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MY TRUTH
By Cheryl Smith Publisher
OPPRESSORS V. OPPRESSED How do we end this year on a positive note? Can we be optimistic about the future? How do we keep from drifting into a fit of hopelessness and despair when there is so much devastation around us? Sure Black people in America, at least the ones I know, live in a constant state of pandemonium, but 2020 has been a bit overwhelming. Which brings me to my truth. I have five young Black grandsons. They are absolutely adorable and I am not the only one who says so! Folks say they are “precious,” “handsome,” and more. There have been comments even about taking them home and making arrangements to have pre-arranged marriages for them! It is heartwarming to hear all the wonderful comments about those young, daring and delightful young boys. Please understand that while I think my boys are the best so did the parents and grandparents of these children, and others: - Alton Sterling - Amadou Diallo - Antwon Rose - Ariane McCree - Botham Jean - Casey Goodson Jr. - Daniel Prude - Damian Daniels - Darius Tarver - Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. - Emmett Till - Eric Garner - Freddie Gray - George Floyd
- JaQuavion Slaton - Jonathan Ferrell - Jordan Baker - Joshua Feast - Kwame “KK” Jones - Michael Dean - Michael Brown - Miles Hall - Philando Castile - Rodney Applewhite - Sean Bell - Sean Reed - Stephon Clark - Tamir Rice - Trayvon Martin - Yassin Mohamed
I could call millions of Black boys and men as well as Black girls and women who have become victims because of the color of their skin. Now I’d venture to say that it was more than relatives who made flattering remarks about the aforementioned when they were young. SO, when did our young boys become a threat? When did they become monsters, threatening, grotesque and menacing? When did they go from being the little, handsome, young men to someone who looked like a “criminal,” or worse… an “animal?” Conversely when did Black females become the object of everyone’s disdain? Almost everyone has an issue with us including Black men, and so much to the point that Black women joined in the demonization and ostracization of other Black women! That’s right— the oppressed take on the ways of the oppressors! These are just a few names of women remembered in recent years: - Atatiana Jefferson - Breonna Taylor - Eleanor Bumpers - Mya Hall - Sandra Bland - Shereese Francis - Tyisha Miller
As we move into another deSee MY TRUTH, page 5
THURSDAY JANUARY 7, 2021 VOLUME X
Donald Trump spent
almost a year playing golf during presidency By Lauren Victoria Burke
President Donald Trump
lion were infected. In December, an average of over 1,5000 people died daily in the U.S. due to coronavirus. Over 70,000 deaths are predicted by the end of December. President Trump never developed a national strategy for the coronavirus pandemic that may have included a testing and tracing plan. Recent legislation passed by Congress did not include aid for state and local governments to circulate vaccines and deal with coronavirus treatment. “So, while a plan to slightly reduce suffering of vast numbers of Americans is being debated by Congressional leaders, the President is in Palm Beach, VP is in Vail, Secretary of Treasury in Cabo San
Lucas. While many Americans are in medical centers or quarantine, VP Pence, chief of the President’s Covid-19 task force, has reportedly had himself flown from DC to Vail skiing resort in Colorado for vacation. Pence’s Colorado vacation — defying the national pandemic he was assigned to help thwart — is your tax dollars at work,” wrote historian Michael Beschloss on December 24. On December 27, Vice President Pence was in Vail, Colorado skiing. Enroute to the golf course in Florida near Mar-a-Lago, one onlooker held a sign that read “Crazy F***”. During the worst pandemic to hit the U.S. since the influenza See TRUMP page 5
Message from the President Quinnites & Friends of the Quinnite Nation: I pray that you are somewhere safe and in the company of people whom you love and who love you. As 2020 comes to a close, I am reminded of all that we have experienced during the past 12 months (https:// www.dallasnews.com/news/ commentary/2020/03/25/itsjust-too-much-to-take-in-whylosing-commencement-at-thisdallas-hbcu-is-a-very-big-deal/). The fact that this year has been difficult is well-documented. Far too many of us have lived 2020 grappling with the fear, anxiety, and loss that COVID-19 brought into our worlds. Others among
Dr. Michael J. Sorrell
us continued to grapple with the reality of what race means in this country. Still more people suffered silently struggling to meet their everyday needs while living in the shadows of the global pandemic and national racial reckoning. At Paul Quinn College, we were
not immune to the ravages of 2020. However, as is our way, we decided to use 2020 as a season not for mourning but rather for sowing seeds in the service of others. As a result of this philosophy, the Quinnite Nation stands at the eve of the new year prepared to be stronger and more impactful than ever before. We are thankful for partners, students, faculty/staff, Board of Trustees, and alumni who believe in, and are committed to, our vision. If you would like to invest in our future, we invite you to do so by visiting our website (www.pqc.edu/invest). In the interim, please allow me to share with you a small fraction of what we have accomplished in 2020: See MESSAGE page 2
Dallas gets new top cop By Ashley M. Moss Texas Metro News
A Christmas package arrived early for the City of Dallas with the formal announcement Wednesday of the appointment of the new police chief. More than 55 community and business organizations participated in panel interviews of the top candidates which included five local candidates, but the City ultimately looked west to Eddie Garcia to fill the role of top cop over the ninth largest police department in the country. Garcia, who most recently served for four years as the chief of police for the San Jose Police Department in California, will be the first Latino to preside over the City of Dallas, replacing current Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall, who submitted her resignation in September.
By Norma Adams-Wade
Trailblazing Dallas Black police officers
NNPA Newswire Correspondent
President Donald Trump has spent 307 days, almost a full year, golfing during his presidency. The total is likely to be the most golf outings of any president in history. Additionally, Trump is likely to be collectively viewed by historians as one of the worst presidents in American history. Almost a year of time spent on golf courses was punctuated recently as December became the worst month for deaths and infections in the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Many in conservative media made a point of mentioning time spent playing golf by President Obama. But Trump has now far surpassed Obama and any other President in time spent on golf courses. In 2017, Trump spent three months’ time — 91 days — on the golf course. In 2018, Trump spent 75 days playing golf. In 2019, Trump spent 87 days on a golf course and in 2020, Trump spent 54 days playing golf — even during the deadliest year for the U.S. since World War II which featured 291,557 fatalities. The pandemic was disproportionately deadlier for African American communities. In only ten months in 2020 over 330,000 Americans died in the coronavirus pandemic and over 19 mil-
I Was Just Thinking...
While local leaders advocated for the appointment of an internal candidate, most said Garcia would be welcomed. “T.C. Broadnax had a difficult decision but he had to do what was right for Dallas holistically and not just one group and I’m good with the decision,” said Terrence Hopkins, President of the Black Police Association of Greater Dallas. “He’s battle-tested in a lot of areas Dallas has issues with,” Hopkins added citing Garcia’s experience with prominent issues like diversity and social justice. “He’s been the number one guy in a top 10 city (San Jose) with a makeup similar to Dallas - not (just) an assistant, a deputy or a major.” Others agreed. “I had hoped Malik Aziz would have gotten the job,” said Sheldon Smith, the Dallas chapter president of the National Black Police
Chief Eddie Garcia
Association. “But I think he was asked to apply by the City. That says a lot in itself.” “He told us it would take time to evaluate where we are as a Department and our leadership,” he added. “He is capable and experienced and I will support him.” Aziz, a David W. Carter High School and UTA graduate with an MBA from the University of DalSee GARCIA page 7
Let’s close out the year 2020 with a historical tribute to Dallas Black police officers. I thought about these early Black officers when I ran across an old news clip about the on-again/ off-again closing of the Jesse R. Dawson State Jail at 106 W. Commerce St. The Dawson jail stands right before one leaves the downtown
Retiring Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall.
Credit: The Dallas Morning News
Dallas area to cross the Trinity River Bridge leading to Oak Cliff. Dawson also is across from the Lew Sterrett Justice Center that is behind the Frank Crowley Court Building at Commerce Street and Riverfront Boulevard. I was just thinking…and wondering how many people today know or remember that that easily-ignored jail facility is named after one of Dallas’ original Black police officers – Jesse R. Dawson. He holds a position of honor with four other groundbreaking Black men, former World War II soldiers who passed the entrance exam and finally were allowed to join the Dallas force in 1947 and ’48, a few years after World War II ended. Whites on and off the force had strongly resisted but eventually were overruled. In 1947, the first two officers to join were Benjamin Thomas Jr. and Lee G. Brotherton Sr. (who became a Muslim and changed his name to L. G. Bilal). Dawson joined in 1948 along with William Starks and Charles Thompson. The Black officers patrolled the historic Black enclave State-Thomas neighborhood just north of downtown Dallas. They were not allowed to arrest White folk. As racial restrictions slowly began to thin out over the years, the pioneer Black officers began to share their hard-fought experiences in media interviews. I interviewed Dawson for a Black History Month series in The Dallas Morning News in the 1980s. Dawson said this: “We had people in our own race who didn’t want us. We bowed our necks and did the job. We needed a job and enjoyed what we were doing. I was just determined to make it.” Dawson retired in 1976 and later became the first Black elected constable in Dallas, succeeding Rev. George Brewer who had been appointed in 1975. Margaret McGee was Dallas’ first Black female officer. She arrived in Dallas in 1972, began looking for work, and applied at Dallas City Hall. She discovered there were no Black female officers and that year became the first. She overcame resistance as both a female and Black See THINKING, page 6