Houston Defender: May 6, 2021

TRAVIS SCOTT Giving back and making his mark

SPORTS

FEATURE

BENJAMIN CRUMP

TAIRAH JOHNSON

Black America’s “Attorney General” will deliver the address at Texas Southern University’s graduation.

Volume 90, issue 27 May 6, 2021

The odds on favorite from Fort Bend Marshall shares what motivates her strength and grace.

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DN On the web

FIT & FINE Karinn Chavarria Occupation: Marketing Manager Education: University of Houston Major: Journalism Motto: Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Former President Barack Obama delivering a PSA on the COVID-19 vaccine.

Message from the Managing Editor

children, your little kids, to take medicine I’m going to give Texas Republicans their whose effects we do not fully understand” and props. They are masters at “The sky is falling” somehow turned a vaccination PSA into the messaging. Their latest These-minorities-areDemocratic bogeyman at work. Can someone trying-to-erase-us move is scaring white folks tell that dude there is no COVID-19 vaccine into believing that teaching kids diversity is for young children. Oh, wait, those are facts somehow a bad thing. The Texas legislature and facts don’t matter to this guy. is really introducing bills to change the state’s civic education curriculum by advancing bills Ban upheld that would restrict the discussion of current Former President Donald Trump won’t events and public policy in the classroom and return to Facebook. Since the day after the ReShonda Tate prohibit critical race theory in public schools. deadly Jan. 6 riots on the U.S. Capitol, Trump’s If you think that’s not a big deal, just look in Southlake, Texas, a social media accounts have been silent — muzzled for inciting community northwest of Dallas. ‘Anti-woke’ candidates who violence using the platforms as online megaphones. The social opposed critical race theory in schools swept local elections network’s quasi-independent Oversight Board has voted to perrecently and took over the school board. They managed to manently ban his account after it was suspended four months scare voters into rejecting a school diversity plan as an effort ago for inciting violence that led to the deadly riot. Trump has to indoctrinate students with a far-left ideology that would also been permanently banned from Twitter. Unfortunately, the “institutionalize discrimination against white children and board said they must re-evaluate in July. Hey Zuckerburg, keep those with conservative Christian values.” The landslide the ban forever! Let’s leave the lies and hate on Trump’s new for conservative Republicans came nine months after blog on his website. progressives on the school board introduced a plan to instate critical race theory in the local school curricu- Report for jury duty “There’s nothing more lum and force educators to take diversity training and The recent Jury Appreciation Week in Harris County got me gratifying than other so-called anti-racism courses. They’re going to thinking…How many of you got your notice for jury duty, setting a goal to do everything they can to whitewash then tossed it aside? Wait, don’t answer that. Just know that for yourself and our history. Let us not forget the doing that is something we as a people have got to stop. The reaching it.”

Dallas teacher last year who was Derrick Chauvin case is proof positive of what’s possible when teaching students that Black folks the makeup of a jury is racially diverse. The only way that’s going loved their Masters and were happy to be to happen is if we show up. So make sure you answer the call! slaves. Yeah, look for more of that with this move.

Whitewashing history

@feedthecurves Read more on Friday about Karinn Chavarria at defendernetwork.com If you are Fit & Fine email: fitnfine@defendernetwork.com

The hate is real

Former President Barack Obama can’t even promote the COVID-19 vaccine without getting hate from FOX News. And Hater-in-Chief Tucker Carlson is leading the pack, calling Black America’s most beloved president “a creepy old guy.”

Carlson attacked Obama and other celebrities for trying to get people motivated to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Yeah, he’s really out here throwing dirt on folks who want Americans to get vaccinated and therefore prevent the spread of an infectious disease. In a recent public service announcement targeting young people on Yahoo News, Obama encouraged them to get the shot. That’s a good thing, right? Not if you’re a mediocre white man trying to appeal to Trump-lovers. Carlson described Obama as “some creepy old guy telling your

In this week’s paper

• Benjamin Crump is the graduation speaker at TSU. You’ve got to check out his profile.

• Rapper Travis Scott is proving he’s more than just someone who rocks the mic. He’s giving back and making his mark.

• Sports reporters Terrance Harris gives us the latest on the Texans draft.

On the web

• How the Dallas school district is changing its discipline of Black students.

• A year later and still no answers on the death of one-yearold Maleah Davis.

• Catch our Straight Talk video series, where leaders and experts weigh in on hot topics.

May 6, 2021 |

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DEFENDER NETWORK

DN News Vice Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum is inviting the community to submit names for a new library in District K. Details on submitting can be found at DefenderNetwork.com.

Johnson Space Center Deputy Director Vanessa Wyche has been named Acting Director of NASA. She has been with NASA 31 years.

Corporations oppose Texas voting restrictions Defender News Service

With less than a month left in the legislative session — and Texas Republicans split on which package of proposals might cross the finish line — Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Unilever, Patagonia and two dozen other companies are urging state lawmakers not to pass new restrictions on voting.

In the biggest pushback so far by business against the GOP’s legislative bid to ratchet up the state’s already restrictive voting rules, national companies joined in a statement voicing their opposition Tuesday with local businesses and several local chambers of commerce representing LGBTQ, Hispanic and Black members of the business community.

“We stand together, as a nonpartisan coalition, calling on all elected leaders in Texas to support reforms that make democracy more accessible and oppose any changes that would restrict eligible voters’ access to the ballot,”

A man votes in Houston. GOP measures want to place restrictions on voting.

the businesses wrote in their letter. “We urge business and civic leaders to join us as we call upon lawmakers to uphold our ever elusive core democratic principle: equality. By supporting a stronger trustworthy democracy, we will elevate our economy.”

The statement does not address specific legislation, but comes as Texas Republicans press forward with bills in the name of “election integrity” despite little to no evidence of widespread fraud and warnings from voting rights advocates and lawyers that many of them would be disproportionately harmful to voters of color.

Following the recent passage of new restrictions in Georgia, major corporations began responding to criticism about staying out of that fight by largely coalescing around joint statements that generally stated their opposition to election changes that make it harder to vote.

NEWSBRIEFS GRAND JURY DECLINES TO INDICT OFFICER IN JOSHUA JOHNSON CASE A Harris County grand jury has declined to indict a sheriff’s deputy for the 2020 fatal shooting of Missouri City resident Joshua Johnson.

The DA’s office presented the evidence and a grand jury handed down a no-bill, declining to charge anyone with a crime.

According to the DA’s office, the case was thoroughly and independently reviewed by the Civil Rights Division of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which went to the scene of the shooting the morning it happened, and also hired a ballistics expert.

However, James Hudson, spokesman for the Johnson family, strongly disagrees. To the news of Officer Tu Tran, the officer who shot and killed Johnson, not being indicted, Hudson said, “Simply unbelievable.”

TEXAS HOUSE MAKES IT HARDER TO BOND OUT OF JAIL The Texas House of Representatives has passed a bill that would make it harder for people to bond out of jail before trial.

House Bill 20, also known as the Damon Allen Act, passed the House 98-46. The measure, which Gov. Greg Abbott had declared an emergency item for the session, had bipartisan support, and included amendments by a number of Demo-

cratic members. Much of the discussion of the bill took place between Murr and Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier of Fort Worth, chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, who said Collier helped go “line by line” to flesh out a bill that addressed their concerns. The bill as passed contains 10 amendments, half of them authored by Democrats, including an allowance for indigent defendants to fill out an affidavit stating they can’t pay the full bail amount, and declaring the maximum amount the person can pay.

DEBORAH PEOPLES INCHES CLOSER TO BECOMING FORT WORTH’S FIRST BLACK MAYOR Voters in Fort Worth, Texas, could elect the city’s first Black mayor next month.

After garnering the highest percentage of votes during a general election on May 1, Deborah Peoples, the Tarrant County Democratic Party chair, will advance to a runoff election against Republican Mattie Parker, who previously worked as the chief of staff for the outgoing mayor.

Peoples and Parker beat out eight other candidates, with Peoples getting the most votes out of all 10 candidates. The two women offer different visions for the diverse city, with Peoples positioning herself as the unity candidate and touting her decades of executive experience and a broad coalition of support.

TSU ACADEMIC SIGNING DAY

TSU ACADEMIC SIGNING DAY Zoe Russell (holding check) and family were on hand for the inaugural TSU Honors College Signing Day. Russell and four others, Kennedi Lee, Taylor Tran, Rayah Wynn and Alexus Nunley each received $36,000, 4-year scholarships and will enter the prestigious college, named for the legendary Dr.Thomas F. Freeman, as freshmen this fall. Aswad Walker

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DN News Sharpton calls for transparency at funeral of Andrew Brown Jr.

Defender News Service

The Rev. Al Sharpton issued a powerful call for transparency and the release of body camera footage at the recent funeral for Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man shot and killed by deputies in North Carolina, with the civil rights leader likening withholding the video to a “con” job done on the public.

“I know a con game when I see it.

Release the whole tape and let the folks see what happened to Andrew Brown,” Sharpton told mourners in a scorching eulogy at the invitation-only service at a church in Elizabeth City.

“You don’t need time to get a tape out.

Put it out! Let the world see what there is to see. If you’ve got nothing to hide, then what are you hiding?” he said, to loud applause.

A judge ruled earlier that the video would not be made public for at least a month to avoid interference with a pending state investigation into the April 21 shooting of Brown, 42, by deputies attempting to serve drug-related search and arrest warrants.

An independent autopsy commissioned by his family said Brown was shot five times, including once in the back of

Rev. Al Sharpton speaks during the funeral for Andrew Brown Jr. AP/Gerry Broome

the head. Family members who were privately shown a portion of the body camera video say Brown was trying to drive away when he was shot. The shooting sparked days of protests in the city in rural northeastern North Carolina.

Relatives of other Black men killed by law enforcement officers, including

siblings of George Floyd, Eric Garner’s mother and Daunte Wright’s sister also spoke at the service. Family members have said that Brown was a proud father of seven, who was known for entertaining relatives with his stories and jokes.

The FBI has launched a civil rights probe of the shooting, while state agents

are conducting a separate investigation.

Three deputies who were involved remain on leave. The state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, has called for swift release of the body camera footage, which must be approved by a judge under state law.

The search and arrest warrants accused Brown of possessing small amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine that he intended to sell. Brown had a criminal history dating back to the 1990s, including past drug convictions.

A prosecutor has said that Brown’s car ran into the deputies before they opened fire, while a family attorney who watched a 20-second clip of the footage disagreed, saying that Brown posed no threat and was driving away from deputies. The sheriff has said his deputies weren’t injured.

During his eulogy, Sharpton slammed the notion that Brown’s past record or actions on the day of the shooting justified violence against him.

“Whatever record Andrew had, Andrew didn’t hurt nobody,” he said, adding: “How do you try and justify shooting a man that was not a threat to you, because he was running away from you?”

Biden wants 70% of adults vaccinated by July 4 Defender News Service

The announcement comes as the Biden President Joe Biden is setting a new administration has shifted away from setvaccination goal to deliver at least one ting a target for the U.S. to reach ‘herd dose to 70% of adult Americans by July immunity,’ but instead focusing on deliv4, just as the administration pushes to ering as many shots into arms as possimake it easier for people to ble. Officials said that Biden’s get shots and to bring the vaccination target would country closer to normalcy. result in significant reducVACCINES The new goal, which also tion in COVID-19 cases

BY THE includes fully vaccinatheading into the summer.

NUMBERS ing 160 million adults by To that end, the Biden Independence Day, comes administration is shifting the as demand for vaccines government’s focus toward Adults received has dropped off markedly expanding smaller and at least one dose nationwide, with some states mobile vaccination clinics leaving more than half their to deliver doses to hardervaccine doses unordered. to-reach communities. It is Fully vaccinated Biden will call for states to also deploying hundreds of make vaccines available on a millions of dollars to try to Doses administered walk-in basis and will direct boost interest in vaccines per day many pharmacies to do the through education camsame, and his administration paigns and access to shots is for the first time moving to shift doses through community organizations that from states with weaker demand to areas can help bring people to clinics. with stronger interest in the shots.

56%

105 mil

950,000

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee recently held a Get Out the Vaccine Clinic at TSU.

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GET YOUR FREE COVID-19 VACCINE Walk in or schedule online for your free Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Houston Methodist Houston Methodist experts stand behind the COVID-19 vaccine and we have safely administered more than a half-million doses. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine means that we are getting closer to returning our lives to normal — back to school, back to work and back to spending time doing the things we love with the people we care about.

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Visit any of our 7 vaccination locations Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

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Visit houstonmethodist.org/vaccine to schedule an appointment online.

Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital Houston Methodist Josie Roberts Administration Building

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COVID-19 vaccinations are provided free of charge to individuals 16 years of age and older.

Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital

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DN InFocus FOCUS SOCIAL LET THE PEOPLE BE HEARD!

DEMANDING

BLACK HISTORY in K-12 Curriculums

COVID-19, Social Justice protest breed young people’s fight for African-American studies

The psychological warfare on Black people is fine-tuned and far-reaching.

I am a product of K-12 miseducation.

I had to learn to unlearn so much of what I was taught throughout my K-12 public school years and what I learned through my experiences of being subjected to an educational system controlled by the historical (and current) enemy of my people.”

Sheena Fox

educational systems, agricultural, political Dr. Carter G. Woodson, and social structures.” founder of what would evenHowever, because Black History is tually become Black History most often taught with enslavement as Month, wrote in his iconic the starting point, Dr. Daina Ramey 1933 book The Mis-EducaBerry, a professor of American history tion of the Negro, “When you at the University of Texas at Austin told control a man’s thinking you Dr. Carter G. NBC Philadelphia, “I feel like we’ve Woodson do not have to worry about missed several generations of learning.” his action… you do not need Enter Generation Z, young peoto send him to the back door. He will go ple born between 1997 – 2012. Middle without being told. In fact, if there is no and high schoolers nationally, are pushback door, he will cut one for his special ing back against this mis-education and benefit.” demanding African American Studies be Sadly, nearly 90 years later, educators are included in K-12 curriculums. As a result, still decrying the “mis-education” endured several states have either enacted changes

by Black and Brown students. However, (ex: Connecticut, New Jersey, Texas) or are now, students have joined today’s chorus currently considering them (i.e. Virginia demanding Black Studies be included in and Washington).

K-12 curriculums, thanks, in part, to the THE COVID-FACTOR coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 has facilitated this growing STUDENT MOVEMENT national movement in two ways. First, the According to William Moore, an edu- pandemic-induced home isolation meant cational consultant with all eyes were on the video of George Floyd’s K-college classroom death, resulting in a push not just for racial experience, one of justice but also educational justice—the the most egregious inclusion of Black history, literature, etc. omissions of Black in school curriculums. history from U.S. pubSecondly, with online social media interlic schools is the fact actions becoming the pandemic norm, that “Black people cre- William Moore communication mediums already mastered ated the world’s earliest civilizations, tools, by youth, Instagram and Facebook became medicines, art forms, languages, religions, their tools for organizing and pressuring

school districts.

To support this youth-led push #DiversifyOurNarrative was born. This California-based initiative offers youth supports, including email templates, to facilitate their efforts. According to #DiversifyOurNarrative, more than 3,500 students in 250 U.S. school districts have become part of the movement.

IN TEXAS

In 2020, a five-plus year battle to get Black Studies in Texas schools finally came to fruition when the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) approved an elective African American Studies course for high school students beginning in the 2020-21 school year.

Houston activists played a major role in this victory. The Hermann Park Rotary Club (HPRC) Education Committee, led

by Naomi Carrier, Jasmine Ayers and Dr. Robert Ford, worked with State School Board Member Lawrence Allen to help shape the final proposal based on a curriculum out of the Naomi Carrier Dallas/Ft.Worth area.

And when HISD showed no movement towards implementing the curriculum, a group of teens from Humble ISD added their voices to those demanding action.

NEGATIVE IMPACT OF MIS-EDUCATION

Why is this such a critical issue? Moore asserts when Blacks know little or nothing about their history it gives them a “pseudo-narrative” that has them believing the distorted media images about Blacks.

“It also nurtures the ‘culture of denial’ that says every culture that’s not European, especially Black culture, is less than valuable.”

In a 2019 post, educational blogger ShaRhond Knott-Dawson said, “Too often, students’ first exposure to Black History occurs through the study of slavery.

“Too often, Africans are portrayed in schools as savage, barbaric people. Those who came to the Americas were ‘lucky’ because they were saved from savage, unstable, poverty-stricken Africa. But the reality is, thousands of years of Black history existed before contact with Europe.”

Knott-Dawson added that part of the mis-education problem is teachers’ lack of knowledge about the fullness of Black history leaving many ill-equipped to teach students about ancient African civilizations.

And it’s not just Black students who suffer. Moore says all students end up programmed to believe Blacks are less intelligent, less industrious and have had little or no impact on U.S. or world history. These anti-Black biases continue into adulthood via anti-Black laws, policies and

media images, and systemic, institutional mistreatments.

As an example, University of Houston history professor Dr. Gerald Horne points to the 1915 film Birth of a Nation, labeling it “a cinematic defamation of African-Americans, which led directly to physical assaults upon our people.”

The film, co-produced and directed

by D.W. Griffith, and based off the novel and Dr. Gerald play “The Clansman,” Horne depicted Blacks immediately after the Civil War as lazy, lust-filled savages hell-bent on raping white women.

The movie portrayed the Ku Klux Klan as the heroes and saviors of civilization.

This erroneous mis-telling of history, Horne and other historians point out, played a major role in the Red Summer of 1919, the national wave of white domestic terrorism that saw Black individuals, businesses and communities ravaged by violence, lynching and land theft. The film also led to exponential membership growth for the Klan.

QUOTES

Miseducation is the intentional, yet subtle, guidance of learners away from free thought. It is the antithesis of guided inquiry.”

Mishael Mahmud

“Stop blaming schools. The school mirrors the community. If you don’t like what the school is producing, fix the community. If you fix the community, you fix the school.”

Karla Brown

K-12 Miseducation is the natural outgrowth of the fallacy that is Public Education, children reduced to scores and percentiles.”

Norma Thomas

By Aswad Walker

Carter G. Woodson

Other social commentators say the mis-telling of Black history has led elected officials and ordinary citizens alike viewing the over-criminalization of Blacks, along with police violence and voter suppression efforts against Blacks, seem “justified.”

EFFORTS AT CHANGE/ SOLUTIONS

Though Gen Z is leading the fight to add serious color to school curriculums, this is by no means a new movement.

In 1926 Dr. Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week in hopes of making Black History part of American and World History. Woodson’s contemporary, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, pushed for the same, as did countless others, including Texas-born historian, the late Dr. Asa Hillard, and members of the HPRC. Carrier says including Black history improves students’ “level of self-esteem to see themselves not only in books, literature and media, but see themselves as a part of a global community.”

Multiple studies show that when Black history is infused in school curriculums, Black students show an improvement in

self-esteem, grades and attendance.

Many parents, however, have chosen to fight the lack of educational curriculum diversity by becoming part of the charter school and home school movements.

Moore reflected this mindset when stating, “The only solution is to write our own narrative, through print media, books, magazines, papers, social media, TV, radio, internet, movies, etc., to communicate who we are and where we come from.”

Moore also recommends Blacks build upon “the body of knowledge left from our great writers, historians, scholars, anthropologists, etc. of the past.”

Ayers, who was part of local efforts to get Texas to approve an African American Studies course, isn’t putting all her eggs in ISD baskets.

Echoing the urgency of Gen Z members, Ayers said, “If the school districts are not going to teach what we want them to teach, because we are part of the community and because students expect these classes that they’re not delivering on, then it’s up to the community, the village to help our kids.”

See video on Defendernetwork.com: Bishop Kimathi Nelson and Dr. Ellene Polidore speak on the positive impact Black history has on all students.

“Philosophers have long conceded, however, that every man has two educations: ‘that which is given to him, and the other that which he gives himself… What we are merely taught seldom nourishes the mind like that which we teach ourselves.”

“As another has well said, to handicap a student by teaching him that his Black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching.”

“The oppressor has always indoctrinated the weak with his interpretation of the crimes of the strong.”

“If you teach the Negro that he has accomplished as much good as any other race he will aspire to equality and justice without regard to race. Such an effort would upset the program of the oppressor in Africa and America.”

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DN Entertainment

TRAVIS SCOTT HELPS HBCUs

to another school (the University of Texas, Travis Scott, the rapper famous for his string San Antonio). That desire of education was of stylish hip-hop hits, from “SICKO MODE” always drawn into me through my grandparto “Highest in the Room,” and for the wild ents, my dad and my mom. I went to college mosh pits at his concerts, has been flexing his and kind of wish I finished, but I didn’t. For philanthropic arms. other reasons, whether it was financial, I In October, Scott tweeted that he’d pay a had a different kind of drive. But I knew if semester’s tuition to five students at historically certain things could’ve been taken care of, Black colleges and universities. He chose some I probably would have been around. My of the recipients via social media, and a month grandfather passed not too long ago. I want later he launched his charitable Cactus Jack to use any type of power I have to carry on Foundation. The foundation partnered with his legacy on education and the knowledge his hometown of Houston to distribute 50,000 he instilled in me to help the next person free meals to residents during the Texas freeze who wants to be educated and not held in February. back from education by anything. But the For his efforts, the Grammy-nominated scholarship is just one aspect of the foundarapper, whose real name is Jacques tion. When we did the Travis Scott Webster, was one of five recipients past scholarships, performs recently announced for the first the freshmen RAD — Red Carpet Advocacy — during Day 2 of couldn’t even Music Midtown impact awards, which honor culgo to campus in Atlanta. tural figures who “inspire purpose” because of the in their work. pandemic. They Scott’s foundation plans to give couldn’t even several more scholarships for HBCU students.

Separately, the rapper, is working on a project in Houston that will operate as a design education center for youth.

The Associated Press spoke recently with Scott about his philanthropy and other work.

By Associated Press

enjoy the campus life, and their parents probably couldn’t go to work. I just wanted to help. The connectivity between that and my grandfather, and helping some of these kids who come from the same community I come from, it’s important. Especially some of these kids that go to HBCUs. My sister goes to Howard University, and my brother goes to Prairie View A&M. A lot of people will get a lot of stuff done if the hardship wasn’t on them. So anytime you can come through and take that burden off their back, it’s amazing.

Q: You partnered with the New Schools Parsons School of Design in New York and My Brother’s Keeper, Houston — an initiative to reduce opportunity gaps for minority boys and young men in Houston — to bring Parsons’ fashion design programs to the city. Why did you want to bring that program to your hometown?

A: In cities like Houston, we don’t really have collegiate schools like Parsons where people

Q: Forbes once called you “corporate America’s brand whisperer” because of your successful endorsement deals with companies like McDonalds. What is the driving force behind it?

A: I’m looking at these not as endorsements but as partnerships. The main thing with what I do at Cactus Jack with my squad of people is connecting with these brands instead of things being thrown upon us. It’s about bringing change and helping inspire companies to do different things that really connect to who they call a consumer but I call humans — real fans.

Read more of the interview at Defendernetwork.com.

Committed to Our Community

Q: Why did you decide to launch your foundation in the fall? And how are you selecting the students to receive scholarships?

A: I felt like sharing inspiration, and sharing knowledge is key. It’s one of the main goals. My grandfather, on my dad’s side, was a dean of the graduate school at Prairie View A&M. My grandmother taught at Prairie View, and my dad and all my uncles went to Prairie View, and I was supposed to go there. But I went

can get those ideas out. You kind of have to go to New York City, London or Paris. But there are people in the state of Texas, the South or the Midwest who are creators but don’t have that outlet. With this program, kids in high school or college can start learning these designs early when they might not have the finances to go all the way to New York City. Thankfully, Parsons partnered with me to create this dream and establish it in Houston to help more creatives coming out from my hometown.

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DN Feature

Attorney Benjamin Crump, center, chants “Justice for Donald Neely” as he and Bishop James Dixon, pastor of The Community Of Faith Church in Houston, lead a march down 23rd Street in Galveston, Texas on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. AP Photo/The Galveston County Daily News, Jennifer Reynolds

BENJAMIN CRUMP ‘BLACK AMERICA’S ATTORNEY GENERAL’ SEEMS TO BE EVERYWHERE

Associated Press

Ben Crump, the Rev. Al Sharpton says, is “Black America’s attorney general.”

In less than a decade, the Florida-based attorney has become the voice for the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd -- Black people whose deaths at the hands of police and vigilantes sparked a movement.

He has won multimillion-dollar settlements in police brutality cases. He’s pushed cities to ban no-knock warrants. He has told a congressional committee that reform is needed because “it’s become painfully obvious we have two systems of justice; one for white Americans and one for Black Americans.” And he’s stood with Black farmers taking on an agribusiness giant, and families exposed to lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan.

“He’s a real believer in what he’s doing. He has taken the attacks. He has taken the cases that others wouldn’t take,” Sharpton said, adding, “People can go to him. The reason I trust him is because he has never misled me. Good or bad, he’ll tell me the truth about a client.”

These days, he seems to be everywhere. In April, he joined with George Floyd’s family in celebrating the conviction of ex-cop Derek Chauvin. Then he was among the mourners at the funeral for Daunte Wright, who was shot during a traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis in the week leading up to Chauvin’s verdict — a juxtaposition he finds incredible.

After Wright’s funeral, he was back in Florida to call for a federal investigation of a deputy who fatally shot two Black teenagers. And he began this past week demanding that police in North Carolina be more transparent after deputies

fatally shot a Black man outside of his house.

Critics see him as an opportunist who never fails to show up amid another tragedy. But those who know Crump say he’s been fighting for fairness long before his name was in headlines.

“Where there’s injustice, that’s where he wants to be,” said Ronald Haley, a Louisiana attorney, who’s among a wide network of lawyers Crump works with on lawsuits. “He understands he’s needed everywhere, but he also understands he can’t be everywhere.”

Crump, 51, is a tireless worker who mixes Southern charm, a talent for attracting media attention to his cases and a firm belief that racism afflicts the nation, and the courts are the place to take it on.

He has an uncanny way of making his clients feel like kin, they say.

“He has never missed a Thanksgiving to check in on me, he calls on Christmas,” said Allisa Findley, who first met Crump three days after her brother, Botham Jean, was fatally shot in his apartment by a white Dallas police officer who

Ben Crump will be the commencement speaker for Texas Southern University on May 8th. mistook the Black man’s apartment for her own.

“Even the little things, he makes time for it, when there are no cameras rolling,” she said.

“He does feel like family. I consider Ben family.”

Terrence Floyd, the 42-year-old brother of George Floyd, said Crump’s attention and care for his family over the last year has bonded them

I literally pray for the day when I can close down the police brutality division of my law firm because I am so tired of seeing Black people killed by the police unjustifiably."

Ben Crump

beyond the attorney-client relationship.

“It feels like it’s more family-based than business,” he said. “After a while, I went from calling him ‘Mr. Crump’ to calling him ‘Unc,’ like he was one of my uncles.”

Crump keeps up a dizzying schedule that takes him all over, but he makes sure he’s home for Sunday services at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. He lives in Tallahassee with his wife and their 8-year-old daughter, Brooklyn; he also helped raise two cousins and became their legal guardian.

“I look at my daughter,” Crump said, “I look in her eyes, and then I look in the eyes of my nieces and nephews, and my little cousins — all these little Black and brown children. You see so much hope, so much optimism in their eyes.

We’ve got to give them a better world.”

He added: “What I’m trying to do, as much as I can, even sometimes singlehandedly, is increase the value of Black life.”

Crump’s path to becoming a lawyer and

advocate began while growing up in Lumberton, North Carolina, where he was the oldest of nine siblings and step-siblings.

Since his rise from personal injury attorney to a voice of Black America began in 2013 when he represented the family of Trayvon Martin, a teenager killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida. He then took on the case for the family of Michael Brown who was fatally shot by a white officer near St. Louis.

Crump organized marches and brought media attention to both of their deaths — each happening during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

He has gone on to win financial settlements in about 200 police brutality cases. In March, the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyd’s family, which Crump said is the largest pretrial civil rights lawsuit settlement ever.

Read more at www.DefenderNetwork.com.

10 | May 6, 2021 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Sports Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr, 20, became the fourth player in NBA history to score at least 50 points in a game prior to his 21st birthday during his historic 50-point, 11-assists outburst to stun Milwaukee.

Texas Southern senior pitcher Mariah Youngblood threw three shutout innings in a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for her first win in her first appearance in a year.

HOOP DREAMS

ISAIAH LEBLANC ASCENDS TO PUERTO RICAN LEAGUE

By Terrance Harris

Isaiah LeBlanc’s highlight basketball moment wasn’t captured in front of the television cameras for millions of American households to see.

But it indeed happened. The former Kinkaid and Ridge Point standpoint was a lottery pick of Puerto Rico’s Balconcesto Superior de Nacionale (BSN) on April 25. LeBlanc, who scored over 2,500 points during his high school career, went seventh overall in the draft to Brujos de Guayama.

“I’m super excited,” said the 19-yearold who is a year removed from graduating from Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy in Dallas. “More than anything I’m honored because I just realized a couple of days ago that I’m the youngest guy to go into the BSN to get drafted.

“It’s amazing, the more and more we look into it the more and more I realize I am breaking barriers. It’s so much that goes into it. I’m super excited but I really haven’t processed it yet. It feels like a dream.”

The grandson of well-respected civic leader Floyd LeBlanc, this was anything but a dream. It was a moment that had been building for years as LeBlanc moved from Kinkaid to Ridge Point, then Oak Cliff, and this past year with Brewster Prep School in New Hampshire.

A plan was put into place by the LeBlanc family for the 6-foot-3 combo guard to get the most out of his basketball skills, and it has been followed.

“Although I moved around a lot and I’ve been through a lot, I wouldn’t change anything because it made me who I am and it has prepared me to appreciate this opportunity,” said LeBlanc, who passed up scholarship offers to play for UH, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech and LSU to turn pro. “I love the process. I love the story because that makes the ending so much better for me.”

The end is nowhere in sight but the process certainly includes a successful stint in Puerto Rico followed by a career in the NBA. But for now, LeBlanc, who is part Puerto Rican, is eagerly awaiting his opportunity with the BSN. Any day now, he expects the team owner and head coach to arrive at his Houston home to work out the details of his contract so that he can head to Puerto Rico to get his career started.

“I think it will hit me once I go down there or they come here and put that paper in front of me,” LeBlanc said. “It will hit me but right now I’m just excited. But I’m putting all of that excitement back into grinding and working and organizing everything so that when it does come everything will fall into place.”

But for LeBlanc this is about much more than playing basketball. It’s about the opportunity to use his substantial stage to make a difference.

“Everybody is asking me if I’m excited and of course I’m excited,” he said. “But I think it’s not just for basketball because I’ve been doing that my whole life, but I’m excited for what’s coming with it in addition.

The helping people, having a bigger influence and to having a stage. That’s what is more important to me. So I think that is what is important at the end of the day.”

One of the first things LeBlanc says he wants to do is have basketball camps for kids to help them prepare to live out their dreams. LeBlanc believes his proximity in age will allow him to reach young kids in ways some can’t.

“I was in high school a year ago, so I can talk to the kids, I can relate to the kids,” LeBlanc said. “If I have a high school camp, I can relate to where they are because I was just in their shoes a year ago.

“Now I have a whole new way of doing things. I can use my influence to where I can use my leadership skills, I can use my communications skills, I can talk to everybody. I can make a difference in the community, I can make a difference in the world.

So that’s what’s more exciting for me.

I’m doing it on an international level.

“Right now the endpoints are beyond anything I can think of. So I’m excited.”

Sports Briefs IS THIS THE END FOR WATSON? For many, the Texans’ decision to draft quarterback Davis Mills in the third round of the NFL Draft (the team’s actual first pick of Deshaun Watson the draft) seemed to signal a true end to Deshaun Watson’s time in Houston. Watson has said he no longer wants to play for the Texans, and the sexual misconduct allegations he is facing from several massage therapists may have set in motion a mutual parting of the ways.

SHAQ’S SON JOINING TSU HOOP TEAM Texas Southern hoops coach Johnny Jones has Shaqir O’Neal landed a bigname recruit. Now we will see if the talent will match the name, with Shaqir O’Neal, the youngest son of Shaquille O’Neal, announcing his commitment to the Tigers.

He is a 6-6 shooting guard.

TEXANS ADD DEPTH THROUGH NFL DRAFT In addition to a quarterback, the Texans also drafted Michigan wide receiver Nico Collins Nico Collins in the third round, Miami tight end Brevin Jordan in the fifth found, TCU linebacker Garret Wallow in the fifth round and Arizona defensive tackle Roy Lopez in the sixth round.

Without a first or second round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, there is a feeling the Texans fell well short of meeting their need for immediate impact players.

May 6, 2021 |

| 11

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Sports FORT BEND MARSHALL

SENIOR TAIRAH JOHNSON IS NEXT LEVEL

By Jodie B. Jiles

Fort Bend Marshall senior hurdler / long jumper Tairah Johnson is without question the odds-on favorite in the girls 100m hurdles with the only sub-14 second (13.73) qualifying time in her field at the state track meet this season.

Since her freshman year, Johnson has progressed, and now that her senior playoffs campaign is in full effect, she’s getting faster.

Johnson’s natural ability to attack the hurdles with strength, agility, style and grace set her apart from the competition, and fans should look out for what Johnson has yet to accomplish on the next level.

The Defender spoke with Johnson after the Class 5A area track meet to discuss her approach, progress through the playoffs and keys to success heading into the state track meet.

APPROACH

“I have a vision of the race and then I block out everybody else and just focus on my lane.”

AREA MEET WIN

“I just executed and trusted in God.”

KEYS TO WINNING GOLD AT STATE “Trust in God and taking it day by day.”

ADVICE TO OTHERS

“Follow your dreams. Don’t follow anybody else’s dream.”

ABOUT TAIRAH JOHNSON

Twitter: @hurdlequeentt Instagram: @hurdlequeentt Athletes She Studies: Allyson Felix and Tara Davis Favorite Artist: Kevin Gates World Problem You Would Solve: Police Brutality Shoutouts: “My coach and my dad.”

12 | May 6, 2021 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Feature

CELEBRATE MOTHER’S DAY

Defender News Service

After a rough year, many are looking forward to celebrating Mother’s Day. In fact, 83% of people surveyed in a recent National Retail Federation poll said they expected to celebrate Mother’s Day this year, spending an average of $220 per person to honor moms on their special day.

The most popular Mother’s Day 2021 gifts include the classics — greeting cards, special outings and flowers are among the top choices — but those are hardly the only options.

Shoppers ages 25 to 34 said they planned to spend an average of $367 on Mother’s Day. Does that mean things are mostly back to normal for Mother’s Day this year? Not exactly.

Nearly 50% of those surveyed said they planned on brunch or another special outing for Mother’s Day 2021. That understandably represents an increase over last year’s holiday, which occurred during widespread government shutdowns. But it’s still well below pre-pandemic levels.

Whether you’re picking up a present for her or just buying something for yourself, see below for plenty of great deals available that would surely earn a stamp of approval from the most important lady in your life.

Target: A wide range of giftable items for

moms, from headphones to chocolates, are on sale at Target now.

MAJOR RETAILERS Amazon: The mega-retailer is marking down an array of products that would make ideal gifts for Mom, from earbuds to DNA kits.

EBay: Like-new products from top brands like iRobot and Sony are 15% off with code PICKCR4MOM. Macy’s: Save on hundreds of items from top brands at the department store right now.

HOME AND HEALTH 1800Flowers: The internet’s most ubiquitous online florist is running a range of promotions right now.

Aerogarden: Mom can start her own indoor garden with 20% with code MOM2021.

Atlas Coffee Club: Enjoy up to $50 off all Coffee World Tour gifts, plus free shipping — perfect for the java-loving mom in your life.

FTD: Take up to 25% off flowers, gifts and more.

Homesick: Save 10% on nostagia-inducing candles sitewide (including savings on personalized candles) and 20% when you spend $65.

Plus, use code FLOWERS for an additional 5% off your entire order.

Peet’s Coffee: Make sure Mom has her morning caffeine fix with 20% off sitewide using code THANKSMOM. ProFlowers: Save up to 25% on flowers, plants and other giftable items.

Yankee Candle: The Mother’s Day Tote is only $45 (a $100 value) with your $20 purchase from the candle company.

FASHION AND BEAUTY

Coach: Use code SAVE30 to take 30% off select

styles, including cute handbags and sandals.

Kate Spade: Take 30% off Mother’s Day picks from the designer with code FORMOM. Michael Kors: Take 25% off your entire purchase at The Mother’s Day Event.

New York & Company: Everything from the brand is 40% off.

Reebok: Take 30% off activewear and gear sitewide with code MOM. SHARE THE LOVE Whether it’s through their personality, looks, hobbies, or a combination of everything, children become a reflection of the woman who raised them.

We’re inviting readers to share their favorite mother-daughter or motherson photos and sentiments.

Include a nice message for your loved one along with a photo on our social media pages at Facebook.com/ DefenderNetwork.com or Instagram.Com/DefenderNetwork.

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