Garland Journal 8-5-21

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MY TRUTH

By Cheryl Smith Publisher

Feel good times I am so glad I had a few feel good moments and wanted to share them with you.

June, which is always an exciting month, was especially exciting but challenging for me in 2021.

SERVING NORTH EAST TEXAS

THURSDAY AUGUST 5, 2021 VOLUME X

Delta Variant

Now Makes up 83 Percent of all U.S. COVID Cases

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent

The Delta variant of the coronavirus now accounts for roughly 83 percent of all U.S. COVID-19 cases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced recently.

“The best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants is to prevent the spread of disease, and vaccination is the most powerful tool we have,” Dr. Walensky asserted during a U.S. Senate hearing.

On July 3, the CDC noted that the Delta variant accounted for about half of U.S. COVID cases.

That number has dramatically increased.

Rochelle Walensky

“The best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants is to prevent the spread of disease, and vaccination is the most powerful tool we have,” Dr. Walensky asserted during a U.S. Senate hearing.

The latest Delta surge also has led to increases in hospitalizations and deaths, Dr. Walensky said, adding that deaths have risen by about 48 percent over the past week, and the U.S. now averages 239 COVID-related fatalities each day.

Dr. Walensky insisted that the surge could have been prevented.

“Each death is tragic and even more heartbreaking when we know that the majority of these deaths could be prevented with a simple, safe, available vaccine,” she demanded.

About two-thirds of U.S. counties have vaccinated less than 40 percent of their residents. That has allowed for the emergence and

I Was Just Thinking...

By Norma Adams-Wade

SMU Perkins five Black trailblazers changed face of campus In part II here, we discuss what happened concerning desegregation at SMU after the first five Black Perkins School of Theology students integrated the campus in 1952 then graduated in 1955?

See DELTA VARIANT page 7

Tevis helps chronicle memories for students Skylar was a joy to come home to!

My sorority sister (bka line sister), who pledged with me on the campus of Florida A&M University 43 years ago, got married.

It was a joyous occasion as sisters from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Chicago gathered in Houston for the celebration. We even had Karaoke Night and you should have seen me as I did Al Green proud with “Let’s Stay Together!”

Congrats to Larry and Angela!

There was also a meeting of the Black Press, Black Texas LegSee MY TRUTH, page 6

By Marva J. Sneed As the Yearbook Chair for the Beaver Technology Center’s PTA in Garland, TX, Tevis Diaz is passionate about preserving memories for the students, in spite of COVID-19.

While students are living through the pandemic, which is a reality they could never have imagined, Diaz is concentrating on capturing significant memories, just as she

did when she was editor of her high school yearbook.

“It was so important for me to capture those memories this year,” said Diaz, as she talked about the challenges with remote learning.

Working with the PTA is something she loves doing and for theist eight years, this mother has devoted her time and resources with the help of TreeRing, a technology company that offers high-quality yearbooks, to create the yearbooks

Tevis Diaz

at Beaver Tech. Then she joined the TreeRing team part-time in January of this year.

Diaz said she has kept the yearbook tradition alive by capturing pan-

demic-related photos.

“This will be the yearbook that these kids will show their grandkids, telling them story after story about how unique of an experience it has been,” she said. “Challenging, for sure, but unique.”

In an interview she shared her story: MS: Tevis, tell us about the yearbook you created for Beaver and what makes it different?

TD: You know like you, I didn’t have a yearbook in

Superb Women

See TEVIS HELPS page 9

Mrs. Kathryn Mitchell has been of benefit to society for 100 years and is still going strong as she celebrates her 100th birthday on July 1, 2021! Last month at their monthly meeting, members of the South Dallas Business and Professional Women’s Club celebrated her birthday with their charter member. A member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Parent Teachers Association and SDBPWC; Mrs. Mitchell was born in Tyler, Texas and attended Texas College before pursuing her masters degree at Texas Southern University.

A long-time educator; the elementary school teacher, who made her mark in the classroom and the civil rights movement started out teaching at C.F. Carr Elementary. There’s so much more that can be said about this trailblazer. Her’s is a story of triumph and resilience. Today we salute her and the work she has done.

MARVA J. SNEED Marva J. Sneed is a former model and licensed Nail Technician for over 30 years. She was a Salon Business Owner, Makeup Artist and Skin Care Specialist. Marva has also developed her own skin care products, Spectrum Cosmetics. Marva is the host of “From Marva with Love” on BlogTalkRadio.com/Cheryl’s World. Tune in Fridays at 11 am on Facebook! She is the Editorial Assistant at I Messenger Media L.L.C. – parent company of Texas Metro News, Garland Journal and I Messenger. If you want to know what’s going on and where, throughout the Metroplex, or you want your event featured; you need to be acquainted with Marva. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists and she attends Inspiring Body of Christ. Born in Longview, Texas, Marva grew up in California. A wife and mother, and grandmother to seven, who affectionately call her “Queenie;” she loves to shop, socialize and decorate.

KIMBERLY ALEXANDER Kimberly Alexander is the founder of the consulting firm, KimConnect. A widowed mother

of two, Kimberly stays on the go!

She’s a Florida native and attended the University of Florida before receiving her degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Certified in non-profit management, she is a founding board member of Off the Field, Player’s Wives Association (OTF); where she coordinated projects with Habitat for Humanity, The Salvation Army, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

A cancer advocate, Kimberly supports the International Myeloma Foundation and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - North Texas Chapter. A member of the National Association of Black Journalists and a board member of the D-FW Association of Black Journalists, Kimberly works with the Dallas area Wives of Active & Retired NFL Players. She is the co-host of The G.A.M.E. with Timm Matthews on FM105.3, since 2012. Of the show, she says “I talk sports with the fellas…the lone female in the studio, holding my ground. I insert some much-needed femininity & soundness when they act up!”

TASHARA PARKER Tashara Parker arrived in Dallas in 2019 to join WFAA-TV 8 as an anchor and reporter covering traffic, breaking news and inspirational stories. Tashara holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Texas A&M University and she received her master’s degree in journalism from DePaul University in Chicago, Ill. A loyal member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Tashara has studied abroad at Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnologia, the University of Westminster and Universidad de Quintana Roo. She has been an adjunct professor at Tyler Junior College and worked at CBS 19 in Tyler and KAGS-TV in Bryan College. She was the Junior League of Tyler’s VP of Marketing & Communications and Director of Media Relations at Unique Starz Sports and Entertainment. Yes, she is well-rounded, wellversed and carrying receipts in more than one language! Additionally, she volunteered with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Chicago Cares. People around the world are paying attention to her “Bun Ministry” as she spreads a positive message about natural hair and the Crown Act.

JUDGE LISA GREEN

NENA HAYDEN

Judge Lisa Green is making her mark in the halls of justice. Born in San Antonio, Texas, she received her Bachelor and Master Degrees and Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University. She began her legal career with Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, Inc. as a staff attorney and served a decade in the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office before being elected Presiding Judge of County Criminal Court #5 in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. In 2016, Judge Green created the Green Y.A.R.D. (Young Adult Redirection and Diversion) program, which empowers young adults who are first time offenders. She and three other judges also created the Pipeline to Possibilities program. A member of the National Association of Women Judges, the Dallas Bar Association, the Dallas Women Lawyer’s Association, the J.L. Turner Legal Association and the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice; the judge is also a member of the Omicron Mu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Christians in Public Service, the Junior League of Dallas, and the Southwest Suburban Dallas Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. This wife and mother is a member of Concord Church.

If you’re looking for your next dress to impress outfit, you need to know Nena Hayden.

She attended El Centro College, Texas Institute Secretarial School and Dallas College. In addition to being a tax and legal assistant and special project manager, she is also the creative genius behind Nena’s Finds. Nena’s Finds Boutique is a “Uniquely, Stylist Fashionable Boutique For All Sizes!” Ranging from “Pretti n Petite to Pretti n Plus,” Nena likes to be a bit edgy and blingy ... but all the while, keeping it chic with sophisticated style!

Nena’s Finds is your one stop shop for an eccentric flare! Schedule your Sip n Shop, Trunk Show, Girls Nite Out or Wardrobe Revamp with Nena’s Finds! A graduate of Gilmer High School, Nena has volunteered with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity, The Dallas Arboretum and Botanic Garden, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, American Heart Association and Don’t Believe the Hype Foundation.

HUB certified and a notary public, Nena is a joy to work with and she has an eye for style!

LORRAINE BIRABIL Former State Representative Lorraine Birabil is probably one of the hardest working and meticulous public servants you will meet. Her story, of her father, is inspiring. An immigrant single parent, he was a Black scientist at UT Southwestern and he was that beacon of light in his daughter’s life. Like her father, Lorraine is a dedicated volunteer; serving in various capacities at federal, state, and local levels of government. A native, Texas, this attorney, mentor and role model to many has been a Democratic Precinct Chair and delegate to the Texas Democratic Party state convention for over a decade. Lorraine has also served on several boards including the Dallas County Citizens Election Advisory Committee. Lorraine is a graduate of the University of North Texas with a B.S. Degree in Biology and a B.A. Degree in Political Science. A wife and mother, she earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Texas A&M University School of Law. Highly respected and praised for her commitment to justice and service to mankind, she is the executive director of the Barbara Jordan Leadership Institute.

Credit: YouTube

In 2013, Scott Alan Cashion was a candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in History at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. His doctoral research gives a fairly clear view of how SMU’s “lily-white” walls came down during the 1950s to 1970s when the school began to be more visibly integrated. Here are some highlights of subsequent years gleaned from Cashion’s research: • 1955. The year that the first five Black students graduated from Perkins. They were John ElSee THINKING, page 3

ASHLEY MOSS

July 2021

MRS. KATHRYN MITCHELL

Irving Baker

LIZ MIKEL Liz Mikel is a Texas treasure. Dance, music or theater; she has it covered and you can add in the big screen. Performing almost since she was a baby, Liz has trained under Ms. Ann Williams, founder of The Dallas Black Dance Theater and Curtis King, founder and Director of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters. Liz played the part of Mabel – The First Lady, thrilling audiences in the musical “CROWNS,” at The Dallas Theater Center. She has appeared in over 20 productions at DTC since 1990.

She is a long-time favorite in its annual production of A Christmas Carol, where she portrayed several characters, including The Ghost of Christmas Present.

Liz has opened for nationally renowned recording artists Erykah Badu, Branford Marsalis and Isaac Hayes and she was featured vocalist for the Dallas Museum of Art’s presentation of Duke Ellington’s “Sacred Concert.”She has received the Leon Rabin Award for “Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Musical” from the Dallas Theatre League, the Sankofa Award for her “dedication to the Arts in the Community” and the Dallas Theater Critics Forum Award for her role in Ain’t Misbehavin. Liz is the best actress!

Ashley Moss was a 2020 Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellow with I Messenger Media, LLC. (Texas Metro News, Garland Journal and I Messenger). A graduate of Spelman College, she received her Masters degree in Broadcast and Digital Journalism from Syracuse University, Newhouse School of Public Communications.

While at I Messenger Media, in addition to covering numerous issues and stories, she appeared on WVON and KHVN Radio Stations, contributed to the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s National Election Night Coverage 2020, co-moderated the Texas Metro News/Dallas Morning News Election 2020 Town Hall, began providing news updates on Philadelphia Radio Stations 110.7FM/99.5HD3 with Dareia Jacobs, hosted a 2-hour weekly podcast on Blog Talk Radio, FB Live and Streamyard; participated in the Black Business Town Hall with the National Black Business Empowerment, and was tapped for the National Press Foundation’s Statehouse Reporting Fellowship. No stranger to the Metroplex, the former Miss Spelman College; with deep roots in the DMV, is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and Society of Professional Journalists and she is firmly implanting her roots back in Texas as she joins the assignment desk at WFAA-TV! DIANE RAGSDALE A former Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem, Diane Ragsdale recently retired as managing director at ICDC/ Community Development Corporation. A graduate of James Madison High School, she received a Bachelor’s degree from Dallas Baptist University. She has served her community, the city of Dallas and humanity for decades. Some of her numerous awards include: Trailblazer’s Award - National Black Nurses Association Dallas Chapter, Invisible Giants Award -- Voting Rights Museum of Selma, AL; Community Service Award -- National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs; A. Maceo Smith Community Service Award -- African American Museum of Life and Culture; Civil Rights Award -- Dallas NAACP; Outstanding Texan Award -- Texas Legislative Black Caucus; President’s Award -- Dallas Urban League; Sojourner Truth National Award -- South Dallas Business and Professional Women’s Club; Mary McLeod Bethune Community Service Award -- National Council of Negro Women; and Trailblazer Award -- African American Pastor’s Coalition. Madison High School named the library the Diane Ragsdale Library and Media Center and the training center at the Child Care Dallas Center at the Martin Luther King Complex is also named to honor her.

See SUPERB WOMEN page 8

2

GarlandJournal

THURSDAY AUGUST 5, 2021

WWW.GARLANDJOURNAL.COM

Virtual and liVe Community Calendar

Back to School Month Authors/Poets Month Immunization Awareness Month AUGUST 5

4th Annual Special Edition Corvette Club, Inc. Back to School Backpack/School Supply Giveaway, Mesquite. 10 am-1 pm. Info: 214-997-4240.

Dallas Back To School Event at J C Phelps Recreation Center 3030 Tips Blvd, Dallas 12-2 pm. Reg: Eventbrite.com.

Arlington ISD Back To School Kickoff at AT&T Stadium, 1 AT&T Way, Arlington 8 am-2 pm. Reg: https://bit.ly/3ec67hF.

The Connection with Debra BrownSturns. On Facebook.com/TexasMetroNews & BlogTalkRadio.com. 7-8 pm.

646-200-0459.

The Cultured Conscience Book Discussion, “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett. Via Zoom: us02web.zoom.us 6 pm. CDT. Safety Protocols: Basic Emergency Practices Lecture Series, St. Luke’s Medical Center. Online via Zoom: bit. ly/3j2yLUf .

Richardson ISD “Backpack Bash” Richardson Mayor, Paul Voelker, at Richardson High School, 1250 W. Belt Line Rd. 9 am.

Reg. is required. https://bit.ly/2UXfJ9d.

Vitruvian Salsa Festival 2021, Salsa Dallas Official, at Vitruvian Park, 3875 Ponte Ave., Addison. 6-10 pm. Info: bit. ly/3kVKEhg. Watermelon Day at the Dallas Farmers Market, 920 S. Harwood 9 am-5 pm.

Dallas Virtual Job Fair, Job Fair Pro. 9 am-3 pm. CDT Reg: https://bit.ly/3j37lxx.

Seasons of Change 10th Annual Back 2 School Giveaways, Seasons of Change, 921 West Mayfield Rd., Arlington. 9 am-1 pm.

Reg: https://bit.ly/3rz3Xy0

SoulJazz Thursdays Feat: Vandell. Sandaga 813, 813 Exposition Ave. 8 pm-12 am. Visit www.sandaga813.com.

AUGUST 6 From Marva with Love, with Marva Sneed.11 am -1 pm. CDT, on Facebook Live/@ TexasMetroNews, and BlogTalkRadio.com.

Join the conversation at 646-200-0459.

Dallas Mayor’s 25th Annual Back to School Fair (Drive Thru) at Fair Park, 3809 Grand Ave. 8 am-2 pm. Reg: www. mayorsbacktoschoolfair.com.

AUGUST 8

Rooftop Friday Night Vibes @ Lava Cantina, 5805 Grandscape Blvd. The Colony. Tickets: maturepartycrowd.com. 10 pm-2 am.

Last Day to Leave Supplies for Back to School Supply Drive at The Regional Black Contractors, 2627 MLK, Jr. Blvd. 9am– 3pm. Contact: 214-565-8946; info@blackcontractors.org.

All DAQ Jazz: The Perfect Date Night, Daq’s Luxury Daiquiri Lounge, 8700 Preston Rd. Plano. 7-10 pm. CDT. Reservations: www.daqsallfolks.com.

August 10 Happy Birthday to Chelle Wilson

AUGUST 7

Faithful Utterances

By Dr. Froswa Booker-Drew

AUGUST 12

shows like TMZ to blogs like Media Take Out, we are obsessed as a society in knowing about the private lives of others.

Our incessant desire to know the torrid details is not only focused on celebrities but it happens in our personal and professional lives. We know all information sharing isn’t bad but there are times when it is harmful and

Southern Soul Music Festival with Tucka, Pokey Bear, and Calvin Richardson. Online Tickets: @eventsfromhome2122 6-10:45 pm. CDT. DayTrippin Rooftop Day Party, at Seven Lounge, 3017 W. 7th St. Ft Worth. Tickets: daytrippin2021.eventbrite.com. 3-8 pm. CDT. Back to School Fair 2021, at Mountainview Church of Christ, 7979 E. R.L. Thornton Fwy.8 am-3 pm. Reg: https:// bit.ly/3rN5wsd

AUGUST 15

No Study Without Struggle: Confronting Settler Colonialism in Higher Education, Online Reg: https://bit.ly/3C63kRh 6:30 pm CDT.

The World According to Drew, with Andrew Whigham, III on BlogTalkRadio.com 8-10 am. It’s thought-provoking, enlightening, informative, and entertaining news commentary.

Join the call at 646-200-0459.

SoulJazz Thursdays Feat: Vandell. Sandaga 813, 813 Exposition Ave. 8 pm-12 am. Visit www.sandaga813.com.

Back 2 School Block Party Presented by Bennett Elite Taxes , 700 S. Cockrell Hill Rd. Duncanville. 11 am-3 pm.

AUGUST 13 From Marva with Love, with Marva Sneed.11 am -1 pm. CDT, Fridays on Facebook Live/@TexasMetroNews, and BlogTalkRadio.com. Join the conversation at 646-200-0459.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Back 2 School Connect: Teacher Edition, The FRESH Classroom at Pan-African Connection Bookstore Art Gallery, 4466 S. Marsalis Ave. 4-8 pm.

destructive to others.

It’s especially damaging when people share their personal thoughts with others only to find out that it has been shared. Trust is broken and relationships are impacted. It takes so much time to build trust and within seconds, it can be destroyed. Gossip happens in our homes, in the church and even at work. So many people have lost jobs, relationships, money and so much more because of factious, meanspirited gossip.

Author Sherrie Campbell says there are six toxic traits of gossip that happen in the workplace but are applicable to many situations. She states that gossips are immature and that “Immaturity is synonymous with poor mental health.” These individuals need to feel superior by destroying the reputation of others.

Other traits mentioned include: • Embellishment— the need to fabricate to appeal to others • Emotionally violent— “bargaining tool for success, using “your own words for blackmail when they see fit to mend fences with their original target”.

• Seductive—”a pathological gossiper will smile to your face while scheming to suck you in for the purpose of eventually exploiting your trust.”

• Insecure—” feel justified See GRAPEVINE page 3

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T:10”

My mother is one of the wisest individuals I know. Her wisdom didn’t come from books solely.

A lot of people age but do not necessarily learn from their experiences and environments.

My mother’s wit often comes in the form of expressions.

One of my favorite ‘mom-isms’ is that a dog that brings a bone also takes a bone. Translation: People who gossip about others generally take something that you said back to others. Gossips don’t keep secrets. They share them.

Some people feel that telling the truth is different. It doesn’t matter if the information is true that you are sharing. If it was shared in confidence, it isn’t your responsibility to share it with others.

All gossip isn’t bad.

According to research conducted by Hartung, Krohn, and Pirschtat, “six distinct motives were identified that underlie gossip behavior: information validation, information

Kem: Live: with Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd.

Irving. 7 pm. Tickets: https://livemu.sc/3y5dHTf.

T:5”

Heard it through the Grapevine…. gathering, relationship building, protection, social enjoyment, and negative influence.”

Gossip can be a way of bonding especially if the information isn’t negative or detrimental. Research has also demonstrated that women AND men gossip— despite beliefs that women are the only ones who participate.

The problem is that although gossip may not start as being malicious, it can change quickly to become slanderous.

Slander is spreading rumors and lies about a person.

Our society thrives on gossip. From television

Back To School Backpack Festival The Potter’s House of Fort Worth 1270 Woodhaven Blvd. 10 am-12 pm. Must Reg: https://bit.ly/3edImWp.

Ask Dr. Amerson with Dr. Linda Amerson.12 pm. CST @DFWiRadio.com, and Live on Facebook @DrLindaAmerson

Animal Bites: Basic Emergency Practices Lecture Series, St Luke Medical Center. Via Zoom, Reg: https://bit.ly/3rLCwkJ 11-11:30 am. CDT.

TGIF Legislative Breakfast, feat: Rep. Carl Sherman, at Alan E. Sims Rec. Center, 310 E. Parkerville Rd. Cedar Hill. 8 am.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, Presents: Drive Thru Festival. MLK Community Center, 2922 MLK Jr. Blvd. 10 am-12 pm.

Info: 214-670-8418.

I Was Just Thinking with Norma Adams-Wade. 11 am -1 pm. CDT. On Facebook Live/@TexasMetroNews and BlogTalkRadio.com. Call in and join the conversation at 646-200-0459.

Seersucker & Linen Night Out Feat: Natural Change & DJ Romeo at BH Lounge of DeSoto, 2021 N. Hampton Rd. #100. 7 pm-12 am.

Coast 2 Coast LIVE Artist Showcase Dallas at Poor David’s Pub 1313 S Lamar St. Submissions: bit.ly/3yiuD8Z. Eventbrite.com. 9 pm-1 am.

Taking It To The Streets Back 2 School Bash / Water Purge at J C Phelps Rec. Center, 3030 Tips Blvd. Dallas. 2-5 pm.

AUGUST 11

Small Business Savvy –Write Your Business Plan, SBA. It’s an online event. Reg: https://bit.ly/3eDJHWU. 11 am.

AUGUST 9

AUGUST 14

2021- Fellowship of Professional Women, “We Got This Sis! at Park City Club, 5956 Sherry Ln. #1700 11:45 am-1 pm. Reg: www.fpwdallas.org.

West End Association Outdoor Market, The West End, 607 Corbin St, Dallas. 1 am-5 pm.

Taste of the Bishop Arts District Tour, Hunky’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, 321 N Bishop Ave. 1-4:30 pm. www.dallasbychocolate.com.

CityLine Night Market by The Boho Market, CityLine DFW, 1251 State St. Richardson. 6-10 pm.

“Dallas Love Field’s Lead with Love” Live. Feat Guest: Sheri Crosby Wheeler, and Scott Orr, 12:30 pm CDT. @Love Field’s, Facebook and YouTube page.

The Connection with Debra Brown-Sturns. On Facebook. com/TexasMetroNews & BlogTalkRadio.com. 7-8 pm. 646200-0459.

PoochieFest 2021 at Cedar Canyon Ranch & Event Center, 4523 N. Houston School Rd. 6-11 pm. Tickets: https://bit.ly/3iHtAsu.

2 Parties under 1 Roof, Groove Theory Dallas, at 2155 Ballroom & Events, 2155 Marsh Ln. #144 Carrollton. 9 pm-1 am.

Mix & Mingle. Garland Area Democratic Club at 340 Coneflower Dr. Garland. 6:307:30 pm. Info: garlanddemocrats.org/

The World According to Drew, with Andrew Whigham, III on BlogTalkRadio.com 8-10 am. It’s thought-provoking, enlightening, informative, and entertaining news commentary. Join the call at 646-200-0459.

YouTube Live: Take Your GED to College. GED Academy. Online: https://www.youtube.com/user/gedacademy 11-11:30 am. Coaching Sessions https://bit.ly/36YPQsn.

All DAQ Jazz: The Perfect Date Night, Daq’s Luxury Daiquiri Lounge, 8700 Preston Rd. Plano. 7-10 pm. CDT.

THE DOC SHEP SPEAKS SHOW! 11 am.

CDT on Facebook Live/@TexasMetroNews, @fnsconsulting, and You Tube @docshepspeaks.

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GarlandJournal

Miles to go before we rest

Our Voices

By Sen. Royce West

For members of Texas Legislature and those who work in its orbit, the days since the 87th Regular Session ended on Memorial Day have been anything but a summer break or a return to our lives as part-time lawmakers. During this period, myself along with Democrat colleagues, have traveled to the nation’s capital twice. And we’ve all traversed the roads from Austin to home like the Regular Session never ended. For what?

It’s because the Governor and fellow legislators insist on passage of a bill that will in the opinion of many, make it harder for people who do not agree with or vote for them to cast their ballots.

Since SB7 was denied passage on the last night of Regular Session, my Republican colleagues have offered a new version, SB1, during the 1st Called Session that they swear makes it easier to vote

and protects against alleged, widespread voter fraud (see Big Lie!).

While SB1 dropped previous provisions that would have allowed elections to be overturned on unsubstantiated claims that votes were illegally cast, it still creates numerous barriers that could discourage people who assist the disabled or seniors to navigate the voting process.

And while others inside a vehicle with a voter who is provided curbside service will not have to get out - as under SB7, anyone unrelated who drives three or more people to a polling site will still have to complete a new form to submit to election workers.

During the trips to Washington D.C., Texas House and Senate Democrats have met with Vice President Kamala Harris, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Whip James Clyburn and Senator Joe Manchin, as well as Texas House Democrats Eddie Bernice Johnson, Al Green, Sheila Jackson Lee, Marc Veasey and other Caucus members. Our goal was to provide intimate detail about a bill that would criminalize state and local election workers for manufactured violations, while allowing energized poll watchers to potentially intimidate and violate voter’s privacy.

We stated our case to

Grapevine from page 2 to take down anyone they see as a threat.”

• Parasitic—”A gossip may appear to care about you, to be interested in what you have to say and to be a person you can trust.

They will easily garner your confidence and milk you for business and personal information….”

It’s so easy to focus on offenses like murder, stealing and lying not realizing that gossip kills the reputation of others, takes away from and falsifies the character of those being discussed. James 1:26

states, “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.” Gossip also has a psychological impact.

According to Goodtherapy. com, “Being the focus of gossip is not only likely to be humiliating in the moment, it can also have a long-term negative impact on a person’s self-confidence and selfesteem. This impact might, in some cases, contribute to the development of depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts,

Schumer, Manchin and Senator Amy Klobuchar that Texas needs Congress to pass HJR 1, the For the People Act that among its provisions, would eliminate gerrymandering that allows majority party politicians to create non-competitive districts for themselves, while fracturing or packing the voting bases of their opponents. We’ve implored the U.S. Senate to pass HR4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore preclearance requirements for changes to election laws in states like Texas and others that have a history of voter discrimination.

Although there are no guarantees that the Senate will soon take action, what has occurred is that the plight of Texas Democrats and those in Georgia and Arizona have been nationalized by broadcast and print media. And in recent weeks, members of Congress have taken the mantle borne by Civil Rights luminaries, the likes of John Lewis and joined supporters in peaceful protest at the U.S. Capitol.

Two weeks ago, Bishop William Barber locked arms with Texas clergymen to bring the Poor People’s Campaign to the Texas Capitol.

And this weekend will witness a “Selma-style” march of 30 miles from Georgetown to Austin over four days under

the Texas sun; all to protest Republicans’ national plan that would allow the party that has lost both houses of Congress and the White House over the last two elections to hi-jack power and further entrench the partisan, status-quo agenda of an empowered few.

The Poor People’s Campaign plans rallies across the country in coming weeks to raise the temperature on those who stand in the way of progress and for whom “Liberty and Justice for All” are only words on a parchment that no longer fits their narrow vision for America. The next rally takes place Monday and Tuesday in Washington D.C. More urgent than defending the right to vote is the resurgence of a more deadly strain of COVID-19 and the unwillingness of some to take action. The White House reported that Texas, Florida and Missouri are home to 40 percent of new cases nationwide. Meanwhile, the Governor fiddles with another Special Session while COVID’s fever has reignited. Voting has always been a political issue. It’s another thing to play politics with people’s livelihoods. It’s yet another to play with people’s lives.

and eating disorders.” The Bible affirms this in Proverbs 18:8, “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.”

Gossip is something that matters to God: “A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much.”

(Proverbs 20:19) “Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down.” (Proverbs 26:20) “Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life….” (Leviticus 19:16) Gossip destroys relationships.

Gossip is not motivated in

love. We are called to build up others, not tear them down. We are not to “bear false witness” (Exodus 20:19 and Deuteronomy 5:20). Our goal should be to live peaceful lives and not one that is divisive and destructive.

Words are powerful and just as they can destroy, let’s use them to lift others up instead of giving into the grapevine of gossip.

For more information, please contact Kelvin Bass at 214-467-0123.

Dr. Froswa’ Booker-Drew is an author of three books and the host of The Tapestry podcast. To listen to episodes of the podcast, visit https://www.spreaker.com/ show/the-tapestry_1 and to learn more about her work, go to https://drfroswa.com/

THINKING

3

Pastor to lead Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church

Pastor Carlos D. Williams

A pastoral search has ended after more than a year, with Dr. Carlos D. Williams named as the fourth senior pastor to lead the historic Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church (Pilgrim Rest), 1819 N. Washington Ave., in Dallas.

Dr. Williams will preach his first sermon at the church, Sunday, August 1, at 10 a.m.

A native of Shelby County, AL, Dr. Williams comes to the 86-year-old church from The Historic Orchard Knob Missionary Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN, where he served as senior pastor for eight years.

Pilgrim Rest has been a mainstay in the community, once known as “Short North Dallas.”

The surrounding neighborhood has seen a tremendous amount of change over the last eight decades and is emerging from the COVID pandemic.

“I am honored to have been called to pastor Pilgrim Rest,” said Dr. Williams. “Our world is changing, and people are looking for hope in a world filled with uncertainty. My prayer is to ensure Pilgrim Rest remains one of the beacons of light that our community can look to for spiritual nourishment.”

Dr. Williams attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Theology and Pastoral Ministry from the Birmingham-Easonian Baptist Bible College in Birmingham, AL. He also obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Faith International University and Seminary in Tacoma, WA. The Pastor enrolled as a Doctoral Student at Virginia University of Lynchburg, Virginia (HBCU) in 2018 and completed his Doctor of Ministry degree in 2021. His dissertation was “Equipping Informally Trained Christian Educators with the Principles of Biblical Exposition.”

Dr. Williams is married to the former Joannie Dionne Holiday and they have two sons.

Pilgrim Rest is holding virtual and in-person services. Those attending in person are asked to wear a mask and to follow social distancing guidelines. Temperatures will be taken at the door.

1965 was an especially busy civil rights year, nationally and at SMU. Here are some highlights:

from page 1

liot, James Hawkins, James Lyles, Negail Riley, and A. Cecil Williams as chronicled in Part I. That same year, trustees agreed to admit “qualified” Black students to evening classes at SMU’s Dedman School of Law. Ruby Braden Curl, who was about age 30-ish and had been a Dallas public elementary school teacher for about nine years, became that first Black Dedman student. Records indicate Curl left after about one year.

• 1956 -1959. A few other Black law school students apparently came and went, seemingly one at a time, but none apparently graduated before leaving.

• 1960. According to Cashion’s research, Richard A. Strecker enrolled in the law school and in 1964 earned what was then a Bachelor’s Law degree, later titled a Juris Doctor (J. D.) Law degree.

Also, it was the 1960s before SMU had Black students in all of its undergraduate colleges, and most other Texas colleges had a few Black students in small numbers.

• 1961. The SMU student body at large started pressuring the administration, and Methodist Church that traditionally controlled it, to admit undergraduate Black students. There also was at least one sit-in at University Pharmacy supporting efforts to improve health care

THURSDAY AUGUST 5, 2021

Jerry LeVias and (Rt) coach Hayden Fry Credit: The Dallas Morning News

services for Blacks.

• 1962. SMU fully desegregated its undergraduate program, and hired head football coach Hayden Fry – later a major force in integrating the Mustangs football team.

• 1964. SMU further desegregated athletics, faculty, and student organizations, the year following the 1963 assassination of Pres. John Kennedy in Dallas.

• 1965. [See sidebar.]

• 1966. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on campus on March 17, 1966, after receiving a friendly invitation from the then all-white Student Senate. He was the first national civil rights leader to speak on campus. But citywide, his reception was cold, including from some local Black ministers.

• 1968-1969. Black activism arrived on campus when Black students organized a non-violent group that began protests in 1969.

Anga Sanders was a standout activist leader and one of 33 Black students who formed the Black League of Afro-American and Af-

Anga Sanders

Credit: Twitter

rican College Students (BLAACS). The group presented demands during a meeting with SMU Pres.

Willis Tate and did a sit-in outside Tate’s office. BLAACS helped change a racist environment that included an annual fraternity-sponsored mock slave auction complete with a giant Confederate flag and costumes during Old South Week on campus.

• 1969. Irving Baker of New York and New Jersey was hired as Pres. Tate’s special assistant. Baker had been executive president at Bishop College. At SMU, he developed a new Afro-American Studies program and other diversity activities.

• 1970s. Black sororities and fraternities arrived at SMU. Previously, there were no Black social outlets on campus.

1978. Blacks entered campus-wide leadership when two Black males won the two top student government offices. David Huntley was elected President and Brett Ledbetter vice-president, both in runoffs. It was the first time in

William Shedrick Willis Credit: Howard University 1942 year book

SMU history that the top two student officials were Black.

I will face trouble if I attempt to call names of prominent Black SMU graduates through the years and to the present.

The names include those who in later years sailed through relatively unscathed and those who in early years faced either isolation or gut-punch racism; such as star football player Jerry LeVias. He was emotionally rejected by his own team members in the 1960s and spit on and harassed by some opposing players and students.

But the roll call of Black SMU and Perkins graduates, faculty and administrators would be impressive. Lessons were learned along the way, although the current #BlackAtSMU project indicates that students and alumni still are seeking improvements. I wish them well.

Norma Adams-Wade, is a proud Dallas native, University of Texas at Austin journalism graduate and retired Dallas Morning News senior staff writer. She is a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists and was its first southwest regional director. She became The News’ first Black full-time reporter in 1974. norma_ adams_wade@yahoo.com

• SMU and then all-Black Bishop College collaborated that January and allowed 25 Bishop students to take undergraduate classes that Bishop did not offer.

• The ’65 Watts riots happened in California.

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. witnessed President Lyndon Johnson sign the ’65 Voting Rights Act. • SMU Coach Hayden Fry recruited football star wide-receiver Jerry LeVias from Beaumont who became the first Black in Southwest Conference history to earn an athletic scholarship. LeVias also excelled academically and graduated in Spring ’69 near the top of his class. Despite Fry’s moral support, LeVias experience cruel rejection and racist acts from team mates and the public, yet he excelled anyway.

• Anga Sanders, a stand-out SMU activist freshman during LeVias’ 1966 sophomore year reflected on that time: • “I’d have to say that our tenure was characterized more by benign neglect than anything else. We were an invisible minority, and little if any thought was given to our feelings about or response to (bigoted) things that were simply accepted at SMU.” • The invisible minority she was referring to were black students who were not involved with sports teams.

She said she never received any of the ridicule that was aimed at LeVias, nor did she recall any other black student mentioning threats like those made against the pioneer Black football star.

• The main reason was because Anga Sanders, and the other 132 black students at the time, were never put on as visible a stage as the Mustang football team.

• Also in 1965, William Shedrick Willis, born in Waco and grew up in Dallas, became the first Black to join SMU’s faculty in the Sociology and Anthropology department. Part of his time, the Howard University grad also taught at Bishop College. Willis gave up his Bishop duties and in 1967 became a part-time SMU assistant professor. That same year he advanced to full-time, then in 1968 became an associate professor with tenure. Four years later in 1972 he resigned after negative experiences with other faculty and enduring his comparatively lower salary despite his heavier class load.

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Please Run for School Board

The Last Word

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux Critical race theory (CRT) asserts that racism is woven into the very fabric of our nation’s institutions. This is not new information for those who have studied how race affects our economy, politics, education, health care, and more.

CRT is not an attempt to “blame” white America for its origins as much as it is a pedagogical approach to reality. Through critical race theory, we can see the many ways that the uneven application of laws allowed envious white people to destroy Tulsa’s Black Wall

Street, colonizers to gentrify Black neighborhoods, doctors to experiment on Black people and more.

CRT helps us understand how California stole parts of Mexico, Chinese people were imported here (without wives or families) to build railroads, and how our Constitution defined black folks as fractions of people.

Attorney and Professor Derrick Bell (1930-2011) wrote about the many ways our racist gendered patriarch systematically oppressed Black people and others at the periphery. He used both legal theory and fiction to amplify his points.

Critical race theory has been taught in our nation’s colleges and universities, and especially in our law schools, for decades.

Now white legislators are passing laws in several states to outlaw the teaching of CRT because it hits too close to home.

Much of this legislation demonstrates how ignorant some of these legislators are. It also illustrates how heated the battle for fact and knowledge is. Some think the South won the Civil War, which

they describe as the war of “Northern Aggression”. Though the statues are coming down, there are still those who believe those statues were erected for heroism, not resistance to equality. And every time you see a Confederate flag flying, you must know that hose stars and bars were only added to state flags after Brown V. Board of Education became law, and white Southerners wanted to communicate their allegiance to racism.

The legislators who oppose CRT also oppose knowledge. Now, their fearlessly foolish conservative leaders are urging them to “take over” the schools by running for school boards around the country.

Rich Lowry, the National Review Editor, wrote a piece, “The Point of the Anti-CRT Fight Should Be To Take Over the Schools”. What he means is to take over young people’s brains. Lowry is smart enough to know that the historical whitewash conservatives are attempting cannot withstand historical scrutiny. So he and his conservative minions would instead inject their ideology into our schools, using

low-turnout, low-budget races to grab power.

Roland S. Martin deserves credit for lifting this. He has been looking at the damage school boards do for years. He says, and Lowry echoes, the power school boards have. To choose book vendors. To shape the curriculum. To select teachers and trainers. The anti-CRT crowd would shut this down. But we also shut ourselves down when we get stuck at the top of the ballot. It is essential to choose a President and Vice=President, a Senator and Congressperson, and it is equally important to select a zoning commissioner or a school board member. Rich Lowry’s piece makes it clear and makes it plain. He says that “education is too important to be left to educators.” He wants rabid (he didn’t say white, but I will) parents to run for school boards and to use their passion to lock knowledge out.

So this is my plea to woke, progressive Black folk. Please run for school board. There are tens of thousands of Black women who have retired from education.

Would you please run for the school board? There are young people of color who understand the flaws in the education that was delivered to them. Please run for school board.

There are entrepreneurs who decry the inadequate education that so many young people bring when they apply for new jobs. Please run for school board.

Many of these posts can be won with a few hundred votes and a few thousand dollars. The rightwing has their marching orders.

We need to have ours, too. We can serve our communities and our nation by standing up for knowledge. Please run for school board.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, media contributor and educator. Her latest project MALVEAUX! On UDCTV is available on youtube.com. For booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com.

“Them White Folks and Peggy”

Quit Playin’

By Vincent L. Hall

I met a lady named Peggy in the store the other night. We took a chance and bought a few lottery tickets. Please don’t hold it against us. If your skin was kissed with the sunlight of melanin, you take a chance every time you walk out of the door.

But I will leave that subject right there because that ain’t my thesis statement today.

Peggy was a forceful voice of encouragement. “I read you every week, and whatever you do, continue to keep it real. You be

telling the truth so keep it up.” So here we go.

Every day, as we traverse from place to place, we are stopped or stymied by road construction.

Everywhere you go, there is a road crew fully engaged. The high number of projects have caused a shortage of concrete, asphalt, rock, and other road material.

From I-35 to US 67 South in Oak Cliff and all points north, south, east, and west, there are cranes, bulldozers, dump trucks, and hundreds if not thousands of men working but something is amiss!

My problem is not that Hispanics make up 95% of the crews. My issue is that so few of the teams include Blacks. I ain’t got nothing but love for my Mexican brothers. They are “coming up” because they show up. These dudes are working 4070 hours a week and deserve what they earn.

Meanwhile, our community has subrogated our former place in the “dirty job” market. College should be the ultimate goal, but not the only one. If you survive as

“If a man (woman) is called to be a street sweeper, they should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

— Martin Luther King Jr. a minority in the next 30 years, you better learn a trade/dirty job to.

My paternal grandfather had a fourth-grade education, but he was smart enough to understand the need to develop some brawn to go along with that brain.

Papa Hall was a truck driver until diabetes rendered him legally blind at the age of 51. After that, he became the best truck loader on the dock at the Farmer’s Market.

He made a place for me as his helper.

At the age of 13, I overslept, and my grandfather was furious. I woke up at 4:30 a.m., 30 minutes late. He probably allowed me to oversleep so that he could deliver a lifelong lesson.

Papa yelled, “Boy get up. I don’t know how you can lay there when

you know you owe them, White folks.” Was there a hidden message embedded in his admonition? As the years went on, I gathered that Papa’s instructions were two-fold.

His primary point was that I needed to have a sense of industry about myself. Some get up and go. Later in this lecture series, he reminded me that every man ought to be able to “set themselves” at night before bed. You don’t need an alarm clock when you live with a sense of urgency.

He taught me to work hard but work smart. Tools and machines are there to be utilized. Learn how to operate everything in your workspace.

Secondly, Papa’s caveat was that if you don’t own anything in this world, you can’t afford to sleep.

Slumber and slothfulness are luxuries afforded to those who own and lend or develop and control.

That’s where “them White folks” entered his soliloquy.

Papa Hall was born in 1918, lived through the Depression and the Voting Rights Act. Yet, throughout the breadth and span of his 71 years, White folks owned virtually everything economically, socially and politically. And they still do.

Don’t get mad because Mexicans are “coming up!” Hispanics and other minorities do not prosper at our expense. That ignorance Trump infers about them “taking your jobs” is a damn lie. You too can come up sweeping streets if you are willing to work!

It’s 2021 and we still owe them, White folks. However, we also owe a debt to the 22 generations of Black folk who built their reputations on hard work and industry.

Thanks, Peggy for reminding me to work hard with a pen or a fluorescent safety vest!

Vincent L. Hall is an author, activist, and award-winning columnist.

What is needed fast

What’s On Miles’ Mind

By Miles Jaye

She’s fast! She’s super-fast, running like her hair’s on fire! Yes, I’m talking about Sha’Carri Richardson! She’s 5’1” with bright orange hair, inch long eyelashes, and 3-inch fingernails, destined to win gold.

In a sport in need of what any sport requires for sponsorship and viewership; a recognizable face, a recognizable name, and a fiery, charismatic personality-- an absent Richardson will not go unnoticed!

Sha’Carri was born for this assignment, winning Olympic gold, but she’s a No Go for Tokyo, and

Tokyo is now under a Covid-19 State of Emergency.

The first of a series of ironies, Tokyo doesn’t want us in Japan. The Japanese want us all to stay home, so none of us gets to go. No spectators in the stands? How ironic?

The second glaring irony is the gross hypocrisy. Rather than a 100-meter dash, what is dashed is a 21-year-old’s dreams… dreams she’s embraced since she was a little girl. Faster than her sprint time was the time it took to disqualify this young black female phenom.

The irony is the intolerance and inflexibility. She tested positive for a non-performance-enhancing substance, legal in her home state of Oregon. Let her run! If a trendsetting transgender Miss Nevada can compete for the coveted Miss USA title, let Sha’Carri Richardson run!

Rules are rules? She knew better!

Yes, she admitted to her infraction, her error in judgement. Now you admit that when you saw Sha’ Carri’s Olympic dreams go down in flames, some of you felt a shameful, heartless sense of satisfaction.

Perhaps you’ve never had a dream denied, perhaps you never

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had potential to achieve greatness, but check yourself. What you cannot take away is that she is already great.

Her accomplishments, to date, have already rendered her great.

Among her peers of world class athletes, she is exceptional, a champion. They know it, you know it! Deal with it!

When is it time to review the rules? That question has plagued the Olympic committee for many years. Cheating and Performance Enhancing substance abuse have been part of Olympic culture throughout its history, but when is it appropriate to reevaluate the rules?

Now, because, in this case, they got it wrong. Their inflexibility renders them wrong. Remember, not only is cannabis not listed as a Performance Enhancing controlled substance, the target of existing doping rules, but she consumed it in a state where it is legal to do so. She will have to wait 3 more years to realize her dream. Another dream deferred!

Naomi Osaka, the number one ranked women’s tennis champion, found her dreams stalled as

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quickly as she admitted to personal mental health issues, rendering her unavailable for press interviews. When she announced she would not be available to participate in the French Open press conference, the action taken against her was a swift $15,000 fine.

She chose to drop out of the French Open and Wimbledon.

This 23-year-old tennis great grew up watching Venus and Serena.

She had dreams! Remember what a sport requires for sponsorship and viewership? I’m sure her presence was sorely missed in both events.

Naomi’s New York Times cover story, “It’s Okay, Not to Be Okay,” reveals the need for the WTA to study the stress, pressure and anxiety suffered by its competitors.

Her essay will serve as an expose, benefitting unknown thousands of young competitors in all sports.

Her courage and maturity will serve as a model for unknown thousands of little girls and little boys who look up to her as a role model in the same way Venus and Serena served as her role models.

Add 2016 Olympic 100-meter hurdles star, Brianna McNeal,

and her 5-year suspension from Olympic participation to the conversation and a pattern begins to take form. Naomi documented her stress related issues, Sha’ Carri was suffering the loss of her biological mother, and Brianna, a recent abortion.

Together they all spell varying degrees of mental health challenges and the absence of proper support.

If fines and penalties remain the only recourse, dreams will continue to be dashed, and the powerful who hold youthful dreams in their mitts will never be held accountable for suffocating the exceptional within our midst.

Exceptional, like the precocious 14-year-old National Spelling Bee winner, Zaila Avant-Garde, whose victory, the first by an African American in the contest’s 96-year history, she declares, was “like a dream come true.” Change is desperately needed… FAST! That’s what’s on my mind.

Website: www.milesjaye.net Podcast: https://bit.ly/2zkhSRv Email: milesjaye360@gmail.com

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GYM DREAMS

THURSDAY AUGUST 5, 2021

Grambling studies adding women’s gymnastics team

By Valerie Fields Hill News Editor

Grambling State University, the powerhouse historically Black college that once created the nation’s preeminent pipeline for African American male athletes from college to the NFL, has set its sights on a new goal: sending Black female gymnasts to elite competition, including the Olympics.

Grambling athletic officials said Black women are woefully under-represented at all levels of gymnastics competition - high school, collegiate and Olympics levels.

They aim to change that narrative.

Administrators at the 120-yearold public HBCU in rural North Louisiana said they will begin a feasibility study in September to create the nation’s first women’s gymnastics team at a historically Black college or university.

“We’re going to study it aggressively,” said Dr. Trayveon Scott, Grambling’s incoming vice president for intercollegiate athletics.

“We’re 100 percent committed to studying the possibility of it.”

Dr. Scott made the statements this weekend as more than 200 Black girls and their parents, dozens of coaches and other clinicians flew into Louisiana or drove up to 12 hours to attend the fifth

annual Brown Girls Do Gymnastics conference being held at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center on Grambling’s campus.

The sight of so many girls as young as four years old, vaulting in leotards emblazoned with images of young Black girls rocking puff-ball natural hairstyles on the front and other leos with a “G” for Grambling on the back, has accelerated interest in developing a women’s gymnastics team sooner than later, university officials said.

“This is tremendous,” said Tisha Arnold, director of university communications at Grambling.

“These girls are already on the next level. Any of them could be on the next US Olympics team in the next four years.”

Grambling administrators said their feasibility study could take up to nine months to complete.

It will include research of gymnastics equipment costs, facility needs, coaching requirements, travel expenses and a determination of which athletic conference the proposed women’s team would compete.

One NCAA women’s gymnastics coach welcomed the university’s plans.

“You only get (one) opportunity to be the first. Grambling is

Accompanying photos are of girls at Grambling State University for the Brown Girls Do Gymnastics Conference where the university has committed to studying the creation of the nation's first HBCU gymnastics team.

Credit: Carlton Hamlin, GSU

primed for that,” said Umme Salim-Beasley, women’s gymnastics coach at Rutgers University. “The interest is there. We’re really pushing this.”

Salim-Beasley is chair of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association, a group representing the nation’s NCAA college gymnastics coaches.

Efforts to start new college gymnastics programs would grow the sport beyond those currently participating, Salim-Beasley said.

In the past, African American women who have wanted to compete in the sport at HBCUs have had nowhere to go; so they drop out of the sport altogether, she said.

That includes Salim-Beasley herself, who years ago while visiting Howard University in Washington D.C. as a high school student, asked whether the HBCU had a women’s gymnastics team.

She was scoffed at, she said, and reminded that she was touring an HBCU campus. No HBCUs sponsored gymnastics teams, she was told.

“They just laughed at me. They said ‘Well, you do know we’re a Black school. You do know that’s a white sport’,” Salim-Beasley recalled. “That was disheartening to me.”

She went on to compete at predominantly white West Virginia University from 1994 to 1998, and later to coach women’s gymnastics at Temple University before taking the head women’s coach’s position at Rutgers in May 2018.

However, she never forgot her experience years ago during that campus tour at Howard, where both her father had earned his master’s degree and grandfather had completed his dental studies.

“Really, from that time period on, I’ve just been trying to let people know that gymnastics is for brown girls,” she said.

“Everyone should be able to have choices and opportunities,” said the coach, who flew from New Jersey to Shreveport and drove another hour to get to the conference at Grambling.

“This is giving those gymnasts of color a choice (of teams on which to compete) where before they had no choice.”

Grambling currently has eight women’s athletic teams - basketball, bowling, tennis, soccer, softball, volleyball, cross country and track and field. The wom-

en’s gymnastics team would be its ninth. The teams compete on NCAA Division I in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, or the SWAC. No SWAC colleges, nor any of the nation’s other 106 public or private historically Black universities, offer gymnastics – women’s or men’s.

By contrast, there are 80 women’s collegiate gymnastics teams, all at predominantly white universities and at the US Air Force Academy, according to USA Gymnastics, one of the leading governing bodies of the sport.

“LSU, Georgia, Ole Miss, Stanford, TCU, those are a few who offer the sport,” Dr. Scott said. “If we approach this at Grambling, it would show black and brown girls that their opportunities in gymnastics are limitless.”

Dr. Scott’s statements come amidst national conversation calling for racial equity and representation in all areas of women’s gymnastics – including in coaching, judging, gym ownership and competition.

For months leading up to the US Olympics trials, gymnastics judges faced criticism and charges of racism after they deducted points from African American gymnast Simone Biles’ scores when she performed vaults deemed too dangerous for the sport. Judges have said their decisions were made to discourage other athletes from attempting the moves.

Biles competes at the Tokyo Olympic Games, which open Sunday.

At Grambling last weekend, conversations regarding inequity – and insensitivity over hair styles and body image in the sport were part of a panel discussion during the Brown Girls Do Gymnastics conference.

Among Saturday’s panelists was the mother of former University of Alabama gymnast Tia Kiaku, who quit the women’s gymnastics team in 2020 after she said the university allowed a culture of racism to fester on the team. Kiaku accused an assistant coach of making a racist comment toward her and two fellow African American gymnasts.

“They all were telling their stories,” said D’Carra Harrison, who drove more than four hours to bring her 8-year-old daughter Jaycee, the only African American girl competing at Level 4 on her team in Cypress, Texas, near Houston, to the conference.

“Tia’s mom was there,” Harrison said. “Actually her story was horrible,” Harrison, who attended Grambling herself as an undergraduate, said she had no idea before this weekend’s conference that the sport Jaycee loves is so fraught with pitfalls that could potentially damage her daughter’s mental health.

“Each person who came and spoke gave us their contact information,” for support if needed, she said. “That part, I appreciated.”

There also was talk of Olympic dreams. This weekend, coincidentally, is opening weekend for

5

the Tokyo Games.

Derrin Moore, who founded Brown Girls Do Gymnastics to promote the inclusion of Black and Latina women in competitive gymnastics, didn’t plan this weekend’s conference around the opening weekend of the Olympics.

She sometimes is uncomfortable when there’s too much conversation about the elite levels of the sport and not enough about the collegiate and levels below it.

While she celebrates Biles’, Jordan Chiles’ and Sunisa Lee’s inclusion as a historic 50 percent of the US women’s Olympic gymnastics team, still she worries that those viewing the Olympics may falsely assume that all levels of the sport are equally as accessible and inclusive: They are not.

“The Olympic team is just not a good representation” of the entirety of gymnastics, said Moore, who lives in Atlanta and has coached competitive gymnastics for 25 years. “There’s a difference between the collegiate route and Olympic or elite.”

Moore says Black women athletes who compete at elite levels such as the Olympics represent a miniature image of the sport – not a full view.

Such gymnasts often hail from families who have the economic means to compete in the wildly expensive sport of gymnastics.

“Black people have money now,” Moore said. “That’s why you see the Simone Biles and the Jordan Chiles, because their parents have the resources.

“There’s so many extreme situations that have to happen to be at that level. It’s just not a true representation of gymnastics.

It’s just a small representation,” Moore said.

Her assertions are accurate, according to a new study expected to be released next week by The Doug Williams Center for the Study of Race & Politics in Sports.

The Center, which is housed on Grambling’s campus, is a new institute dedicated to researching, among other issues, the influence, history and impact of African American athletes in US society and politics.

Raven Thissel, a spokeswoman for the Center’s new study, said research shows that Black women do not participate in US gymnastics at the same levels as white women, among other reasons, because they simply can’t afford to do so.

“Cost comes down to one of the barriers for people of color,” Thissel said. “That is because of the dramatic gap of wealth in America.”

On average, participating at the entry level of competitive gymnastics, Level 1, costs about $500 per year for training, leotards and other expenses, Thissel said the study found. Competing at elite levels, Level 8 and above, costs an average of $20,000 annually, she said.

For context, the average Latin American household earns $41,000 per year while the average African American household wages are far less, said Thissel,

who is the marketing and public relations director at The Doug Williams Center.

There’s little money left, she said. “That type of money is just not there for expending on extracurriculars.”

Grambling State’s administrators and athletics officials contend they can bridge the gap – and vault Black and Latina women into US gymnastics arenas.

Doing so would not be Grambling’s first exercise in catapulting athletes to elite levels.

In the 1960s, Grambling State sent a continuous roster of Black men to play in the NFL and in Major League Baseball.

Grambling’s Willie Brown was signed by the then AFL Houston Oilers after leaving the college in 1963. He and Buck Buchanan, Charlie Joiner, Ernie Ladd and others were part of Grambling’s famed college-to-professional sports pipeline.

The pipeline continued throughout the 1970s, although the feed slowed with desegregation and the admission of Black athletes to predominantly white universities.

In the 1980s, under the guidance of the legendary Coach Eddie Robinson, the winningest coach in college football history, Grambling continued to send athletes to the NFL, including the first Black quarterback to play

More than 200 gymnasts and parents gathered at Grambling State last weekend for the 5th Annual Brown Girls Do Gymnastics conference Credit: Carlton Hamlin, GSU

in a Super Bowl, Doug Williams.

The Doug Williams Center for the Study of Race & Politics is named for the university’s former star quarterback.

It’s this history that leads Grambling administrators to believe they know the roadmap for athletic success – even in a sport in which the college has never competed.

“When you think about the athletic legacy of Grambling State, the home of Eddie Robinson, Everson Walls and Doug Williams, the legacy is there,” added Arnold. “This is the premier place to do it.”

If this weekend’s conference offers any window into the future of gymnastics, Arnold may be correct.

Niki Martin traveled 12 hours by car from Louisville, Ky. to bring her four-year-old daughter Kamryn to the Grambling campus where her father had been an administrator before leaving just weeks ago.

After 2020’s race riots in her home city and elsewhere across the nation, Martin hopes Kamryn’s future includes a choice of competing on an HBCU team in a supportive and nurturing social environment.

“She already made a comment ‘Mom, a lot of these girls look like me’,” Martin said of the toddler.

“For her to recognize that is a big deal.”

Martin said Grambling’s plans are within “perfect timing with everything that is going on in this country.”

“In 2020, we saw a lot of things happen between George Floyd and Breonna Taylor,” said Martin, a former competitive gymnast herself. “I think it’s the perfect time to do this.”

6

GarlandJournal

THURSDAY AUGUST 5, 2021

WWW.GARLANDJOURNAL.COM

Snake Eyes: G.I Joe Origins At The Movies

By Hollywood Hernandez The first thing you need to remember when watching SNAKE EYES: G.I. JOE ORIGINS isn’t a movie about an action figure; so don’t expect too much. The movie starts with a young Snake Eyes seeing his father murdered by a group of COBRA henchmen.

He spends his adult years as an

underground cage match fighter who drifts from town to town fighting and who has no family or anyplace to call home.

That changes when he saves the life of an undercover spy who he works with in a criminal organization. His new best friend Tommy, played by Andrew Koji, takes him home to his family in China. The family has hundreds of years of kung fu tradition and trains Snake Eyes, played by Henry Golding, in a series of tests that he must pass or die trying.

The fight scenes are some of the best I’ve seen in a movie so

Intimidated by Girlfriend

far this year. The rest of the movie, frankly, is just dumb. There is no chemistry between the actors and I think that’s because they spend so little time in scenes together.

SNAKE EYES: G.I. JOE ORIGINS is a movie aimed at 10-12 year old boys who like playing with action figures and seems like a long commercial aimed at selling toys and accessories. Don’t waste your time on this movie.

On my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale” I give this movie a MEDIUM.

Ask Alma

By Alma Gill Dear Alma,

Bobbie Thomas shares joy That Celebrity Interview

By Valder Beebe In the Valder Beebe Show studios, I’m delighted to chat with Bobbie Thomas, Style Editor for NBC’s TODAY Show to discuss JOY in its many aspects. The stressful demands of our daily lives can be overwhelming. We all are aware that taking a little “me” time each day is vital to reduce stress levels, improve concentration and stay productive. To this end, the beauty & style expert has a number of simple self-care tips to share and to pursue joy on a daily basis.

According to Bobbie -- author of the best-selling book, The Power of Style – it’s most important to put YOU on your to-do list.

Bobbie shares with the audience, the launch of Joy Bites,

by Russell Stover. Bobbie has a

multi-faceted career, she is a bestselling author. Bobbie has shared fashion, beauty, and feel-good advice in nearly 1000 segments over the past 15 years. Although her television career started on the red carpet for E!, the former co-host of the Style network’s Fashion Police and national columnist began her work as a rape crisis counselor. Uniquely understanding that “beauty comes from the strength within,” Bobbie has worked tirelessly with major brands and organizations such as Step Up, Make a Wish, The Beauty Foundation, and more, to promote positive campaigns, instill self-confidence, and encourage people to use style as a powerful voice. – Bobbie Thomas publicists provided text in conjunction with the Valder Beebe Show VBS: Bobbie, you have been giving great fashion and wellness advice for over 15 years on NBC Today show and to viewing audiences. Today you are adding

to your repertoire the power and knowledge of joy, tell us about joy.

BT: Yes, joy is something we all want more of. Joy is so important to me. I’ve actually partnered with Russell Stover, the chocolate company that is over one-hundred years old to share JOY. Beyond Joy Bites being a wonderful candy being launched by Russell Stover, my partnership with company, we both have the same mission. We want everyone to embrace joy.

VBS: So how can we create more joy in our daily lives?

BT: Start with finding quiet time, give yourself the gift of time, spend time with yourself. In quiet time just imagine, be creative, let your imagination bring joy.

I would love to hear how your audience, the Valder Beebe Show is experiencing joy, just visit my web page or visit russellstsover. com and make a joy post. I want to add that Russell Stover Joy Bites (the candy) is no sugar added to

Bobbie Thomas chocolate, non-GMO, no artificial colors and plant based stevia extract. So Joy Bites not only taste good but they are good for …………

Bobbie Thomas complete interview……

YouTube.com/valderbeebeshow; more interviews: Broadcasting to a national & global audience: ValdeBeebeShow. com ; SoundCloud.com/kkvidfw; KKVI FM Radio, KRER FM, 411RadioNetwork, Streaming TV, Social Media, Print Publications I MESSENGER, Texas Metro News, and Garland Journal News.

My Truth from page 1 Cheryl with State Rep. Carl Sherman, Sr. in Houston

Florida A&M University (FAMU)!

On a sad note, we said our farewell to Emmanuel Curet, whose life was celebrated in Miami.

There are no words to express the respect I have for his mother, Nadrina.

Also, while in Florida, some more FAMU Delta sisters joined me to celebrate my birthday, showering me with love and gifts!

Of course we took time out to salute fathers because I had a great one and I know some great ones. So

fish for me at their beautiful home.

The next day, I visited the newspaper and once again my heart was overwhelmed!

You see, the story of the Westside Gazette’s founding is legendary. It seems the daily newspaper wrote something untrue about businessman Levi Henry.

He visited the paper and told them that he wanted a retraction. In their arrogance and disrespect, they said, “no!”

Mr. Henry told them he would start his own paper

Houston Forward Times’ Jeff Boney at Turkey Leg Hut

NABJ Vice President Broadcast Ken Lemon about to hallucinate a bid!

NNPA Chair Karen Carter Richards at the Turkey Leg Hut

Talk about beautiful inside and out; spiritually grounded and loving! Then there’s Emmanuel’s beautiful daughter, Emani, who would like to become a FAMU Rattler, so I am in recruitment mode!

I paid tribute to Daddy and also Mother, who transitioned in June 2014.

And fellow journalist and publisher of the Westside Gazette, Bobby Henry (bka Bobbeque) and his wife, my sorority sister Bertha, fried

and print the truth! Well that was 50 years ago and today, my classmate, Bobby, is the publisher!

Next I was off to Chicago for a National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) board meeting with President Dorothy Tucker.

When we weren’t working

NABJ went to try Chicago Pizza. New Jersey wins!

islators and the NAACP to discuss the 87th Legislative session that had just ended.

The candid comments from legislators gave us food for thought and should have fueled many of us to move to action.

I then went to a wonderful Black-owned restaurant, Turkey Leg Hut, after visiting the impressive offices of the Houston Forward-Times.

It’s always a joy to visit the homes of some of our historic Black newspapers and so much is happening under National Newspaper Publishers Association Chair Karen Carter Richards, who is the publisher.

And just think! It’s been about 14 years since I had turkey, and that one bite, encouraged by editor Jeff Boney, has me planning my next trip to H-Town!

Next, it was off to Florida, the home of the great

Karen Caldwell, NABJ Parliamentarian Michelle Fitzhugh Craig and Region IV Director Tre’Vell Anderson in heated competition

With Bobby and Bertha Henry and Stewart Curet at the Bobbeque

Angela and Larry Pope

Emmanuel Curet 1988-2021

hard for NABJ, I was dominating on the Spades table (Roland Martin wanted no parts of me), until my line sister Karen Caldwell joined forces with NABJ’s VP Broadcast Ken Lemon.

I didn’t do as well playing CULTURETAGS; but had a great time with Chicago ABJ members, Karen and former Dallas-area journalist Gevonna Fassett.

And, as always the hospitality of Karen and hubby Kevin Fleming, was great, except for them beating Stew and I at Jenga.

It was all good, though, because thanks to Karen and Dorothy, I got Uncle Joe’s wonderful seafood and Karen introduced me to ginger beer!

Before I departed from the people in Houston, Miami/Fort Lauderdale and Chicago; I told them all that I loved, respected, appreciated them.

Which brings me to my truth.

We all know life is short.

We must enjoy life, living and the people who make it all worth while.

Yes, you should measure your words. You should determine what good comes out of what you say or don’t say because guess what? Some things are just not worth repeating and achieve absolutely nothing.

If I never ever see any of the people I spent time with in June, I sure as heck tried to spread love during the time we shared.

Actually every month will be like June for me, filled with love!

Also, It was great to come home to dear Skylar, who I was more than happy to shower with love.

My girlfriend is absolutely beautiful, gentle and kind, loving and respectful.

Ninety-five percent of the time everything is perfect.

But every now and again she goes off. She curses, screams, and throws things and just follows me around arguing. She has never hit me, but it is intimidating.

I don’t know what to do to calm her down. I talked to her sister about it, but she said, “Yea, that’s how she is,” and suggested that I should leave and take a walk. We are talking about marriage, but I don’t want to consider children in this situation.

It’s not like I’m scared of my lady. I just don’t know when she’s gonna flip out sometimes.

Name withheld, Baltimore, Md. Dear Nameless, Hmmm, I can’t quite tell if you’re fishing for catfish or shark. Either way, you’d better bait this bad behavior quickly, because there’s no room for slack on this line.

Determine if you’re experiencing a partner who’s a hothead or a mate who hurls verbal abuse. If you’re not sure, check the verbal abuse websites. They lay out the descriptions clearly.

I see room for improvement if she’s just spoiled and ranting for the sake of attention. You’ll need to lay down some ground rules. Discuss self-control techniques and how both of you are held accountable for your words and actions.

If she’s a verbal abuser, then you’re dealing with someone who needs professional help. Both need to be recognized, and she needs to accept responsibility, take action and apologize.

You say she never hurt you, but that’s not true. I think most men identify “hurt” as a physical experience. But words can cause hurt and pain, too.

A relationship can be unhealthy or abusive even without physical violence.

Experiencing verbal abuse may not cause physical damage, but it does cause emotional damage. Don’t get me wrong, we all can reach a point where we’re sooooo mad we want to lash out and go for broke. Been there, done that. The frustration can be overwhelming and you release it like a pressure cooker. Nobody’s perfect.

It happens every once in a while.

Hold her accountable and insist that she receives the help she needs. I wouldn’t consider marriage until the two of you are basking in progress and exercising a new learned and acceptable behavior, a corrected behavior that can be demonstrated and passed along to your kids. Marriage doesn’t fix your problems; it leans towards escalating them. It’s best to make appropriate enhancements on the front end.

Alma Alma Gill’s newsroom experience spans more than 25 years, including various roles at USA Today, Newsday and the Washington Post. Email questions to: alwaysaskalma@gmail. com. Follow her on Facebook at “Ask Alma” and twitter @almaaskalma.

GarlandJournal

WWW.GARLANDJOURNAL.COM

THURSDAY AUGUST 5, 2021

Civil Rights Legend Bob Moses dies at 86

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Senior National Correspondent

Robert Parris Moses, one of America’s foremost civil rights leaders who stood fearless in the face of violence to register African American voters in the South, has died at the age of 86.

His daughter, Maisha Moses, announced his death.

Often clad in denim overalls, Moses drew comparisons to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His activism drew the ire of White supremacists, but minorities and the oppressed hailed him as a pioneer.

Moses famously noted the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) Ella

Baker as an inspiration.

In a tribute released by the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on Sunday, July 25, SNCC officials said Moses was key to the SNCC launching its voter registration campaign in Mississippi.

That work led to Freedom Schools, the 1964 Summer Project, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Poor People’s Campaign, and the Mississippi Freedom Labor Union.

“And these not only began to alter the face of Mississippi but also challenged the country to be true to the best in itself,” the SNCC wrote in its tribute.

Noted Civil Rights leader

Despite the violence that African Americans routinely faced when trying to vote, Bob Moses helped register thousands of voters Credit: Wikimedia Commons

and National Newspaper Publishers Association President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., saluted the life and legacy of Moses on behalf of the

Black Press of America.

“Bob Moses’ entire life was dedicated to freedom, justice, and equality for African Americans and all people,” Dr. Chavis reflected. “The Black Press of America pauses to express our condolences to the Moses family and to rededicate our journalistic efforts to keep alive the legacy and the vision of Bob Moses.

“SNCC does not get enough credit for all of the transformative work that SNCC accomplished in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Long live the spirit of Bob Moses.”

Filmmaker and famed television producer Topper Carew also counted as a friend and admirer of Moses.

Tevis helps chronicle memories for students Elementary School. I have been creating yearbooks for the students for eight years. Four years ago I started working with a company TreeRing which allows me to make customized yearbooks. The students get to make their book a special yearbook with those memories to share.

This year was probably the hardest yearbook I have ever made.

Knowing how important it was to capture this year for them, just kept me going.

MS: What types of pictures

will be in the yearbook and will it show the kids with their masks on?

TD: What’s so interesting is pretty much every picture from the school has kids with masks on and face shields. We had 60% of the kids remote learning so there is a blend of pictures with the children at school with masks and pictures of them at home at their dining room tables without masks on. The mix of pictures from school and remote learners tells the real story of this

Delta Variant rapid spread of the highly transmissible delta variant,” Dr. Walensky continued.

President Joe Biden previously set a vaccination goal of reaching 70 percent of eligible adults by July 4, but the U.S. fell short.

Medical experts have warned that the delta variant is highly contagious and easily transmitted compared to other strains.

“The reason it’s so formidable is the fact that it has the capability of transmitting efficiently from human to human in an extraordinary manner, well beyond any of the other variants that we’ve experienced, up to now,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor, said during the Senate hearing.

Dr. Ebony J. Hilton, the medical director for GoodStock Consulting, LLC, and Associate

from page 1

Professor, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Virginia, repeatedly warned that the combination of vaccine hesitancy, the refusal to wear masks, and the delta variant would create the perfect storm for a worsening pandemic.

Expressly, Dr. Hilton has noted that Covid-19 deaths in predominately White communities have continued to rise at dramatic rates.

She said the snapshot provides a glimpse into just how bad the pandemic remains in African American neighborhoods.

“We see the disparity starting to close, but not because Black people are dying less, it’s because white people are dying more,” Dr. Hilton said.

“Between February and March, 58,000 White Americans died

from page 1

year. Trying to capture everything was a challenge, but it was fun, and my favorite book that I ever made.

MS: Elementary kids love their teachers. How difficult was it to develop those relationships during COVID? TD: I think that’s an interesting question. I have been at the school for five years and I developed relationships with the kids. I gravitate to the kids and a lot of them know me. I spend almost the entire day on campus

as a full time PTA Mom. Being remote this year, it was a struggle for me to stay connected with the school. I don’t feel like I ever disconnected from the kids. I can’t wait for the kids to see the books to see themselves on the pages of this yearbook….

of COVID, and it’s largely because of the ‘I don’t want to wear a mask,’ crowd.”

Dr. Hilton concluded that all should strongly consider getting vaccinated, and everyone should continue wearing masks.

“People are dying today, and they are likely leaving behind orphans,” Dr. Hilton said.

“We know that one in 9 Black children were already likely to see foster care in their lifetime.

Because of COVID, imagine how many now if we are not taking it seriously and not getting vaccinated? It is not worth

the risk. We have an agent, an intervention that has been proven safe, and it works.”

Dr. Hilton concluded: “Look at the studies. We have 77 percent of people saying that they are not fully back to being themselves after they have experienced COVID. “They have brain fog and other problems. It is not worth the risk, especially when we think about how the Delta variant has shown to be more contagious and more transmissible for our younger generation.

We are setting ourselves up for a crisis.”

There was so much more to the conversation, about the challenges and successes for this COVID year. For the full interview, go to BlogTalkRadio.com https://bit.ly/3eXFxcw.

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8

GarlandJournal

THURSDAY AUGUST 5, 2021

SUPERB WOMEN continued from page 1

SONNY MESSIAH-JILES Sonceria “Sonny” Messiah Jiles is the CEO of The Houston Defender Media Group, which includes The Defender newspaper and Defender website. Sonny attended the University of Houston, where she received a BA degree in political science and economics.

A businesswoman and journalist for over 40 years, Messiah Jiles has worked in print and electronic media.

Embracing cutting-edge innovation, calculated risktaking, fun, and an opportunity to better serve her readers, advertiser, sponsors, and community, Messiah Jiles continues her journey of creating a New Black Press in the digital world. A past chair of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), Sonny has also served on the NNPA Foundation Board. Sonny has had a long and impressive career in journalism.

The Houston Defender is one of the countries premiere Black-owned newspaper and as the publisher. As a long-time leader of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, Sonny has worked tirelessly.

CRE RASBERRY Cre Rasberry is Conference-USA’s Director of Events.

At C-USA, Rasberry oversees all of the league’s special events, including the annual Spring Meetings and hospitality events at the football and basketball championships.

Cre received a bachelor’s degree in sports marketing from LSU in 2011. Later that year, she joined the 2013 New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee as a communications assistant, working on not only Super Bowl XVLII, but also the 2012 NCAA Men’s Final Four and the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. She continued work with the NFL and its Emerging Business Program, helping execute workshops and trade shows. Cre was also a recruiting manager for S.A.F.E. Management in New Jersey. She has also coordinated a number of special events for the Children’s Hospital in New Orleans and at Frisco Family Services. Expect more and more exciting news about Cre in the very near future! She’s going to continue to be superb!

DOROTHY J. GENTRY Dorothy is a seasoned journalist with more than 25 years in the business. She is a member of National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and the NABJ Sports Task Force and is a proud Journalism graduate of the University of North Texas. While at UNT, she interned at the Dallas Weekly. In addition to serving as an editor at Texas Metro News covering the NBA, Mavericks, WNBA, Wings and sports & entertainment; her work can be found in the Garland Journal, I Messenger, The Athletic, Shondaland, The New York

Times, The NextHoops, and more. She is the founder of @faithsportsmore, a blog discussing the collision of faith, spirituality, sports and news. A second-generation journalist, Dorothy also worked as a public relations manager at K Strategies Group, Inc., and she enjoyed stints at KERA Radio and Howland PR. Dorothy is in her 18th year of teaching. Having covered several NBA All Star Games, the Skyline High School grad is always finding creative ways to write about sports, athletes and the news of the day.

E. FAYE WILLIAMS, ESQ The National President of the National Congress of Black Women, Dr. E. Faye Williams is the president of the Dick Gregory Society and a board member of the World Conference of Mayors. A former Professor of International Law at Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, she previously served as Chief of Staff for the late Mayor Marion Barry and she served President Barack Obama as a member of his Presidential Scholars Commission. An ordained minister, Dr. Williams served as president of the Grambling State University National Alumni Association and she was inducted into The HistoryMakers and the Grambling State University Hall of Fame. Armed with numerous degrees and certifications from Grambling, USC, Howard School of Law and City University of Los Angeles; as well as, Atlanta Law School, Univ. of Michigan, Pepperdine and George Washington universities, she is degreed and educated. A proud life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the NAACP, there’s so much to share about Atty. Williams, but instead, come out and meet her Sunday, July 18, 2021 at the African American Museum in Dallas, at 4p.m.

NATESHA “SHAY” WYRICK CATHEY Shay is a born leader. Prior to attending the University of Texas at Austin and Southwestern Christian College, she went to Christian Academy of Oak Cliff and Skyline High School. A proud and loyal member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., she is a wife and mother to three sons and currently the Senior Policy Advisor to Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. A past President of the SwCC Alumni Association. She was inducted into the SwCC Alumni Hall of Fame in 2009 and was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters in 2014.

An award winning journalist, who also won several scholarships from the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators (now Journalists,) she is also a Sunday School teacher and ministry leader at church, a Cub Scout leader; member of the State Democratic Executive Committee and Dallas Branch NAACP. Shay has been active in grassroots politics all of her life. In 2002, she was a regional Finance Director for Ron Kirk’s US Senate campaign.

REP. SENFRONIA THOMPSON Rep. Senfronia Thompson is the Dean of the Texas House and Texas Legislative Black Caucus (TLBC). She was born in Booth, Texas and currently represents

District 141, which includes Northeast Houston and Humble.

Rep. Thompson has the distinct honor of being the longest-serving woman and African American in Texas history, serving her 25th term. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Houston, received a BS in Biology from Texas Southern University; a Master of Education from Prairie View A&M University; a JD degree from Thurgood Marshall School of Law and a Masters in International Law from the University of Houston. Rep. Thompson is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. A Houston attorney and award-winning legislator, Rep. Thompson, affectionately known by her colleagues as “Ms. T”, was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame on May 6, 2014.

IMAJ IMAJ is a multi-talented Country singer-songwriter, author, designer, musician, motivational speaker, philanthropist and humanitarian. Born in Miami, Fla., she lives in Texas and travels the continent thrilling audiences and spreading profound messages of love and peace. Imaj enjoys soaking up the sun, reading, dancing, the opera, history, fashion design, deep conversations, playing her Gibson Doves In Flight guitar and spending time with her sweet Yorkie, “Ever Hart.” With a lovely voice that sounds great whether she’s talking, singing, crooning, or even rapping a little; this songbird loves Country music and she can hold her own with the so-called “best.” IMAJ charted on Nashville’s Music Row and climbed to New and Active on the Billboard Country charts with her debut single, “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner,” which she says is, “about being yourself in a world where everyone else is trying to be everyone else.” She can hold her own anytime and any place! Check her out at www.loveimaj.com.

STEPHENETTA ISIS HARMON Stephenetta “Isis” Harmon is multi-talented and multi-lingual (she speaks English, French, Technology).

A digital guru, and a Black Beauty Director, she is the founder of the Sadiaa Black Beauty Guide, a national publication and the Klade’ Group.

Her repertoire also includes stints at Uptown Magazine, Hype Hair, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering and Insight News. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from Hamline University. A public relations expert skilled in brand development, media placement and bookings, Isis is a public speaker, investigative reporter, and project and social commerce management. Isis says she is “a Black beauty editor, curator, and digital media and communications expert who builds platforms to celebrate the power, impact, and business of Black beauty.” She can out strategize the “expert” in digital media and those who’ve ever been burned by web developers should contact Isis because she is a pro who delivers with custom web design, development, and maintenance services. Check her out at www.stephenetta.com.

BRENDA LEE EIKNER-JONES Brenda Lee Eikner-Jones is retired, but that doesn’t stop her from continuing a lifetime of service. A graduate of the Texas Southern University School of Pharmacy with a degree in Pharmacy, the former senior account manager at Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories was a retail pharmacist at Skillerns Drugs and a pharmacist at Parkland Hospital. She also worked in management at Coldwater Creek, Easy Sale Inc., before she put her impeccable design and styling techniques to work at Johnny Was. Brenda graduated from Roosevelt High School in Dallas. She is an active and loyal member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and she is often praised for being creative, innovative, detail oriented, self-motivated and dependable. In 2019 she was recognized for 50 years of service to Alpha Kappa Alpha. Those 50 years began when she was inducted into Gamma Psi Chapter at TSU in 1969, and continued in numerous capacities including 1994-95 president of the graduate chapter that she joined, Alpha Xi Omega, in Dallas. Brenda leads with distinction and is highly respected.

L. DIANE EVANS

CMYK

Staying home this Summer but still want to have big fun? DART has you covered. Check out our DARTable Staycations for adventures the whole family will enjoy. From entertainment to dining, these local hidden gems offer something for everyone to enjoy. And the best part?

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L. Diane Evans hails from Flint, Michigan where she attended Northwestern High School. She attended Wiley College and is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority. A divorcee, she is the mother of two sons.

Currently the Assistant PEIMS Director at A Plus Charter Schools, but she is a woman of many talents and attributes.

She is one of the team leaders of the Don’t Believe the Hype Celebrity Bowl-a-thon. A former national president of the Urban Financial Services Coalition, she has a banking background and is well-connected across the country. Diane is a servant leader. She volunteers, supports, mentors, donates and uplifts. Additionally she is a leader in several arenas, like as a area director for the Dallas Cowboys organization, or associate with Price Enterprises LLC. People speak of her warm and loving personality, deep and abiding faith, and “big heart.” She’s always doing something for someone else, whether she’s finding employment or investment opportunities or working overtime to help someone with a project; Diane is a born leader, team player and takecharge person.

GEVONNA FASSETT

Plan your excursion, at DART.org/Staycation

Gevonna Fassett is executive director of Olivia’s Prayer, a place for caregivers and Alzheimer’s Awareness in African American Communities. Gevonna received her BS degree

WWW.GARLANDJOURNAL.COM

in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Kansas where she was active in Blacks in Communications and Alpha Phi Omega. A member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, she also studied at the University of Costa Rica.

Gevonna volunteered with the Alzheimer’s Association as an advocate, community rep and ambassador.

Previously she worked in sports in Dallas for KTVT-TV and the Dallas Weekly; and she was a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators (now Journalists) and National Association of Black Journalists. Today, the healthy living advocate resides in her hometown of Chicago, IL; where she returned to be a caregiver to her ailing mother. Her latest book, Say NO to Keto, is receiving rave reviews.

REV. DR. SHERON PATTERSON Dr. Sheron C. Patterson is Senior Pastor of Hamilton Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Tex.; and the First African American woman ordained an elder in the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. She has served as a member of the General Board of Discipleship in Nashville, and as a Communicator for the United Methodist Women. The Charlotte, NC native seeks to end domestic violence. A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, she served as a director on the board of Methodist Health Systems and currently she is Vice President of the Perkins School of Theology Executive Board, an Adjunct Professor at Perkins and Vice President of the Black Clergy of North Texas. Dr. Patterson is a 13year survivor of breast cancer. With Methodist Health systems she created “The Patterson Pledge” encouraging women to take responsibility of their health. She raised thousands to provide free mammograms for low income women by gathering other breast cancer survivors and building Habitat for Humanity homes. A journalist, author, golf pro and activist, she holds degrees from Spelman College and Perkins School of Theology.

DEDE MCGUIRE DeDe McGuire has been entertaining radio audiences for decades. One of a few women with a nationallysyndicated morning show - “DeDe in the Morning” on K104FM (Dallas), DeDe has interviewed world leaders from President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, to celebrities such as Jay Z and Beyonce.

A philanthropist, community activist, mentor and volunteer, DeDe is the recipient of numerous awards, DeDe is a loving person who continues to give back to the community through countless non-profit organizations and scholarship programs including Women Called Moses, Beauty and Brains’ DeDe McGuire Scholarship; and, as the Community Ambassador for Dress for Success Dallas. In March 2018, she inaugurated DeDe’s Women’s History Month Kickoff Luncheon benefiting Girls Inc. Dallas and Dress for Success Dallas. She’s funny, smart, conscientious, sincere and focused. She’s a woman with a vision, who is socially conscious and she is a trailblazer.

REV. COKIESHA BAILEY Cokiesha Bailey Robinson has served as a missionary in Africa and Jamaica and studied as a student missionary in Izmir, Turkey. A graduate of David W. Carter High School in Dallas, she received her bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in mass communications from Fisk University and a master’s of divinity from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University.

She pursued a doctorate at Truett Seminary at Baylor University. This member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority writes for several devotional sites and has also contributed to seven books, co-authoring two. In 2015, Rev. Robinson founded Cross Springs Ministry, a ministry of gospel-centered mentorship, leadership and service. A writer for Our Daily Bread, in 2020 she was named associate dean of student diversity and inclusion at Grace College and Seminary.

She is a former associate pastor at Concord Church.

RONA STRINGFELLOW Rona Stringfellow, city administrator for the City of Wilmer, was recently elected to serve on the Southern Dallas County Inland Port Transportation Management Association (IPTMA) Board of Directors. She has more than 20 years of experience in municipal government.

A Dallas native and graduate of David W. Carter High School, she graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Technology and a Master’s in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas. A former board member of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators and Big Brothers Big Sisters, Rona has a long history of service. Rona was Deputy City Manager and Assistant City Manager for the City of Lancaster, and a planner for the Cities of Lancaster and McKinney. She holds memberships in AICP - American Institute of Certified Planners Alliance For Innovation, APA - American Planning Assn, TX Chapter of the American Planning Assn and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

DR. JENNIFER WIMBISH Dr. Jennifer Wimbish, a former member of the Sunlight Girl’s Club in Port Lavaca, authored her first book, “Leadership Wisdom For All Generations. She is the President-Emeritus of Cedar Valley Community College (now Dallas College). She holds a doctorate degree in higher adult and lifelong education from Michigan State University; a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Texas A&M UniversityKingsville; and a bachelor’s degree in history education from Hampton University (Va.).

During her tenure, three early college high schools were created, and Cedar Valley was designated as “First in the World” for its chapter of the international academic honorary for two-year colleges, Phi Theta Kappa, among many other achievements. Dr. Wimbish is on the forefront addressing social justice issues as part of the Poor People’s Campaign. A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, she is committed to making a difference.

DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX Dr. Julianne Malveaux is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women. She entered Boston College after the 11th grade, and earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in economics in three years and also was initiated into the Iota chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She earned a Ph.D. in economics from MIT and holds honorary degrees from Benedict College, SojournerDouglass College and the University of the District of Columbia. Dr. Malveaux has held positions in womens, civil rights, and policy organizations, including President of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs Inc. She serves on the boards of the Economic Policy Institute, The Recreation Wish List Committee of Washington, DC, and the Liberian Education Trust. Dr. Malveaux is an economist, author, and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA. She is also President of PUSH Excel, the education arm of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

PAMELA ZIEGLER-PETTY Pamela Zeigler-Petty is leading community development lending at InterBank as the Community Reinvestment Officer. Pamela has more than 23 years of community banking experience, including, most recently, as a senior business development officer for Capital One. Prior to that, she held roles in commercial, business banking and community development banking with One World Bank, Green Bank, and others.

She holds a BA degree in Communications from Grambling State University and has numerous commercial banking certifications. She remains committed to volunteering and serves various organizations as a board member including the Plano Chamber of Commerce, Business Council for the Arts, North Texas Performing Arts and Impact Ventures. She’s in Who’s Who of Black Dallas, third and fourth editions and is a graduate of Leadership Plano.She’s also a member of the Chi Zeta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Barbara C. Jordan Giving Circle, Texas Women’s Foundation and McKinney Rotary Foundation.

JUDGE DOMINIQUE COLLINS Dominique Collins is a District Judge in Dallas County. She served as an assistant District Attorney for eight years and she was a clerk at Plunkett & Gibson, Inc. Prior to that she served our country in the United States Air Force for 12 years. She attended Lake Highlands High School, Stanton College Preparatory School and University of Texas/ Campbell University. A graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law, in San Antonio, where she was Associate Editor of “The Scholar” law review and served as a teaching assistant, she has extensive experience handling both felony and criminal cases. Judge Collins was honored with the Above and Beyond Prosecutor Award in 2008, and she served on the State Bar of Texas Committee on Crime Victims from 2009 to 2011.A member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., her volunteer work includes service as Secretary and Vice President of the Kessler School PTA, a law instructor, a volunteer income tax assistant, a helpline volunteer, work with veterans, as well as many other community activities. Judge Colins is well respected for her preparedness, legal knowledge and prowess and leadership.

JUDGE CHERYL LEE SHANNON Hon. Cheryl Lee Shannon is a District Judge in Dallas County presiding over the 305th District Court hearing juvenile matters, child abuse and neglect cases and a myriad of matters relating to parental termination/ adoption issues. She was formerly an Associate Judge in Dallas County for both the 304th and 305th District Courts.

A graduate from the University of Houston with a degree in Political Science, she attended the University of Houston Law Center.

Judge Shannon currently serves as the Chairman of the Dallas County Juvenile Board, President of the Dallas County Charter School Board, Chairman of the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, is a member of the State Bar of Texas Juvenile Justice Committee and has recently been appointed by the Supreme Court of Texas to serve on the Judicial Commission for Youth, Children and Families. She has formerly served as a Board Member of Texas CASA, Texas School Safety Center Board, Supreme Court Task Force of Foster Care and Committees relating to Youth Issues.

HONORABLE HELEN GIDDINGS Helen Giddings is President of Multiplex Inc., a specialty concessions company, which she founded in 1989. A former member of the Texas House of Representatives, who served as the Vice Chair of the State Affairs Committee and a member of the House Appropriations, State Affairs, and the Calendars Committees; previously, she served as Vice President of Leadership Development at the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce and as an executive responsible for 11 states with Sears. She chaired the Business and Industry Committee was appointed to the Texas Legislative Council Governing Board, the Supreme Court of Texas Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families, and the Joint Interim Committee to Study Alzheimer’s Disease. Her service on boards included; the African American Museum, Dallas Symphony Board, Dallas Summer Musicals, Dallas Historical Society and the Dallas Theater Center.

Her service also extended to the Women’s Legislative Network of the National Conference of State Legislators and the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative (NOBEL) Women. A member of Links Inc., who attended the UTA, she is the recipient of numerous awards, including an honorary degree from Paul Quinn College, and is now focusing on Multiplex Inc. and Women’s Leadership Summit.