Urban Voice September 2015 by Urban Voice

Presidential Contender Dr. Ben Carson To Sign Books In Chattanooga

urbanv ice CULTURE NEWS POLITICS

EDITION #003 ▪ SEPTEMBER 2011

community

Business

Health Politics Lifestyle

SEPTEMBER 2015

CHATTANOOGA | CLEVELAND

Target Pays $2.8 Million To Settle Discrimination Lawsuit Target (No. 25 on DiversityInc’s 2015 Top 50 Companies for Diversity) has agreed to pay $2.8 million in a discrimination suit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission..

URBAN VOICE | NewsMagazine | September 2015.

Laughing While Black?“The greatest glory in living 11 Black Womenlies not in never falling, but kicked Off Californiain rising every time we fall.” Wine Train Tour

2015

+HBCU + ++

Company issues apology to members of a California book club who claimed they were asked to leave a train because of thier race.

2015 HBCU Football Classic Football Classic Schedule

Terrence Howard’s Schedule ‘Empire’ Role Celebrating 50 Years Q. Can Treating PTSD solve Scaled Back

with the Bar-Kays ! Celebrating 50 Years with the Bar-Kays ! Terrence Howard reported to have his role cut due to divorce proceedings with his soon to be ex-wife.

Gun Violence and Unemployment in Urban Neighborhoods?”

„ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL”

THE NATIONAL AVERAGE INTERNET SPEED IS 10 MEGABITS PER SECOND.*

IN CHATTANOOGA, WE MULTIPLY THAT BY 100.

Call 423-648-1372 or visit epbFi.com to feel the power of the nation’s fastest Internet. * Source: BGR Media report, 2014

NATIONAL NEWS brief Laughing While Black? 11 Black Women kicked Off California Wine Train Tour Receive Official Apology San Francisco, CA --A popular vintage wine train tour company that offers train rides through California’s famous Napa Valley has apologized profusely to a group of Black women that were kicked off the train due to noise complaints. The women were a part of the Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club, and they were participating in the train tour as one of their group activities. After 11 members of the group were removed for being “too loud”, they took their frustration to Facebook and the story spread like wild fire and sparked an outrage. An online petition was even created with more than 13,000 signatures of people who demanded that the women be apologized to. All of this eventualy got back to Anthony Giaccio, CEO of the The Napa Valley Wine Train, who issued a public written statement, saying, “The Napa Valley Wine Train was 100 percent wrong in its handling of this issue. We accept full responsibility for our failures and for the chain of events that led to this regrettable treatment of our guests.”

Target Pays $2.8 Million To Settle Discrimination Lawsuit Minneapolis --Target (No. 25 on DiversityInc’s 2015 Top 50 Companies for Diversity) has agreed to pay $2.8 million in a discrimination suit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.According to the EEOC, it was discovered in 2006 that some of Target’s employment assessments, which the EEOC described as “not sufficiently job-related and consistent with business necessity, and thus violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” disproportionately screened out applicants based on race and/or gender.

University of Pennsylvania Study Finds Most School Suspensions of Black Children Are in the South Philadelphia --A new University of Pennsylvania study has illuminated the problem of the school-to-prison pipeline by examining the disciplining of Black children in public schools in the South. The study, “Disproportionate Impact of K-12 School Suspension and Expulsion on Black Students in Southern States,” found that most of the suspensions of African-American children took place in the 13 Southern states. Black children comprise, on average 24 percent of students in 3,022 districts examined in the region, which includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. The report found that nationally, 1.2 million Black students were suspended from K-12 public schools in a single academic year and that 55 percent of those suspensions occurred in 13 Southern states. Additionally, districts in the South were responsible for 50 percent of Black student expulsions from public schools in the United States.

Pinnacle Closes Merger with Magna Bank NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (Nasdaq/NGS: PNFP) (“Pinnacle”) completed its previously announced merger with Magna Bank (“Magna”) The acquisition, which was first announced on April 28, 2015, was concluded following the receipt of shareholder approval from Magna’s shareholders and receipt of all required regulatory approvals.

CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY(CAU) SCHOLAR AMONG HBCU ALL-STARS FOR 2015 ATLANTA –The White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (WHIHBCUs) has announced its 2015 HBCU All-Stars, which includes Zoe McDowell, a junior biology major at Clark Atlanta University (CAU) from McDonough, Ga. The All-Stars are 83 undergraduate, graduate and professional students from 70 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), recognized for their accomplishments in academics, leadership and civic engagement. The All-Stars were selected from more than 450 students who submitted applications that included a transcript, resume, an essay and recommendations. During the course of the year, the HBCU All-Stars will serve as ambassadors of the WHIHBCUs by providing outreach and communication with their fellow students about the value of education and the role of the Initiative as a networking resource. Through social media and their relationships with community based organizations, the All-Stars will share promising and proven practices that support opportunities for all young people to achieve their educational and career potential.

New Ferguson Judge Orders ‘Sweeping Changes’ Ferguson--The new judge in Ferguson, Mo., has ordered “sweeping changes” to the city’s muchcriticized court system, including the withdrawal of all arrest warrants issued prior to 2015 and the reinstatement of driver’s licenses that were suspended solely for failing to appear in court or pay a fine. The announcement was made by Municipal Court Judge Donald McCullin, who was appointed in June 2015, in which he said the changes are aimed at restoring confidence in the court and easing the burden on defendants who lack financial resources. McCullin, who is Black, said all active warrants more than five years old will be withdrawn and defendants will be given new court dates along with additional options to resolve their cases, including payment plans and community service and/or commuting fines for indigent persons. Defendants with arrest warrants for minor traffic violations will no longer face incarceration and instead will be released on their own recognizance and given another court date.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s ASPiRE, Tracy McGrady and 2 Chainz Connect to Launch New Black College Tour Atlanta, GA — HBCU Direct, LLC (HD), a marketing collective specializing in HBCU relations, formed a multifaceted partnership with ASPiRE, the television network from Magic Johnson Enterprises, former NBA superstar Tracy “T-Mac” McGrady, and hip-hop celebrity 2 Chainz to build awareness of HBCUs and increase overall enrollment. The first effort of the strategic alliance is the September 2015 launch of a 20-campus Hoops-N-Hip Hop® Tour reaching 100,000 Black college students.

URBAN VOICE MAGAZINE 2015 | 3

SEPTEMBER 2015

AUGUST

EAST TENNESSEE EDITION

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SEPTEMBER IS SICKLE CELL AWARENESS MONTH!

#ALLTHINGSMATTER!

Jermaine D. Harper, MBA

few weeks ago I had a deep conversation with a loved one about how we often put ourselves last, especially when it comes to our health. We spend our days busy being business people, parents, lovers, friends, spouses and children that many times we forget to just be human and take necessary care of ourselves. We don’t exercise. We don’t eat the right foods. We don’t nurture healthy relationships with other adults. We wake up each morning and start our days on auto-pilot without any direction from our Source. We don’t see our health care providers like we should. The following statistics do more than suggest that we are paying for it:

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Pastor daryl arnold, Overcoming believers church

letter from the

CHAIRMAN/PUBLISHER

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37.9 % of African American men and 57.6% of African American women over the age of 20 are obese (Center for Disease Control). 39.9 % of African American men and 44.5% of African American women over the age of 20 suffer from hypertension (Center for Disease Control). African Americans have the highest mortality rate of any racial and ethnic group for all cancers combined and for most major cancers (United States Department of Health and Human Services Office

>>>>>>> mind your health? <<<<<<<<<

of Minority Health). •

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Death rates for all major causes of death are higher for African Americans than for whites (United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health) In 2011, African Americans were 8.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV infection, as compared to the White population (United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health). The death rate from suicide for African American men was almost four times that for African American women, in 2009 (United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health).

Many of us don’t get the wakeup call until our discomforts lead to the onset of disease or we are rushed to the emergency room. Why do so many of us wait until there is a problem before we take action? We are quick to raise our swords in protest of injustice and inequality. We force the public conversation that Black Lives Matter – because they do. We force the political conversation that Blacks should start rethinking political party affiliations and demand more for our votes– because we should. We force

the community conversation that equal access to social and economic opportunities is good for business and just makes sense – because it is and it does. But do not force conversations about our health and the reality is that if we don’t start,we will not be having any other conversations because we will all be DEAD. The health conversation is that we are dying way too often and way too soon. It is that we live with or right next door to poverty within zip codes where access to fresh food and/or vegetables is scarce, where quality health care providers aren’t located, where schools with the majority of its students performing on grade level are nonexistent, and where a young person is more likely to be arrested than hired for a job. Yes. One can argue that poverty, low performing schools, and the likelihood of arrest are social, political, and economic maladies that have nothing to do with health. Believe that if you want. Better yet, use your energy to take a more holistic approach with your life and stop thinking about each of these issues in isolation. We cannot save our worlds, until we first save ourselves. Even the Bible talks about being a ruler of your own spirit before trying to take over a city. We must become proactive about our health NOW - not when we find ourselves on the other side of a

health crisis. And so this month, take inventory of your personal health and like Red, Morgan Freeman’s character in the movie Shawshank Redemption, would say, “GET BUSY LIVING” by committing to these steps (compliments of lifestyleupdated. com): 1. Exercise. 2. Eat healthy 3. Get your checkups, and take a friend with you 4. Get enough rest 5. Manage your time wisely 6. Find a habit and enjoy it. 7. Develop healthy relationships 8. Cultivate your curiosity 9. Smile and be positive 10. Feed your brain.

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urbanv ice News + Politics + Business + Entertainment + Culture

Publisher Jermaine D. Harper, MBA Email: jd.urbanvoice@gmail.com CONTRIBUTORS Brian Archie Darryl Arnold Lauren Victoria Burke Prince Charles Lynn Cole Sharetta T. Smith, JD/MBA Kayretta Stokes Alexis Stephens Jamal Eric Watson ADVERTISING Email: ads.urbanvoice@gmail.com PHOTOGRAPHY BA Photography, Brian Archie Rebecca Love, RLove Photography

Why? #blacklives; #blackchurches; #blackbusinesses; #blackleadership and dammit #blackhealth MATTERS! Until Next Month,

- J.D. Harper

URBAN VOICE NEWSMAGAZINE No. 11-SEPTEMBER 2015 · Year 1 · PUBLISHER Everything Urban GRAPHIC DESIGN BROOKY MEDIA GROUP SUBSCRIPTIONS $24.00/YR. Mail Subscription Cards and Payment to 300 Ben Hur, Knoxville, Tn 37915. WEBSITE www.urbanvoiceonline.com ADVERTISING Email Ads.urbanvoice@gmail.com SUBMISSIONS Email submissions.urbanvoice@gmail.com PRESS RELEASES Email PR.urbanvoice@gmail.com. EVENTS Email events. urbanvoice@gmail.com

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WEBSITE: www.urbanvoiceonline. com COPYRIGHT All material appearing in Urban Voice Newsmagazine is copyright unless otherwise stated or it may rest with the provider of the supplied material. Urban Voice Newsmagazine takes all care to ensure information is correct at time of printing, but the publisher accepts no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of any information contained in the text or advertisements. Views expressed are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher or editor.

SEPTEMBER • NUMBER 11 • GET YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TODAY! • EAST TENNESSEE EDITION <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

#11

James Hefner, Former Tennessee State Univ. President, Has Passed

featured must read in this issue

Column:

pastor Darryl arnold talks ABOUT THE P O W ER O F COMMITMENT

<<<<<<

Ben Carson to Visit Chattanooga Sunday, October 11th

City of Chattanooga Office of Multicultural Affairs Aims to Diversify Outdoor Chattanooga

06 08

Knoxville: Black Business Showcase, Monday, Sept. 28 at Overcoming Believers Church John Merritt Football Classic: Tennessee State vs. Alabama State

06 23

Knoxville Urban League Young Professionals hosts 5th Annual Cork Savvy

Notice: Traffic Advisory for University of Tennessee at Knoxville Football Games

2015 HBCU Football Classic Schedule

upcoming events

“Can Treating PTSD solve Gun Violence and Unemployment in Urban Neighborhoods?”

07 28

Hamilton County Democratic party to host training session..

ShopTalk : 5 Things Black Folks Are Talking About!

Atomic Sportsmen Club of Oakridge Awards Scholarship

<<<<<<Annual

Knoxville: Black Business Showcase, Monday, Sept. 28

05 12

WEBSITE SAYS KNOXVILLE, CHATTANOOGA & MEMPHIS AMONG THE WORST

Noma Anderson, Dean of the College of Health Professions at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, To Receive Honors of the Association Award.

EDITORIAL

KnoxvilleNews

Trending....Newsbriefs NOTICE: UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HOME FOOTBALL GAMES ll City police and traffic engineers urge fans to be patient and allow plenty of driving time to commute safely to and from the campus area on game days, and also to consider riding KAT shuttles to and from the home games. Vol fans who haven’t been in the UT or Fort Sanders areas since last football season will encounter a number of lane closures, due to the City’s $17 million reconstruction of Cumberland Avenue and several large-scale private redevelopment projects that are underway.

EAST TENNESSEE EDITION

Knoxville: Black Business Showcase, Monday, Sept. 28 at Overcoming Believers Church ll Are you thinking about starting a business? Do you have a business now and need some expert advice? If you said „yes” to any of these questions, please attend. OBC 211 Harriet Tubman St 5:30 to 6pm: Light Supper 6:00 to 7:30 pm Black Business Showcase

According to Website: Knoxville, Chattanooga & Memphis Are Among the 10 Worst Cities in America ll Knoxville and Chattanooga have made another top 10 list, and this one’s not flattering. RoadSnacks.net, a Durham, North Carolina-based website, says Knoxville and Chattanooga are among the worst places to live in America. Half of the 10 worst cities in America to live are in Tennessee and Georgia, and most of the others aren’t far from them, according to a study RoadSnacks.com that analyzed 250 municipalities by population density, unemployment, income, education and crime. Macon in Georgia tops the website’s list of the 10 worst places to live while Savannah comes in at No. 7. Tennessee has three cities on the list –

Atomic Sportsmen Club Awards Scholarship TN held its 46th year of operation celebration banquet on August 1, 2015 at the Oak Ridge Country Club. Many former members were present and the Key Note speaker was Mr. Will Minter, one the founder of this great organization. David Mosby, club president presented Kalen Berry of Knoxville, TN the ACSC 2015 scholarship award. Kalen is the son of Kendra Daniels and Step-father Kenric Daniels. Kalen is a sophomore majoring in Electrical Engineering at TN Tech University, Cookville, TN. ACSC would like to thank all of the supporters in making this celebration a success. ll The Atomic City Sportsmen Club Inc.(ACSC) of Oak Ridge 6 | URBAN VOICE NeWSMAGAZINE 2015

Knoxville at No. 4, Chattanooga at No. 5 and Memphis at No. 8. Jackson in Mississippi is ranked No. 2 on the list and Mobile in Alabama is No. 9, giving the South seven out of the 10 worst cities in America to live

„They are the places that aren’t safe, that have bad economies, and places where the school systems are in bad shape,” said Nick James of RoadSnacks.com. „If a city has lots of people out of work, and poor income levels, it’s not desirable.” „If home prices are low, there’s not a lot of demand to live there. And if crime is really high, no one wants to be there. The cities … all share those qualities,” said James. RoadSnacks.com said it used

Keeping East Tennessee

CONNECTED

statistics from FBI crime data, the U.S. Census bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Sperling’s Best Places. The other three worst cities to live are Detroit (No. 3), Rockford, Illinois (No. 6), and Springfield, Missouri (No. 10). Detroit and Memphis are the only repeats in a similar study by Destination Tips.com posted online last October. That study used crime reports, incomes, poverty levels and unemployment, along with climate and air quality. Detroit was No. 2 and Memphis was No. 5 then.

REGIONAL NEWS

EAST TENNESSEE EDITION

ChattanoogaNews

Chattanooga Office of Multiculturial Affairs Aims to Diversify Outdoor Chattanooga Office of Multicultural Affairs and Outdoor Chattanooga’s plan to bring more racial diversity to #Chattanooga’s outdoor scene. We have a plan to engage 10 people and train them as certified outdoor guides. Guides will work to connect Outdoor Chattanooga to communities of color and be compensated each time they lead an excursion.

ll Come out and learn about the City of Chattanooga - Government

If you are interested in volunteering on this effort, applying for this opportunity, or just want to learn more, join us at this information session. We would love to see you there! We will provide dinner, so please RSVP to oma@chattanooga. gov so we can get an accurate count

Hamilton County Democratic Part host Training ll Thursday, September 10. There will be a Precinct Officer training at 6 pm, located at the IBEW, 3922 Volunteer Drive. We will have a guest speaker (TBD), and food will be served.

more information, contact Terry Lee at tleedemocrat@gmail.com. To RSVP, please text, call or email Ashley Collins, 423.313.7347 or hcdp.tn@ gmail.com. You can also follow the Facebook Event Link to RSVP.

Please RSVP to ensure there is enough for everyone to eat. For

Facebook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/

for our caterer. Everyone is invited to attend this event. No matter your racial or ethnic identity -- we need all kinds of allies committed to making #Chattanooga’s Outdoor Community more inclusive.

Presidential Contender Dr. Ben Carson Will Sign Books In Chattanooga On Oct. 11th every citizen to read and think about the Constitution, and to help defend it from those who misinterpret and undermine it. In our age of political correctness it’s especially important to defend the Bill of Rights, which guarantees our freedom to speak, bear arms, practice our religion, and much more.”

Date: September 22, 2015 Time: 5:30 – 8:00, Location: Outdoor Chattanooga.

Are You Interested In Joining our Sales Team? Email Resumes to pr.urbanvoice@ gmail.com

> The event is also part of a bookfair fundraiser for the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga.

Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson will be visiting Chattanooga on Oct. 11. He will sign copies of his new book A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties at 3 p.m. at the Hamilton Place Barnes and Noble. Dr. Carson, who is on a 40city tour, calls the book an opportunity to “encourage

URBAN VOICE MAGAZINE 2015 | 7

events BIRMINGHAM SEPTEMBER 1 Chris Brown also featuring Kid Ink, Omarion, Fetty Wap, and Teyana Taylor Oak Mountain Amphitheatre | 8pm SEPTEMBER 4-6 Eric Essix Jazz Escape Weekend Renaissance Ross Bridge www.jazzescape.com

SIAC Championship Game Cramton Bowl | 1pm

Palmetto Capital City Classic Columbia, SC

NOVEMBER 21 Alabama State University Homecoming vs. Miles ASU Hornet Stadium | 2p

Benedict College vs. Livingstone College Sept 5 5 PM Labor Day Classic

ATLANTA

SEPTEMBER 6 Labor Day Golden Classic Miles College vs. Univ or North Alabama Legion Field | 6pm SEPTEMBER 18-20 Mike Epps Stardome Comedy CLub

SEPTEMBER 19 Charlie Wilson Chastain Park Amphitheatre 8pm OCTOBER 15 Iggy Azalea Philips Arena 7:30pm OCTOBER 24 Clark-Atlanta University Homecoming vs. Albany State Panther Stadium | 2pm

OCTOBER 3 Katt Williams BJCC Legacy Arena OCTOBER 17 Miles College Homecoming vs. Kentucky State 4pm

OCTOBER 24 Morehouse College Homecoming vs. Benedict B.T. Harvey Stadium | 2pm

OCTOBER 30 Magic City Classic Concert featuring Doug E. Fresh, Jodeci, Dru Hill, SWV. Hosted by Rickey Smiley BJCC Legacy Arena | Internet Pre-sale begins Aug 11. Use the password: Classic. General Public sale begins Aug 14.

DECEMBER 19 Celebration Bowl SWAC vs. MEAC Georgia Dome

Nations Football Classic Washington, DC Hampton vs. Howard Sept 18 7 PM

Houston, TX

Circle City Classic Indianapolis, IN Kentucky State vs. Central State Sept 26 3 PM

Prairie View A&M vs. Texas Southern Sept 5 TBA MEAC/SWAC Challenge

Chicago Football Classic Chicago, IL Morgan State vs. Howard Sept 26 3:30 PM

Orlando, FL (ESPN) Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. South Carolina State Sept 6 3:30 PM

Down East Viking Football Classic Rocky Mount, NC Elizabeth City State vs. Winston-Salem State Sept 26 4 PM

John Merritt Classic Nashville, TN Alabama State vs. Tennessee State Sept 6 6 PM Two Rivers Classic Fayetteville, NC Fayetteville State vs. UNC Pembroke Sept 12 6 PM Southern Heritage Classic Memphis, TN Tennessee State vs. Jackson State Sept 12 6 PM

Battle of the Bay Hampton, VA Hampton vs. Norfolk State Sept 26 4 PM State Fair Classic Dallas, TX Grambling State vs. Prairie View A&M Sept 26 4 PM Tuskegee-Morehouse Classic Columbus, GA Tuskegee vs. Morehouse Oct 10 2 PM

Magic City Classic Birmingham, AL Alabama State vs. Alabama A&M Oct 31 2:30 PM Fountain City Classic Columbus, GA Fort Valley State vs. Albany State Nov 7 2 PM Turkey Day Classic Montgomery, AL Miles vs. Alabama State Nov 21 2 PM Florida Classic Orlando, FL Florida A&M vs. BethuneCookman Nov 21 2:30 PM Bayou Classic New Orleans, LA Grambling State vs. Southern A&M Nov 28 1:30 PM Inaugural Celebration Bowl Atlanta, GA (Live on ABC) MEAC Conference Champion vs. SWAC Conference Champion Dec 19 Noon

ALABAMA A&M HOMECOMING 2015

MEMPHIS

OCTOBER 31 Magic City Football Classic Alabama A&M vs. Alabama State Legion Field | 2:30pm

MONTGOMERY ALABAMA A&M HOMECOMING 2015 SEPTEMBER 12 Southern Heritage Football Classic Tennessee State vs. Jackson State Liberty Bowl Stadium | 6pm NOVEMBER 7 Tuskegee University Homecoming vs. Miles 1pm NOVEMBER 14

SEPTEMBER 12 Southern Heritage Football Classic Tennessee State vs. Jackson State Liberty Bowl Stadium | 6pm NOVEMBER 7 Tuskegee University Homecoming vs. Miles 1pm NOVEMBER 14 SIAC Championship Game Cramton Bowl | 1pm NOVEMBER 21 Alabama State University Homecoming vs. Miles ASU Hornet Stadium | 2p

FOOD

2015 HBCU FOOTBALL CLASSIC SCHEDULE ll Football season is right around the corner. September kicks off the 2015 HBCU classics football schedule, with four matchups being played on Labor Day weekend. These games include the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando, FL where Arkansas-Pine Bluff University will take on South Carolina State University. Orlando is also the destination for the Tom

Joyner Family Reunion, which will be going on at the same time. Late in the fall, you can look forward to fan favorites such the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, AL, and the Bayou Classic in New Orleans, LA. If this year’s HBCU Classic lineup was not exciting enough, the inaugural Celebration Bowl debuts on Dec. 19. The game will be played

8 | URBAN VOICE NeWSMAGAZINE 2015

at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and televised live on ABC. This bowl game is a postseason match-up between the conference champion from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference champion. Here is the 2015 HBCU Classics Football Schedule:

JACKIE’S DREAM

EAST KNOXVILLE’S NEWEST SOUL FOOD SPOT!

(865) 219-5789 2223 MCCALLA AVE, KNOXVILLE, TN 37915

The Going Out Guide in East Tennessee UPGRADE YOUR SOCIAL CALENDAR Tis the season for…laughs, music and everything in between. Keeping you

in-the-know about the essentials for the good life.

CHATTANOOGA Christy’s Sports Bar 3469 Brainerd Road (423) 702-8137 Mary's Lounge 2125 McCallie Ave (423) 493-0246 Glass Street Lounge 2208 Glass Street (423) 622-3579 T Roy’s 2300 Glass Street (423) 629-8908 Chocolate City Lounge 27 W 19th Street (423) 534-4411 Jay's Bar 1914 Wilder Street (423) 710-2045 The Elks Lodge 1211 Doods Ave (423) 629-5831 KNOXVILLE Whispers Banquet Hall & Social Lounge 2658 E. Magnolia Ave (865) 964-9294 The Elks Lodge #160 3919 Holston Drive (865) 522-6611 Jarmans BBQ & Lounge 3229 E. Maganolia Ave (865) 973-2000 URBAN VOICE | Tennessee Newsmagazine | August 2015. | Everything Urban URBAN VOICE MAGAZINE 2015 | 9

Can Treating PTSD Solve Urban America’s Employment Crisis? STORY BY Alexis Stephens

Solving joblessness may take confronting the psychological tolls of poverty ll Raquwon Erving remembers when he felt safe walking around the Chicago neighborhood where his family lived. It was more than a decade ago, before he was old enough to read the headlines. When I ask the 19-year-old what changed, he gives a three-word answer: “the murder rate. While it might not seem like it to Erving, the crime

rate in the city of Chicago has actually declined since the 1990s, when he was growing up. But the level of violence that has persisted is concentrated in South Side neighborhoods like Englewood, where Erving spent his formative years. Last year, there were 872 acts of robbery, assault and homicide in Englewood — one of the highest crime rates of any neighborhood in the city. “I try my best not to go outside,” says Erving. He says that he began to keep to himself and stay off the streets a couple of years ago when a couple of his friends were shot and killed. “It was kind of traumatizing,” says Erving. “It made me think about college more.” His resolve became stronger last year, after his younger brother, Derrick, was shot in the hip while riding his bike.

10 | URBAN VOICE NeWSMAGAZINE 2015

“[I try to] stay safe, stay positive,” he says. “That’s why I’m going to college, so I don’t have to be in Chicago. I’m trying to get out of Chicago so I can make it.” In August, after a summer working for the city through a teen job program, Erving left the city for Selma, Alabama. There, he began his freshman year at a historically black college, Concordia College Alabama. “My Plan A is to try to make it to the NFL, because I’m a football player at my high school,” says Erving. “My Plan B is autobody tech. That’s what I took in high school.” He was recruited to Concordia after demonstrating his skills at the wide receiver and corner positions during his time at Dunbar Vocational High School in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood.

(He scored three touchdowns in one game last fall.) It’s not only Erving’s skills on the football field that make him exceptional. A report released this year by the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University found that 18 percent of Chicago’s 16- to 24-yearold non-military residents are neither enrolled in school nor employed, a group commonly referred to as “disconnected youth.” Work and college participation rates among youth in Chicago vary dramatically according to race, ethnicity and income. Black youth like Erving have the highest rates of disconnection in the city, with 28 percent of black 16- to 24-year-olds not working or attending school, followed by Hispanic youth at 16 percent and non-Hispanic whites at 9 percent. Fifty percent of all 20- to 24-year-old black male Chicagoans either don’t

have jobs or aren’t enrolled in school — a troubling indicator for their future employment prospects. Trend lines leading to today’s unemployment crisis among youth go back at least 15 years in Chicago. The number of working black 16- to 19-year-olds began to tumble after the dotcom crash of the early 2000s. By 2007, only 16 percent of black teens worked during the school year, according to the Center for Labor Markets and Policy report. Post-recession, the numbers plummeted even farther to 10.5 percent in the 2012-13 academic year. For young black men in particular, employment in those years had sunk to a single digit — an anemic 9 percent. The Chicago statistics are lower than the national average, but that number is also creeping downward. Between 2007 and 2013,

the national black male teen employment rate fell from 24 percent to 17 percent. Changes in the labor market for youth across all demographics can account for some of this continued slump. Post-recession, young people are competing with retirees and underemployed 20-somethings for entry-level or temporary or part-time positions. But when blows like the Great Recession hurt the national economy, black Americans tend to be hit harder than other populations. Study after study shows that employers eye minority youth with thinly veiled wariness; low-income teens are less likely to be hired for entry-level jobs. But for a growing number of workforce development experts, these bleak explanations don’t tell the full story.

FEATURE

Often the ecological stressors in lowincome, high-poverty neighborhoods are overwhelming. When traumatic events, like the ones Erving experienced, occur in childhood or adolescence, personalities and even brain chemistry can be altered.

“[In these neighborhoods] you’ve put together a situation that would affect anybody — family disruption or dislocation, concentration of poverty and lack of economic opportunity, and underresourced schools, which act as pipelines to prison,” says Jaleel Abdul-Adil of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Urban Youth Trauma Center. “Then you add to that the fact that I might be shot and killed or traumatized just because I was walking down the wrong street, wearing the wrong color, and talking to the wrong person.” Abdul-Adil believes fervently that there is a connection between this exposure to violence and the high rates of unemployment in neighborhoods like Englewood. Much of his work at the Urban Youth Trauma Center focuses on developing community-based best practices for what he calls “traumainformed” approaches to preventing violence and improving outcomes for people struggling with behavioral and substance abuse problems. The approach is gaining traction as others realize its application to other arenas, including workforce development. The Urban Youth Trauma Center is a member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), which has grown from 17 to over 150 affiliated centers since 2000. “There are a whole lot of traumatized people who don’t report themselves as traumatized when they enter the workplace because it’s stigmatizing,” says Abdul-Adil. “Secondly, when traumatized people do enter the workforce in a non-trauma-sensitive environment, it doesn’t matter, because people want you to be able to do a job and to do it effectively. Nobody wants to hear a story.” “I’m being a little dramatic in how I say that,” he continues, “but at the end of the day, people want to you to be able to perform successfully. If you went to a restaurant and someone came along and spilled water all over the table and they messed up your order … you might say, ‘I don’t give a damn about what your story is. I wanted a clean table and I wanted my food prepared properly. Everybody’s got a story, but I want my food, yo!’”

But What Does Trauma Have to Do With It? In the early 1990s, psychologists proposed that the symptoms exhibited by youth growing up in urban settings affected by high levels of gun violence

EAST TENNESSEE EDITION

were similar to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

behavior is new, even for people who are trained in workforce development.

Simply put, PTSD is an anxiety disorder that affects the body’s “fight-orflight” response. Often developed in the wake of a person seeing or living through a violent or frightening event, it is most often diagnosed in veterans of war. The brain’s fight-or-flight response originally evolved to help humans determine whether a situation is dangerous or not. Once that part of the brain has been damaged, a person may begin having difficulty discerning threatening situations from nonthreatening ones. Subsequently, a person suffering from PTSD may become stressed or frightened in cases that don’t warrant such a response.

“It’s always an irony when kids get into youth programs and the behaviors that the program is trying to help them with emerge and they are suspended or expelled,” says Robert Abramovitz, codirector of the National Center for Social Work Trauma Education and Workforce Development. The center trains New York-area social work students in evidence-based trauma treatments for youth. Even within this context, he’s observed social work and workforce development practitioners become perplexed by the reactions that some youth have to direction or critiques.

“Being totally hyperalert and ready to fight or run is adaptive in one sense and problematic in another.” When the number of traumatic events that a child goes through begins to pile up, the damaged fight-or-flight response can result in defensiveness in everyday situations and the inability for a young person to deescalate conflict at school and in the workplace. “I don’t care how much of a hardcore gang member they are, or how much they’ve abused substances, often [those things are] a reflection of a disruption in a developmental process,” says Abdul-Adil. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) score is a popular measure among trauma-informed practitioners. As the number of traumatic experiences in one’s childhood goes up, the higher the likelihood for negative outcomes. One study about the effects of trauma in childhood found that an increased ACE score has a correlation with job problems, financial problems and absenteeism. In that study, 8.3 percent of people with no reported adverse childhood experiences had job problems compared to 18.5 percent of people who had four or more. The researchers argued that by identifying childhood markers of trauma early on, employers and healthcare providers could save some of the $44 billion a year spent on treating depression and the $28 billion a year spent on chronic back pain. Using a trauma-informed approach means that practitioners start off learning exactly what a person has seen and experienced and then provide guidance in an informed way. “Whether you think kids are doing things because of bad decision-making or you think there’s been rewards for negative behavior — no matter where you start from, the trauma-informed approach will allow you to say, ‘This is how you link disruptive, traumatic experiences to [a person’s] development,’” says Abdul-Adil. But identifying the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and

“Sometimes kids are triggered by something that seems totally innocuous,” says Abramovitz. “But they are actually automatically re-experiencing a trauma from the past and using survival strategies that were appropriate at that time. But of course, [these behaviors] are not appropriate at the present. So often the person in front of them hasn’t gotten a clue about what’s going on.” “Danger and safety are primary preoccupations of traumatized kids,” Abramovitz continues, “meaning that every minute you are with these kids, they are expending an enormous amount of energy scanning the environment to make sure they are safe and that nothing bad is going to happen to them.” The hyper-awareness may be an important survival strategy for a teenager walking through a dangerous neighborhood on the daily trip home from school. But in a stress-triggering workplace situation like a job interview or a performance review, the teen’s red-alert reflexes could become a major stumbling block to future success. “Being totally hyperalert and ready to fight or run is adaptive in one sense and problematic in another,” says Abramovitz. Abramovitz was trained in traditional child psychiatry and by the 1980s, had become fascinated by Freud’s notion of intrapsychic trauma. “In those days, there was a battered child’s syndrome and a battered women’s syndrome,” he explains, “but that was the problem. They were thought of as separate categories. What we know now is that there’s an overarching notion of trauma that says that the rhetorical thing you experience doesn’t matter. The body has one way of processing that type of threat.” In the 1990s, he began collaborating with leaders in the field like psychiatrists Bessel van der Kolk and Sandra Bloom on developing and incubating innovative trauma models and theories. Their timing was prescient. Acts of domestic terror like school shootings seemed to be on a tragic uptick and ordeals like the September 11th terror attacks and Hurricane Katrina demonstrated a

national demand for trauma-informed social work practitioners. In 2009, Abramovitz launched his center, which has since developed a curriculum of core concepts about childhood and adolescent trauma that is being implemented in more than 50 schools of social work around the country. He says that adults have a tendency to tiptoe around the upsetting experiences that youth may be carrying around. One of the most important things that social work or workforce development practitioners can do when they begin to work with teens is to listen to what they say about what they have gone through. The act of scanning for a history of trauma can provide crucial insight into behaviors and guide treatment. “Usually when people talk about workforce development, they’re thinking about skills training, particularly for youth,” explains Abramovitz. “They’re thinking about, ‘How do we really get them to really succeed in school? How do we get them interested in going to college?’ Those are laudable goals, but if you aren’t dealing with what happened to the kids, then you are missing the boat.”

Unlocking Employment Raquwon Erving’s summer job came through One Summer Chicago Plus (OSP), a program within Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s summer jobs initiative One Summer Chicago. Through the One Summer programs, city agencies employed 24,000 youth aged 16 to 24 to work for $8.25 an hour doing everything from painting infrastructure, which was Erving’s job, to shelving books at the public library or helping with programs run by the Chicago Housing Authority and Forest Preserve District of Cook County. One Summer Chicago Plus is an experimental twist on One Summer Chicago. Designed in partnership with the University of Chicago Crime Lab and first piloted in 2012, the program is an ambitious attempt to connect the dots between trauma, violence and employment. The program connects youth at a higher risk for violence with a 25-hour-per-week summer job, a mentor, cognitive behavioral therapy and social skills building. Through rigorous evaluation by the Crime Lab, OSP serves as a lab for learning how city employment programs can better serve at-risk youth and ultimately, reduce violence among youth. “We set up the program to be a randomized-control experiment where we recruited youth who were attending high schools in high-crime, high-poverty, high-unemployment communities and encouraged them to apply,” says Evelyn Diaz, who served as commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services until the end of August.

URBAN VOICE MAGAZINE 2015 | 11

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THE POWER OF COMMITMENT down the hall to the community shower room and waited your turn. There were no popular food chains on campus to eat at like Subway, Chick Fila, McDonalds or Starbucks. If you wanted to eat you went to “The Caf” and hoped that your homeboy would hook you up with an extra piece of chicken. If the truth be told often times we would go to shower and there would be no hot water. So what did we do? We took a quick cold shower or snuck into the girl’s dorm, took a shower there and went to class. I didn’t enjoy the fact that we had limited resources that were obviously inferior to the resources of the white university down the block, but it did eventually work in my advantage. What that whole experience taught me was the power of perseverance. It taught me that sometimes real life will sooner or later present you with real problems. It taught me that life will sometimes throw you a curve ball that you’re not expecting and you can’t just walk off the field and quit. That experience taught me that you’ve got to swing at the curve ball. Sometimes you swing and miss and sometimes you swing and knock it out the park, but you can’t just stand there and wait for the perfect pitch. You’ve gotta swing!

BY: DARYL ARNOLD

ll I’m a huge cheerleader and champion for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), not just because I’m a product of one, but for several reasons that are grounded in the HBCU experience that are part of the institutions’ concept and culture. My experience at Knoxville College was much like anyone else’s experience that attended a black college colored by the sound of the drumline and tubas coming into the stadium during homecoming, the excitement on the yard when the new Greek lines crossed over, the level of individual concern and dedication from the educators to see each black student academically succeed, and the lifetime relationships that were developed throughout the years. However, the most meaningful thing that the black college experience taught me was the importance of persevering through difficulties.

College life for me was difficult. We had no air conditioning units, except for the fans we bought at the dollars store and put in our windows. There was no cable television or access to the Internet. There were no personal bathrooms. If you wanted to take a shower you went

Jesus said, “In this World you shall have trouble but be of good cheer for I have already overcome the World”. Notice that He did not say that we might have trouble, that it’s a good possibility that we may have trouble or that there’s a 99% chance that most of us will experience trouble. No, His statement is both emphatic and inevitable. He pulls no punches and refuses to be politically correct in order not to hurt anyone’s feelings. He openly and honestly tells the truth. We all are going to go through some catastrophic storms that we didn’t ask for. But then He brings consolation to His warning by saying that if we persevere we will overcome them all.

Words like loyalty, perseverance, endurance, patience and commitment have almost become words of vulgarity in our country. Nobody is interested in waiting for their season to come or being committed to anything for any significant length of time. Our society has convinced us that we can make limited investments and receive quick and plenteous returns. This mindset has become corrosive to the core of our foundation. It affects our marriages, our educational system, our financial institutions and even our ministries. Here’s how:

Darryl Arnold, Sr. Pastor, Overcoming Believers Church, Knoxville, TN.

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1. Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone. That’s one student every 26 seconds – or 7,000 a day. About 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate from high school on time. I personally believe that this is partially a result of being raised in an impatient, comfort seeking society. Over 50% of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. Could the lack of commitment to covenant and the addiction to opulence have anything to do with our nuptial failures? 2. When I have conversations with pastors throughout the country, most of them are struggling with the same issues when in comes to Church growth. It’s not that their Churches at not being attended. There are people in the pews. The problem is that people don’t stay committed long enough to make a significant spiritual impact in the ministry. If they have any conflict at all in the choir, they quit singing. If they are offended by anyone in the hospitality ministry, they stop serving. If the preacher says anything from the pulpit that is contrary to their belief or life style, they leave and start attending another Church. I’m starting to learn that people in ministry love to be a part of boards, teams and committees but that’s not what builds ministerial success. We don’t need people on committees we need people who are committed. That is what builds ministerial success.

3. The same dilemma is found in corporate America. Employers are finding it more and more difficult to find people that they can trust to be faithful and committed to their companies. Companies spend thousands of dollars retaining headhunters to find qualified people to run their businesses. They then spend thousands of dollars training the employee so they can be as effective in the job as possible, then less than a year later find out that they have employed a person with great skill sets but no drive, ambition or commitment, which consequently forces them to have to start all over again. If we are going to be successful as a community, country and as a people; if we want to have any chance of being competitive with the rest of the free world; if we have any hope for the prosperity of our children and the generations that shall follow them, we must make it our priority

to get back to teaching the importance of perseverance and embrace the reality of remaining stable in life’s storms. We have just recently commemorated the tenth year of one of the most devastating storms in recent history, hurricane Katrina. It was so devastating that it forced hundreds of thousands of people to abandon their homes and run for their lives. It was a city mandate that everyone in the city limits evacuate in preparation of mass destruction. As the media replayed the video footage from the storm all of the emotions that I felt of compassion and sadness came back. Images of cars turned upside down, the dam completely collapsing, entire neighborhoods being submerged under water, elderly ladies in wheel chairs on rooftops, and bodies floating down the streets of New Orleans were all traumatic memories. However, what I noticed this time that I didn’t notice ten years ago were the trees - the palm trees. After the storm was over everything had been disassemble and moved out of place except the palm trees. They were still there standing just as proud and tall as they were before the storm hit. Katrina bent them but she could not break them. Why? Why were the palm trees still standing when everything else was destroyed in the storm. The answer is found in something you can’t see by looking at the palm tree. The answer is found its the roots. The roots beneath the surface of the ground were so deep and so strong that Katrina couldn’t move the trees. The roots were committed to keeping the tree anchored in place. That’s my prayer for you today - that you would become as committed as the palm tree; that you would be committed to your calling, committed to your family, committed to your faith, committed to your community, committed to your dreams and committed to yourself. My prayer is that as you weather the inevitable storms of life that you hear the lyrics of the great song of old, “I DON’T FEEL NO WAYS TIRED. I’VE COME TOO FAR FROM WHERE I STARTED FROM. NOBODY TOLD ME THAT THE ROAD WOULD BE EASY AND I DON’T BELIEVE HE BROUGHT ME THIS FAR TO LEAVE ME”. “Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.” James 1:12 MSG

voices PTSD CONT... principles.

The techniques try to teach youth about how their thoughts, emotions and behavior might affect their performance in the workplace. Around 1,600 youth participated in that first year. One treatment group worked 25 hours a week with consistent access to an adult mentor, while another worked for 15 hours a week and spent the other 10 in SEL. The SEL curriculum included emotion and conflict management, social information processing, and goal setting. A control group was not offered employment through the program. The results of the 2012 experiment were published in Science magazine last December. University of Pennsylvania sociologist Sara Heller found a significant difference in violent crime arrests among youth who participated in the summer jobs program and those who didn’t. “That study showed that 16 months after the kids got out of the program, the kids who got the intervention had 43 percent fewer violent crime events than those in the control group who did not get the intervention,” says Diaz. “This was a huge result. We got lots of calls from academics and other cities and reporters asking about what made the program work.” Interestingly, the researchers found there was little difference

in the rate of violent crime arrests between the jobs-only treatment group that worked with a mentor and the one that received SEL support. “One possibility is that the substance of the SEL curriculum — teaching youth to process social information, manage thoughts and emotions, and set and achieve goals more successfully — was taught equally well on the job,” writes Heller. “You’ve got to start recognizing that the kids are not just bad and they’re not just mad.” By structuring OSP as a study, the city is able to measure the program’s long-term impact. “For this program, the more we can learn about what models work for which kids under which kinds of circumstances means that over time we’ll have [increased] cost benefits versus spending [in other areas] to reduce violence.” Erving says that he enjoyed his experiences with his adult mentor. They went bowling a few weeks ago — it was his first time. He says the mentorship gave him a free space to talk out his plans for the future. “We talked about all types of stuff like goals, what college we’re going to and our high schools, stuff like that,” says Erving. “It was nice, because you don’t get to meet new people everyday and I’ve met a new person. It made me feel kinda good.”

Breaking Workplace Silence “We are not surrogate parents” is what one employer told University of Chicago researchers studying the role of employers in workforce development. The terse statement speaks volumes about the challenges of getting businesses to understand the specific social needs of young workers. The 2007 U Chicago study found that employers often resist engaging in special workforce development programs and instead, expect youth to quickly adjust to the norms of the workplace. “Employers were challenged by the complications associated with simultaneously running a business, participating in a youth program, conflicting organizational cultures between business and youth organizations, and concerns about adolescent behaviors,” write researchers Jan DeCoursey and Ada Skyles. They also observed that employers were unprepared to contend with cultural disconnects from the youth they hired. Both companies and workforce development providers “had difficulty expressing their thoughts about the influence of race and ethnicity on youth and employers’ experiences,” DeCoursey and Skyles write. Proponents of trauma-informed workforce development say that discomfort often leads to bias and misunderstandings.

out pro-social rap and hip-hop — using Lupe Fiasco’s “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free)” as an example — as tools for working with young people.

“One of the ways that implicit bias works is that professionals who don’t understand where this behavior is coming from are generally harsher on kids of color,” says Abramovitz. “[Minority youth] see themselves getting suspended for things the white kids are just getting sent to the principal’s office for — if there are any white kids in the school.” Abdul-Adil says the researchers’ findings don’t surprise him. He sees a need for more public dialogue about race, culture and the mixed messaging that youth receive. “We have to address the cultural norms of the neighborhood as well as the nation,” he says, adding that gun violence is condemned when the magnifying glass is on black communities, but glorified in pop cultural settings. “There are times when the country condones violence. You can’t have movies like Terminator or American Sniper and say you’re not promoting gun violence.” To that end, Abdul-Adil advocates for focusing on the positive messaging already embedded in black youth culture. Last year, he wrote an article published in the Journal of Youth Development titled “Modern Rap Music: Mining the Melodies for Mental Health Resources.” In it, he calls for social scientists, communitybased advocates and other youth development supporters to seek

Shop Talk

“You’ve got to start recognizing that the kids are not just bad and they’re not just mad,” says AbdulAbdil. “Sometimes they have experienced traumas that have really gotten in the way of the successful development of their human capital.” Plus, he says, alienating or silencing youth cultural expression only heightens the feedback loop of emotional trauma. What all of the interventions share is a focus on paying attention to the experiences of urban black youth and providing guidance or support based on their experiences and needs. Practitioners are learning to listen. “What can help is when you have more of a humane explanation as to why people are doing socially unacceptable things,” says AbdulAdil. “It’s thinking of someone as a wounded human being versus a cold, sadistic nut. You have to put context on those anti-social behaviors, so [employers and practitioners] will be able to help people to reach across what seems like difficult or diametrically opposite perspectives and lifestyles, so people can say, ‘Well I actually see how you could have been me.’”

5 THINGS WE ARE TALKING ABOUTouptatie mod tin voINC

Michael Vick’s Comeback! Quarterback Michael Vick has signed a one year contract with the Pittsburg Steelers. The deal gives Vick yet another bite at the NFL apple. Fans are hoping that this time, Vick gets his mojo back and his game reaches the level they have been craving since his 2007 conviction on animal cruelty charges stemming from running a dogfighting ring in Virginia.

Hurricane Katrina – 10 years later. In August of 2005, the world watched a storm that left eighty percent of New Orleans – the famed city known for its famous French Quarter and Mardi Gras - covered in water and 130,000 of its residents displaced. The world watched again this year as New Orleans celebrated the 10th year anniversary of Katrina with dignitaries making speeches and brass bands marching through the streets in honor of the 1500 who died. But, to those that lived through Katrina and survived the “celebration” was as an unwelcomed reminder of one of the most horrific events of their lives. Many took to social media in protest to express what they viewed as

Still Can’t Get 4 Acres and a Mule. According to an article published in Black Enterprise magazine, a report released by the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) showed that many of the states that are home to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have withheld almost $57 million in funding that was supposed to go to those institutions. The report revealed that between the years 2010 and 2012, the states of Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Florida, and Delaware did not allocate proper funds to some of the HBCUs housed in their states.

DON’T HAVE HIM AROUND MY CHILD. “At the end of the day, I’m not for the publicity stunts. Leave my son out of the publicity stunts. Just leave him out of your relationship.”- Rapper Future, in a recent interview with The Breakfast Club expressing his anger over his baby momma, Ciara, allowing her new boyfriend Russell Wilson to be around the one year-old son he shares with the R&B artist.

Ashley Madison, not so discrete anymore? Perhaps millions of marriages reached the brinks of divorce on August 18, when hackers released the personal information of 30 million users of the website, Ashley Madison, an infidelity website targeting married people with the motto – “Life is Short. Have an Affair”. Since the release the CEO has been canned and the parent company, Avid Life Media, has released a statement dismissing the impact the release has had on the company’s business - “Despite having our business and customers attacked, we are growing.” And they are right – in the last week the site has added over 80,000 users.

URBAN VOICE MAGAZINE 2015 | 13

around the state

Tennessee State University mourns death of former President James A. Hefner “We have lost a visionary and one of the best leaders to serve this great institution.” –TSU President Glenda Glover In a statement on the passing of Dr. Hefner, Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover said: “The Tennessee State University family sends its deepest condolences to the Hefner family. Dr. Hefner devoted his entire adult life to serving others and expanding educational opportunities to all. As educators, we have lost a visionary and one of the best leaders to ever serve this great institution. He loved inspiring students and challenging them.” ll NASHVILLE –The Tennessee State University family is saddened to announce the death of Dr. James A. Hefner, the sixth president of the University. He died early Thursday morning surrounded by family in his Brentwood home following a long illness. Dr. Hefner was 76. Hefner served TSU as president from 1991-2005.

The university’s progress during Dr. Hefner’s tenure was unprecedented. While President of Tennessee State University, Dr. Hefner transformed TSU into a top-tier research university. He was deeply committed to TSU’s land-grant mission. He pursued programs and efforts that aligned the resources of the university with the needs of students. His legacy will serve the university, the nation

Breaking News: Memphis Housing & Community Development Director, Robert Lipscomb Facing Illegal Sex Allegation ll Memphis, TN - Robert Lipscomb, City of Memphis Housing and Community Development director, has been relieved of duty while an investigation is conducted into an allegation that he had a sexual encounter with a minor. The officer of Mayor A C Wharton Jr. issued a statement late Sunday evening confirming Lipscomb’s suspension. “These allegations are extremely disturbing.” Wharton said. “To ensure that we leave no stone unturned, in addition to referring this matter to the District Attorney General’s Office, we will also seek legal counsel as to if any other state or federal agencies should be involved in this investigation.” According to the statement, Wharton and Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong on Friday spoke by phone to an adult male who made the criminal complaint against

and the world. Under his leadership, Tennessee State University saw marked physical, infrastructural and academic improvement, including the implementation of a $112 million capital improvement plan. The improvement was part of the Geier agreement that attempted to end race-based disparity in higher education funding in Tennessee. Several new buildings were constructed, including the FloydPayne Student Campus Center, the Ned McWherter Administration Building and the Performing Arts Center. He was viewed as the students’ president and enrollment reached an all-time high of 9,100 students, an achievement that has only been recently achieved during the 20142015 academic school year. The TSU endowment also experienced remarkable growth from $500,000 to more than $25 million (through fund-raising and settling a Federal

After retiring as president of Tennessee State University in 2005, Dr. Hefner was a non-resident fellow at Harvard

the decision to arrest Howard’s character for murder was a calculated plot move in order to keep Howard on the sidelines.

“This complaint was criminal in nature based on the fact that the individual in question claimed to have been a minor at the time of his alleged sexual encounters with Dir. Lipscomb,” the statement read.

“What they are doing is two-fold,” said the source. “They have him locked up so you won’t be seeing him in as many scenes. But they are bringing in so many, and I mean so many, guest stars and cameos that the average viewer won’t realize it because there is so much going on.”

The interview took place “within days of this individual’s conversation” with Wharton and Armstrong, the statement disclosed.

ll Terrence Howard is dealing with so much real life drama of his own that he’s reportedly scaled back his role in the highlyacclaimed television drama Empire.

“Based on this criminal complaint, Mayor Wharton has relieved Dir. Lipscomb of duty pending the results of a full investigation,” Wharton’s administration asserted in the statement.

Howard, who’s recently endured a very public divorce as well as several allegations of domestic abuse, will be scaling back his role in the second season of Empire in order to focus on his personal life. A source told Page Six that

14 | URBAN VOICE NeWSMAGAZINE 2015

Dr. Hefner occupied the Thomas and Patricia Frisk Chair of excellence in entrepreneurship, a $2.3 million endowed chair at Tennessee State University. He also established two other endowed chairs of excellence at Tennessee State. An advocate and proponent of African American intellectual achievement throughout his career, Dr. Hefner established two of the nation’s top honor societies, Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi, at Tennessee State University and Clark Atlanta University.

Celebrity News: Terrence Howard’s ‘Empire’ Role Scaled Back

Lipscomb.

Wharton directed Armstrong and a “team of his top investigators” to travel to Seattle, Wash. to meet and interview the complainant, according to the statement.

Consent Decree). He positioned Tennessee State University as a premier institution of higher learning. TSU was listed in U.S. News & Worlds Report’s “Guide to America’s Best Colleges” for 11 consecutive years (1994-2005).

The insider also revealed that Taraji P. Henson’s character, Cookie, would get to step further into the limelight this season. “She’s going to start dropping off from the flashback scenes and then they’re going to have her guns blazing,” the source said. Neither Fox nor a representative for Howard have offered comment on these rumors.

University in the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research; Visiting Distinguished Professor of Economics and Presidential Leadership at Texas Southern University; and most recently as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Clark Atlanta University, where he worked diligently as he fought cancer up until the very end. When recently asked how he wanted to be remembers, Dr. Hefner said: “As an educator who cared about black higher education and the welfare of students.” He earned his undergraduate degree from North Carolina A&T University, his master’s degree in economics from Atlanta University, and his doctorate in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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