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VOL IX ISSUE 2 September 18, 2019
MY TRUTH Cheryl Smith Publisher
JOYOUS LIVING
The month of August was filled with answers, especially if you take into consideration an important question, “Why?” I’ve heard people pose the question when someone transitions, even though they don’t want to question “God.” When I first moved to Dallas in 1981, I visited a restaurant called “Smokey John’s Barbecue.” I actually visited weekly, to pick up my Black newspapers, get some fish and on the second Saturday of each month, attend Florida A&M University Alumni meetings. It was also the place where the first meeting of the Dallas Metroplex Council of Black Alumni Associations was held. The owner, John Reaves, was the best, and his restaurant was a fun place, especially on Friday nights when there was entertainment and some of any and everybody came by for a good time, fellowship and great food. Well, Mr. Reaves died last month and many shared their fond memories of him and the Smokey John’s BBQ experience. Meanwhile, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) had a rough month with the John Reaves passing of television anchor Nancy Parker in New Orleans; Mother, son and daughter Marsha Edwards, Christopher Edwards II and Erin Edwards of Atlanta, and former television anchor Donna Davis of Memphis. Then I received a call last week about longtime friend and Warrior, Thelma Youngblood. I met “Youngblood” in the early 1990s and we’ve been friends ever since. I think we were drawn to one another because we respected one Thelma another’s candor. Youngblood Now, she’d probably laugh at that observation, but it was true. There was nothing fake or pretentious about our relationship. Born in Ennis, TX, and an honors graduate from Jackson High School in Corsicana, Youngblood said how she felt and I did the same. We didn’t always agree and we didn’t aways agree to disagree. Instead we respected one another’s opinion and decisions. Youngblood and I didn’t choose our friends based on each other’s likes or dislikes and we knew when to pump the brakes on certain issues. The last time I talked to Youngblood, earlier this summer, I told her how great she sounded. It was good to hear her voice, sounding so strong and vibrant. When I got back into town from the NABJ convention, I called her on August 14 but didn’t get an answer. I then called a mutual friend, and no answer. Youngblood remained on my mind, I even asked a member of our distribution team if she answered the door when he took the paper by. Yes, with over 300 distribution drops, Youngblood’s house was my only home drop and See MY TRUTH, page 4
QUIT PLAYIN’
Them Texas Chickens By Vincent L. Hall
Many historians have tried to dilute the power of Malcolm X’s frankness by comparing him to Martin Luther King. Not only is that an unfair comparison, but it’s a useless argument. When it was all said and done, both men had their own strategies of liberating Black and poor people in America and humankind
around the world. During a time when America was at its absolute worst, shortly after the assassination of the Prince of Camelot, aka President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Malcolm X made an angry analogy that is still heralded as one of the vilest and most contemptuous public statements ever made.
The Minister delivered “vocal tweets” that rivaled Donald Trump. This one created unfathomable fear among the Nation of Islam and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In the Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley, Malcolm X excitedly See QUIT PLAYIN’, page 5
Celebrating tennis legends WORDZ OF WILSON
By Chelle Luper Wilson “I remember I used to see you guys —I don’t want to cry—I remember I used to see you guys training in the same place as us. And for me, the fact that both of us made it and we’re both still working as hard as we can, I think it’s incredible…I think Coco, you’re amazing.” Naomi Osaka This year’s US Open overfloweth with “aha” moments. My favorite was Naomi Osaka’s post-match conversation to Cori “Coco” Gauff’s parents. That moment when she looked to them and
said, “And for me, the fact that both of us made it…” Osaka couldn’t say more, considering the venue, but we knew what she was saying without saying it. She knew that the odds for them to both be competing at
Althea Gibson
the highest level of professional tennis at the same time, were not at all in their favor. What a wonderful time to be alive. We were not
only blessed to witness the greatness of Coco and Naomi but Venus Williams, Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend, Sachia Vickery, Francoise Abanda (CAN), and, of course, the Serena Williams also graced the courts of the US Open with their presence. #blackgirlmagic was in full effect, but it wasn’t by happenstance. What we witnessed was the result of foundational work begun by an organization well over a century ago, one that unfortunately, many have not even heard of—the American Tennis Association (ATA). It may be hard to imagine, but African Americans have been competing in tennis See WORDZ, page 3
Join Us September 21, 2019 Hyatt Place Garland 5101 George Bush Highway Garland, Texas 75040
The NAACP Garland Unit Presents
29th Annual
Freedom Fund Brunch and Silent Auction For more information please call the NAACP Garland Unit at (972) 381-5044, Box #5
Silent Auction 9:00 a.m.
Brunch 10:00 a.m.
Brunch Table: $500.00 (seats 10) Individual Ticket: $50.00 www.eventbrite.com
Keynote Speaker
Rev. Raliegh Jones Pastor of Christ Triumphant Church
Mistress of Ceremony
Lakisha Culpepper, M.Ed. GISD African American Community Liaison
400 Years in Virginia. 500 Years in Slavery. By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Correspondent
In August 2018, the National Newspaper Publishers Association began a series on the transatlantic slave trade. The series started in conjunction with the annual United Nations International Day of Remembrance. With the observance of the first African landing in America, some question whether it’s the 400th or 500th anniversary. Historians point out that the 400th anniversary is the 400th year of the Anglo-centric history of Africans in the Americas. “Dating the history of Africans in North America to 400 years ago reinforces this narrative of English superiority,” Greg Carr, the Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, told Time. com. “Remembering the Spanish and indigenous sides of the history is more important now than ever as the people are closing the borders to those who are descendants from people who were here when you came,” Carr said. In his 2013 PBS documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., said slavery was always an essential ingredient of the American experiment. Gates called slavery, “The supreme hypocrisy,” and “capitalism gone berserk.” The first African to come to North America was a free man who accompanied Spanish explorers to Florida in 1513 – or 106 years before the 20 Africans who were kidnapped and brought to Point Comfort, Va., in 1619, Gates said. “The father of our country was one of its largest slave owners,” Gates said in the documentary. “Because of the profound disconnect between principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the simultaneous practice of slavery, we’ve had historical amnesia about slavery,” he said. Indeed, the slave trade began in the 15th century, said Boniface Chidyausiku of Zimbabwe. It was driven by colonial expansion, emerging capitalist economies and the insatiable demand for commodities – with racism and discrimination serving to legitimize the trade, Chidyausiku said. Chidyausiku, then the acting president of the United Nations General Assembly, made the remarks in 2007 during the UN’s observance of the 200th anniversary of the end of the transatlantic slave trade. “Fortunes were made, and financial institutions flourished on the back of human bondage…[so] today’s commemoration must encourage everyone to live up to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says: ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and to redouble efforts to stop human trafficking and all forms of modern slavery,’” said Chidyausiku, who is now 69. Michael Guasco, a historian at Davidson College and author of “Slaves and Englishmen: Human Bondage in the Early Modern Atlantic World,” suggests it’s the 500th anniversary. “There’s a Hispanic heritage that predates the U.S., and there’s a tendency for people to willingly forget or omit the early history of Florida, Texas, and California, particularly as the politics of today want to push back against Spanish language and immigration from Latin See 400 YEARS, page 5