INNER-CITY NEWS

THE

New Haven, Bridgeport

NEWS

Volume 21 No. 2179

#BlackGirlHealing:

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

New Cop Firing Range, Fire Truck & Radios Get OKs

Zeta Zeta Phi Phi Beta Beta Chapter Chapter Turns Turns

Big Big City City Mayors Mayors Beg Beg Lawmakers Lawmakers To To Maintain Maintain Property Property Tax Tax Relief Relief

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FOLLOW US ON

“By Varying Lengths Of Thread I Continued To Hang On”

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INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

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Big City Mayors Beg Lawmakers To Maintain Property Tax Relief

by Christine Stuart New Haven Independent

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016

Mayors from three of Connecticut’s largest cities traveled Friday to the Legislative Office Building in Hartford to ask lawmakers not to reverse the property tax relief approved last year.

Last year, the General Assembly used a half percent of the sales tax to lower the mill rate on motor vehicles in 32 communities, set aside an additional $46 million to change the funding formula for tax exempt properties, and allocated $109 million to a grant program for municipalities.

New Haven Mayor Toni Harp, Waterbury Mayor Neil CHRISTINE STUART PHOTO New Haven Mayor Toni Harp with Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim and Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary O’Leary, and Bridgeport Mayor Ganim said they are trying to Joe Ganim said they’ve all “it’s not realistic and it never money. “hold their own” under difficult included the property tax relief was from the beginning.”

“We’re here to let the in their budget proposals.

However, Democratic legislators know that in fact circumstances at the same time “We know very well that legislative leaders have been we’ve already counted on that as the state is facing its own falling state revenue figures calling their property tax relief money,” Harp said. “And for fiscal problems.

“We can’t allow retreat,” have put more strain on the state efforts “historic” for the past some of us that money is not even enough.” year.

That being said, the Ganim said. budgeting process,” Harp, who previously chaired the legislature’s Democratic O’Leary said the state’s cities Ganim estimated the budget legislature’s Appropriations majority also used some of are in a “state of crisis.” And deficit he’s facing could be as Committee, said. “Cutting those funds to balance the the property tax relief passed much as $30 million out of a municipal aid programs simply budget in December when last year by state lawmakers total budget of about $550 shifts the burden to city faced with a deficit. gave them the relief they need. million. residents who already bear a The state is facing another He argued like Harp that the Harp said she presented a heavy property tax load.” $220 million deficit this fiscal cities provide the hospitals, balanced budget to the Board of All three mayors said they are year and a $900 million deficit train stations, and other Alders, but they can’t afford a concerned that lawmakers will in fiscal year 2017. regional amenities to their cut. She said if they have to cut look to raid the revenue going Senate Minority Leader Len suburban neighbors. The the budget it will mean New into the Municipal Revenue Fasano, R-North Haven, said argument is that suburban Haven will have to cut services Sharing Account. earlier this week that giving residents don’t have to pay for or raise taxes.

House Minority Leader this money to towns is a the infrastructure they use in the Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Themis Klarides, R-Derby, said promise the state can’t afford. cities.

Haven, said the state has a she tells communities they Harp said half of the people budget crisis, but it’s important “This is a promise that will shouldn’t count on the money. be very hard for the state to who work in New Haven every for them not to neglect “a major hub for the state’s survival.”

“Because I don’t know how keep given the fiscal day don’t live in the city. that money is going to come nightmares that are coming “They drive on our roads, She said they are still through,” Klarides said earlier down the pike,” Fasano said. they use our infrastructure, and listening to everyone’s this week.

Harp said that’s why the they have no responsibility for suggestions and taking them She said they want to help mayors came to Hartford that and there’s no mechanism into consideration as they their communities and give Friday to let lawmakers know in place to allow responsibility finalize a budget for fiscal year 2017. them property tax relief, but they are depending on this for that,” Harp said.

John P. Thomas Jr. Publisher / CEO Babz Rawls Ivy Managing Editor Liaison, Corporate Affairs Doreen Strong Advertising Director Sales Team Trenda Lucky Delores Alleyne John Thomas III Hilda Calvachi

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“Service, scholarship, sisterly love and finer womanhood are the ideals of Zeta Phi Beta,” according to sorority member Carla Morrison.

by STAFF New Haven Independent

The Alpha Alpha Rho Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. celebrated the first year of its inception.

The gathering drew not only several of the chapter’s charter members, who now live throughout the state. It also attracted members who have restored their local connections to the sorority who wanted “to celebrate and reclaim their pledge to this illustrious sisterhood,” Morrison added.

Lisa Kellman, Alexandria Givan, Shirley Washington, Waleska Macklin, Shirley Harrell, Alvena Watkins, Tasha Hunt and Carla Morrison.

Members of the chapter gathered Sunday in the New Haven home of Alpha Alpha Rho Zeta President Lisa McDowellKellman to celebrate the milestone anniversary.

Though the chapter is based in Norwalk, 12 sorority members from both cities chartered the chapter. The gathering was a time also to celebrate Women’s History Month and commemorate what members of the 96year-old sorority calls “Finer Womanhood,” which is celebrated during the last full week of February and throughout the month of March, according to the sorority’s national Website.

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

Zeta Phi Beta Chapter Turns

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. is the first member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council the collaborative organization of the nine, historically black greek letter organizations to charter a graduate chapter on the African continent.

Alpha Alpha Rho Zeta President Lisa McDowell-Kellman presented the chapter with a gift of the chartering members names etched in a wooden frame during the festivities.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOSAlpha Alpha Rho Zeta members at the one-year anniversary of their chapter’s chartering.

Malloy Rescinds $65M From Budget, Asks For $13M From Other Two Branches

by Christine Stuart

CHRISTINE STUART PHOTO Gov. Dannel P. Malloy

will have to cut $3.2 million, at least half of which will come from Medicaid. The Department of Children and Families will have to cut $6.5 million, and the Board of Regents for Higher Education will have to cut about $1.9 million, while the University of Connecticut will have to cut $4 million.

“These were difficult decisions, but ones that nevertheless have to be made to ensure that we don’t spend more than we actually have,” Malloy said in a statement. “I appreciate our recent discussions with legislative

leadership, and hope they will continue to be productive and lead to a bipartisan solution.

Together, we must adjust our overall spending expectations.”

House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, said Democratic legislative leaders will release their proposed budget cuts by the end of the week and expect to vote on a package before the end of the month.

Republican legislative leaders released their budget proposal to cut about $220 million from this year’s budget Tuesday.

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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ordered $65 million in executive branch budget cuts Wednesday following a meeting with legislative leaders.

Malloy also asked the legislative and judicial branches to cut about $4.2 million and $9.35 million, respectively.

Malloy said he needs the legislature’s help in cutting the remainder of the money to close the 2016 budget deficit.

Legislative leaders and Malloy agreed Wednesday to find the

rest of the money before the end of the month.

“We’ve agreed that the legislature has to take this up by the end of the month,” Malloy said Wednesday.

The legislature’s Office of Fiscal Analysis projected that the state is facing a $266 million deficit this year, and a $900 million deficit in 2017.

Malloy’s rescissions will impact social services and higher education the hardest.

The Department of Developmental Services took the biggest hit having to cut $17.2 million.

The Department of Social Services

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New Cop Firing Range, Fire Truck & Radios Get OKs

by PAUL BASS New Haven Independent

It looks like cops honing their shooting skills will soon fire their guns inside, not outdoors. And Brenda Foskey-Cyrus will be able to keep her windows open.

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016

That was the upshot of a vote Tuesday night by the Board of Alders Public Safety Committee.

The committee voted unanimously to allow the city to accept an already-approved $1 million state bonding grant to fix up a former West Rock Army reserve center at 200 Wintergreen Ave. to house a new indoor PAUL BASS PHOTO Zinn with Police Chief Dean Esserman testifying at Tuesday night’s hearing. police firing range as well as a gunfire at Lincoln-Bassett, share the building at the same new home for the police training Hillhouse High, and King time; will open up more academy. classroom space; add a gym; and Robinson Schools, she said.

The committee also voted enable cops to take part in indoor “You can hear it as far as unanimously to authorize the city motor-vehicle simulation drills, Hamden,” noted committee to apply for $1.2 million from the Johnson said.

Chair Gerald Antunes, a Bishop federal Department of Homeland City Engineer Giovanni Zinn Woods alder and a retired city Security to buy a new “heavy said the West Rock facility is cop. duty rescue vehicle” and 95 overall in good shape and already The $1 million in state money portable radios for the fire conducive to many of the uses under consideration Tuesday department. planned for the training academy. night along with $250,000 Both measures now advance to He said he doesn’t foresee major requested in the city’s upcoming the full Board of Alders for final environmental clean-up fiscal year capital projects budget approval. problems, either. He said the plan would pay to renovate existing is to begin work this year, They both received hearty facilities at the West Rock Wingate: “Long overdue.” assuming the funding request support from the seven alders training facility for a “state of the voting at Tuesday night’s Neighbors have complained for art” indoor facility that will grains final approval. committee meeting. years about being disturbed from enable cops to train in all The police department’s “This is long overdue,” Beaver the noise from the firing range as weather, at all times of day at vehicle-maintenance operation Hills Alder Brian Wingate said well as at times unclear whether night, and to move around to will remain at the Sherman of the planned move of the police they were hearing street gunfire. simulate real-life shooting Parkway facility under the plan. firing range. “I’ve talked to a lot “I can’t wait for them to situations, Capt. Julie Johnson, The fire department, of my constituents. They are move,” seconded Newhallville who runs the training academy, meanwhile, has been spending very, very excited about this Alder Brenda Foskey-Cyrus, told the alders. more and more money trying to moving.” who lives across the street from She said the training academy maintain failing police radios the Sherman Parkway facility.

“I Right now the firing range is has outgrown its present facility, purchased in the 1990s and early located outdoors at the police can’t open my windows” because as well. The new space at West 2000s, Chief Ralph Black told training academy at 710 Sherman of the noise from the firing range. Rock will enable recruit classes the committee. He said all Parkway in Newhallville.

Teachers and students hear the and veteran in-service trainees to firefighters go out on calls with

radios, and they need modern, working equipment.

The requested new rescue vehicle will consolidate all needed equipment such as trench rescue and rope rescue equipment on one truck, Black said. Now the department stores the equipment in several “satellite” vehicles.

The vehicle would serve the department citywide.

“The equipment on the two existing [tactical] engines will be consolidated onto this new rescue. The trained personnel from one of the companies will be redeployed to meet an existing need for additional paramedics for medical response citywide,” according to a statement the fire department submitted to the alders. “In 2014 there were approximately 2000 incidents (hazardous, MVA, extrications) that a rescue would have been useful for deployment in needed responses.

“The City/FD will be saving money by sending only one apparatus and staffing only 5 positions on this 1 rescue; we would not have to send 2 engine companies with 9 firefighters on them. By consolidating 2 engines into 1, this will release the other to provide much needed Emergency Medical Service (EMS) for Advanced Life Support (ALS) service to the residents of the City of New Haven.

“We have about 13,000 ALS calls per year. We will now be able to respond to more calls while receiving revenue for hospital transport.”

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

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Dems Need More Time To Come Up With Budget Proposal requires two furlough days from state employees, it sweeps dozens of funds, reduces lawmaker pay by 10 percent, eliminates franking privileges for the rest of the year, and eliminates $24 million in funding that municipalities were supposed to use for property tax relief.

by Christine Stuart Democratic legislative leaders won’t be releasing their plan Friday to cut about $220 million in spending to balance this year’s budget.

A spokesman for House Speaker Brendan Sharkey said they are still working on a proposal and it’s likely they will have something early next week.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy rescinded about INK «$65 million from the budget Wednesday, but based on his limited rescission authority he still needs lawmakers help to cut the rest.

Republican lawmakers, who released their proposal on Tuesday, were quick to criticize their Democratic colleagues.

“Democrats have once again let the state of Connecticut down,” Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, and Sen. Rob Kane, R-Watertown, said in a statement. “. . . Today, Democrats were finally supposed to come out with their own proposal, but we still have nothing.”

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016

Sharkey and Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven, exited a meeting in the governor’s office on Wednesday and said they would have their budget proposal ready by the end

CHRISTINE STUART FILE PHOTO House Speaker Brendan Sharkey with House Minority Leader Themis Klarides and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff exit Malloy’s office on Wednesday.

of the week.

But it turns out they needed more time.

In their statement, Republican lawmakers touted their budget proposal, which restores funding

for state hospitals and nonprofit providers who serve some of the state’s neediest residents. It also

“We live in interesting times Connecticut Republicans are decrying reductions in state spending and finding ways to keep state government the exact same size,” Devon Puglia, a spokesman for Malloy, said.

“The governor does not believe it’s either consistent or acceptable to call for reductions in spending, then decry those reductions.

Connecticut Republicans keep wanting to find ways to have their cake and eat it to.”

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Clean City Crew Kicks Off Campaign the experience involved painting several flower planters to be strategically placed throughout the city once the Clean City Campaign unfurls.

by STAFF New Haven Independent

As the city prepares to roll out Mayor Harp’s a “Clean City Initiative” in April, one of the biggest challenges it faces is how to ensure the initiative can be sustained.

This past Saturday, city public works crews provided one answer to that sustainability challenge by encouraging young New Haven residents to get involved.

They did that at an event held at public works headquarters ,34 Middletown Ave., called the litter issues. Honda Smith of DPW created and coordinated “Madvac Youth Program.”

The event engaged young the program.

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016

First on the agenda was an people to get up front and personal with New Haven’s overview of litter and littering.

Next the group was challenged to tackle the litter problem by using a variety of tools including paint brushes.

For the youngest members,

alongside adult mentors.

An hour and a half later, the neighborhood groups returned to DPW with toters full of trash including; hubcaps, chunks of Another group focused on recyclable cardboard and an painting DPW’s two Madvacs enormous stash of bottles. which the department will be Swapping stories, dances and using to vacuum litter in various songs, the young participants public spaces. Both planters added their own signature style. and Madvacs will act as colorful “Me—I hated picking up all that message boards reminding the litter stuff,” riffed one boy, who New Haven Community to then added without missing a keep the city clean. beat, “I gotta stop throwing that The usual tools for dealing stuff down.” with litter—gloves, pokers, If you would like to organize safety vests, signs and green a neighborhood clean-up and/or toters — were dispensed to the volunteer to assist in the clean rest of the group as they initiative, contact DPW at 203dispersed to three different 946-6738 or 203-946-6906. neighborhood locations to try their “litter poking” skills

By Bill O’Brien The 56th anniversary of the CaseyO’Brien New Haven County Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Scholar Athlete dinner will be held on Friday April 8 at Fantasia, 404 Washington Ave, North Haven. A reception will begin at 5:30 pm with the march to the head table at 6:30 pm.

Twenty-eight high school and prep school scholar athletes who play football will be honored for academic excellence, leadership and citizenship.

“These young men never cease to amaze us”, said chapter president Bill O’Brien. “Their accomplishments in the classroom, on the field and in the community are exemplary. All they have achieved makes their family and school very proud”.

In addition, other award winners include Michael Barbaro of Wallingford, senior vice president of Town Fair Tire and a former football official who retired at the end of the 2014 season after 35 years on the field.

He has been a member of the New Haven Football Officials Association for 36 years serving as president in 1989. He was elected to the Connecticut Football Officials Hall of Fame in 2010.

Also being recognized are chapter member, author and former radio talk show host Rich Marazzi of Ansonia with the Chapter Award of Merit.

Marazzi is well known as the first rules consultant in major league baseball history. He is affiliated with 10 different teams including the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers. He also authored “A Bowl Full of Memories: 100 Years of Football at the Yale Bowl”, published in 2014.

Shelton coach Jeff Roy who led the Gaels to consecutive 12-1 records, as well as appearances in the Class LL State championship games in 2014 and 2015, will receive the’ Chapter Coach of the Year Award’ and former 30+ year football official John Manzi of Hamden will receive the ‘Official Recognition Award’ as selected by the New Haven Football Officials Association. More recently Manzi serves as Assistant to the Commissioner for the NHFOA, aiding Commissioner Steve Narracci in building schedules and making assignments for the organizations members.

By Roger Caldwell NNPA News Wire Columnist Marquis Lockhart-West Haven

Justin McClain-Hillhouse

David Barber-Hopkins School

La’Trell Alston-Hyde Leadership

Christopher Edwards-Wilbur Cross

In the 2016 Florida political campaign, there are millions of advertising dollars in play and Black-owned media companies are the perfect vehicles for driving “get out the vote” efforts in the state. At the present time, Republicans in Florida control the state legislature, the governorship and the administration. With more Democrats than Republicans on the voter rolls in the state, it makes no sense that the GOP controls everything.

During the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaign, President Obama won the Sunshine State in both elections with a Republican governor. That fact proves that moderates, women, and minorities can change the color of a state from red to blue. In order to make this happen in 2016, the Democratic Party in Florida must have strong leadership, and be totally committed to win.

In 2014, many of the Black candidates running for office felt they received no support from the Democratic leadership, not even from Allison Tant, the chairperson of the Democratic Party.

Thaddeus Hamilton, a Black man ran for Commissioner of Agriculture in Florida received over 2.3 million votes, and never received any financial support from the Florida Democratic Party. He was left off the first statewide Democratic candidate ballot box sheet, and many thought it

was not a mistake.

Racism in Florida politics is a reality in both parties, but over 95 percent of Black voters are Democratic. There are two Black-owned media associations in Florida, and they must work together. They must develop a united front with a plan to take to the national and statewide Democratic Party.

The Florida Association of Black Owned Media Inc., which celebrated its 10th year in December 2015, and the newly formed Black Owned Media Alliance in southern Florida are the two Blackowned media associations in Florida. African Americans make up 16 percent of the Florida population, and 2.5 million Blacks are registered to vote in 2016. These Black media organizations should be helping to organize and register another 250,000 Black voters for the 2016 election.

In order to make this happen, the Democratic Party should be spending money with the Black media to educate the Black community in Florida about the different elections, and what they mean. In this critical election year, the Black owned media groups in Florida must collaborate and put pressure on the national and local Democratic Party to not ignore our vote and community.

But, at this time, there are too many Black organizations in Florida such as the Urban League, the NAACP, Nation of Islam, and the Black Churches that appear lethargic and not excited about the election.

They are not mobilizing and educating our community, and the Black media is not endorsing candidates and holding them accountable to Con’t on page 24

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Tickets can be purchased for $50 by sending a check payable to ‘National Football Foundation’ to Donna Limone, 10 Ludlow Court, Branford 06405 or by calling her at 203-4818375.

Black-Owned Media Companies Should Push for More Political Ads

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

CASEY-OBRIEN NEW HAVEN COUNTY CHAPTER NATIONAL FOOTBALL FOUNDATION

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Margu “Returns” For Amistad’s 175th Africans’ freedom did not come without strings attached. The evangelist abolitionists expected the Africans to help raise money not only for boat passage home to Sierra Leone, but also to establish a missionary school there.

by ALLAN APPEL New Haven Independent

In 1839 Margu was was only 9 years old when she was snatched from her home into slavery. She was marched 80 miles to the slave pens off the coast of Sierra Leone, to await the harrowing Middle Passage across the Atlantic Ocean to Cuba.

Margu participated in all of this, as well as becoming part of the signing or deaf community in Farmington.

In New Haven, she would help make history that our city is celebrating Wednesday, 175 years later after a landmark civil-rights victory.

Margu was a Muslim, from a Mende culture with an advanced legal system. Because she had never left her inland home before, she and her fellow captives, on beholding the sea for the first time, proclaimed the Atlantic Ocean “the big river.”

When the 39 remaining Africans returned to Sierra Leone, most abandoned the missionaries and went home to find their own families. Margu stayed with the missionaries at the school. Eventually her value, it was determined, would be enhanced if she got a college education.

ALLAN APPEL PHOTO Denease

points to an image of Margu, whom she’ll portray in this week’s 175th Amistad decision anniversary.

Amy Durbin, to discuss the upcoming performance, the gallery’s highlights, and how what was arguably the most significant and complicated civil rights case up to the time might best be understood now.

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016

Such stereotype-breaking and humanizing details emerged from a discussion with actress Tammy Denease at the splendid Amistad Gallery at the New Haven Museum.

Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m.

Denease is portraying Margu in Sarah Margu: A Child of the Amistad. The free performance at the museum is part of :// www.nhregister.com/generalnews/20160305/new-haven-tocelebrate-175th-anniversary-ofamistad-the-slave-ship-that-ledto-freedom”the citywide celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that determined the 53 Amistad captives, held in New Haven, were not property to be argued over, but free human be-

“Most people are familiar with the legal case,” Denease said. “I like to put the human face on it.”

ings. It was the nation’s first civil rights victory, and the “Black Lives Matter” moment of its day.

That human face included how Margu, who had “Sarah” added to her name by the missionary couple who adopted her, navigated the new Christian and highly capitalistic world she was encountering.

WNHH radio’s “This Day In New Haven History” sat down with Denease and with the museum’s education director,

Durbin said that while the captives were being held in the New Haven jail approximately where the statue of the captives’

leader, Cinque, now stands next to City Hall the jailer would take the captives out on the Green periodically to get fresh air.

“They would do exercises on the Green. The jailer would sell tickets,” Durbin said. “As if they were part of a circus performance, for 12 cents, I believe.”

After the Supreme Court decision in 1841 liberated Margu, she and the other Africans were not provided any money to return to Africa. In Farmington, the abolitionists and missionaries taught Margu and the others to read and write. In exchange the Africans taught them how to grow rice and other crops not native to New England.

Yet they also had to go out on frequent speaking tours, for the

That’s how Sarah Margu, shipped off to Oberlin College in Ohio, became the first African ever to graduate from an American college.

Denease said her take on Margu’s story is true to the conflicts the girl experienced in navigating two worlds.

As many times as Denease has portrayed Margu, she says she discovers new facets, most recently the young woman’s relationship to the deaf community in Farmington, where she lived before returning to Africa.

“I constantly find more things,” Denease said, but kept returning to “the determining spirit [of Margu and her colleagues] to be free and to be treated as equals.”

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

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UCONN

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INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

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Racism and the Effects of Climate Change

by Barrington M. Salmon Special to the AFRO

the school-to-prison pipeline.

African Americans are disproportionately affected by climate change and are demanding action. Air pollution and climate change don’t just greatly impact health, they stifle our ability to grow economically.” According to Fields, the Sierra Club is monitoring the cumulative impacts. Climate change is manifested in illness from exposure to pollutants that drive climate change, physical displacement of individuals and families in the face of rising sea levels, catastrophic or destructive storms, economic and food insecurity, and malnutrition.

Black leaders in the fight against global climate change issued a call to action to arrest the impact of climate change on their communities. At a recent conference several speakers said Blacks in cities and towns across the country continue to be adversely affected by legislative and other policies that place power plants, brown fields, toxic waste, coal plants, incinerators and other generators of pollution in their communities.

The almost daylong Sustaining the Future symposium held on Feb. 24 titled “Sustaining the Future: The Impact of Climate Change on the Black Community,” and hosted by Green For All at the Sierra Club in downtown Washington, brought together attendees from a broad spectrum of environmental justice groups and organizations.

“Fifty percent of people of color live within two miles of areas of pollution,” said Beverly Wright, executive director of Dillard University’s Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. “There need to be buffers.

The Sparrow Point mill on the Patapsco River near Baltimore is shown, Aug. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Robert Meyers) We need a special distribution of polluting facilities. The people least responsible are the most affected.”

that determines the exposure some communities receive to assorted toxins, chemicals and pollutants.

Wright said those involved in environmental justice have a tough job fighting against corporations, utilities and government officials who are intent on decimating the environment. The professor said race is a predominant indicator

“Climate change is a threat multiplier for the Black community,” said Leslie Fields, director of the Sierra Club’s Environmental and Community Partnership Programs. “Our children have asthma, miss school, fall behind and end up in

Fields and Wright said the way forward for embattled communities is President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan and the range of smart climate change policies the administration has enacted. The plan sets the first ever federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants in an effort to lower the amount of health problemcausing toxins released into the air. The plan has public health and climate benefits worth up to $54 billion a year through 2030.

This will create opportunity work, transitions, and economic development,” said Fields.

“We’re strongly advocating for states to continue on the Clean Power Plan. They have until 2022 for the final compliance period. States are designing and implementing their plans but southern states have not cooperated so they will be part of the federal level plan for carbon emissions to go down.”

In a later panel discussion, “Black & Green: The Intersection Between Race and Environmental Justice,” moderator Angela Rye, principal and CEO of Impact Strategies, pushed panelists to explain how best to become environmental activists. “We know this is a crisis, we know that if this was in White communities this wouldn’t happen,” she said.

“In toxic waste studies in 1987 and 2007, people of color were most affected. In 20 years, the numbers haven’t changed,” said Quentin Pair, a retired senior attorney with the U.S. DOJ’s Environmental and Natural Resource Division. “Sixty percent are now affected. Race has always been at the heart of environmental justice.

Risky Medicine

Our Quest to Cure Fear and Uncertainty

by Dr. Robert Aronowitz, M.D. University of Chicago Press

by Kam Williams “Will ever-more sensitive tests for cancer lead to longer, better lives? Will anticipating and trying to prevent the future complications of chronic disease lead to better health? Not always... In fact, it often is hurting us.

Exploring the transformation of health care over the last several decades that has led doctors

to become more attentive to treating risk than treating symptoms or curing disease, [this book] shows how many aspects of... clinical practice are now aimed at risk reduction...

This transformation has been driven in part by the pharmaceutical industry, which benefits by promoting its products to the larger percentage of the population at risk for a particular illness, rather than the smaller percentage who are actually affected by it...

Risky Medicine is a timely call

for a skeptical response to medicine’s obsession with risk, as well as for higher standards of evidence for risk reducing interventions and a rebalancing of health care to restore an emphasis on the actual curing and caring for people suffering from disease.”

— Excerpted Bookjacket

from

the

Once upon a time, doctors took the Hippocratic Oath promising to “First, do no harm.” Of course, that was before they handed over control of the health care indus-

try to pharmaceutical and insurance companies far more focused on profits than people. And that was also prior to the rise of defensive medicine in response to the explosion of malpractice lawsuits.

The upshot is that many physicians nowadays could care less about what’s best for their patients, since they get their marching orders from a combination of avaricious executives and litigation-fearing corporate attorneys.

Consequently, doctors are inCon’t on page 27

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One of the Mysterious “Big Four” Abolitionists

#BlackGirlHealing: “By Varying Lengths Of Thread I Continued To Hang On” don’t even have adequate words to articulate the ways this sisterhood has not only contributed to saving my life, but also put me on a path to thrive.

BlackDoctor.com Growing up, I saw the image of women being not only backbones, but essentially feeling an obligation to be the proverbial martyr for their families. This usually came at the expense of their wellness.

Posted by Jae Jones, BlackThen.com

Not only did I witness this daily within the confines of my household, I understood that the women in my family were not unique in this way.

I have also been entrusted with the task of bringing the power of the organization to my hometown in the capacity of City Captain. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would be in a position to use my story to help inspire others while taking care of myself.

Throughout my community I saw the same scenario playing out. Even at a young age, I understood the dysfunction of this epidemic, but was desensitized to the gravity of it. Still, without change, I was destined to repeat it.

I am fortunate to still have my mother and grandmother with me. I now take every opportunity I get to encourage them to practice self-care, unapologetically. As I look towards the future, I am cognizant of modeling self-care as a lifestyle as an example to my daughters. It is my hope that they follow suit and perpetuate GirlTrek’s mission for the sake of their own daughters.

At the age of 13 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease.

Along with this chronic autoimmune disorder, I have also battled degrees of depression and anxiety. By varying lengths of thread, I continued to hang on.

Mostly suffering in silence, I had grown accustomed to being functionally depressed.

Not only was this normal for me, I wore it like a badge of honor. I muddled through, caring for my 5 children, but running on fumes. I existed this way for years.

Then, 2013 came. The accumulation of years of devastating depression and poor self-care finally exceeded my ability to ignore and bandage it.

I broke.

Precipitated by nothing more than sheer exhaustion, I broke.

This break resulted in me voluntarily admitting myself into a mental health facility. While this brief stay afforded me a pause and an opportunity to receive professional services to cope

– Yolanda M. Crocker, GirlTrek Gary, IN with my depression, it also afforded me unprecedented clarity.

I knew that I was going to have to make an entire lifestyle change.

Following my discharge, I set out on a journey to put my wellness first. Over the next year and a half I would set out on a journey that would include running, hiking, yoga, meditation, intense journaling and extreme dietary modifications. I soared for a while, and then I lost motivation as well as momentum. I didn’t know it at the time, but community is imperative to last-

ing change. Prior to this time, that was something that I sorely lacked.

During this time, I was introduced to GirlTrek. Here was an organization that acknowledged all the major health concerns that affected women like me. It even gave voice to the often stigmatized one that I wrestled with most, depression. I knew that I absolutely had to join this movement. My trajectory was forever changed.

Since joining GirlTrek, I have been much more consistent in making my self-care a priority. I

BlackDoctor.org is excited for this content partnership with GirlTrek to feature #BlackGirlHealing, an initiative created to document the narratives, struggles and successes of Black women on the journey to living their healthiest, most fulfilled lives through the habit of daily walking. This initiative will further the mission of decreasing health disparities and stigma among women and girls, and further the conversation that self care is a revolutionary act of love.

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Emma J. Atkinson was a Black abolitionist who was one of the mysterious “Big Four,” a group of women at Quinn Chapel who provided aid to runaway slaves.

Atkinson arrived in Chicago around 1847 with her husband, Isaac. When they arrived, there were only around 200 other blacks in the city. By 1850, the African-American population in Chicago only consisted of fewer than 400 residents out of a total population of over 23,000.

The “Big Four” women acted as conductors for the Underground Railroad. They provided shelter, food, and other necessities need to help runaway slaves. Out of the four black women, Atkinson is the only known name. There were no records kept by the “Big Four” abolitionists, and little else is known about their work.

The first congregants of Quinn Chapel A.M.E. were mainly former slaves and strong advocates of the abolition movement. In 1871, the chapel was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire. The church’s congregants became nomads once again, holding services in a series of temporary locations.

However, when the church was rebuilt in 1891, the location remained a safe haven for runaway slaves.

I have been inspired to not only recommit to my wellness daily, but to also challenge myself by setting lofty goals. With the support of my GirlTrek family, I will be training to participate in my first triathlon this year.

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

Emma J. Atkinson:

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Carl Matthews’ N.C. Lunch Counter Sit-In was the Model for the Movement we accomplished it. He was a fantastic person.”

By Todd Luck Special to the NNPA News Wire

Matthews, a 2003 Chronicle Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, also led efforts to desegregate Greyhound buses and the city’s courthouses. He was also active politically, registering a record number of Black voters in the 1960s and leading the local campaign for Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American to run for president.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Carl Wesley Matthews, the leader of the local lunch counter protest in 1960 that became the state’s first victory for the sit-in movement, passed away on Friday, Feb. 26.

A service for Matthews was held Thursday, March 3 at noon at Russell Funeral Home, 822 Carl Russell Ave. Matthews, 84, started the sitin at the downtown Kress store that led to the desegregation of lunch counters in WinstonSalem. The graduate of WinstonSalem Teachers College (now Winston-Salem State University) started his sit-in on Feb.8, just one week after the four students from NC A&T University started their sit-in at the Greensboro Woolworth.

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016

“I knew from the time that I heard about the gentlemen in Greensboro sitting down, I knew from that moment that I would

Carl Matthews (2nd from right) with other sit-in participants at the state historic marker for the sit-in. Matthew’s led the local lunch counter protest in 1960 that became North Carolina’s first victory for the sit-in movement. (FILE PHOTO/WSC)

offer some support for them, that I would be a pinch hitter,” said.

During the same interview, he said he discussed doing a sit-in with five of his co-workers at a

local trucking company, but by the time he started the sit-in, it was just him.

Though alone with White patrons threatening him, he later said he was not afraid, saying he felt the presence of a higher power and kept repeating the 23rd and 27th Psalm. But he was not alone for long, as he was joined by students from Winston-Salem Teachers College the next day and for the rest of the 107-day protest.

“I knew he needed some help,” said Victor Johnson Jr., one of the students who joined him.

Johnson, now a school board member, knew Matthews from the neighborhood. He described Matthews as being outspoken, adamant and even cocky.

Students from Atkins High School also participated in the sit-in, as did White students from Wake Forest College (now Wake Forest University). On Feb 23, 1960, eleven Black students and 10 White students were arrested for trespassing during a sit-in at the local Woolworth’s lunch counter. Mayor Marshall Kurfees appointed a “Goodwill

Committee” of 10 Black and 10 White citizens to devise a way to end the protests, which resulted in a desegregation agreement for lunch counters in Winston-Salem.

On May 25, 1960 Matthews returned to the Kress lunch counter and was the first AfricanAmerican served there. He said after he was finished, the waitress threw the glass he drank out of into a trashcan.

Former N.C. Rep. Larry Womble was also among the Winston-Salem Teachers College students in the sit-in.

Womble, who was the Student Government Association president at the time, also knew Matthews from the neighborhood and got to know him more during the sit-ins. He said he considers him a local civil rights hero.

“He was always dedicated, very sincere, very committed to the cause and the plight of equality and trying to address discrimination and racism in this city,” said Womble. “Without him, I doubt we would have made the success and the progress in the speed in which

AAP Host Karim Allah Sharif, who interviewed Matthews on his show for eight weeks in 1996, said that the historic sit-in victory became a “scale model” for the national civil rights movement.

Despite that, he said Matthews got little recognition for it in the decades following the sit-in.

Sharif said he was among those who successfully advocated for a state historic marker for the sitin. On Feb. 23, 2000, Matthews attended a dedication of the state historic marker and other events held for the 40th anniversary of the sit-ins.

“He was a great man,” said Sharif. “Not too many are going to make the sacrifices that he made … for someone to make the sacrifices he made at the age he made them, that’s what makes a great human being.”

Womble, who chaired the sitin anniversary, said he had talked with Matthews in recent weeks about getting a statue or bust of him erected, which he still hopes to do.

Matthews had three daughters, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

His grandson Kali Webster said his family would miss him greatly and that they’re sorry that he passed before he achieved his dream of getting national recognition for his sit-in accomplishments like the Greensboro Four and other civil rights icons.

“That was his dream, and that wasn’t realized in his lifetime, but hopefully one day it will be realized,” he said.

proactive, picking up books from the library. They get excited about the game and don’t want to lose,” Doc, a chess coach at Eagle Academy Charter School in Congress Heights and Washington Yu Ying Charter School, a Chinese immersion center near the National Cathedral in Northwest, told AllEyesOnDC.

By Sam P.K. Collins Special to the NNPA News Wire from AllEyesOnDC.com For young, Black men living in Washington, D.C., the game of chess provides an opportunity to develop critical thinking skills that prove essential in avoiding common pitfalls. It also allows them to revel in each other’s company and enjoy friendly competition.

Last weekend, chess connoisseurs of various ages gathered for an afternoon that included chess matches, trash talking, and exchanges about strategy. The event, touted as “Chess Fun Day” attracted dozens of men from across the D.C. metropolitan area that converged on the Big Chair Chess Club in Northeast, Washington, D.C. for the festivities.

“We wanted to bring some enlightenment about chess and its history. Our black community should know that it’s something to do,” Ricky Norman, manager of the Big Chair Chess Club, told AllEyesOnDC during the daylong gathering on Saturday, Feb. 27.

Since its 2003 inception by convict-turned-chess teacher Eugene Brown, the Big Chair Chess Club has been instrumental in helping at-risk District students change their lives for the better. The nonprofit organization’s mantra “[T]hink before you move” draws parallels between navigating the chessboard and making prudent life decisions.

Norman said chess can be a tool for self-improvement, helping young people increase discipline and focus.

Anthony Womack, a chess player of eight years and one of Ricky Norman, manager of the Big Chair Chess Club (center), shows two youngsters how to play chess during the organizers for the event, shared similar thoughts. He Chess Fun Day at the groups Deanwood location in Washington, D.C. (Ben Washington/AllEyesOnDC.com) revealed his plans to introduce “My grandchildren been chess to his students after to others. It’s about doing the are carrying on that legacy from best you can and improving. the confines of Big Chair Chess exposed to chess at home before watching “Life of King,” a Some people say chess makes Club’s Deanwood-based abode. but it’s great to see how movie about Brown starring you think. I say that this game Throughout much of Saturday enthusiastic they are playing Cuba Gooding, Jr. On Saturday gives you an opportunity to afternoon, men occupying the with a professional. Even afternoon, he played several think. That’s when the epiphany chess boards in the clubhouse though they may not know all games of chess and chatted with comes,” said Norman, a 54- stared attentively at the white of the rules, they’re blessed with elders about their life year-old Northeast resident. and black pieces as old school the basics,” said Washington, experiences.

Since chess Grandmaster R&B tunes blared from 60. “Everyone has to deal with “I just wanted to feel the spirit champion Bobby Fischer loudspeakers. Shortly after the game of chess at their own and ambiance of being around popularized the game in the stepping through the doors of level. It’s the same thing with other chess players. This game 1950s, people of various ages the Big Chair Chess Club, life. The children need to deal is a meeting of the minds,” said around the world have taken to guests watched ongoing with what they can understand Womack, founder of the chessboard at home, in matches while nibbling on and grasp it so they can MisUnderstood, a Halifax, school, recreation centers, and snacks and chatting amongst progress. It’s all about the Virginia-based life skills during tournaments. Research one another. Photos of historic decisions you need to make for training program for young has confirmed the benefits of and contemporary black figures your next steps.” men. “No matter what’s going playing chess, including brain stimulation, prevention of Alzheimer’s, and an increase in problem-solving skills.

Under the direction of the Big Chair Chess Club, students from Kimball Elementary School in Southeast have won seven city championships.

School administrators also noted behavioral changes in students who participated in the extracurricular program. Years later, Norman and his colleagues

lined the walls. Stacks of the instructional material also sat on wooden tables.

For Germantown, Maryland resident James Washington, Chess Fun Day would be an experience for the entire family.

That afternoon, he and his wife watched as Norman showed his grandchildren how to move each of the pieces on the board.

His son Ben, an ardent chess player, gleefully recorded the short session.

Local chess coach and the longtime Big Chair Chess Club member Doc said learning the game opened up many doors for him in his social and professional life. Since Brown taught him chess at Kimball more than a decade ago, Doc has imparted his knowledge on young black men seeking mentorship.

“I often see students who don’t want to play sports but love chess. Some of them get

on in life, amazing things happen when you push those pieces on the board. Folks say black people don’t play chess and it’s a challenge but I learned a lot from the game.”

Womack continued: “After playing, I understood that you have to be prepared to move with life’s changes and pick up a new strategy.”

21

“For me, chess can be very personal. I get people who come in [the Big Chair Chess Club] and want to compare themselves

“In this game, they get the mental challenge they don’t receive in school. This is where they learn life lessons including outlining and contingency planning. I see what the game does and the type of people it attracts. It takes a lot of mental fortitude to play an hour and a half of chess,” Doc added.

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

D.C. Chess Club Changes Lives

22

Historic Black Press Week Captivates D.C. assistant secretary for Minority Health and the director of the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Thomas Mensah, one of four inventors and innovators of fiber optics at Sullivan Park Research Center at Corning Inc., were among those on the schedule.

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA News Wire Contributing Writer Publishers and leaders from the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a trade group of more than 200 Blackowned media companies, and from the 400-plus member National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) recently held a historic three-day summit in Washington, D.C. that featured an all-star roster of speakers, meetings on Capitol Hill, and the enshrinement of the late Gerri Warren into The Gallery of Distinguished Black Publishers.

“I think we had a very productive week,” said NNPA Chair and Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes.

NNPA Foundation Chair Al McFarlane called the meeting between the two minority trade groups historic.

“Our presence here acknowledges a broad and rich historic relationship between African and Latino communities,” said McFarlane.

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016

NAHP President Martha Montoya quoted best-selling author Sarah MacLean, who said the best partnerships aren’t dependent on a mere common goal, but on a shared path to equality, desire, and no small amount of passion.

“That sentiment was very clear to both organizations and this joint event will allow the leadership of the NAHP and the NNPA to engage corporate decision makers and influential regulatory and political leaders to encourage advertising and financial support for member publications as well as advocate for policies that benefit our communities and members,” Montoya said.

NNPA President Dr. Benjamin Chavis reflected on the founding of the NNPA. The civil rights activist said

Also attending were representatives from dedicated sponsors RAI Reynolds, Ford, Chevrolet, Fusion, Charter Communications, Ascension and AP XPRESS Bus Company.

that 189 years ago in 1827, “Freedom’s Journal” was boldly published in New York and became the first Black-owned newspaper in the United States.

National Press Club and a chairman’s reception hosted by Fusion for both organizations was held at Univision Communications.

“From the very first publication it was crystal clear that our publishers were both simultaneously prodigious entrepreneurs and courageous freedom fighters,” Chavis said.

On Thursday, March 10, McFarlane, Rolark Barnes and Chavis hosted the Hall of Fame enshrinement at Howard University as the NAHP held an event regarding legislative policy at the Press Club. NAHP scheduled a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch while Chavis reached out to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton who held a press conference with both organizations on Capitol Hill on Friday to appeal for a study on how much money federal agencies are spending on advertising in the Black and Latino press and to advocate for D.C. statehood.

Rolark Barnes acknowledged that the publishers and business owners of the Black press in America came together by faith.

“Our journey of faith began with two free men, Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm, who laid the first stone on the path we follow by publishing the nation’s first African-American newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, on March 16, 1827 in New York,” she said. “Their articles, editorials, cartoons, sermons, bios and advertisements included arguments for the abolishment of slavery and the expressed pride in the accomplishment of the African-American community.”

The week’s activities kicked off with an NNPA Foundation Board meeting at the W Hotel that was followed by a special luncheon.

NAHP also kicked off the week with a board meeting at the

That night, the 2016 Torch Awards honored Dr. Lonnie Bunch, Baltimore City Attorney Marilyn Mosby, Sterling Premier Group CEO Thomas A. Moorehead, Retired Major General Charles F. Bolden Jr., and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation Melanie L. Campbell.

The groups also announced a

“Get Out to Vote” initiative.

“I am proud to join the formation for the first time of a historic alliance of AfricanAmerican and Hispanic publishers,” Holmes-Norton said.

“You are the most trusted source of news in our communities.”

Her comments echoed the words of Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who served as keynote speaker at the joint NNPA/NAHP luncheon on Thursday at the National Press Club.

“I want to say a word about your role and why your role is so important,” Kaine said. “I’ve been looking forward to coming to this historic meeting of the NNPA and the NAHP together.

You have the trust of your readers at a time when people don’t trust the media. That is a precious commodity.”

Tasha Boone, the program manager for the 2020 Census Integrated Partnership and Communications Program, Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, a group leader and robotics engineer at the NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, Fernando Hernandez, director for Microsoft Supplier Diversity; Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, the deputy

In keeping with one of its premier missions of highlighting youth, the NNPA also featured a program on Friday that included the SpelBots, Spelman College’s robotics team, which encourages students and young women of color to explore robotics and computer science.

“It was one of the more impressive things I’ve seen,” said Rolark Barnes as she talked about the students at the NNPA event dedicated to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Chavis noted that today’s Black-owned and Hispanicowned media companies exist during a propitious time in the publishing industry.

Innovation and the use of technology will continue to be key components of strategic plans for the next decade as NNPA strives to financially sustain its media and publishing businesses, he said.

“Yet, we know for certain that the profitability of our businesses is also directly linked to the overall improvement of the quality of life in the communities that we serve and represent,” he said.

Chavis continued: “We are committed to working to address the critical issues and challenges that confront the industry atlarge, as well as to ensure that equity of consideration is given to our member publishers in advertisements, media buys, Con’t on page 27

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

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College Bound At The Age of 8! fun, Khalid is like the average 8 year old who likes to make jokes to see if he could get a chuckle out of you and play video games. Even when making jokes, his jokes tend to really make you think about what the answer should be because it isn’t obvious. Also, Khalid likes to read adventure books.

Khalid Harris is a 3 rd grader attending Mauro Sheridan Interdistrict Magnet School who will be attending Babson College located in Wellesley, MA during the summer for a week to study and enhance his skills relating to STEM: CSI-applying math and science-based skills and utilizing chemistry to unlock clues and in an actual case.

Medicine-examine the circulatory system and the heart, perform dissection, and diagnose a patient as a future medical intern.

Engineering-construct and test the strongest bridge and program and code a robot to compete in the robotics challenge.

Khalid was nominated by his teacher Mrs. Jokl to attend this program and take advantage of this opportunity by his teacher. The program is sponsored by the

National Youth Leadership Forum: Pathways to STEM. The program select students from around the nation that exhibit exceptional maturity, scholastic merit and leadership potential. This is the first year that Khalid’s school was invited to participate in the program.

Khalid is used to having a rigorous schedule as he currently takes private piano, plays the viola and commits to participating with volunteer service in the community. To pass time and have

Overall, Khalid is very excited about attending the program. He expressed to his mother that attending would be a great experience for him. He looks forward to meeting new people (students) as well as learning new things that will be challenging to him. At the ripe age of 8 years old, Khalid is thinking some years ahead.

He said that this experience will look good on his resume for high school and concludes that maybe he will attend Babson College once he graduates from high school as he is aspiring to be a Scientist or Architect.

Con’t from page 11

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their promises and platforms.

As local candidates see the Black media more engaged in the voting process, they will spend more advertising dollars with the Black media in Florida.

During a media symposium in South Florida last year, Eric Knowles, the president of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce said that only 3 percent or $2.24 billion out of $75 billion spent on television, magazines, newspapers, and radio advertising was spent on media focused specifically on the Black audience.

Knowles said that, “One

reason [major advertisers] don’t care about us is because we’re going to spend our money in their businesses anyway.”

Many of the leaders in the Black-owned media groups are beginning to talk about boycotting, if the major advertisers do not spend more money in our communities.

Black-owned media companies in Florida for the first time are joining forces and are reaching out to the advertising community to get a larger piece of the pie as a united front.

Those business should take the same action when it comes to

dealing with the Democratic Party, locally and nationally.

Roger Caldwell is the president and CEO of On Point Media Group, a marketing and public relations firm located in Orlando, Florida. He is a graduate of Howard University in political science. As a stroke survivor, author, and community journalist, his passion is national and statewide politics. Follow him a t rogerpoliticalblogs.wordpress.com or e-mail comments to jet38@bellsouth.net.

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Please call 1-888-KID-HERO For more Information Department of Children and Families

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016 26

partnerships, sponsorships and other business opportunities.

NNPA President Benjamin Chavis speaks outside of the U.S. Capitol during a joint press conference between NNPA and NAHP. Washington, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (wearing the black and white print coat), Denise Rolark Barnes, the chair of the NNPA (wearing all black) and Martha Montoya, the president of the NAHP (far right), also delivered remarks.

(Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA) Con’t from page 16

Risky Medicine creasingly devoting less attention to healing the sick than to figuring out ways to improve their balance sheets.

Overwhelming evidence of this development can be found in the trend towards testing and anticipatory treatment. Instead of waiting for a person to fall ill or exhibit symptoms, practitioners have become advocates of increasingly early attempts to diagnose a disease, on the theory that catching it early will improve a patient’s prognosis.

But is that actually the case?

That is the assumption vociferously disputed by Robert Aronowitz, M.D. in Risky Medicine. Dr. Aronowitz asserts that “overdiagnosis and overtreatment” have played a role in the “cost and quality crisis in American medicine.” He says the problem is that mere risk factors and early signs of disorders are being treated as aggressively as if they were full-blown diseases, without regard to the patients’ quality of life and financial best interests.

commandeered it to Havana, Cuba where they refueled and then flew across the Atlantic Ocean to land in Algeria. Algeria greeted them with open arms and allowed a new chapter of the Black Panthers to be formed there. The nation even funded them. That is where Gwen spent the rest of her days. She died of natural causes a decade or so later.

By Harry C. Alford NNPA News Wire Columnist Oh yes, those were troubled times during the decades of the 1960’s and 1970’s. When Beyoncé gave tribute to the 50th Anniversary of the start of the Black Panther Movement, I thought, “She doesn’t know what she is celebrating.” A look back at the years of the Black Panthers demands attention to other groups who equally tried to force this nation into equal rights for all – especially Blacks.

America was about to change one way or the other.

When Rosa Parks lit the “spark” by refusing to give her bus seat over to a White man, the fire of the Civil Rights Movement began. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wisely set out to change the racial status of the United States via nonviolence. It required patience and discipline plus a lot of faith. There were others who became impatient and entertained the thoughts of rioting, war, separation from the Union or “by any means necessary,” according to Malcolm X. Dr. King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), because the traditional Black religious groups refused to follow him or his movement. However, his following grew and eventually culminated into the signing of the Civil Rights Act and eventually the Voting Rights Act. These two great pieces of legislation were taking a long time to be fully enforced.

Doubters and opportunists decided to take advantage of this slow motion.

Beginning in the summer of 1965, the Los Angeles Watts Riot gave notice to the nation. Blacks were not going to take the abuse, discrimination nor police brutality by ignoring or turning the other cheek. Newark, Chicago, Detroit and other cities burned significant sections of

The FBI went to “war” with the Panthers.

In her autobiography, Elaine Brown, clearly discusses the adventures and soon deterioration of the Panthers through J. Edgar Hoover’s infamous COINTELPRO investigations and assassinations. If you want to know about life with the Panthers and the viciousness a nation can be, this is a must read.

their cities. Plus, the Vietnam War was going on (drafting Black boys in discriminatory fashion) and the war veterans were returning home to the same sad situation they left. Many of them didn’t come back alive, but in a “body bag” (500 per week at the height of the war). Some became violent.

The anti-war movement, frustration with discrimination and lost faith in our political system caused many groups to form. Groups that were antiestablishment. One particular Black group was formed in Oakland, California. It was the Black Panther People’s Party then shortly changed to the Black Panther Party. Its foundation was to follow socialist/Marxist doctrine and to protect and govern their own communities.

They carried weapons, called police “pigs,” wore black leather jackets with black berets fitted over their afro and promoted revolution. Violent skirmishes with the police started becoming frequent as their chapters started popping up in cities throughout the United States. Some members of the Student

Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) decided to become violent and join the Panthers. Most notably Stokely Carmichael (author of the term Black Power) and H. Rap Brown.

I was going to Ventura Community College near my hometown of Oxnard, California. Suddenly, members of the Black Panther Party – Los Angeles Chapter came on our campus to recruit Black students into the movement. Amazingly, they succeeded. Gwen Harvey, fellow student, was the first in our community to grow a “natural” or afro. I laughed at her for a full hour. Two years later I and everyone else was sporting one – I even bought a black leather coat. What I didn’t know was that Gwen had joined the Black Panthers. A couple of years later, while I was at the University of Wisconsin, my mother sent me a local news article. Gwen, who was going to the University of California at Santa Barbara, joined a fellow Black Panther and hijacked a commercial jet taking off from the Santa Barbara airport. They

While I was attending the University of Wisconsin, I had the opportunity to meet and quickly chat with Fred Hampton who ran the Chicago’s Black Panther chapter. He gave a rousing speech at an event sponsored by a White communist organization – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). My buddy and I were so intrigued we decided to drive to Chicago, go to his headquarters and request an on the spot interview and then write a paper for one of our professors. Fred took us in! The brother had the makings of a great leader. A few weeks later the Chicago Police Department assassinated him via a couple of dozen bullets as he laid in his bed beside his eight months pregnant wife.

It was devastating! It was a hard lesson for me. Fight the power, but remember the power follows no morals.

Harry Alford is the president, CEO and co-founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce® (NBCC). For more information about the NBCC, visit http://www.nationalbcc.org or e-mail Harry at halford@nationalbcc.org.

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Required reading for anyone at all skeptical about how the practice of medicine evolved from simply treating symptoms and curing diseases to playing on fears and subjecting patients to a seemingly neverending battery of expensive, invasive and often unreliable tests.

What I Learned from the Rise and Fall of the Black Panther Party

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

Con’t from page 23

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Millennium Construction Services, LLC www.millennium-realty.com Phone: 860-529-1111 Fax: 860-529-5555 Email: bwhitaker@millennium-realty.com

Housing Authority of the City of New Haven Invitation for Bids Crawford Manor Hydronic Upgrades The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven (HANH) is currently seeking Bids for Crawford Manor Hydronic Upgrades. Bids will be received until March 4, 2016 at 3:00 PM. A Pre-Bid Conference will be held at 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 on Wednesday February 17, 2016 @ 11:30 AM. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from HANH’s front desk at 360 Orange Street beginning on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 @ 3:00 PM. Request for electronic copies of the request should be emailed to bids@newhavenhousing.org.

Housing Authority of the City of New Haven Invitation for Bids 210 Valley Street Vacancy Rehabilitation The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven (HANH) is currently seeking Bids for 210 Valley Street Vacancy Rehabilitation. Bids will be received until March 4, 2016 at 3:00 PM. A Pre-Bid Conference will be held at 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 on Wednesday February 17, 2016 @ 12:00 PM. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from HANH’s front desk at 360 Orange Street beginning on Monday, February 8, 2016 @ 3:00 PM. Request for electronic copies of the request should be emailed to bids@newhavenhousing.org.

Construction Site Work Company looking for experienced laborers, operators, foremen and drivers

Contractors are invited to bid on the new construction project known as Sayebrook Village South in Old Saybrook CT. The development consists of 15 individual new construction apartments of elderly affordable housing located on a .75 acre parcel on Sheffield Street in Old Saybrook CT. The scope covered under this solicitation consists solely of the site work portion of the project to include but not limited to: excavation, cuts and fills, rough grade, pad certification, on and off site utilities (both dry and wet), septic system, paving and walks, storm water control, structural footings, foundations and slabs and fine grading. The intent is for the site work contractor to manage divisions 2 & 3 and control those phases of the site portion of the work including the foundations and utilities to allow setting of modular buildings on completed foundations.

Driver: CDL Driver needed for site work Company. Applicant must have at least a Class B license with clean driving record. Tri Axle Dump Truck experience required.

Construction shall commence late Spring 2016 and continue until complete (weather pemitting). Owner is a Tax Exempt 501C3 non-profit organization.

Laborer: Must have previous construction experience and reliable transportation.

Applicant should be able to perform manual labor for 8 hour day and lift up to 50lbs.

A pre-bid walk through will occur on Thursday, March 24th at 1:00 p.m. and will commence at the community room located 57 Sheffield Street, Old Saybrook CT. A tour of the site will be conducted at that time.

A complete set of plans and specifications will be available for review at the construction office located on site and are immediately available for review at http:// www.wilesarch.com/#!contact/c1et Millennium Construction Services, LLC and the owner reserve the rights; to accept any, all, or any part of any bids; to reject any, all or any part of any bids; to waive any non-material deficiencies in bid responses; and to award the bid that in its judgment will be in the best interests of the owner.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER, SECTION 3 BUSINESSES AND WBE AND SBE/MINORITY BUSINESSES ARE ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE. CONTRACTS AWARDED UNDER THIS SOLICITATION ARE SUBJECT TO STATE SET-ASIDE AND CONTRACT COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS.

Seeking WBE drywall suppliers and subcontractors for New Haven housing authority project. Please email info@tecconllc.com if interested.

Diesel Mechanic 3-5 yr. min. exp. 40-Hr. Hazwoper Training. Repair/Maintain triaxles, roll offs and heavy equipment. Kenworth, Mack, John Deere, CAT. RED Technologies, Portland, CT FAX 860.218.2433; Email Info@redtechllc.com.

RED Technologies, LLC is An EOE.

Drivers: Company Drivers. $5000 transition bonus. Paid out in the first 4 months - Call us for details! New Home Time policy: 5 days out - 2 days off; 10 days out - 4 days off; 15 days out6 days off. We offer: average $1200$1400 weekly. $1500 quarterly bonus. $5000 referral bonus. Dedicated lanes.

Longevity bonus. Dedicated driver advocate team. Health, dental, vision benefits available. Paid layovers & orientation. Requirements: must have CDLA with tanker & hazmat endorsements.

Have or be willing to obtain TWIC card. 1yr. tractor-trailer exp. Call Jessica: 866-983-0855 or apply online at www.Work4QC.com

Construction Site Work Foreman: Minimum 5 years’ experience as Site Work Crew Foreman. Applicant must have knowledge of site layout & grade and utility installation a must.

Equipment Operator: Immediate opening for experienced operator with 5 to 10 years of experience, P6 or P7 license preferred for a site work company. Must be able to operate excavators, dozers, skid steers, earth rollers, etc. Must have experience with site layout & grade and utility installation. Must have knowledge of required daily equipment maintenance.

Please indicate position of interest when applying.

Please fax resume to 203-630-1998, email to HR@LaRosaBG.com or apply in person at LaRosa Earth Group 163 Research Parkway, Meriden, CT. Women and minorities encouraged to apply. AA/EEO

Carpenter Skilled tradesman in all facets of building alterations/renovations, maintenance and repair is needed for the Wallingford Public Schools. Applicants must be a H.S. graduate with 7 years experience as a journeyman carpenter. Considerable past experience in all phases of both heavy and light construction, including residential, commercial, and industrial projects or any suitable equivalent combination of experience and training. Hourly rate: $27.27 $33.37, plus an excellent fringe benefits package. The closing date for applications is March 9, 2016 or the date we receive the fiftieth (50) application whichever occurs first. Apply: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492, (203) 294-2080, Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE.

Welder-Exp. Welder for structural steel Misc shop. Send resume:gwf@snet.net

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Classifieds Classifieds 203 387-0354

BUSINESS HOURS - MONDAY FRIDAY 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM - 50 FITCH NEW HAVEN CT, 06515 - Career/Education/Training • Bid• L egal and Public Notices • Health Care • Real Estate • Professional

Listing:C Maintenance Assistant Immediate opening for a part time maintenance assistant for grounds and building maintenance.

Position requires flexible work schedule. Some heavy lifting required. Computer knowledge a plus. Send resume to HR Manager, 401 Soundview Road, Guilford, CT 06437. **An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**

Housing Authority of the City of New Haven

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven is seeking to fill a full time position for a Communications Officer.

Please refer to our website for details: http://www.cfgnh.org/About/ContactUs/EmploymentOpportunities.aspx EOE electronic submissions only. No phone calls

Drivers Needed Full time openings for Class A Drivers with benefits after 90 days. Previous experience required. All interested parties: Apply in person with Rich Merly at True Blue Environmental 5 Northfield Road, Wallingford, CT. An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

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Inner-City Inner-City News

Invitation for Bids Winslow- Celentano Hydronic Upgrades The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven (HANH) is currently seeking Bids for Winslow- Celentano Hydronic Upgrades. Bids will be received until March 4, 2016 at 3:00 PM. A Pre-Bid Conference will be held at 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 on Wednesday February 17, 2016 @ 11:00 AM. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from HANH’s front desk at 360 Orange Street beginning on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 @ 3:00 PM. Request for electronic copies of the request should be emailed to bids@newhavenhousing.org.

CONSTRUCTION Experienced Iron Workers needed. Must have tools, transportation, OSHA 10 card; Will conduct background check and pre-employment drug test. EOE-M/F Call 860-525-9016.

Class A CDL Driver with 3 years min. exp. HAZMAT Endorsed. (Tractor/Triaxle/Roll-off) Some overnights may be required. FAX resumes to RED Technologies, at 860.342-1042; Email: mandrade@redtechllc.com Mail or in person: 173 Pickering Street, Portland, CT 06480. RED Technologies, LLC is An EOE.

Listing: Senior Accountant.

Immediate opening in a fast-paced petroleum environment for a degreed accountant w/ 2+ year’s public accounting experience. Duties include data transmission, tax prep, assistance w/monthly closing, account analysis/reconciliation, assistance managing network and system projects. Strong Excel and analytical skills a must. Great growth potential! Benefit package. Candidate must possess a high level of accuracy and attention to detail. Petroleum industry and propane experience a plus. Send resume to: Human Resource Dept. P O Box 388, Guilford CT 06437.

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**An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**

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Inner-City Inner-City News Connecticut’s First Choice For Urban News Since1990

PLACING AN AD EASY

Classifieds Classifieds 203 387-0354

BUSINESS HOURS - MONDAY FRIDAY 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM - 50 FITCH NEW HAVEN CT, 06515 - Career/Education/Training • Bid• L egal and Public Notices • Health Care • Real Estate • Professional Drivers: Company Drivers. $5000 transition bonus. Paid out in the first 4 months Call us for details! New Home Time policy: 5 days out - 2 days off; 10 days out - 4 days off; 15 days out- 6 days off. We offer: average $1200-$1400 weekly. $1500 quarterly bonus. $5000 referral bonus. Dedicated lanes. Longevity bonus. Dedicated driver advocate team. Health, dental, vision benefits available. Paid layovers & orientation. Requirements: must have CDLA with tanker & hazmat endorsements.

Have or be willing to obtain TWIC card.

1yr. tractor-trailer exp. Call Jessica: 866983-0855 or apply online at www.Work4QC.com

The Glendower Group, Inc Request for Proposals Compliance Consultant The Glendower Group, Inc, an instrumentality of The Housing Authority City of New Haven is currently seeking Proposals for Compliance Consultant Services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https:/ /newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 @ 3:00 PM.

The Glendower Group, Inc Request for Proposals

Real Estate Broker Services The Glendower Group, Inc, an instrumentality of The Housing Authority City of New Haven is currently seeking Proposals for Real Estate Broker Services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https:// newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Monday, March 7, 2016 @ 3:00 PM.

HVAC Apprentices Now Hiring HVAC apprentices. Current or previous HVAC trade school is required. We are hiring for a long term multi-family housing project in New Haven. Prevailing wage rates up to $55 per hour. We are an innovative and fast growing heating and AC contractor. We offer paid holidays, vacation time, 401K, Health Insurance and many other benefits. Call 860-283-4878 or email Chris@ctcomfortcontrol.com today to schedule a confidential interview.

HVAC Journeymen Seeking WBE drywall suppliers and subcontractors for New Haven housing authority project. Please email info@tecconllc.com if interested.

Now Hiring licensed Journeymen HVAC technicians and installers. CT S, D, or SM license required. We are hiring for a long term multi-family housing project in New Haven. Prevailing wage rates up to $75 per hour. We are an innovative and fast growing heating and AC contractor. We offer paid holidays, vacation time, 401K, Health Insurance and many other benefits. Call 860-283-4878 or email Chris@ctcomfortcontrol.com today to schedule a confidential interview.

CLERK TYPIST

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016

Performs a wide variety of clerical duties requiring excellent computer and interpersonal skills.

This position requires 1 year of office work experience of a responsible nature and a H.S., G.E.D. or business diploma. $19.63 to $23.76 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package.

Apply: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. The closing date will be that date the 75th application form/resume is received, or March 30, 2016, whichever occurs first. EOE Electric Utility System Operator/Dispatcher Operates electric distribution substation and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for an electric utility serving 25,000 customers. Coordinates electric system switching and places equipment in and out of service during routine and emergency operations. Requires HS diploma/GED with 2 years experience in the operation of Distribution SCADA equipment and/or switchboards used in the distribution of electricity. Experience and training may be substituted on a year for year basis. Must maintain valid system operation certification from Connecticut Valley Exchange (CONVEX) or other approved agency or be able to obtain the same within 90 days of hire.

Must posses and maintain a valid State of CT driver’s license. $ 31.84 - $ 37.83 per hour plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply to: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Fax #: (203) 294-2084. Closing date will be April 11, 2016. EOE.

Drivers Needed Full time openings for Class A Drivers with benefits after 90 days. Previous experience required. All interested parties: Apply in person with Rich Merly at True Blue Environmental 5 Northfield Road, Wallingford, CT. An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - Match 27, 2016

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INNER-CITY NEWS March 21, 2016 - March 27, 2016 32