T E X A S
MetroNews DELIVERING NEWS YOU NEED
• Vol. 9 • Mar. 11 - 17, 2021
MY TRUTH By Cheryl Smith PUBLISHER
Let’s hear it for GSU and PVAMU! It was such a joy watching the NBA All-Star Game as the focus was on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, on what was a really busy Black History Day.
WWW.TEXASMETRONEWS.COM
Latest on Pookie the serial rapist, p3
Local author chronicles Black experience
By Ashley Moss Madelyn Modeste breezed into a Lewisville bakery promptly at 3 o’clock on a recent afternoon. The restaurant was quiet. Few visitors aside from Madelyn and her mother, Shauntelle Modeste, had trickled into the café between lunch rush and the coming dinner hour. Madelyn plopped down on a well sanitized armchair. Dressed in a lightweight sweat outfit, the 11-year-old clutched a brightly colored book as if it were a prized possession. In fact, it is. Madelyn - her hair braided back into long cornrows - is the author and publisher of the book, Mariella Can’t Wait.
She ventured into the restaurant to talk about her book. Released in October, Mariella details a familiar experience to youngsters: a pre-teen waits for an important gift that takes way too long to arrive by traditional mail. “It’s about Mariella, the main character, who is waiting on a special package from her grandmother who lives out of state,” says Madelyn, who is African American. Madelyn Modeste is among a flood of young authors who are writing and publishing their own texts and chronicling their unique Black experiences in children’s, teens’ and young adult literature. According to Bowker, a com-
Shauntelle and Madelyn Modeste
pany that has collected data on publishing trends since 2011, self-publishing grew 40 percent to more than 1.6 million texts in 2018. Bowker included the data in
its 2018 “Self-Publishing in the United States” report. “The self-publishing landscape continues to improve, creating more and more opportunities for authors to manage their own path through the process,” said Beat Barblan, vice president of publishing and data services at Bowker and chairman of the board of the International ISBN Agency. “As more authors take advantage of the abundant tools now available to publish, distribute and market their own books, we expect that self-publishing will continue to grow at a steady pace,” Barblan said in a prepared media statement. Publishing industry experts say See LOCAL AUTHOR, page 15
Johnson, Veasey, Allred join in support of masks By Cheryl Smith There was the Selma Jubilee, commemorating Bloody Sunday and the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge; while also paying homage to the Hon. John Lewis (D-GA) and others who spoke up for voting rights. Then there was the coronation of Mr. and Ms. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University - albeit late because of COVID-19. Legislators during Fair Park Tour
On Sunday, there was so much love shown for Black people, although I think that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, would beg to differ with that assessment. No, I didn’t watch Oprah’s interview but the “Street Committee” told me what many have said before, racism is alive and well, and not just in See MY TRUTH, page 15
Despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s issuing an executive order earlier last week, reopening Texas, other elected officials are cautioning against a rush to abandon measures that have “proved to be successful in dealing with COVID.” During a visit to the Fair Park Vaccination Site in Dallas Friday afternoon, U.S. Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30) Marc
Increased calls to continue safety social distancing measures Veasey (TX-33) and Colin Allred (TX-32) discussed the challenges of getting the COVID-19 vaccination to citizens and their opposition to ending statewide COVID-19 restrictions. The lawmakers were adamant that any efforts to lessen restrictions are
premature and could be devastating. They toured the area to observe the process as hundreds of cars lined up to enter the Fair Grounds. There were traffic jams in all directions, but uneventful as the lines moved fairly quickly. With the heavy presence of members of the Military, Coast Guard, police and fire departments, County and City officials, and FEMA staffers on site, there was See VACCINE, page 11
Plano schools bringing in outside investigators after viral claims of racist bullying and abuse By Talia Richman Plano school leaders will hire an outside firm to investigate allegations that a pattern of bullying preceded a recent sleepover during which a Black 13-yearold boy was called racial slurs, beaten and made to drink white classmates’ urine. Superintendent Sara Bonser stood alongside Plano May-
or Harry LaRosiliere and Po- a list of demands that includes: lice Chief Ed Drain Tuesday expelling all students involved in afternoon to address the inci- the abuse as well as committing dent that’s enraged and disgust- that Plano ISD will recognize ed many in the and dismantle This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted community and as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News ”systemic racMetro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ across the coun- and Texascommunities ism within the of color, particularly in southern Dallas. try. school district” Summer Smith, the boy’s and address past and present mother, had met with Bonser bullying incidents. earlier in the day. She, her attorBonser pledged that the disney and local activists presented trict was acting swiftly to ad-
dress the family’s concerns. PISD officials are working with police on an investigation, wrapping up their own probe and hiring a third party to look into the allegations that the boy had been bullied long before the sleepover. “What we saw, what you saw, what we all saw, is inexcusable,” she said, referring to videos and See PLANO SCHOOLS, page 6