Florida Courier - December 04, 2015

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DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

VOLUME 23 NO. 49

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DRAWING THE LINES

Florida’s updated congressional map may make the re-election campaigns of incumbent U.S. Representatives Corrine Brown and Frederica Wilson – and others – more challenging.

lature’s third attempt at redrawing Florida’s congressional districts last month TALLAHASSEE – Saying and recommended a map it was putting “much need- proposed by the challenged finality” to Florida’s con- ers. gressional redistricting process, the Florida Supreme Incumbents Court on Wednesday ap- uncertain proved a congressional reThe map leaves three sitdistricting map nearly five ting members of Congress years after lawmakers be- in precarious re-election gan the process. situations: Gwen Graham, The 5-2 decision validat- a Democrat from Tallahased the map drawn by the see; Dan Webster, a Repubchallengers and approved lican from Winter Garden;

by Leon County Circuit and David Jolly, a RepubliCourt Judge Terry Lewis af- can from Indian Shores. Jolter the Florida Legislature ly has already announced tried and failed to agree to a he will not seek re-election map in a special redistrict- but is running for the Reing session.

See LINES, Page A2 Lewis rejected the Legis-

BY MARY ELLEN KLAS MIAMI HERALD / TNS

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

The Florida Supreme Court finally approves a congressional district map, something the GOP-dominated Florida Legislature couldn’t do on its own.

NBA STAR KOBE BRYANT TO RETIRE

Kobe starts farewell tour

Another killing, another video Chicago delays release – again

BY JASON MEISNER AND MATTHEW WALBERG CHICAGO TRIBUNE / TNS

CHARLES FOX/PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/TNS

Julius “Dr. J” Erving, left, and Gregg Downer, third from left, Kobe Bryant’s high school coach at Lower Merion High School, presents Bryant with a framed jersey in Philadelphia on Tuesday prior to Bryant’s final game in his hometown.

Bryant announced he will retire at the end of the NBA season. See story on B3.

CHICAGO – A week after the shocking video of a Chicago police officer shooting teen Laquan McDonald went viral, city officials appear to be wavering in their fight to keep secret another dash-cam video depicting a police shooting that lawyers for the victim say went down in strikingly similar fashion.

In response to questions from the Chicago Tribune, the city’s Law Department said Tuesday afternoon that the city was “currently re-examining” when the video of Ronald Johnson III’s shooting should be released even though the incident was still under investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority, which looks into allegations of po- Ronald Johnson lice misconduct.

Shot within seconds

Bill looks to stop criminalizing the mentally ill

BY MARGIE MENZEL THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – A House panel on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill aimed at keeping Floridians with mental illnesses out of the criminal-justice system.

The House Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee supported the measure (HB 439), filed by Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, that would create a statewide framework for counties to offer treatment-based mental health courts.

Consistent standards Many counties have mentalhealth courts, but they have varying eligibility and program requirements.

ALSO INSIDE

The bill would also establish a pilot program in Duval, Broward and Miami-Dade counties to serve offenders who have mental illnesses and are at risk of being sent to state forensic hospitals or placed behind bars. And it would widen the pool of veterans and service members who are eligible for veterans’ courts by including those with general discharges.

McBurney proposed a similar measure in the 2015 session. It passed the House 113-1, but died in the Senate Appropriations Committee after the House adjourned the session early.

“People with serious mental-health problems are causing great problems with our criminal justice system,” McBurney said

Wednesday. “And it’s severely mental health disorder. breaking down our criminal jus“It’s not appropriate that our tice system.” jails or prisons be our numberone mental health facility,” McThousands arrested Burney said after the vote.

A legislative bill analysis said as many as 125,000 adults with On its way mental illnesses or substanceThe bill faces two more comuse disorders “that require immittees, as does its Senate commediate treatment” are arrested and booked into Florida jails panion (SB 604), filed by Sen. each year. Between 2002 and Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Mi2010, the number of Florida in- ami. McBurney and Diaz de la mates with mental illnesses or Portilla chair their chambers’ jusubstance-use disorders in- diciary committees. creased from 8,000 to 17,000. By Chief Judge Mark Mahon of the 2020, the number is expected to 4th Judicial Circuit, a former lawreach 35,000. maker, said the measure would And of the 150,000 juveniles referred to the state Department of be “fiscally responsible” for both Juvenile Justice each year, more the state and the counties in the than 70 percent have at least one long run.

At a news conference Tuesday, lawyers for Johnson’s family said See SHOOTING, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

Prison health care firm cancels state contract NATION | A6

Is D.C. still ‘Chocolate City’?

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A5 COMMENTARY: ANTHONY L. HALL: CLIMATE TALKS IN PARIS WON’T AVERT APOCALYPSE | A5

FOOD | B6

Holiday recipes: Cookies and cocoa

A2

FOCUS

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

Beware of trouble in paradise I’ve visited Europe, Africa, South America, and a few other continents. But my favorite travel destination is the Caribbean islands.

Perhaps I enjoy myself there because oftentimes I get paid there. I have done a lot of political consultation in the Caribbean in recent years because Blacks there are far more interested in doing business with their own kind than the modern-day Negroes in the United States who believe their oppressor’s ice is always colder than their own.

I was conned Years ago when I began to travel to the islands, I felt very safe.

Don’t get me wrong. I was once ripped off in the Bahamas for

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

about $150, but I wasn’t shot, beaten or robbed. I was simply conned!

I blame myself for being tricked and have never criticized Bahamians or others in the Caribbean for my stupidity back in the day.

In the good old days, crime was extremely low, for the most part, in all Caribbean countries. But when crack cocaine and other hard drugs hit the scene, things took a turn for the worse!

Things are so bad now on ma-

ny Caribbean islands that several governments and travel agencies have issued “security advisories” warning travelers to be careful when vacationing or doing business in the Caribbean.

Be careful Don’t get this column twisted. Most visits to the islands are trouble-free. And most of the increase in island crime, I think, is related to a region-wide economic downturn.

But the travel warnings discuss the potential of being robbed while driving, and suggest that tourists “keep your car doors locked, windows rolled up, and personal belongings, including handbags, safely stored at traffic lights” because you could be a target of thieves.

The best way to stay safe is to remain at your resort or in designated tourist areas that are wellpatrolled by island police.

However, if you are like me and want to really see the island country in all of its glory, you

have to get away from your hotel or resort.

What I do is get around during the day. No matter where you are in the world, it is dangerous to prance around in the streets in the late-night hours – especially if you are drunk, high or geekedup!

Take precautions When I move around at night in a foreign country, I usually have a driver. If I’m in a place like – no disrespect – Kingston, Jamaica, I have a driver and a bodyguard, especially if I want to go to or near Mountain View, Trenchtown, Tivoli Gardens, Cassava Piece or Arnett Gardens. In Montego Bay, be careful in areas like Flankers, Canterbury, Norwood, Rose Heights, Clavers Street or Hart Street.

In the Dominican Republic, travel advisories suggest you beware of assailants on motorcycles, scooters or bicycles who snatch purses, phones or necklaces –especially on holidays and

during Carnival.

The island of Puerto Rico may be the most dangerous of all islands in the Caribbean.

I could go on and on about all islands, but I won’t. Just be careful when you travel like you are careful when you’re home.

Never act scared!

Act like you know how to protect yourself and if necessary, how to defend yourself.

Travel in groups and don’t overdo it with the alcohol, pot, the pills or whatever you do. Also be on the lookout for muggers, robbers, con men, thieves, rapists and other shady characters and criminals.

Enjoy yourself in the Caribbean and wherever else you travel to.

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net.

SHOOTING from A1

his shooting was eerily similar to McDonald’s. The video shows an officer opening fire within seconds of arriving at the scene as Johnson was moving away from police, they said. And as with the video in the McDonald case, the audio that is supposed to accompany the footage is missing.

“This is a horrible thing. They continue to keep these things quiet,” Attorney Michael Oppenheimer said of the video that he has seen as part of an ongoing federal lawsuit against the city filed by Johnson’s mother. “And how can anybody have confidence in the system when they keep happening this way?”

Tried to run On the night he was killed in October 2014, Johnson, 25, was riding in a car with friends when it was pulled over by police. Johnson tried to run and was pursued by officers on foot, none of whom opened fire, Oppenheimer said.

During the chase, Officer George Hernandez, at the time a tactical officer in the Wentworth police district, pulled up in an unmarked squad car and jumped out with his gun drawn. Within two seconds, he fired five times at Johnson as he was still running away, striking him in the back of the knee and again in the back shoulder, Oppenheimer said.

Autopsy results obtained by the Tribune on Tuesday show the fatal shot traveled through Johnson’s shoulder, severed his jugular vein and exited his eye socket.

Oppenheimer said the squad car that recorded the video began to move shortly after Johnson collapsed in the parkway, so the officers’ actions in the immediate aftermath were not recorded.

He said evidence he has uncovered through the lawsuit shows that at some point soon after the shooting, detectives investigating at the scene began communicating with dispatchers on their private cellphones in violation of department protocol.

Fired ‘in fear’ Chicago police have said that Johnson fit the description of an of-

PHIL VELASQUEZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

During a news conference on Tuesday, Dorothy Holmes, the mother of Ronald Johnson, demanded the dash-cam video of her son’s shooting death be released to the public. fender from an earlier call of shots fired and resisted arrest when police tried to detain him. After pulling away from one officer, Johnson pointed a gun at police who were in pursuit, leading Hernandez to open fire, police said.

At the scene that night, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said Hernandez fired in fear for his life and that of his fellow officers. A gun was recovered from Johnson’s right hand, according to police.

But Oppenheimer said the dash-cam footage from another squad car clearly showed Johnson running with nothing in his hands. The video also proves he never turned around before the shots knocked him down, Oppenheimer said.

Gun planted?

“The Police Department planted that gun because there was no way that anything would have stayed in Ronald Johnson’s hand after he was shot,” Oppenheimer said.

Hernandez, who joined the department in March 2006, has been on paid desk duty since the

LINES from A1

publican nomination to the U.S. Senate.

The map is now expected to be challenged by at least two members of Congress in federal court as U.S. Reps. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami Gardens, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, have threatened a lawsuit for restricting the ability of their constituents to elect non-Whites to office.

However, the boundaries are now likely to be those set for the 2016 election.

The impact In Miami, the map creates new boundaries for Wilson and Miami Republican U.S. Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The new District 26, now held

by Curbelo, will have a majority of Democrats but will remain a Hispanic majority seat.

The court describes the new District 27 as one that “sits compactly in central Miami-Dade County, rather than stretching south along the coast to the Mi-

Frederica Wilson

Corrine Brown

ami-Dade-Monroe County line.”

In Palm Beach, the map draws Democrat U.S. Reps. Lois Frankel and Ted Deutch into the same district.

In Tampa Bay, the map merges most of Pinellas County into Congressional District 13, which includes former Gov. Charlie Crist’s home. Crist has announced he is running for Congress.

In Central Florida, the changes will move the African-American minority-majority District 5, the seat currently held by Brown, out of the region and into North Florida. The previous configuration had allowed lawmakers to pack Democrats into that district and strengthen neighboring Republi-

incident, records show.

Oppenheimer said he didn’t know why Johnson would have run from the police.

“What I do know is that young Black men sometimes run from the police because they are afraid,” he said. “And in this case, it turned out to be a prophecy because the police killed him.”

Considering charges Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez revealed for the first time Tuesday that the office is investigating possible criminal charges against Hernandez.

Oppenheimer said he was surprised to learn from the Tribune that Alvarez’s office disclosed the criminal probe of the shooting.

He said as far as he knew, none of the civilian or police witnesses in the case had been contacted by prosecutors.

In addition, Hernandez freely answered questions at a sworn deposition just last week without a criminal defense attorney present, according to Oppenheimer.

“Every indication that I have is that Alvarez has done absolutely

can districts.

The ruling also is likely to have a bearing on the pending redistricting challenge over the Senate maps. Leon County Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds has scheduled a five-day trial Dec. 14-18 after which he will present a recommendation to the Florida Supreme Court.

Pariente opines again Justice Barbara Pariente authored Wednesday’s opinion, directing her criticism at Justice Charles Canady and Ricky Polston who dissented with the majority of the opinion.

Pariente also authored the landmark ruling in July that said Florida’s 27 congressional districts used in the 2012 and 2014 elections were invalid because lawmakers had allowed improper interference by political operatives in violation of the Fair Districts amendments to the state constitution.

In her latest opinion, Pariente rejected Canady’s argument that the decision moves the “goalposts” on the Legislature in its redrawing of the districts.

“The goal has not changed

nothing so far, so as usual she’s late to the party,” Oppenheimer said.

Emanuel under pressure The details about Johnson’s killing have emerged amid continued fallout over the handling of the McDonald case. After the shocking dash-cam video of McDonald being shot 16 times was made public last week, daily protests have captured national attention and put increasing political pressure on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to make wholesale changes to the Police Department.

As Oppenheimer was discussing his case with reporters Tuesday morning, news broke that police Superintendent Garry McCarthy had been fired by Emanuel. Later in the day, Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked the U.S. Justice Department to launch a civil rights investigation of Chicago police tactics.

Fought for secrecy Just as it had in McDonald’s shooting, the city fought tooth-

and-nail for more than a year to keep the video in the Johnson lawsuit from being made public, arguing in court filings as recently as Oct. 30 that releasing it could inflame the public and jeopardize the officer’s right to a fair trial if he was charged later, court records show.

The video was first turned over as part of a wrongful death lawsuit filed a few weeks after the shooting by Johnson’s mother, Dorothy Holmes. With that case pending, U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang granted a request by the city for a protective order barring the release of the footage and other sensitive information, records show.

Meanwhile, in a separate lawsuit, Holmes’ attorneys have asked a Cook County judge to order the dash-cam video released under the state’s Freedom of Information Act. Oppenheimer said he hoped that the recent ruling by Chancery Judge Franklin Valderrama ordering the release of the McDonald video – also over the city’s objections – would weigh in his favor.

and has always been compliance with the Fair Districts Amendment,” she wrote. “At this stage, after a finding that the 2012 congressional redistricting plan had been drawn with improper intent, the Legislature bears the burden of justifying its redrawn configurations. The Legislature did not escape this burden when it was unable to agree on a plan to enact and subsequently asked all parties to submit alternative plans to the trial court.”

tricts in dispute – all from South Florida – “including two redrawn districts in which Democratic incumbents were actually paired against each other in the same district.”

“From the outset, we have encouraged the public to submit proposed plans that can be evaluated by the objective criteria of the Fair Districts Amendment,” the court ruled.

Public input requested

The ruling also emphasized that “this case does not pit this Court versus the Legislature, but instead implicates this Court’s responsibility to vindicate ‘the essential right of our citizens to have a fair opportunity to select those who will represent them.’ ” The court also addressed criticism echoed in the Senate redistricting trial that “the trial court erred in not considering the intent of the drafters” of the alternative map.

“Although the maps themselves were not on trial, their drafters were called to testify during the relinquishment hearing and were subject to cross-examination,” the court said.

While Canady agreed with part of the decision, Polston disagreed with the entire ruling as adopting a plan drawn by “Democratic operatives” and chastised the court for violating the separation of power clause of the U.S. Constitution.

That is the same argument lawyers for the Legislature are making in opposing the maps proposed by the challengers in the Senate redistricting fight, and the majority opinion specifically countered that claim in the congressional map, noting that there were only eight dis-

Protecting voters

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

FLORIDA

A3

Prison health care company cancels state contract

BY JIM SAUNDERS THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Saying a contract with the state is

“too constraining,” a company that provides health care to 75,000 Florida prison inmates gave notice Monday that it will end the

agreement as of May 31.

Corizon Health, which in 2013 received a five-year contract to provide health care at prisons in three re-

gions of the state, said it exercised a 180-day cancellation provision in the contract. It was not immediately clear what will hap-

pen at the end of the period, though Corizon said the six months will allow a transition.

Department of Correc-

Food costs are up, but energy costs are down.

tions Secretary Julie Jones in February announced an intention to re-bid prison health contracts through a process known as an invitation to negotiate. Through that process, the department indicated it wanted to address issues such as staffing, mental-health services and the use of electronic health records.

Both sides respond In a prepared statement Monday, Corizon Chief Executive Officer Karey Witty alluded to those issues.

“We appreciate the contracts for inmate health services permit very little of the flexibility that Secretary Jones would like in order to address issues such as staffing, mental health care, and electronic health records,” Witty said. “We have tried to address the department’s con- Julie cerns but Jones have found the terms of the current contract too constraining. At this point, we believe the best way to move forward is to focus our efforts on a successful transition to a new provider.”

McKinley Lewis, a department spokesman, said in an email that Jones met Monday with Corizon and received notice of the cancellation. The email said a contract with another health-care provider, Wexford Health Sources, will continue.

“In the coming months, Secretary Jones will work closely with the Department’s Office of Health Services to ensure that the appropriate staff and resources are available at our facilities to continue seamless delivery of appropriate medical care to our inmate population,’’ Lewis said in the email. “While Corizon has terminated its contract with the Department of Corrections, we will continue our partnership with Wexford Health Sources and will work closely with their leadership throughout this process.”

Controversial decision

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A legislative decision in 2011 to privatize prison health-care services was highly controversial and drew legal challenges.

But ultimately, Tennesseebased Corizon and Pennsylvania-based Wexford received contracts to move ahead.

Corizon provides health services at prisons across North Florida and Central Florida, such as at Florida State Prison in Bradford County and other institutions that are critical employers in rural areas.

In a news release Monday, Corizon said it would work with the Department of Corrections “to plan a transition schedule and to mitigate employee concerns regarding their future employment. This is will help ensure a stable environment for safe and effective clinical care for the patients during this changeover.”

Jones’ announcement in February that she wanted to re-bid the health contracts came amid intense scrutiny of the prison system. While that scrutiny included prison health care, it focused heavily on issues such as reports about guards abusing inmates and allegations of coverups.

Under the current agreements, Corizon receives $229 million per year. Wexford, which provides services in a smaller number of prisons in South Florida, is being paid $48 million a year.

EDITORIAL

A4

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

What happened to Black business loans?

During the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush made a written pledge to the National Black Chamber of Commerce® (NBCC). He claimed that he would focus on the doors leading to increased capital access for minority businesses. To our astonishment, he delivered on that pledge, while candidate Al Gore refused to make such a pledge.

Thus begun eight years of positive growth in Small Business Administration (SBA) lending.

SBA activity soon began to disappear for two reasons: the effects of the subprime mortgage crisis, and the lethargic activity coming out of the Obama SBA. President Obama figured the quick fix would be more and more regulation. In 2010, he signed the Dodd-Frank bill that poured mountains of paperwork and rules for our banking institutions. The pushback was that major banks began refusing to underwrite small loans, including guaranteed SBA loans.

Worse under Obama When President Bush stepped down, the SBA was doing more than 8 percent in loans to Black businesses. Today, under the Obama apathy and immense regulations, the SBA is doing less than 1.8 percent in lending to Black businesses.

It got worse than this. The SBA began attacking the NBCC for letting out the news of the downward trend. They even claimed that I had no access to the percentages of loans because no one tracks them.

To my surprise, George Cur-

HARRY C. ALFORD NNPA COLUMNIST

According to the Valley Economic Development Center, SBA loans to AfricanAmericans declined 47 percent between 2009 and 2013. ry, who was editor of the National Newspaper Publishers Association took their bait and began believing them over the NBCC. Finally, after a White investigative reporter from the Wall Street Journal confirmed my allegations, George came around.

According to the Valley Economic Development Center, “SBA loans to African-Americans declined 47 percent between 2009 and 2013, even as overall SBA loan volume rose roughly 25 percent during the same period.”

Doesn’t this paint the picture?

Home values plummet The subprime mortgage crisis devastated the net worth of Black families. That net worth was

‘No’ to credit cards for lottery games As an African-American businesswoman who has worked long and hard to compete in the male-dominated construction business, l learned a long time ago the importance of saving as much as possible and not wasting hard-earned dollars on whims and fanciful get-richquick schemes.

Unfortunately for too many people, especially those with low incomes struggling to stay out of or escape from poverty, the lottery has become a chance to get a “quickie 401(k).”

Throwing cash away If you thought it would be difficult to provide an easier way for people – especially those who can ill afford to do so – to part with and throw their money away chasing after a rainbow of riches, there is legislation pending in Tallahassee to give them that chance, by making it easier to

CAROLYN KENNEDY READER COMMENTARY

use credit and debit cards to purchase lottery tickets and games.

The bills, Senate Bill 402 sponsored by Sen. Garrett Richter (R-Naples), and House Bill 415 sponsored by Rep. Holly Raschein (R-Key Largo), would authorize the Florida Department of the Lottery to permit the use of point-of-sale terminals – with charge card readers like we see on fuel pumps and self-service checkout lanes – to do just that.

We already have credit card abuse in our state. So why lawmakers want to increase that potential, especially for the middleclass and lower-income people

Protecting killer cops is a Chicago tradition Last week, the city of Chicago released a video it had held for 400 days of a police officer apparently murdering a young man with a knife walking away from him. Police announced that the officer, who’d been on paid leave that entire 400 days, would be suspended without pay. Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office – which had ‘investigated’ the case that entire time – finally announced that Van Dyke would be charged with first-degree murder.

Upon viewing the video, as hundreds of thousands of people have by now, the obvious questions are why the Cook County state attorney took 13 months, instead of 13 days or 13 hours or 13 minutes, to come up with that

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

murder indictment?

Easy answer Unfortunately this easy and obvious question has an easy and obvious answer. Anita Alvarez is the same state attorney who deliberately sabotaged the case against the killer cop who shot Rekia Boyd by charging him with manslaughter instead of murder – a charge that the judge was forced to dismiss – neatly immunizing the killer cop from further

based on equity in our homes.

The homes have disappeared in many of our communities and with it went the equity that made new entrepreneurs bankable.

The biggest players in the mortgage business were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two government-sponsored enterprises are now “owned” by the Obama Administration as he virtually “seized” them as they approach bankruptcy. Will they bounce back? That is doubtful as right now the Obama administration is trying to liquidate the two firms. We are fighting against this effort.

This should be a hot topic during the presidential debates. But so far there has been no traction.

We are going to bang the drums much harder for it to become a major political issue.

Direct path Despite the lack of financial activity, African-American firms offer a direct path to job opportunities. Our restaurants, service providers, information technology shops, construction companies, etc. are the key to our growth and financial gain. The lifeblood for these companies is startup capital and that necessity is fading under the current administration. It is paramount that the next administration will address it with a vengeance.

There is one hidden blessing coming out of Dodd-Frank. Under current banking law, commercial banks cannot record the demographics of their lending (except SBA loans). This is called “Regulation B.” Our implementwho can ill-afford to foster reckless spending habits, is beyond me.

I do not doubt that the use of credit and debit cards would increase revenue. At the same time, it might increase problems for those people tempted to spend beyond their means, since no cash in hand is needed. I won’t even get into concerns about possible “lottery addiction.”

Their best hope Many low-income people see the lottery as their best hope of self-enrichment given the difficulty of surviving on inadequate (or no) wages. The potential payoff, combined with the modest price of an individual lottery ticket, is alluring.

However, and as I have witnessed, excessive spending on the lottery can sink the poor further into poverty. Not only does the lottery drain income, but it also promotes spending instead of saving – what a household spends on lottery tickets could have been saved for emergencies.

Rep. Frank Artiles (R-Miami), prosecution.

Alvarez is part of a long tradition of Chicago prosecutors who aid, abet and sometimes hire and directly supervise killer cops to do what they do. Before Richard M. Daley was mayor for 20 years, he was the county’s top prosecutor who accepted and carried to court all the cases built upon the torture of innocent Black men

by Chicago Police Commander John Burge.

And when we talk about infamous Cook County states attorney, nobody should forget that the 1969 murder of Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton was executed by a squad of Chicago cops (except for the lead sergeant, whose identity and affiliation are unclear) under the direct supervision of the state attorney’s office.

Upcoming campaign Alvarez comes up for re-election in November 2016, and peo-

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: RADICAL EXTREMISM

EMAD HAJJAJ, JORDAN

ers of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 thought this would help prohibit discrimination.

If there is discrimination in lending, what better way to detect it than tracking the numbers and volume? We have been fighting for the expulsion of Regulation B for more than 20 years.

Thank God it is going away by way of Dodd-Frank.

Within the next three years under a new administration, it is going to happen. Hopefully the Congressional Black Caucus will focus on this opportunity and police the activity.

Two things can help • Lenders must target certain markets such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and other markets that have a high amount of Black population and Black business opportunities.

• We must recruit more EB-5 investors into our communities. and Sen. Tom Lee (R-Brandon) understand the problem and want to cut the number of scratch-off lottery games from 78 to 20 or less at a cost of no more than $5 per game. They have has introduced legislation, HB 607 and SB 790, that would do just that.

So why is Artiles so concerned?

He thinks the Florida Lottery is taking money from the poor: “When we analyzed it, we found most money is coming from Hispanic and AfricanAmerican communities in the inner cities. And quite frankly, I believe they’re targeting those.”

And what about the cost to the state if it reduced the number and cost of the games? With scratch-off tickets ranging from $1 each up to $25 each for the high-end $10 million prize, they are the Florida Lottery’s biggest money maker with $3.7 billion last fiscal year – a $389 million increase from the prior year.

Artiles’ response

ple are pointing to a rival in the Democratic primary election as the one to vote for. Should a tidal wave of public indignation end the political career of Anita Alvarez next year, it will be a kind of justice – but only of a very limited sort.

Edward V. Hanrahan was thrown out of office by a tidal wave of public disgust over the assassination of Fred Hampton. His political career was over, but not much else changed. And now just as then, there are a lot of things that need changing in Chicago.

The city just had a reform candidate for mayor who barely seemed to notice the Chicago Police black site at Homan Square, an issue that should have been a rallying point for Black Chicago around his campaign. That same reform candidate kicked off his campaign and stump speech with a pledge to hire a thousand more Chicago cops in a city which already has one of the

highest police-to-civilian ratios in the country – a city that clearly protects its corrupt and brutal cops from any accountability to civilians.

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

Dr. Valerie Rawls-Cherry, Human Resources

Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1928-2004), Founder Julia T. Cherry, Senior Managing Member, Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Cassandra CherryKittles, Charles W. Cherry II, Managing Members

ee is buying a $20 scratch-off ticket…”I truly believe that this bill is just to rein in some control from where it is today because we are hurting those who need the most help.”

Artiles’ views are supported by studies showing that in states with lotteries, people with lower incomes spend both more and larger shares of their income on the lottery. For example, a household making less than $12,400 spends five percent of its gross income playing the lottery, while a household earning ten times as much ($124,000) spends just 0.33 percent of its income on the lottery.

A South Carolina study showed that Black individuals make up 19.7 percent of the population, but 23.2 percent of lottery players and 38.4 percent of frequent players.

There is only one bottom line to me on this issue – just say NO to these machines that allow credit and debit cards for lottery purchases!

Carolyn Kennedy is president of CPK 1 Trucking, Inc. in Palm Beach County.

Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Sales Manager

W W W.FLCOURIER.COM

Harry C. Alford is the cofounder and president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Contact him via www.nationalbcc.org.

“Yes, there will be a fiscal cost, but there’s also a cost in my opinion when a $10 an hour employ-

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.

A holder of an EB-5 visa can migrate to this nation with special status, providing he or she invests at least $500,000 (soon to be $1 million) into an underserved community.

Chinese, Saudis, Indians etc. are participating in this program in an exponential way. What a wonderful program to take advantage of! It is time for Black community developers and leaders to pick up the pace in EB-5 activity for their neighborhoods.

The National Black Chamber of Commerce is dedicating 2016 to the emergence of more capital access for our business members. The plans will start unfolding early next year. Stay tuned.

Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor Angela van Emmerik, Creative Director Chicago Jones, Eugene Leach, Louis Muhammad, Lisa Rogers-Cherry, Circulation Penny Dickerson, Staff Writer Duane Fernandez Sr., Kim Gibson, Photojournalists

MEMBER

Florida Press Association

National Newspaper Publishers Association

Society of Professional Journalists

National Newspaper Association

Associated Press

Media complicit And let’s not talk about Chicago’s media, which, when the Homan Square story broke in a British paper, spent its reporters’ time trying to debunk instead of investigate it.

The enabling of killer cops is a tradition in Chicago, as it is around the country. Anita Alvarez can and should be swept from office next November. But it will take a lot of elections – and a lot more than just elections – to change the system that brought us Hanrahan, Daley, and now Alvarez.

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

Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC, P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, publishes the Florida Courier on Fridays. Phone: 877-352-4455, toll-free. For all sales inquiries, call 877-352-4455; e-mail sales@flcourier.com.

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The Florida Courier reserves the right to edit any submission, and crop any photograph, for style and clarity. Materials will not be returned.

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

Paris talks on climate change won’t avert an apocalypse World leaders are meeting in Paris this month in what amounts to a last-ditch effort to avert the worst ravages of climate change.

Climatologists now say that the best-case scenario – assuming immediate and dramatic emissions curbs – is that planetary surface temperatures will increase by at least 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit in the coming decades.

Listening to talks at this Paris summit, you could be forgiven for thinking that the clear and present danger the world faces is climate change, not Islamic terrorism. But to anyone who knows anything about the global effort to combat climate change, their rhetoric must seem more Chicken Little.

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

2012. Therefore, it’s arguable that, even accounting for population growth, climatological prophecies about the planet warming by as much as 6°F over the next 100 years will probably never be fulfilled.

Indeed, the IPCC duly notes that “natural variations” – most notably La Niña (which tends to cool the global atmosphere) – have caused, and will continue to cause, “occasional pauses” Heard it before in warming … of indeterminate Much of what world leaders are lengths. saying in Paris today parrots what their respective predecessors said What really works? in Kyoto almost 20 years ago.

I have written many commenFor example, former U.S. Vice taries over the years championPresident Al Gore, the self-ap- ing enlightened environmental pointed prophet of climate practices over apocalyptic clichange, said years ago in an open mate rhetoric. In doing so, I inletter urging people to sign and variably cited the American concirculate the “People’s Ratifica- servation movement, which dates tion of the Kyoto Global Warming back to the 1890s, and the Earth Treaty” petition, that “Humanity Day practices it sprouted back in is sitting on a ticking time bomb. the 1960s.

If the vast majority of the world’s Instead of trying to combat scientists are right, we have just climate change, world leaders ten years to avert a major catas- would do more to save the plantrophe that could send our en- et by championing, among othtire planet into a tail-spin of ep- er things, Earth Day initiatives ic destruction involving extreme to curb deforestation, promote a weather, floods, droughts, epiplant-based diet, limit drilling for demics and killer heat waves beoil and gas, improve public transyond anything we have ever expeportation, ban plastics, and crimrienced.” inalize unethical trade in wildlife Gore also famously prophe– all of which are causing all mansied in 2008 that the North polar ner of life-sustaining plant and ice caps would disappear in five sea species to race towards exyears.

In reality, 2013 saw those ice tinction.

Indeed, you’d be far more incaps expanding. According to the formed about just how much National Snow & Ice Data Center, “the Arctic sea ice extent is earth is in the balance by watchincreasing… For October 2015 ing Discovery Channel’s “Racing [it] averaged 2.98 million square Extinction,” which premiered on miles…367,000 square miles December 2, than by listening to above the record low monthly av- all of the hot air coming out of this erage for October that occurred in Paris summit.

2007.”

According to the UN Inter- Obama can’t win President Obama’s leadership governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the planet in negotiating this Paris Protocol warmed by 1.53 °F from 1880 to seems fated to be undermined,

Obama should pivot to the crisis at home President Obama seems primed to open up another war front in America’s efforts to “contain” China while his war in Syria is still hot. The current new flashpoint in Asia is the South China Sea, where America is challenging China’s extension of its territorial waters after reclaiming islands and creating new islands there.

As part of its “pivot,” the U.S. military has returned to the Philippines after the people’s struggle there ejected it, and seeks to use Japan as part of its military bulwark in the region even as Japan focuses on its recovery in the aftermath of Fukushima. Incredibly, now Japan is talking about amending its constitution to allow its participation in military action to support America while it expands its military presence in the country.

And while South Koreans would really like to focus on repairing the shattered relations with their brothers and sisters in the north, America has ensnared South Korea in the web, threatening to deploy a pricey anti-ballistic missile defense system in that country. Therefore, the American military industrial complex will soak up money that is much-needed to solve local problems, including in the U.S.

CYNTHIA MCKINNEY GUEST COLUMNIST

is money for war, but no money for the poor. The people of America are in crisis. Senior citizens are now absorbing the news that there will be no increased monthly allocation (known as cost of living adjustments, or COLAs) for their Social Security payments.

Too many senior citizens rely on these payments as their only source of income after retirement.

To steal from American seniors in this way is not necessary and only occurs because the ‘U.S. Deep State’ increasingly views seniors as disposable now that their days of labor are over.

U.S. policy, however, doesn’t stop with stripping seniors of necessary funds for living. Children’s right to education is attacked by the privatization of education under President Obama that has seen public schools shut down and socalled “charter” schools – that is, private schools – erected in their place. These charter schools pay huge amounts of money to their owners and CEOs while stripping teacher’s pay to the bone.

Money for war Students, more than any othIn President Obama’s U.S., there er group, are subjected to the

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 271 QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

Chicago – The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is corrupt from top to bottom. Mayor Rahm Emanuel – Bro. Prez’s homeboy, former chief of staff, and political “ace boon coon” – has enabled the continuation of decades of law enforcement rot there.

Emanuel fought releasing dashcam video evidence that incriminates killer cops. He allowed the

EDITORIAL VISUAL VIEWPOINT: CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL

just as President Clinton’s was with respect to the Kyoto Protocol. After all, the Republican-controlled Senate voted 95-0 against ratifying the protocol Clinton signed, and this Republican-controlled Senate seems even more hell-bent against ratifying any protocol Obama signs.

It’s noteworthy that Republican President George W. Bush reinforced the Senate’s vote against ratification by withdrawing the United States from the Kyoto Protocol entirely in 2002. And Republican presidential candidates are making quite a show of deriding the Paris talks, while vowing to roll back many regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions, divisions between rich and poor which Obama enacted by execu- nations in Paris, because there’s a glaring loophole in China’s bitive order. lateral agreement with the United States; there was one in the Kyoto Rich vs. poor Protocol; and there’s bound to be Of far greater significance, one in the Paris Protocol. though, is the role the leader of the world’s biggest polluter, China, is playing in Paris. Even with What’s the loophole?

Despite being the world’s bigdaily smog descending like fog over his mainland, President Xi gest polluter and second-richest Jinping is straddling divisions economy, China (and other debetween rich and poor nations, veloping nations) will not be obwhich reared their heads in Kyo- ligated to reduce greenhouse gas to, bedeviled attempts to set new emissions for a decade (or more).

Even so, this loophole is the goals in Copenhagen (2009), and seem likely to do the same in Par- least of many concessions poor countries are trying to extract is.

As always, those divisions re- from rich countries, arguing at evvolve around poor nations de- ery summit that the latter not only manding “climate justice,” which caused but benefited from greenwould require rich nations to bear house gas emissions during the the cost of the carbon emissions Industrial Revolution of the 18th poor nations believe will be the and 19th centuries, which is the unavoidable by-product of their primary cause of global warming ongoing development. today.

Interestingly enough, many More to the point, while rich are citing the landmark agree- countries are framing the talks ment the United States and China in Paris as mankind’s last chance struck to curb carbon emissions to save the planet from the ravas a galvanizing pivot towards ages of climate change, poor nareconciling these divisions. tions are framing them as the rich countries’ latest attempt to imNothing to lose pose do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do reChina is already making Earth straints on their economic develDay-like investments in renew- opment.

Some developing nations are able energy – not pursuant to some global treaty (even though, demanding developed nations unlike the United States, it duly pay reparations (amounting to ratified Kyoto) – but because its hundreds of billions) for the enpeople are beginning to demand vironmental damage their development caused, which all nations cleaner air.

What’s more, Xi has nothing to are now being forced to cure.

This is why, even though the lose economically, but everything to gain politically, by straddling politics of climate change will worst neoliberal policies pursued cies.

by President Obama. And, with privatized prisons always hun- Decrepit infrastructure gry for more and more prisoners, While America’s war machine the school-to-prison pipeline is rages globally, the infrastructure secure. And the privatized pris- inside America is in a decrepit ons make a profit, to boot! state. Sinkholes are mysteriously appearing, swallowing whole Hungry students houses in the process; families are Poorly-paid teachers are not the forced to boil their water because only insult that students in Amer- local clean water systems are in a ica must absorb. The number of state of disrepair. Rampant minhungry students is at an all-time ing inside America has created high. Every night, it is estimated new emergencies like earthquakes that more than 15 million children in places totally unaccustomed to go to bed hungry in impoverished them. Bridges are crumbling. In families inside the U.S. When they fact, civil engineers most recently awake in the morning, more than (2013) gave overall U.S. infrastrucever, their families are home- ture a D+ grade. less and these students must go to American neighborhoods are school from homeless shelters. becoming “food deserts” due to Shockingly, these homeless the direct attack on small family shelters are even under attack, farms – especially Black farmers – like the situation with the Metro in favor of corporate farms that are Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, and many are being closed Monsanto-GMO laden producas the need increases. These pur- tion sites.

Because of the predatory pracposely deprived students are then expected to learn a curriculum tices of U.S. banks, the middle that downplays the importance of class has watched as its ranks have critical thinking, an economic en- dwindled and their homes stolen vironment that saps the yearning by crooked banks. Sadly, President to learn, and public policies that Obama’s policy supports these discourage higher education – like ‘banksters.’ Incredibly, not a single burgeoning student debt because one of them has even been threatof the outrageous costs of Ameri- ened with prison for this massive theft that has seen more wealth of can education.

Sadly, education, just like about Black America stolen than at any everything else, has become a time since the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. profit center.

Yet, this is the same United Now, these already-crippled students are forced to make their States that hails itself to the world way to schools on pothole-filled as the greatest democracy, a bearoads as investment in public in- con of economic success, and a frastructure plummets in the face champion of human rights. Nothof profit-driven neoliberal poli- ing could be further from the truth. city to settle a multimillion-dollar wrongful death lawsuit (before it was even filed) to keep the video secret, allowing him to win a tough re-election campaign. He’s fighting a call for a Justice Department investigation of CPD. Bro. Prez should urge Emanuel to quit. Obama won’t because Emanuel knows too much; Obama can’t cross him. I’d be shocked if Obama’s Justice Department investigates anyone, just like I’d be shocked if Obama’s Justice Department – which has never jailed one Wall Street ‘bankster’ – indicts Hillary Clinton.

And remember this. The same

A5

CPD officers have to guard the Barack Obama Presidential Library after it’s built in Chicago. CPD officers must cooperate with the Secret Service to guard the Obama family home when Obama becomes the Former Bro. Prez.

Emanuel will quit only under relentless local pressure. By focusing on inflicting local economic pain on “Black Friday” and making concrete demands, including his resignation, young people are on the right path…

Obama and Syria – I watched Bro. Prez’s much-criticized news conference from Turkey two

TOM JANSSEN, THE NETHERLANDS

compel all world leaders to sign the Paris Protocol, the economics of climate change will compel most of them to ignore their commitments. Not to mention that whatever they agree to in Paris will not be binding on any of the signatories; or that, even if legally binding, like Kyoto, the terms will not be enforceable.

My opinion I’ve written far too many commentaries on this topic to count.

Unfortunately, they’ve done little more than lump me together with the ‘heretics’ trying to temper increasing alarms about climate change with calming facts about environmental protection and conservation.

Therefore, on behalf of all proud heretics in this respect, I acknowledge that climate change is a fact but hardly an existential threat. There are many global priorities bigger than climate change.

I affirm my solidarity with the India-led camp of developing nations. My commentaries will attest to my vanguard support for their side in the ongoing global effort to combat climate change.

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.

‘Pivot’ home Therefore, I call on President Obama to pivot back home and take care of the needs of the American people and stop the warmongering and the projection of Russia and China as enemies.

Obama has a lot to keep him occupied in the United States, serving the urgent needs of the people.

There is no need for him to inflict more pain on us. At the same time, the important work of Thomas Piketty exposes the results of U.S. neoliberal policies: growing inequality. Therefore, President Obama should welcome local and global policies that diminish inequality, not perpetuate it. I also believe such a shift in U.S. policy would be greatly appreciated by the Americans who could finally see their needs met by a concerned and caring government.

I still believe that the American people can change the policies and direction of our country.

Things in America are now bad enough to force people to look at different ways of resolving their problems.

I hope it is clear to them that neither Democrat Hillary Clinton nor Republican Jeb Bush are solutions to the problems that ail America; rather, they helped to create these problems. Therefore, I am hopeful that a critical mass of us working together to change the mission of future U.S. governments will be successful – starting in 2016.

In 1992, Cynthia McKinney was the first African-American woman from Georgia in the U.S. Congress. weeks ago. He only got emotional when he spoke about visiting injured veterans at Walter Reed Army Hospital. No matter how much he’s criticized, he’ll never put more than a token number of the U.S. military on the ground in Syria. Why? He can’t deal with the human cost in American blood.

He’ll be as happy to leave the White House as George W. Bush was. And, like Bush, he’ll hand a war in the Middle East over to his successor…

Florida Classic – Next week, pinky swear…

I’m at ccherry2@gmail.com.

NATION

TOJ A6

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

Is nation’s capital still the Chocolate City?

D.C.’s AfricanAmerican population has dropped from 71 percent in the 1970s to under 50 percent in 2014.

analysis of zip codes by Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Washington.

On Petrilli’s list of the top 25 fastest-gentrifying neighborhoods in America, the Shaw neighborhood (zip code 20001) is ranked 10th. That area saw a 27.2 percent increase in non-Hispanic White residents from 5.6 percent in 2000 to 32.8 percent in 2010.

“I feel like D.C. is no longer the Chocolate City, because of the amount of gentrification and the demographics are changing,” said Kobi Marshall, 22, who was born in Washington.

TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, was one of the Blackest cities in the United States during the 1970s. The population of African-Americans peaked at 71.1 percent, and everyone from residents to radio personalities began calling it the “Chocolate City.”

Parliament even released an album and single titled “Chocolate City” as a tribute to the nation’s capital with its “vanilla suburbs.”

Washington’s Black history can be traced back to the early 19th century. By 1830, most of the enslaved Blacks in D.C. had been freed. Although slavery still remained, free African-Americans took it upon themselves to create churches, schools and businesses for their community. In 1862, Congress passed the District of Columbia Emancipation Act, making Washington the first free part of the nation. This was months before Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

‘White flight’ During the Great Migration, at least 5.5 million African-Americans left the South between the 1910s and 1970s, notes Isabel Wilkerson, a native Washingtonian and author of “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of American’s Great Migration.”

More than 50,000 AfricanAmericans moved to Washington because it was seen as a place full of educational, economical and political opportunity for Black people, according to an excerpt

Detroit No. 1

KAYLAH WAITE/TRUTHBETOLD.NEWS

A street in the Shaw neighborhood shows the contrast between old and new in Washington, D.C. from W.E.B. Du Bois’ 1917 “The Migration of Negroes.”

As the Black population grew in Washington and other urban cities, so did “White flight,” or the exodus of White people to suburban neighborhoods in the 1950s and beyond. Between 1950 and 1960, Washington’s White population fell from 64.6 percent to 45.2 percent, census figures show, while the Black population grew from 35 percent to 53.9 percent.

By this point, the Shaw area north of downtown was booming with Black businesses and was home to numerous landmarks such as Howard University, the Lincoln Theater and the first African-American YMCA. It was not uncommon to see prominent Black people like Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. strolling down U Street.

To Maryland, Virginia The decline of African-Ameri-

can residents in D.C. was first noticed in the 1970s as they started to move to Maryland and Northern Virginia. Only 8 percent of D.C.-born African-Americans lived in Maryland prior to passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which provided access to housing options that were previously unavailable.

By 1980, the number tripled to 27 percent, according to the University of Minnesota’s Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, using data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Meanwhile, the White population fluctuated, inching upward from 27.7 percent in 1970 to 29.6 percent in 1990 and starting the transformation of centrally located neighborhoods. While this was only a 2 percent increase, the Black population dropped by more than twice as much, falling 5.3 percent during the same period, from a peak of 71.1 percent to 65.8 percent.

“Once the city gets home rule in 1974, Black constituents now

as opposed to being subjects of the federal government now demanded that the city government do something about gentrification,” said George Derek Musgrove, history professor at the University of Maryland who is co-authoring a history of race and democracy in the District.

As a result, Musgrove said, the city passed various laws that allowed poor people to fight back against gentrification. These laws regulated rent control and established cooperatives to buy apartments. Some community groups were able to do that in places like Adams Morgan.

Go-go going too?

Once the heart of AfricanAmerican business and culture — from jazz to go-go, the congadriven music that is considered the soundtrack of D.C. — Shaw is now home to fusion restaurants and new condominiums. The DCist labeled Shaw the “most whitened” neighborhood in the District, based on a national

Washington, D.C., is no longer No. 1 in the proportion of AfricanAmerican residents, among places with a population of 100,000 or more. That distinction now belongs to Detroit, which had a Black population of 82.7 percent based on the 2010 census versus 50.7 percent for Washington.

At the height of D.C.’s Chocolate City days in the 1970, the population was 71.1 percent Black, compared to 43.7 percent for Detroit. The Motor City took the lead the 1990s and has held onto it ever since.

The bottom line is that the Black population in the nation’s capital has fallen below 50 percent for the first time in half a century, and the gap is narrowing.

According to the most recent census estimate, the Black population in D.C. dropped to 49 percent in 2014 while the White population rose to 43.6 percent — a difference of only 5.4 percent. However, the name Chocolate City still resonates with some District residents who have fond memories of a lively, cultural movement to a go-go beat.

Danielle Ledbetter and Kaylah Waite are reporters for TruthBeTold.news, a factchecking site based at Howard University.

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DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

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‘Creed’ director’s fight to get movie made See page B5

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SECTION

B

S

SPECIAL REPORT: THE NEW AMERICANS

Teen immigrants

struggle to grasp English, culture

Monique works on fractions in the ESOL math class taught

by Charlie Emerson in her first year at Patterson High School on June 1.

Monique Ngomba, 16, is shown at home last April in the northeast Baltimore apartment she shared with her parents and younger brother. The Ngomba family is from the Central African Republic, and lived in refugee camps in Chad for 11 years.

Monique is the only student at Patterson who speaks Sango, and learning English has been very difficult.

BY LIZ BOWIE BALTIMORE SUN (TNS)

O

n that cold December afternoon, Monique Ngomba followed hundreds of students out the doors of Patterson High School until she stood, completely baffled, in front of a line of buses.

It was time to go home, but she had no idea which bus to take.

The skills she had acquired over a childhood spent in crowded refugee camps in central Africa were of no use now.

She was expert at harvesting and pounding yucca into meal, gathering firewood and taking care of children. Now, weeks after arriving in Baltimore, she was confronted by many mysteries: electricity, stoves and grocery stores. Even holding a pen was difficult.

She spent all day in an East Baltimore classroom, surrounded by the clatter of unintelligible languages. She spoke no English. She couldn’t read or write, even in her own language of Sango. With the only interpreter who spoke that language somewhere across the city, she had little help deciphering her new world. Each day, she felt humiliated.

Puzzling over the line of buses, she began to cry. Other students offered her bus passes and money, but that only confused her more.

Shortly before 4 p.m., a bus pulled up in front of her. She climbed on, if only to escape the scene she was making.

Later, through a translator, she described the moment: “It was like an open door to the jungle.”

PHOTOS BY AMY DAVIS/BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

They knew nothing about the United States and were frightened by the prospect of going to another country. Only when Monique’s father realized that things would never improve in the Central African Republic did he accept the offer to emigrate.

Many challenges

Desperate for safety Had she gotten on the right bus, she would have been home in half an hour. Instead, by early evening, as it grew dark and the temperature dropped, her family, caseworker and police were frantically searching for her across Baltimore.

Monique landed in Baltimore because of chaos at home. Her native country, the Central African Republic, is one of many around the world torn by violence for years without capturing much of the world’s attention. Nearly half a million residents have fled from the fighting between militia groups, part of the migration of refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia who are desperate to reach safe places.

The crisis has put pressure on the United States, which accepts about 70,000 refugees annually, to do more.

The Obama administration recently announced that it would raise the ceiling and let in 85,000 refugees next year and 100,000 refugees a year by 2017.

Those coming to Maryland are from a diverse list of countries and speak a wide range of languages. Most are attracted by the state’s science and technology jobs and are highly educated, according to Randy Capps, director of U.S. research programs at the Migration Policy Institute. But less-educated refugees and undocumented immigrants have also arrived, settling in the Baltimore area and Washington’s suburbs.

Important to economy Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake sees immi-

Shown up front, Monique Ngomba and other students laugh during an exercise in an ESOL class taught by Jill Warzer at Patterson High School last spring. grants — who take desks in city schools and fill empty houses — as important to the city’s economy, and local officials are helping them integrate.

Many of these immigrants, like Monique, end up in East Baltimore’s Patterson High School, which has one of the state’s highest percentages of foreign-language-speaking students. These students, who have interrupted or little schooling, are often a puzzle to educators and may remain in culture shock for months.

To deal with the influx, Patterson and other city schools had to quickly add more teachers for those learning English as well as translators and bilingual social workers. That has helped to drive the city’s annual cost to teach immigrants to $16 million — offering a preview of the issues and costs that many other schools nationwide could soon confront.

Race to help Margot Harris, the head of Patterson’s English as a Second Language program, and her staff had just one or two semesters to teach Monique and the other newcomers English before they moved into mainstream classes. The teachers were in a desperate race.

Somehow, they had to transform the illiterate child of an African farmer into an American teenager ready to pursue a high school diploma.

When Monique disappeared

on the bus that December night, her family called Chris Banzadio, a youth caseworker at the International Refugee Committee. He rushed to Patterson and searched the long empty halls. By chance, one of Monique’s teachers, Jill Warzer, was still at her desk.

They contacted the Maryland Transit Administration and Baltimore police, and by 8 p.m., an officer used a photo of Monique from the school database to send out a citywide alert. Warzer feared that someone might try to kidnap her.

Hated to leave home As with many arriving foreign students at Patterson, the teachers had received no transcript and little biographical information about Monique.

They didn’t know that warring factions in the Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest countries, forced her family from their village when she was 5 years old.

Her father raised cattle and grew yucca, peanuts, corn and beans, but the harvest was left behind. They had to walk 24 miles over the border to Chad.

Over the next 11 years, their extended family lived in mud huts that sometimes washed away in the rain, in three different refugee camps. They wanted to return home so badly that when — after eight years — they got a chance to move to the United States, they turned it down.

At age 16, Monique was starting high school with the academic skill of a pre-kindergartner.

To keep her from getting lost on the city’s bus system — something that had happened to other students — the school staff had devised an elaborate plan. They paired her with a Nepali girl who lived next door and could guide her back and forth. But that December afternoon, the Nepali girl had an after-school commitment. And Monique’s brother, who acted as a backup, couldn’t find her after the last bell rang, so he went home without her.

Finally, near midnight, Baltimore police got a call that a security guard at Reisterstown Road Plaza — about 14 miles from Patterson — had spotted someone who appeared to need help. An officer found a girl curled into a ball, asleep on the sidewalk. It was 36 degrees.

The officer couldn’t communicate with her but called another officer on his shift, Khady Al-Quarishy, who was from Senegal, hoping she might speak the girl’s language. AlQuarishy tried French, her native language. Monique understood enough to tell the officer her name.

Welcome at school She said later that she had wandered the streets, and was so scared she never even felt hungry. She believed she would never find her home, or see her family again.

After years in the Belom refugee camp, Monique and her family were now living off a four-lane road, down the street from a Giant supermarket and Burger King. But for Monique, as for other immigrant teens, it was the school that would be her portal to this new world.

A rambling building with cloudy windows, patched lino-

leum floors, no air conditioning and only a hint of Wi-Fi, Patterson has been slated for demolition. Over the past 15 years, the school lost nearly half its enrollment.

But in a city where teens can choose the high school they want to attend, hundreds of immigrants have flocked to Patterson because of its reputation for welcoming them. A third of the school’s roughly 1,000 students are foreignborn. They say they love their school.

They congregate on the third floor, where the classrooms are dedicated largely to teaching English to newcomers. The teachers are often their first link to understanding American culture.

Refuge for frightened Before coming to the United States, Monique had seen electricity only in a visit to a city. In the camps, she never had running water. Her family’s food rations were often cut back to half-portions, and for years, they were always hungry. In Baltimore, they needed help finding ingredients for meals they were familiar with.

At school, Monique often turned to Mary Kinjoli, a Kenyan immigrant who was hired to be a liaison with families. Kinjoli couldn’t speak Monique’s language, but she spoke Swahili, English and other languages and seemed to be able to pick up cues.

In the camps, Monique had only used latrines, so when she needed to go to the bathroom, she would stop to see Kinjoli, who would take her. Many of the students like Monique are mocked or bullied, particularly in the bathrooms; in one case, Kinjoli said, boys stuffed a student’s head into the toilet.

At lunch, when the other students left the room chattering with each other, Monique usually stayed behind with Warzer, who had become like a second mother to her. Monique would take her food to the back of the classroom, sit next to a computer and put on headphones.

She had never worked on a computer before coming to Patterson, and she loved it.

See STRUGGLE, Page B2

CALENDAR

B2

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Miami: “Christmas in Jazz: A Holiday Show’’ is Dec. 11 at the Miami Dade County Auditorium. The show starts at 8 p.m.

Tampa: The Collective’s holiday party – made up of the Tampa Bay MBA Association and other local organizations – is 6 to 10 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Sociedad La Union Marti-Maceo, 1226 E. 7th Ave. More information: www. tampabaybmbaa.org.

Fort Lauderdale: Dr. Shelly Cameron will discuss her new book, “Success Strategies of Caribbean American Leaders in the United States’’ at 2 p.m. Dec. 5 at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, 2650 Sistrunk Blvd.

Jacksonville: Tickets are on sale to see Patti LaBelle on Jan. 28 at the Times Union Center for the Performing Arts, Feb. 5 in Miami, Feb. 6 in Fort Pierce, Feb. 20 in Orlando, Feb. 21 in Tampa and Feb. 23 in Sarasota.

St. Petersburg: “The Family Blessing,’’ a play featuring local performers, will be at the Mahaffey Theater on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.

STRUGGLE from Page 1

But through the winter, Monique often seemed to be in a complete fog, a stage teachers describe as common for newcomers.

While other students used sign language or gestures to get points across, Monique usually sat silent, watching. Being so silent in class is not uncommon for immigrant children.

“You find this in children who have been traumatized or who have had severe interruptions in their schooling. There are some students who are selectively mute for years,” said Sarah Shin, a professor and co-director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County master’s degree program in teaching English as a second language.

Extra time to learn Some Patterson teachers wondered whether Monique had a learning disability or prolonged culture shock, or had been through a traumatic event that was affecting her ability to learn.

As Monique sat silently, she had one thought — “I will not make it” — and considered quitting.

But an older brother who had gone to work to support the family argued vehemently that she should stay in school and try for a better future. He told Monique: “I don’t have the fortune to go to school. But you, they give you the fortune.”

In recent years, as Patterson has faced a wave of new immigrants — including those like Monique, who had low literacy levels — teachers redesigned their model to give students more time to learn English. In 2013, they decided to segregate the newcomers and teach English all day long, with a focus on mathematics, history and writing.

They allowed students to stay in the intensive English classes for one semester — or a school year at the most.

As students gained more language skills, they would begin to take regular high school classes for most of the day, followed by a class to work on their English.

Dropout rate Patterson’s teachers knew these students were in a race. They had a limited time to move from sounding out words to reading novels, from learning addition and subtraction to taking high school algebra.

Jacksonville: The D.I.P. Foundation’s annual Heal A Heart food clothing and toy giveaway is Dec. 20 from noon to 2 p.m. at the Maceo Elk’s Lodge, 712 West Duval St. Donations are still needed. Visit www.Dipfoundation. org or call 904 438-4347.

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

STOJ

rusofpalmcoast.com.

THE WEEKND

Jacksonville: The Nicholas Payton Trio performs Dec. 5 at the Ritz Theatre and Museum. The show is at 8 p.m.

Miami: Christmas in Jazz: A Holiday Show takes place Dec. 11 at the Miami Dade County Auditorium.

The Weeknd’s Madness Fall Tour stops at the Amalie Arena on Dec. 17 and AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami on Dec. 19.

Miami: Christian Family Coalition celebrates its anniversary gala dinner on Dec. 11 at the Sheraton Miami Airport Hotel. Florida’s U.S. Senate candidates will attend. RSVP

by Dec. 1 at 786-447-6431.

SHAGGY

An “XL’ent Xmas’’ show featuring Shaggy, Walk the Moon and Tori Kelly will be at the House of Blues Orlando on Dec. 17.

Tampa: Hosted by the Fashion Movement, the “Bow Ties and Clutches: International Style Night Party” is Dec. 11 at 9 p.m. at The Vault, 611 N. Franklin St. RSVP at www. bowtiesandclutches2015. eventbrite.com.

Fort Lauderdale: “The Christmas Chocolate Nutcracker” is Dec. 5 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, 2650 Sistrunk Blvd. Tickets will be available at the door or through Eventbrite. More information: www.AshantiCulturalArts.com.

Miami: The Comedy Get Down tour stops at the Amer-

The teachers had to somehow compress eight years of education into one.

Even though the immigrant students in Maryland are given until age 21 to graduate from high school, teachers say that unforgiving timeline doesn’t make sense. Many students leave school — statewide, 28 percent of students with limited English drop out, compared with 8 percent of the general population.

Their achievement on standardized tests is also significantly lower than that of other groups of students. For example, 48 percent of those learning English pass the algebra test, compared with 88 percent of all others statewide.

For many immigrants, the push for an education can lead to heartbreak.

Patterson principal Vance Benton said his foreign students believe that if they don’t get an education, that would be the end of a meaningful life.

Across Maryland and the nation, many high schools that never before had significant populations of immigrant students are grappling with their needs.

Ten percent of the nation’s public school students are in classes designated for those whose first language is not English.

In the last fiscal year, the federal government spent $737 million — about 2 percent of what it spends on K-12 education — to help school systems around the country educate students whose first language is not English. About $10 million of that money goes to Maryland schools.

That leaves decisions on most of the spending to local schools, which must pick up the cost.

‘Most improved’ In mid-March, after four months of little progress, Monique made a breakthrough. She looked at the word “foot” and drew a picture of feet under it.

In the days that followed, single words, usually nouns, trickled out.

When Monique was having trouble with the computer, she turned to Warzer in the middle of class and said her first full English sentence: “It is not working.”

“She answered in English as clear as day,” Warzer said. “Sometimes they listen, and all of a sudden start talking.”

Through a translator, Monique said: “Now, step by step, I start to learn.”

The progress continued through the spring. In English class, she read a question asking for her age and

Estero: The Legends of the Old School tour stops Dec. 5 at the Germain Arena.

Performers include Vanilla Ice, Salt N Pepa, Coolio, Rob Base and 2 Live Crew.

St. Petersburg: Bone Thugsn-Harmony and Mike Jones are scheduled to perform Dec. 11 at the Concert Courtyard @ Ferg’s, 1320 Central Ave. Miami Gardens: The City of Miami Gardens will host its fifth annual Science and Engineering Fair Dec. 7 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Thomas University, 16401 NW 37th Ave. It ends Dec. 8 with an awards presentation from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex, 3000 NW 199th St. More details: Call Hilary Marshall at 305-622-8062.

KATT WILLIAMS

Tickets are on sale for Katt Williams’ “Conspiracy Theory’’ show at the James L. Knight Center in Miami on Jan. 17, the USF Sun Dole in Tampa on Feb. 6 and the CFE Arena in Orlando on Feb, 19.

icanAirlines Arena in Miami on Dec. 11. The tour features D.L. Hughley, George Lopez, Cedric the Entertainer, Eddie Griffin and Charlie Murphy.

Palm Coast: The Community Chorus of Palm Coast will perform a holiday concert on Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 12 at 4 p.m. The concerts will

be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 156 N. Florida Park Drive. Donations welcome.

More information: 386-9868899 or www.communitycho-

Tampa: Candy Lowe hosts Tea & Conversation every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at 3911 N. 34th St., Suite B. More information: 813-3946363.

answered it: 16. She could follow simple calculations in her math class, though she went blank when the lesson turned to angles, lines and points.

She also made efforts to conform socially, wearing makeup and braiding her hair.

Near the end of the school year, at an assembly, Warzer gave her the “most improved” certificate. As Monique walked to the front of the stage in the auditorium, classmates applauded. She gave her teacher a broad smile. She didn’t quite understand the significance of the certificate, but she knew it was something special.

give these kids more time.

She doesn’t know whether Monique will make it to graduation.

But at least now, Monique was able to speak some English, her words coming out in simple, understandable sentences.

On the first day of school, though she sometimes ended up on the wrong floor or at the wrong classroom, she still maneuvered

through the crowded hallways with confidence.

Around her were 74 students who had arrived since July, teens who had been where she was the year before: in culture shock, with no English and no friends. Many carried trauma from their pasts, but they had hope that now things might be different.

Monique had made her own leap. She no lon-

ger hid in Warzer’s classroom at lunch. This school year, in the busy cafeteria, she found her place at a table with a few Spanishspeaking girls. Even if there wasn’t a lot of conversation, she had discovered a new food she loved: meatballs. And she finally had someone to sit next to.

“They speak Spanish,” Monique said, smiling, “and I speak English.”

Another hurdle Over the summer, Monique continued in classes through the Refugee Youth Project, but her family’s worsening finances weighed on her. They had to move to a smaller apartment, and, like so many of her peers at Patterson, she considered quitting school and going to work.

“I don’t know how people live here,” she said, crying.

So far, only Monique’s 22-year-old brother is working full time to support nine people; a second brother is getting job training. The federal government gives refugees a small amount of start-up money per person and the help of a caseworker for a limited time. If they falter, they can apply for public assistance.

On the first day of the fall semester, Monique faced her next big hurdle: She discovered that she had been moved into mainstream classes. She would take only one class to improve her English; the majority of her day would be spent in regular classes.

During a biology class, as the teacher talked about concepts such as cell division, respiration and homeostasis, Monique tried to follow along. But she and other immigrant students were lost. Monique was trying to read the first sentence of a handout. The few words she got right were “in” and “the.” She still couldn’t read.

She is one of 150 immigrant students in Patterson who were pushed into mainstream classes after a year or less learning English. Most of the students in her biology class were in a similar situation, though almost all had a better grasp of the language.

Harris, who is in charge of English instruction for Patterson’s immigrant students, wishes she could

LEGENDARY PICTURES AND UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENT A LEGENDARY PICTURES/ZAM PICTURES PRODUCTION ‘ KRAMPUS’’ A FILM BY MICHAEL DOUGHERTY ADAM SCOTT TONI COLLETTE DAVID KOECHNER ALLISON TOLMAN CONCHATA FERRELL EMJAY ANTHONY STEFANIA LAVIE OWEN WIWRITH TKRITEN STA STADLER EXECUTIPRODUCERVE DANIEL M. STILLMAN PRODUCEDBY THOMASDIRECTEDTULLp.g.a. JON JASHNIp.g.a.

ALEX GARCIAp.g.a. MICHAEL DOUGHERTYp.g.a. BY TODD CASEY & MICHAEL DOUGHERTY & ZACH SHIELDS BY MICHAEL DOUGHERTY A UNIVERSAL RELEASE VISUAL EFFECTS BY WETA DIGITAL LTD.

© 2015 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES

S

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

SPORTS

B3

‘My body knows it’s time to say goodbye’ Lakers’ Kobe Bryant says he’ll retire at end of season

go out, obviously, but he doesn’t want to play for anybody else,” said longtime Lakers athletic trainer Gary Vitti, who knew Bryant better than anyone within the franchise. “He started here and he wanted to finish here.”

Mementos have already been created. Embossed copies of a letter from Bryant to fans were handed out to ticket holders at the game.

Toward the top, the letter said, “Some of you took me in. Some of you didn’t,” an acknowledgment of his often polarizing persona.

Near the end, it said, “Thank you for this incredible journey.”

It was sealed in a black envelope with a gold “KB 20” adhesive.

BY MIKE BRESNAHAN LOS ANGELES TIMES (TNS)

Kobe Bryant delighted in putting himself through as much pain as possible. Whatever it took to make him stronger.

He once got water-boarded just to see how it felt. He delighted in giving team employees the “Saw” horror movies, grinning while saying he could survive any of the grisly do-or-die propositions in them.

Ask anyone on the Los Angeles Lakers about Bryant. Pain tolerance ranks high on his most notable skill list.

He finally yielded to it Nov. 29, announcing his retirement after this season — 55,785 NBA minutes after it began as a 17-year-old whose last amateur game came against Erie (Pa.) Cathedral Prep.

“My body knows it’s time to say goodbye,” Bryant said on the Players’ Tribune website, to which he was an early investor and is an occasional contributor.

No shocker By all accounts, including Bryant’s, he was very much at peace with his decision. It was mildly surprising but didn’t shock anybody. Bryant, 37, is shooting an abysmal 30.5 percent this season and a similarly telling 20.2 percent from three-point range.

He seemed to lack the usual smoldering fire he carried on and off the court. Take, for example, a recent article in the Los Angeles Times that detailed his deteriorating play since sustaining a torn Achilles tendon toward the end of the 2012-13 season.

A negative piece of that scope would have set off Bryant angrily in past years. He would scowl at the reporter, maybe offer some derisive words off to the side.

This time, he offered a playful tap on the back for one of the writers when Bryant saw him for

No championship parade

ROBERT GAUTHIER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Lakers forward Kobe Bryant waves to fans during warmups before a game against the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 29 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. the first time after the article.

The homage begins That was Nov. 28, before Bryant scored a seemingly solid 21 points against Portland, though it came on tired seven-for-20 shooting in a 108-96 Lakers loss.

Afterward, he sat at his locker and expounded about the toll of two decades of NBA work on the human body.

“It’s tough. 20 years. Legs aren’t what they used to be,” he said. “You just continue to fight through it … .”

There wasn’t much fight left for Bryant in the final year of a contract paying him $25 million this season. The one thing he continually resisted was the idea of a farewell tour, practically spitting nails at anyone who brought up the concept.

The Lakers started their homage to Bryant on the scoreboard during a timeout in the

second quarter of the Nov. 29 game against the Indiana Pacers.

The Staples Center scoreboard showed highlights of Game 4 of the 2000 NBA Finals against the Pacers.

Lakers fans grew steadily louder as they watched him scoring eight points in overtime to help the Lakers win that game and, ultimately, his first championship with the franchise. Four more would be added, most recently in 2010 against the hated Boston Celtics.

‘No sadness’ In big games, the ones worth championship rings or something that could very well lead to them, Bryant would jump onto the courtside scorer’s table and extend his arms. Or he would yank his jersey to one side, exposing his chest and insinuating the heart that went into the game. Later in his career, he

would bare his teeth in a menacing scowl, always the intimidator on the court.

These days, Bryant jokes about not being able to walk to his car after games at Staples Center. Or maybe he isn’t joking.

He’s not sad about walking away. This he promises.

“There’s no sadness … I had so many great times,” he said Nov. 29 at a postgame news conference.

TNT analyst Charles Barkley was one of many NBA observers who thought Bryant should retire, telling the Times last week, “Oh, yeah, this definitely should be it.”

Letter to fan Bryant’s game reflects it. He played poorly last Sunday, missing 16 of 20 shots in the Lakers’ 107-103 loss. This has become the norm.

“It’s not the way he wanted to

Lakers fan Steven Ayala, 33, said he wouldn’t dare open it until Bryant’s final game.

“It makes it more special,” he said.

When Bryant was introduced before the game, hundreds and hundreds of tiny cell phone cameras flashed to try to capture the moment, even from the upper reaches of Section 310.

A bit before that, he burst out of the locker room and onto the court near the end of a line of teammates. Only veterans Nick Young and Brandon Bass were behind him.

There won’t be too many more grand entrances for Bryant. The Lakers (2-14) are off to their worst start since 1957 and almost surely will be done April 13, the last day of the regular season.

There will not be a Lakers championship parade next June, and you wonder how much Bryant will reflect on his long-desired goal to at least match the six titles won by Michael Jordan.

He didn’t get there. One shy.

But it wasn’t for lack of trying.

Los Angeles Times staff writers Melissa Rohlin and Broderick Turner contributed to this report.

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TRAVEL

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

STOJ

View the Christmas story at the Sight and Sound Theater.

COURTESY OF DISCOVERLANCASTER.COM

An Americana

Christmas in Lancaster County December brings forth the enchantment of the holidays at this popular travel destination in Philadelphia.

Writer Eleanor Hendricks McDaniel and Lorraine Williams clown around at the Ephrata Cloister.

The Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum was the setting for the film “Beloved.’’

BY ELEANOR HENDRICKS MCDANIEL SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

A

wounded Philadelphia cop hides from corrupt colleagues on farm and falls in love with Amish woman.

That’s the plot of the film “Witness.’’ If you saw the movie, you discovered that Lancaster County, Pa., is dominated by Amish culture, but it has so much more to offer. It touts many of our American ideals: Family values, religious freedom, entrepreneurship and brotherhood, which we find there in farming, shopping, entertainment and history.

Although you’ll find it’s a great destination any time of the year, December brings forth the enchantment of the holidays, especially in the following venues.

Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum In 1925, two brothers, Henry and George Landis, feared for the heritage of their German culture. They began to amass tools and other implements used in rural life. When their home could no longer contain the ever-growing collection, they housed it in the estate’s out-buildings. Today, the site has expanded into a compound of historic structures and a museum that showcases the largest treasury of German artifacts in the U.S. I strolled the outdoor setting and experienced examples of the industrial and agricultural life of the 19th century. Period homes line roads to complete the illusion. Animals, living history enactors and crafts persons lent an air of authenticity to the setting.

As a testament to its authenticity, it was one of the settings in Oprah Winfrey’s film, “Beloved.’’

You can walk down the same lanes that the actors walked.

Come celebrate a Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas at Landis Farm. Ride an old-time wagon through the decorated hamlet.

ELEANOR HENDRICKS MCDANIEL/ SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

COURTESY OF DISCOVERLANCASTER.COM

Shop in the charming shops at Kitchen Kettle Village.

Then warm up near a large bonfire. Carol along with the Lititz Moravian Trombone Choir and toast the season with hot cider and cookies in the Yellow Barn.

More information: landisvalleymuseum.org

Sight and Sound Theater Behold the telling of Christ’s birth in Sight and Sound’s holiday presentation, “Miracle of Christmas.’’ Watch as you and the audience are enveloped by the happenings on a three-sided stage and the procession of camels, horses, donkeys and performers marching down the aisles. This show will run until Jan. 2, 2016.

Since 1976, Sight and Sound Theater has brought the Bible to life through spectacular live Broadway-style musical productions. Now housed in an enormous, magnificent new theater that was constructed in 1998, the auditorium has expanded to hold a 300-foot stage and over 2,000 seats. Among its former presentations are “Jonah, Noah – the Musical’’ and “The Splendor of Easter.’’ I recently enjoyed the story of “Joseph,’’ complete with music, song and dance. Beginning in 2016, “Samson’’ will be on the bill.

More information: www.sightsound.com

Kitchen Kettle Village Everyone’s Christmas gift list

usually includes food gifts and the dilemma of finding the right present for that hard-to-please person. Kitchen Kettle Village to your rescue.

Start by browsing in the shop of Jam and Relish Kitchen. You’ll be awed by the many shelves of relishes and pickles, sauces and salsa, jams and jellies – and more. They’re all made by local country cooks. Just like homemaker Pat Burley who made her first batch of jelly in 1954. Her successful business eventually mushroomed into this fresh air mini-mall of 40 independent clothing, arts, crafts, restaurant, edibles and lodging establishments.

During the holiday season, the Kitchen Kettle Village sparkles with decorations and the excitement of special events, such as Breakfast with Santa and Dinner with Mrs. Claus and Yummie, the gingerbread man. Both feasts feature an array of Lancaster County farm-to-table foods.

More information: www.kitchenkettle.com

Strasburg Railroad When my son was little, I took him for a short trip aboard Strasburg Railroad’s historic train.

It was summer, and the train whistle blew in through open windows. He really enjoyed that unique adventure. But imagine the mind-boggling journeys that await youngsters (of all ages) when the coaches are trans-

formed into Santa’s Paradise Express and the Night Before Christmas Train.

The fun begins at the station where kids can climb aboard a classic caboose to listen to holiday tales or hop onto the Tinsel Trolley, a self-propelled motorcar.

Santa’s Paradise Express has the “jolly old elf” meeting families, taking photos and giving a gift to each child under 12 years old. On the Night Before Christmas Train, a Victorian character, dressed in a nightshirt and cap reads the famous poem by Clement Clarke Moore. Cookies, milk and a heated potbelly stove complete the joyful experience.

More information: www.strasburgrailroad.com

Ephrata Cloister Pennsylvania has always been a haven for religious freedom. Among the sects that have fled their countries to settle in that state were the Quakers, the Moravians and the Anabaptists, which includes Mennonites and Amish. Conrad Beissel immigrated to Lancaster County and in 1732 he established a religious community whose tenets rested on a spiritual, not materialistic, lifestyle.

By 1950, the membership had grown to over 300, which included a married order of worshippers who lived on the fringe of the celibate cloister. The Brothers and Sisters sustained their

society with farming, orchards, basket making, printing, papermaking, milling, and carpentry.

They provided for themselves and outsiders.

Visitors are invited to tour the buildings and grounds of this National Historic Landmark through guided and selfled tours. You’ll see the tiny cells in the Sisters’ Dormitory, the Meeting House and the amazing craftsmanship and precision in the beautiful hand-drawn illuminations and “Frakturschriften, an alphabet book of letters.

The site is open all year, but Christmastide welcomes both quiet contemplation and exuberant celebration with seasonal readings, music and an informative Lantern Tour. Call 717-7336600 or go online for reservations.

More information: ephratacloister.org Don’t just stop with only these venues. Holiday merry makers explore Lancaster County and find many more events and attractions. Find them at discoverlancaster.com.

Eleanor Hendricks McDaniel is an experienced travel journalist who writes for print magazines, newspapers and online magazines. 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 at ellethewriter.

STOJ

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 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 recently.

The Florida Courier staff selected them as this week’s Florida’s Finest – for obvious reasons.

PHOTOS BY CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Getting ‘Creed’ made was a real underdog story for director

BY JOSH ROTTENBERG LOS ANGELES TIMES (TNS)

Ryan Coogler, the director of the new “Rocky” spinoff film “Creed,” wasn’t even born when “Rocky” came out in 1976. For that matter, he wasn’t born when “Rocky II,” “Rocky III” or “Rocky IV” came out either.

Still, for as long as he can remember, Sylvester Stallone’s perennial-underdog boxer Rocky Balboa has always had a special meaning to him — because Rocky has a special meaning to his dad.

“My dad and I were always really close growing up and, since I was really young, he would make me watch ‘Rocky’ movies,” the director, 29, said on a recent afternoon in Los Angeles. “‘Rocky II’ specifically — that was his favorite movie. If I had a big football game, he’d have me watch ‘Rocky II.’” A generational baton pass for the much-loved boxing series, “Creed,” which opened last week, finds an aging Balboa reluctantly training a rising young fighter named Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), the son of his former rival Apollo Creed, even as he battles his own cancer diagnosis.

In 2011, Coogler was finishing film school at USC when his father, Ira, a probation officer, became stricken with a mysterious neurological illness that left him nearly unable to walk. Knowing how much his ailing dad loved the “Rocky” movies, Coogler began mulling over a way to bring back the series as a kind of fatherson story, with Rocky serving as the mentor and paternal figure to Apollo Creed’s son.

With no pull in Hollywood, Coogler — who had yet to shoot a single frame of what would become his debut feature, the drama “Fruitvale Station” — figured the idea would never get off the ground. “It was almost like fan fiction,” he said. Still, he started working on a script with his friend Aaron Covington and eventually scored a meeting with Stallone at the actor’s office.

Stallone reluctant The “Rocky” star didn’t exactly jump at the idea. “I could tell Sly was like, ‘This kid is out of his mind,’” Coogler said. “But I was like, ‘It’s all good. At least I got a picture with him that I can show my dad.’”

(Coogler’s father was found to be suffering from a severe vitamin deficiency and is doing much better.)

Stallone, who had written all six films in the “Rocky” series and directed four of them, had a hard time wrapping his head around Coogler’s out-of-left-field pitch.

“I always found — maybe it’s a component of human nature — that when a radical idea presents itself, the immediate knee-jerk reaction is to reject it,” said the actor, who is 69.

‘A leap of faith’ Over the years, Stallone had occasionally toyed with the idea of reprising the Rocky character but never in the context of another boxing movie.

“I thought that if Rocky ever did anything again, it would be almost shades of Elia Kazan’s ‘A Face in the Crowd,’ where he gets involved in low-level politics by accident,” the actor said.

“A fire hydrant doesn’t work, a streetlamp blows out and he keeps complaining and someone goes, ‘If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you run for government and get it fixed?’ I thought that would be an interesting arena. But the fight game? No.” Then in 2013, Stallone saw “Fruitvale Station,” which starred Jordan and premiered to critical acclaim at that year’s Sundance Film Festival, and began to reconsider Coogler’s idea. With some trepidation — Rocky, after all, is his baby, the thing he’s known best for in his career — he agreed to sign on to “Creed.”

Confident about movie Indeed, as the popularity of boxing has waned over the de-

STHANLEE B. MIRADOR/SIPA USA/TNS

Director Ryan Coogler arrives at the “Creed” Los Angeles Premiere at the Regency Village Theater on Nov. 19 in Westwood, Calif. cades, some may wonder whether the nearly 40-year-old franchise has the resonance it once did. But Jonathan Glickman, president of the motion picture group at MGM, which oversaw the production of “Creed,” was willing to bet that the “Rocky” series still connected with younger audiences. (Warner Bros. is handling worldwide distribution of the $35-million film, in partnership with MGM.) “I was born in 1986, and ‘Rocky’ was always around,” Coogler said.

“There were these things that existed for us as millennials, like ‘Star Wars.’ ‘Rocky’ was like ‘Star Wars’ for the underdog, like ‘Star Wars’ for the street.”

Set in Philly Balancing nostalgia with a contemporary aesthetic, Coogler set “Creed” in Rocky’s hometown of Philadelphia and infused the soundtrack with hip-hop tracks. “‘Rocky’ has a major place in hip-hop culture,” Coogler said.

“There’s a famous [Puff Daddy] song that came out when I was

young called ‘Victory’ that uses ‘Going the Distance’ from the ‘Rocky’ soundtrack, and Biggie [Smalls] raps over that beat like it was meant to be rapped over.”

Jordan, for his part, had always been aware of the “Rocky” franchise but dove into it in earnest only when he began preparing for “Creed.” “It was cool to take on this character with such deep roots,” he said.

From his first meeting with Stallone, the older actor began showing Jordan the ropes, not unlike Rocky with the young Creed.

“We were talking about famous boxers and historical boxing fights,” said Jordan, 28, who underwent a grueling program of training and diet to get in shape for the film. “Sly was showing me how to deliver an on-screen punch and he hit me in the chest kind of hard.” He laughed. “He’s still in shape.”

Sly’s wisdom As a die-hard “Rocky” fan, Coogler sprinkled “Creed” with

loving homages to the earlier films, but nothing could replace having Stallone on the set. “He’s got this wealth of knowledge because he’s played this character for decades,” Coogler said. “I remember in the script I had Rocky wake Adonis up with water. Sly was like, ‘I don’t think Rocky would do that.’ I said, ‘So how would Rocky wake Adonis up?’

He said, ‘He’d probably play him old records.’ So I went back and rewrote that scene and it became something great.”

With Oscar prognosticators speculating that he could land a supporting actor nomination for his understated performance, Stallone is basking in Rocky’s unexpected resurrection.

“Rocky’s story is a fait accompli but Creed’s journey is just beginning,” Stallone said. “Is he going to make the same mistakes I did? To be part of that is pretty interesting because it opens up different things that never were presented before.” He gave a lopsided grin. “So, yes, Rocky would like to keep punching.”

FOOD

B6

DECEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 10, 2015

S

METALLIC SPRITZ COOKIES Makes: 10 dozen cookies 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 1 egg 2 tablespoons milk 1 teaspoon Wilton Pure Vanilla Extract 1/2 teaspoon Wilton Imitation Almond Extract Silver Color Mist Food Color Spray Gold Color Mist Food Color Spray Buttercream icing Wilton Silver Sugar Pearls Wilton Gold Sugar Pearls Heat oven to 350 F. In medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add egg, milk and extracts; mix well. Gradually add flour to butter mixture, mixing to make smooth dough.

Do not chill.

Place dough into cookie press using an 8-petal flower disk and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Cool cookies on pan on cooling grid 2 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on grid. You will need two cookies per treat.

Use silver or gold Color Mist food color spray to spray cookies. Let dry, about 3-5 minutes. Turn cookies over and spray underside. Let dry, about 3-5 minutes.

Prepare buttercream icing or use pre-made buttercream icing. Use tip 12, cut disposable decorating bag and icing to pipe elongated beads on bottom of one cookie, following cookie shape.

Sandwich two cookies together.

Use tip 4, cut disposable decorating bag and icing to pipe a dot in center of sandwich cookie. Top dot with either silver or gold sugar pearls.

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

T

reat your holiday guests to something special this Christmas.

From mouth-watering spritz cookie recipes that will outshine the rest, to delicious hot cocoa boosted with salted caramel and an edible candy spoon on the side, you’ll be the host with the most in no time at all.

Spritz cookies with a little glitz You know gingerbread and sugar cookie, but do you recall the most impres­sive cookie of all? Spritz cookies are fast and fun. Use a Wilton Cookie Press to make dozens of delicious, perfectly-shaped uniform cookies quickly. Add a spritz of edible silver or gold Color Mist Food Color Spray to make them shiny and bright.

Santa’s favorite spritz cookie Indulge Santa’s sweet tooth with decadent chocolate

SALTED CARAMEL HOT CHOCOLATE Makes: 4 cups 4 cups milk 1 cup Dark Cocoa Candy Melts Candy 1/4 teaspoon Wilton Treatology Salted Caramel Flavor Concentrate In large saucepan, cook milk on medium heat until hot; remove from heat. Whisk in candy and flavor concentrate.

Continue whisking until candy is melted and mixture is smooth. Serve immediately.

spritz cookie sandwiches filled with a layer of pepper­ mint icing. Take a shortcut by using decorator icing that is already flavored and ready to squeeze, perfect for the time-crunched holidays.

Ho-Ho-Hot cocoa with a twist There’s nothing quite as comforting as a cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter day, but add a dash of salted caramel flavor and you’re in for a real treat. Made with velvety Dark Cocoa Candy Melts candy, steamed milk and a splash of Treatology Salted Caramel flavor, this cocoa offers just the right balance of salty and sweet.

Melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookie spoons The delicious taste of sweet, baked Christmas cookies is captured in the Limited Edition Sugar Cookie Flavor Candy Melts candy and made into edible candy spoons with a microwaveable SpoonShaped Silicone Candy Mold.

For more holiday ideas and inspiration, visit wilton. com.

SUGAR COOKIE CANDY SPOONS Makes: 24 spoons Wilton Sugar Cookie Candy Melts Candy (12-ounce bag) Wilton Christmas Candy Spoon Mold Wilton 12-inch Disposable Decorating Bags Break 12 candy wafers in half and place in cavities of mold.

CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT SPRITZ SANDWICH COOKIES Makes: 4 dozen sandwiches 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2/3 cup cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 2/3 cup firmly-packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon Wilton Pure Vanilla Extract 2 eggs Wilton Peppermint Decorating Icing Heat oven to 350 F. In medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addi­tion.

Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, mixing to make a smooth dough.

Place dough into cookie press and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool cookies on pan on cooling grid 2 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on grid.

Sandwich cookies together with Pepper­mint Decorating Icing.

Place mold in microwave and microwave at half power or defrost setting for 1 minute. Gently jiggle and lightly tap mold to smooth melted candy.

Continue to microwave and tap at 30-second intervals until smooth and completely melted.

Alternate melting method: Melt candy in disposable decorating

bag according to candy package directions. Snip a small tip off end of bag and gently squeeze bag to fill cavities with melted candy.

Chill filled mold until candy spoons have hardened, about 10-15 minutes. Place mold on flat surface and gently push on bottom of cavities to release candy.