VOL XVIII ISSUE 19 MAY 1, 2019
MY TRUTH Cheryl Smith Publisher
Celebrating Women
If a story gets told often enough, it becomes truth. It’s so important that those who have information share it because some people will tell a half truth so convincingly that they will have the actual participants doubting what they actually know to be the truth. Which brings me to my truth. I was so excited to hear that THE Ms. Claudette Colvin would be visiting Dallas and would be honored at Friendship-West Baptist Church, along with the Honorable
Claudette Colvin
QUIT PLAYIN’
Beyond Banning the Box Beyond Banning the Box (BBTB) is the title of a scholarly conceptual study published in the Human Resource Management Review. BBTB is academically and culturally rich. It speaks to the most damning and deplorable question in our urban setting; what to do after the lockup? For the sake of transparen-
cy, the periodical was written by John E. Baur, Shanna R. Daniels, M. Ronald Buckley, Heather J. Anderson and Alison V. Hall-Birch. All of them are college professors; one of them grew up in my house. Quit Playin’— you know how I am about these three girls of mine. Although this runs the risk of
WORDZ OF WILSON
By Vincent L. Hall
seeming partial, the need for this level of information and corrective action is crucial. Commissioner John Wiley Price led Dallas County to “ban the box” years ago, and the results have been more than positive. But this study leans in to encourage more See QUIT PLAYIN, page 5
21 Seasons
By Chelle Luper Wilson
I Can’t Breathe
Every generation has the opportunity to make the world a little better than they found it; some may say it is obliged to do so. As I reflect on our recent celebration of Earth Day, I began to think about how it’s not just the weather that’s deteriorating our communities; pollution, toxic waste, and other effects of environmental racism also play a
Mamie Till Mobley Little Miss Flint Mari Copeny
Dr. Zan W. Holmes Jr., last weekend. Senior Pastor Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III is great at recognizing greatness and those are definitely two of the greatest of ours, and any time! I feel fortunate to have met Ms. Colvin and the great Mamie Till Mobley (mother of Emmett Till), and they made sure that I heard their truths! During a visit to Dallas, and as a guest on my show on radio station KKDA-AM, Mrs. Mobley talked candidly about the brutal murder of her only child, but she also talked about how she prepared him for his trip to visit her relatives in Mississippi; telling him that he couldn’t act the same as he did in the more progressive Chicago where he lived. The chilling part of her narrative came when she talked about having to identify Emmett’s body. Fortunately for her, she had a shoulder to lean on, none other than her husband, Gene Mobley, who happened to be Emmett’s barber and gave her son his last haircut. He also traveled to Dallas with her and I took them to spend time with Rev Holmes and the St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church family in 1995. Mr. Mobley, along with his wife, identified 14-year-old Emmett’s body. She said they went over every inch of Emmett’s body and there was one “fact” that people were espousing as true, and it wasn’t. Mrs. Mobley said her son had not been castrated. Now, he had been brutally beaten and tortured, but his genitalia was intact, she said. I have heard numerous stories to the contrary, however, I am going to respect her reality and truth that she shared with me. This is also the position I will take with Ms. Colvin, who I met and visited with in Selma, AL., during the 40th commemoration of Bloody Sunday. Claudette Colvin is no stranger to the struggle. At the age of 15, on March 2, 1955, she was arrested in Montgomery for refusing to give up her seat for a white woman. Now this was months before Mrs. Rosa Parks, took a noble stance and refused to stand and give up her seat. The secretary of the local chapter of the NAACP, it was said that she was an ideal person to be the face of the movement that morphed into the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Young Claudette was a member of the NAACP Youth Council. She had dreams, aspirations and she had an activist’s heart. Her story is worth knowing and sharing. When I met her, we talked about that eventful day when she was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace, violating the segregation laws, and assault. Makes you want to shake your head in amazement at what was called assault then, and today; depending on the color of the perpetrator’s skin. See MY TRUTH, page 5
John Singleton, dead at 51 Kellee Terrell @kelleent
Hello Beautiful Contributing Writer
Hours after being taken off life support, film director John Singleton died on Monday. He was only 51 years old. His family released a statement confirming the news.
role. If you think that was by design, you’re probably right. When the Commission for Racial Justice studied toxic wastes in America, they found the racial makeup of neighborhoods to be the most significant factor in deciding where hazardous waste sites would be placed. Businesses tend to work with zoning commissions along the “paths of least resistance,” and, therefore; ordinances tend to privilege wealthy communities, while minority and lower income neighborhoods are left dumped on, contaminated, and exposed. You may remember what happened outside Houston last month. Schools were closed and residents were told to stay inside because the chemical plant fires left behind a cloud of toxic smoke in the industrialized areas of Southeast Texas. In 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency previously noted an elevated cancer
Recent research from the University of Minnesota and the University of Washington names poor air quality as the largest environmental health risk in the United States. They looked at what is called fine particulate matter pollution, which is especially harmful—causing 100,000 plus deaths each year from heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and other diseases.
By Dorothy J. Gentry Photos by Eva D. Coleman "As you guys might expect, this is my last home game,” Dirk Nowitzki told the standing room only audience at American Airlines Center on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. And with that, the face of the Dallas Mavericks franchise retired from the only team he has known after a record-setting 21 seasons. Nowitzki made the announcement following the Mavs’ 120–109 win over the Suns in Dallas; a game in which the 40-year-old scored 30 points and grabbed 8 rebounds and in which fans stood for most, cheering on their beloved Dirk. Despite the impromptu farewells at different locations as the Mavs traveled this season, Dirk “In his private life, John was a loving and supporting father, son, brother, and friend who believed in higher education, black culture, old school music and the power of film,” the family statement said. “John’s confidence in his place in Hollywood was only matched for his passion for the sea. John kayaked in Marina Del Rey every
See SINGLETON, page 2
was never really clear about his intentions: would he retire or would he give it another go? Nowitzki, the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA draft, said his final decision to retire was made a few days before what turned out to be his last home game. After talking with family and friends, he knew the end was here. “It’s been a long time coming,” Nowitzki said. “I think I was struggling this year with my (injured) foot – that’s no secret. It’s just not being where it needs to be to compete at a high level for 82 games. “I had a lot of treatment over the course of the season – injections. But it doesn’t make any sense any more to do that for another season, even See DIRK, page 7
risk in that same region from formaldehyde and ethylene oxide levels in the air. Crosby, Texas, which is located in this region, suffers from a poverty rate nearly twice that of the U.S. A few weeks ago residents of southeast Dallas met with city attorneys and other officials to address the growing “Shingle Mountain” problem. The pile of old asphalt shingles has grown so large it can be seen from the highway. It’s not just an eyesore though, the page and a half filing by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lists violations like “discharging one or more air contaminants” that “may tend to be injurious to ... human health.” Or “carrying on trade, business, or occupation within the City that is injurious to the health of those who reside in the vicinity.” Recent research from the University of Minnesota and the University of Washington names poor air quality as the largest environmental health risk in the United States. They looked at what is called fine particulate matter pollution, which is especially harmful— causing 100,000 plus deaths each year from heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and other See WORDZ, page 4
Judge Damon J. Keith remembered At the age of 96, Judge Damon J. Keith has died, on Monday. Born on July 4, 1922, he has served as a United States Court of Appeals judge for the Sixth Circuit since 1977. Keith was the youngest of six children born to Annie and Perry Alexander Keith and the first to attend
college. He graduated from West Virginia State College in 1943 and was then drafted into the military. His experiences in the
segregated Army strengthened his conviction to the cause of civil rights. Keith received a J.D. from Howard Law School in 1949, passed the Michigan bar exam in 1950, and earned an L.L.M. from Wayne State University School of Law in 1956. In 1964, Keith established his own law practice, Keith, Conyers, Anderson, Brown, & Wahls,
See SINGLETON, page 2