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MY TRUTH
By Cheryl Smith Publisher
Love is...
Have you ever lost someone and thought, “I wish I had spent more time with them?” It’s a horrible feeling. For years, I’ve heard people quote the late, great Maya Angelou. Then one day, I was with that phenomenal woman and we were talking about many of her friends who had transitioned, and she said those profound words to me: “Growing old isn’t for sissies!” As I get older, I see that there are challenges, and one of the biggest challenges is losing people you care about.
With Dr. Lisa Pecot-Hebert
Theresa Boston-Ellis our first year in Dallas
Which brings me to my truth. At FAMU’s Homecoming a few weeks ago, I saw Theresa, or “Tee” as I called her. So much was going on, with the football game (against North Carolina Central University), parade, parties, reunions, tailgates and more. I would have loved to spend more time with Tee, but she was celebrating 40 years as a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, with See MY TRUTH, page 3
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Remembering Leonard Long
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A Servant Leader
Former Congressman John Conyers, Jr. died Sunday. He was 90. The longest-serving African American in Congressional history, he was born May 16, 1929, in Detroit, Michigan. After graduating from Detroit public schools, he earned his B.A. degree in 1957, and his J.D. degree in 1958, from Wayne State University. U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who succeeded Mr. Conyers, wrote: “Congressman John Conyers, Jr. will forever be our Congressman in the city of Detroit. He was a civil rights icon, fighting for the people even before he stepped foot on the House floor... When I was elected to succeed Congressman Ccnyers, I knew that would be following a legacy of a man who fought for the people, fought for his district, and never wavered in the fight for jobs, justice, and peace.” “Sad to hear of the passing of former Congressman John Conyers,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said. “He worked with us on many civil rights cases as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and helped lead the fight for the Martin Luther King [Jr.] Holiday.” “Most of us from Michigan loved our congressman. He was idolized and was absolutely an icon. Not only was he
Honorable John Conyers Jr.
an icon of the civil rights movement but we looked to him for leadership. This is a massive loss. All of us in business, the clergy, the community, respected, admired and aspired to be like John Conyers,” said Hiram Jackson, President and CEO of Real Times Media. Mr. Conyers was remembered for his leadership. “Congressman John Conyers decades ago held the first U.S. Congressional Hearings on Racially-Motivated Police Brutality; led the House Judiciary Hearings on Criminal Justice and Prison Reform in America; was co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC); and was a leading congressional advocate for the freedom of Angela Davis, the Wilmington Ten, and all political prisoners in the United States,” remarked
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers As-sociation. “Conyers was a constitutional scholar and political visionary whose longstanding vision for freedom, justice and equality was unparalleled in the Congress of the United States,. May God bless the freedom-fighting memory and legacy of The Honorable John Conyers.” Before beginning a career as a private attorney, Mr. Conyers served one year in Korea as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was awarded combat and merit citations. In 1958, Mr. Conyers began his work in politics as an aide to Congressman John Dingell, whom he served until 1961. Mr. Conyers made history when he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1964 on a
platform of jobs, justice and peace. During his years in Congress, social justice and economic opportunity have remained focal points of Mr. Conyers’ platform. The list of his legislative accomplishments is long and impressive. Some of the bills authored or sponsored by Mr. Conyers include the Martin Luther King Holiday Act, the Alcohol Warning Label Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Hate Crime Statistics Act. As the first African American Democratic leader on the House Judiciary Committee, he attached crucial civil rights measures to the 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill, including the Racial Justice Act and the Police Accountability Act. Mr. Conyers generated the Justice Department’s national study on police brutality, and he conducted hearings in several cities on police violence, racially motivated violence, sent-encing, whitecollar crime and other criminal justice matters. Mr. Conyers was reelected in November 2006, to his 21st term in the House, presenting Michigan’s 14th Congressional District. His district includes Detroit and the Wayne County communities of Dearborn Heights, Pointe Shores, Grosse Pointe Woods, Harper Woods, Highland Park and Redford. See CONYERS, page 3
VOL.8 NO. 6 October 30, 2019
I WAS JUST THINKING... By Norma Adams-Wade
BATTER UP!
Been by Moore Park lately? You know, the obscure 24.6-acre recreational green space near the 8th and Corinth Street DART station and the Santa Fe Trestle Trail? Yes, that one. The one that practically every young sportsminded African American male youth and young adult in Dallas considered almost a second home during and after World War II. I was just thinking ...., are any young African-American youths, male or female, wondering how this once vibrant and essential, now disregarded, location came to be? Do they wonder who was Moore and how did he deserve having a park named for him? I mentioned a few weeks ago that I would explore that topic. I stopped by Moore Park recently just to see if it remained as I remembered from my last visit some years ago. A lone black truck was parked at the park’s wood barricades – perhaps quietly eating a sandwich for lunch break. A few early drops of rain hit my car windshield as I got out to walk around – and remember. Right away the baseball diamond caught my eye – like a centerpiece on the Thanksgiving table. See THINKING, page 4