about getting a meeting with most of them to discuss your concerns. The best politician to vote for may or may not be an incumbent. The best politician to vote for is the true public servant! The only thing elected officials are required to do is pass a budget. That means they are only required to divide up your tax dollars, your fee money, your license money, your toll money and other federal, state and or local dollars that they get from the people. However, what every elected public servant from the president on down to the commissioners in the smallest cities and counties in the nation should be doing is serving you! The politicians you have been voting for vote for everything for everybody else before they even consider voting for something for you. The best schools are not in your neighborhood. The best roads are not in your neighborhood. The best clinics and hospitals are not in your neighborhood. The safest and most police
REPORT their difficulties. Cohen is chairwoman of the University of Chicago’s political science department and leader of the Black Youth Project; Rogowski is an assistant political science professor at Washington University in St. Louis. “We hope the data and findings in this report will contribute to a call for action to bring about change rooted in the ways Black millennials experience contemporary America,” they wrote.
Very different
BALTIMORE from A1
example, in Washington, D.C., homicides are up 36 percent; New Orleans, up 19 percent; St. Louis, up 60 percent; and Detroit, up 50 percent since last year.
Thousands dead And despite a season of decline during the past decade, the numbers have continued to mount for years. In fact, since 1975, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation first began keeping homicide statistics, the combined national numbers of street homicide deaths surpass a halfmillion. That’s enough to populate several entire cities. As the protests and outrage over the killings of Black men and women by police officers continue around the country, this one group of Black men – 300 Men March – have decided that African-American street violence against each other is what they are called to fight. Winning the respect of their peers, they have proven to be a different kind of warrior. To make that point nationally, Bahar, in August, led about 50 men in a march all the way from Baltimore 35 miles south to Washington. “We wanted to take this straight to our capital, straight to the doorsteps of our president under the banner of the ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative,” said Bahar, 35. “We announced ourselves as that group of men that have been active, that are still active, and pledge ourselves to continue to be active until we end
Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net.
knew were the victim of gun violence in the last year. That compared with 14 percent of Latino millennials and 8 percent of Whites. Yet the same survey, called the Black Youth Project Quarterly Survey, found that 24 percent of Blacks and 22 percent of Latino millennials said they or someone they knew “carried a gun in the last month.” Almost half of White millennials – 46 percent – said they knew of someone who carried a gun. Black millennials were the most pessimistic about the American legal system. Just 26.8 percent agreed with the statement: “The American legal system treats all groups fairly,” according to a 2014 Black Youth Project survey in the report. More than a third of other young U.S. residents – 41 percent of Whites, 36.7 percent of Latinos – agreed that everyone gets treated fairly by the legal system.
from A1
Among the study’s key findings are the starkly different views of Blacks when compared with other millennials on issues including policing, guns, the legal system and violence. The nation has reeled in recent years from riots and protests after high-profile deaths including those of Trayvon Martin in Florida; Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.; and Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Those deaths helped spawn the Black Lives Matter movement, which picked up steam and legitimacy with the help of social media. It has become its own political force, touching the race for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, which generally supports criminal justice reform and gun control. In a 2009 Mobilization and Change Survey done by the Black Youth Project and cited in the report, 54.4 percent of Black mil-
protected communities are not in your neighborhoods. The best malls, shops and grocery stores are not in your neighborhood. The main things that your neighborhood have that others do not have are churches and liquor stores! Everybody looking for your vote should line themselves up in front of the Capitol, the courthouse, the City Hall and the county government building and ask every citizen and voter that walks by, “What can I do for you?” We don’t need political heroes; we need politicians that will serve Black people and Black communities! The best political candidates are the one’s that desire to be the perfect public servants!
Data disparity
FLORIDA COURIER FILES
A recent study shows most young Black adults have had ‘issues’ with police officers at one time or another. lennials answered yes to the question: “Have you or anyone you know experienced harassment or violence at the hands of the police?” About one-third of Whites, 32.8 percent, and about one-quarter of Latinos, 24.8 percent, said yes to the same question. Blacks were also far less likely
to trust police, 44.2 percent, compared with 71.5 percent of Whites and 59.6 percent of Latinos. Blacks were least likely to believe neighborhood police were there for protection. About two-thirds, or 66.1 percent, of Black millennials agreed that cops were in the neighborhood for protection, compared with 80.3 percent of
Whites and 74.4 percent of Latinos.
this genocide in the country of young Black men.” Though he hopes to establish 300 men strong over the next five years, Bahar says they currently have about 60 faithful participants. “We have a large amount of Black men who are literally sitting aside watching our race be destroyed from the inside. Guys who would rather go to happy hour at an all-white party or a cocktail party or a whatever party than to spend that time mentoring some young people in this city,” he says.
“I can say that level of engagement, that grassroots level, is helpful because the 300 Men movement speaks directly to these men that are victims of men that are perpetrators,” she said. “And really trying to speak to their hearts to let them know that there’s something different out there; and that the community needs them to stand up as men, not as violent offenders.”
of young people without giving them financial support and moral support, or even going sometimes to march with them?” Other community leaders have also expressed support. Civil rights activist the Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, pastor of Baltimore’s Empowerment Temple, says some of his male members are a part of the group, which he describes as “redefining what Black male imaging looks like... For Black men to stand and let their voices be heard, this is so significant when we’ve had more than 237 homicides in Baltimore and they are overwhelming majority Black males.”
Historical inspiration Bahar’s nearly 12-year-old nonprofit organization, COR Health Institute, which birthed the 300 vision two years ago, mentors young men in fitness, martial arts, and health programs. On the streets, the 300 Men March is symbolic of the small group of warriors in the movie “300,” who “went up against an army that everybody thought they would lose,” Bahar describes. “There was pessimism from day one. And that’s kind of what we’re dealing with with the murder rate and these murders that are not only happening in Baltimore, but across most urban Black cities across America. We have this skyrocketing, this insane level of violence and I feel – to be honest and I’m out there every day – I feel that a lot of people have given up. I feel that a lot of people in the Black community especially, have just accepted this. A lot of Black people have accepted defeat.” But, the 300 men have inspired many, including Mayor Rawlings-Blake.
Needs financial support Bahar says his vision is to expand nationally and to help other groups with the same goals. But resources are limited. “There are a lot of people from Baltimore to Chicago to Los Angeles who are addressing community violence. We want to rally those individuals. We want to rally and show our support and encouragement to everybody who’s fighting the genocide of young Black men in this country,” he says. Gaining a national reputation, the group has won the attention of the National Bankers Association and its president, Michael Grant, a key supporter who has helped to raise funds for their mission. “So, you got this young leader, and a visionary leader who has stepped out here and who is totally committed to this cause. And he struggles to get attention from people who can help him financially. He struggles to get the support that he needs. “And the question is why. Why would the Black community – especially the Black middle class and those who have resources – why would they not enthusiastically embrace this type of leadership?” Grant asks. “We’re going to leave all this on the shoulders
Special concern Gun violence continued to be a special concern as well. Just over a fifth, 22 percent, of Black millennials interviewed in 2013 said they or someone they
Others advocate Though the 300 group may feel isolated, anti-street violence activity appears back on the rise. For example, the National Week of Non-violence, sponsored annually in mid-October by the Washington, D.C.-based Black Women for Positive Change, drew support from mayors, legislators and activists around the nation, including Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the family of Trayvon Martin. Crump is now president of the National Bar Association. But the battle is uphill, says Bahar. Despite the rising death tolls, he doesn’t appear discouraged. “I’m not worried about measuring my success,” he says. “This is a movement. Dr. King, when they were building their movement, they were not worried about measuring their success. They were just doing something that God inspired them to do. And when you ‘re moving with the spirit of God, you don’t have to evaluate that.”
The disparity among the groups was also measured in government data. For example, in the second quarter of 2015, unemployment among Black millennials was substantially higher: 16.6 percent of Black youth between 20 and 24 said they were unemployed, compared with 10.3 percent of Latinos and 8.5 percent of Whites. In 2013, 32 percent of Blacks 18 to 24 years old lived below the poverty line, compared with 17 percent of White youth and 21 percent of Latino youth, according to government data cited in the report.
LEE
from A1 his formal career in education by serving as a guidance counselor at South Plantation High School before changing professions in 1979, joining Florida Power & Light as an electrician. He worked there for 18 years before retiring. After his first marriage ended, he married Mamie Gooden in 1991 and relocated to Dania Beach, where he joined St. Ruth Missionary Baptist Church and became a deacon and faithful servant there. For more than 18 years, he served on the City of Dania Beach’s Police and Fire Pension Board. In 1999, he was initiated into Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. by the Broward County Alumni Chapter. Survivors include his wife, Mamie Gooden Lee; siblings Dan Lee (Beverly) and Mildred Jean Lee; children Stefanie Atkins (Todd), Arlene Hall (David), Dana Lee (Kristi), and Lisa Rogers-Cherry (Charles II); and a host of grandchildren, aunts, uncles, and other relatives. His mother, father, and two of his siblings preceded him in death. A homegoing service is set for Saturday, Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. at St. Ruth Missionary Baptist Church, 145 NW 5th Ave., Dania Beach.
NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
FLORIDA
A3
FAMU president disappointed but not deterred Mangum reflects on trustees’ failure to fire her BY MARGIE MENZEL THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
TALLAHASSEE – Florida A&M University President Elmira Mangum said Monday she’s undaunted by the failed efforts of members of the university’s Board of Trustees to fire her two weeks ago – and she’s still focused on “transformational change” at the school. “I was shocked, surprised, disappointed – all of that – but not deterred,” she said. “If anything, it made me more committed.” Mangum barely survived two votes for her ouster at an emergency board meeting Oct. 22. Students then marched to Gov. Rick Scott’s office to support her. The next day, the board chairman seen as Mangum’s chief opponent, Rufus Montgomery, resigned as chair while remaining on the board. Last week, Trustee Spurgeon McWilliams, another reliable anti-Mangum vote, stepped down from the board completely.
Board member balks Meanwhile, the Florida Board of Governors – which oversees the state university system – has been taking an increasingly dim view of the turmoil. “We have been witness to failed leadership, no matter who’s at fault,” wrote board member Alan Levine in a column that appeared last weekend in the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper. “While I don’t speak for my colleagues on the Board of Governors, it’s no stretch to suggest patience is thin. … Everyone should be embarrassed by this.” Levine also suggested that if Mangum and the trustees can’t improve the university’s operations and student outcomes, the
Board of Governors will have to intervene. “In the next few months, the majority of FAMU’s board will be up for reappointment or replacement,” he wrote. “No matter who is selected, the Board of Governors will still hold FAMU’s board of trustees and president accountable for the results we are seeking for students. The president and the board must work together to recognize this, act on it, and perform. “Or the Board of Governors may have to.”
‘Change agent’ Yet Mangum was philosophical, even upbeat, in a free-wheeling conversation Monday with reporters – the first such media availability of her 19-month presidency. “I believe that moving an institution through transformation and through change will create some level of disruption,” she said. “In fact, all of the literature and all of the research suggests that it will and it should.” Mangum was, in fact, hired as a “change agent” at the state’s only public historically Black university. She is FAMU’s sixth president since 2001. Trustees were especially concerned because the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools had placed FAMU on probation in December 2012, following drum major Robert Champion’s highly publicized hazing death and a series of questionable audits. Mangum, who was Cornell University’s vice president for budget and planning when she was recruited for the FAMU post, had skills the university needed. But as FAMU’s first permanent woman president and the first president of the modern era who didn’t attend the university, her relations with the board began to unravel before she started, with an effort to cut her new salary even as she wrapped up her
In July, Dr. Elmira Mangum (third from left) was awarded the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Female President of the Year Award by the HBCU Digest. work at Cornell.
Renovations questioned Additionally, a major bone of contention between Mangum and the board has been renovations of the FAMU president’s residence. Mangum is the first chief executive to live in the mansion, which was last occupied by President Frederick Humphries from 1985 to 2001. Although the move to fire her focused, in part, on payments for the ren-
ovations, which trustees said they hadn’t approved, Mangum has maintained that she didn’t approve them, either. “I did not sign off on anything,” she said Monday, noting that when she visited the campus in February 2014, to have her appointment confirmed, she was asked her opinion about issues such as paint, carpeting and light fixtures. As to an $11,000 set of French doors in the renovated residence, Mangum said she hadn’t chosen it, “but I enjoy that door. It’s a
Injured nurse challenges workers comp law THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
With the Florida Supreme Court agreeing last month to take up the case, an injured nurse has filed a brief challenging the constitutionality of the state’s workers-compensation insurance system. The brief, filed Monday, contends that changes lawmakers made in 2003 to the system “decimated and eviscerated” benefits for injured workers. It also contends that injured workers have been deprived of rights because they
are blocked from pursing claims in civil trials outside of the decades-old workers compensation legal system.
Partial disability issue The Supreme Court on Oct. 13 agreed to take up the case after more than a decade of legal wrangling about injuries suffered in December 2003 by Daniel Stahl, a nurse at Hialeah Hospital who hurt his back lifting a patient. In part, the legal dispute has centered on a move by lawmakers in 2003 to elim-
inate a type of benefit for partial disability, according to the brief. “Since 2003 the loss of the inviolate right to trial by jury (through the workers compensation system) has been in exchange for a scheme that provides no recompense at all for permanent partial inability to earn the same or similar wages that the injured worker earned at the time of the injury,’’ said the brief filed by Stahl’s attorney, Mark Zientz.
More pending The Stahl case is one of at
least three challenges pending at the Supreme Court to the state workers-compensation insurance laws. Lawmakers passed a major overhaul of the system in 2003 that sought to reduce costs amid what business groups described as an insurance crisis. But attorneys for injured workers have long argued that the changes went too far. Attorneys for Hialeah Hospital and Sedgwick Claims Management argued in a brief earlier this year that the Supreme Court should not take up the Stahl case.
nice door.”
More accessible She said she hadn’t known the move to fire her was coming at the emergency meeting last month. Mangum expressed the most concern over the fact that FAMU Faculty Senate President Bettye Grable supported both motions to fire her, one with cause and one without. “Trustee Grable represents the faculty, and we will always engage with our faculty and try and meet
Senate panel approves KidCare expansion With backing from the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet, a Senate committee Monday approved a bill (SB 248) that would allow thousands of immigrant children to receive health coverage through the KidCare subsidized insurance program. The Health Policy Committee approved the bill, sponsored by Sen.
their needs,” Mangum said. “To improve that relationship is extremely important to me.” She acknowledged she’d have to grow into the social and political demands of her job. “I am a naturally introverted, shy, person,” Mangum said. “I have to grow into this big persona that people want to see and they want to have access to. … I am most comfortable, honestly, when I’m with the students – because they seem to be less ‘judge-y.’ “ Rene Garcia, a Hialeah Republican who has long pushed for the KidCare expansion. The bill would eliminate a fiveyear waiting period for “lawfully residing” immigrant children to receive coverage. Senators have backed the change in the past, but the House has not gone along. Miami-Dade Republican Jose Felix Diaz has filed the House version (HB 89) for the legislative session that starts in January. The Florida Children and Youth Cabinet, along with a number of advocacy groups, are backing the bills.
DeAngelis Diamond Healthcare Group is currently seeking bids from qualified minority and women-owned Subcontractors and Suppliers interested in procurement opportunities associated with the Palm Harbor Free Standing Emergency Department Project located in Palm Harbor, Florida. The project consists of a new 10,820 SF free standing emergency department plus 2,500 SF canopies. This project involves ground up construction of a single story facility. Construction to begin in mid-December 2015 and finalize in mid-May 2016. Bid packages associated with the project include the following: Sitework • Landscaping • Deep Foundations • Concrete • Masonry • Steel • Millwork • Roofing • Waterproofing/Caulking • Roofing • Metal Wall Panels • Doors • Overhead Doors • Glass • Drywall • Acoustical • Flooring • Painting • Misc. Specialties • Mechanical • Fire Protection • Electrical IMPORTANT NOTE: Bids are due Wednesday, November 11, 2015 @ 2:00 pm CST. Bid documents are available for your immediate use. Please submit your bids to Mark Turner, Senior Estimator. Phone: (205) 977-7798; Email: Markt@DDHealthCareGroup.com. DeAngelis Diamond Healthcare Group is committed to building relationships for the future through honor, integrity and trust that achieve our clients’ goals while having a positive influence on our employees, subcontractors, community and industry. DeAngelis Diamond Healthcare Group and HCA are strongly committed to the development and implementation of initiatives which promote the inclusion of minority and women-owned businesses.
JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS
‘Jeb Can Fix It’ starts in Florida Republican presidential contender Jeb visits the Conductive Education Center of Orlando Monday in Winter Park. The former governor met with the students, families and faculty. The school specializes in working with K-12 students with cerebral palsy and other motor disabilities. Bush is on a campaign tour themed “Jeb Can Fix It.’’ Florida stops this week included Tampa and Jacksonville.
EDITORIAL
A4
NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
Why Black ownership of media is critical In war, one of the first things the enemy does is destroy his adversary’s ability to communicate within its ranks. Chaos likely ensues if a fighting force cannot communicate internally. Individual soldiers end up doing their own thing, left to their own devices; they make decisions based on their individual situations and in their individual interests. This allows the enemy to come in and pick them off one by one, using false information and propaganda (think of “Tokyo Rose” in World War II), instilling fear of being captured or killed, or by making the individual feel abandoned and left with no hope of victory. If the ability to communicate is maintained within a fighting force, it strengthens the group and provides confidence, assurance, and cohesion.
we are so intellectually lazy that books have become passé and just something to brag about having on our bookshelves. Now we rely on Twitter and Facebook for our news. Newspapers, radio, Internet, and television are the four dominant means of communication today. Black people still own a few hundred newspapers, many of which are struggling from week to week because Black folks do not subscribe nor do Black businesses buy ads to any large degree.
Communication ‘noise’
Substantial decrease
Considering our penchant for sound bites, 140-character chirps, and listening to great speeches, but not analyzing them and taking appropriate action, communication among Black folks has largely been reduced to little more than noise. And it’s getting worse. Black newspapers used to be our main communication organ, but as the demand for electronic access to news has increased, newspapers have nearly become obsolete in some circles. Books were also a great source of communication because they contain so much knowledge written by scholars, historians, educators, and activists; but now
Black ownership of radio stations has drastically decreased in the past twenty years. Aside from a couple of great Blackowned Internet wire services, “Black-oriented” sites are not Black-owned; and two of the three longstanding Black magazines, Essence and Ebony, have been reduced to fashion and entertainment, leaving Black Enterprise to carry the load of informing Black folks on economic issues. (I don’t mean to overlook other Black periodicals; I know they are out there getting the word out as best they can.) Now let’s look at television. According to an article on TVNewsCheck.com, written by
JAMES CLINGMAN NNPA COLUMNIST
Doug Halonen, “Racial minorities owned 41 of the U.S.’s 1,386 full-power commercial TV stations in 2013, up 32 percent from the thirty-one they owned in 2011– but only nine of those stations were owned by AfricanAmericans during 2013, down 18 percent from the 11 they owned two years previously,” according to a study of station ownership released by the FCC. Whites owned 1,070 full-power commercial TV stations in 2013, up 14 percent from the 935 they owned in 2011. The FCC report also found that “Asians owned 19 full-power TV stations in 2013, up 73 percent from the 11 they owned in 2011. Hispanics or Latinos owned forty-two full power TV stations in 2013, up 8 percent from the thirtynine they owned in 2011.”
We can do better I guess I could end this article right here, but without application, knowledge and information are without effect. The obvious point here is the necessity for Black people to own more communications outlets in order to control and disseminate pertinent information to Black people. How? Establish syndicates that could purchase more outlets; form an alliance of affluent and conscious Blacks to purchase communications outlets and produce programs to empower rather than dumb-down Black people. Increase support of Black-owned media and their advertisers by Black consumers; leverage the support of Black
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: ‘ONLY OPTION’ TO EUROPE’S REFUGEE CRISIS
MARIAN KEMENSKY, SLOVAKIA
readers, listeners, and viewers of Black media by insisting on more than just mind-numbing idiotic portrayals of Black folks. These simple tactics could strengthen our lines of communications. Accessibility, accountability, and acceptability are essential elements to a strong and relevant media presence within Black society. Our current position in that game is untenable and tenuous at best. In light of the fact that we have the financial wherewithal, collectively and individually, to purchase and support media outlets, it is intriguing how we seem to have settled for much less than we need.
Why cede control? Most of us understand and even admit we are in a war, behind enemy lines, and fighting for respect and empowerment. That being the case, why are we content with having our lines of
communication controlled by others? If we are reluctant to acquire more conscious media outlets, the least we can do is hold those who purport to be “Black media” accountable by refusing to accept the trashy caricatures of Black people and the negative portrayals of Black life that bombard us every day. Without control of communications, an army is severely handicapped. We had better get rid of our negative channels of communications, shore up the positive ones, and create more of our own.
James E. Clingman, founder of the Greater Cincinnati African-American Chamber of Commerce, is the nation’s most prolific writer on economic empowerment for Black people. Contact him via www. blackonomics.com.
FBI chief gets the ‘Ferguson Effect’ all wrong FBI Director James Comey put his boss in an uncomfortable position this week, blaming the movement against police brutality in Black America for increases in crime in some cities. Comey was talking about the so-called “Ferguson Effect,” the theory that intensified scrutiny of police since the rebellions in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore has caused cops to be less aggressive in carrying out their duties, allowing crime to flourish. The FBI chief painted a picture of a digital “Fort Apache, The Bronx,” with cops cowering in their squad cars “surrounded by young people with mobile phone cameras held high,” waiting to capture them on video. Comey said the cops feel like they’re “under siege,” and are reluctant to get out of their cars.
GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT
Not the reality Actually, I think that’s a very pretty picture, and I wish it were the case everywhere in Black America. In the next scene of that movie, the occupation-army-in-blue would turn around and drive back to the suburbs where they live, never to return – and Black folks would take up the task of providing security for their own communities. Now that would be real “community policing.” Director Comey also put himself, at least rhetorically, on the
wrong side of the White House when he questioned the very existence of “mass incarceration” in the United States. The U.S. prison population has grown eight-fold since 1970 but, as Comey points out, each of these prisoners has been locked up one at a time. Therefore, in Comey’s mind, there is no such thing as mass incarceration.
Profiling on steroids All this is quite embarrassing to the Obama administration, whose job is to convince Black people that a kinder, gentler police force is on the way and mass Black incarceration is nearing an end, and that all this can happen without fundamentally changing power relationships in America. It’s a scam, of course. The administration’s version of community policing would
Yes, Americans are poor Americans are perhaps the most deluded people in the world. Facts are ignored in favor of wishful thinking. Fantasies are created by White supremacy and the ruling classes to minimize the numbers of people willing to point out that the emperor has no clothes. One of the most pernicious false beliefs is that “America is a rich country.” The United States Treasury does have trillions of dollars; there are many wealthy people in this country.
Just accept it But Americans should accept the indisputable fact that as individuals, they are poor. Recent Social Security Administration data revealed that 51 percent of all American workers earn less than $30,000 per year. Even in those regions with a low cost of living, a single adult is struggling to live on only
MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT
$30,000 per year. It is a povertylevel income; if half of all workers fall below it, they should be called “poor.” This nation has more poor children than any other country in the group that is referred to as “developed.” According to UNICEF, the overall level of child wellbeing in the United States ranks near the bottom alongside Lithuania, Latvia and Romania.
Painful truth People living in poverty are thought of as lazy or stupid or the victims of their own bad decision-making. Poverty is also synonymous with Blackness. In fact, that old stereotype has
proven to be true in the Obama era. Black people are now the poorest group in the country. There are more Black children in poverty than White children, an historic and awful turn of events. Worship of the “middle class” ideal is a huge obstacle to classconsciousness and political action. If ten people are asked to define the meaning of middle class, it is possible to get ten different definitions. It all boils down to separating oneself from the dreaded and lambasted poor, instead of thinking of oneself as a worker. The result of these mental gymnastics is that millions of the poor never dare to speak up for themselves. Doing so would shatter the fantasy world where they reside.
Not interested Instead of the useless words “middle class,” Americans ought to speak of and fight for a living wage. Of course none of their
actually increase police penetration of the Black community, in the guise of community relations, multiplying the points of contact between police and the people. Pro-active policing merges with predictive policing, which is racial profiling on steroids. Obama is only seeking to put a smiling face on an even more intrusive, higher tech Mass Black Incarceration State.
No prosecution The cops shouldn’t be so nervous. Obama has brought not a single federal prosecution against killer cops. Police impunity is not threatened in any way by his so-called reforms – most of which have been recommended by the cops, themselves. Obama and his political twin, Hillary Clinton, want politicians are really interested in providing one. The Republicans are consistently honest in opposing an increase of the minimum wage. When they have the opportunity, as they did in 2009 and 2010, neither the Democratic president Barack Obama nor the Democratic-controlled House or Senate introduced minimum wage legislation. Instead, they wait to be out of power and then pretend that they would fight for working people. Bernie Sanders says he wants Americans to live like the Scandinavians who rank at the top of personal well being in the world. He has had a chance to act on that belief as a member of the United States Senate, but he has so far refrained from doing so. He did introduce legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, but not until July of this year.
Sleight of hand Under the Sanders plan, the increase would be incremental and not reach $15 until 2020.
Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher
Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.
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to strengthen the grip of police power, by putting Black people back to sleep. The only group that can be counted on not to cooperate is the Black street. Those young Black folks that FBI Director Comey talked about are armed with their phone cameras – and that’s not the only tool that Black hands can hold, a lesson learned with the first modern Black urban rebellion in Harlem, in 1935, and re-learned over the past year in Ferguson and Baltimore. The next chapter of Black history will be written in the streets. The effects will be bigger than Ferguson.
Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. E-mail him at Glen.Ford@ BlackAgendaReport.com. Sanders acts like other Democrats and acquiesces without complaint when a Democrat is in the White House, but then pretends to fight for workers in an election year. The Democrats warn against voting for a third, fourth or fifth party because doing so makes one a spoiler who helps the Republicans. But why is it bad to spoil the chances of a party that lies to its constituents? Democratic treachery creates a vicious cycle of apathy. The people who need the most help ignore the political process altogether because they gain nothing from it. If they don’t participate, then it is business as usual in Washington. In 2016, the word “spoiler” should be a badge of honor. Spoilers shouldn’t be ashamed, and neither should poor people.
Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com.
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NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
Was the Black female student brutalized? No No doubt you’ve seen the latest video clip chronicling seemingly irreconcilable conflicts between White cops and Black folks. Student Resource Officer Ben Fields is seen violently flinging a female student out of her desk, dragging her to the front of the classroom, and forcefully restraining her as he puts her in handcuffs. You’ve probably also seen commentators all over mainstream and social media hurling moblike condemnation at this officer for the “extremely disturbing” and “horrific” way he “brutalized” this student. Never mind credible reports that she suffered no injuries during this incident, which occurred at the Spring Valley High School in South Carolina.
Ordered to leave The clip shows the officer ordering her, rather politely, to obey the teacher’s instruction to leave the classroom. But she appeared to accord him no greater respect than she did her teacher or the administrator her teacher initially called for help. This left the officer no choice but to physically remove her … for the educational benefit of the other students. Alas, that he acted pursuant to this prevailing benefit seems completely lost on most commentators, and will be lost, I fear, on her fellow students too – given the way this incident is playing out in the media. It’s easy to say from our vantage point that this officer should have used less force to remove her. But I suspect we’d be able to accuse most cops of using excessive force if they were caught on tape dealing with a similar situation. On the other hand, prevailing anti-cop bias is blinding commentators to the fact that she clearly provoked the force he used by resisting so frenetically – complete with punches and kicks to fend him off.
No complaints Perhaps more instructive, though, are reports that neither her teacher nor the administrator uttered a word of complaint about excessive force … before that video went viral. Not to mention the obvious fact that the teacher would
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VISUAL VIEWPOINT: AMERICA IN SYRIA
No martyrs or heroes ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST
not have called for help in the first place if this student had not shown a determination to resist as she did. All of which raises a few existential questions. But first, please take a moment to consider what a disruptive presence she must have been to compel her beleaguered and frustrated teacher to call for help: • What is a student resource officer supposed to do when a disruptive student refuses all entreaties to leave the classroom? • Would it have been in the school’s or, more importantly, the other students’ interest to allow her to continue disrupting the class at her will and whim? • If yes, what would this portend for the classroom order and discipline necessary to create an environment conducive to learning?
No surprise Truth be told, this student’s disruptive behavior did not surprise me in the least. It is entirely consistent with the cancerous disrespect far too many young Black kids are developing, not just for police officers but all authority figures. I cannot overstate this abiding fear, as I did in August 2014 after Mike Brown was killed: The lesson most young Black men [and women, evidently] are learning from this tragedy is that they can resist arrest — so long as they shout the newfangled slogan, ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ while doing so. Clearly, this will only lead to more of them ending up like Michael… Instead of doublespeak that would make him a saint, those eulogizing Michael would honor his death far more by admonishing young Black men [and women] against the deadly hazards of resisting arrest and defying authority … merely as a misguided badge of honor or rite of passage.
Indeed, what is most troubling about this trend is the way everyone from civic leaders to social commentators invariably treat these rebels without a cause like civil-rights martyrs and heroes. And, after coddling them, despite their misbehavior/crimes, these same people then wonder why Black kids continue to act out in such disruptive and criminal ways; or, of far greater concern, why they continue to perform in school way below their White counterparts – with the continuing cycle of plight and blight that portends. To say nothing of the media portraying this student as a wholly innocent victim of “racist” police brutality. Only this explains the Huffington Post headlining its fairly balanced report on this incident: “When Black Kids Aren’t Allowed To Be Kids.” How’s that for confusing, condescending, coddling claptrap?! Talk about exhorting Blacks to be their own worst enemies…. Frankly, it’s a reflection on what dystopian places schools have become that student resource officers are now as commonplace at them as physical education teachers. And those officers are there as much to protect teachers from increasingly unruly and violent students as to protect students from each other. For a little perspective, if I had disrupted class in this fashion when I was in school, my Mummy would have “brutalized” me more than that officer reportedly brutalized this girl. What’s more, my school, my classmates and I would have all been much the better for it. And, lest you think I’m just old fashioned, the Black kid whose mother caught him on TV reveling in the Baltimore riots earlier this year might beg to differ. Remember the viral sensation she became when she marched through those riots, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and brutalized his ass all the way home? He was clearly humiliated but, trust me, that kid would tell you today that he’s much the better for it.
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN NNPA COLUMNIST
with our children and I almost always answer, “Adults are what’s wrong.” We tell our children to control themselves while slapping and spanking and ejecting them violently in our homes, childcare centers, schools, detention facilities and prisons. Adults tell children to be honest while lying and cheating, and not to be violent A different story while marketing and glorifying viA very welcome counter-narra- olence. tive took place when a White female police officer in Washing- Examine yourself ton, D.C., after diffusing a potenI urge every parent, adult, edutially volatile conflict between cator, faith and public leader to two groups of Black teens, then conduct a personal audit to detercharmed with a “dance off” a defi- mine whether we are contributing ant teen-age girl who had refused to the crisis our children face or to to leave. Any parent who has gone the solutions they urgently need. through the challenges of adoles- And if we are not a part of the solucence could only admire the quick tion, we are a part of the problem thinking and agile footwork of the and need to do better. D.C. police officer. Our children don’t need or exThe last thing children need pect us to be perfect. They do need is violent assaults in schools that and expect us to be honest, to adought to be safe havens, and a sus- mit and correct our mistakes, and pension, expulsion and arrest to to share our struggles about the blot their school records and push meanings and responsibilities of them closer to the prison pipeline. faith, parenthood, citizenship, and And the very last thing children life. need is out-of-control adults using Before we can pull up the morviolence as a way of resolving dif- al weeds of violence, materialism, ferences. and greed in our society that are I am often asked what’s wrong strangling so many of our young,
DARYL CAGLE, CAGLECARTOONS.COM
tential question: Why aren’t more commentators questioning the parenting of this child who sees nothing wrong with not only refusing to participate in class, but making it impossible for other students to do so as well? Then, of course, there’s the most cynical feature of these contrived civil-rights conflicts: the inevitable lawsuit, which unjustly enriches the lawyers filing them and the alleged victims in equal measure. Nothing demonstrates this misguided folly quite like the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) sticking its brown nose into this provincial disciplinary matter. As if lying in wait for the video to “go viral,” it made quite a show of announcing its intent to launch an investigation to determine if this cop violated this student’s civil rights. Mind you, this is the same DOJ that made quite a show of launching an investigation to determine if another White cop violated Michael Brown’s civil rights when he shot Michael in Ferguson last year. Only it made far less of a show when it finally announced that his use of deadly force was justified – given clear and convincing evidence that Brown was violently resisting arrest. DOJ officials stood by in the interim as ignorant and misguided protesters convicted this cop in the court of public opinion and pressured local officials to fire him. Therefore, I would bet my life What about parenting? savings that, after sufficient politiWhich raises one more exis- cal pandering in this case, the DOJ
Adults are the problem, not kids It is time for adults of every race and income group to break our silence about the pervasive breakdown of moral, family, and community values, to place our children first in our lives, and to struggle to model the behavior we want our children to learn. School children don’t need one more “Officer Slam” as some students referred to the White South Carolina school resource officer who shamed the nation with his violent ejection of a 16-year-old Black female student from her classroom for a nonviolent offense.
EDITORIAL
we must pull up the moral weeds in our own backyards and educational institutions. So many children are confused about what is right and wrong because so many adults talk right and do wrong in our personal, professional, and public lives. If we are not supporting a child we brought into the world as a father or mother with attention, time, love, discipline, and the teaching of values, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the family breakdown today that is leaving so many children at risk.
Part of the problem If we are abusing tobacco, alcohol or other drugs while telling our children not to, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution in our overly addicted society. If we have unlocked and loaded guns in our home and cars, and rely on them to feel safe and powerful, and don’t stand up to those who market guns to our children and to those who kill our children with guns, or glamorize violence as fun, entertaining, and normal, then we are part of the problem rather than the solution to the escalating war of American against American, family member against family member, and children against adults and adults against children that is tearing us apart. If we profess to be people of faith and send rather than take our children to worship and religious
education services, and believe that the Sermon on the Mount, Ten Commandments, the Koran, or whatever religious beliefs we hold, pertain only to one-day worship but not to Monday through Sunday home, professional, and political life, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the spiritual famine and hypocrisy plaguing America today.
Learn from the past If we tell, snicker, or wink at racial, gender, religious, or ethnic jokes or engage in or acquiesce in any practices intended to diminish rather than enhance other human beings, then we are contributing to the proliferating voices of racial and ethnic division and intolerance staining our land again. Let’s not fight the Civil War or repeat the worst lessons of our past. Let’s prepare for the future in an irreversibly interconnected world that is majority non-White and poor. If we think being American is about how much we can get rather than about how much we can give and share to help all our children get a healthy, fair, and safe start in life, and successful transition to college and productive work in our boastfully wealthy nation and are unable and unwilling to support a concept of enough for the poor among us then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution. If we, or our organizations, are spending more money on alcohol and entertainment than on scholarships, books, tutoring, rites of passage, and mentoring programs for youths, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solu-
will quietly announce that this cop’s use of force was also justified.
What did we learn? Which brings me to the most important things to learn from this teachable incident: • It only fuels these conflicts between White cops and Black folks when commentators of all stripes refuse to condemn the types of behavior that continually give rise to them. • It only encourages more unruly behavior, thereby making learning even more challenging, when commentators of all stripes hail this student – who disrupted her own class – as a latter-day Rosa Parks. • It is always incumbent upon cops to diffuse conflicts, which in this case might have had him calling for backup to lift this kid, while still seated in her chair, and take her out of the classroom (as ridiculous as that seems), instead of dragging her from it and cuffing her the way he did. Incidentally, what is probably most telling about this video is that none of her classmates can be seen raising a voice, let alone lifting a finger, in her defense against this White cop. That, my friends, is not insignificant.
Anthony L. Hall is a Bahamian native with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com. tion to ensuring positive alternatives to the streets and drug dealers for children. If we’d rather talk the talk than walk the walk to the voting booths, school board meetings, political forums, PTA, congregation and community meetings to organize community and political support on all sides of the aisle for our children, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution.
Hold pols accountable If we are not voting and holding political leaders at every level and in every party accountable for investing relative pennies in quality early childhood opportunities, education, housing for homeless children and jobs – jobs with dignity and decent wages – and billions in the military budget, and for cutting investments for poor mothers and children while protecting massive government welfare for rich farmers and over-paid corporate executives, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the undemocratic unjust and growing gap between rich and poor. And if we think “we have ours” and don’t owe any time or money or effort to lend a hand to voteless, voiceless, hungry, homeless, miseducated, neglected and abused children, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the fraying social fabric and violence and uncertainty that threatens all Americans.
Marian Wright Edelman is founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund (www. childrensdefense.org).
War abroad breeds homicidal indifference at home Underground fires are notoriously hard to control or extinguish. One fire in a St. Louis, Mo., landfill is at least five years old. It rages 1,200 feet or less from buried nuclear waste left over from World War II. Should the fire reach the radioactive material, one of the likely results will be a plume of deadly radioactive smoke directly over the St. Louis airport, the city and
BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT
nearby suburbs. In October local authorities finally revealed their emergency plans in the event the fire reaches the radioactive waste.
Local residents are not reassured by federal government pronouncements that there is little danger to the health and safety of the 2 million-plus residents of the St. Louis metro area. The government has for decades displayed a kind of homicidal indifference to the wellbeing of people in the greater St. Louis area. In 1994, the U.S. Army admitted that in the 1950s it had deliber-
ately sprayed certain poor neighborhoods in and around St. Louis with toxic and radioactive dust. It seems that the local topography around St. Louis resembled that of some Russian cities America might target in a future war. Some local residents died. The folks who manufactured the nukes used on Japanese cities in World War II didn’t mind dumping their radioactive gar-
bage on the outskirts of an American city, and American military officials who considered poisoning Soviet civilians in the 1950s didn’t shrink from testing their methods on American civilians. So you probably shouldn’t believe much of what governmental officials that would do such things will say.
Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport.com.
NATION
TOJ A6
NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
Episcopal Church installs first Black presiding bishop In recent years, the denomination has become more progressive, accepting gay and female spiritual leaders. BY VERA BERGENGRUEN TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON — The service that installed Michael Bruce Curry as presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church on Nov. 1 would have been unrecognizable to Episcopalians of the past century. And congregants say that’s a good thing. The church’s first African-American presiding bishop was instated in a ceremony led by female bishops, openly gay priests and even a rabbi. After a spirited opening by a gospel choir, Episcopal leaders filed into the National Cathedral in Washington to the sound of guitars guiding a Spanish hymn and a Native American drumming prelude. “Don’t worry. Be happy! God has not given up on the world, and God is not finished with the Episcopal Church yet,” Curry said. Curry faces the daunting task of revitalizing a splintered denomination that has lost more than a quarter of its members in the past decade.
86 percent White His sermon to the more than 2,500 people in the cathedral was “classic Michael Curry,” his friends said. He needled, he reflected, he reassured. “Racial reconciliation is
CYNTHIA L. BLACK/EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE
Then Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry, bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina, speaks to a packed House of Deputies after deputies confirmed his election in June as the 27th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. Curry’s family and others joined him on the dais. just the beginning for the hard and holy work of real reconciliation that realizes justice but really across all the borders and boundaries that divide the human family of God,” he said. For today’s Episcopal Church, the historically buttoned-up spiritual home of U.S. presidents and the nation’s elite, which is still 86 percent White, inclusion means survival. “Today is a spectacular day because the election of an African-American bishop opens a new horizon that really just gives us so much hope for the future of the church,” the Rev. Gladys Diaz of New York said in Spanish, adding that it could even be a Hispanic
bishop next time.
Eccentric choice An emotive man whose sermons often resemble the energetic oratory of a Southern preacher, his voice often dropping to a dramatic whisper before a booming exclamation, Curry may seem an eccentric choice to lead the church’s 1.8 million Episcopalians. “Some people say that he doesn’t sound very Episcopalian, but no person does,” said the Rev. Sandye Wilson, a friend of Curry’s who is the rector of St. Andrew and Holy Communion Episcopal Church in South Orange, N.J. “Preaching style is as wide
and varied as people and experiences in the church. “He emphasizes being authentic, and having others find authenticity in their own voices,” she said. After the death of his mother when he was in middle school, Curry was raised by his Baptist grandmother, the daughter of North Carolina sharecroppers and the granddaughter of slaves. After graduating from Yale Divinity School in 1978, he started his career as a rector in Winston-Salem, N.C., and went on to lead parishes in Lincoln Heights, Ohio, and Baltimore, where he guided the church restoration after a devastating fire and was active in brokering millions of dollars
of investment in inner-city neighborhoods. He was bishop of North Carolina for 15 years before being elected as presiding bishop this summer. In recent years the church has moved toward increasingly progressive positions, including sanctioning gay marriage and female ordination. Curry is replacing Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to hold that office.
Breaking point But the consecration of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson in 2003 was a breaking point for more conservative members of the church. Six dioceses have since left the Epis-
copal Church, including South Carolina, which withdrew in 2012 over the church’s liberal doctrines to become its own autonomous Anglican diocese. Others aligned themselves with the more conservative dioceses in Africa and South America. Under Schori, the church also became involved in costly legal battles against the separatists. She took a firm stance on the ownership of church properties occupied by congregations that had split, which cost the church about $42 million in court expenses. Curry’s fans and colleagues say his background and experience make him the ideal candidate to lead the church through this time of upheaval. “He was very much a product of coming of age during the civil rights movement, and his passion for inclusion is very much rooted in his experience as an African-American man who has experienced exclusion,” said Rev. Lisa Fischbeck, vicar of the Episcopal Church of the Advocate in Chapel Hill, N.C. As bishop of North Carolina, Curry focused on establishing missionary branches to reach out to lapsed churchgoers. “He’s certainly been successful here in North Carolina where the church has grown, establishing missionary dioceses to reach out to those who aren’t in the church or have left it because they felt excluded or judged,” said Fischbeck, whose parish is one of the new missionary posts. Curry will serve a nineyear term at the Episcopal Church headquarters in New York City.
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AHOY, ANNAPOLIS The Maryland city is famous for the Naval Academy, Alex Haley Memorial, Banneker-Douglass Museum and Thurgood Marshall statue. And, of course, the crab cakes.
BY ELEANOR HENDRICKS MCDANIEL SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER
L
ike the tides, the coastline of Annapolis flows in and out of the country’s largest estuary, Chesapeake Bay. Not only is it the capital of Maryland, it’s also “America’s Sailing Capital.” In or out of the water, you’re in for a nautical experience.
City Dock Years ago when I sailed into Annapolis on a friend’s boat, we tied up at City Dock, like others have done for 300 years. This year I approached it by water taxi (cruisesonthebay.com/Annapolis-watertaxi/). The forest of sailboat masts still bobbed on the water and the mass of seafood restaurants and assorted shops still surrounded the square. But this time, a new monument had been added – the Alex Haley Memorial. A group of sculptures depicts the author of “Roots’’ reading to a gathering of children. Haley’s ancestor and hero of the book, Kunta Kinte, is said to have landed on City Dock in 1767 off the slave ship Lord Ligonier.
Naval Academy The U.S. Naval Academy (usnabsd.com/for-visitors) helped put Annapolis on the global map. Founded in 1845 on 10 acres as a Naval school, it became the United States Naval Academy in 1850, and now encompasses 338 acres. The public may visit the grounds and some buildings on guided tours. Our volunteer docent, Wayne Fritz, was a 1957 alumnus, who shared interesting antidotes and facts, such as Wesley Brown, in 1949, was the first African-American to graduate from the Academy. He walked us around the “Yard” (or campus). In Lejeune Hall, we viewed the Athletic Hall of Fame that displayed photographs of the Academy’s star athletes like David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs. We also saw students swimming fully clothed in an Olympicsize pool and jumping from a high diving platform as preparation for abandoning ship. Other buildings of interest are the chapel and the museum. Be sure to view the noon meal formation as hundreds of midshipmen (and women) head off to lunch. Since 1905, a military pageantry complete with bagpipes, a marching band, swords, flags and blocks of student formations perform in front of tourists. Of course, they played “Anchors Away” and “The Halls of Montezuma.” After the workout, the student body marched into the dining hall.
Black history museum Partially lodged in the former Mt. Moriah A.M.E. Church is the Banneker-Douglass Museum (bdmuseum.com), Maryland’s official museum for African-American heritage. It’s named after two exceptional Black Marylanders: Benjamin Banneker and Frederick Douglass. Others born in the Old Line State who distinguished themselves also are remembered, like Harriet Tubman and Matthew Henson (ancestor of actress Taraji P. Henson). As you enter the modern addition, you’ll notice a two-storied colored glass window created by Baltimore artist Loring Cornish. It ties the spirit of the church to Maryland’s AfricanAmerican history. The museum focuses on the positive contributions of AfricanAmericans in all contexts in the history of the United States. “Africans coming to America weren’t just blank slates,” said Dr. Joni Floyd, executive director. Lifelike dioramas, exhibits and authentic objects describe their contributions, knowledge and skills. Galleries feature the legacies of slavery, the Underground Railroad, military matters, collegiate sports and more. One of the interactive objects challenges you to fit yourself into a box the same size as the shipping container Lear Green, a female slave, escaped in. Dr. Floyd demonstrated that feat for me. Beginning Dec. 1, the museum will host a temporary sixmonth exhibition, “Jumping the Broom.” When you go, start with the 10-minute video and plan to spend one and one-half hours at the museum. Admission is free and 100,000 people visit annually.
Fashionable entrepreneur For three years, Brett Hovington’s haberdashery, Capital Custom Clothiers (capitalcustomclothiers. com), has been designing extraordinary attire. The family business is more than just a place to buy men’s tailored wear. “One of our strong points is the relationship we try to build with our clients,” remarked Hovington. An example of his outreach is the program called The Groom’s Place. It’s his answer to the bridal shower. The groom and his men are invited to spend the day at Hovington’s shop to be fitted for their suits, along with gifts and liquid libations. He has partnered with the barber across the street and a nearby pub to make the men’s day complete. In addition to having a full schedule for the wedding and prom seasons, Capital Custom Clothiers also fashions blazers for the Naval Academy personnel and midshipmen. See ANNAPOLIS, Page B2
Top: It’s easy to get from City Dock to Eastport, known for its fine restaurants. PHOTO BY ELEANOR HENDRICKS MCDANIEL
Above: Find the memorial to Justice Thurgood Marshall at the Lawyers Mall. PHOTO COURTESY OF VISITANNAPOLIS.COM
Left: Noon formation takes place daily at the United States Naval Academy. PHOTO COURTESY OF VISITANNAPOLIS.COM
Below left: Annapolis’ Black history is depicted in a colored glass window by AfricanAmerican artist Loring Cornish of Baltimore.
PHOTO BY ELEANOR HENDRICKS MCDANIEL
Brett Hovington and his daughter, Briana, work together at Capital Custom Clothiers.
CALENDAR
B2
NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
CLARENCE CARTER
Catch Betty Wright, Clarence Carter, Shirley Murdock and Bishop Bullwinkle at the 1828 Southern Soul Music Festival at 2 p.m. on Nov. 28 at Water Works Park, 1710 N. Highland Ave., Tampa. More information: 813-444-2986.
NAS
NAS, Lil Wayne and Yo Gotti are among the scheduled performers at the HIT Music Festival on Nov. 7 at the University of South Florida Sun Dome.
SOMMORE
Comedienne Sommore will be at the Tampa Improv in Ybor City Nov. 13-15.
FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR St. Petersburg: The 18th Annual African American Health Forum is Nov. 7 at the Johnnie Ruth Clarke Health Center, 1344 22nd St. S. A Midtown Memorial Wellness Walk, Run & Bike is at 7:30 a.m. The forum is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration details: Email Tyhisia Alexander at talexander@hcnetwork.org. Miami: Martin Dixon’s I’m So Hood Comedy Tour stops at the James L. Knight Centr on Nov. 25.
Fort Lauderdale: The Soweta Gospel Choir makes a stop at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 22. The concert starts at 6 p.m. Tampa: Eric Deggans, NPR’s TV critic, will speak at the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists’ Griot Drum Awards & Scholarship Banquet on Nov. 12, at the Tampa Marriott Westshore. More information: www. tbabj.com. Orlando: The Legends of the Old School tour makes stops at the CFE Arena in Orlando on Nov. 6 and the
Bank United Center in Coral Gables on Nov. 20. Performers include Vanilla Ice, Salt N Pepa, Coolio, 2 Live Crew, Color Me Badd, Rob Base, DJ Laz and Gucci Crew II. St. Petersburg: Chaka Khan has a show at the Mahaffey Theater on Nov. 13. Sunrise: The Grace Jamaican Jerk Festival is Nov. 8 at Markham Park. For a list of performers and more information, visit www. jerkfestival.com or call 786361-1103. Miami: The Comedy Get Down tour stops at the
PHOTO COURTESY OF VISITANNAPOLIS.COM
Sculptures on City Dock depict Alex Haley reading to children.
ANNAPOLIS from Page 1
Tribute to Marshall View the eight-foot statue of famed United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall at the Lawyers Mall at the State House. The plaza honors the accomplishments of the first African-American appointed to the high court. As an attorney for the NAACP, Marshall fought for equal justice for all. In 1954, he won the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education in the Supreme Court. The landmark decision outlawed segregation in America’s schools. The figures on the benches within the site represent students who benefitted from the decision. All around the circle is a chronology of Marshall’s extensive achievements.
Crab is king And I don’t mean king crab, but the small blue crabs found in the Chesapeake Bay. Celebrated throughout the Mid-Atlantic states is the Maryland crab cake. Sweet and succulent, fried or broiled, it’s formed with nothing but jumbo lump crabmeat. So where to find a good one in Annapolis? Almost anywhere and everywhere. Of course, each chef incorporates his own special seasonings. I suggest these restaurants, which may also create other tasty crab dishes. Galway Bay Irish Pub (galwaybaymd. com) serves, not surprisingly, traditional Irish fare, like corned beef and cabbage, but it ventures out with unusual seafood
and chicken selections, too. For its crab feast, the pub features Miss Peggy’s crab cake dishes. I had the crab cake sandwich for lunch, and it was one of the best I’ve ever eaten. Chick and Ruth’s Delly (chickandruths.com) just marked its 50th anniversary. The second-generation owners have continued the tradition of an unbelievably giant-size menu that lists giant-size portions, like a nine-pound milkshake. I ate breakfast there, and, even in the morning, crab showed up in omelets and Eggs Benedict. The rest of the day, the deli’s motto is: Crab Cake Central. But if you go for breakfast, get there in time to say the Pledge of Allegiance. For upscale dining, Carrol’s Creek Waterfront Restaurant (carrolscreek.com) is the place. Housed on a wharf with a view of pleasure crafts docked outside, the ambiance is casually elegant. The menu includes a variety of food options, and I must admit that by this time, I was crabbed out. So I selected pan-seared scallops – another morsel from Chesapeake Bay. My dinner companion also passed on the tempting crab cakes and chose instead a landlubber’s grilled filet mignon. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait for summer to visit Annapolis because there’s always something going on. Check for happenings at visitAnnapolis.org.
Eleanor Hendricks McDaniel is an experienced travel journalist who travels domestically and internationally. She has lived in Paris, Florence (Italy) and Philadelphia. She currently resides in Ormond Beach. Check out her blog: flybynighttraveler.com and follow her on Twitter: ellethewriter.
AmericanAirlines Arena on Dec. 11. The tour features D.L. Hughley, George Lopez, Cedric the Entertainer, Eddie Griffin and Charlie Murphy. Hollywood: Jason Derulo will perform Nov. 13 at Hard Rock Live. Fort Lauderdale: The African-American Research Library and Cultural Center will channel the ambiance of the Islands of the Bahamas on Nov. 6. This age 21-andover event is scheduled from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The cost is $10. Location: 2650 Sistrunk Blvd. More info: 954-3576210.
TOJ
Art Africa Miami Arts Fair returns next month
ness to Black art for all perspectives that include African-American, Latin, Afro Cuban, Caribbean and African artistic and cultural exhibition and programming. AAMAF is made possible through the support of District 5 Commissioner Keon Hardemon and Southeast Overtown Park West Community Redevelopment Agency (SEOPW CRA). “Art and entertainment are at the cornerstone of the Historic Overtown community,” said Hardemon. “As chairman of the SEOPW CRA, it is our mission to enhance the quality of life of our residents. Showcases such as the annual Art Africa Miami Arts Fair, attracts visitors into the community while highlighting the wave of redevelopment that is taking place. “ The Urban Collective Art Youth Insider workshop on Dec. 4 will explore the areas of art and design, street art, mural art and fine art. On Dec. 6, there will be a Soul Basel Brunch and Conversation: “The Renaissance of Overtown’s Cultural and Artistic Landscape,’’ which will close out the fair. For more details, visit www.artafricamiamifair. com or call 954-283-7195.
Applications now available for free tuition
for up to 10 semesters to cover on-campus room and board and books. Students must meet the required academic standards each semester to renew the funds each year. Graduating high school seniors can on the Tom Joyner Foundation website at www.tomjoynerfoundation.org. Students must have their schools mail their transcripts and recommendations to the Foundation at P.O. Box 630495, Irving, TX 75063-0495.
The Urban Collective’s fifth Art Africa Miami Arts Fair (AAMAF) takes place Dec. 2-6. It will be hosted by the Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex, 819 NW 2nd Ave, Miami. The exhibition will run daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Art Africa Miami Arts Fair is a juried multidisciplinary exhibition of fine contemporary art from the global African Diaspora. “We are thrilled to announce the 5th Annual Art Africa Miami Arts Fair in the Historic Overtown. The community is experiencing a timely and welldeserved renaissance. Art Africa Miami is a catalyst of this renaissance and I am looking forward to everyone coming out to experience the rebirth through art, architecture, and design,” said D. Neil Hall, an architect who is founder of the fair. The AAMAF is also part of the Soul Basel and Art of Black Miami marketing vehicle that brings aware-
The Tom Joyner Foundation is accepting applications for its Full Ride scholarship program that will cover all the expenses of one student planning to attend a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the fall of 2016. Students will receive full tuition and stipends
S
NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
BUSINESS
B3
Trucking industry facing severe driver shortages A jump in pay isn’t attracting enough long-haul workers to a job with long hours and extended time away from home.
stiff challenges. The improving economy has opened more employment alternatives for people who might otherwise be drawn to trucking, Costello wrote in a recent report.
Average age: 49
BY RICK ROMELL MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL (TNS)
MILWAUKEE — From the seat of his Freightliner, hauling brake rotors from Wisconsin to Ohio, bucking traffic around Chicago, regularly dodging close calls, Robert Johnson takes a dim view, generally speaking, of his fellow truck drivers. “They’ll put anybody in a truck,” Johnson, who has 15 years at the wheel, said between bites of a sandwich and fries at a Milwaukee-area truck stop off Interstate 41. “ … Anybody who wants to drive.” That, of course, is exaggeration. Applicants are rejected frequently. But trucking companies in fact are harder pressed than they’ve ever been to attract enough drivers to an industry that carries nearly 70 percent of all the freight that moves in the United States. “It’s the worst we’ve ever seen,” Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations, said of the current driver shortage.
48,000 short The shortage — Costello estimates it at nearly 48,000 drivers, the great bulk of them in the longhaul, truckload sector — is being felt industry wide. Companies such as Green Bay’s Schneider, one of the country’s largest carriers, are working to make schedules more predictable for over-the-road drivers. Roehl Transport, in the central Wisconsin city of Marshfield, lets them bring along a dog or cat under its new Pet Passport Program. Kreilkamp Trucking, about 35 miles outside Milwaukee, in Allenton, has begun doing its own driver training.
MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL/TNS
Veteran driver Brian Price, left, talks with company president Tim Kreikkamp at Kreilkamp Trucking Inc. in Allenton, Wis., on Oct. 9. “Experienced drivers are not out there, so we have to make them,” President Tim Kreilkamp said. Most significantly, the shortage has been driving up pay. Pay rates at Schneider have risen 4 percent to 10 percent over the last couple of years, Chief Operating Officer Mark Rourke said.
Increased pay Kreilkamp, which says its drivers average $55,000 to $65,000 a year, has raised pay, too, and probably will raise it again, Tim Kreilkamp said. Both firms pay bonuses for new drivers. Kreilkamp’s bonuses go to truckers who bring in recruits. Schneider is paying retention bonuses of $5,000 to $10,000 to new drivers who stick with the company, something the carrier was not doing several years ago. Nationwide, pay for long-dis-
tance truckload drivers has been increasing much faster than for production and non-supervisory employees generally, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show. From 2009 through 2014, the truckers’ average weekly earnings rose 19 percent — half again as much as the increase for non-supervisory workers as a whole. That marked a sharp reversal from the previous five years, when the increase in pay for the truck drivers lagged far behind that of other workers. But even with the gains, longhaul truckers’ pay — it averages about $46,000 a year, according to BLS — is not attracting enough people to a job with long hours and extended time away from home. Boosting wages further isn’t the entire answer, but pay definitely needs to rise more, Costello said.
Intense competition Trucking has been down this road before, most recently about 10 years ago. The current shortage, however, is more severe and could rise to 175,000 drivers by 2024 if the current trend continues, Costello said. He estimates there are about 800,000 drivers in the long-haul truckload sector, the almost entirely non-union wing of the industry, where trailers are filled with a single load from one shipper to one recipient. Other estimates place the number of such drivers as high as 1.5 million. Truckload is a relatively easy business to enter, making for intense competition that, historically, has tended to keep the brakes on both shipping rates and wages. However, pay tends to rise during periods of labor shortages, and the current situation sees carriers facing particularly
Meanwhile, the growth in the U.S. labor force has been slowing, economist Noel Perry of FTR Transportation Intelligence, a consulting and research firm in Bloomington, Ind., noted. When trucking demand outstrips overall growth in the workforce, Perry said, the industry increasingly has to recruit people “who are not inherently well-suited for this lifestyle.” Which gets to a key problem: Trucking does offer relatively good pay, but at a price. Johnson, who gets home on weekends, is making $60,000 to $65,000 annually — about 15 percent more than when he started with his current employer five years ago. That’s good money, he said, but he’d rather be home with his wife every night. “It’s a job, that’s all it is,” he said. While participants across the industry agree there is a driver shortage, freight is still moving. Spot-market shipping rates have even fallen this year, Perry said. And while Rourke, of Schneider, said the company could easily add as many as 500 drivers right now if they were available, that would amount to less than 4 percent of its roughly 14,000-driver workforce. Kreilkamp, with just short of 400 drivers, would immediately add another 20 if it could. Those gaps, however, could easily widen. For one thing, trucking is demographically challenged. The average age of an over-the-road truckload driver, according to Costello, is 49. It will take something like 40,000 new drivers a year just to replace retirees. Add industry growth and other factors, and Costello estimates the industry will need about 89,000 recruits per year for the next decade — more than it has been attracting in recent years.
HEALTH
B4
NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
STOJ
Surgery helps blind artist see art in a new light BY ALEX HARRIS MIAMI HERALD/TNS
MIAMI — When Selris James painted a month ago, he held his face so close to the canvas his nose nearly smeared the paint. But when he went to paint his latest piece, James, who was born blind and deaf in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago, was able to sit a comfortable distance from the canvas. Just two weeks before, Dr. Guillermo Amescua, a cornea specialist at the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, removed the cataract in James’ right eye, which he said had become ingrained behind the pupil. The pro bono surgery, plus a pair of tortoiseshell and gold glasses, gave James, 41, sight. “He was really excited when he realized it was working,” said Amescua. James’ scarred retinas mean his sight will never be perfect, but for a legally blind man, sight in both eyes is a miracle.
PHOTOS BY CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/TNS
Selris James, left, looks at his published book of drawings on Oct. 27 at Bascom Palm Eye Institute in Miami.
Started young An artist since childhood, James uses acrylics to paint colorful bursts of flowers, landscapes and scenes from his travels. He painted the American Airways plane he flew to Miami on, the Metrorail he rode, the giraffe he fed at Zoo Miami and a photo of himself, posing on the giant “U” at the University of Miami’s Coral Gables campus. His mother, Gwenie Gomez-James, contracted rubella, a contagious disease caused by a virus, during her pregnancy. Her son was born with congenital rubella syndrome. Doctors soon confirmed her son was doubly impaired. Eye surgery helped his left eye regain some sight, but after that, “he drew everything he wanted to say,” Gomez-James said.
Rejected by schools When he was 3, James started watching “Sesame Street,” his face three inches from the television screen. His mother gave him a pencil and paper and he started scribbling, long, loopy lines that eventually turned into the alphabet. By 7, James was communicating with cartoon striplike art. He asked why he couldn’t hear or see, and drew cartoons of himself with hearing aids and glasses. Schooling presented a problem. The Trinidad School for the Blind rejected him because he was
deaf, and a school for the deaf didn’t want him because he was blind. Gomez-James took her son to a parish priest, Father Eugene Delahunt, who introduced the pair to the local Rotary Club. From there, James was sent to Beth Harry, a special education teacher at the Immortelle Children’s Centre in Trinidad, a school for children with disabilities.
Art sold Harry said James was the only deaf and only visually impaired student, which led to some difficulties. “We didn’t actually know what we were doing,” she said. “We did the best we could.”
He remained at the Immortelle until he was 21, where he fell deeper in love with computers. He’s adept at art he creates using Photoshop. Prints of his computer-generated self-portraits and images of flowers were among those included at his art sale in early October, an idea developed by his sign language instructor at UM, Kirsten Schwarz Olmedo. The communication therapy at UM, as well as the surgery at Bascom Palmer, are possible because of Harry, now a professor at UM. “It was a great blessing in my life when I met Selris,” said Harry, who met him when he was 7.
Seeking a publisher Olmedo’s goal is for
Far left: Sitting with his mother, Gwenie GomezJames tells the back story of the drawings made by Selris James. Also pictured is a sample of selfportrait by Selris James.
James to return to Trinidad with the ability to communicate and to make a living as an artist. “I want to give him the gift of language,” she said. James is learning to read, to use sign language and to speak through an iPad app, where he arranges images the app translates into a sentence. His family charts his progress from his Facebook page — The Selris James Fund. Harry recently made a book from a collection of James’ drawings. She selfpublished “Deaf, blind, and smart as a whip” on Shutterfly and wants to find an international publisher to take the book mainstream. “We think it’s a universal story,” she said.
Left: A sample of Selris James’s artwork.
Nine tips to help you age well FAMILY FEATURES
Although you can’t stop time, the right type and amount of physical activity can help stave off many age-related health problems. More than half (59 percent) of Americans expect to still be living at home independently at the age of 80, according to a recent survey by the American Physical Therapy Association. However, the same study showed that at least half of the same population recognizes they will see a decline in strength and flexibility as they age. Movement experts such as physical therapists can help aging individuals overcome pain, gain and maintain movement, and preserve independence – often helping to avoid the need for surgery or long-term use of prescription drugs. These nine tips, provided by the experts at the American Physical Therapy Association, are keys to helping you age well: Chronic pain doesn’t have to be the boss of you. Each year 116 million Americans experience chronic pain from arthritis or other conditions. Proper exer-
COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES
Getting some physical activity is important to ward off some health issues. cise, mobility, and pain management techniques can ease pain, improving your overall quality of life. You can get better and stronger at any age. Research shows that an appropriate exercise program can improve your muscle strength and flexibility as you age. Progressive resistance training, where muscles are exercised against resistance that gets more
difficult as strength improves, has been shown to help prevent frailty. You may not need surgery or drugs for your low back pain. Low back pain is often overtreated with surgery and drugs despite a wealth of scientific evidence demonstrating that physical therapy can be an effective alternative with less risk. You can lower your risk of
diabetes with exercise. One in four Americans over the age of 60 has diabetes. Obesity and physical inactivity can put you at risk for this disease, but a regular, appropriate physical activity routine is one of the best ways to prevent and manage type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Exercise can help you avoid falls and keep your independence. More than half of adults
over 65 report problems with movement, including walking 1/4 mile, stooping, and standing. Exercise can improve movement and balance and reduce your risk of falls. Your bones want you to exercise. Osteoporosis, or weak bones, affects more than half of Americans over the age of 54. Exercises that keep you on your feet, like walking, jogging or dancing, and exercises using resistance such as weight lifting, can improve bone strength or reduce bone loss. Your heart wants you to exercise. Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. One of the top ways of preventing it and other cardiovascular diseases is exercise. Research shows that if you already have heart disease, appropriate exercise can improve your health. Your brain wants you to exercise. People who are physically active, even later in life, are less likely to develop memory problems or Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that affects more than 40 percent of people over the age of 85. You don’t have to live with bladder leakage. More than 13 million women and men in the United States have bladder leakage. A physical therapist can help you avoid spending years relying on pads or rushing to the bathroom. To learn more about the role of physical activity as you age, or to find a physical therapist near you, visit MoveForwardPT.com.
STOJ
NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT
Meet some of
FLORIDA’S
finest
submitted for your approval
B5
Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest? E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.
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. PHOTOS BY CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER
How Janet Jackson took control again Jimmy Jam tells how collaboration came about for ‘Unbreakable’ BY GREG KOT CHICAGO TRIBUNE (TNS)
Jimmy Jam knows Janet Jackson well enough to know what works. Their first few albums, including “Control” (1986) and “Rhythm Nation” (1989), were basically three-person operations: Jackson, Jam and co-producer Terry Lewis working without interference or input from anybody else. When talk turned to Jam and Lewis rejoining Jackson in the studio for what would become her latest studio album, “Unbreakable” (Rhythm Nation/ BMG), the producers stipulated one condition. “We insisted that had to be that process again — just us, no record company, no A&R or anything like that,” Jam said. “Let us make the record we want to make. It felt like ‘Control’ again. It was a rediscovering of that, except her voice has matured and our chops in the studio have gotten better.”
Life got complicated It’s no coincidence that “Unbreakable” is Jackson’s best and most focused work since the 1990s, back when she was regularly working with the Minneapolis duo, and debuted at No. 1 on the pop album chart. For most of the last decade, Jackson worked with different collaborators and bottomed out in 2008 with her previous studio album, “Discipline,” recorded with a bevy of contemporary hitmakers. Only months after releasing the album, it drifted off the charts and Jackson parted ways with her record label. Then Jackson’s personal life got complicated. Her brother Michael Jackson died in 2009, then she broke off a romantic relationship with producer Jermaine Dupri, scrapped an album she was working on with Rodney Jerkins, and married a Qatari busi-
nessman, Wissam Al Mana. Two years ago, the singer reconnected with Jam and Lewis.
RICHARD HARTOG/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS
Interview with Jam
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are shown at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in 2002.
In an interview, Jam described how that relationship was rekindled. Here are few excerpts from that conversation: Q: How did you and Terry get back to producing Janet Jackson albums after so many years apart? A: A couple years ago we had a catch-up lunch. We talked about family, life, not music. But she said that time will come. Later, her manager called and said, “Let’s get you guys together and see what happens. If a record happens, great, if it’s just a bunch of dinners and hanging out, it’s fine too.” We started trading ideas long distance or through email about a year ago. We decided to meet in New York, sit in a room together and see what we came up with. We got three, four ideas that we thought were kinda cool. We’re not talking about what the album should be yet, but confirming our desire to work together. We give Janet a comfort zone to try things, where there really are no bad ideas, just ideas that won’t get used. You can’t undo the 30 years we’ve been working together, and she had things she wanted to say. On the albums from “Control” (1986) to “All for You” (2001), they were done in a vacuum with us. The first three were done in Minneapolis, where we were left alone, we picked singles, sequenced the album, and there
was no input from anyone else. That was the combination that made good records. More recently, there were a couple (Jackson) records that weren’t like that because there were too many cooks in the kitchen, and those records weren’t as successful as ones that came before. They didn’t have the continuity that the first five albums we did with her had. We all wanted to get back to that. Q: What took so long to get back together? A: A lot of it was just life taking its natural turns. I’ve always been a big believer you make records when you have something to say, and going back, we never made a Janet record where she didn’t have anything to say. … Later on there was an album where she said to Terry, “You do the lyrics, I don’t have any ideas,” and I said to management that this is a total red flag to me. But so much happened after “Discipline” came out — her brother passing, that’s a life changer, and she also fell in love and got married and moved to the other side of world to live. All that went into this record. Q: It’s extremely rare in pop and R&B these days to see just one set of producers working on an entire album with an artist instead of a bunch of producers all vying to create singles. How were you guys able to
cut against the grain? A: It’s timing and opportunity. When we did “Control,” she had already done two albums before with multiple producers. With “Control,” we got an opportunity to make a whole album with her, without scrutiny, because no one was saying, “I can’t wait for the new Janet record.” So we were left alone. There’s a little of that vibe here. The aim is to make a complete album. You don’t have to make singles, you just make songs, and arrange them in an order that tells a story or a feeling, a continuity. And out of that there will be certain songs that will raise their hands: “I wanna go first!” It’s a whole different mindset. … It’s fun to do a project where you come in to work on one track. But there’s nothing like getting into a project for the duration. I always felt our best work with Janet or someone like New Edition or Alexander O’Neal was when it was all of us working on the whole album together. Q: What songs set the tone for this record? A: The first song we recorded was “After You Fall,” one of the most intimate and strongest vocals on the record. It happened organically. I had this idea, played it for Terry, and sent it to her. She called right back, “Oh my God, what is this?” I said I think
it should be called “After You Fall,” but I don’t know what it’s about. She sent it back the next day with the lyrics totally done. … Once she sang it, we played it back, and she never gives herself credit, but for this one she goes, “I don’t mind that.” That was our starting point. Q: How tough was it to record the song about her brother, “Broken Hearts Heal”? A: It was more a celebration of his life. It’s a short song with few words, and the rest is feel, like you’re leaving room for everyone to have their own memory of Mike. When we worked with Michael and Janet on (the 1995 single) “Scream,” as soon as the music came on, Michael started dancing, stomping his feet, snapping his fingers, jangling his jewelry. He was off mic when he sang. He broke every studio rule. Janet, on the other hand, is very disciplined in the studio. You never have to change mic position because she walks in and nails it every time. But on the second verse of that song, she started snapping her fingers while she was singing and she would say, “Oh, man, I know you don’t want that in there.” But it fits. It’s cool. That’s exactly how your brother records. It was almost like his spirit had gotten in her. Q: Do you feel her career was unfairly tainted by the “wardrobe malfunction” at the Super Bowl in 2004 or has that been overblown? A: If anything the unfairness of it has been underblown. The attention to it was overblown. To me, it’s about an African-American female being swept under the rug, and that’s the travesty. We, I say that collectively, have no desire to bring it back up again. It’s a blip on a 40-year career. … You see a woman’s body part for two seconds and it becomes this major issue? It’s sexist, it’s racist. … If you live long enough, eventually you get measured by the deeds you do throughout your life. I think it’s wonderful that Janet has persevered. “Come a long way, got a long way to go,” as she says in the song “Well Traveled.” You never stop learning, growing, that’s the thing she always did. Even in the firestorm after the Super Bowl, she got better at her craft, she became a better singer, songwriter, dancer. That’s the culmination of what you see on “Unbreakable.”
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NOVEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
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J.B. FORBES/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/TNS
Sweetie Pie’s owner Robbie Montgomery, center, greets Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey on Sunday afternoon, March 25, 2012, at her St. Louis restaurant where they ate a fried chicken dinner.
‘Sweetie Pie’s’ dishes in your own kitchen
Montgomery shares famous Mac and Cheese, other favorites in new cookbook
CHRISTIAN GOODEN/ ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/TNS
A fried chicken plate with black-eyed peas and cabbage awaits preparation during lunch at Sweetie Pie’s as customers move through the line Oct. 5, 2011 in St. Louis.
BY JANE HENDERSON ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (TNS)
Robbie Montgomery isn’t about to stop making her customers’ favorites. Still, her pronouncement is almost a sacrilege, uttered just feet from Sweetie Pie’s steam tables: “I’m burned out on Mac and Cheese.” Hmmm. She’s talking about the beloved comfort dish Guy Fieri showcased on Food Network and the one selected for both a new book on soul food restaurants, “The People’s Place,” and Montgomery’s own “Sweetie Pie’s Cookbook” (Amistad, 211 pages, $28.99). Of course making thousands of pounds a week of anything could turn off a cook. But the Mac and Cheese recipe is probably one of the cookbook’s top draws for many Sweetie Pie’s eaters, even if they won’t want to bother with a curious addition that Montgomery doesn’t actually follow: homemade “Better-Than-Velveeta Cheese Spread.” That recipe was suggested by her recipe tester and co-writer, Ramin Ganeshram of Connecticut. The packaged brand is fine, though, with Montgomery. Still, the Mac recipe isn’t the only reason to read “Sweetie Pie’s Cookbook.” Another would be the memories told in the personable style of the reality-show star. (The new season of “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” begins Nov. 21 on OWN.)
paycheck six ways to Sunday.” When Robbie wanted what seemed like an upscale dish — stuffed peppers — her mom showed her that it was really a simple recipe with a meatloaf-type filling.
Backup for Ike, Tina Parents were great cooks Even her dedication is delightful: “For my mom and pop, who were excellent cooks with amazing palates. For my sisters and brothers, who ate up every damn thing our parents prepared. Wish we were all still together.” The Mississippi native, 75, learned to cook from her parents. No recipes were written down, but she had long ago reconstructed some for her restaurant workers and has reduced the amounts and slimmed down other recipes for the cookbook. When her father, a railroad porter, got home, he’d sometimes cook liver and onions, or his special yellow cake with hot vanilla cream sauce. Her mother, Montgomery writes, “was a miracle worker, somehow stretching my dad’s
The family (Robbie was the eldest of nine children) was one of the first to move into the Pruitt-Igoe projects, a huge step up because the apartment had four bedrooms. Before that, they’d had three rooms total. Montgomery also writes, of course, about her years as a backup singer to Ike and Tina Turner and later Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, James Brown, Dr. John and others. While on the road with the Turners, she tired of eating sandwiches on the bus. So after collecting a couple of small appliances, Montgomery would make spaghetti and fried chicken in motels, serving the whole crew. “Trust me, if you can turn out soul food for 20 people on a hotplate and an electric skillet, then you know you’re good,” she writes. At her restaurant on Delmar Boule-
Why wait? Pre-holiday practice makes sweet potatoes perfect BY LEAH ESKIN CHICAGO TRIBUNE (TNS)
Seasonal is in, and we’re with the program. Keeps the grocery list chic and cheap. We’re especially keen about micro-seasonal. The chalk-flavored candy heart is sweet — one day a year. Likewise the dyed egg or candy cane. Scarcity, the economist has it, enhances value. Consider then the cook’s conundrum: Many a dish is best celebrated on occasion, at the big occasion. And yet, practice makes perfect. How to reconcile rare with well done? The puzzle comes to mind in fall, the run-up to Thanksgiving. Eyeing the sweet potatoes lolling in their bin, we wonder how early we can call preseason. Will premature puree dampen enthusiasm for the big day? We boil a batch, mash it fine, season it sweet and spike it with rum. The golden mound with its buttery bite brings to mind the fall feast, but it holds its own on the weeknight plate. Maybe for the potato, practice is perfection.
E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS
Sweet potatoes are cooked with a strong flavor lineup of sugar, salt, cinnamon, black pepper and cayenne, then finished with butter, cream, brown sugar and a little rum.
vard in St. Louis, Montgomery says the cookbook was her son’s idea.
Chitlins, oxtails Tim Norman is “young and inspired,” she says, and told her, “Mama, you could do it.” She appreciated help from a professional cookbook writer: “I didn’t know anything about writing a cookbook. It was more work than I ever imagined.” She’s happy to share recipes for foods that young people tell her fondly remind them of their grandparents — and that they have no experience cooking. “I want these recipes to be around.” Which brings us to the third-best reason to read the cookbook. Many people have never made some of the dishes, such as chitlins, so the descriptions are fascinating. And where else would we find “Neck Bones Three Ways”? Montgomery says one of her favorite dishes is Oxtail Soup. Oxtails are a special on Thursdays at Sweetie Pie’s, and the restaurant usually sells out of the 80 pounds prepared. But if she has leftovers, Montgomery will take a good bowl of oxtail soup over Mac and Cheese.
PRESEASON SWEET POTATOES Prep: 20 minutes Cook: 20 minutes Serves: 6 as a side dish 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon cayenne 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes 1/4 cup heavy cream 3 to 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar 2 tablespoons dark rum, optional Boil: Settle potatoes in a large saucepan. Add cold water to cover by 1 inch. Stir in sugar, salt,
cinnamon, black pepper and cayenne. Bring to a boil, lower heat a bit and cook until potatoes turn tender (poke one with a skewer or fork), about 15 minutes. Dry: Drain potatoes. Return them to the empty pot set over low heat. Shake until potatoes dry out, about 3 minutes. Rice: Press potatoes through a potato ricer into a large heatproof bowl. Or smash with a potato masher. Season: Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Gently stir in butter, cream and brown sugar. Add a little more of the spices, if you like. Stir in rum, if you like. Enjoy, even before Thanksgiving. This recipe was adapted from one by chef Cindy Wolf, Baltimore.