The Dallas Examiner headliners

VOL. XXXIII • SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

50 cents

Southern Dallas to house new Kroger online fulfillment center School Humiliates Student

Prayers Are Not Enough!

Editorial Pg 4

By DIANE XAVIER

The Dallas Examiner

The quest to begin eliminating food deserts in Southern Dallas continued as the Dallas City Council unanimously voted in favor of $5.7 million in incentive packages and tax abatements to bring a Kroger online grocery fulfillment center to the northwest corner of Telephone Road and Bonnie View Road in Southeast Oak Cliff during its Aug. 28 meeting.

Kroger Co. and Ocado Solutions USA Inc. sought the deal for a proposed 350,000-square-foot robotic grocery fulfillment center on a 55-acre site. As part of the deal, the city would include

Perspectives Pg 5

a nomination for designation as a Texas Enterprise Zone project, property tax abatements and $2 million in 2012 economic development bond funds meant to offset public improvements required at the site, according to city officials.

Also, Kroger would have to hire 410 workers with a base minimum of $15 per hour in order to get the incentive package.

The deal also required Kroger to participate as an industry partner with Dallas ISD and Richardson ISD PTECH programs; meet with Quinn College, Paul University of North Texas at Dallas and Cedar Valley to discuss workforce collaborations; review

During the Aug. 28 Dallas City Council meeting, Councilman Tennell Atkins of District 8 introduces incentives bringing a Kroger fulfillment center to South Dallas. – Screenshot courtesy of Dallas City Hall video

Southern Dallas for a potential new retail store site; and determine, within 24 months, whether a remodel of its existing Wynnewood Village store will be completed, officials noted.

Council member Tennell Atkins of District 8 said the

warehouse, which would be located in his district, would be equivalent to 10 Kroger stores and a great opportunity for the city.

“This Kroger is different from any other Krogers in that it is not a superstore, it is not a store, it’s not run by a third party, but there is a

partnership with Ocado and Krogers,” Atkins said.

“These employees would not be third-phase employees as regular Kroger stores. These employees will be working for Krogers. They will be able to move up the ladder, and their careers will be able to change everything. Ocado is a company out of the U.K. and is coming in here to the city of Dallas and is great for them to be in the city of Dallas.”

The facility is set to open in 2023 and includes at-home grocery deliveries to all Dallas homes.

“We are also in a food desert. And since we are in a food desert, we are trying to

See Kroger Page 7

Marvin Wilford served as a combat Marine in Vietnam and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2015. – Photos by Trevor Paulhus/The Texas Tribune and Texas Monthly

The Indigent Project Part III

Effective representation of low-income people is a legal, social necessity

By NEENA SATIJA Texas Tribune and Texas Monthly

Suicide: Black youth in crisis

Zoey Book, the 7-year-old sister of a teenager who committed suicide after being constantly bullied by classmates, breaks down outside after the funeral. – File photo by Kurt Hostetler of The Star Press/AP

By ROBYN H. JIMENEZ The Dallas Examiner

“Every time I picked up a razorblade or knife, I meant to kill myself. But – and I hate to admit this – the only reason I didn’t finish was because it hurt so much,” Rose, who chose to use only her middle name, said as she looked down at her wrist as her index finger traced her scars. “I think I was 14 when I started feeling like I wasn’t good enough. Then, about 16, I just felt hopeless. It was just a dark feeling.”

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among African American adolescents 13 to 19 years old, according to The Changing Characteristics of AfricanAmerican Adolescent Suicides, a 16-year study published in the Journal of Community Health.

Though African Americans historically had lower rates of suicide than Whites, the study revealed that the rates for African American teens began to increase between 1980 and 1995, especially for those between 10 and 14 years old. Suicide rates for males were 5.6 times higher than that of females.

In 2017, there were 163,288 African American teens treated for suicide-related injuries and 303 suicide-related deaths – with males being more aggressive in their attempts. However, females became four times more likely to commit suicide than males. During that time, Texas ranked second in African American teen suicides, according to the study. Suicide is also the second leading cause of death in Texas for all youth 10 to 24 years old.

In June, HealthDay News reported that suicide attempts among African American teens has continued to soar. Feelings of hopelessness were noted as the leading risk factor for suicide among teens, according to the National Institute of Health.

There are many factors that cause feelings of hopelessness that can trigger suicidal thoughts. The most common were

See Youth Crisis Page 6

Read…

Misty Copeland to receive Trailblazer Award

Image from the cover of Misty Copeland’s memoir, Life In Motion. – Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

By LAUREN POTEAT

NNPA

Misty Copeland had the world of ballet standing still when she made history as the first Black female principal dancer at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre in 2015, just months after becoming the first Black woman to perform the lead role of Odette in ABT’s coveted Black Swan in the winter of 2014.

Determined to shatter the glass ceiling of the ballet world, the Congressional Black Caucus will honor Misty Copeland on Sept. 11 with their esteemed Trailblazer Award during the CBC’s annual “Celebration of the Arts” event – an award that Copeland deemed as not only an honor but also a necessity.

“It’s so important for other Black dancers to see a possibility, a future for themselves, in a world that still doesn’t include many other Black ballerinas,” Copeland said.

“There’s definitely still a glass ceiling in the ballet world,” Copeland continued. “There’s only one Black principal dancer in the American Ballet Theatre in their entire almost 80-year history, and a lot of people don’t have the understanding that just because it’s been done once, doesn’t mean that that problem goes away. … Having one Black president didn’t mean that racism didn’t exist. If I didn’t have art in my life, then I wouldn’t be the articulate, con-

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fident person that I am today.

Fields in STEM are important, but the arts are also so vital … not every child learns the same way and sometimes the missing link is art.”

Growing up as the fourth child of six in underserved areas of San Pedro, California, Copeland spoke to a time where she and her five other siblings found themselves all living in a small motel after her mother’s marriage to her fourth husband became abusive – both emotionally and physically – to Copeland’s mother and all of her children.

Despite the economic and social hardships, Copeland said that she was able to find solace and her voice through the world of dance. At the age of 13, the ballet lessons that she began taking at at the local Boys & Girls Club would allow her to move in with her teacher’s family and eventually prepare her to make history.

“It’s been 25 years now that I’ve been a part of classical ballet, and I still have that same fire,” Copeland said. “I think for me it was initially out of my own need as a 13-year-old girl growing up in underprivileged areas to find structure, something I never had, and dance provided exactly what I needed for that time in my life. I represent ballet and any child that needs to see someone persevere – what it means to be an underdog and to be mentored and have an amazing support system and represent

that American dream.”

Since joining the American Ballet Theatre in 2001, Copeland has gone on to be inducted into the Boys & Girls Club National Hall of Fame; serve on the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition under the Obama administration; publish three books, including the New York Times bestselling memoir, Life in Motion; secure her own clothing line with Under Armour; and receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Hartford.

All the while Copeland has been an ardent believer in reminding others that “representation is important.”

“I’m still a Black ballerina and a Black woman in this world and that doesn’t just disappear with titles,” Copeland said. “The more I use my visibility, my platform, my voice, to continue to speak about diversity both in front of the scenes and behind them, the more I’ll be able to help change the directory of dance. A lot of underserved areas and youth either don’t receive access to dance courses or don’t receive quality training, which limits their chances of going even further when that time comes. My hope is that with my platform I can continue this conversation to bring about change, to show younger people how to own their own power, to embrace who they are, to walk in their own path and to be represented.”

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Back in Travis County, Marvin Wilford tried to clear his head. Had he offended his lawyer? Did he still have a lawyer? Espersen had given him a business card.

Before heading back to his cell, Marvin placed a call to his wife. The meds were making him fuzzy, he told her; he was worried he’d messed up, and he needed her to call Espersen.

Christine Wilford was used to calls from jail. She and Marvin had married in 2006, right as he began his second stint in prison, and much of their relationship had been defined by bars.

She told him not to worry.

The next morning, she reached Espersen, who briskly confirmed that he was her husband’s lawyer.

But over the following few weeks, according to Christine, Espersen did not pick up or return her calls. Marvin called Espersen, too, with no success. The veteran tried to distract himself, doing push-ups in his cell and reading the Bible – the book of Psalms, all the way through. Christine visited on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the two became friendly with his cellmate, a former Army Ranger.

At least twice, Wilford was given a court date only to learn that the hearing was delayed. By late March, he had sat in jail for almost 12 weeks with no word, according to him, from his lawyer.

What neither he nor his wife knew was that this was exactly how things were not supposed to go in Travis County. More than three years earlier, on the initiative of a judge named Mike Lynch, the county had revamped the system by

See Wilford Page 3

Inside

State/Metro . . . . . 2 Editorial . . . . . . . . 4 Perspectives . . . . 5 Health . . . . . . . . . . 7 Classifieds . . . . . . 9 Calendar . . . . . . 10

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Page 2 September 5, 2019

Special to The Dallas Examiner

STATE/METRO

Around the State

DALLAS Mayor Eric Johnson announced the members of his Task Force on Safe Communities, Aug. 29.

The task force’s purpose is to find ways to combat violent crime in Dallas by recommending community- driven and data-supported solutions to supplement law enforcement efforts.

On Aug. 19, Johnson announced the formation of the task force and its three co-chairs – Alan Cohen, Rene Martinez and Michael Bowie – who assisted in selecting the members of the task force: • Marc Andres • Derrick Battie • Stephanie Elizalde • Gary Griffith • Mita Havlick • Changa Higgins • Chad Houser • Amanda Johnson • Edna Pemberton • Alex Piquero • Debbie Solis • Maria Valenzuela • Marian Williams “I am excited about what this diverse and talented group can accomplish, and I am incredibly grateful for their willingness to serve,” Johnson said. “I am confident they will help make Dallas safer and stronger.”

The task force’s first meeting is scheduled for Friday and will be closed to the public. It will announce subsequent meetings at a later date.

DALLAS On Friday, students from seven Dallas ISD elementary schools recieved a donation of uniforms to their schools by Pat and Emmitt Smith Charities and JCPenney with a pep rally-style event at Ellis Davis Field House.

Together the schools – Frederick Douglass Elementary, Julian T. Saldivar Elementary, David G. Burnet Elementary, Joseph J. Rhoads Elementary, J. P. Starks Elementary, Whitney M. Young Elementary and Lee A. McShan Elementary – received a total of 3,000 uniforms.

Students from each school modeled examples of the uniforms on a raised runway as they carried signs declaring how many uniforms their particular schools received this year.

They also received free dental screenings and books and fresh food to take home.

This is the sixth year they have supplied uniforms to district students.

DALLAS A local attorney, Todd Tracy, the head attorney at Dallas Medical District, donated $50,000 to build a food pantry at Esperanza “Hope” Medrano Elementary School, Aug. 23.

“Children are precious,” Tracy said. “They’re our future, and many of them are going to do great things.

But you need to have a full stomach so that you can learn.”

The law firm offices are two blocks away from the school.

Tracy said he wanted to do something for young residents of this neighborhood. He contacted Principal Mario Mondragón, who suggested building a food pantry at the school to support the families with limited financial resources.

“We serve a community with a wide variety of needs, and many of the families need food and additional resources. I’m thankful that he’s there and that he wants to serve this community,” Mondragon said.

Tracy and Mondragon have discussed using some of the remaining funds to beautify parts of the school.

The attorney also hoped to build a new playground at Medrano in the future.

The attorney hopes other professionals will also find ways to support local schools.

“I hope that it’s an idea that takes over in other schools in the area, because there are a lot of people around here with good hearts who would like to invest into the Dallas youth,” he said.

DALLAS The Dallas Park and Recreation Board and Department, along with council member Casey Thomas of District 3 and Taylor Toynes, who represents the Dallas Park and Recreation Board District 3, will host a groundbreaking ceremony for the Phase II expansion of the Bahama Beach Waterpark, Aug. 29 at 10 a.m. at 1895 Campfire Circle Drive. For more information, visit http://www.dallasparks.org.

The Dallas Examiner www.dallasexaminer.com

Veterans Housing Challenge exceeds expectations

Special to The Dallas Examiner

The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance announced Aug. 26 that, working with the Dallas Housing Authority, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other homeless response system partners, 140 Dallas and Collin County homeless veterans ended their homelessness during its Veterans Housing Challenge.

The partnership launched thenew initiative May 1 in response to the recent rise in veteran homelessness in the two counties. The idea of the Veterans Challenge was for the groups and the Dallas community at large to come together to house at least 100 veterans in 100 days.

The main vehicle used to house veterans was the HUDVASH housing voucher. HUDVASH stands for Housing and Urban Development – Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, a partnership between the VA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

As of Aug. 15, at the close of the challenge, 105 veterans had moved into their new homes.

“Though under Dallas city ordinance it is illegal to refuse to

accept a veteran’s housing voucher, with the current Dallas rental housing market occupancy rate, it is still a challenge to find housing,” added Moore, who led the challenge. “During the challenge, the partners not only worked closely with landlords, but also held two ‘Landlord Fairs’ at DHA. At these fairs, veterans could receive their HUD-VASH vouchers and then meet with property managers without even leaving the DHA building.”

With the success of the challenge, the partnership will now hold such a challenge twice a year. In the meantime, MDHA leadership will analyze this last challenge so its lessons may be applied during the next one and throughout the year.

Carl Falconer, MDHA’s president and CEO, highlights what he thinks the clearest lesson is already.

“We know that with enough resources and collaboration, we can end homelessness,” he said.

“We have shown it is working for our veterans. The community can and should decide to make the same commitment for every homeless person.”

The Dallas Examiner www.dallasexaminer.com

Wilford,

continued from Front Page

which it provided for poor defendants. Lynch, who was well known around the courthouse – he’d worked as a defense lawyer, a prosecutor and for two decades as a judge – had grown troubled by the role of judges in overseeing indigent defense.

For one thing, no one had the time to assess defense lawyers’ performances. The judges convened over lunch twice a year to review which attorneys were qualified to take appointments, but the process felt arbitrary and time consuming.

There were also disagreements over pay and allegations of favoritism. Although judges were supposed to appoint attorneys from a rotating “wheel” of names, they often did not; in 2014, for example, courthouse records showed that judges made almost half of their appoint-

ments from the bench.

“Several of them were always assigning the same handful of lawyers,” said criminal defense lawyer Betty Blackwell.

This meant that some lawyers got an overabundance of cases, while others felt overlooked. Amber Vazquez, a lawyer known among defendants as the Queen of Acquittals, said she was removed from the wheel in 2012 after multiple disputes with different judges.

“I was challenging everything, as a defense attorney is supposed to do,” said Vazquez. “Then the pushback started.”

With a committee to help him, Lynch searched for an alternative. A full public defender’s office was too expensive – some $33 million a year – and would likely meet with resistance for cutting into private attorneys’ income. So instead, Lynch turned to managed assigned counsel, a model pioneered in San Mateo County, Cali-

fornia, that had also been adopted in Lubbock County.

In that system, the government still contracted with private lawyers, but an independent office – rather than the judges – oversaw appointments and payments.

Lawyers had strict caseload limits and easy access to investigators, they were paid not just for taking cases but also for filing motions and working outside the courtroom, and they received frequent performance evaluations.

Intrigued, Lynch drafted a proposal to create a similar model in Travis County, and in early 2015, an independent office known as the Capital Area Private Defender Service opened its doors in Austin. In legal circles across the country, the move – highly significant for an urban county in Texas – was hailed with cautious optimism. Austin Lawyer called it “the culmination of decades of uneven attempts” to establish fair representa-

tion for the poor, while a government study out of Michigan would eventually report that “CAPDS provides a high quality model for reform.”

The office, located for a time on the seventh floor of the Travis County courthouse, was tiny, with no windows, and its first two employees – executive director Ira Davis and his deputy, Bradley Hargis – had experience as court-appointed attorneys, though none in a public defender’s office. Still, things felt hopeful. The next hire, Trudy Strassburger, had recently moved to Austin after working as a managing attorney at the Bronx Defenders in New York. She brought the energy of an outsider, as well as expertise in “holistic” defense: the idea that effective representation of low-income people requires not just legal but also social support. She persuaded the office to hire an immigration lawyer and two social workers.

Almost immediately, bench appointments plummeted.

And now that lawyers did not have to persuade a judge to pay for an investigator – they asked CAPDS instead – investigations increased from fewer than 100 per year to more than 400 per year. The number of case dismissals also increased. Any lawyer who wanted to receive appointments had to apply with a review committee; an analyst crunched numbers on case outcomes. Frustrated families could call CAPDS if they were having problems.

“All day long, the phone rings,” Davis told me.

Christine learned about CAPDS from a social worker. Desperate for help, she asked the social worker to call the office. Was Espersen still even her husband’s lawyer? Yes, came the answer. But, according to the Wilfords, they still did not hear from him. A court date of March 29 came and went with another continuance.

In the early morning of April 12, Christine received a

Page 3 September 5, 2019

call from her husband’s cellmate, who said that Marvin was on his way to court. She drove downtown, arriving at the courthouse well before 9 a.m. She made her way past security, up eight floors, to the courtroom of Judge Karen Sage, where she’d been told she’d see Wilford.

Before taking a seat, she found the bailiff.

“Do you know if Mr. Espersen is here?” she asked.

She had no idea what he looked like. After a prosecutor pointed him out, in an area reserved for lawyers and court staff, Christine waited for him to approach her.

Espersen declined repeatedly to be interviewed for this story. By all accounts, however, he is well liked by Austin’s judges, who appreciate his knowledge of Spanish and his willingness to take on unpalatable cases, such as aggravated sexual assault.

“He’s got tough skin, and he’s competent,” said Judge Brenda Kennedy, who has appointed him in the past to deal with uncooperative clients. “He’s still able to represent and sometimes get results for them.”

He is known as much for plowing through his daily caseload – 11 court proceedings on average, he told the Austin American-Statesman in 2014 – as for his sense of humor.

“So this, here, is like a sexual act,” he once declared in a courtroom about jury selection, according to a blog post by prosecutor Mark Pryor.

“We’re feeling each other out, getting to know secrets about one another.”

So it was likely not out of character for Espersen to walk over to Christine and, after she introduced herself, smile at the sight of her long braids.

“Oh!” she recalls him saying. “Are you related to Milli Vanilli?” Before she had a chance to answer, he did a little dance.

“Girl, you know it’s true,” he sang, echoing the chorus

by the famously lip-synching ’80s pop duo.

Christine, who had never heard of the duo, was so taken aback that she no longer remembers the rest of their exchange, except for the fact that her husband’s court date was again pushed back.

Espersen did not communicate with Marvin, who sat in a holding cell at the courthouse before being taken back to jail.

When Wilford returned to court a month later, his wife found Espersen again. She wanted to get the lawyer materials that could be helpful to the case, she told him: a list of witnesses who could corroborate Wilford’s account, his medical and military records, the statement from Jones. That night, after the case got another continuance, she texted the list of witnesses to Espersen’s phone, then headed to the Dollar Tree to buy an envelope. Carefully, she wrote the address of Espersen’s office on it, stuffed copies of Wilford’s documents inside and mailed it.

On June 22, Wilford had another court date. According to him and his wife, the couple had still not heard from Espersen, and to their knowledge, no one had contacted the witnesses or Jones. In fact, Espersen soon informed Christine that he never received the documents.

But that day, Espersen requested that the case be put on the trial docket – a potentially favorable move, in that it might force the prosecutor to look harder at the case and perhaps even dismiss it.

In the courtroom, standing with Espersen before Sage, Marvin felt confused – and weary. He eyed his lawyer. It was the first time they were seeing each other since that disconcerting night in jail, yet Espersen barely spoke to him. The judge asked for his response to the charges.

“Not guilty, Your Honor,” said Wilford.

Page 4 September 5, 2019

School staff humiliates Black student By JEFFREY L. BONEY NNPA

Laughing at the humiliation and degradation of a young and impressionable Black boy is intolerable, but having that type of behavior displayed by the people directly responsible for the education and development of that child is even more despicable.

Better yet, what if it was your child?

Well, one family is having to deal with the aftermath of what allegedly happened to their 13-year-old son, Juelz Trice, on May 17 that has left the community up in arms.

The emotional, mental and physical scars that Juelz has had to overcome since the alleged incident involving three White Pearland Independent School District employees has left him feeling embarrassed, distraught and the subject of online bullying.

Juelz’s family recently filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Pearland ISD, along with the school discipline clerk, Helen Day; assistant principal at the time, Tony Barcelona; and teacher, Jeanette Peterson, at Juelz’ school.

According to the lawsuit, on April 16, Juelz, who is referred to as ‘J.T.’ in the federal lawsuit, was a seventh grade student at Berry Miller Junior High School in Pearland, Texas. He had just gotten a fade haircut with a design line. His haircut did not depict or represent anything violent, gang related, obscene or otherwise offensive or inappropriate in any manner, as it relates to somehow violating the school policy that was on the books.

The lawsuit continued, stating that on April 17, Juelz arrived at school by bus about 8:20 a.m. and immediately went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Barcelona approached Juelz and told him to go to the office because he was allegedly “out of dress code,” according to the school’s policy.

He went to the office and waited. Barcelona instructed Juelz to go to the office of discipline clerk Helen Day. Juelz went and Day showed him a copy of the Pearland ISD dress code and told him that he was in violation of the dress code regarding hairstyles. After a while, Barcelona came and informed Juelz that he would receive in-school suspension for an undetermed length of time.

An in-school suspension can affect a student’s extracurricular activity participation, to which Juelz, who is an active track participant, would have been affected.

Barcelona gave Juelz another option, however, which was to have the design cut into his hairstyle immediately colored with a permanent marker.

The lawsuit noted that, in Juelz’s mind, this was intended to somehow cover up the line design. Furthermore, no one informed Juelz that he could appeal the proposed suspension, the potential scalp coloring or have a meeting or hearing to resolve the issue. Also, he was not informed that he could contact his parents for their advice, according to the lawsuit.

According to Juelz’s parents, Ms. Washington and Mr. Trice, no one made any attempt to contact them, although their phone numbers were on file.

Juelz had never been in trouble before. And because he did not want to be suspended or get in trouble with his parents and possibly be

removed from track, he agreed, under great duress, to have his scalp blackened.

Day then handed Juelz a jet-black permanent marker.

Juelz stated that after a few minutes, with Barcelona overseeing, Day took the marker from him and started coloring his scalp without his consent. As Day was blackening his scalp, Peterson passed by the office and was asked to continue blackening Juelz’s scalp without his consent. Peterson agreed and continued on with the humiliation of young Juelz.

One of the most troubling parts of the lawsuit is where it states Barcelona, Day and Peterson were laughing at times during the coloring of Juelz’s scalp.

The lawsuit concluded that after they finished with this humiliation and demeaning action Day sent him to Miller Moment, which is study hall, because their actions caused him to miss the entirety of his Spanish class. As he continued throughout his day, other students noticed the coloring on his scalp, which generated tons of talk around the school. Some students even criticized him and made fun of him, followed by social media posts with memes of Juelz’s hair, which caused him great mental anguish.

After several attempts by the parents and the family’s lawyer, civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen, to resolve the issues with no response from Pearland ISD, the plaintiffs filed the federal lawsuit.

According to Kallinen, the district has changed their dress code hairstyle policy since the incident. And to make matters worse, Barcelona has been promoted from assistant principal to head principal where Juelz is now an eighth grade student.

“Despite this extremely shameful behavior and history of racial discrimination, the Pearland ISD has doubled down and now installed Tony Barcelona as head principal of the Berry Miller Junior High School, kept Day and Peterson in their current positions, and refused to meet with Juelz’s parents to discuss their behavior or any training of Pearland ISD employees,” Kallinen said.

In a statement, Pearland ISD stated that the practice administered by the school employees was not one condoned by the district and stated that it did not align with appropriate measures for dealing with dress code violations.

After the incident, Pearland ISD Board of Trustees member Mikael Floyd stated, “It’s no secret that racism, whether intentional or not, has crept into the code. The administration has made it clear that they are aware of the board’s stance that provisions, which are rooted in cultural or racial inequalities, must be changed, and anything less will be unacceptable in my opinion.”

This is a troubling pattern that has continued in Pearland ISD. According to a 2015 study by the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Civil Rights, they found that while there were more than twice as many White students (38.6%) than African American students (15.9%) enrolled in Pearland ISD, the two groups made up equal portions of students who received in-school suspensions (30.4%). In other words, African American students were suspended 143% more often than White students.

How many more Black students will become victims of these same Pearland ISD employees who remain in positions to impact their lives and futures?

EDITORIAL

The Dallas Examiner www.dallasexaminer.com

Five years after Michael Brown’s death:

Despite visible progress, racial disparities persist in Ferguson

By MARC H. MORIAL National Urban League

“The city’s personal responsibility refrain … reflects many of the same racial stereotypes found in the emails between police and court supervisors. This evidence of bias and stereotyping, together with evidence that Ferguson has long recognized but failed to correct the consistent racial disparities caused by its police and court practices, demonstrates that the discriminatory effects of Ferguson’s conduct are driven at least in part by discriminatory intent in violation of the 14th Amendment.”

accounted for 85% of traffic stops, 90% of tickets and 93% of arrests, according to a Justice Department report released seven months after Brown’s death.

Ferguson Police used force almost exclusively on African Americans. They regularly stopped Black drivers without probable cause.

Ferguson officials circulated racist jokes on their government email accounts.

Five years later, Ferguson has shown some signs of improvement. There are now six Black members of the City Council, compared with only one in 2014. The police department has gone from three Black officers out of 53 to about two dozen Black officers, including a Black chief, Jason Armstrong.

The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, which transformed the location of a burned-out QuikTrip into the Ferguson Empowerment Center, has just announced a new $5 million investment to build a strip mall that will include a bank, a restaurant, a minority business incubator and a home health care company.

Save Our Sons, the workforce development program that operates out of the Empowerment Center, has connected more than 750 men with jobs in the Ferguson area since it opened in 2017.

A new partnership with First Financial Federal Credit Union will provide auto loans, credit counseling, and checking and savings accounts to members of Save Our Sons and other local residents.

But stark racial disparities persist not only in Ferguson but in the wider St. Louis region, both economically and in the criminal justice system.

The disparity in traffic stops in Ferguson actually has widened drastically, according to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. The rate of stops of Black drivers has increased by 5 percentage points since 2013, while it has dropped 11 percentage points for White drivers.

Statewide, Black motorists were nearly twice as likely as other motorists to be stopped.

Ferguson has not yet identified a consent decree coordinator, according to the independent monitor appointed in 2016 as part of a settlement between the city and the Justice Department.

“Although the Monitoring Team published a Workplan in the Fall of 2018, it has not received regular updates from the City with respect to progress on that plan because no sole individual within the City is responsible for updating the Workplan and notifying the Monitoring Team about advancement in partic-

‘‘ ’’ – U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department, March 2015

Five years ago, a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer shot and killed unarmed Black teen Michael Brown, bringing national attention to Ferguson Police Department’s shocking pattern of racial profiling and excessive force.

In a town that is a third White, African Americans

Black History Fact

The most successful terrorist group in the United States for almost 70 years was the Ku Klux Klan. They hated Catholics, Jews and Blacks.

They were prone to violence.

The Dallas Examiner

– Pete Hamill

African Americans have made their mark in various fields such as hair care, science and technology. But, many people aren’t aware of African Americans’ influence in aviation.

In 1969, the first Black-owned airline, Wheeler Airlines, was opened in North Carolina. Founded by Warren Wheeler, the airline flew over 40,000 passengers annually throughout New York, Delaware, North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey.

Wheeler Airlines served as a central aviation service for African Americans who couldn’t afford the flights of other airlines. It also had job opportunities for Black pilots who wouldn’t be hired by the other airline company at that time. It started with one airplane and one employee. But by 1979, the company owned 11 airplanes and had 27 employees who earned $20,000 a month.

The airline industry changed in the late 1980s due to large airlines beginning to take over smaller airlines routes. As a result, Wheeler filed for bankruptcy in 1991 and ceased operation.

Source: blackamericaweb.com; Wikipedia; blackmail4u.com; ncpedia.org; blackpast.org; Ebony Magazine

ular areas,” according to the monitor’s most recent report.

The economic news is even worse. According to the EastWest Gateway Council of Governments, the median White household income was more than twice the median Black household income in 2017, a slightly wider gap than in 2010.

Disparity in the poverty rate in St. Louis County has grown as well, driven mainly by flat income growth for Black households versus increases in White income.

We commend the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and its outstanding leader, Michael McMillan, for their work in tackling economic disparities in the region and agree with his assessment that the work is a “marathon as well as a sprint.”

As he has said, “A concerted, dedicated effort has to be spent on changing these disparities, and the job is not done. So we have to stay the course from the governmental, not-for-profit, corporate, business and civic communities in order to fix those wrongs.”

Marc H. Morial, former mayor of New Orleans, is president and CEO of the National Urban League. He can be reached through http://nul.iamempowered.com.

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PERSPECTIVES

Page 5 September 5, 2019

Thoughts and prayers are not enough!

By EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

U.S. House of Representatives

Just one week ago, seven innocent people were murdered in West Texas by a madman with an assault weapon. Twenty-two people were injured during the massacre, including a child just 17 months old.

If this were not enough, nearly one month earlier 22 people shopping in an El Paso Walmart were killed by another madman with an assault rifle who said that he

wanted to kill Mexicans.

Twenty-six people suffered life-altering injuries in the El Paso shooting.

During the 31 days of August, 53 people throughout our nation lost their lives in mass shootings, according to data from the U.S. Justice Department. The Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings in the U.S., reports that there have been 283 such shootings since the beginning of 2019. This madness has to stop!

The American people are weary and disappointed with elected officials who respond to these shootings by offering “thoughts and

prayers.” That will not bring their relatives back or repair the injuries suffered by victims.

Recent polls tell us that 7 out of 10 Americans support a ban on assault weapons. They realize that they have no place in the hands of citizens who are not members of the military where these weapons are used on battlefields.

Those who favor a ban such as the one that was in place for 10 years between 1994 and 2004 are pleading with elected officials to do something – to reinstate the ban. Members of the Democratic Party are prepared to

do as the American people demand.

The reason why we do not have an assault weapons ban is that the leadership of the Republican Party and the president of the United States are far more interested in the interests of the National Rifle Association than they are in those of the majority of the American public.

Data compiled by the Federal Elections Commissions states that the NRA contributed $30 million toward the election of President Trump in 2016. It spent $54 million in the 2016 campaign, with the over-

whelming majority of the money going to Republican candidates who support the NRA and its wishes.

Those who oppose an assault weapons ban are quick to point to the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which they interpret as giving all citizens a right to purchase and own assault weapons.

Certainly the founders of this country, mentally sane as they were, did not intend the result that we now face in our country, where innocent people are being gunned down in broad daylight by their fellow citizens.

Now is the time to ban all

When being White is not enough

By SUSAN K. SMITH Crazy Faith Ministries

With the tragic story of yet another mass killing carried out by a young, White male, it occurred to me that these White men are feeling the frustration of the reality of not being White enough to fully participate in the American dream.

The shooter in the most recent shooting in Texas had reportedly lost his job. While we don’t know the motive, it is not hard to imagine that his job loss made him angry. If he was among the White people in this country who believe that “their” jobs are being taken by others – immigrants, both documented and undocumented, he was most likely doubly angry. In his mind, it was “their” fault that he was unemployed.

White supremacy in this country has made it all too easy for White

people to blame their misfortunes on others. In their minds – an idea that was planted there intentionally by the framers and supporters of white supremacist thought – no matter how poor, how criminal, how unqualified and uneducated they are, one thing is certain: They are White and are therefore entitled to special treatment based solely on their Whiteness.

Reports are indicating that this man’s firing, however, was not the reason for his rampage. “When he showed up to work he was already enraged,” said a Texas law enforcement representative.

What was he enraged about?

Was he enraged because he felt too many of “them” are in his way of getting a good job? Was it the fact that immigrants – both documented and undocumented – are good workers, earn their pay and seem to be benefiting from too much that he considers to be “his”? What was he enraged about? What are any of these White men who take it upon

themselves to kill innocent and unarmed people enraged about?

The powers that be have done a good job of sowing seeds of division between Whites and all other ethnicities. They have planted the idea into White minds that no matter what they are White and are therefore better than and deserving of more than anybody else.

They have been duped. The truth is that the wealthy Whites don’t care any more for poor White people than they care for any other group. They realize, though, that they have to keep the seeds of division fertilized and watered, and the result is a group of young White men who believe they are the victims of discrimination.

Interestingly, it is not Black or Brown people who commit these mass murders. There is street violence in poor Black and Brown communities caused, at least partly, by deep frustration at not having employment or even a chance of it; they are also frus-

trated because there is no component of this society that cares for them as individual human beings.

They are frustrated because they know from experience that their cries go unheard, as do their needs. They know they can expect no support from law enforcement or the legal system. Yes, they are angry.

But the orchestrators of tyranny don’t care about the anger of the masses – be they White or Black or Brown. What the powers in control want is to remain in control. They will manipulate any situation, any group of people, any emotional angst in order to keep what they have and to attain more.

The mass shooters are victims of white supremacy and greed. They take their anger out on large groups of people while Black and Brown people take their anger out on people in their own communities. Unemployed and underemployed White people have had it.

They realize that their Whiteness has not given them the kind of

assault weapons. The sane among us believe that we must act to stop more senseless murders. The sane among us do not believe that “thoughts and prayers” are sufficient to ease the pain.

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson represents the 30th Congressional District of Texas in the United States House of Representatives. She also chairs the House committee on Science, Space and Technology.

lives they have been taught to believe they deserve, and somewhere, deep inside, they know their chances of attaining the American dream that they think is owed them will never become a reality.

That being the case, these mass shootings will continue, and the powers that be will continue to smile and smirk, seeing evidence that their strategy of keeping poor people, White, Black, Brown and immigrant at odds with each other is working. Better that we fight amongst ourselves and kill each other than upset their intention of staying in power.

Rev. Dr. Susan K. Smith is the founder and director of Crazy Faith Ministries. She is available for speaking. Contact her at revsuekim@sbcglobal.net. Her latest book, Rest for the Justice-Seeking Soul, is available for preorder through Barnes and Noble at http://bit.ly/RESTBN or Amazon at http://bit.ly/RESTAmazon.

Over 100 House members rebuke delay of payday loan rule By CHARLENE CROWELL Center for Responsible Lending

Anyone who struggles with the rising costs of living knows all too well how hard it is to try stretching dollars when there’s more month than money in the household. Predatory lending, like payday and car title loans, worsen financial stress with triple-digit interest rates that deepen the debt owed with each renewal.

The irony is that many payday loan borrowers who needed just a few hundred dollars wind up owing thousands. And any loan whose accrued interest exceeds the principal borrowed is truly predatory.

In recent days, more than 100 members of Congress stood in support of consumer protections against these debt-trap loans. The effort, led by House Financial Services Chairwoman

and California Rep. Maxine Waters, called upon the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to do two things: stop delaying the current rule from taking effect and preserve the existing rule’s requirement that lenders only make loans to consumers who could afford repayment.

The Aug. 23 letter to CFPB minced no words.

“Experts have noted that payday loans often target communities of color, military servicemembers and seniors,” wrote the members, “charging billions of dollars a year in unaffordable loans to borrowers with an average annual income of $25,000 to $30,000.”

“The Consumer Bureau’s proposal represents a betrayal of its statutory purpose and objectives to put consumers, rather than lenders, first,” continued the members. “Moreover, the Bureau has offered no new evidence and no rational basis to remove the ability to repay provisions. We

think you should immediately rescind the harmful proposal to roll back the 2017 payday rule.”

These direct rebukes were reactions to CFPB’s 15month delay of a longawaited consumer-friendly rule that was scheduled to take effect on Aug. 19.

In today’s contentious Washington, getting strong support for any pro-consumer issue seems particularly difficult. Even so, the August letter to CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger included representatives from 31 states, including those with some of the highest annual percentage rates found across the country. For example, the typical payday loan in California comes with 460% interest, and the largest number of state signatories also came from California: 15.

Although no other state’s signatories were that numerous, the clear expression of genuine consumer protection against this heinous predatory loan in

other areas with rates near or exceeding 400% is noteworthy: Texas (661%), Wisconsin (574%), Missouri (462%) and Illinois (404%).

Yet a closer examination of the signatories reveals that, despite sizable support expressed in the letter, there are still 435 officials in the House of Representatives.

The recent letter represents about 23% of the entire House. That small percentage signals that many more members of Congress need to make clear that they stand on the side of the people – and not with payday lenders’ 400% interest rates.

Across the country, communities of color are where payday and car title loan stores are the most prevalent. Among Congressional Black Caucus members serving in the House, 58% added their names and support to this important letter.

New research on the nation’s wealth gap by McKinsey and Company found that 65% of Black America lives in one of 16 states: Al-

The Patient Anguish Is Neverending Act

By KIM CALLINAN Compassion & Choices

Recently introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate, the so-called Patient Rights Act (S. 1993), should be renamed the Patient Anguish Is Neverending Act – known as the PAIN Act – because that’s exactly what will happen if this bill is enacted.

This inhumane bill would withhold federal funding – including Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act – from any health care entity that supports their patients with these or any other requests that intentionally shorten or end life, no matter what the patient wants or how much they are suffering.

For example, it would make it virtually impossible for a terminally ill person to end their suffering and die peacefully, even when life-sustaining treatment violates the patient’s explicit stated wishes verbally or in writing.

In fact, it would become virtually impossible for: • A health care proxy to carry out their loved one’s written, stated preferences to have life support removed, even if they are in a persistent vegetative state for days, weeks, months or years.

• A health care proxy to honor a person’s written wishes to withdraw treatment, even if the person has severe dementia, has lost the ability to recognize loved ones and is completely dependent on caretakers for daily living tasks, such as speaking, eating, toileting, bathing, changing position or getting out of bed.

• A mentally capable terminally ill person with six months or less to live, who lives in one of the 10 jurisdictions that has authorized the option of medical aid in dying, to obtain a prescription medication from their doctor so they can end unbear-

able suffering and die peacefully in their sleep. One of these jurisdictions is Montana, the home state of the primary bill sponsor, Sen. Steve Daines.

The PAIN Act would bar facilities that perform any service that intentionally shortens life from receiving any federal funding for any health care service.

Federal funding is a major revenue source for virtually all health care facilities. By forcing health care systems to pursue only one value – the absolute duration of a life – rather than balance quantity with the quality of that life, the bill would eliminate end-of-life care options for patients during their most vulnerable time.

Only the privileged few who can afford private doctors who don’t accept any federal reimbursement might be able to realize a peaceful passing. The rest of us would suffer incessantly while our loved ones stood by powerless.

The PAIN Act also encourages

abama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Among these 16 states, only Arkansas, Georgia and North Carolina have enacted 36% or less payday loan rate caps. The remaining 13 states have typical triple-digit payday loan interest rates that range from a low of 304% in Florida to a high of 521% in Mississippi. Multiple CBC members also represent districts in these states.

Speaking at a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing held on April 30, Diane Standaert, EVP and director of state policy with the Center for Responsible Lending, testified of the rippling reasons that payday loans need regulation.

“Allowing the 2017 rule to go into effect as planned is the bare minimum that

religious zealots to report any doctor or health care system that doesn’t abide by this “life at all cost” health care mandate to the Health and Human Services’ newly created Office for Civil Rights.

At a time when the American public can agree on little, it’s united around a common desire for autonomy and dignity at life’s end. These shared values have resulted in unprecedented progress for the end-of-life options movement over the past five years.

Six jurisdictions in five years have authorized medical aid in dying: California, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Hawaii, New Jersey and Maine; 21 national and state medical societies have dropped their opposition; and a growing number of leaders and organizations, especially Latino and African American leaders, have adopted supportive policies.

Decisions about how and when we die are deeply personal and are

the CFPB should do,” said Standaert. “It is absurd that we should even have to make such a straightforward request of an agency whose charge is to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive and abusive financial practices.”

Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church, also testified at the April hearing.

“Payday predators hijack the hopes of the vulnerable and revictimize them by baiting them into a debt trap. … It is reprehensible that there may be a plan to open the way for old bank payday loans to reenter the marketplace, as well as predatory high-cost bank installment loans,” Haynes said.

Amen, Reverend!

Charlene Crowell is the communications deputy director with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

best left to patients, in consultation with their doctor and their loved ones, not dictated by a punitive government mandate.

Congress should reject this outrageous legislative assault on patients’ rights and replace it with a real “patient rights” bill, one that withholds federal funding for all health care services from any health care entity that violates a dying patient’s verbal or written requests for the withdrawal of treatment to end unnecessary suffering.

Kim Callinan holds a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University and is CEO of Compassion & Choices, the nation’s largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding and improving patient-driven health care options for the end of life.

Page 6 September 5, 2019

Youth Crisis, continued from Front Page

listed by the NIH: • Mental health disorders, such as depression, bipolar or schizophrenia.

• Specific personality characteristics.

• Family history of mental illness and suicide.

• The death of a loved one.

• Psychosocial stressors, such as being molested, bullied, abused, etc.

• Lack of exposure to inspiring models, such as the absence of one or both parents, or feeling unloved.

Additionally, those already contemplating suicide were more likely to follow through due to the following: • Having previously attempted suicide.

• Knowing someone who died from suicide.

• Availability of means, such as guns, drugs or a rope and something to tie it onto.

Jagdish Khubchandani, a health science professor who participated in the study published in the Journal of Community Health, said firearms in the home is the greatest risk for teens and must be the greatest focus for intervention.

His research showed that males were 52% more likely to use firearms and 34% more likely to hang or suffocate themselves to commit suicide. In contrast, females were 56% more likely to hang or suffocate themselves and 21% more likely to use firearms to commit suicide.

“A second form of protection against suicides in adolescents is having ready access to mental health care. African American adolescents are at higher risk than the general population to encounter serious forms of violence,” he noted.

“Schools are the leading provider of mental health services for youth. Thus, there needs to be a greater emphasis on urban public schools providing adequate screening, treatment and referral services for adolescents with mental health disorders.”

Rose described an incident at

her school that she felt could have changed her life.

“I was good at hiding it. I don’t think anyone really knew. I played sports, hung out with my friends, joked a lot,” Rose recalled. “I did have one teacher; one of my favorite teachers stopped me when I was walking in her class. She saw a cut on my wrist, grabbed my hand and asked me what happened. I told her I cut it on the fence reaching for a volleyball. She didn’t look like she believed me, so I acted happy when I really wanted her to take time for me, make me tell her what I was doing and why. She never did.”

The Mental Health in Schools Act, along with the Mental Health Services for Students Act, now provides funding to schools for mental health services for students and to train educators to identify students in crisis. Most of the studies agreed that schools are the best starting point for students to receive help because they spend eight or more continuous hours at school, five days a week. However, the studies indicated that school alone is not the answer.

Though just being raised in a religious home may not prevent suicidal attempts, studies found that having strong religious and/or spiritual beliefs lowered common factors of suicide among teens, according to research recorded by HealthDay News.

The NIH study found a similar link.

“African American adolescents who used collaborative religious coping (the individual and God work together to solve problems) were more likely to attend church, were more active in church, tended to feel less hopeless and reported more reasons for wanting to live than did African American adolescents who used other religious coping styles,” the study stated.

“I found God. I know everyone says that, but I was sent to a camp for teens like me and it was spiritual based. They taught me who God was. He already knew who I was, but I didn’t know who he was,” Rose’s posture changed as she explained why she stopped attempting suicide.

“Knowing God’s infinite love, his infinite power, his infiniteness

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Suicide Prevention Resources

Sept. 8 through Sept. 14 is National Suicide Prevention Week and September is National Suicide Prevention Month. Local and national organizations have been reaching out to provide information to families, schools and other organizations to help prevent suicide and treat depression and hopelessness, while the nation is focused on the crisis this month.

• Texas Suicide Prevention provides an ASK: Ask About Suicide App and the Hope Box App for both iPhone and Android devices, along with toolkits, presentations and videos to help combat the crisis, available at https://texassuicideprevention.org.

• The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline has provided a national hotline, 1-800-273- TALK (8255), for anyone who just wants to talk, talk through a problem, is concerned about someone else or needs resources.

• The Texas Department of State Health Services has an extensive list of services available at https://www.dshs.texas.gov/transition/mhsa.aspx.

• #IWONTBESILENT is an ongoing campaign funded by the Jason Foundation that encourages communities to participate in a national conversation to raise awareness about youth suicides and how to help prevent them, available at http://www.iwontbesilent.com.

• The foundation also provides a Crisis Text Line where anyone who needs to talk to a trained crisis counselor can text “Jason” to 741741.

• Last month, Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-TX; Chris Stewart, R-UT; Seth Moulton, D-MA; and Greg Gianforte, R-MT introduced the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act to designate “9-8-8” as the universal telephone number for the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system, which currently operates through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Veteran’s Crisis Line.

“In my home state of Texas, thousands of lives are tragically lost to suicide every year – averaging a life lost every two hours. This bipartisan effort to designate a three-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will simplify access to these resources for our constituents in their times of need.” Johnson said in a prepared statement.

This legislation authorized states to collect a fee limited to supporting local crisis call centers that would be affiliated within the national network or enhancements of such services. This would allow states to fund the suicide hotline services similar to that of existing emergency services, according to Johnson.

In addition, she explained that the legislation had set a deadline of one year for the FCC to complete the nationwide upgrade of the legacy switches to support 9-8-8. It also requested a report from the FCC to determine the feasibility of providing an automatic dispatchable location for 9-8-8 calls.

“This bill will save lives. When your house is on fire, you don’t have time to look up the fire department’s phone number – that’s why we have 9-1-1. In the same way, you should know what number to dial when a friend, a loved one, or you yourself are experiencing a mental health crisis,” Moulton said. “This is a major milestone on the road to where mental health care in America is just part of health care, period. It’s one part of ending the stigma around mental health and making Americans healthier and stronger.”

Compiled by Robyn H. Jimenez/The Dallas Examiner

– it made me feel loved in a powerful way and gave me hope.”

Suicide is a complex issue and there is no one “right” thing to do and no quick fixes. For anyone who needs help or is concerned about someone else, a list of resources has been provided as a sidebar.

“Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t kill myself. I would have missed so much – so many great times, so many great people, traveling to so many great places, a great boyfriend,” Rose blushed. “Life is actually pretty good, and I love the person that I am today.”

SAVE THE DATE

Oct 21

Meet the Candidates

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HEALTH

Foundation to award $2 million in grants for 2020 census, Black communities a key focus Special to The Dallas Examiner

In celebrating 80 years of supporting the mental health and wellbeing of Texans, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health began accepting proposals for the Texas Communities Count initiative, which will support complete count efforts in Texas for the 2020 U.S. census. The foundation plans to award grants totaling $2 million.

The primary focus is to aid collaborative approaches that aim to reach traditionally hard-to-count populations, communities and geographic areas throughout the state. The goal is to promote active participation in the 2020 census so that every person in Texas is counted.

Without a complete count during the 2020 census, Texas will face unprecedented challenges, losing both resources and representation for at least a decade. An accurate and complete census is necessary to determine fair allocation of federal dollars for resources, services and infrastructure that support our everyday quality of life.

The African American community has been historically undercounted in the census. The Census Bureau estimates that African Americans were undercounted by

Kroger,

continued from Front Page

make sure that we have fresh vegetable and fresh produce in the stores,” Atkins said.

Rita Williams, who leads the economic development for the Kroger grocery store, said they launched Restock Kroger two years ago.

“Part of Restock Kroger is how do we redefine new grocery shopping experience for our customers,” Williams said. “We will continue to have our brick-and-mortar stores.

We have over 90 stores here in the Dallas region and in 38 states. But

more than 800,000 in the 2010 U.S. census, and that approximately 7% of young African American children were overlooked by the 2010 census, roughly twice the rate for young non-Hispanic White children. This legacy of undercounting has had a negative impact on African American communities and furthers inequities.

“An undercount of Texas’ population by even 1% could result in a $300 million loss in federal funding, and 25% of Texans – over 6 million people – live in hard-tocount neighborhoods,” said Dr. Octavio N. Martinez Jr., executive director of the Hogg Foundation and senior associate vice president for diversity and community engagement at the University of Texas at Austin. “So the stakes, particularly for African Americans and other historically excluded communities, couldn’t be higher.”

The foundation seeks proposals that support direct, local, on-theground complete count efforts or statewide coordination of these local efforts. Preference will be given to strategies that focus on HTC populations and communities or geographic regions in Texas that are designated as health professional shortage areas.

as part of this strategy, we are partnering with Ocado Solutions, and they have really solved for how do we deliver groceries ecommerce to customers that are fresh food through grocery delivery.

It is going to transform how America eats. In the U.K., there are no brick-and-mortar stores. They order all their groceries online, and we will be transforming that here in the United States, and the Dallas project is our third announcement.”

Council member Casey Thomas of District 3 was also expressed excitement about the measure.

“This is a great opportunity to take some young people and expose them to career opportunity that is going to be in their own

Hard-to-count populations are defined as persons who typically do not get captured by census data, according to the Census Bureau’s research. Examples are children under the age of five, highly mobile people, racial and ethnic minorities, non-English speakers, low-income and persons experiencing homelessness, and undocumented immigrants. People with mental health conditions are also a HTC population. A useful guide to HTC populations can be found here.

“Due to the fact that many of the hard-to-count populations live in health professional shortage areas in Texas, federal funding is even more paramount to closing the gap of what health care is available to support well-being and mental health,” said Emily Bhandari, strategic learning and evaluation program officer for the Hogg Foundation.

In addition, it is also an opportunity to promote new forms of community collaboration and civic engagement that yield benefits for Texans over the long term.

The deadline for submitting proposals is Sept. 23. For more information, visit http://www.hogg. utexas.edu/texas-communitiescount.

neighborhoods,” Thomas said. “As you know, we have a number of food deserts in Southern Dallas in particular. I am on board 100 percent with innovation, but we have a lot of seniors, and those seniors go to the grocery store, and unfortunately at this time there are not many grocery store opportunities. This is something that will be beneficial in many ways.”

Council member Chad West of District 1 commended the store for its commitment to a living wage for workers in Dallas.

Council member Omar Narvaez of District 6 wanted to know if the app can be accessible to lowincome residents. He also asked staff if they could address the

Page 7 September 5, 2019

Counseling Corner

Dealing with an empty nest American Counseling Assoc.

Is that young adult in your home packing suitcases and off for their first year of college? Or maybe there’s that bedroom you walk by sadly every day remembering how lovely the wedding was, but how empty that room is now.

From college, to marriages, to a new out-of-town job, there are all kinds of reasons for why a child is no longer sharing that home with Mom and Dad. Whatever the cause, the emotions that parents experience when their children depart are often ones of sadness, loneliness and even depression.

The common term for this occurrence is “empty nest” syndrome.

It’s based on the bird maturing and leaving the nest. While we all want our children to grow up and live independent lives, it still can be difficult when the children are gone and the house suddenly seems much more empty.

While empty nest syndrome is not a clinical disorder or diagnosis, it is a transitional period in life that highlights loneliness and loss. Realizing that our son or daughter is now independent enough to be out there facing the world on his or her own can be bittersweet and emotionally challenging. We are proud that we have helped them grow and service fee for low-income residents who may not be able to afford it.

Williams said as they roll this out in the U.S. it is going to take education of customers to get things going.

“Every community is going to be different,” Williams said. “In Dallas, we will have the library available or some training opportunities available for customers, either seniors or disabled, to know how to use the app, and as far as the service fee, we are looking into that and will be discussing that with Ocado Solutions.”

Council member Carolyn King Arnold of District 4 wanted clarification on how they would be

mature to be able to stand on their own two feet, but we’re also sad to see them gone and to realize that most of our hands-on parenting is no longer needed.

There are ways, however, to reduce the sadness and stress that might come with a child’s moving out. In today’s age of instant communication, simply staying in touch is easy and can ease the sense of being left behind. The goal, of course, is not to become a “helicopter parent,” constantly hovering and trying to be involved in the child’s every decision even though he or she may now be thousands of miles away.

Instead, try simply staying in touch, maybe with a weekly text or email or phone call. It can also help to talk with friends who have also had children leave the home.

For some people, empty nest syndrome can be a real problem, leading to severe depression. In such cases, professional help can be valuable. Consider talking with a professional counselor who will be able to help you manage these difficult emotions.

Counseling Corner is provided by the American Counseling Association. Comments and questions can be sent to acacorner@counseling.org or visit http://www.counseling.org.

able to help seniors or the handicapped who are not technologically savvy.

Williams said they are working through that process as well.

Arnold also wanted to know how they are going to deal with redlining minority communities.

Robin Bentley, assistant director of economic development for Dallas, said this is something that was discussed and is a requirement as part of the service agreement that every citizen of Dallas have this delivery service available.

“If we find areas that are being redlined, that would be a default of the agreement,” Bentley said.

Page 8 September 5, 2019

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CLASSIFIEDS

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MISSING Tory Brooks

DOB: Jan. 6, 2004 Missing Since: June 13, 2019 Age Now: 15 Sex: Female Race: Black Height: 5’8” Weight: 130 lbs Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Brown Missing City: Lancaster NCMEC Number: 1360710 Additional informaton: Tory was last seen on June 13, 2019.

Anyone having information regarding this missing youth should call the Lancaster Police Department at 972-218-2711.

Every 40 seconds, a child is reported as "missing," according to several government and missing children's reports. And the number of missing African American children has increased from 25 percent to 33 percent. This is not only a crisis for the families of the missing children, but for our community and our country.

The Dallas Examiner has made it its mission to post missing children in our community, as reported by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, each week.

Anyone having information regarding this child, should contact National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST. For more information or to view more missing children in your area, visit www.missingkids.com.

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Texas Grant Program The Texas Legislature established the TEXAS – Towards EXcellence, Access and Success – Grant to make sure that well-prepared high school graduates with financial need could go to college. To receive a basic initial award through the TEXAS Grant Program, a student must be registered with Selective Service, or be exempt, demonstrate financial need, be classified by the institution as a Texas resident, have not been convicted of a felony or crime involving a controlled substance and be enrolled at least three-quarter time as a Baccalaureate student who graduated from an accredited public or private high school in Texas, completed the Foundation, Recommended, or Distinguished Achievement high school program (or the equivalent) and, enrolled in an undergraduate degree or certificate program at an approved institution within 16 months from high school graduation.

Deadline: Varies Contact: Scholarship Committee Student Financial Aid Programs P.O. Box 12788 Austin, TX 78711-2788 888-311-8881 Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program The purpose of the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program is to provide grant aid to financially needy students enrolled in Texas public two-year colleges. To receive an initial award through the TEOG Program, a student must be registered with selective service, or be exempt; be classified by the institution as a Texas resident and be enrolled at least half-time.

Deadline: Varies Contact: Scholarship Committee Student Financial Aid Programs P.O. Box 12788 Austin, TX 78711-2788 888-311-8881

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Page 9 September 5, 2019

Page 10 September 5, 2019 Sept. 21 to March 1, 2020 The Kinsey Collection, a groundbreaking exhibit featuring 150plus works of art, photos, rate documents and more, celebrating the achievements and contributions of Black Americans from 1595 to present day, will be open to the public at the African American Museum, 3536 Grand Ave. For more information, visit www.aamdallas.org.

Oct. 10 to March 22, 2020 Origins: Fossils From the Cradle of Humankind, an exhibit including fossils of two recently discovered ancient human relatives being brought to the U.S. for the first time from South Africa, will be open to the public at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, 2201 N. Field St. For more information, visit www.perotmuseum.org.

September National Food Safety Awareness Month www.foodsafety.gov

National Baby Safety Month www.jpma.org

National Alcohol & Drug Addiction Recovery Month www.recoverymonth.gov

CALENDAR COMMUNITY

ONGOING EVENTS

Now-November A Shared Border, an exhibit on how the diverse cultural landscape of the Texas and Mexico borderland has caused different cultures to blend and innovate, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m at the Dallas Historical Society, 3939 Grand Ave. For more information, visit http://www.dallashistory.org/exhibitions.

Mondays-Wednesdays Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing/ Treatment, testing and treatment for STIs, HIV, Hep C and other sexual infections, will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Prism Health Clinic, 4922 Spring Ave. For more information, call 214-421-7848.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays Sittercise, a low-impact class that can be done from

Aug. 29. For more information and to register, contact Stephanie Mendoza at 214671-4045.

5 Asher Group Meeting,

presenting information on opportunities that you can take advantage of during a recession, will be held from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Frazier House, 4600 Spring Ave. For more information, visit www.zwhjcoc.org.

5 Orientation at the Oasis

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Meditation for Everyone, with a breathing meditation, instructions on how to gain control of the mind and choose how we respond to life’s difficulties, and a meditation related to the topics discussed, will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at The Women’s Club of Fort Worth, 1316 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Worth. For more information, call 214-238-3331 or visit www.meditationintexas.org/weekly-classes.

5 Free Legal Clinics, legal

advice and consultation on civil matters presented by the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program for Dallas County residents who meet certain financial guidelines, will begin at 5 p.m. at Grace United Methodist Church, 4105 Junius St. For more information, visit www.dallasvolunteerattorneyprogram.org.

5 Law Enforcement Com-

munity Engagement Summit, where law enforcement, criminal justice and community leaders from North Texas will devise strategies to improve law enforcement and community relations, will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Briscoe Carpenter Center at Fair Park, 1403 Washington St. Breakfast and lunch served. Register by

Center, a faith-based nonprofit organization that assists at-risk youth and formerly incarcerated individuals transition back to society, will begin at 11 a.m. at the Frazier House, 4600 Spring Ave. For more information, visit www.zwhjcic.org.

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The 2019 Dallas Chocolate Festival, with over 60 chocolate makers and chocolatiers from around the world and locally, will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Fashion Industry Gallery, 1807 Ross Ave. For more information, visit www.dallaschocolate.org.

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STEM Saturdays, “Gaming,” an event where students can explore foundational cybersecurity principles, security architecture, risk management and emerging IT technologies, will be held from 9:30 a.m. to noon at Friendship-West Baptist Church, Room D106, 2020 W. Wheatland Road.

For more information, visit www.friendshipwest.org.

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Dallas African American History Tour, a threehour tour that will explore over 20 historic sites and trace the African American experience following the Civil War through the formation of Deep Ellum.

For more information, call

your chair, is offered from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. at Methodist Charlton Medical Center, 3500 W. Wheatland Road. For more information, call 214-947-7777.

First, Second & Fourth Tuesdays Free legal services will be available at 5 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 2922 Martin Luther King Blvd. For more information, call 214-748-1234.

Tuesdays & Thursdays Free SkillQuest Career Readiness Classes will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. For more information, call 214-879-9950 or email sgronstal@skillquestcareers.org.

469-585-1590 or visit hiddenhistorydfw.com.

7 City Wide Block Party, a

community-wide cultural exchange that helps one expand their idea of “neighbor,” jointly hosted by Visible Unity, First United Methodist Church and St. Paul United Methodist Church, will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kessler Park United Methodist Church’s Roberts Forest, 1215 Turner Ave. For more information, email info@visibleunityinc.org or call 214-354-9044.

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“The Future Is Ours” Community Youth Seminar, where youth from all different walks of life will come to unite, fellowship, build, and gather resources and ideas to secure our future in society, will be held from 1:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. at J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young St. For more information, call 214-670-1400.

7 Fourth Annual African American Leadership Institute, a policy summit where leaders from business, government, education, health and education will interact with community leaders in breakout sessions to discuss policy updates and challenges related to these core topics, will be held from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Paul Quinn College, 3837 Simpson Stuart Road. For more information, contact info@pqc.edu or call 214379-5577.

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All Things Beautiful Workshop, a place to learn how to fund your community’s next beautification project through City Neighborhood Vitality grants, will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Li-

Wednesdays State Fair Job Assistance will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center Library, 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. - Bldg. C. For more information, call 214-708-2739 or visit www.dallasmlkcenter.com.

Wednesdays The MLK Fresh Produce Distribution Center will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. - Bldg. A. For more information, call 214708-2739 or visit www.dallasmlkcenter.com.

Wednesdays State Fair Job Assistance will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center Library, 2922 Martin Luther

brary, 1515 Young St. Get information about acquiring free trees, community gardening, mural painting and more. For more information, visit pud@dallascityhall.com or call 214-671-8900.

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The Second Annual Benefit Concert featuring Maze and Frankie Beverly, presented by the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, will begin at 7:30 p.m. at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. For more information and to purchase tickets, contact Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce at 214-421-5200.

7 & 8

Urban Growers Workshops, a demonstration on fall gardening, harvesting, canning, dehydration, survival kits and more, will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 7 and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 8 at the PanAfrican Connection Bookstore, 4466 S. Marsalis Ave. For more information and to purchase tickets, contact Kenebrew at unifiedhandscoop@gmail.com.

7 & 8 Guys’ Getaway Campout hosted by Dallas Park and Recreation at Cedar Hill State Park, an outdoor experience of staffed adventures include hiking, archery, fishing, s’mores cookouts and more fun for boys ages 5 and older. Register in person at Kiest Recreation Center, 3080 S. Hampton Road. For more information, call 214-670-1918.

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The Dallas Examiner www.dallasexaminer.com

Lunch & Learn “Women & Access to Capital” with Tarsha Polk, will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Zan Wesley Holmes Outreach Center, 4600 Spring Ave. For

King Jr. Blvd. - Bldg. C. For more information, call 214-708-2739 or visit www.dallasmlkcenter.com.

Wednesdays The MLK Fresh Produce Distribution Center will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. - Bldg. A. For more information, call 214708-2739 or visit www.dallasmlkcenter.com.

Saturdays The MLK Fresh Produce Distribution Center will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd - Bldg. A. For more information, call 214708-2739 or visit www.dallasmlkcenter.com.

more information, call 214-324-4443.

more information, visit www.friendshipwest.org.

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14 You, Me & He, a musi-

Free Legal Clinics, legal advice and consultation on civil matters presented by the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program for Dallas County residents who meet financial guidelines, will begin at 5 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Center Core Services Building, 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 122. For more information and scheduling, visit www.dallasvolunteerattorneyprogram.org.

11 Meditation for Every-

one, with a breathing meditation, instructions on how to gain control of the mind and choose how we respond to life’s difficulties, and a meditation related to the topics discussed, will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at The Woman’s Club of Fort Worth, 1316 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Worth. For more information, call 214-238-3331 or visit www.meditationintexas.org/weekly-classes.

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The Black Media Mixer, an opportunity for black businesses and brands within the community to mix and network with local Black media, will begin at 7 p.m. at 4TheCultureStudios, 115 N. Carroll Ave. For more information, email pr@jeniropr.com.

14 STEM Saturdays, “Secure the Bag: Cyber Security and Entrepreneurship,” an event where students can explore foundational cybersecurity principles, security architecture, risk management and emerging IT technologies, will be held from 9:30 a.m. to noon at Friendship-West Baptist Church, Room D106, 2020 W. Wheatland Road. For

cal stage play to bring awareness to Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, will take place at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. at Rosewood Center for Family Arts, 5938 Skillman St. For more information and tickets, call 323-801-6335 or visit www.youmeandhe.brownpapertickets.com.

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Free Legal Clinics, legal advice and consultation on civil matters presented by the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program for Dallas County residents who meet certain financial guidelines, will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Friendship-West Baptist 2020 West Church, Wheatland Road. For more information, visit www.dallasvolunteerattorneyprogram.org.

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Free Legal Clinics, legal advice and consultation on civil matters presented by the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program for Dallas County residents who meet certain financial guidelines, will begin at 5 p.m. at Grace United Methodist Church, 4105 Junius St. For more information, visit www.dallasvolunteerattorneyprogram.org.

20 Texans Can Academies – Dallas Cares for Kids Luncheon, honoring Maurine Dickey and recognizing individuals who exemplify family and community leadership while benefiting the students at Texas Can Academies’ six Dallas-area campuses, will be held at 11 a.m. at the Belo Mansion, 2101 Ross Ave. For more information, call Felicia Gummi at 214944-1955.

Disclaimer: The Dallas Examiner makes every effort to accurately list all calendar events. However, The Dallas Examiner bears no responsibility for schedule changes and/or cancellations. Contact information on each event listing is provided for the public for confirmation and additional information.

Send your calendar events and a photo no less than two weeks before your event:

Email: calendar@dallasexaminer.com