VOL IX ISSUE 8 December 4, 2019
MY TRUTH Cheryl Smith Publisher
Begin Today Communication is key. I’ve talked before about how important it is to communicate and not assume. Recently I received clarity on an issue that I was totally clueless about. While in the airport, I needed to get to a gate that was a serious hike. I hopped on one of the mobile carts and when we got to my designated gate, I thanked the driver and ran to board the plane. I heard some grumbling and turned around and saw the female driver rolling her eyes and mumbling about a tip. I was in a rush so I kept going and later I asked someone if I should have given her a tip. I was told that it wasn’t required but some expect a tip for everything they do. Believe me, I didn’t know I was offending her. Which brings me to my truth. Recently, I had an “ah ha moment” in a class I teach. The discussion was about not assuming that someone has the same understanding as you do. Clarity is so important. Ask for what you want. Say what you want. When you say something, make sure you mean it and that the person you are saying it to understands exactly what you are saying. As an example, I asked if anyone in the class ever borrowed money from anyone. Of course, at first, they denied borrowing. So I asked if anyone ever borrowed from them and several hands begin waving wildly. So I asked what were the terms of the transaction and it was pretty much the same — you ask for money, if I give it to you, I want it back. One student said she borrows from her mother and never returns it. I asked why not? She responded, “Because it’s my mother!” Now her answer defied all logic for me. Several others said what I was thinking— If you have no intention of repaying, why do you say the word, “borrow,” why don’t you just ask, “can I have?” I don’t know which is worse: The person who has no intention of paying back when they ask; the person who can find money for everything but paying back a loan; or the person who decides that the person they borrowed from does not need the money anyway. Someone said, there are people in cemeteries because they didn’t honor their commitment. But, you couldn’t get one student to realize the error of her ways. One student said she doesn’t lend money, that she GIVES or says ‘no.’ “I’ve gone so far as to say, ‘You didn’t pay me back the last time and then you had the nerve to stop speaking to me, so don’t even think about it!’” Wow, strong words from a 19-year-old! Someone else said to me, “What is understood, shouldn’t have to be said!” I immediately wrote that statement down because I wanted to remember it, for a number of reasons. The Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff had a hit song, “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” where they rapped:
“You know parents are the same, No matter time nor place They don’t understand that us kids, Are gonna make some mistakes So to you, all the kids all across the land, There’s no need to argue, Parents just don’t understand…” Because after all, parents were never “kids!” Were we? And Jerry Butler and Brenda Lee Eager collaborated on one of the best songs you’ll ever hear, from the 1970s hit, “Ain’t Understanding Mellow.” Ms. Eager sings to Mr. Butler: “For it’s very
nice to see, There’s a man who understands, How hard it is to take your hand, And try to explain…” See MY TRUTH, page 4
QUIT PLAYIN’ By Vincent L. Hall That’s the theme for the 29th Annual KwanzaaFest celebration, and it really is coming together. Each year since 1991, when Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and the Warriors launched the idea of KwanzaaFest, patrons want
K wanzaaFest is “Really Coming Together!”
to know what Kwanzaa is all about. So let’s peer into pages of “Kwanzaa for Dummies,” where I learned about Kwanzaa. There are seven principles (Nguzo Saba) that are the foundation of Kwanzaa and KwanzaaFest. Kwanzaa is seen
as a “Black Holiday,” and we embrace that. But the tenets are universal, and we welcome people of all cultures to join in the celebration and the commemoration. Principle one is Umoja or Unity, which reminds us to See QUIT, page 5
Journalists remember Mr. Reeves
AIDS Healthcare Foundation World AIDS Day GARTH REEVES Publisher Emeritus - The Miami
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) partnered with its Dallas affiliates-- AIDS Outreach Cen-ter (AOC) and the Access & Information Network (AIN) in a fabulous World AIDS Day event starring Diana Ross and featuring performances by Teyana Taylor and Keke Wyatt at the Bomb Factory, on November 29.
AHF honored American physician and diplomat Deborah L. Birx, Ambassador-at-large and the United States Global AIDS Coordinator, with AHF’s Lifetime Achievement Award
When I Think of Home WORDZ OF WILSON BY CHELLE LUPER WILSON One of my favorite movies of all time is The Wiz, yes, the one starring Diana Ross, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross and MJ as Scarecrow. I love the way our culture is beautifully and tragically woven into the storyline as we took this popular story and made it our own—from running numbers, and naming children after cars (Remember Lion aka Fleetwood Coupe DeVille), to the fabulous and fashionable sistas of Emerald City and the petty crows who gathered to laugh at Scarecrow’s dreams insisting he would never go further than ‘dis here pole. Every time I watch, a new life lesson is revealed.
The other night, I watched through the lens of current events and one scene was almost too heartbreaking for me to watch. It’s a scene that ordinarily brings joy because
the quest has been completed and I get to (in Miss Black America talent competition style) sing along to two of my favorite ballads. In this scene Lena Horne, as Glenda the Good Witch of the South, floats down in all her glittering glory surrounded by beautiful Black angel babies. Glenda helps Dorothy to understand that all she needs to get what she wants most is to simply believe in herself. Dorothy get it. After a “you got this” motivational speech and fond farewell to her traveling companions, Dorothy clicks her silver shiny shoes, and sings, “When I think of home, I think of a place where there’s love overflowing... It would sure be nice to be back home where
times
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is mourning the loss of Miami Times Publisher Emeritus Garth C. Reeves Sr., who passed away on Monday at the age of 100. “Mr. Reeves was truly a voice of the community,” said NABJ President Dorothy Tucker. “Not only was he an inspirational leader among the Black Press but his impact and influence reached beyond the world of news. He was active in the advancement of education and business in his community and played an important role in local civil rights efforts.” In 2017, Mr. Reeves was inducted into NABJ’s Hall of Fame at the age of 98. “I feel honored to be honored by NABJ,” he said. “I have admired the organization since it started. It makes you feel good when you are recognized by your peers and being in the business, at 98, I feel good.” In 2018 he was inducted into the Florida Press Association’s Newspaper Hall of Fame. Reeves was previously elected to serve two terms as president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). When receiving his NABJ honor, Mr. Reeves used the opportunity to encourage Black publishers, media executives, journalists and others to let nothing silence them. “Black journalists and the Black Press are up against formidable foes and we have to keep fighting and not give up,” he said. As previously reported by NABJ, Mr. Reeves proudly boasted that he had only one job in life and that has been working for the Miami Times, the newspaper his father founded in 1923. For 10 years he also served as president of the Amalgamated Publishers of New York City, which represented more than 100 African Americanowned newspapers across the United States. In 1970, Mr. Reeves was named publisher and CEO of the Miami Times when his father passed. He also became the first African American to serve on the governing boards of the MiamiDade Community College, Barry University, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, and the United Way of Dade County. He served as organizing chair of the board for the National Industrial Bank, which was the first integrated
See WORDZ, page 2
See REEVES, page 5
Strange Fruit in Dallas?
George Keaton Jr. describes lynching, slavery, and racial violence as “hard topics” that the public discussed By November 19 at a free Norma Adams-Wade community forum that explored Dallas’ deadly past related to “Southern trees bear a strange fruit,” Billie Holiday sang in a 1939 slavery and that set a future path for song called “Strange Fruit” that also memorializing victims of slavery. A second forum seeking was a poem and a novel. Lady Day’s song lamented the community input will be from 7 “strange and bitter crop” of black pm to 8 pm Dec. 4, 2019 at Dallas bodies lynched and hanging from Heritage Village, 1515 S. Harwood “southern trees” with “blood on the St., just south of downtown Dallas. The City of Dallas Office of Arts leaves and blood at the roots.” Dallas Black history sleuth Dr. and Culture is the main host. Co-
I WAS JUST THINKING...
hosts are Dallas Heritage Village and the nonprofit Remembering Black Dallas where Keaton is founder and executive director. The forums are asking the public for opinions and suggestions about how to implement plans for a public arts project that will memorialize victims of racial violence who were lynched in Dallas county between 1853 and 1920. Various steps include community input, approvals by citizen, city, and arts entities, selecting and funding an artist, and possible dedication of the art piece by the summer of 2021, said Kay Kallos, City of Dallas public art
program manager. She said Dallas’ Freeman’s Cemetery is an earlier project and some other cities with similar projects include New York; Alexandria, Virginia; and Montgomery, Alabama. “So much of Dallas’... (slaveryrelated) history is being pushed under the rug,” Dr. Keaton said. “We passed by these places everyday where... (atrocities happened). The victims need to be memorialized.” The victims would include the infamous and well-documented hanging of Allen Brooks who a mob lynched at Elks Arch, then at Main See THINKING, page 5