NJG | Vol. 123, No. 20 - May 18, 2023

& Guide

OSCAR WINNER, ALUM RUTH CARTER KEYNOTES HU’S GRADUATION

By Randy Singleton Community Affairs Correspondent

New Journal and Guide

HAMPTON

Two-time Academy Award

winning costume designer and HU alumnae Ruth

Carter keynoted Hampton University’s 153rd Annual Commencement on Mother’s Day Sunday (May 14) at Armstrong Stadium on the campus of HU.

Carter became the first African-American to win in the category of costume design for the movie “Black Panther” and earn Marvel Studios its first Oscar recognition. Carter scored a second Oscar for her costume design work in the sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” and thus making history as the first African-American woman to win multiple Academy Awards in any category and the first costume designer to win for the first film and its sequel.

INSIDE:

NSU RECEIVES $1 MILLION DONATION see page 3A

In her remarks, Carter noted that her costume designs in “Black Panther” pay tribute to the people of Africa by fusing traditional and contemporary fashion with technology to create Afro-futuristic pieces that empower the female form, honor ancient cultures,

OLD SCHOOL BUILDING USED BY OLYMPIAN SPORTS CLUB TO GET STATE MARKER

By Leonard E. Colvin

Chief Reporter New Journal and Guide

Ten years ago, the city of Portsmouth targeted a small wood frame building in the Truxton Community for demolition.

The structure was used as a meeting place for the members of the Olympian Sports Club, an African-American organization that supports youth programming.

When word of the city’s intentions became evident, members of the club contacted the African-American Historic Society of Portsmouth.

Historian and former educator Mae Breckenridge Haywood was the President of the Historical Society at that time.

After some research, she discovered that the old building was of historical

significance.

It was the Key Road School and was one of a network of “colored” schools in the city created to educate Black children. see Olympian, page 6A

and invoke a deep sense of representation unlike any other costumes experienced on screen. Carter told the graduates the theater company on Hampton’s campus gave her an opportunity to learn her craft. She credited director Spike Lee with providing her with costume design jobs in his films “School Daze” and “Malcolm X,” which led to other projects with directors Steven Spielburg, Ava DuVernay, and Ryan Coogler. Carter urged the graduates to not give up on their dreams.

Following her speech, HU President Darryl K. Williams honored Carter with a framed photo of HU’s Emancipation Oak and bestowed upon her an honorary doctorate of Humanities degree.

SASHA OBAMA GRADUATES FROM USC

NJG NEWSWIRE

Sasha Obama, whom America greeted as a First Daughter when she was seven-yearsold, recently picked up her college degree at the University of Southern California commencement ceremonies on May 12 while her famous parents watched.

Sasha Obama was decked in graduation garb and received her degree while her parents sat in the audience surrounded by about a dozen Secret Service agents. see Sasha, page 7A

PART TWO

LYNCHINGS IN GENTEEL VIRGINIA? UNSOLVED 1904 LOCAL HISTORY

By Leonard E. Colvin Chief Reporter New Journal and Guide

For three days in midApril, Ramini Fatehi joined 15 other progressive prosecutors from around the country on a pilgrimage, touring some of Alabama’s and America’s civil rights history.

The pilgrimage was through Selma and Montgomery, which were battlegrounds during the most critical chapter of the Modern Civil Rights Movement.

In Selma among the

historic sites, Fatehi, Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney, said the pilgrims walked across the Edmond Pettus Bridge to allow them to retrace the steps of 600 activists on March 7, 1965.

The activists were participating in a march to Montgomery to demand the right to vote without restrictions. At the foot of the Bridge, they were attacked by State Troopers and deputies wielding clubs.

The marchers, including future Congressman John Lewis, were turned back as they were beaten brutally

A tour of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery turned up some chilling local history.

by troopers. That day’s events became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Fatehi’s tour group was then driven to Montgomery where they stood in the pulpit of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached.

King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and would lead a second successful march to Montgomery

President Joe Biden At Howard ...

Howard University’s 2023 graduates were challenged to answer questions about America’s future ... “Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe? Who will we be?” see page 3A

over the Pettus Bridge under federal protection a week after Bloody Sunday. Dexter Avenue Baptist Church sits eerily just blocks from the Alabama State capitol.

In March of 1965, segregationist Governor George C. Wallace, who ordered the attack, ruled the state.

Study Shows Blacks Served By Black Doctors Live Longer

By Rosaland Tyler Associate Editor New Journal and Guide

A new report shows that Blacks live a decade or so longer in areas with more Black primary care physicians.

This means consulting a Black doctor may mean you will live longer. In the first study to link a higher prevalence of Black doctors to longer Black life expectancy and lower mortality rates, the new report was recently published in JAMA and partially funded by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Office of Health Equity. Surprisingly, the new study found that life expectancy rates among poor Blacks were higher in counties with the highest rates of poverty because Black physicians are more likely to treat lowincome, underinsured and Medicaid patients.

It means “a single Black physician in a county can have an impact on an entire population’s mortality,” said Monica Peek, a Johns Hopkins University grad who completed her residency at Stanford University Hospital, and now serves as a primary care physician and health equity researcher at UChicago Medicine.

Earlier reports, including a 2018 study have shown Black male patients

The events around Bloody Sunday led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

The Pilgrimage, Fatehi said, was organized by the Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP) and brought together progressive elected local prosecutors as part of a network of leaders committed to promoting a justice system grounded in fairness, equity, compassion, and fiscal responsibility.

Members of the organization in Virginia

were more likely to discuss healthcare problems with Black doctors. Meanwhile, a 2020 study found that even when Black and white doctors used the same words and communication style, Black patients were more receptive to surgical recommendations made by Black physicians. And a 2002 study of white, Black, Hispanic, and AfricanAmerican patients found that each race and ethnicity reported the highest level of satisfaction with a provider from their same racial or ethnic background.

“It’s stunningly overwhelming,” said Peek, who was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in October 2022. “It validates what people in health equity have been saying about all the ways Black physicians are important, but to see the impact at the population level is astonishing.”

see Doctors, page 5A

and elsewhere are under attack by conservative and Red state lawmakers seeking to neutralize their liberal attempts to stop criminal justice abuses against minorities.

One of the most chilling parts of the pilgrimage for Fatehi was outside of Montgomery at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, conceived in April 2018 by the Equal Justice Initiative headed by Bryan Stevenson. see Lynching, page 7A

name of Norfolk,Virginia.

Serving Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk & The Peninsula Publishing since 1900 ... that no good cause shall lack a champion and evil shall not thrive unopposed.

Panel at Montgomery Memorial displays the

Photo: Courtesy

This is the first study to link a higher prevalence of Black doctors to longer Black life expectancy and lower mortality rates.

Photo: RandySingleton

Ruth Carter displays both Oscar statues as she speaks to HU graduates.

Photo: RandySingleton

The old building first opened in 1921 as the Key Road School. The structure was used as a meeting place for the members of the Olympian Sports Club until the recent COVID Pandemic.

Dem. Sen. Locke Removed From Panel By Gov.Youngkin

By Leonard E. Colvin Chief Reporter

New Journal and

Guide

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has removed state Democratic Senator Mamie E. Locke of Hampton from the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB).

Senator Locke said that she was not surprised at the Governor’s move, for she has been an outspoken critic of his policies on race, diversity and other issues related to civil rights.

She said she was the last of the three Senate lawmakers, appointed by former Governor Ralph Northam to sit on the panel. Senator Janet Howell is retiring, and Jennifer McClellan is now in the U.S. Congress.

“I was wondering what took him so long,” Locke said in an interview with the GUIDE on May 15. “He will appoint new people. Now I am curious who they will be. I am sure they will have no experience or interest in education.”

Locke said she was notified in a “non-replyable” email from Secretary of the Commonwealth Kay Cole James.

“When I called, she acted as though she was surprised he had removed me,” Locke said. “She then said she would look into it. But she is the Secretary of the Commonwealth ... how can she not know?”

Locke called her ouster “petty political retaliation – a vendetta for her continued criticism of Youngkin for his removal of the use of the idea of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) policies by the state.

She said use of the concepts was passed by the Virginia General Assembly when the Democrats controlled both houses “so he is breaking the law.”

“He is pissed that I refused to agree to one of the changes of a Wind Energy bill,” she said. “He called seeking the change. But I refused to agree because he’d had all session to talk to me.”

Locke and other Black lawmakers and even former Governor Doug Wilder have called for the firing of the Youngkin’s Diversity Chief, who called for an end to the use of DEI.

“He said he enjoys compromise,” she said.

“But as most Republicans, compromise is their way or the highway.”

Youngkin’s first Executive Order called for the removal all “divisive concepts from the state history books,” but he has yet to explain what that is.

The nonpartisan Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), created in 1948, is made up of governors from

16 southern states and four gubernatorial appointees.

It conducts research, collects and analyses data, publishes reports and advises member states on education policy from “ early childhood through doctoral education.”

Locke, who has sat on the board for a decade, is a retired professor and former dean at Hampton University. She revealed on May 12 that she was taken off.

“Just got removed from Southern Regional Educational Board by Youngkin, a board I have served on for 10 years and chaired the Legislative Advisory Council,” Locke tweeted. “Can’t wait to see who he appoints.”

Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter noted in a statement May 12 that board members are appointed at the

governor’s discretion.

“Senator Locke previously served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Southern Regional Education Board for Democratic Governors Northam and McAuliffe,” Porter wrote in a statement. “Similar to all previous administrations, this administration will exercise its ability to appoint qualified and dedicated legislators to this board.”

In 2020, Locke was picked to chair SREB’s Legislative Advisory Council.

She previously served as a member of the board’s Commission on Computer Science.

“We bring states together to forge consensus and work together on initiatives that would not be possible alone,” SREB’s website states.

“We help states share scarce resources and best practices.”

TASK FORCE PROPOSES BREAST CANCER SCREENING AT AGE 40

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

According to a new draft recommendation statement, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) proposes that women with an average risk for breast cancer begin screening at age 40 to reduce their risk of death.

It is a change from the 2016 recommendation, in which the task force recommended that biennial mammograms (breast x-rays) begin at age 50 and that the decision for women to screen in their 40s “should be an individual one.”

Some organizations, including the American Cancer Society, have recommended that women begin mammograms in their forties.

USPSTF Vice Chair Dr. Wanda Nicholson, senior associate dean, and professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, told CNN, “Our new task force recommendation recommends that women begin breast cancer screening with mammography at age 40 and continue screening every other year until age 74.”

The USPSTF, a group of independent medical experts whose recommendations help steer doctors’ decisions and influence insurance plans, proposed an update to its breast cancer screening recommendations on Tuesday, May 9.

The task force announced it would share a draft evidence review and draft modeling report along with the non-final

recommendation on their website for public comments until June 5.

The proposed recommendation is for all individuals assigned female at birth, including cisgender women, trans men, and nonbinary individuals, to be at ordinary risk for breast cancer.

According to Nicholson, women with dense breasts and a family history of cancer typically fall into this category, but not women whose family history contains breast cancer or genetic mutations, such as mutations on the BRCA gene, as they are regarded as being at high risk.

The revisions would not apply to those with an increased risk of breast cancer who may have already been advised to undergo screening at age 40 or earlier.

However, they should adhere to the monitoring procedures recommended by their physicians.

Black women reportedly have the highest incidence of breast cancerrelated deaths in America.

Nicholson stated that the revised recommendation “will save more lives among all women.”

This is especially significant for Black women, who have a 40 percent higher risk of breast cancer-related death.

According to the JAMA Network Open, the breast cancer death rate among women in their 40s was 27 per 100,000 person-years for Black women, compared to 15 per 100,000 for white women and 11 per 100,000 for American Indian, Alaska Native, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander women.

As a result, researchers recommended that Black women begin screening at an earlier age, 42, as opposed to 50.

From The Guide’s Archives

Archives taken from the pages of the (New) Journal and Guide

May 18, 1968

Edition of the Guide

Resurrection City Was Erected By Poor People

WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy drove a ceremonial stake to begin erections of the “Resurrection City,” a plywood and canvas encampment that will be home to some 3,000 participants in the Poor People’s March on Washington.

“We will be here a long time to me,” said Rev. Abernathy, who appeared for the ceremony wearing denim trousers and a blue denim jacket.

Abernathy is the successor to the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The site is between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument near the famous re fl ecting pool.

Abernathy hammered into the ground a threefoot stake to anchor the fi rst hut. The crowd called for “Freedom” ... Freedom with each swing of the hammer.

“This is a non-violent movement” Abernathy stressed. ‘We shall not destroy people or property.” He said violence “is impractical and immoral.”

The event is designed to lobby the federal government to recognize the economic disparities among all Americans, regardless of race, and provide programs and other solutions to end it.

This was the last major event related to civil and economic rights planned by the late Dr. King before his death.

Alexander, chairman of the non-violent workshops.

Friday, May 17 itinerary is as follows: Caravan to arrive at Arena around 3:30 p.m. and the marchers will leave for City Hall, then they will be taken by bus to disposal points in the area.

Rev. King Left Little Cash At The Time Of His Death

CHICAGO

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. left an estate of less than $5,000 in cash, according to his lawyer.

Chancey Eskridge was a Chicago attorney who handled legal affairs for Dr. King. The SCLC said he will be in two estates for probate to protect royalties for Dr. King’s works.

“He had two accounts with less than $5,000 in both,” Eskridge said. “I am going to open his estate in Georgia this week. I am also opening an ancillary estate in New York with both estates for book royalties. Dr. King gave the $50,000 Nobel Peace Prize money to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the SCLC, Eskridge said. Book royalties were also donated to poverty work.

Dr. King accepted an expense account but no salary from the SCLC and the family home in Atlanta, Ga. was almost paid for.

Mule Train Leads Poor People Out of Dixie

The Rev. Ralph Abernathy, president of the SCLC and director of the “Poor People’s March” on Washington, drive a mule-drawn fame wagon to start the march at Memphis. A section of the Marchers had reached Washington

speci fi c guidelines in the 15th amendment to ensure that Negroes are given a full political of fi ce.

White Citizens Group To Aid Jordan

NORFOLK

Sunday.

Mrs.

Scott King, the widow of the founder of the SCLC, opened the mass phase of the Poor People’s March Campaign by leading a march of welfare mothers.

into conditions of Norfolk city fame and the handling of juvenile offenders.

Portsmouth Native Has Job With Senator In D.C.

PORTSMOUTH

secretary for the college’s new closed-circuit TV Center.

She wrote many news and feature stories for Norfolk area newspapers.

PRODUCTION:

In Norfolk a contingent of about 1,000 marchers of the Poor People’s campaign is expected on Friday between 2 and 3 p.m., according to Dr. Milton Reid, the local coordinator of the march and an of fi cial of SCLC.

Numerous events have been scheduled for the marchers en route to Washington, D.C during their Norfolk stop. Boxes of food stuffs and clothing have been coming into the 2409 Granby Street campaign headquarters since its opening recently.

“Food is being collected not merely for Norfolk but to be sent to Washington,” said Rev. John M.

“Mrs. King and the family will be taken care of by the SCLC and the King Foundation,” said Eskridge. “She also was voted for a salary of $12,000 by the SCLC Board. But I don’t know if she has accepted it or not.”

Both Political Parties Still Exclude Negroes WASHINGTON, D.C.

Despite recent gains both major political parties still ignore or exclude Negroes from their affairs, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

The commission has urged both the Republican and Democratic parties to bar delegates from their national convention from any states that refuse to give Negroes equal political rights.

If there are no voluntary actions the commission said Congress should set

The candidacy of Joe Jordan for a seat on the city council moved into a new direction this week with the formation of a city-wide committee of white citizens to assist in the campaign on behalf of the popular attorney and civic leader.

The new group is known as the Citizens for Jordan Committee. It is headed by Charles A. McDuf fi e, an attorney and political leader serving as chairman, and Albert Teich Jr., Old Dominion College professor and civic leader serving as co-chair.

McDuf fi e and Mr. Jordan were candidates for the House of Delegates in Norfolk’s Democratic primary last year. McDuf fi e was the only candidate to endorse Jordan in that race.

McDuf fi e is the past President of the Norfolk Young Democratic Club and Former Treasurer of the City Democratic Committee.

Teich was a member of the Taylor Committee which in 1965 made sweeping investigations

A veteran’s wife of four children stops receiving her monthly VA check without notice or explanation, and a high school senior who wants to go to college, because they do not have the money, is unaware of federal aid available to him. These are the kind of problems faced daily by Dorothy Valentine in her work for U.S. Senator William B. Spong Jr.

The Portsmouth native and former resident of Norfolk works in the Virginia senator’s office on “Casework” – handling problems of constituents throughout the state. She joined the staff early this year.

Valentine describes her job as providing liaison between various federal agencies and the people who can benefit from the programs they administer.

The daughter of Thomas Jones of Portsmouth and the oldest of ten children, Valentine graduated from I.C. Norcom High School and attended Norfolk Division of Virginia State College as public relations

Last August, her husband Herman Valentine accepted a post with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Graduate schools and they moved to Washington, D.C.

Exhibit One For The Poor People’s March

A little boy eats lunch, a crusty of bread as he sits along a drainage ditch in Crenshaw, Mississippi in an area made of shanties. The house which oddly enough sports a television antenna is canvassed by recruiters for the Poor People’s March on Washington.

Coretta

Sen. Locke called her ouster “petty political retaliation – a vendetta for her continued criticism of Youngkin for his removal of the use of the idea of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) policies by the state.

NSU BOV MEMBER CONRAD M. HALL GIFTS $1 M. TO ENDOW NEW CHAIR

Special to the New Journal and Guide

(NSU NEWSROOM)

Norfolk State University

recently announced a major gift from Board of Visitors Board member Mr. Conrad Hall. Hall has contributed a gift of $1M to support the creation of the Conrad M. Hall Endowed Chair in Constitutional and U.S. History at the university. This position will add to the Department of History and Interdisciplinary Studies and the Department of Political Science program offerings and will allow the university to recruit renowned constitutional scholars as professors to enhance the degree programs.

In making the gift

Mr. Hall stated, “It is the expectation that an understanding of American and Constitutional history will work towards the strong desire of all involved with NSU, to equip students with the absolute best education that will

enable them to be leading citizens. Our graduates will be distinguished, differentiated, and equipped to be highly sought after in their chosen fields of employment and in public service.”

His goal is that graduates will know and be able to

explain and teach others about the uniqueness of our form of government and its benefits – something that far too many take for granted. Hall also hopes that the course will be required for all NSU students in the future and be a prerequisite for receiving a diploma.

A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Mr. Hall retired as CEO of Dominion Enterprises, Inc., after a 40-year career in the media, marketing, and information services industries. He is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, and he received an MBA from the University of Virginia. He served as an artillery officer in the United States Army. His civic activities include serving on the Boards of Visitors of Norfolk State University and the Eastern Virginia Medical School. Previously he was a member of the Boards of Visitors of the Virginia Military Institute and Old Dominion University.

He currently serves on the boards of the Access College Foundation; Norfolk Academy; Landmark

Charitable Foundation, Inc.; the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Virginia Historical Society; Landmark Media Enterprises, LLC.; and the Slover Library Foundation.

Previously he has served on the boards of the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters; CHKD Foundation, Inc.; Greater Norfolk Corporation; United Way of South Hampton Roads; the Old Dominion University Foundation; and the Mariners Museum. He is a past president of the VMI Foundation, Inc., and was chairman of VMI Investment Holdings, LLC.

“Preservation of our history is imperative to our nation staying true to its founding,” said Norfolk State University President Javaune Adams-Gaston.

“This professorship will have an enduring impact on our scholars and their understanding of the underpinnings that make our nation great. We thank Mr. Hall for this significant investment in Norfolk State and the future of our students.”

President Biden’s Delivers Howard University’s Commencement Address

NNPA NEWSWIRE

President Joe Biden became the seventh incumbent U.S. president to deliver Howard University’s 155th commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 13.

The president received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree during the commencement event, as he extolled the legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, in general, and Howard University, in particular.

“You are here with your heart and through the heartache, through blood, sweat, and tears of everything that’s come before, for everything yet to come. You are here at a new moment of hope and possibilities.”

He brought greetings from the Vice President Kamala Harris, an HU alum, as he gave tribute to the historic university, calling it a “proving ground for future leaders of science, medicine, education, business, faith, arts, entertainment, and public service.

Trailblazing intellectuals, lawyers, doctors. The first Black – I might say – Vice President of the United States of America.”

Excerpts From President Biden’s Speech

“We’re living through one of the most consequential moments in our history with fundamental questions at stake for our nation.

“Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe? Who will we be? You’re going to help answer those questions.

“We are living through this battle for the soul of the nation. And it is still a battle for the soul of the nation.

“What is the soul of a nation? Well, I believe the soul is the breath, the life, the essence of who we are. The soul makes us ... “us.”

“The soul of America is what makes us unique among all nations. We’re the only country founded on an idea – not geography, not religion, not ethnicity, but an idea.

“The sacred proposition rooted in Scripture and enshrined in the Declaration of Independence that we’re all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.

“While we’ve never fully lived up to that promise, we never before fully walked away from it.

“And today, I come here to Howard to continue the work to redeem the soul of this nation, because it’s here where I see the future.

“And I’m not – that’s not hyperbole.

“We can finally resolve those ongoing questions about who we are as a nation. That puts strength of our diversity at the center of American life.

“A future that celebrates and learns from history.

“A future for all Americans. A future I see you leading. And I’m not, again, exaggerating. You are going to be leading it.

“Again, let’s be clear: There are those who don’t see you and don’t want this future.

“There are those who demonize and pit people against one another. And there are those who do anything and everything, no matter how desperate or immoral, to hold onto power. And that’s never going to be an easy battle.

“But I know this: The oldest, most sinister forces may believe they’ll determine America’s future, but they are wrong.

“We will determine America’s future. You will determine America’s future. And that’s not hyperbole.

... “I give you my word as a Biden: Class of 2023, you’re the reason I’m so optimistic about the future.

“And I give you my word, I really mean it. You’re part of the most gifted, tolerant, talented, best-educated generation in American history.

“That’s a fact.”

President Joe Biden

Photo:Courtesy

(L-R) Devon M. Henry, NSU BOV Rector, Conrad M. Hall and Javaune Adams-Gaston, Ph.D., President of Norfolk State University.

Photo:Courtesy

Carr

EMERITUS OF SOCIOLOGY VIRGINIA TECH POWER

NOTE: Dr. Wornie Reed’s Column will be returning at a future date.

– Publisher Brenda H. Andrews

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. (Ret.) (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” – Lord John Acton

I almost find it uncanny that a long-dead individual can provide such an accurate analysis of current times. Or maybe it’s the predictable nature of humans? However we reason it, the abuse of power is a recurring theme in human history that only portends tragedy for the less powerful. By their nature, democracies are governments which are supposed to function in accordance with and express the will of the (majority of the) people. For that very reason, democracies are antithetical to those who value power over all else. As with the contemporary Republican Party and American Democracy, when the majority will of the people conflicts with the desires of those in power, chaos reigns.

Any secondary school civics textbook will explain that, in a democracy, the role of a political party is to explain proposed policy(ies) and convince a majority of the populace to agree. This agreement is usually formed when the populace realizes a personal stake in the presented policy(ies), and, through the election process, expresses its will and accepts the proposed political direction.

In our contemporary American Democracy, lies and misrepresentation, wealthy influencers, voter suppression, gerrymandered voting districts, archaic laws and/or the passage of laws favoring partisan interests are among the bases upon which the distribution of political power hinges. Looking

objectively, we see this demonstrated in issues which are in the forefront of our daily news reports. The carnage of American gun violence is at a record pace. According to the NAACP, Americans are twenty-five times more likely to be killed in a gun homicide than people in other high-income countries. Black Americans are 10-times more likely than white Americans to die by gun homicide. And, in 2022 and 2023, gun violence has surpassed car accidents as the number one cause of death among American youth. Yet, while a majority of Americans clamor for tangible gun reform in the face of these appalling numbers, Republican lawmakers only offer us “thoughts and prayers.”

In a June 2021 Forbes Magazine poll, 57 percent of respondents believe abortion should be legal overall in all or most cases – with 23 percent saying it should be legal in all cases and 33 percent saying only in most cases – including 76 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of Republicans. That percentage was even higher when asked whether abortion should be legal during the first trimester specifically, with 61 percent saying it should be legal in all or most cases. Yet an unwavering national minority with influence in the courts and upon the reins of power are waging a ceaseless war against a woman’s autonomy over

her own body and medical decisions.

In the aftermath of the elections in 2020 and 2022, those factions which, with their votes, were instrumental in denying a greater political foothold to the MAGA crowd, and who paved the way for the unexpected retention of progressive power in the Senate have become targets of draconian legislation to restrict their future votes. Blacks, LGBTQ, young, and collegiate voters now find themselves in the crosshairs of conservative Republicans who are actively working to create legislative impediments to their voting rights.

Maybe it was our faith in the strength of the past American Democracy. We may have underestimated the tyrannical and despotic dispositions of conservatives and how, once they got power, they would lie, cheat, and steal to retain it. Republicans clawed and scratched for fifty years to gain the control they now enjoy.

We can reverse their illgotten control, but we must first commit to another struggle and remember the admonishment of Frederick Douglass when he told us: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of The Dick Gregory Society (http:// thedickgregorysociety. org/.) and President Emerita of the National Congress of Black Women.

Solutions – Oriented Guidelines From Brothers Malcolm & Martin

By A. Peter Bailey (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

For more than 50 years millions of Black people in this country have held commemoration events on the days Brother Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. were assassinated and celebratory events on their birthdays. Doing so is very important.

However, equally important is the need for us to learn from and act on the profound, productive, inspiring guidelines the Brothers left us on how to promote and protect our health, economic, political, educational, technological and communications interests in a country where overt white supremacy has once again become openly hostile.

One 1967 guideline from Brother Martin stated that “A second important step that the Negro must take is to work passionately for group identity ... group unity necessarily involves group trust and reconciliation. One of the most serious effects of the Negro’s damaged ego has been his frequent loss of respect for himself and other Negroes. He ends up with ambivalence towards his own kind ...

“This plea for unity is not a call for uniformity. There must always be healthy debate. There will be inevitable differences of opinion. The dilemma that the Negro confronts is so complex and monumental that its solution will of necessity involve a diversified approach. But Negroes can differ and still unite around common goals.

“There are already structured forces

in the Negro community that can serve as the basis for building a powerful united front – the Negro church, the Negro press, the Negro fraternities and sororities and Negro professional associations. We must admit that these forces have never given their full resources to the call of Negro liberation

“But the failure of the past must not be an excuse for the inaction of the future. These groups must be mobilized and motivated ... This form of group unity can do infinitely more to liberate the Negro than any action of individuals. (Please note Brother Martin italicized “individuals.”)

“We have been oppressed as a group and we must overcome that oppression as a group.”

Brother Malcolm was just as direct and solutionsoriented when he stated that “U.S. politics is ruled by special interest blocs and lobbyists. What group has more urgent special interests? What group needs a bloc, a lobby more than the Black man? Labor owns one of Washington’s largest non-government buildings – situated where they can literally watch the White

House – and no political move is made that doesn’t include how Labor feels about it. A lobby gets Big Oil its depletion allowance

“Twenty-million Black people should tomorrow give $1 apiece to build a skyscraper in Washington, D.C. Every morning every legislator should receive communications about what every Black man and woman in America expects and wants and needs. The demanding voice of the Black lobby should be in the ear of every legislator who votes on any issues.”

We Black people in this country would not be such easy targets in 2023 if we had utilized the solutionsoriented guidelines provided by Brother Martin, Brother Malcolm and other serious leaders, including Brother Harold Cruse, Brother Lerone Bennett, Jr., Sister Frances Cress Welsing, Sister C. Delores Tucker and Brother Hoyt Fuller. Fortunately for us it is better to be late than never. We still have time to follow the guidelines presented by some of our great master teachers.

HAITIAN AWARENESS IS THE SPIRIT OF REBELLION

By Julianne Malveaux (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

My maternal grandfather was Haitian. I didn’t know him well – he died when I was about six. I don’t remember whether he smoked a pipe or a cigar, but I remember the smell of smoke clinging to him on the few occasions I sat in his lap. I remember him trying to teach my siblings and me a few patois words. I don’t know anything about my Haitian relatives – Pappa Jimmy, as we called him, never spoke of them. But whenever I hear news of Haiti, I feel an affinity, a connection, and I revel in Haitian history. When I told a friend about my Haitian grandfather, he said, “That explains it.” What? I asked. He said that Haitians are fighters, reminding me of the formerly enslaved Haitians who beat the stuffing out of the socalled “great” general Napoleon Bonaparte, repelling his “mighty” armies. That victory has shaped US land acquisition and foreign policy even now.

The slave-holding President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States with his Louisiana Purchase when the United States acquired 828,000 miles of land west of the Mississippi River for a mere $15 million. Why was France so willing to sell? Self-emancipated Black folks were kicking the stuf fi ng out of the “great” Napoleon in an uprising that lasted decades. Napoleon needed money, Jefferson needed land, and both wanted to contain Black rebels and ensure their rebellion did not spread to the United States. Haiti paid the price for its self-determination,

May is Haitian Heritage Month ... If no one else in the United States celebrates, African-Americans must. The Haitian revolution sowed the seeds for our own uprisings and slave rebellion.

ordered to pay France “reparations” for its independence.

The payments crippled the Haitian economy and set the tone for the continuous exploitation of the island. France extracted $30 billion from Haiti, and we can hardly project how Haiti might be different if it had never had to make those predatory payments.

Most people don’t know about the role France paid in the political instability and violence Haiti experiences today. Even fewer know of the role the United States played in the exploitation of Haiti or in the ways that the Haitian Revolution (which lasted from 1791-1804) played in the restrictive and exploitive laws the United States imposed on

enslaved people, as they were fearful that enslaved people in the United States might emulate their Haitian brothers and sisters, rebelling against their oppressors much as Haitian revolutionaries did.

May is Haitian Heritage Month, but the mainstream media seems to have ignored this salient fact. Instead, there is a celebration in one town or another, a parade hidden in the back pages of the local press. May should be the month when we are reminded of our role in the violence on that turbulent island.

Gangs have taken over the urban streets, but where did the gangs get guns? Guns are not manufactured in Haiti, so they must come from somewhere, probably the

United States. Our nation’s gun manufacturers are profiting from Haiti’s pain, just as they are profiting from the pain victims of mass shootings are experiencing.

While I hesitate to throw a “pity party” to compare suffering in one country to suffering in another, I cannot help but contrast the overwhelming support for Ukraine with the minimal support for the Haitian people. Even when our nation rushed to support Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, when millions sent dollars, there were questions about who administered them and where they were directed. It is doubtful that even half of those dollars trickled down to the Haitian people.

Ibi Zoboi, a Haitian American New York Times bestselling author (her most recent book is Nigeria Jones, Harper Collins, 2023), reminds me that there are triumphant stories in Haiti that transcend the everpresent headlines around violence and disruption.

She speaks of the energy and spirit of those in rural

Haiti who never make the headlines. She reminds me of former Haitian Ambassador to the United States, Paul Altidor, who often regaled me with stunning descriptions of Haiti outside Port-auPrince, where much of the violence is concentrated.

If no one else in the United States celebrates Haitian Heritage Month, African-Americans must. The Haitian revolution sowed the seeds for our own uprisings and slave rebellion. It also reminds us of the power of predatory capitalism, a power we must consistently resist. And it must tap into the spirit of the Haitian rebellion that took France down, defeating its most powerful general.

If our foremothers and forefathers could do that, what might we do?

I am grateful for my Haitian heritage and for the brother who reminded me of where I get some of my rebellious spirit from.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA. juliannemalveaux. com.

Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.

Julianne Malveaux

We may have underestimated the tyrannical and despotic dispositions of conservatives and how, once they got power, they would lie, cheat, and steal to retain it.

CARRTOON By Walt

A. Peter Bailey

... equally important is the need for us to learn from and act on the profound, productive, inspiring guidelines the Brothers left us.

Doctors

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Researchers discovered that life expectancy increased by about one month for every 10 percent increase in Black primary care physicians after they set out to analyze the number of Black primary care physicians in the nation’s more than 3,000 counties in 2009, 2014, and 2019. But, researchers soon realized they would have to exclude over half of the nation’s counties due to the fact that these counties did not have a single Black primary care physician.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” said Rachel Upton, an HHS statistician and social science analyst, who was one of the report’s lead authors. “It shows having Black physicians is not only helpful across the board, but it’s particularly useful with counties with high poverty.”

Good communication

explains the increased mortality rate. Black patients are more likely to talk with Black doctors about subjects like upcoming birthday parties or weddings. They are also more likely to invite them to the events.

Another factor, said Peek, is that Black physicians are more likely to provide expertise to community organizations, engage in political events, and advocate for public health.

Peek said many Blacks approach her after she speaks at a local church and ask her opinion because they don’t trust their own medical team.

“I look like them,” Peek said.

“They trust I have their best interest at heart.”

BIDEN SELECTS BLACK FIGHTER PILOT TO CHAIR JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire From Blackmanstreet.Today (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

President Joe Biden has named Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Quinton Brown Jr., a Black Air Force fighter pilot as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs Staff. He will succeed American General Mark Milley, according to multiple reports.

General Milley is scheduled to retire in October.

If confirmed by the Senate, Brown would become the first Air Force general to hold the position since Gen. Richard Myers stepped down in 2005 – and only the fifth airman in the 73-year history of the job.

Brown, an F-16 fighter pilot, would bring nearly four decades of military service to the nation’s top military job, including stints as a Pacific and Middle East commander.

He is also the second Black service member to serve as Chairman,

following Army General Colin Powell, who served as chairman from 1989 to 1993. After he was commissioned in 1984, Brown served as an instructor at and later still was the commander of the U.S. Air Force Weapons

School. He then led fighter pilots in South Korea and Italy before taking on key positions in major commands at the heart of U.S. national security.

In 2014, Brown was the director of operations for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration for U.S. Air Forces in Europe, shortly after Russia invaded Crimea; from 2015 to 2016, he commanded U.S. Air Forces Central as the U.S. and its allies conducted an air campaign against the Islamic State group; and from 2018 to 2020, he led Pacific Air Forces just as the U.S. shifted its strategic focus from counterterrorism in the Middle East to deter China in the Pacific. Omar Nelson Bradley was the first Joint Staff chairman from 1949 to 1953.

As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown will face both social and strategic challenges, as the military not only strives to stay ahead of China but also struggles to attract new talent.

Though the chairman has no operational command authority over the armed forces, Brown would be the top military adviser to President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Brown is a native Texan. He earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, in 1984.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff consist of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman, the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, and the Chief of Space Operations.

Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr.

Black patients are more likely to talk with Black doctors about specific subjects.

CDC: YOUTH BEHAVIOR, INCLUDING VIEWS ON SEX, ARE REASONS FOR CONCERN

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared information from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), showing that young Americans face increasing health risks daily.

According to the research, young people are dealing with various difficulties, including mental health, aggression, and poor health practices.

They are also viewing the definition of sex differently.

The CDC released data to identify specific risk factors, develop interventions, and gain the support of families and youth.

Data from around the country revealed that teenagers are battling suicidal ideation, bullying, dating violence, sexual assault, and poor nutrition and exercise habits.

For example, the percentage of children who spent more than two hours a day watching TV or playing video games climbed from 14.9 percent in 2013 to 55.5 percent in 2021.

Furthermore, 23.5 percent of youth got eight or more hours of sleep on a typical school night, and only 21.7 percent got 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily.

The study found that the percentage of young people who text while driving was also significant, with 47 percent of young people engaged in the practice.

Regarding mental health and suicide, the statistics revealed that 41.5 percent of youngsters felt gloomy or despairing nearly every day for two weeks or more, a considerable increase from 33 percent in 2017.

Female and homosexual, lesbian, and bisexual students were more likely to consider suicide than their male or heterosexual counterparts. The data show that from 12.6 percent in 2007 to 6.1 percent in 2021, fewer young people reported having their boyfriend or girlfriend hit, slap, or physically hurt them.

However, 20.6 percent of young people received abuse verbally or emotionally from someone they were dating or going out with, and 7.7 percent of young people were physically forced to engage in sexual activity when they did not want to.

The YRBSS survey is done at high schools nationwide every other year.

For years, research has shown a fall in the rates of sex among American high school students.

The trend reportedly has continued, unsurprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic.

According to the survey, 30 percent of teens in 2021 reported having sex, down from 38 percent in 2019 and a significant reduction from three decades before, when more than half of kids reported having sex.

According to Associated Press research, for today’s youth, the dialogue about sexuality is shifting from a binary to a spectrum, as are the types of sex they are having.

While the language of sex is changing, the key question on the CDC poll has remained the same since the government agency began its biannual survey in 1991: Have you “ever had sexual intercourse?”

“Honestly, that question is a little laughable,” says Kay, 18, of Lansing, Michigan, who identifies as LGBTQ and attends a public high school.

“There’s probably a lot of teenagers who are like, ‘No, I’ve never had sexual intercourse, but I’ve had other kinds of sex.’”

The Associated Press said it agreed to use teenagers’ first or middle names out of fear of retaliation or backlash

at school, at home, and on social media for speaking about their peers’ sex lives and LGBTQ+ relationships.

Several experts told the AP that the CDC findings could indicate a shift in how teen sexuality is evolving, with gender fluidity becoming more widespread and stigma associated with not being heterosexual decreasing.

They refer to another finding in this year’s research, which discovered that the proportion of high school students who identify as heterosexual had declined to around 75 percent,

down from over 89 percent in 2015, when the CDC began asking about sexual orientation.

Meanwhile, the proportion of people who identified as homosexual, gay, or bisexual increased to 15 percent, up from 8 percent in 2015.

“I just wonder, if youth were in the room when the questions were being created, how they would be worded differently,” said Taryn Gal, executive director of the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health.

Olympian

Continued from page 1A

Opened by 1921, the Key Road School in the City of Portsmouth served African American children in grades 1 through 7 for close to half a century. Funding for the school, which moved into a new building at the current location around 1926-27, came from the Black community, Norfolk County, and the Rosenwald Fund.

Recently Haywood and Glen Francis, the President of the Olympian Sports Club, got word that the building has received state historic designation in the form of a marker. This may save it from demolition.

The Key Road School was among five new historical markers approved by the Virginia Board of Historic Resources on March 16, 2023, during its quarterly meeting hosted by the Department of Historic Resources (DHR).

Other markers will highlight businesses in the City of Lexington that welcomed Black travelers during the period of racial segregation in the 20th century; a school founded by four sisters to teach young women in Mecklenburg County; and Virginia’s first community college to open under the Virginia Community College System, established in 1966.

Francis said that after the school ceased to exist, an organization called the I.C. Norcom High School Boosters used it as its headquarters. The Boosters were formed

by Black businesspeople, including dentist and future Portsmouth Mayor James Holley, who formed it to support the athletic programs of I.C. Norcom High School.

Francis said the Olympian Sports Club took control of the building in 1971, as it continued to raise money for young Black athletes in Portsmouth. The building which is owned by the city has not been used since the COVID Pandemic.

In 2017, according to Francis, the club got word that the city had eyed the building for condemnation and eventual razing. This is when the effort to save it got underway.

“That building is not only a place where Blacks could organize fundraising,” said Francis. “Olympic great Jesse Owens, Joe Lewis, and other historic visitors entered that building when they came to the city.”

“This building represents that history, but it also is an example of how Black people organized educational opportunities for their community,” said Francis. “Plus, this is one of the 500 Rosenwald schools still existing. It has ties not only to the Foundation but to Booker T. Washington.

“They were about to tear that old building down,” said Haywood, who was excited by the news of the approval of the marker by the DHR.

“This is a rare situation where the building is still standing, and a historic marker is approved for it,” she said.

“Many of the early schools for Blacks were one and tworoom schools. This is a tworoom school. I am hoping this will be preserved for historic

use to show current and future generations where Black people were educated before modern educational facilities were built.

Founded as the result of a partnership between the philanthropist and owner of Sears Retail, Julius Rosenwald, and educator Booker T. Washington, the Rosenwald Fund contributed to the construction of approximately 5,000 schools for AfricanAmerican children across the South.

In Virginia alone, the Rosenwald Fund helped build more than 600 schools and 18 teachers’ homes and vocational buildings.

The Key Road School closed in 1965, and seven years later the Olympian Sports Club, an organization that supports young athletes in the region, made its headquarters in the former school’s building.

In addition to the Portsmouth marker that recognizes Black history, the forthcoming marker in the City of Lexington will recall businesses that appeared in the Negro Motorist Green Book that featured accommodations that welcomed AfricanAmericans during the segregation era.

Following the Board of Historic Resources’ approval of the markers, it can take upwards of eight months or more before a new marker is ready for installation. The marker’s sponsor covers the required $2,880 manufacturing expenses for a new sign.

Virginia’s historical highway marker program began in 1927 with the installation of the first markers along U.S. Route 1. It is considered the oldest such program in the nation.

Data from around the country revealed that teenagers are battling suicidal ideation, bullying, dating violence, sexual assault, and poor nutrition and exercise habits.

Photo: CourtesyoftheCDC

Lynching

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the Memorial honors the legacy of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching, and people of color oppressed by racial segregation and violence. It features 800 steel columns, each representing a U.S. locale where lynchings occurred and lists the names of the victims. The memorial also invites the locales to claim replica columns and erect them in their own communities as a way of remembering and starting a conversation.

The memorial aims to create a space of remembrance and reconciliation for the history of racial terror of the 4,440 lynchings in the United States from 1877 to 1950.

Fatehi thought there would be more connections with Virginia, but he found a lone marker for Norfolk, Va., for George Blount, dated October 24, 1904.

Fatehi said Blount’s story is intertwined with the lynching as late as 1951 of Reverend Joseph H. Mann of Union Congregational Christian Church. Both cases were unsolved.

According to the October 24, 1904 edition of the Norfolk Landmark newspaper, the timeline of events leading up to Blount’s demise actually started around midnight.

“Blount was a man of large stature. He wore a very heavy suit with crimpy Black hair, which made him a very conspicuous figure,” as the publication described him.

Blount was a fish huckster in Berkley, a city of about 6,000 people outside of the city of Norfolk in 1904 before it was annexed. He was involved in civic and

political activism at the time and had been arrested at the Second Ward polls for disorderly conduct and fined heavily for carrying concealed weapons several years earlier.

“He appeared in the courts for numerous offenses, but never had been convicted of any criminal charges that would give him a long sentence.”

Shortly after midnight on October 24, the timeline leading to Blount’s violent death began.

According to the police reports in the publication, “Blount was beating his daughter for some offense, and her screams so frightened a colored woman in the house that she commenced screaming murder.”

A Norfolk policeman, Holloman “was passing at the time and rushed in to the rescue, when Blount, resenting the intrusion struck the officer with a terrible blow in the face with a lighted lamp.”

According to the Landmark’s story, “The alarm was given, and two other officers soon responded.”

When another officer named Webb entered the house, according to the article, a Negro named John Baynor attacked him with a heavy club. Officer Webb then fired one shot, striking Baynor in the leg, and shattering the bone. By this time a third officer had arrived and with help from passersby assisted in securing Blount, but not before he was compelled to use his club. Blount was locked up at the station house on Main Street in “the city of Berkley” to await a hearing Monday morning, and Baynor was sent to the jail hospital In Portsmouth.

According to the Landmark, H.W Farrell, the “TurnKey” on duty at the station house overseeing inmates that Sunday morning, said “he was sitting in a chair about three o’clock when, without any warning, several men entered the door and immediately covered him with their revolvers at the same time demanding the keys to the cages (where the inmates were held).

Sasha

Continued from page 1A

Sasha shares an apartment in Los Angeles with her sister, Malia, who graduated from Harvard in 2021 and has since been

Farrell said the cages could easily be broken into with an axe or similar tool, and seeing that resistance would accomplish nothing, he gave his keys without resistance.

Farrell judged that “there were between forty or fifty men standing outside the station house, all closely masked, and he could not recognize any of them.”

Henry Johnson, a colored prisoner in a cage next to Blount, who was arrested for disorderly conduct, told the Landmark reporter that “Blount seemed to be restless before the crowd arrived and was walking around in his cell.”

Johnson said “None of the crowd entered the cage but when they unlocked its door, Blount ran out and was caught by the men, who at once started out with him. He says the room was full of men, and there was certainly not less than ten or twelve.”

Witnesses, including Farrell, said Blount was taken from the Berkley station house to a distance of about two hundred feet down Main Street. A witness, W.W. Robertson, said that he was in his home when he heard a strong voice calling for help.

“Robertson said he and his wife jumped from their beds and looked out of the window. They saw four men carry a fifth one (Blount) down Main Street Robertson said he first thought it was a prisoner resisting arrest and was convinced of it. He saw and heard the blows of a club falling on (Blount’s) head. After the fifth man (Blount) had fallen, he saw one of the other four men

working as a screenwriter, most recently for Donald Glover’s hit series, “Swarm.”

Sasha earned a degree in sociology. “I was so excited to see Obama and Michelle,” said Michelle Davies, who also graduated from the college. “I wanted a picture [with them] so bad, but then they

point a pistol at his head and fire it.

Robertson said he and his wife knew they had been eyewitnesses of a murder.

He said the four men ran and left Blount’s body lying in the street.

Fearing a riot by Black residents Mayor Allen convinced the Governor to dispatch 30 members of the militia to Berkley, but there were no incidents. Nor was anyone ever arrested and tried for Blount’s death, despite a $1,000 reward for anyone who could identify his attackers.

Although the Norfolk Landmark covered the news of George W. Blount’s death by beating and gunfire, it failed to mention his race.

However, the October 24, 1904, edition of the Washington Star, reported “ ... The colored proprietor, of a fish and oyster shop in the suburbs of Berkley, Virginia, was taken out of the little frame police station by a mob of fifty masked white men at 2:45 this morning and lynched.”

Fatehi said he is working in support of political and civic leaders in Norfolk to erect a historic marker in Berkley near the site off Main Street in Berkley where Blount was beaten senseless, shot in the head and his body left in the middle of the street.

Publisher’s Note: The historical information for this article was taken from the Norfolk Landmark and the Washington Star newspapers, courtesy Troy Valos, the Chief Researcher at the Norfolk Slover Public Library.

left early. If I would have gotten a picture, I would have passed out.” The Obamas didn’t address the crowd or take photos. Instead they cheered on the graduates and listened to the speakers. After the event, Obama walked out and congratulated other parents and family members.

Ches. Sheriff’s Office Program Supports Community & Inmates

CHESAPEAKE

Master Deputy Simien and inmates in the Chesapeake Sheriff’s Office Horticulture program are preparing a vegetable garden for their next big harvest. They are currently growing garlic, sweet peppers, peppermint, lettuce, kale, radishes, onions, cucumbers, raspberries, and blueberries which will be given to the non-profit organization Healthy

Chesapeake in a few months for people in need.

Last year, the Horticulture program donated 273 pounds of food to the nonprofit. In addition to giving back to the community and learning a new skill, program participants earn a certification as a Master Gardener to help them find new career opportunities after their release.

Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramen Fatehi at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Photo:Courtesy

Preparing for the next big harvest.

Photo:Courtesy

“END OF MASS RESISTANCE” MEMORIAL TO BE RECONSTRUCTED AFTER STORM DAMAGE

NORFOLK

In response to damages sustained during a recent windstorm, Norfolk has removed the temporary components of the newly dedicated Norfolk 17 memorial until a permanent installation is completed later this summer.

City officials recently dedicated the public art project called “End of Massive Resistance,” an 8-foot-by-57-foot wall commemorating the February 1959 end of segregation within Norfolk’s public school system. A permanent display in downtown Norfolk’s Flatiron Park will include 14 interconnected pieces of structural glass and steel fit together to resemble the symbolic breakdown of a brick wall.

Panels include images of the “Norfolk

17,” a group of Black students who desegregated Norfolk’s schools decades ago. It also recognizes those from the “Lost Class of 1959” who were unable to complete their education due to Massive Resistance-driven school closures during the 1958-59 academic year.

One of the display’s glass panels accidentally shattered during fabrication in mid-April, days prior to its scheduled shipment to Norfolk. As a result, the art project’s April 27 dedication ceremony featured a Plexiglas replica of the final design. The City chose not to postpone the dedication after several invited guests, including the artists and members of the Norfolk 17, had made prior travel arrangements to be in Norfolk at that time.

City officials said the dedication event was successful and gave the public and those closest to the project an early look at how the permanent display will soon appear. Norfolk had intended for the temporary display to remain in place until the permanent components are complete. Inclement weather recently damaged these structures beyond repair and, in an abundance of caution, the temporary exhibit has since been removed. Officials say the city is awaiting delivery of the steel and glass pieces to install the permanent display, and signs will soon go up within Flatiron Park to provide updates on the upcoming installation schedule.

26 Carnival Cruises To Depart Norfolk Through October 2023

NORFOLK

Carnival Cruise Line recently began its longest deployment yet in Norfolk, with Carnival Magic sailing its first cruise of an extended season. This year’s cruise season is expected to bring the highest volume of cruise guests to the city in its history.

Carnival Magic will welcome 100,000 guests embarking through Norfolk’s Half Moone

Cruise Center this season. The ship will operate a series of 26 cruises, ranging in length from four- to 10days, through Oct. 27, 2023.

“It’s wonderful to be back in Norfolk, our home for this extended season over the next five months,” said Carnival Magic Captain Bruno Palomba.” All of our Carnival Magic team members are looking forward to welcoming guests onboard and ensuring

they have a great vacation.”

Throughout the season, Carnival Magic will visit popular ports in The Bahamas, such as Nassau, Half Moon Cay, Freeport and Bimini, as well as Bermuda and Caribbean destinations, such as San Juan; Amber Cove; and Grand Turk. The first cruise to depart last week was a seven-day itinerary visiting Nassau, Bimini and Freeport in The Bahamas.

The ship accommodates up to 4,724 guests and features a wide variety of stateroom accommodations, a multitude of dining options, Carnival’s signature entertainment, the Cloud 9 spa, water slides and the Serenity Adult-Only Retreat. For additional information, visit www. carnival.com, or contact your travel advisor or online travel site.

Nurses Sorority Eta Chapter To Present 23rd Annual Banquet, May 21

Special to the New Journal and Guide

HAMPTON ROADS

Chi Eta Phi Sorority is an international, nonprofit, professional service organization for registered professional nurses and student nurses which was founded on October 16, 1932. Currently, the sorority has more than 8,000 members located throughout the United States, Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands and Monrovia, Liberia. The sorority’s motto is “Service for Humanity.” It reflects the mission, vision and goal of our Founder, Ailene Carrington Ewell. Eta Chapter, Incorporated is the fourth graduate chapter and is located in Norfolk.

Since its inception, Eta Chapter has worked tirelessly to promote high standards and meet the goals of this great organization by encouraging the advancement of the profession through higher education, disease prevention and community involvement. Eta Chapter

also recognizes and honors those nurses who contribute to the delivery of outstanding healthcare by saluting them for a job well done.

This year marks the 23rd year for Eta Chapter’s presentation of “The Glowing Lamp for the Nurse Awards Celebration.” This celebration will spotlight healthcare heroes and nurses from various disciplines who are committed to providing superb nursing care. In addition, they will also honor

unsung community leaders and humanitarians who are very deserving of this honor.

The banquet is May 21, 2023 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $65. Proceeds from this event will benefit nurse scholarships, community support and general operating funds.

For tickets and more information, you may contact Glenda Moore at (757) 2876329 or Marsha Wells-Jones at (757)831-9532.

AKA Chapter Donates $1,000 To American Heart Association

HAMPTON ROADS

On Monday, May 8, 2023, the members of Upsilon Omicron Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Inc., and the Ivy Heritage Foundation presented a check for $1,000 to the American Heart Association.

Since Red Heart Day, in February,

members have been donating funds to help to raise awareness about heart disease, which is the leading cause of death among women in the U.S. The contribution from a Black women’s organization is significant because Black women have a 50 percent higher risk of heart failure compared with white women.

POETRY CORNER

SEND

WEAR YOUR OWN SHOES

By Tonya Sinclair Swindell

Wear your own shoes.

Other people’s shoes are too small for you. Do what you can do.

God gave you a platform to use. Use your own hands.

You have legs on which to stand.

Be who God’s called you to be.

Ask Him so it won’t be a mystery. Serve Him with all your might.

Who knows, you might take flight To far off, distant lands

Where He leads you to take a stand, For justice or salvation.

He might even lead you to save a nation. He gave you identity.

So find who you’re meant to be.

Be open. Be sincere. He has a lot for you, my Dear. Be consistent. Don’t resist it. Your path will become clear. Be courageous and spontaneous. Those skills are advantageous. Be calm above it all. Even on the days when you fall.

It’s not over.

It’s just beginning.

It takes work to keep on winning. Give it all you’ve got, knowing that it takes a lot. Stand on higher ground, When confidence can’t be found. Hold your head up high, even if you have to sigh. Low days can be overcome as you gain the strength to run. Seek and you will find. Everyday will not be kind. As you find open doors, may the Lord lead you to more.

Everyday won’t have sunshine. But some days will be sublime. Many days will be filled with rain. Other days will be filled with pain. Flexibility is the key to living successfully. Gradually learning to trust definitely is a must.

NEWLY PINNED NSU NURSING GRADS PREPARE FOR CAREERS

NORFOLK

During Graduation week at Norfolk State University, the school’s Nursing and Allied Health Department held its Spring 2023 Nursing Pinning Ceremony in Wilder Center on May 1. Ten graduating nursing students were pinned and took the Nightingale Pledge in front of family, friends.

Upward movement is a challenge. Being strong requires balance. It will take time to see goals come to pass. It will take effort to make changes last. It will take peace to get some good sleep. It will take vulnerability to cry or weep. It will take pain to appreciate joy. It will take pleasure to laugh and enjoy. It will take love for a relationship to bloom. It will take affection and giving each other room. It will take dreams that stretch beyond today, And speaking positively even on “bad” days. It will take smiling even when it seems hard. It will take effort to praise the Lord. For me it will take all of these things

Because I am a human being. And you are human too

So these things are helpful to do. You become resilient when you are dependent

On the One who gave up His Son.

Pleasure comes and pleasure goes.

But with God a person knows

Back Row, L-R: Adam Kendrick, Lrik

Stephenson, and Franco

TWO CHESAPEAKE DEPUTIES GRADUATE FROM MOTOR UNIT

CHESAPEAKE

On April 21, 2023, Deputy Tamondong and Deputy Powers graduated from the famously difficult Chesapeake Bay Police Motorcycle School and officially joined the Chesapeake Sheriff’s Office Motor Unit.

Sheriff Jim O’Sullivan and members of Chesapeake’s Motor Unit congratulated them as they celebrated the end of the high-powered two-week certification program. Also noteworthy, upon graduation, Deputy Powers became the first female member of the motor unit in the City of Chesapeake’s history.

The race is not given to the swift But to the one who uses her gift.

Tonya Sinclair Swindell, is the author of “Nourishment & Encouragement: Poetry For Your Mind, Body, and Soul,” an original collection of 25 uniquely inspired poems about faith, current events and history. She can be reached at: tonyathewriter1@gmail.com.

Under the motto, “Service for Humanity,” the international Chi Eta Phi Nurses Sorority was founded in 1932 and has more than 8,000 members located throughout the United States, Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands and Monrovia, Liberia. Eta Chapter, Incorporated is the fourth graduate chapter and is located in Norfolk.

Alexander Mitchell, Raquel Johnson, Mia

Ahmed. Front row, L-R: Chernal Lynch, India Jones, Jennifer Hernandez, Denise Smith and Lauren Henderson.

Photo: Courtesy

On hand to receive the check was Mrs. Cassandra Avant on behalf of Dr. Keisha Avant Brown of the American Heart Association.

Photo: Courtesy

BOYS CHOIR OF HAMPTON ROADS TO HOST 23RD ANNUAL SPRING CONCERT

NORFOLK

The Boys Choir of Hampton Rads will host their 26th Annual Boys Choir of Hampton Roads Spring Concert on Sunday, May 21, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. It will take place at the New Calvary Baptist Church, 800 East Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk.

In addition to the sounds of the members of the Hampton Roads Boys Choir, and the invited guest performers, the concert

event will celebrate the 80th Birthday of the Boys Choir Artistic Director, Julius E. McCullough, as a special attraction. Among the featured performers is Grammy Nominated Opera Singer, Amber Garrett, Soprano.

Other guest performers are Lucretia McCollumTruesdale and X-Altered Praise Praise Dancers; and “The Smooth Stones” and the New Calvary Male Chorus under the direction

of Elder Willie Moody, Minister of Music, and Doc Christian, Director. Also guests will be blessed by the sacred piano mastery of Mr. Omar Dickenson, Director of University Choirs at Hampton University. This annual event is free and open to the public. A goodwill donation will be lifted; $20 is the suggested donation. Ms. Geraldine T. Boone is the Fonder/Accompanist of the Choir.

23rd Founders Day Commemorates

Afro-Union Civil War Soldiers, Sailors

CHESAPEAKE

Dr. E. Curtis Alexander will host his 23rd Founders Day ceremony in Hampton Roads of the United States Colored Troop Descendants on Monday, May 29, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. It will take place at the Unknown and Known Afro-Union Civil War Soldiers Memorial, 1001 Bells Mill Road. According to Dr. Alexander’s news release, this year’s event commemorates the 404th anniversary of the African Holocaust Experience in America and celebrates the

160th anniversary of the Afro-Union soldiers who fought in the Civil War. More than 209,145 AfroUnion soldiers volunteered to “ fi ght for the right to fi ght, for the right to die in the fi ght, to save the United States of America and defeat slavery,” he wrote. There will be the placement, dedication and unveiling of a new unknown and known AfroUnion Civil War Soldiers Memorial Bench with the Women’s Division of the Chesapeake Chamber of Commerce under the Liberation Tree.

Also, there will be a special salute to the Descendants of Norfolk County Area Afro-Union Civil War Patriot Heroes.

It is recommended that guests wear COVID masks for safety.

The ceremony site is located between Jerry Locke Street and March Corprew Place and Enoch Ridge Place, Chesapeake, VA 23322.

The Memorial is the only one of its kind in Virginia that is dedicated to saluting Afro-Union soldiers and sailor Patriot Heroes.

LOCAL VOICES

FRAGMENTED

By Sean C. Bowers

Partial pieces of the whole are the “fragments” left after a mass shooting’s damage is done, with “extra deadly” weapons of war, designed to leave much larger exit holes which all too often can’t ever be repaired. The less we care about protecting each other, the more we devolve into the psychotic gun lobby and manufacturer dreamland with mandatory open-carryfor-everyone-everywhere.

Until we change, way too many gun owners may experience a most violent ending. Many with guns have repeatedly proven they are unable to make safe decisions to protect the public and themselves. As a matter of fact, shooters repeatedly place their gun owning rights above everyone else’s rights in every single shooting.

It is time for America to limit the ownership of assault weapons to those without the self-discipline, caring, and empathy required for responsible gun ownership. These are not “Patriots” in any way, shape, or form, they are sad, twisted, broken mostly white, little boys. Let’s look the beast in the eye. If people were coming up to pregnant women who were complete strangersand forcefully gave them an on-the-spot abortion, killing the baby, execution-style; America would ban that action, making it a crime. Our existing politicians have lost their minds and may have to lose one of their own by gun violence in order, to have their hearts changed.

Sean C. Bowers

Stopping the ease of acquiring assault weapons of war may not be the only answer, but it is at least a positive action that will slow down deadly mass-shooter killings. It is the multiplier choke point. With less total multi-points of deadly carnage, less total mass killings.

Mass shooters are really cowards who don’t like the inconvenience of reloading. They would then have to begin teaming up to get the same number of dead. Because they are essentially loners who do not work well with others, teams of handgun users likely would be much less successful. Taking the drastic action would become less appealing and not give them all the deranged sick lime-light they so sunken placidly crave.

In our country’s found documents are promised “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” There is no mention of guns or weapons. Without the safety to live our lives, we are all at risk and have already needlessly lost too much human capital.

It is an intentional choice to purchase, “borrow,” or

use an assault weapon of war to kill others. That right to cross those lines and kill others, NEGATES the shooter’s right to have that choice to kill. America, we are bleeding out, one papercut mass-shooting at a time, now over one per day.

There are holes in families where loved ones once were. These are holes that can never be repaired. America’s violent assault gun addiction is an assault on all of us. Make gun control a central premise to everyone’s right to life when you vote! If we vote for a woman’s right to choose, we will get the government out of our bedrooms. Let your voice be heard on this issue. Speak out. Those actions will win the election with an overwhelming landslide for progress, the progressive left, and humanity.

Vote them out of office once and for all – those who would control women’s bodies and those who allow dangerous weapons of war to be available to imperials everyone. Do so before they turn the planet into a Black hole of gun ranges and grave yards as far as the eye can see from sea to smoldering sea.

Although tiny fragments can get into our eyes, temporarily blocking our vision, and clarity, of foresight. We can remove the impediments by using a reasoned approach and creating safety for all.

Our country is fragmented, but we can be made whole again with responsible action.

Sean C. Bowers has written the last 25 years, as a White Quaker Southern man, for the nation’s third oldest Black Newspaper, The New Journal and Guide, of Norfolk, Virginia, about overcoming racism, sexism, classism, and religious persecution. Some of his latest NJ&G articles detailing the issues can found by searching “Sean C. Bowers” on the NJ&G website. Contact him directly on social media at Linkedin.com or by email V1ZUAL1ZE@aol. com NNPA 2019 Publisher of the Year, Brenda K. Andrews (NJ&G 35 years) has always been his publisher.

Vote them out of office once and for all – those who would control women’s bodies and those who allow dangerous weapons of war to be available to imperials everyone.

JESUS TAUGHT THROUGH PARABLES

The term lost and found can be used to describe the prodigal son. The Pharisees and the scribes criticized Jesus for His obvious friendship with publicans and sinners. Jesus gives all of us chances for rededication of our lives to Him. God loves us equally, the wayward and the devoted.

In the journey of Jesus, He met with those who were drawn to Him as well as those who rejected Him. Those who criticized Him generally were those who probably had a stake in the oppressive system that disapproved Christ (Luke 15:1-2). Jesus socialized with people whom Israel rejected and who threatened the very foundation on which the pious stood. Publicans, or tax collectors, and sinners were considered unclean. By contrast, the Pharisees

and scribes considered themselves to be among the most holy. How dis Jesus handle those problems? Jesus got everyone’s attention when He ate with so called sinners. Sharing a meal together indicated that Jesus had accepted them as friends. In response to the rejections of His behavior, Jesus told parables designed to address the biases of the Jewish leaders. He taught that no one was hopeless in the eyes of God. Even those considered godless were capable of redemption. Jesus did not wait for the downtrodden to approach Him. He went to the downtrodden as the pious held their breath and pulled their garments tightly to prevent contamination. Jesus freely associated with them and continued in the 1st century AD to surround Himself with people who

needed Him and received them with love.

Prior to telling the story of the wayward son, he told them about the value of one lost sheep to the shepherd who rejoiced when the one lost sheep was found.

Jesus used the parable of the lost coin to explain that every soul is valuable to the Kingdom of God. The story of the lost son is far more valuable than one lost sheep or coin. Those of us who may stray are just as valuable to God as the stronger believer.

The son’s error was in cutting himself off from his father’s love and protection and assuming selfsufficiency not in asking for his share of the fortune.

As growing Christians in today’s world and in the future, we cannot assume that we can make it on our own. We must trust God for our salvation and go to Him for repentance. Our earthly resources can be quickly squandered without God’s guidance and protection. Without planning for the future with God as our first priority our losses cannot be found until we express the desire for a new life in Christ.

We hunger for God’s love and protection that must be felt when we are in need. Jesus says (in Luke 15:10) “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Before it is too late, let us join in the celebration with Jesus and learn much to share from His parables!

Mrs. Gladys McElmore was born in Essex County, Va. She was the founder of the Kathryn Bibbins Memorial Bible Study group.

LAW vs GRACE

(l) The Galatians, not Greeks but Gauls, a barbarian people, had relapsed into serving the Mosaic Law. Under the tutelage of Paul, They had received the Abrahamic Covenant of Faith in the Promises of God. Now they were mingling law-works and grace, two systems that cannot co-exist.

(2) Justification is by faith without the law. The Believer’s life in heaven’s security is based solely on grace through faith, not legality. The gift of the Spirit is by faith.

(3) The Abrahamic Covenant is a By-Faith Covenant in the promises if God. For it is written, “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. (Romans 4:3) Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith giving Glory to God; for he was fully persuaded that. God was able to perform what He had promised. “ ... He believed even God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (Rom.4:17)

(4) Righteousness and justification go together like peas in the pod. You can’t have one without the other.

(5) We are justified before God the Father as

though we had not sinned through the blood of Jesus. On the cross, Jesus took our sins and gave us His righteousness. Therefore we have the righteousness of God by the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We have no righteousness of our own except that righteousness given to us by the blood of Jesus.

(6) Paul says to the Galatians in 4:21 – “tell me, you who desire to be under the law do you hear what the law really means?”

(v.22) “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a bond-maid the other by a free woman.”

(v.23) “The son born to the bond-woman was born after the flesh (human connivance and plotting) The son born to the free women was by promise.”

(v.24) “These things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from

ADs & DIRECTORY

Mt. Sinai, which genderedth to bondage is Hagar.”

(Note: An allegory is a picture device i.e., story-, movie or DVD in which each literal character is representative or symbolic of a moral or spiritual truth)

(v.25) “For this Hagar is Mt. Sinai in Arabia and is the same as the present day geographic Jerusalem which is in bondage with her children.”

(7) In this Biblical Allegory there are two Jerusalems, notably the geographic Jerusalem near the Jordon River in Israel and the Heavenly New Jerusalem which is the Holy City from above.

(8) Hagar the bondwoman is the literal character of the allegory who points to Mt. Sinai and the Mosaic Covenant, representing condemnation, penalty, bondage, death, and the Law-Curse. Christ has borne our Law-Curse that we might receive truly the Faith-Blessing of the Abrahamic Covenant. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.

(9) Sarah stands for the free woman and Jerusalem Above which is the Mother of us all; and all of us who by grace are one with Jesus, the true Son of Promise of which Issac was the type. (Scofleld Bible p.37) see Rivka, page 6B

“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the Mother of us all” (Galatians 4:26 KJV)

Rev. Dr. Rebecca R. Rivka

Eradicating Gun Violence In The Public Arena

By John L. Horton

There are times when the citizenry has to make a statement and do what needs to be done in its own best interests. One of these times is in the case of “gun violence” throughout the nation. Specifically, this problem affects us all ... in more ways than one ...

For example, it is being reported by law enforcement officials that gun violence, in 2022, surpassed car crashes as the number one killer of young people ... So, I ask, if “we” don’t do something about this societal downfall, who will?

Recent data studies (Washington Post and various government agencies) reported approximately 388,000 students have experienced gun violence since 1999. Moreover, during this same time frame, there have been 266 school shootings across the nation. And it is predicted that things will become worse, before they become better. Sadly, most of our so-called “political leaders and influential others” offer only their “prayers and condolences” when these national disasters occur.

Damn, won’t we ever learn? What is it going to take?

Talking about “chickens coming home to roost”: February 21, 2023, it was reported that a 5th grader at the same school (Richneck Elementary School), where a 6-yearold shot his teacher, was removed after threatening to “pop some bullets and tell someone to shoot up the class.”

Meanwhile, the Norfolk Police Department is

John L. Horton

investigating after a student was found in possession of a gun, at Little Creek Elementary School, Thursday, February 16, 2023. No one was injured or hurt as a result of the incident.

Furthermore, a boy, 13, is among four charged in a 17-year-old teen’s death in Portsmouth. The minor, whose name has not been released, is the youngest of three juveniles charged in the December 21, 2022, shooting, according to Portsmouth police. The 13-year-old boy is charged with aggravated murder, robbery resulting in death, conspiracy to commit robbery, two counts of using a firearm, among other felony charges.

Sometimes, things don’t matter to us, unless they “directly” affect us, in one way or the other. For example, mass shootings could be one of these issues.

According to “WalletHub,” Norfolk’s homicide and gun violence rating is number 8, among the “Top-50 American cities,” with populations of 100,000, or more.

Other Hampton Roads cities were ranked somewhat high, too: Virginia Beach ranked 34th; and Chesapeake

ranked 49th. Moreover, recently, mass shootings have occurred throughout our society: schools, hospitals, shopping malls, churches, grocery stores, hotels, concerts, night clubs, restaurants, sporting events, court rooms, residential communities, government buildings, recreational centers, and the like ...

As Dr. King so rightly stated: “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly ... ” Illustratively and poignant, the Norfolk and Hampton Roads communities have experienced a serious increase in gun violence and criminal activity, especially in its downtown bar, club and restaurant establishments.

Let me begin by saying: I am an 82-year-old, African-American, 30-year retired, Marine sergeant major, Vietnam combat veteran, 100 percent disability, who is a gun owner and professionally qualified shooter. I am supportive of responsible and accountable gun ownership. Therefore, I have a personal understanding and professional insight on various perspectives of substantive issues dealing with guns and the ongoing

mass shootings affecting our contemporary society. Inasmuch, too many of our communities are being threatened and demoralized by these ongoing activities and occurrences. It has to stop! Something must be done ... for “we” are (much) better than all this. Yes, we are! Where does all this hatred, anger, fear and evil come from, especially from some of our youth? Many “excuses” have been given by our so-called “leaders” (politicians, social influencers, business, religious, prominent citizens, etc.): mental health, drug abuse, video games, faulty parenting, and the like. All kinds of “false flags” and “red herrings” have been raised when it comes to this important topic. America is not the only country where these “realities” exist; however, it is the only country that has these “mass shootings and societal violence.” Why, then is America the only country that exhibits this behavior and reality?

Instead of “answers and solutions” from our “leadership,” we get more “division, delay and debilitation. We get more “discussions” (prayers

and thoughts) about what could be, should be, and ought to be about “gun control” issues ... Not much ever seems to change ... at least for the overall betterment and/or satisfactory resolution of what ails us when it comes to the violent and corrosive realities that confront and/ or buffet us ...

However, it is obvious that the one common denominator is: Guns!

According to the FBI and other reliable government authorities, there are estimated to be more than 400 million guns in the United States between police, the military, and American civilians. Over 393 million (approximately 98 percent) of those guns are in civilian hands, the equivalent of 120 firearms per 100 citizens. It is reported the average gun owning American has 5 firearms, while nearly 22 percent of gun owners have only a single firearm. Basically, America has more guns than people, or cars. (FBI and ATF Records, 2020). A “mass shooting” is where four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter.

Over 230 mass shootings took place in the year 2022. So far, in 2023, there have been more than 60 mass shootings according to the PEW Research Center. Accordingly, there were 648 cases (mass shootings) in 2022, doubling the number since 2018. Additionally, gun deaths have increased in recent years by a 49 percent increase in the last five years and a 75 percent increase in the last decade. Broadly speaking, when it comes to Western

developed countries, nobody comes close to the number of people killed per 100,000 per capita, as is the case here in America.

Accordingly, I would ask, do “we” really, truly care about any/all of this, when it comes to “our” children and youth? If so, when are we going to do “something” about it ... meaningful, constructive and resolute? I firmly believe that “we” can do something about our present circumstances; otherwise, we are doomed for failure, and I refuse to accept that as an option.

Simply put, we need to hold our “leadership” (political, governmental, economical, and others) accountable at the ballot box. This is not the only answer, but it is a direct way of letting them know how we feel about these issues, and what we want them to do about it.

Otherwise, we will continue to get what we deserve, for better or worse, one way or the other. And, we will “deserve” what(ever) they render unto us ... we surely will ... The answer and time are here and now. It is truly up to us. We are it; it is we!

Regardless of how the vote turns out, the “majority” choice should be heard and their wishes carried out ... for better or worse ... We must remember to let our voices be heard in all future elections, to include the upcoming general elections of November 2024. Vote, and our voices shall be heard, and we will, in more ways than one, get what we “truly deserve.”

John L. Horton is a resident of Norfolk, Va., and a frequent contributor to this newspaper.

Sunday, May 14, 2023!

Simply put, we need to hold our “leadership” (political, governmental, economical, and others) accountable at the ballot box. This is not the only answer, but it is a direct way of letting them know how we feel about these issues, and what we want them to do about it.

BOOKWORM REVIEWS

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

WHITE BURGERS, BLACK CASH

Fast Food From Black Exclusion To Exploitation

Hold the pickles, no mustard.

Double patty, add bacon, fried onions, that’s how you like your burger. As for chicken, well, it has to have cheese, and there must be something salty-crunchy on the side or it’s not a complete meal. Yeah, Mom could sure cook but not like this, and in the new book “White Burgers, Black Cash” by Naa Oya A. Kwate, you’ll see why fast food was slow to come to Black communities.

Though restaurants certainly existed before the turn of the last century, fast food joints “took root in the early 1900s, when the earliest ... chains began.” White Castle, with their oniony square burgers, is widely considered to be the first; later, KFC, Burger King, and McDonald’s became the juggernauts of the industry, and something set them apart.

The first fast food restaurants, says Kwate, “did not include Black folks,” whether explicitly or implicitly when restaurants weren’t built in their areas. While highend establishments and wealthier homes employed Black waiters, fast food was “almost exclusively White,” from kitchen to booth.

In the 1920s, though, franchisees started noticing

that they were leaving money on the table. Slowly, fast food restaurants were built in areas once ignored – possibly, says Kwate, for profit or perhaps because developers saw it as a way to keep Black diners from White neighborhoods. There was controversy about the new additions – citizens of both races thought the restaurants were “a nuisance.” After a time, some alreadyestablished restaurants were accidentally found in Black neighborhoods because of “White flight.”

By the latter half of the 1960s, Black investors were finally invited to buy in as franchisees; in addition, some White operators were ordered by their home franchise to sell a percentage of their sites to Black citizens. This led closer to the equality Black operators wanted, but with a price: by the turn of this century, “studies began to mount ... showing that residential proximity to fast food mattered for health.”

“Black youth,” says Kwate, “were especially at risk.”

Looking for something light to read while you enjoy your basket meal with onion rings? This book is interesting, but it isn’t like that.

Like a triple-patty super-

“White Burgers, Black Cash: Fast Food From Black Exclusion To Exploitation”

By Naa Oyo A. Kwate ©2023, University of Minnesota Press $29.95, 451 pages

sized sandwich,”White Burgers, Black Cash” is much heavier than you might expect, at first glance.

Author Naa Oyo A. Kwate

dives deep into her subject, beginning years before the first White Castle opened –and that narrative includes neighborhood names, street names, and competitors’ locations, which likely won’t mean much to many readers. There are pictures in here but those, too, often have inadequate context. Still, it’s worth biting into this book because of its wider focus on racism and what White America was doing at this time, and its inclusion of other, more social history that’s relevant to this subject. Readers who can consume this book slowly, and chew on its information with careful thought will get more out of it than those who want a fast book about fast food. “White Burgers, Black Cash” deserves more cogitation, and you won’t even need fries with that.

757-543-6531

Rivka

Continued from page 4B

So that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal 3:13-14) “For we are saved by grace through faith ... ” Ephesians 2:8). Salvation is free. It is a free gift of God received by faith and not law-works.

(10) Jews living in the present day geographic Jerusalem in Israel, are also in bondage as Hagar and her descendants for they are still serving the Law of Moses and rejecting Jesus the Christ.

(11) Hagar’s son Ishmael (father of Islam and the Muslims) together with present day Jews in Jerusalem, Israel, who are followers of Moses Law will exist as slaves in bondage until they accept Jesus, “the seed of the woman to whom the promise was made in

the Abrahamic Covenant.” (Galatians 3:19) The Law does not add a new condition to the Abrahamic Covenant of faith.

(12) Paul explains in Galatians 3:24-25, “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a school master.”

(13) The justified believer is a son or daughter in the family of God and not a servant under the law. For we the believers are all the faithful children of Abraham and heirs to the promises of Abraham through Jesus Christ out lord. Amen.

(14) Therefore we are “not under the law, but under grace.” (Roman 6:14)

(15) The Mosaic Law, however, is God’s Word of law. It is therefore just, holy and spiritual and given for our instruction in righteousness, but the law cannot save. Blessings and Shalom.

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

CLASSIFIEDS

INVITATION FOR BIDS

ZBZ & ASSOCIATES is soliciting certified DMBE, SDA & WOSDB firms to participate as Plumbing and HVAC suppliers and subcontractors on the following project:

BOW CREEK REC CENTER

CENTRAL PLANT MODIFICATIONS

MAY 31, 2023 @ 3:00 PM Plans and specifications are in our office for review. For more information call 757-463-5331

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

NOTICE TO PROCURE

RFP NO. IT-RFP-2023-01

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL #IT-RFP-2023-01: The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (the “Organization”) is soliciting proposals from qualified firms and proprietors for the management of information technology services to sustain and enhance the operations and services of the Organization.

Interested parties should refer to the full request for proposal (RFP) posted at https://www.hrpdcva.gov/page/procurement and https://www.hrtpo.org/ page/procurement/. Submit proposals by 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.