I Messenger 1-22-21

VOL X NO 19 JANUARY 22, 2021

I MESSENGER This is

AMERICA’s

DAY! President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris

IMessenger An IMM LLC Publication MAILING ADDRESS 320 S. R.L. Thornton Freeway Suite 220 Dallas, TX 75203 WWW.TEXASMETRONEWS.COM 214-941-0110 Cheryl Smith PUBLISHER - EDITOR news@texasmetronews.com S. Curet GENERAL MANAGER stewartcuret@myimessenger.com Jessica Hayden STAFFWRITER Marva Sneed EDITORIAL ASSISTANT EDITORIAL TEAM Andrew Whigham III Anthony Council Ashley M. Moss Chelle Wilson Cierra Mayes Dareia Tolbert Dr. Felicia N. Shepherd Dorothy J. Gentry Eva Coleman Jirah Nicole Mickle Monique P. Stone L. Diane Evans Lajuana Barton Rebecca Aguilar Vincent Hall MARKETING TEAM Carlton McConnell Terry Allen PR DESIGN/LAYOUT FzanStudio

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Established 2011 CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that America can best lead the world away from racial and national antagonisms when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person, the Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.

January 22, 2021

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Bradley-Guidry named to new UTSWMC post Carolyn BradleyGuidry, Dr.PH., PA-C, has been appointed Inaugural Assistant Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Affairs - School of Health Professions at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

A member of the Omicron Mu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, Dr. Bradley-Guidry is a board-certified physician assistant (PA) who holds a primary appointment in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Her primary clinical experience is in internal medicine with a special interest in hypertension, working in the hypertension section since 2010.

The W.W. Samuell High School graduate earned an undergraduate degree in Nursing at Texas Christian University in 1987, and an undergraduate degree in Physician Assistant Studies at the UT Southwestern Medical Center School of Health Professions in 1998.

She earned her Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree at the University of Nebraska in 2006, where she went on to receive her Doctor of Public Health Degree in 2019.

Board certified in public health, Dr. Bradley-Guidry was awarded the New

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Dr. Carolyn Bradley-Guidry

Emerging Leadership Award from the National Association of Medical Minority Educators and the New Investigator Award from the UT Southwestern School of Health Professions.

Due to her commitment to health equity and health disparities, she was selected as a National Institutes of Health, Minority Health and Health Disparities Scholar.

She is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Academy of Physician Assistants, the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants,

the Physician Assistant Education Association, The National Association of Medical Minority Educators, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, and the DFW Area Health Education Center.

In December, under her leadership, her team was awarded a $3.24 million grant to support diversity initiatives at their PA program. Funds will be used to provide scholarship to students from educationally and environmentally d i s a d va nt a g e d background in the program. myimessenger.com

INSIDE

Faithful Utterances

Quit Playin’

The Last Word

When you think of a snake, there is a powerful image that is conjured in your brain. You think about a slithering animal that sticks its tongue out and lashes its venom onto unsuspecting victims.

Snakes come in a variety of sizes and colors and although not all of them are poisonous, those that are can be deadly.

Elections have consequences. A simple contrast of the late Alex Trebek, then dying with pancreatic cancer, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s words provide sufficient evidence. Trebek and Jeopardy represent TV game show royalty.

If you watched the disgraceful invasion of the United States Capitol and the horrific destruction that took place on January 6, you observed a legion of limited-intelligence low-life louts. But you’d be mistaken if that’s all you thought of the Trump-incited mob.

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January 22, 2021

MY TRUTH

by Cheryl Smith, Publisher

Note to self: Despite your disdain for “spam calls,” take a chance, because it just might be the call you need.

Last Friday evening I was treating myself to an early evening at home when my phone registered a “spam call.”

Much to my surprise, there wasn’t a recording on the other end. Instead it was award-winning journalist Jobin Panicker, from the local ABC affiliate, WFAA-TV. He informed me that Plano police confirmed that there was a DNA match connecting 48-year-old Jeffery Wheat to a sexual assault case just North of Dallas.

It appears that Mr. Wheat could be the person responsible for several sexual assaults against women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, of which I am a member.

Since the story first appeared on the pages of I Messenger Media publications about 10 years ago we have not missed one week; that’s right, every issue has carried the sketch of the perpetrator, asking for any information that would lead to an arrest.

Actually I gave him a name, “Pookie.”

Why? Well, I took the rapes personally and I needed to personalize the rapist so that I’d never forget him. So I chose the name “Pookie” because in my communities growing up, there was always a Pookie who was always getting into trouble.

I talked about Pookie on Soul 73 KKDA, on the award-winning show I hostJanuary 22, 2021

ed, “Reporters Roundtable with Cheryl Smith,” until the station was sold in 2012; and anywhere I went I tried to get folks to talk about and advocate for the women who were assaulted.

Now I wasn’t speaking out because they were my sorority sisters, because I believe and my record shows that this wasn’t the first time that I have been a voice for the voiceless.

Which brings me to my truth.

though we, collectively; let them down.

I thought about the many times I have heard Black people talking about, “if they were white!”

“Well, guess what, they weren’t. And I felt strongly that the case and public response were mishandled and the investigation was inadequate.”

I wanted to hear from the clergy, sororities, fraternities, organizations, elected officials — any, and everybody,

Pookie Sketch

Pookie

Right Side of History During the phone call and prior to going live on ZOOM with Mr. Panicker, he asked me how I was feeling.

I was speechless as a number of emotions consumed me.

You see, I felt for those women because I felt as

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—saying, “Pookie, we won’t rest until we find you. No one is going to rape our women!”

I wanted the Black Press, especially to put this perpetrator on blast. After all, we had a sketch and a picture of him; and it didn’t help that some law enforcement of-

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ficials felt as though people knew who he was and instead opted to protect him.

At one point I was discussing the case with another publisher.

Me - Are you running something about the serial rapist?

Publisher - I can’t. We tried to get the Deltas to talk but they won’t.

Me - Well, I’m glad that Ida B. Wells Barnett didn’t use that excuse when writing about the lynching of Black men!

Yep, I was passionate about the situation.

And some people were not happy. They wanted me to shut up but I told them that I couldn’t be silent because I would want someone to speak up for me.

I won’t lie.

The negative comments hurt.

I remember traveling to the Motherland, to Senegal; where I was in the company of noted scholars, including Drs. Julius Garvey and Leonard Jeffries, Professor James Smalls and several HBCU presidents and Black mayors.

We discussed the rapist and I asked if I was wrong, if I should shut up and not wear red (Delta Sigma Theta color) or anything with the sorority symbols.

One of the mayors, who was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, said that see POOKIE on page 5

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Man in custody in connection with 2011 Plano sexual assault case, police say

By TOM STEELE The Dallas Morning News The Dallas Morning News has a collaborative partnership with Texas Metro News, that seeks to boost coverage of communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.

A suspect in a 2011 sexual assault is now in custody, Plano police announced Friday.

Jeffery Lemor Wheat, 48, was booked into the Collin County jail Friday on one count of sexual assault.

WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported that Wheat’s DNA linked him to an April 2, 2011, attack on a woman at her Plano home, according to an affidavit. The assailant called Surveillance footage from a convenience store in Mesquite showed a man police said was calling a sexual assault victim Credit: Plano Police Department the woman several days later several days after the attack to ask how she was doing. to check on her, police said.

Police have previously in those cases matched DNA store in Mesquite and That assault was the second said that DNA evidence from a 2003 sexual assault in police were able to obtain in a series of attacks on women conclusively connected three Arlington, WFAA reported. surveillance footage of the — all of them alumnae of the of the assaults, but not the first Surveillance footage from a caller. Wheat’s ex-wife told Delta Sigma Theta sorority incident because it was an convenience store in Mesquite police in November that the who were in their 50s or 60s attempted rape and no DNA showed a man police said was man in that footage was her — over an 11-month period, was collected. calling a sexual assault victim former husband, according to which police have said were Though the victims were several days after the attack to the affidavit. committed by the same man. members of the same sorority, ask how she was doing.

Wheat was apprehended in On Nov. 11, 2010, the they did not all attend the In the April 2011 case in Crawford County, Ark., WFAA attacker tried to sexually same college or know one which Wheat was arrested, reported. His bail was set at assault a woman in Plano. another. In each case, the the attacker knew the victim’s $500,000, and he did not have On Sept. 15, 2011, he assailant made clear he knew name, according to the an attorney listed in court sexually assaulted a woman personal information about affidavit obtained by WFAA. records. in Coppell. And on Oct. 14, the victim, police said.

When the attacker called It’s unclear whether charges 2011, he sexually assaulted a Wheat’s arrest-warrant the woman days later, the call have been filed in any of the woman in Shady Shores. affidavit also said the DNA was traced to a convenience other attacks.

Pookie,

from page 4... as a result of the rapes, her chapter started self defense classes in Mississippi. I was told that in the end I would be on the right side of history.

Someone quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, myimessenger.com

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

I recall wishing that I could stay in Africa, away from Pookie and those who subjected me to character assassinations and whispers behind my back.

To her credit, my sorority sister, Dr. Julianne Malveaux,

supported me. She also spoke up about the rapes. After all, she was the president of all-female Bennett College.

Women are being raped and she should be silent?

Nah, she’s definitely not a hypocrite!

I sincerely hope that this is Pookie and I hope that this is just the beginning of an allout assault on predators and

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by the end of this year many will be behind bars.

And I hope that my sorority sisters, and any other victims will feel a little better.

And lastly, the next time we’re faced with a situation where we are conflicted about what we should do, I hope that we will all do what we’d want someone to do for us!

January 22, 2021

Look out for the snakes FAITHFUL UTTERANCES

BY DR. FROSWA BOOKER-DREW

When you think of a snake, there is a powerful image that is conjured in your brain.

You think about a slithering animal that sticks its tongue out and lashes its venom onto unsuspecting victims.

Snakes come in a variety of sizes and colors and although not all of them are poisonous, those that are can be deadly.

Just as there are all types of animals that occupy space outdoors, sometimes we find ourselves in close proximity to an unwanted critter that we may see as dangerous or threatening.

In our lives, there are times that we encounter individuals that we do not expect. They begin as kind and engaging, later to discover that their words or actions are toxic and, in some cases,, leak poison into our minds and souls.

They never begin this way but as we provide them more access and space, our guard is down before they attack.

“1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

January 22, 2021

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.

5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

dissension between you and those you are in relationship with. You are then tempted to do something that you will later regret. Sadly, others are then brought into the mess that was started by the snake. The discovery of the snake’s lie causes so many of us to hide. We hide from our potential, from others, and we hide from God because we are ashamed, afraid, or apprehensive because of the decision we have made.

How many times are there individuals who smile in your face who then hurt you? How many of those individuals were close to us and we never saw it coming? What we learn from this story is that the snake hurts us because of proximity.

They have access to us. Be so mindful of who you allow into your space, especially when you are vulnerable.

Eve was vulnerable—she was not clothed and thought she could be comfortable with

Gen. 3:1-5

Just like the snake referenced in Genesis 3:1-5, they are crafty and find ways to enter our lives. These individuals can make us question what we know is true about what God says and even what we know about ourselves. Even when we know what we know, they can place doubt into our minds. They also take a piece of the truth without telling the entire story. The serpent in the story did not acknowledge the command from God in its entirety but only focused on what served its purpose. They are deceptive and instead of going directly to the source to address an issue, they create

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something that was in the same space as she was. He knew her vulnerability, but she didn’t initially. It wasn’t until after she was hurt that she realized her vulnerability.

Be careful of who you allow into your space to reveal those private, precious parts of yourself. Some people don’t deserve close and personal access. They don’t deserve the engagement of your time, talent and thoughts.

Eve thought she could trust the serpent because of closeness, but everyone that may be in the place that you are in could be there under false pretense, and are not necessarily who you think they are. 1 John 4 says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…” And just because they say the right things, doesn’t mean that they necessarily believe it or live it: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21-23) Seeking God before rushing to judgement and using discernment is critical.

Tread carefully and with caution. Don’t worry about who let the dogs out. Worry about allowing the snakes in.

Dr. Froswa’ Booker-Drew is the Founder and CEO of Soulstice Consultancy, specializing as a Partnership Broker and Leadership Expert for companies and organizations to thrive with measurable and meaningful impact. She also is the VP of Community Affairs and Strategic Alliances for the State Fair of Texas.

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Kinder for $2000!

QUIT PLAYIN’ VINCENT L. HALL If we all pitch in just a little bit, we’re gonna get there.”

– Alex Trebek Elections have consequences. A simple contrast of the late Alex Trebek, then dying with pancreatic cancer, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s words provide sufficient evidence.

Trebek and Jeopardy represent TV game show royalty.

Merv Griffin created the show in 1964, but Trebek has been at the podium since 1984.

The show produced 8,000 episodes, 39 Daytime Emmys, and a Peabody Award. Only the real nerds, minutia maniacs, historians, and better-educated need apply.

If only Trebek had run for the U.S. Senate, and Mitch had the personality and mental agility to play host to a game show the caliber of Jeopardy, the American citizen may have gotten a much better representative. Politico’s account of his sentiments on the need for more than $600 in stimulus proves him less gracious and caring than Trebek.

“Borrowing from our grandkids to do socialism for rich people is a terrible way to get help to families who actually need it,” McConnell said of an effort to boost the checks from $600 to $2,000, which is supported by President Donald Trump. “Washington Democrats took Presimyimessenger.com

dent Trump’s suggestion and skewed it so the checks would benefit even more high-earning households.”

McConnell said, “Socialism for rich people” four times in his speech.

Senator Bernie Sanders responded, “The majority leader helped lead this body to pass Trump’s tax bill. You want to talk about socialism for the rich, Mr. Majority Leader?”

that trick long before Donald Trump started selling that tonic.

Any critical thinker would question Mitch’s question.

What does a paltry sum of $2,000 have to do with socialism? Moreover, if Mitch had any concern for your grandkids, he would have resisted the massive tax cuts. If $75,000 is the most you could earn to qualify, what is rich? It is a ruse, a ploy, a shell game,

Mitch McConnell

Alex Trebek

“Borrowing from our grandkids to do socialism for rich people is a terrible way to get help to families who actually need it” McConnell said Let me posit this thought in the contrast of personalities. Mitch McConnell is a snobbish, shyster who plays that old GOP game of “divide and conquer” with the public. He used “socialism for rich people” four times to give you something to hate.

Republicans were playing on

and a damn shame!

Example. Lewis is a hardworking single parent and essential worker who did not miss a paycheck. Food prices have skyrocketed. The school taxes he pays were not subsidized. His children are learning virtually. His bills for utilities, food, and toilet pa-

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per have grown tremendously. Don’t laugh. The price of Charmin in 2021 is enough to make Mr. Whipple cry! (Google It!) Lewis gives more money to his church, family and charities. He is treading water, but not gaining, growing or breaking even. Mitch, whose reported net worth is $23 million, has no idea what it feels like to barely make ends meet…Every month!

The Senate Majority leader has no clue what it means to be one of the 10,000,000 unemployed, 12,000,000 who are behind in rent by $6000, or the 27,000,000 who lack sufficient food. It went unnoticed, but while Mitch refused to increase stimulus from $600 to $2000, he also led the rollback of unemployment benefits from $600 to $300 per week.

No, Mitch McConnell, who always looks like he’s “watching an orphanage burn from a safe distance,” is no Alex Trebek. Trebek’s final words prove as much.

“People who are suffering through no fault of their own,” he said. “We’re trying to build a gentler, kinder society, and if we all pitch in — just a little bit — we’re gonna get there.”

This latest episode on legislative Jeopardy meant a lot to America. Mitch McConnell could have chosen “Kinder for $2000,” but chose not to.

Mitch wins the ring while working-class America loses its shirt. Mitch put us all in jeopardy!

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

January 22, 2021

Trump Pardons

The people former US president Donald Trump has granted clemency to range from rappers to financiers and lobbyists. Notable names on the list include: STEVE BANNON Bannon, 67, was a key adviser in Trump’s 2016 presidential run. He was charged last year with swindling Trump supporters over an effort to raise private funds to build the president’s wall on the US-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty.

White House officials had advised Trump against pardoning Bannon, who left the Trump administration in late 2017. The two men have lately rekindled their relationship as Trump sought support for his unproven claims of voter fraud, an official familiar with the situation said.

January 22, 2021

28 years in prison following his conviction on two dozen charges including racketeering, bribery and extortion from a conspiracy, which prosecutors said had worsened the city’s financial crisis. Kilpatrick, 50, once seen as a rising star in the Democratic party, received one of the longest corruption sentences ever handed to a major US politician.

Kilpatrick, who was mayor from 2002 to 2008, extorted bribes from contractors who wanted to get or keep Detroit city contracts, prosecutors said. His sentence has been commuted.

LIL WAYNE Lil Wayne, 38, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter, pleaded guilty in federal court in December to illegally possessing a firearm and faced up to 10 years in prison. He was scheduled to be sentenced in March in Florida. A year earlier, the Grammy winner was found with a loaded, gold-plated .45-caliber handgun in his baggage aboard a private plane that had landed at an executive airport near Miami. A previous felony conviction made it illegal for the rapper to have the weapon or ammunition.

In October, Wayne tweeted a picture of himself with Trump following what he called a “great meeting” with the president. He has been pardoned.

ELLIOTT BROIDY Broidy, a major Republican party fundraiser, pleaded guilty in October to acting as an unregistered foreign agent, admitting to accepting money to secretly lobby the Trump administration for Chinese and Malaysian interests. He has been pardoned.

Broidy held finance posts in Trump’s 2016 campaign and on his inaugural committee.

Prosecutors alleged Broidy received millions of dollars in payments from an unnamed foreign national to try to arrange the end of a U.S. investigation into billions of dollars embezzled from 1MDB, a Malaysian government investment fund.

RAPPER KODAK BLACK Black, 23, who was born Bill Kahan Kapri, is in federal prison for making a false statement to buy a firearm, and released the album called Bill Israel from behind bars.

Black pleaded guilty in August 2019, and three

KWAME KILPATRICK The former Detroit mayor was sentenced in 2013 to

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months later was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison. He is seeking compassionate release. In a since-deleted tweet in November, Black promised to spend $1m on charity if the president released him, the hip-hop magazine XXL reported. His sentence has been commuted.

SHOLAM WEISS Weiss was convicted of bilking $125m from National Heritage Life Insurance and its elderly policyholders.

He fled the United States and was sentenced in absentia in 2000 to 845 years in prison, but he was eventually extradited from Austria. Weiss, 66, is at a US penitentiary in Pennsylvania, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Trump lawyers from his first impeachment, Alan Dershowitz and Jay Sekulow, sent letters to the White House in support of Weiss.

His sentence has been commuted.

ANTHONY LEVANDOWSKI Levandowski, a former Google engineer, pleaded guilty to stealing secret technology related to self-driving cars from the company before becoming the head of Uber’s rival unit. In August, a judge in San Francisco sentenced Levandowski to 18 months in prison but said he could enter custody once the Covid-19 pandemic has subsided.

The judge, William Alsup, who has been involved in Silicon Valley litigation for nearly five decades, described Levandowski’s conviction as the “biggest trade secret crime I have ever seen”. He has been pardoned.

Other pardons and commutations www.dallasnews.com

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How to get a COVID-19 vaccine If you are a Parkland patient: Parkland patients (at least one appointment in the last year) will be contacted by Parkland when it’s their turn to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

If you are not a Parkland patient: Please follow these steps to register to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

1.

Go to the website of Dallas County Health and Human Services:

www.dallascounty.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination.php

2.

Click on the green rectangle to register:

3.

Fill out the form and click Submit. You are now registered.

4.

When it is your turn, you will be contacted to schedule an appointment to get the vaccine at one of the hub sites (such as Parkland, UT Southwestern, Dallas County Health and Human Services, etc.)

Getting the vaccine will protect yourself and the people around you.

The vaccine will help stop the spread of the virus in our community and end the pandemic.

Not able to register online?

Call the Dallas County Health and Human Services Vaccine Registration Hotline at 469-749-9906, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Registration help is available in English and Spanish.

Until more people are vaccinated, please stay safe.

Wear a mask

Wash your hands

Clean surfaces 01/21/21

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January 22, 2021

January 22, 2021

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This is

AMERICA’s DAY!

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January 22, 2021

Inauguration of President Joseph Biden

January 22, 2021

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January 22, 2021

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

BY PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR. The United States Capitol JANUARY 20, 2021 11:52 AM EST THE PRESIDENT: Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, distinguished guests, and my fellow Americans.

This is America’s day.

This is democracy’s day.

A day of history and hope.

Of renewal and resolve.

Through a crucible for the ages America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.

Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy.

The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.

We have learned again that democracy is precious.

Democracy is fragile.

And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.

So now, on this hallowed ground where just days ago violence sought to shake this Capitol’s very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries.

We look ahead in our uniquely American way – restless, bold, optimistic – and set January 22, 2021

our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be.

I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here.

I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

You know the resilience of our Constitution and the strength of our nation.

As does President Carter, who I spoke to last night but who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime of service.

I have just taken the sacred oath each of these patriots took — an oath first sworn by George Washington.

But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us.

On “We the People” who seek a more perfect Union.

This is a great nation and we are a good people.

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Over the centuries through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we have come so far.

But we still have far to go.

We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility.

Much to repair.

Much to restore.

Much to heal.

Much to build.

And much to gain.

Few periods in our nation’s history have been more challenging or difficult than the one we’re in now.

A once-in-a-century virus silently stalks the country.

It’s taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II. Millions of jobs have been lost.

Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed.

A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves

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us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.

A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear.

And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.

To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words.

It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity.

Unity.

In another January in Washington, on New Year’s Day 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

When he put pen to paper, the President said, “If my name ever goes down into history it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it.”

My whole soul is in it.

Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: Bringing America together.

Uniting our people.

And uniting our nation.

I ask every American to join me in this cause.

Uniting to fight the common foes we face: Anger, resentment, hatred. see INAUGURAL SPEECH on page 15

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Inaugural Speech, from page 14...

Extremism, lawlessness, violence.

Disease, joblessness, hopelessness.

With unity we can do great things. Important things.

We can right wrongs.

We can put people to work in good jobs.

We can teach our children in safe schools.

We can overcome this deadly virus.

We can reward work, rebuild the middle class, and make health care secure for all.

We can deliver racial justice.

We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world.

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy.

I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.

But I also know they are not new.

Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart.

The battle is perennial.

Victory is never assured.

Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our “better angels” have always prevailed.

In each of these moments, enough of us came together to carry all of us forward.

And, we can do so now.

History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity.

We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors. myimessenger.com

We can treat each other with dignity and respect.

We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.

For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.

No progress, only exhausting outrage.

No nation, only a state of chaos.

This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.

And, we must meet this moment as the United States of America.

If we do that, I guarantee you, we will not fail.

We have never, ever, ever failed in America when we have acted together.

And so today, at this time and in this place, let us start afresh.

All of us.

Let us listen to one another.

Hear one another.

See one another.

Show respect to one another.

Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.

Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.

And, we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.

My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this.

America has to be better than this.

And, I believe America is better than this.

Just look around.

Here we stand, in the shadow of a Capitol dome that was completed amid the Civil War, when the Union itself hung in the balance.

Yet we endured and we prevailed.

Here we stand looking out to the great Mall where Dr.

King spoke of his dream.

Here we stand, where 108 years ago at another inaugural, thousands of protestors tried to block brave women from marching for the right to vote.

Today, we mark the swearing-in of the first woman in American history elected to national office – Vice President Kamala Harris.

Don’t tell me things can’t change.

Here we stand across the Potomac from Arlington National Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace.

And here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, and to drive us from this sacred ground.

That did not happen.

It will never happen.

Not today.

Not tomorrow.

Not ever.

To all those who supported our campaign I am humbled by the faith you have placed in us.

To all those who did not support us, let me say this: Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart.

And if you still disagree, so be it.

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That’s democracy. That’s America. The right to dissent peaceably, within the guardrails of our Republic, is perhaps our nation’s greatest strength.

Yet hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion.

And I pledge this to you: I will be a President for all Americans.

I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.

Many centuries ago, Saint Augustine, a saint of my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.

What are the common objects we love that define us as Americans?

I think I know.

Opportunity.

Security.

Liberty.

Dignity.

Respect.

Honor.

And, yes, the truth.

Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson.

There is truth and there are lies.

Lies told for power and for profit.

And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders – leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation — to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.

I understand that many Americans view the future with some fear and trepidation.

I understand they worry about their jobs, about taking care of their families, about what comes next.

I get it. see INAUGURAL SPEECH on page 16

January 22, 2021

Inaugural Speech, from page 15...

But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don’t look like you do, or worship the way you do, or don’t get their news from the same sources you do.

We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.

We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.

If we show a little tolerance and humility.

If we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes just for a moment.

Because here is the thing about life: There is no accounting for what fate will deal you.

There are some days when we need a hand.

There are other days when we’re called on to lend one.

That is how we must be with one another.

And, if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future.

My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we will need each other.

We will need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter.

We are entering what may well be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus.

We must set aside the politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation.

I promise you this: as the Bible says weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.

January 22, 2021

We will get through this, together.

The world is watching today.

So here is my message to those beyond our borders: America has been tested and we have come out stronger for it.

We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again.

Not to meet yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s.

We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.

We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security.

We have been through so much in this nation.

And, in my first act as President, I would like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those we lost this past year to the pandemic.

To those 400,000 fellow Americans – mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.

We will honor them by becoming the people and nation we know we can and should be.

Let us say a silent prayer for those who lost their lives, for those they left behind, and for our country.

Amen.

I MESSENGER

This is a time of testing.

We face an attack on democracy and on truth.

A raging virus.

Growing inequity.

The sting of systemic racism.

A climate in crisis.

America’s role in the world.

Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways.

But the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this nation with the gravest of responsibilities.

Now we must step up.

All of us.

It is a time for boldness, for there is so much to do.

And, this is certain.

We will be judged, you and I, for how we resolve the cascading crises of our era.

Will we rise to the occasion?

Will we master this rare and difficult hour?

Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world for our children?

I believe we must and I believe we will.

And when we do, we will write the next chapter in the American story.

It’s a story that might sound something like a song that means a lot to me.

It’s called “American Anthem” and there is one verse stands out for me: “The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day What shall be our legacy?

What will our children say?…

Let me know in my heart When my days are through America America I gave my best to you.”

Let us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our nation.

If we do this then when our days are through our children and our children’s children

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will say of us they gave their best.

They did their duty.

They healed a broken land.

My fellow Americans, I close today where I began, with a sacred oath.

Before God and all of you I give you my word.

I will always level with you.

I will defend the Constitution.

I will defend our democracy.

I will defend America.

I will give my all in your service thinking not of power, but of possibilities.

Not of personal interest, but of the public good.

And together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear.

Of unity, not division.

Of light, not darkness.

An American story of decency and dignity.

Of love and of healing.

Of greatness and of goodness.

May this be the story that guides us.

The story that inspires us.

The story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history.

We met the moment.

That democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch but thrived.

That our America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world.

That is what we owe our forebearers, one another, and generations to follow.

So, with purpose and resolve we turn to the tasks of our time.

Sustained by faith.

Driven by conviction.

And, devoted to one another and to this country we love with all our hearts.

May God bless America and may God protect our troops.

Thank you, America. myimessenger.com

EXECUTIVE ORDERS

On his first day, President Biden immediately put into action 17 executive orders.

1. Calling for a nationwide 100-day face mask and social distancing mandate in federal buildings, on federal lands and by federal employees and contractors.

2. Restructuring federal government coordination to the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Rejoining the World Health Organization.

4. Extending federal evictions and foreclosures moratorium.

5. Pausing student loan payments until September 30.

6. Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement.

7. Ending the Keystone XL pipeline and all development at National Wildlife Monuments.

8. Advancing racial equity through the federal government.

9. Ensuring non-citizens are counted during the US Census.

10. Strengthening workplace protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

11. Defending the DACA program for young undocumented Americans and instruct Congress to grant Dreamers, 1.7 million in Texas, permanent status and a pathway to citizenship.

12. Ending the Trump-era Muslim travel ban.

13. Changing the arrest priorities for Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents.

14. Implementing an emergency order that immediately stops the construction of the border wall.

15. Extending immigration protections for a group of Liberians living in the United States.

16. Freezing last minute Trump era regulatory actions.

17. And formulating an Executive Branch ethics doctrine, which is a pledge that all federal employees uphold the independence of the US Justice Department. myimessenger.com

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January 22, 2021

January 22, 2021

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Was the insurrection an inside job?

THE LAST WORD BY DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX

If you watched the disgraceful invasion of the United States Capitol and the horrific destruction that took place on January 6, you observed a legion of limited-intelligence low-life louts. But you’d be mistaken if that’s all you thought of the Trump-incited mob.

Those people could not have infiltrated the Capitol without the help of some “law enforcement” officers in the Capitol. Somebody had to open locked doors and side entrances. Somebody had to tell the invaders where certain Congressional offices were.

And too many Capitol police officers took selfies with the invaders and treated them with extreme courtesy., going so far as to open doors for them and even walk them down steps.

Why were the Capitol police so woefully unprepared for the throngs of people who had been communicating by Internet since an unhinged 45th President invited them to the Capitol weeks ago, on December 18? Contrast that under preparation to the army of thousands that Black Lives Matter activists faced this summer. The contrast was stark.

After the invasion passed, many speculated about the inside nature of this invasion. Some of the Capitol police seemed to feel quite comfortable, even chummy, with the invaders. Why shouldmyimessenger.com

n’t they be? Some members of the mob might be their cousins. There is a historical relationship between so-called law enforcement and white supremacy, so it is easy to believe that the Capitol invaders may have had help from the inside.

We could go into history to explore the founding of the Ku Klux Klan and its purpose to terrorize and otherwise oppress Black people.

We could explore how many Klan members were also

supremacists’ connection.

Titled, Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism, White Supremacy, and Far-Right Militancy in Law Enforcement, the report is a comprehensive exploration of racism in law enforcement.

It documents notes ties between law enforcement and “violent racist and militant groups.” It says that the FBI has not appropriately responded to the threat that is posed from this connection.

But, according to German,

rorists who stormed the Capitol.

It only takes one to unlock a door. It only takes one to turn the other way as terrorists bring weapons into the Capitol.

The Brennan report documents several cases of white supremacists law enforcement “officers” who collect Klan paraphernalia, participate in racist social media posts, rant rhetoric on their government-issued radios, and more.

Donald Trump Jr.

Donald Trump

Rudy Giuliani

“law enforcement” officers.

In Wilmington, North Carolina, we could consider how sheriffs deputized more than two hundred racist civilians to force Black people to turn their property over to them and leave town. But if we had to go back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, that would allow us to talk about how much our nation has changed instead of focusing on the intransigence of the myth of white supremacy.

Michael German of the DC-based Brennan Center for Justice released a report in the fall that explored law enforcement and white

“Despite the FBI’s acknowledgement of the links between law enforcement and these suspected terrorists, the Justice Department has no national strategy designed to identify white supremacist police officers or to protect the safety and civil rights of the communities they patrol.”

The Brennan report appropriately notes that “only a tiny percentage of law enforcement officials are likely to be active members of white supremacist groups.”

But even a tenth of a percent is enough. It only takes one-armed white supremacist to aid and abet the ter-

Few face any consequences. Some have supervisors or police chiefs who look the other way. Others have police union backing and often claim their First Amendment free speech rights. How does their racism affect their ability to enforce the law? Ask Breona Taylor, or George Floyd, or Tamir Rice or Sandra Bland.

Why have federal, state, and local law enforcement failed to tackle evidence of virulent racism among police officers? No wonder there is so little trust between law enforcement and the Black community.

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see LAST WORD on page 20

January 22, 2021

Last Word, from page 19...

If there were an active attempt to combat law enforcement racism, it would be almost unthinkable that anyone could see the Trump insurrection as an inside job. But there has been no such attempt, perhaps because too many police officers are either outright racists or have sympathy with these racists.

What to do? In March 2019, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) introduced the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act. It gained 22 cosponsors but was never put on the floor for a vote. Durbin has now said he will reintroduce the legislation soon.

The Brennan report offers other recommendations, including diversity training, anti-racist enforcement, and the development of a database for law enforcement officers, since so many move from city to city, carrying their racist attitudes with them.

Was there an inside job with this Trump insurrection? It is likely, and I look forward to the inevitable investigation and its results.

One can’t write about the insurrection without noting the murder of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. He was doing his work and defending the Capitol, and its flag has been flying half-mast in his honor.

It is telling that the White House has not lowered its flag, perhaps because they so forcefully incited the terrorists who invaded our Capitol.

Inside job? The rot goes straight to the top.

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The Ins and Outs of the New Stimulus Bill FROM MARVA WITH LOVE

BY MARVA J. SNEED

On a recent edition of From Marva with Love, Attorney Symone Redwine, of Redwine Law Firm, with locations in Dallas and Houston; the University of Pittsburgh finance major discussed the new stimulus bill.

The Cornell University law school graduate who practiced fashion and trade law in New York City before returning to Texas, explained the unemployment assistance extension, the moratorium on evictions, and the PPP (Payroll Protection Program) for small business.

MS: Attorney Symone tell us about unemployment assistance?

SR: Yes, in Texas, our minimum for unemployment is 200 bucks and the maximum is 500. Well on top of that $200 to $500 you will get $300 a week until March. Now beauticians, barbers, our entertainers, even if you are an independent contractor for example as a bartender in an industry as well, where maybe you’re still working but you’ve been cut to part-time. So you would just want to go online in your state and even if you are selfemployed, you’ll get the $300 a week. What people don’t know also is if you’re getting unemployed and you have student loans you can call your student loan company and ask them what’s called ‘forbear,’ to wave your loan payments for those months.

be evicted?

SR: So, let’s talk about the rent.

If you’re a single person and you make less than $100K. You can go to CDC.gov and you’ll click on the eviction moratorium.

It’s a form where you can fill it out and get it notarized. Give it to your landlord and he cannot evict you before January 31.

Right now it’s until the 31st but it is supposed to be extended through March. It’s similar for mortgages also.

MS: What about PPP? Tell us how we can take advantage of it.

SR: One of the most important resources for African American

self-employed. I’ve got money for Uber drivers, truck drivers, comedians, DJs, barbers, hairdressers, and even if you have a day job. Where another job that is paying you via W-2, you can qualify for a PPP. Here’s the beauty of PPP it’s actually a grant and you don’t have to pay it back. It’s a loan but acts as a grant….

Attorney Symone Redwine

families in this stimulus package is PPP. With Payroll Protection one of the biggest myths is that PPP is only for people who have employees. Not true. You can be

To hear the full interview go to BlogTalkRadio.com or on Facebook @TexasMetroNews. Follow Attorney Symone Redwine: linktr.ee/ Symoneredwine, IG @symoneredwine, and redwinelaw.com. Tune into “From Marva with Love Fridays 11 am-1 pm on BlogTalkRadio and Facebook.com/ TexasMetroNews

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I MESSENGER

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January 22, 2021

Black Santas all in gold.

Credit: neighbor, Louis Peterson

Black Santa with reindeers, suspended from stairs.

Pat Hamilton hugging one of her Black Santas.

Credit: Smiley Pool, The Dallas Morning News

Credit: neighbor, Louis Peterson

DeSoto woman does not rush to take down beloved collection of about 500 Black Santas I WAS JUST THINKING...

By Norma Adams-Wade

Texas Metro News

Time is running out for Pat Hamilton to dismantle her beloved collection of about 500 Black Santas and nearly a dozen Christmas trees that flow throughout her upscale, two-story home in DeSoto.

One tree alone is adorned with 217 Black Santa ornaments.

The retired Dallas school district administrator usually takes time throughout January to take down what took weeks to put up before Christmas and years to amass. She spares no expense in adding to her collection. If she sees January 22, 2021

what she likes, she buys it.

The collection includes Black Santas of every size. When visitors enter her home during Christmas, they first see her entry Hall of Black Santas displaying some as tall as 6 feet. Throughout the house, some are as small as tree ornaments. Some are animated.

Others are in costumes of various colors and designs -- all gold, all white, or career themes. Some are in groupings – Black Santas on-thebeach, Black Santas with Mrs. Claus, dreaming, dancing, sleeping, you name it.

I was just thinking…, what would inspire someone to begin such a collection?

The collector said she grew

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up poor, the oldest of five in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Christmases were extremely meager. As an adult, the holiday became special. She has a pleasantly defiant attitude about her collection that continues to grow and that she refuses to downsize. Acquaintances compliment her good

Black Santa with black beard.

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Credit: neighbor, Louis Peterson

taste and quality displays, but Hamilton says some wonder when she’ll runs out of space.

“If anyone is bothered, they don’t have to live here,” smugly declared the empty-nester who talks proudly about her four college-educated, adult sons, and eight grandchildren.

“I just love the idea of Santa and giving,” she said. “I know Jesus is the reason for the season… But when I saw my first Black Santa years ago, I flipped out and had to have it. I’ve been buying them ever since. A Black Santa is just special to me.”

She said she does not decorate outside the home, or for other seasons, and owns no pets. She has “spent thousee THINKING, page 29

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Thinking,

from page 28... sands” on her collection and begins shopping around September. She sometimes bids for them on eBay and orders from designers and out-oftown retailers. She once posted her display on Facebook and got 1,300 likes and comments, she said.

Fred Dawson, a retired airline employee and her life-companion, accepts her Black Santa passion, she said, and helps entertain guests who come by yearly to view her display. The coronavirus prevented her entertaining this year.

Neighbors Louis and Carolyn Peterson said they and their grandchildren “were just blown away” when they first saw the display last year.

Black Santa and Mrs. Claus in all white on table.

Credit: neighbor, Louis Peterson

“My first reaction was, ‘Where in the Sam Hill did she find all these Black Santas?’ ” said Louis Peterson. “I was just flabbergasted at the sheer number. They were everywhere. But they were not gaudy. It looked as if a professional had placed them.”

Carolyn Peterson said she and the grandkids also “were floored” by the numbers and that many were even animat-

One of several trees, this one decorated with all Black Santas.

Credit: neighbor, Louis Peterson

ed. Next, she wondered where Hamilton stores them.

“How does she pull all that out every year and set it up and then how do you store it back?” Carolyn Peterson asked.

Hamilton said that’s the beauty of have grandkids who love to help her. Bedrooms and closets that grown kids no longer use now are dedi-

Pat Hamilton in her entry Hall of Black Santas.

myimessenger.com

Assortment of Black Santas on a shelf.

Credit: Smiley Pool, The Dallas Morning News

cated storage. And when she finally decides to put Christmas away, her approach is straight-forward.

“Most of the Black Santas go back in their original boxes and into the attic. I undecorate the trees, leave them standing, wrap them in plastic, put them in the Christmas tree bedroom, and shut the door.”

Credit: Smiley Pool, The Dallas Morning News

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January 22, 2021

NAACP receives racist message

By ASHLEY MOSS Staff writer Days after a local NAACP branch scrambled to find a platform to broadcast its annual MLK observances after members said Facebook suspended the group’s account, the civil rights organization suffered another blow: A caller left the group a hate-filled voice message.

On Monday, Garland NAACP leaders told Texas Metro News that a caller left a voicemail message on the branch’s business telephone line sometime Saturday afternoon referring to Dr. Martin Luther King by the N-word and making light of the slain civil rights leader’s death.

“MLK is a good (N-word), but that’s because he’s a dead (N-word,), the caller said in the eight-second recording left on the civil rights’ organization’s voicemail.

“Needless to say, I was taken back when I heard it,” said Gwendolyn Daniels, an NAACP member who manages the branch’s corporate sponsorships and organizes its annual MLK parade and other public observances.

Daniels said she immediately told her family and other NAACP members.

The organization reported the incident to Garland police.

Daniels said she waited until after Monday’s Martin Luther King federal holiday to report the incident because she wanted to be sure the city’s police chief would be on duty.

Garland Police Chief Jeff Bryan said Tuesday in an email to Ms. Daniels that he was “absolutely disgusted by this phone message.”

“A call of this nature constitutes a criminal offense and January 22, 2021

merits an immediate investigation,” the chief wrote in the email. A copy of the email was shared exclusively with Texas Metro News.

Garland Police Lt. Pedro Barineau said the department’s criminal investigative unit would act swiftly to investigate the incident.

“This is one thing we take very seriously,” he said. “If there is any kind of hate crime portrayed to any one in our city, we investigate it.” Barineau said the caller could face criminal charges, including harassment.

Meanwhile, the Rev. Ronald E. Jones, who was elected Garland’s first African American mayor and who is a life member of the NAACP, called the phone message “intimidating, insulting and intolerable.”

“This is despicable that anyone would call and leave such a message,” said Jones, who served three terms in office “We can’t operate in fear because someone else acted in hatred.”

The Garland NAACP uses a telephone answering service which sends notification alerts with voice recordings attached after a caller has left a message.

The service typically identifies the caller by the name in which their phone line is listed and by the caller’s telephone number.

“When messages are left on our NAACP line, it automatically triggers an email to alert the individual whose box has received a message,” Daniels said. She received a notification alerting her of the message left in her voicemail box on Saturday afternoon.

“But it was Sunday morning before I saw that email and opened it,” she said.

Jones said the branch is fortunate to have the caller identification system.

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“I’m glad there was a system in place to identify the number that placed the call,” he said.

“If there were any violations or laws broken they should consider pressing charges.”

The call to the branch comes days after Facebook suspended its account, which leaders had used to broadcast live events and to alert the public of its programming. According to branch members, Facebook said only that the branch had violated the social media platform’s community rules.

Branch members, however, deny that claim. Daniels said community residents frequently compliment the branch on its educational and other informative programs.

“Once our MLK virtual program aired, we were all getting

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texts, emails and voicemails,” praising the content of the programm, Daniels said.

The Garland incident is the latest in a series of similar events across the nation.

In September, Tabitha Moore, director of the Rutland Area branch of NAACP in Vermont, announced she was selling her home over after she and her children were harassed when she spoke out in favor of the Black LIves Matter movement.

The harassment included defacing of a BLM sign. Her school aged daughter was harassed after she successfully persuaded her local school district to allow a BLM flag to be flown on her campus, according to reporters by the CBS-affiliated New England Cable News in Needham, Mass.

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January 22, 2021

Mothers Against Police Brutality to build network of leaders On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Mothers Against Police Brutality, with major support from the Dallas Mavericks, announced a new effort to build the movement against unaccountable fatal police shootings.

MAPB, a national organization based in Dallas, was founded by Collette Flanagan in 2013 after her son, Clinton Allen, was killed by a Dallas police officer.

Unarmed, Mr. Allen, was shot seven times, including a shot in the back at close range.

Since that time, Ms. Flanagan has dedicated herself to lifting up the voices of other mothers directly impacted by police violence.

“I am in this for my son, my only son, his life stolen

by Dallas police,” said Ms. Flanagan. “But not only for him. I know the pain of mothers whose children are killed by law enforcement.

I know their suffering. But I also know their strength, and that’s what our Fellowship Legacy Program is all about.”

For the first round in 2021, MAPB will select 10 mothers from around the country. To be eligible for the program, mothers must have lost a child in a fatal police shooting.

Those chosen for the Fellowship will make a 2-year commitment to building the skills needed to become effective advocates for justice in memory of their children.

Through leadership development, community building, and narrative change, the MAPB fellowship will support the personal January 22, 2021

Dallas Mavericks support Fellowship Legacy Program

Collette Flangan

development and capacity of Mothers as leaders, to catalyze and participate in a broader movement to change policing in America.

Program Goals: 1. Build the power and capacity to make change of Mothers who have lost a child to police brutality.

2. Create a network of #fightingmothers to hold local police departments and district attorneys accountable for police abuse and misconduct, and advocate for policies that reimagine public safety beyond policing.

3. Establish a broad network of activist Mothers, skilled in community organizing and policy advocacy, who work together and in coalition with other groups, to change criminal justice policy at the national level.

program.

3. Fellows will participate in virtual and in-person sessions on policy development, organizing strategies, coalition building, interacting with public officials, and media training.

4. Fellows will receive a stipend, laptop, internet/cell phone service, individualized coaching and other support to enhance their development.

“We support this effort to lift the voices of the people most

affected by unjust policing,” said Mavericks head coach, Rick Carlisle. “We appreciate the approach of Collette and MAPB – their research, community organizing, and policy advocacy. We are proud to stand with them.”

As part of the Mavs Take ACTION social justice initiative, the Mavericks are sponsoring the first round of Fellowships.

Applications will be taken and Fellows chosen in March.

People interested in becoming a Fellow should check www. mothersagainstpolicebr utality.org for info.

Expectations for Fellows: 1. The initial fellowship program will run from Spring 2021 until Spring 2023, with 10 fellows in the first round.

2. Fellows will commit 10 hours weekly to the

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January 22, 2021

BIG MAMA SAID,

Rule Number 1, “It does not matter what you call me” THE BLACK CARD BY TERRY ALLEN

I can remember that full statement. “It does not matter what you call me, it is what I answer to that matters”!

Lucille “Big Mama” Allen said that on many occasions when I would share how I was bullied at school for being smart or someone called me a racial slur as I walked the six miles back home past “those” homes in ‘that” neighborhood during my elementary years just to get back home.

My grandmother was a master at stopping bad behavior in its tracks with a statement of clarity that usually started with “Baby, here the thing” or “The Lord ain’t gonna let anyone steal my joy today.”

She knew how to handle toxic people and bad thoughts. Her rule to us was to choose who you answer too and it will pay off.

She shared a story about how the wife of her employer never called her by her name or thanked her for her work but the husband praised her all the time.

He praised her publicly and he praised her to others.

She said she never answered her employer’s wife but she answered to her employer January 22, 2021

and members of his social network all the time with a smile and great service.

One day, a member of his social network secretly made her way back to the back office and offered my grandmother a job. Big Mama negotiated a higher pay; less work hours and an employer who called her Mrs. Allen.

She said “Who you answer to determines how high you go!”

She was raised under the same “Southern way’ of another great mom, Marian Robinson, the mother of former First Lady Michelle Obama who gave us the phrase, “When they go low, we go high.”

The Low/High statement is straight out Big Mama’s Playbook because it resonates for the same strategy. I have ‘answered’ to many opportunities using this method for Big Mama’s playbook.

In the wake of the disappointing insurrection at the Nation’s Capitol building, we see members of our leadership falsely calling out other leaders as thieves who stole the election.

But “who you answer to” worked here as well. Arrests, votes for impeachment, transparency, prosecution and the continuation of the inauguration is the answer.

Across the nation you will see the “answer” works.

Shout-out to Hai-

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tian-American and avid runner, Alison Mariella Desir, who took to the digital world of IG, with a call-to-action after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a black male runner killed in Georgia.

Her answer was to create Run 4 all Women and a social change raising over $260,000 for Black Votes Matter as well

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as non token partnership with a major apparel brand.

Her efforts also changed the diversity policies of the apparel brand.

Now do you see how “WHO you answer to” matters over what someone calls you?

Email me at terryallenpr@ gmjail.com and enlighten me.

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Virtual and liVe Community Calendar

Human Trafficking Awareness Month January 21

Hilti Corporate Spotlight: Tools of the Trade Hosted by National Black MBA Association-DFW Chapter, Tickets: 2021-hilti-spotlight.eventbrite.com. 6 pm.

Small Business Webinars by Texas Association of African American Chambers of Commerce RSVP: www.USBlackChambers. org/webinars 2 pm.

FREE Virtual Cooking Session with Chewz Lyfe. Hosted by National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. - Dallas Metropolitan Chapter. On line event. Reg: https://zcu.io/6qaB 7-8 pm.

Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce Lunch and Learn Housing and Wealth Creation: The Future of Housing. One line event: www.Eventbrite.com. 12-1:15 pm.

Budget & Credit in Uncertain Times Virtual Workshop, Presented by Chase Bank Community Manager, Terri Thomas 6:30–7:30 pm. Free. Register: http://bit.ly/39ChwnT. Election Aftermath: Where Do We Go From Here. Event by Omicron Sigma Chapter - Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. Speaker Sherasa Thomas, Collin County NAACP. On Line via Eventbrite.com. 7-8:30 pm.

January 22 TGIT Thank God It’s 2021! Hosted by Minority Behavioral Health Provider Network. Free tickets: Eventbrite.com. 10 am–12:30 pm. CST. Dallas Farmers Market Drink Dash at Dallas Farmers Market, 920. S. Harwood. Tickets: Eventbrite.com. 5-8 pm. CST. Online Spiritual Care Sessions Hosted by Friendship-West Baptist Church. 1-2:30 pm.

Tickets: https://zoom.us/j/8567036848.

January 27

FREE COVID-19 Testing at Paul Quinn College 3837 Simpson Stuart Rd. 10 am-4 pm. and food boxes will be given out for free as well. First come first serve until gone.

Michael “Hollywood” Hernandez Live on Facebook @HollywoodHernandez, at 2 pm.

DBDT Legacy Performance-Virtual. Hosted by Dallas Black Dance Theatre. On Line event: https://www.eventbrite. com/.../dbdt-legacy-performance. 7– 9 pm CST. 39th Annual MLK Scholarship and Awards Gala. This will be a Virtual event: bit. ly//2021MLKGALA. 5:15 pm. CST.

January 24 The EPIC Return of BeatStreet Poetry Live Sunday Social.

Hosted by Verb Kulture Ent., The Free Man and BeatStreet Poetry Live. The Free Man, 2626 Commerce St. 5-8 pm. Tickets: https://www.verbkultureevents.com.

Parkland Free flu shots at Parkland’s Neighborhood Clinics, 9-12 pm & 1-4 pm. at: Hatcher Station Women’s Health Center, 4600 Scyene Road, Dallas.

Happy Birthday to Bethany Sargent

Irving Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Virtual Networking Mixer 2021. Reg: irvinghcctx.chambermaster.com 5-6 pm.

Small Business Webinars. Texas Association of African American Chambers of Commerce. RSVP: www.USBlackChambers. org/webinars 2 pm.

Marvelous Marriage Mondays at Friendship-West Baptist Church Register for Virtual event, online at friendshipwest. zoom.us/.../upcpcOmhqz4rqNU 7-8 pm.

January 26

Small Business Webinars. Texas Association of African American C. C. RSVP: www.USBlackChambers.org/webinars. 2 pm.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Dallas Alumnae Chapter.

Founder’s Day Celebration Virtual Event. Keynote Speaker Rev. Dr. Gwendolyn Boyd. Tickets: www.dallasalumnae.org.

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King 2021 Lecture & Series: Where Do We Go From Here? Speaker: Rev. Dr. William Barber, II. Facing 2021 and Beyond. 5-6:30 pm CST. Online: morehouse.zoom.us.

The Great Migration, Reconsidered Online Event host: Newberry Library. At 4 pm CST. Register: https://bit.ly/3oWd6ie.

January 29

A Real Conversation with Iyanla Vanzant, host AARP Black Community. Online: Facebook.com/AARP Black Community. 4 pm CST.

Greater Garth Chapel A.M.E. Church, Serving Our Community. Free hot meals and sack lunches Fridays 4 pm. at 2828 Carpenter Ave. Dallas.

Happy Birthday to Jessica Hayden

Sundance Film Festival: Dallas [Satellite Screen] Hosted by Sun dance Film Festival and Texas Theatre. Tickets: thetexastheatre.com/series/sundace-film-festival-2021. 6:30 am.

Ahyonz Kenya C at The Attaché Cigar, 4099 Camp Wisdom Rd. #101. 9 pm. $10 advance ticket via Cash App $TheAttache.

Valder Beebe Show interviews Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues & You! Star Josh Dela Cruz. Also guest: Dr. Stephen Cha, Chief Medical Officer United Healthcare. Tune in at KKVIDFW.COM FM 89.9. 12 pm.

January 27-29 Virtual NNPA 2021 Mid-Winter Training Conference. The Black Press of America: Challenges, Responsibilities, Opportunities & COVID-19 Pandemic 6-8 pm. Free Reg; Eventbrite.com.

In The Middle with Ashley Moss.

“Talking about topics that Matter” Join in on Facebook/@TexasMetroNews and BlogTalkRadio. com at 11 am-1 pm. CST. Mondays.

Join the conversation call 646-2000459.

January 28-Feb. 3

January 25

2021 SAM Workshop Hosted by Arlington Black Chamber of Commerce. 10-11:30 am via Zoom: Link: https://lnkd.in/g8trJg. Info: 214-920-2436.

January 23

Michael Eric Dyson @ Diversity Lecture Series host GRCC Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. On line RSVP: tinyurl.com/DysonRSVP. 5 pm. CST.

January 28

The Bear Creek Food Distribution Mon, Wed, & Fri. 11 am-3 pm. 2700 Finley Rd. Irving. Drive-Thru.

2nd Annual Equity Indicators Symposium. Virtual Event, 8:30-12 pm. RSVP:bit.ly//2021EquitySyposium.

Lunch & Learn: Federal Programs to Help Small Businesses. Hosted by Zan W Holmes Jr Community Outreach Center.

Presented by Ahmad Goree, SBA Online: www.zwhjcoc.org. 11:30 am–1 pm CST.

Andrew’s World with host Andrew Whigham III on BlogTalkRadio.com 8 am.-10 am. CST. Sundays Tune in for thought-provoking, enlightening, informative, and entertaining news and commentary.

Join the call 646-200-0459. on

Virtual Vision Board Party: Looking Beyond 2020. Online Event by Diamond Hill Community Center at 6 pm. Sign up: Text 81010 message: @mallumsd.

DFW News & Tings with Jirah Nicole. From 11 am-1 pm. CST Tuesday’s on Facebook Live/@TexasMetroNews and BlogTalkRadio. com. Call in and join the conversation at 646-200-0459.

Doc Shep Speaks Show! A fresh perspective, but still entertaining!

Welcome to The Doc Shep Speaks Show!!!. Tuesdays at 11 am. CST Live on Facebook/@TexasMetroNews, @ fnsconsulting, and YouTube Live @ docshepspeaks.

I Was Just Thinking with Norma Adams-Wade “History Class is in Session” Join in on Facebook/@ TexasMetroNews and BlogTalkRadio.com at 11 am -1 pm. CST. Wednesdays. Join the conversation call 646-200-0459.

From Marva with Love with Marva Sneed from11 am -1 pm. CST, Fridays on Facebook Live/@TexasMetroNews, and BlogTalkRadio.com. Call in and join the conversation at 646-2000459.

January 30 FREE COVID-19 Testing at Paul Quinn College 3837 Simpson Stuart Rd. 10 am-4 pm. and food boxes will be given out for free as well. First come first serve until gone.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Eldercare Webinar: Taking Care of Self & Navigating the System. Host Prince George’s County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Virtual Reg: tinyurl.com 9 am-12 pm.

January –Feb. 1 Virtual Denton Black Film Festival, host Denton Black Film Festival. On line: www. dbff.eventive.org. 10 am.

Reading As Activism Discusses Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. At 12 pm. Online: us02web.zoom.us.

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January 22, 2021

MLK/FBI AT THE MOVIES BY HOLLYWOOD HERNANDEZ

MLK/FBI is a powerful documentary by director Sam Pollard, who co-directed 4 LITTLE GIRLS with Spike Lee in 1997.

The movie is not so much about the historic accomplishments of Dr. King; but rather about the war that was waged

by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI against MLK. Hoover, who once called King “the most dangerous Negro in America,” put together a special team of G-men whose mission was to find embarrassing information about King’s personal life to discredit him as a civil rights leader.

The movie is based on recently-released information on King’s surveillance that was recently declassified. The movie takes us back to the darkest days in the history of the FBI when King was harrassed and illegally spied on by the organization.

It also raises questions about the FBI’s knowledge of King’s assassination attempt.

If a whole team of agents were spying on King why wasn’t anything done to stop, or at least warn, King about the plot on his life?

The movie is brilliantly shot using voiceovers of historical figures, like Andrew Young, without ever breaking from the archival footage of Dr. King. It gives you the feeling that you were actually there witnessing history as it unfolded.

MLK/FBI uses the newly-released information to give a true picture of one of the greatest civil right chamJanuary 22, 2021

pions in American history who, with all of his flaws, fought for equality. He risked his own life with a nonviolent movement that in the end took his life.

MLK/FBI is available on Prime Video just in time for the MLK Holiday.

On my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale” I rate this movie a JUMBO.

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WNBA’s Orange Hoodie Named Best Fashion Statement

By Dorothy J. Gentry Sports Editor The WNBA Orange Hoodie, which took the sports, social media AND the fashion world by storm, was named Best Fashion Statement of 2020 by the Sports Business Journal.

The publication, known for its annual Year End Awards, chose the 2020 winners to celebrate achievements and impact in the year in different sports categories.

The Orange Hoodie became a surprise hit last year. Believed to have been worn publicly first by the late Kobe Bryant, it grew in popularity as NBA players like LeBron James, DeMar Derozan and Jayson Tatum, WNBA players like Sue Bird and A’ja Wilson, and other sports stars, musicians, entertainers and more began to sport them. They soon became a household, must-have item with teenagers, housewives and more ordering them then quickly posting selfies on social media as they became members of the “Secret Orange Hoodie Society.”

I even have one!!! https://www.wnba.com/ photos/nba-players-celebsdon-wnba-hoodie/# Other winners of the 2020 Year-End Awards include Arlington’s Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers, which was named Best Facility myimessenger.com

Orange Hoodie

Dorothy in Orange Hoodie

Debut; Jason Wright, an African American businessman who was named president of the NFL’s Washington Football Team (Best Hire); Patrick Mahomes, quarterback of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs (Sports Business Athlete of the Year); and the 10-part Chicago Bulls documentary “The Last Dance” (Best Content).

Additional winners list: • Best Creative: NFL’s The Next 100 and Nike’s You Can’t Stop Us (co-winners) • Best Deal: Steve Cohen buys the New York Mets • Best Reinvention: Las Vegas Raiders • Best Sports City: Los Angeles • Best Esports Content: NA-

SCAR’s iRacing • Best Pivot: Sports in a bubble • Best Community Effort: Sports venues as polling places • Best New Brand: Seattle Kraken • Best Facility Debut: Globe Life Field

NBA player wearing Orange Hoodie

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January 22, 2021

Be Careful, Black Hair Is Fragile ABOUT YOUR HAIR

BY DR. LINDA AMERSON

It is true, image matters.

Most females/males from ages 3-100 like their hair to look groomed.

Compliments about a great looking hair style, or hair cut brings a smile from the wearer for a selfie pose.

There are numerous hair textures and combination textures, resulting from the union of cultures. In fact, African American hair textures are more fragile than any other hair texture.

According to hair science, curly, and wavy hair textures grow out of the hair follicle in circular patterns. Viewing the hair growth pattern, while showing and explain it to a client with a tricholoscope is fascinating to a board certified Trichologist.

The tensile strength of hair has a limit before it breaks.

Excessive heat applied to hair fibers will decreases hair strength…causing hair damage/breakage. Chemical applications to hair fibers will decrease hair strength… causing hair damage/ breakage. These are only 2 examples of contributing factors of poor tensile hair strength. A drier hair texture is also very common, because it is much harder for fluids like sebum or water to flow down a spiraling strand of hair, compared to a straight strand of hair. A moisturizer is recommended. in

consumers learn to manage the hair tangling and knotting of hair fibers, when combing their hair. Short hair may be combed from the scalp towards the end, however, medium to longer hair lengths should be combed from the ends towards the scalp. Parents, this technique helps you when you are combing your girl’s hair… comb with ease. In addition, use a large tooth comb on medium to longer hair lengths.

Only use any comb with small teeth for parting strait

lines for grooming. Small tooth combs also leads to hair breakage. Investing in a hair detangling product, will work great, combined with adding a moisturizer. Use oil, if necessary on your child’s scalp, moisture on their hair.

Excessive hair brushing can damage your hair. Use a hair brush gently on your scalp. There are numerous bristles available, including… hard, medium and softer hair bristles. Avoid using hair brushes with hard bristles on

sensitive scalp, if your scalp is inflamed and tender to touch, if you have a scalp infection or fungal infection (use a comb).

Combs are easier to wash plus soak in clorox water. Contact a medical doctor immediately for scalp infections Contact a board certified Trichologist for a microscopic hair and scalp analysis, and treatment recommendation for hair restoration and correcting mild scalp conditions. 817 265 8854 www.hairandscalpessentials.com #ScalpDoctor #40yrVeteran

Due to the coils/curvature hair growth patterns,

January 22, 2021

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12-Time Olympian Dara Torres THAT CELEBRITY INTERVIEW

BY VALDER BEEBE

The Valder Beebe Show starting 2021 with an interview with twelve-time Olympic medalist swimmer Dara Torres. Dara is the most decorated US female Olympic athlete of all-time.

She’s a NY Times best-selling author, fitness advocate, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and mother, started her career on the international stage by breaking her first world record at the age of 15. This incredible feat was accomplished on the way to her first of 5 Olympic appearances, in Los Angeles at the 1984 Games.

Torres who owns 4 Gold, 4 Silver and 4 Bronze medals was never someone that competed for the accolades instead for the challenge of doing what no one else has ever done. That intense passion for the unknown has driven Dara to represent the

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US from age 15 to age 41. This incredible journey, 26 years on the Olympic stage, has never been accomplished by any other American athlete and serves as the backdrop for Dara’s incredibly motivating speeches delivered to corporations all over the world.

During Dara Torres’s career, she was a Wilhelmina model, named the first athlete model featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, hosted the most successful fitness infomercial of all-time the Tae-bo program with Billy Blanks selling over 10 million DVDs, and also worked on Cindy Crawford’s Crepe Erase which generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.

VBS: Dara thank you for being my guest on the Valder Beebe Show. Your accolades are astounding 12 Olympic Medals in swimming. I say ‘job well done’ yet I believe your most important accolated is being a mom. As the Pandemic has changed how our children

Dara Torres

learn, play even interact with family and friends you cannot introduce parents to a fitness app for kids.

Dara Torres, the most decorated US female Olympic athlete of all-time, NY Times best-selling author, fitness advocate, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and mother, star-

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ted her career on the international stage by breaking her first world record at the age of 15.

DT: Parents can access the secrets of world class trainers and sports coaches anytime on the app. Kids and their parents will enjoy ways of being active, while staying safe and socially distant.

VBS: Why is it so important to keep kids active during the winter months?

DT: Kids are growing and developing and should stave active year round.

VBS: Dara you have so many followers and fans, what your next accomplishments?

DT: I will be doing a TEDX talk soon, look for that upcoming.

VBS: Finally, your advice for parents and kids?

DT: Enjoy the moments of life, childhood and remember……

Dara Torres complete interview…… SoundCloud.com/valderbeebeshow: Broadcasting to a national & global audience: ValdeBeebeShow.com ; YouTube. com/valderbeebeshow; KKVI FM Radio, KRER FM, Streaming TV, Social Media, Print Publications IMESSENGERS, Texas Metro News, and Garland Journal News..

January 22, 2021

ARRESTED

HE IS A SERIAL RAPIST

He targeted members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. but this is more than about a sorority.

We’re talking about a community.

Come on PEOPLE! Don’t you CARE? Will it matter when it is your sister, mother, aunt or grandmother or maybe YOU?

Crimestoppers 877-373-8477 January 22, 2021

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