Vol. 123, No. 30 | $1.50
July 27, 2023 - August 2, 2023
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On August 1 to 3, a modern form of Sharecropping will be on display in Franklin with the dedication of “Izzie’s Field – The Farm to Foodbank Project” at a swath of farmland on Armory Drive.
At that time, the initial harvesting of over 150,000 ears of sweet corn will take place, thanks to the project’s partnership of Franklin’s New Life Global Church; a local Black farmer; the Hubbard Peanut Company; Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia of the Eastern Shore; and Kroger Grocery.
Sharecropping has a long and mixed history.
From ancient times in Africa, Europe, and the southern region of North America, Sharecropping was an arrangement when a landowner allowed a tenant farmer to use the land in return for a share of income from the crops produced on it.
When applied equitably, the partnership created benefits for the landlord, farmer, and community in the form of food.
However, there could be abuses, as in the case of its application during American Reconstruction after Emancipation.
Black farmers toiled in the field to raise crops for white landowners but were unable to secure a share of financial benefits.
Black farmers owing the landlord money for seed and food bought on credit to feed their families often consumed much of the profits they would have received.
They were indebted to the white landowner and were obligated to work another growing season to pay off the debt or be forced off the land. see Farm, page 3A
Florida’s Board of Education voted to approve several new rules this week, including teaching that AfricanAmericans benefited from their enslavement.
The new curriculum has sparked outrage and accusations of racism, setting up a new school year unlike any other because of these changes and other laws passed by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. One of the most
After last week’s announcement by the Norfolk Public Schools Board of its newest budget, supporters and alumni of the Booker T. Washington High School (BTWHS) said they were cautiously optimistic about the future of the historic facility.
The board’s vote on the budget clears the way for christening BTWHS as the division’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) Academy.
Several years ago, the Board defined each of its five high schools with distinct curriculum offerings. It was then that BTWHS was designated an Arts Academy.
“The school board vote on the budget indicates that Booker T will be here for the foreseeable future,” said Ashley Avery, an alum and leader of the Foundation supporting the school. “The new curriculum sounds fi ne. But we hope the school board will continue to back up its vote with proper faculty, funding, and material.”
The budget includes continued funding for the rehabilitation and replacement of the school’s HVAC system, roof, doors windows, and other mechanical operations.
The school board reiterated its support for a feasibility study to determine the future of BTWHS, which was erected in 1975. But the
building eroded over time due to a lack of investment in the school’s physical and mechanical operations.
Maury High School, the oldest of the city’s five high schools, currently is the subject of a feasibility study which has highlighted the school’s extensive structure problems.
NPS is weighing the costs of replacing the school or undertaking rehabilitation.
In March, in a review of Norfolk public schools, David Sturtz, a consultant with Cooperative Strategies, said the division operated 17 “surplus schools” in 2022.
Eleven of the “surplus” were elementary schools, five middle schools, and one high school. see BTW, page 8A
controversial rules drawing significant pushback is the alteration of the standards of instruction for AfricanAmerican history.
Critics argue that the new standards attempt to rewrite Black history in a deeply concerning manner.
Democratic state lawmakers made their objections known at the board’s meeting on July 19, expressing particular concern over one instructional change implying enslaved individuals benefited from their enslavement.
“Any kind of standards that indicate that slavery benefited Black people is
such an insult,” said State Rep. Rita Harris.
Added Rep. Anna Eskamani, “The notion that enslaved people benefited from being enslaved is inaccurate and a scary standard for us to establish in our education system.”
The new rule faced additional opposition from a coalition of Black leaders and community groups, who wrote a letter to the
Special to the Guide
school board asserting that the standards intentionally omitted or distorted crucial historical facts about the Black experience.
Despite the widespread criticism, the board plans to implement the new rule on African-American history instruction, along with several others, in classrooms across the state during the upcoming school year.
see Florida, page 7A
NNPA
Newswire Senior National Correspondent@StacyBrownMedia
Tony Bennett, the legendary singer whose smooth vocals and timeless classics captured the hearts of millions, died at 96 in his hometown of New York.
Although renowned for his musical achievements, his tireless work in civil rights advocacy has left an indelible mark on history.
Bennett’s journey into activism began early in his life.
the front lines in Europe, witnessing the horrors of war and its devastating impact on human lives.
Tony Bennett
Drafted into the Army as a teen in 1944 during World War II, he served on
“The first time I saw a dead German, that’s when I became a pacifist,” Bennett revealed in an earlier interview with Howard Stern.
“Every war is insane, no matter where it is or
Parishioners from the Basilica of St. Mary in Norfolk recently joined Black Catholics from across the nation for the XIII National Black Catholic Conference in Oxen Hill, MD.
see page 3B see page 3B
what it’s about. Fighting is the lowest form of human behavior. No human being should have to go to war, especially an eighteen-yearold boy.”
His time in the military exposed him to the grim reality of racial segregation within the U.S. Armed Forces. see Bennett, page 7A
CHICAGO
The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority has incorporated its own credit union.
The “For Members Only,” or FMO, credit union is the first Black-owned, womenled, sorority-based digital banking financial institution in the history of the United States.
The AKAs are one of America’s oldest service organizations, founded by college-educated AfricanAmerican women with nearly half a million members worldwide.
“Everyone doesn’t understand the impact we make financially, so you have to start doing things so folks know we know how to control our money,” said Danette Anthony Reed, international president and CEO of AKA Sorority.
FMO’s grand opening at the group’s international headquarters in Chicago coincided with the 115-yearold sorority’s leadership conference.
The FMO is chartered, regulated and insured by the National Credit Union Administration, and will offer primary savings, loans and other banking services during its first year of operations. It’s open to AKA members, their immediate families, AKA staff and credit union employees.
“Every member will be an owner of the credit union,” said Terri Bradford Eason,
The grand opening in Chicago coincided with the 115-yearold sorority’s leadership conference.
FMO federal credit union executive director.
According to TV Station WLS, the first-of-its-kind credit union is based in part on the sorority’s six initiatives, which include building economic wealth. Plans for the credit union began a few years ago with the idea to create economic health and financial stability for women of color.
FMO board member Deardra Hayes-Whigham and her family are founding subscribers.
“We want to invest in what we own,” she said.
The FMO credit union has opened officially.
Bennett’s
work
advocacy has left an indelible mark on history.
BTWHS will be designated as Norfolk’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) Academy.
Florida’s new history focus implies Blacks benefited from being in bondage by white slave masters.“Izzie’s Field” sign marks entrance to the farmland. Land was cleared earlier this year for planting corn to be harvested in August. Photo: Courtesy
President Joe Biden signed a proclamation on Tuesday, July 25, establishing a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the 14-yearold Black teenager whose tragic lynching in 1955 ignited a nationwide outcry against racial injustice and discrimination.
Named the “Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument,” the historic memorial will span three sites in Illinois and Mississippi, symbolizing locations that played a central role in Till’s heartbreaking story.
“The new monument will protect places that tell the story of Emmett Till’s too-short life and racially motivated murder, the unjust acquittal of his murderers, and the activism of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who courageously brought the world’s attention to the brutal injustices and racism of the time, catalyzing the civil rights movement,” White House officials explained.
The three sites that will be part of the monument are the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, where Till’s mother held an opencasket funeral to display her son’s brutalized body; Graball Landing in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, believed to be the location where Till’s body was retrieved from the Tallahatchie River; and the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where Till’s murderers were acquitted.
Till’s tragic story unfolded in August 1955 while visiting relatives in Mississippi.
Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, two white men, allegedly kidnapped, brutally beat, and lynched him for allegedly whistling at a white woman.
The men’s trial, which occurred before an allwhite jury, ended in their acquittal, sparking outrage and disbelief nationwide.
However, in a later interview with Look Magazine, Bryant and Milam admitted their responsibility for Till’s heinous murder, revealing the justice system’s deeply flawed and biased nature during that era.
As Till’s story continued to gain national attention, the brave actions of his mother, Mamie TillMobley, became a driving force behind the Civil Rights Movement.
She insisted that her son’s casket remain open during the funeral, allowing the world to witness the brutality of racial violence and the stark realities of America’s rampant racism.
Photographs of Till’s battered and mutilated body were published in Jet Magazine, impacting the
collective consciousness, and mobilizing people across the nation to fight against racial injustice.
Earlier this year, Carolyn Bryant Donham, the white woman whose false accusation against Till triggered the events leading to his lynching, died at the age of 88.
Donham passed away
in Westlake, Louisiana, while receiving hospice care, according to a death record from the Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office.
President Biden’s decision to establish the national monument is seen as crucial to acknowledging and preserving the painful history of racial violence in the United States.
By commemorating Emmett Till’s life and the legacy of his courageous mother, the monument will serve as a reminder of the immense sacrifices made by those who fought for civil rights, and it will stand as a beacon of hope and a call to action against ongoing injustices.
Administration officials said the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument would symbolize resilience, progress, and the enduring fight for a more equitable society.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The U.S. Department of Labor marked the 75th anniversary of the historic desegregation of the nation’s military with an event on July 25 highlighting its importance to the nation’s civil rights movement and to the department’s continuing efforts to provide Black veterans with access to good jobs.
In July 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 that banned racial segregation in the U.S. military and eventually brought equality to the military and inspired the American civil rights movement.
The “Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Desegregation of
July 24, 1965
Edition of the Guide
Negroes Shooting Back In Bloody Bogalusa, LA
BOGALUSA, LA
A one-day truce to “let the police go to the church” ended abruptly in gunfire Sunday night in Bogalusa, and four Negroes were arrested on charges of shooting at a carload of white men.
No one was injured.
Civil rights leaders promised another round of demonstrations this week in the troubled Louisiana city.
Arrested in connection with the shootings were Joe Gatlin, 26, Harrison Andrews, 26, Gerald Simmons, and Lucius Manning, 18.
Police said Gatlin was charged with actual shooting during a chase in a rural area involving the Negroes and white men.
This papermill town of 23,000 has been torn by racial strife for more than six months, as violence has erupted a number of times. A white man was shot early this month and a Negro deputy sheriff was murdered in an ambush seven miles north of the town in June.
Bogalusa Negroes have been demonstrating since January for more job opportunities and civil rights.
Ten picketers, including one white man, turned out Sunday after a clash Saturday between civil rights picketers and whites at a shopping center.
Police locked up three whites and 10 picketers for brawling at the center.
WASHINGTON,
up victories in numerous other civil rights cases.
Waggoner alleged that groups to which he said Marshall belonged have been cited as having communist connections.
If previous experience is any guide, Senate confirmation of Marshall’s appointment as the first Negro Solicitor General may be a long time coming.
Marshall’s appointment must first be cleared by the Senate Judiciary Committee under the chairmanship of Senator James O. Eastland, Democrat Mississippi before it must be confirmed by the Senate. He is a staunch segregationist. When the late President John F. Kennedy nominated Marshall to the bench of the Second Federal Circuit ,it took almost a year to be confirmed.
Health Bill Godsend
To Aged, Poor WASHINGTON, D.C.
The long-awaited Medicare program will play a key role in the hands of the nation’s doctors, many of whom opposed the legislation in its trip through Congress.
An agreement was announced Wednesday between the House and Senate negotiators on a compromise of the $6.5 billion Health and Welfare bill contained in the program.
It was headed toward enactment by the end of the month and the healthcare program was due to go into effect July 1, 1966.
Under the proposal’s Medicare plan for persons 65 or over, it is up to the doctors to determine who goes to the hospital, how long they stay, and what type of post-hospital benefits they will receive.
CHIEF REPORTER: Leonard E. Colvin ASSISTANT TO THE
Desmond Perkins
A southern Senator launched an attack on Judge Thurgood Marshall of the Second Circuit of Appeals in short order last week after President Johnson nominated the former civil rights lawyer to be the U.S. Solicitor General.
The first attack on the 57-year-old former director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund came from Rep. Joe D. Waggoner, Jr., a Democrat from Louisiana. Other members of the House immediately began defending the man who successfully led the legal assault on school segregation in the U.S. Supreme Court and racked
In addition to the Medicare program to be financed through social security taxes, the overall bill also provides for an optional medical insurance program to pay doctors’ bills in return for $3 monthly premiums and a 7 percent increase in all Social Security benefits.
July 26, 1969,
Edition of the Guide Dr. King’s Brother Found Dead In A Pool
ATLANTA
The Rev. A.D. King, a well known name in the civil rights movement in the South and brother of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.,was found drowned in his swimming pool early Monday morning.
A spokesman for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of which King was a Board of Directors member, said the body of the 38-yearold pastor was discovered in his backyard pool by his three youngest children. While Atlanta police investigated the incident, authorities were attempting to contact King’s wife Naomi, and two other children who were traveling in Jamaica with Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr.
That was the only statement by the SCLC as officials began to gather at the home. Funeral arrangements were incomplete. Along with serving as an SCLC Board member, King was also Co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church here with his father the Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr.
King began his civil rights activities in 1953 when he helped his Nobel Peace Prize-winning brother organize the mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama. During that campaign, his house was bombed but no one was injured. Most of the time was spent working in the background of the movement, however.
the U.S. Armed Forces: Black Veterans and Good Jobs” highlighted the contributions of Black service members who helped shape a more diverse and inclusive U.S. military. The event included a discussion among veterans, stakeholders and others to reflect on how the order continues to effect positive change. Participants included Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su; Past President of the National Association of Black Military Women Patricia Jackson-Kelley; and, NAACP’s National Armed Services and Veterans Affairs Committee President Barbara Ward, among others.
with upscale luxury homes.
He served as pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, from 1965 until his brother was felled by a sniper’s bullet in Memphis in April 1968.
James Brown Named Businessman of the Year
Despite Personal Drama
AUGUSTA, GA
Millionaire, entertainer, and businessman James Brown, the famed “soul brother Number One,” is taking the events of life in stride. Here are some of the things that happened to him in recent days:
His wife, Velma Warren Brown, filed suit in Superior Court here for divorce on July 16 based on insurmountable marital difficulties.
The announcement last week that Brown has been chosen “Businessman of the Year” by the National Business League.
Mary Florence, president of the James Brown Fan Club of California, filed suit in Sacramento court naming the entertainer as the father of her child.
Michael Dion Brown was born on September 7, 1968. The defendant emphatically denied the girl’s charges.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Brown refused to comment on reports on the divorce, but confirmed the suit had been filed.
The couple married on June 27, 1953, but have been separated since 1964. Both were desirous of a divorce, the suit said.
A property settlement agreement for alimony, child support and a lump sum of $4,000 was signed by the famed soul singer.
Mrs. Brown is living at her home in Toccoa, Georgia where she has custody of four children.
In Washington, D.C., Berkley G. Burrell,
president of the National Business League, announced that Brown was selected as the “Man of the Year” last week at the NBL headquarters by saying, “James Brown is more than an artist. He has used the equity capital of his talents to establish enterprises, real estate, franchising, record production, entertainment, management and broadcasting. Brown, whose current hit “Popcorn” is selling millions of copies around the country, is at the peak of his career.
“Poor People on Hand for Historic Moon Shot
The Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, flanked by associate Hosea Williams, stands on steps of a mockup of the lunar module displaying a protest sign during a tour of Cape Kennedy Space Center. On the left is a model of Jupiter C and next to it is a model of the Titan III.
Abernathy, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), holds a sign ridiculing the spending of $12 a day to feed an astronaut, “We could feed a starving child for $8.
Abernathy led a group of 40 members of SCLC’s Poor People’s Campaign to the space center for the launching of the Apollo 11 Moon shot which placed men on the moon for the first time in history. The group was given “VIP” seats for the launch.
Abernathy explained that his group was there to protest “a distorted sense of national priorities” and not to oppose the launching nor to disrupt space center operations. He hailed the success of moonshots as magnificent and historic.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Biden-Harris Administration has approved 804,000 borrowers for $39 billion in federal student loans for automatic discharge this summer. Eligible borrowers will not have to take any action to receive this incomedriven repayment (IDR) forgiveness.
In Virginia, approximately 21,500 borrowers will receive approximately $1 billion in IDR forgiveness in the coming weeks. The Department has begun notifying eligible borrowers about their discharges. The emails from Federal Student Aid inform borrowers their discharges will start 30 days from the notification date.
“I have long said that college should be a ticket to the middle class – not a burden that weighs down on families for decades,” the President said in a press statement.
“My Administration is delivering on that commitment. Starting today, over 800,000 student loan borrowers who have been repaying their loans for 20 years or more will see $39 billion of their loans discharged because of steps my Administration took to fix failures of the past. These borrowers will join the millions of people that my Administration has provided relief to over the past two years – resulting in over $116 billion in loan relief to over 3 million borrowers under my Administration.
“But we’re not stopping there. My Administration has worked hard to secure the largest increases to Pell Grants in a decade, fixed broken loan programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and created
Continued from page 1A
According to Christopher Tan, the CEO of the Foodbank, “Izzie’s Field –The Farm to Field Project” is a one-of-a-kind, pilot program with several goals.
Tan said that the primary one is supporting local Black and other farmers.
The Foodbank bought a 20acre slice of a 59.5-acre patch of land owned by the New Life Global Church which is pastored by Rev. Dr. Eric Majette.
President Joe Bidena new income-driven repayment plan that will cut undergraduate loan payments in half and bring monthly payments to zero for low-income borrowers. And, when the Supreme Court made the wrong decision, I immediately announced a new plan to open an alternative path to relief for as many borrowers as possible, as soon as possible.
“Republican lawmakers – who had no problem with the government forgiving millions of dollars of their own business loans – have tried everything they can to stop me from providing relief to hardworking Americans. Some are even objecting to the actions we announced today, which follows through on relief borrowers were promised, but never given, even when they had been making payments for decades. The hypocrisy is stunning, and the disregard for working and middle-class families is outrageous.
“As long as I’m in office, I will continue to work to bring the promise of college to every American.”
Borrowers may visit StudentAid.gov/idr to learn more.
Half of the 20 acres the agency bought is devoted to producing two crops cultivated by Elijah Barnes, a local African-American farmer who runs Pop-Son Farms.
He is growing peanuts on five acres in a partnership with the Peanut company. The other five acres are devoted to the corn crop.
The harvesting of the Peanuts will take place in late September. All of the revenue from the peanut harvest will be reaped by Barnes.
He, in turn, will reinvest in the farming operation.
The Foodbank chipped in with the land and some farming equipment.
Kroger paid for all of the seeds, farming supplies, and access to water and other resources needed to plant the Peanut and Sweet Corn crops.
Tan deems Barnes his agricultural expert, for he has been in charge of cultivating these two crops since they were planted earlier this year.
The 150,000 ears of sweet corn soon-to-be harvested in August will be sent to Foodbank outlets and shared with 107 distribution partners from Hampton Roads as far as Emporia.
It will be provided free to individuals and families experiencing food insecurity.
Tan said the cost of operation including seed, equipment irrigation, and
labor to help plant, sustain and harvest crops is expensive for small farm operations. It cuts into a small farmer’s profit “margins” which are used to reinvest in their operation and provide incomes for their families.
Further, securing reliable and affordable labor to help cultivate a crop for the market is costly. So, Tan said, the Foodbank is acquiring resources to provide volunteer labor to harvest the crops, thus reducing the operational costs.
Barnes will be able to invest in planting in late Summer, Fall crops of broccoli, cabbage, and collard greens. They are usually harvested just in time for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday seasons.
Tan said next Spring, seeds will be planted for crops for produce for another Summer Produce.
Izzie’s Field, according to Tan, is named in honor of the late Izzie Brown, who was a Grant and Data Manager for his agency.
“This is the best form of Sharecropping I know of,” said Tan. “This is the first harvest of a pilot program we hope to expand and work with Black and other farmers in this region,” said Tan. “We hope to use more of the 20 acres we secured from the church for our project.”
Land to cultivate farm produce is expensive and valuable.
Over the years many farmers, especially AfricanAmericans have lost large tracts of it, due to the inability to secure credit to buy the resources to run a profitable farm operation.
Rev. Majette, the Senior Pastor of the New Life Global Church, is also the President of the Virginia Beach NAACP and runs a real estate and passenger Bus company.
He said that in 2001, the church under the leadership of late Bishop William Saunders, bought the 59.5
acres of land where the Izzie Farm is located despite some resistance from the seller.
“Bishop was going to use the land to build a new church and education center,” said Majette. “But unfortunately, he died in an automobile accident.”
Majette said that he ventured out of the area for a time to pursue his career as a marketing executive for a Fortune 500 Company. He returned 16 years ago.
Now, Majette said, the Farm project and utilizing portions of the remaining acres to Dominion Power for a Solar Panel farm are options to serve the community and generate revenue for the church.
“This farming project is a historic project,” said Majette. “We are the only church I know of involved in such a program. It will not only benefit the church and the community especially those in need of fresh vegetables, but the farmers who do the hard work of cultivating and harvesting them and the Foodbank that supplies food to families and individuals who may live in food deserts and experience food insecurity.”
After stepping down from the anchor chair on the PBS NewsHour, Judy Woodruff started a series, “America at the Crossroads,” where she has been investigating America’s current “partisan divide,” as they call it.
According to the Pew Research Center, members of both parties—Democrats and Republicans--who have unfavorable opinions of the opposing party have doubled since 1994, while those with very negative views of the opposing party are at record highs as of 2023.
Consequently, I applaud Judy for investigating this issue, but I have qualms about her methods of addressing this critical issue. She is not alone in using this problematic approach. I choose to criticize her practice because I respect her and her colleagues.
This series is problematic because it treats Democrats and Republicans as equal partisans. Treating them as equal partners in this bad situation is like calling the Social Democratic Party and the Nazi Party similar partisans in Germany in the early 1930s.
How do Democrats and Republicans differ?
Traditionally, in economics, Democrats favor attention to minimum wages and progressive taxation, i.e., higher tax rates for higher income brackets. Republicans believe taxes should be lower for everyone and the free market should set wages. On social and human ideas, Democrats have emphasized community and social responsibility. Republicans have favored individual rights.
On the Military, Democrats have wanted to decrease spending, while the Republicans have pushed for increased spending. On abortion, a majority of Democrats favored abortion. A majority of Republicans did not. On government regulation, Democrats favored government regulations for consumer protection. Republicans did not, saying
government regulations negatively affect free market capitalism and job growth. Democrats favored universal healthcare, while Republicans did not, arguing that private companies were more efficient.
While these partisan differences still exist and perhaps to a greater degree, there are additional differences between the parties, differences that many observers characterize as dangerous for the future of our form of government.
For example, while Democrats have retained their positions on the above mentioned issues, Republicans have gone much more extreme on civil rights and democracy. Republicans have gutted the civil rights bill considered to be the most important, The Voting Rights Act. And they have abolished affirmative action.
But perhaps more importantly, they are pushing democracy to its limits, if not further, both locally and nationally.
See Tennessee, where the state legislature expelled two African-American legislators for participating in a peaceful protest for gun control. The ACLU notes that since 2021, 10 states have enacted anticritical race theory (CRT) laws that attack “our First Amendment rights to read, learn and discuss vital topics in schools.” And at least two dozen additional anti-CRT laws have been introduced. Then look at the increased gerrymandering in the states, producing a disproportionate share of local and national Republican legislators. Nationally, Republicans support these antidemocratic actions in the states. But perhaps more significantly, they support the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, which was
to disrupt regular national democratic processes and bring about a coup.
Further, The New York Times reports that “Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government… reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.” This is blatant authoritarianism being openly espoused. Borrowing from several top scholars and a former secretary of state, Robert Reich argues that Trump and his allies are worse than authoritarians. They are fascists. He lists five elements of that fascism which I list below.
1. The rejection of democracy, the rule of law, and equal rights under the law in favor of a strongman who interprets the popular will.
2. The galvanizing of popular rage against cultural elites.
3. Nationalism based on a dominant “superior” race and historic bloodlines.
4. Extolling brute strength and heroic warriors.
5. Disdain of women and fear of non-standard gender identities or sexual orientation.
It is irresponsible journalism to treat the authoritarianism/fascism being pushed by the Republicans as just a partisan difference from the Democrats. We are not comparing apples and apples here. Perhaps, it is more like comparing the A-bomb to the bombs that preceded it.
Further, implying this is a two-sided partisan issue is dangerous. Instead, it is a fascist system compared to one trying to be democratic.
The last Apollo mission launched a few weeks before I was born. I grew up hearing people describe an audacious goal as a “moonshot.”
What excites me lately is how poised for a comeback this country is for the environment and the economy. I think of it as our “Earth shot,” and my home state of Maryland is emerging as Cape Canaveral’s successor.
Sparrows Point is one of our launchpads. That’s where Orsted, a wind energy company, will manufacture what it needs to power about 300,000 Maryland homes as part of a state goal for offshore windfarms to provide electricity to about 3 million homes. That also will create 125 good jobs that pay well. All on a site that once housed the world’s largest steel mill.
The Free State is showing what can happen when bold leadership and real dollars meet to address climate concerns.
Governor Wes Moore and the state legislature last year set a goal for Maryland to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2031 and reach net zero emissions by 2045.
They’ve begun pursuing those goals, from demanding dealers offer more options
for zero-emissions cars and trucks each year until reaching 100 percent of sales in 2035 to permitting community solar power projects to bring that renewable energy to more homes and businesses.
The White House and Congress did their part last year by passing a historic spending package directing nearly $400 billion to growing clean energy and revitalizing American manufacturing.
In Baltimore Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a $20 billion loan program for underserved neighborhoods that she called “the largest investment in financing for communitybased climate projects in our nation’s history.”
The unprecedented clean energy package provides tax incentives, grants, and loans for much of what Maryland seeks to accomplish. There
By Julianne Malveaux (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)On July 16, Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson announced that he would pivot from his role as President of the National Rainbow Coalition to become a university professor and advisor to his successor, the Reverend Frederick Douglas Haynes III, an activist and the pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas.
This announcement, accompanied by a laudatory speech from Vice President Kamala Harris, should have been front-page news. Instead, except for the Chicago newspapers, Jackson’s resignation from the group he founded in 1971 garnered very little national news.
However, Rev. Jackson’s transition from leadership was big news to the people who worked on his 1984 and 1988 Presidential campaigns. A couple hundred Jackson delegates and campaign workers gathered for a reunion at the PUSH headquarters on July 14-16 to reminisce and celebrate Jackson’s decades of leadership. The man whose mantra was “Keep hope alive” offered hope to those disheartened by the recent rise in racism, virulent antiBlackness, legislative and judicial hostility resulting in attacks on voting rights, and the reversal of affirmative action. Jesse Jackson has not disappeared from the national scene. Instead, too many want to write Rev. Jackson off, just as they have attempted to write off history. The sentiment to ignore Jackson is the same sentiment that has allowed truth-deniers to introduce legislation outlawing teaching about race in forty-four states. Thanks to Jackson campaign veterans, though, the world will learn that biased journalists cannot bury either history or hope.
At a time when state legislators and Supreme Court justices have attacked voting rights, Jackson’s legacy in
Rev. Jackson’s transition from leadership was big news to the people who worked on his 1984 and 1988 Presidential campaigns.
registering more voters than any other single individual in history is unassailable.
And who can deny Jesse Jackson’s international impact – from his rescue of Lt. Robert Goodman from Syria through his work on the anti-apartheid movement and his relationship with Nelson Mandela? His international reach is reflected in his participation in this year’s PUSH conference, which includes delegates from several African countries, the Caribbean, and Europe.
His peers in the civil rights movement sent tributes of recognition. They came from the National Urban League’s Marc Morial to the National Action Network’s Al Sharpton, to tweets from Presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden to Chicago’s mayor Brandon Johnson, appreciation rained down on Rev. Jackson.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge defined PUSH – as “to press upon a thing with force to move it away, to move something in a specified way by exerting force.” She noted that PUSH has been a force for justice, a force against the barriers of racism. There are setbacks, she said, to be sure. But as long as that force is there, there will be change.
That the United States Vice President traveled to Chicago to salute Jackson crystallizes his importance to the nation and the world. Kamala Harris shared how important Jackson has been to her life and career and said she would not be
Vice-President were it not for Jackson’s work. Others shared similar tributes, and I, too, have a testimony. I met Jackson first in 1973 as an Essence Magazine intern and later worked on the 1984 campaign. I vividly remember his assertion in his speech at the Moscone Center that “God isn’t finished with me yet .” Indeed, since 1984, God has continued to mold, shape, and bless Rev. Jackson. Jackson isn’t giving rousing speeches anymore. But he still brings us to our feet. He doesn’t shout. The Parkinson’s he has battled since 2017 has reduced his mighty roar to a whisper. But his whisper is that of hope and history.
“Keep hope alive,” he tells assembled delegates. “I am somebody,” he quietly encourages the crowd in his trademark chant. And the delegates engage in the traditional call and response, amplifying Rev.’s voice, reminding him that while illness may have muted his voice, those who appreciate his contribution to history are ready to receive the baton he is passing and confront the evil forces that would eradicate our rights.
As long as we can chant back, keeping hope alive, Rev. Jesse Jackson’s place in history is secure. He inspires the nation and the world. Those who appreciate the Jackson legacy will not allow hope or history to be buried.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA. juliannemalveaux.com
The White House and Congress did their part last year by passing a historic spending package directing nearly $400 billion to growing clean energy and revitalizing American manufacturing.
are tax credits of up to $7500 for buying new and used electric cars and trucks.
Pretty soon, the neighbors I see at our local watering hole near the Chesapeake Bay will be far less interested in my electric Ford F-150 because they’ll have one of their own. Similarly, there are rebates of up to $8,000 for home energy efficiency upgrades like heat pumps and rooftop solar panels. This helps balance the upfront costs that hit immediately with the energy cost savings that only accrue over time. Owners of multifamily buildings can get rebates of up to $400,000. see Jealous, page 6A
It is now clear that we can no longer say we are making progress on race relations in America. We’re going backward. Every day we find ourselves nearly speechless regarding what comes out of the mouths of so many people who call themselves leaders.
Let us just stick with Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, who had at least four years to observe extreme madness coming out of the White House and around the nation. We had an election in 2020 and had begun to believe the American people wanted to work toward seminormalcy where most people desired to move forward and at least inching toward equality and basic human rights for all of us.
Instead, we are stuck with 24/7 of the Trump madness and a runner-up of a bunch of would-be Trumps! As an individual, I have often wondered what life would have in store for young Black people as they age. Some of them are absolute geniuses! As the days, months, and years go by, I now wonder what is going to happen to all of us if we just watch life go by instead of keeping our hands on the plow as our ancestors did.
It seems that not a day goes by without somebody coming up with a way to do harm to us. That is why I will never understand how a few of our people make
themselves available to work with the racists who want to take the nation back to a time and place from which our ancestors died to free us.
We had begun to have hope. When Congressman John Lewis died, we thought surely he was well-liked on both sides of the aisle so passing a voting rights bill to honor his work would be a piece of cake!
A growing number of people had begun to honor Dr. MLK by remembering him through a day of service for those in need, making a positive difference in their communities.
Young people of all races were joining rallies for various causes. They were activists like Maxwell Frost who got elected to Congress.
A brilliant Black woman was confirmed to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Court surprised us with three positive cases on fair voting. A Black/Asian woman was chosen to be Vice-President.
Honorable Barack Obama had served two glorious terms as President and Michelle Obama had
I will never understand how a few of our people make themselves available to work with the racists who want to take the nation back to a time and place from which
completed two terms as our flawless First Lady. Many cities were electing Black Mayors and not just in small Black towns, but also in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, St. Louis, Kansas City, New York City, Atlanta, and more.
The Congressional Black Caucus grew to 54 members! New faces from new places come to Washington every election.
The Biden Administration had begun things to benefit all of us—even for people in areas where their Washington representatives voted against the benefits. We saw the two strongest years of job growth in history. Many borrowers began to benefit from student debt relief. Over 100 actions were taken to lower household energy costs and more! see Williams, page 6A
our ancestors died to free us.
Borrowing from several top scholars and a former secretary of state, Robert Reich argues that Trump and his allies are worse than authoritarians. They are fascists.Julianne Malveaux Ben Jealous
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to end affirmative action in college admissions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have taken steps to adapt their admissions policies.
With the expected increase in applicants, HBCUs reportedly are gearing up to become more selective, aiming to maintain the quality of education they provide.
Last month’s ruling by the high court, which prohibits colleges from considering race during the admissions process, has sent ripples through the academic landscape.
For many universities, affirmative action has been crucial for fostering diversity and inclusion.
While not entirely unexpected, the decision poses a significant challenge to HBCUs, which have historically played a pivotal role in educating Black graduates and promoting racial diversity.
The Root reported that HBCU leaders anticipate a surge in applications from students seeking environments that encourage
open discussions about race during the admissions process.
The schools have long served as bastions of support for Black students, especially in the face of systemic challenges like underfunding, housing shortages, and aging infrastructure.
Compared to predominantly white institutions, The Root noted that HBCUs have also struggled with subpar cybersecurity measures and limited WiFi access, further adding to their uphill battle.
“If our applicant pool doubles, we could not double our student body without seriously compromising the quality of our education,” David A. Thomas, the President of Atlanta’s prestigious Morehouse College, told the outlet.
With Morehouse College expecting a significant surge in applications over the next three years, maintaining its commitment to providing an economically diverse student body is at the forefront of its agenda, Thomas asserted.
To combat some aspects of the Supreme Court’s ruling, Aminta Hawkins Breaux, President of Bowie State University, suggested the inclusion of an essay component in admission applications as a possible
measure.
She said that approach would allow students to reflect on their experiences and articulate the importance of race in their lives and aspirations.
Meanwhile, Morgan State University’s Admissions officials reportedly are contemplating using essay prompts or letters of recommendation to encourage applicants to engage in meaningful discussions about race.
As the spotlight shines brightly on HBCUs after the affirmative action verdict, officials at those schools maintain that they are determined to rise to the challenge and continue their commitment to fostering diverse, inclusive, and intellectually stimulating environments.
“Historically Black colleges and universities are carrying an outsized burden to diversify so many industries in America,” Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick, said in a nationally televised interview.
“We represent only 3 percent of the higher [education] institutions, but we are responsible for 25 percent of the bachelor’s degrees,” he said. Frederick called the court’s decision, “unfortunate.”
He added that, “By not allowing race to be considered in admissions elsewhere, you can put an even more outsized burden on historically Black colleges and universities who don’t have the capacity to carry that type of a burden.”
Frederick further acknowledged that HBCUs admissions decisions now will become more complicated.
“Obviously, we all are going to be kind of avoiding lawsuits, and so trying to have a very sterile process,” he asserted.
“It is going to be almost impossible, and trying to create one is going to be far more difficult today given this ruling. So I think that we are all going to have to look at the rules very carefully.”
Finally, Fredrick told CNN that the ruling could put an additional burden on HBCUs to produce more graduates to work in various industries and set up institutions to worry about legal challenges that could be presented over admissions.
“So, it is going to be a road that is going to require a lot more resources. I think that for institutions that don’t have as many resources could be blindsided by lawsuits about this,” Frederick said.
Virginia State University officials held a recent groundbreaking ceremony for a new building that will be its most expensive building to date.
Virginia State’s new $120 million Academic Commons building will replace a demolished academic building and the campus gymnasium. It will be called the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Education.
The new 174,000 squarefoot-facility will be named after Alfred W. Harris, the son of two free Fairfax-born African-Americans, who relocated to Alexandria, where he attended a school operated by the Bureau of
Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, as well as the city’s first segregated public schools. At age 20, he won a seat on the Alexandria common council. He earned his law degree at Howard University in 1881 and moved to Petersburg to practice law. His name will grace the new campus building that is expected to be completed in late 2024.
In 2008, the Virginia State University Alumni Association established a scholarship that honors Harris, who served as the first secretary of the board of visitors for Virginia State University. His papers are stored in special collection at Johnston Memorial Library, Virginia State University.
ATLANTA Johnson C. Smith
Theological Seminary (JCSTS) has been awarded grants totaling $90,000.00 by some of our national’s most prominent trusts including the Ford Foundation and the Henry Luce Foundation. The yearlong grants will enable JCSTS to convene national conversations that test the interest and capacity of diverse organizations in developing sustainable approaches to Reparations.
“If racism is the opposite of what God intended for humanity, then the work of repair – which includes Reparations – must become a more intentional part of the way forward,” said Paul Roberts, JCSTS President. “With the support and partnership of these three foundations, JCSTS is now positioned to do something we’ve longed for: to help leverage the moral authority of the Black Church in fostering public interest in repairing the historic breach of racial discrimination in this country.”
The current landscape of economic inequity across racial groups remains unabated in U.S. culture. However, there does appear to be political will at various state and national levels for reparations planning, and history shows a robust truth and reconciliation planning process can lead to sustained change. JCSTS will invite African-American leaders representing HBCU’s, churches, seminaries, organizations, and allies, to engage in this process.
Specific topics deemed critical to these conversations are effective advocacy, scalability of various approaches, best practices, and funding.
For further information about this Reparations Planning process, please contact our Reparations Coordinating Committee at reparations@ jcsts.org, visit website at https://www.jcsts.org/ reparations
About Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary
Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, located in Atlanta, Ga., is celebrating its 155th anniversary. Its signature core curriculum is 100 percent digital and is grounded in social justice. Email info@jcsts.org for general information. | visit website www.jcsts.org
One of the major lessons learned during the pandemic is that hospitals and medical facilities are not always the safest places to recover, especially for seniors and those living with chronic conditions.
Compounding this issue is that 85 percent of seniors in the U.S. live with one or more chronic conditions.
With the state of Virginia home to over 1.4 million seniors, this is a very real, local issue.
The home is often the most comfortable, convenient and safe place to recover from an illness, injury, surgery or hospitalization. However, seniors in Virginia may not be aware that this option is available to them.
Many also don’t know what Home health offers. Home health can include skilled nursing care, physical, occupational, and speech therapy, as well as advanced specialty care for diabetes, complex wounds, heart failure and balance and mobility conditions.
If you have Original Medicare or a Medicare Advantage health plan, home health benefits are often covered at no cost – although it’s always good to check with your insurance provider.
There are many advantages to receiving care in the home. In addition to safety and convenience, it is usually less expensive and just as effective as the care provided in a hospital or skilled nursing facility.
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We were on a roll. Then along came Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis who decided he could out Trump Donald Trump!
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Transportation and electricity use make up nearly 60 percent of Maryland’s greenhouse gas emissions, which makes this federal support vital and targeted. The real test is to make sure the benefits of clean energy and the good jobs that will come with it are shared widely and fairly across Maryland and every state.
“The climate crisis impacts everybody, but it does not impact all communities equally,” the vice president noted. “Poor communities, rural communities,
of teachers overall, publicschool divisions have also been seeking to increase the number of AfricanAmerican teachers in their classrooms.
17 southern states that sanctioned segregated public schools, 35-50 percent of teachers were Black.
It can also offer a more holistic approach to care – addressing both physical and mental well-being as well as assessing various social health needs.
The Whole-Person Approach to Home Health
Because home health clinicians, for example, nurses and therapists, bring care to patient homes, they’re able to spend more time with patients and get to know all the factors that are impacting their health. This allows clinicians to engage and collaborate with patients and their family –building relationships and friendships, understanding their goals and challenges, and providing the tools they need to regain their independence.
One of the benefits of being cared for in the home is that home health clinicians can identify challenges a patient may be experiencing as well as potential safety risks that could impede recovery or cause further harm.
For instance, having a healthy diet and proper nutrition is vital to a person’s ability to recover from an injury or illness and is also critical for the health of patients with conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart failure. Home health
He banned books by and about many of our heroes and sheroes. He picked a fight with Disney World! He totally disrespects women and Black people. He claims it’s okay for him to force people across the country to believe that we were somehow blessed to be enslaved because of the great things slavery did for
Native communities and communities of color are often the hardest hit and the least able to recover.”
We see this in places like West Baltimore where I spent summers with my grandparents and where the childhood asthma rate is five times higher. We need more contractors to do those energy upgrades, and there are federal dollars to provide that, for example. We must ensure that people from the communities most in need have a place in that training, as they’re the ones most likely to serve their neighbors.
“When the President and I invest in climate, we intend to invest in jobs, invest in families, and invest in America,” Harris told the crowd at Coppin State
clinicians are specially trained to educate patients and their caregivers on a personalized nutrition plan. Prior to developing that plan, they’ll assess whether the patient is experiencing food insecurity (or other social health challenges), and if so, help secure the appropriate food sources and assistance programs. Similarly, home health clinicians can identify home safety issues that could cause trips and falls, such as slippery areas and throw rugs, lack of stair handrails or difficult-toreach household items. For example CenterWell Home Health’s Safe Strides® program employs a multidisciplinary care team to get to the root of balance issues and reduce falls risk by assessing patients’ inner ear, visual, sensory and musculoskeletal functions, as well as the safety of their home environment.
Seniors should speak with their health care provider to understand if home health is right for them. Whether they’re being discharged from a hospital or rehabilitation facility, or have an ongoing medical condition that has become difficult to manage – the home may be the best place to recover so they can get back to doing the things they love.
Andrew Agwunobi, M.D., is CEO of CenterWell Home Health.us! He’s tried to distort the brutality of slavery for our people and how slavery still has scars on us.
All of us need to keep our hands on the plow and figure out our response together!
Dr. E. Faye Williams, President of The Dick Gregory Society – www. thedickgregorysociety.org
University.
In the 1920s, National Geographic called Maryland “America in Miniature” for its terrain and waters. Let’s hope that nickname takes on a broader meaning as my state becomes the clean energy model it aspires to be and does it in a way that allows all residents feel the benefit. It’s then we’ll know that this Earth shot led to that “one giant leap for mankind” we’ve heard about.
Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. He is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free,” published in January.
Is Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration seeking to abolish a state grant program designed to help increase the number of Black teachers in the state’s public K-12 classrooms?
Recently the Virginia Education Association (VEA) and educators who support the program say they fear the Youngkin administration is working to dismantle it and stop any dissemination of the grants intended to help provisionally licensed teachers of color receive their full teaching license.
Much of the funding from the state legislature has not been used, causing education advocates to question if Youngkin may have ordered that anything related to the grant be scrubbed, including the application link from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) website.
Without public notice, the state education department stopped announcing and disseminating the grants last year for fiscal year 2023. Although the legislature had approved the funding, unused funds, essentially, sit in the state’s coffers.
Education advocates said they noted that the department failed to announce a continuation of the program after the Republican governor took over VDOE two years ago.
Along with the challenge of the shortfall
During the past three school years, according to VDOE figures, the number of Black K-12 teachers has dropped from roughly 15 to 10 percent.
About 82 percent of Virginia’s teachers were white during the same period, according to the most recent federal data. This trend reflects the percentage of Black teachers nationally.
At the same time, Virginia’s K-12 public student population has grown more diverse.
Last year, fewer than half of Virginia’s 1.3 million students were white, according to the VDOE.
Black students made up 22 percent of the state’s enrollment, followed by 19 percent Hispanic students and 8 percent Asian students.
Leslie T. Fenwick, the author of the awardwinning and best-selling book “Jim Crow’s Pink Slip,” is a finalist for the position of U.S. Education Secretary in the Biden administration. She is dean emerita and professor of education policy at Howard University.
The book details how Black teachers were pushed out of the classroom during the desegregation of the nation’s public schools in the 1950s and 60s, after the Supreme Court’s Brown Decision declaring segregated schools illegal.
Before Brown, in
Today, no state approaches these percentages. Less than 7 percent of the nation’s 3.2 million teachers, 11 percent of our 93,000 principals, and less than 3 percent of nearly 14,000 superintendents are Black, even though Black educators are the nation’s most academically credentialed.
In a Richmond Times Dispatch Article last week, Jeremy Raley, the VDOEs chief of staff, said:
“The VDOE is currently evaluating this grant program.”
He said, “The Department will communicate more information as it becomes available.”
But supporters of the grant program are not buying the administration’s explanation.
“Many of us want a strong teaching force in Virginia with a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives,” said Dr. James J. Fedderman, President of the Virginia Education Association (VEA).
“Unfortunately, the Governor’s arbitrary decision to remove this grant opportunity to bring more teachers of color into the fi eld will limit these efforts. While the Governor may not value diversity in the Virginia teaching core, he absolutely should not stand in the way of state lawmakers that collectively decided they do.” see Teachers, page 8A
The Regional Solid Waste Management Plan for Southeastern Virginia (RSWMP) provides an overview and analysis of solid waste management in the Cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach, the Counties of Isle of Wight and Southampton. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) requires that public hearings be held for major amendments to the RSWMP. The 2022 version of the RSWMP includes two major amendments that are triggered by the pending closure of the WIN Waste facility in Portsmouth. 1) Movement down the waste disposal hierarchy from incineration to disposal: The shift from burning much of the regional solid waste for energy at the WIN Waste facility to landfilling that waste is considered by DEQ to be a major plan amendment.
2) Expansion of the capacity of the SPSA Regional Landfill in Suffolk, VA (Solid Waste Permit No. 417): The amended RSWMP calls for the addition of 16 million cubic yards of capacity. The current capacity is 38.2 million cubic yards, and the requested total future capacity is 54.2 million cubic yards. The landfill expansion is the second major plan amendment.
For more information about the plan, please visit the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) website: https://www.hrpdcva.gov/RSWMP
The date, time and locations for the final three meetings have been established. Meetings were held earlier this year in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, and Isle of Wight.
Seniors should speak with their health care provider to understand if home health is right for them.
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After being caught consorting with a Black soldier, Bennett was spat upon by a higher-ranking Army of fi cial, who assigned him the unenviable task of digging up the corpses of dead military members. He said the encounter motivated him to speak out
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The move adds to the state’s ongoing debate over African American history in education, further exacerbated by the education department’s rejection of a preliminary pilot version of an Advanced Placement African American Studies course for high school students, citing an alleged lack of educational value.
Under the new standards imposed by the board and DeSantis, teachers will instruct middle school students about how enslaved people developed skills they could use to benefit themselves.
The curriculum omits the brutal horrors of slavery, the inhumane treatment of African Americans, including the rape and torture of enslaved people, selling
for civil rights. In 1965, Bennett took part in the historic 50-mile Selma to Montgomery marches, standing alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to demand equality and justice for all.
“The mood was anger,” singer and activist Harry Belafonte said in an interview he and Bennett did in 2013.
“The mood was rebellious on the part of the movement, on the part of the civil rights crowd,
and separating families, and even the brutal mistreatment of children and babies.
The new curriculum will teach high school students about events like the 1920 Ocoee massacre, the deadliest Election Day violence in US history that began when white poll workers prevented Moses Norman, a Black landowner, from voting.
The rule stipulates that instructions also must include details about the Atlanta race massacre, the Tulsa race massacre, and the Rosewood race massacre.
“Our children deserve nothing less than truth, justice, and the equity our ancestors shed blood, sweat, and tears for,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson stated.
“It is imperative that we understand that the horrors of slavery and Jim Crow were a violation of human rights and represent the darkest period in American history.”
and the question is: What do we do in the face of this kind of rage and this kind of mayhem? And there was just ... the bottom line was that we will go back as often as necessary.”
To rally the crowd during the march, Bennett performed “Just In Time” on a makeshift stage constructed from dozens of empty coffins, a powerful symbol of the lives lost in the struggle for civil rights.
“I didn’t want to do it, but then Harry Belafonte told me what went down,” Bennett recalled.
“How some blacks were burned, had gasoline thrown on them. When I heard that, I said, ‘I’ll go with you,’” he said.
Bennett remained dedicated to championing humanitarian causes and
Tony Bennett
advocating for equality throughout his life.
He was an outspoken ally of various social issues, using his platform to bring attention to pressing global challenges, including the plight of refugees.
Bennett also refused to perform in South Africa
during the Apartheid era, and later received the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees Humanitarian Award for his unwavering commitment to humanitarian work. Additionally, his contributions to civil rights earned him a place of honor
as an inductee into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.
Beyond his activism, Bennett was a proli fi c musician with an impressive discography that spanned over 70 albums, earning him 19 performance Grammy awards.
His rendition of “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” became a timeless classic, earning him a legion of devoted fans, including fellow artists like Frank Sinatra and Lady Gaga. A Kennedy Center Honoree and a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, Bennett is survived by his wife Susan, daughters Johanna and Antonia, sons Danny and Dae. He also had nine grandchildren.
NORFOLK
The Hampton Roads Community Foundation will host its sixth annual Black Philanthropy Month celebration, “Closing the Gap in Support of Black Organizations,” on Thursday, Aug. 3, at Slover Library. The event will feature
panelists Susan Taylor Batten, president and CEO, ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, and Blair Durham, co-founder and president, Black BRAND, Hampton Roads’ Regional Black Chamber of Commerce.
Lawrence A. Gholson II, a business and community strategist and a member of the Visionaries for Change giving circle at the community foundation, will moderate. The event will begin with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by the program at 6:30 p.m. Black Philanthropy Month began in 2011 to elevate Black giving and funding equity.
“Black Philanthropy Month, held annually in August, helps shed light on the rich traditions of giving by Black people throughout the centuries,” said Vivian Oden, the Foundation’s vice president for equity and inclusion.
“Too often, though, Black philanthropy has been overlooked. This year we will discuss the importance of supporting Black organizations in our region,” Oden said. “Providing funds directly to Black organizations helps address the racial disparities that have impacted Black communities for generations. This shows our continued commitment to racial equity.”
The community
foundation’s Black Philanthropy Month celebration is free and open to the public. To attend, registration is required by July 28. For more information or to register, visit BlackPhilanthropy2023. eventbrite.com.
The Hampton Roads Community Foundation which dates back to 1950 is a permanent charitable endowment with over $500 million in assets. It has awarded over $344 million in grants and scholarships since its founding. The Foundation aims to bring the community together to tackle important concerns and advance racial equity through grantmaking, philanthropy, and civic engagement.
Authorities in Nevada have rekindled the investigation into the unsolved murder of rap legend Tupac Shakur, nearly three decades after his tragic death.
Law enforcement officials disclosed that they executed a search warrant earlier this week, breathing new life into the quest for justice surrounding the rap star’s shooting.
The resurgence of the case follows the June announcement by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, revealing charges against a third individual in the 2002 shooting death of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay.
Authorities in New York said the indictment of Jay Bryant, 49, marked a
significant breakthrough in the case involving the late Jason Mizell, professionally known as Jam Master Jay.
Bryant’s indictment builds upon the prior charges against Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. in August 2020, as authorities said they have tirelessly pursued leads to unravel the mystery behind the murder of the influential hip-hop icon.
Tragically, Jay was shot in the head in his recording
studio in Jamaica, New York, on October 30, 2002. His death, occurring several years after the murders of Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., also sent shockwaves through the music industry.
Meanwhile, in connection with the murder of Shakur, fatally shot on September 7, 1996, Las Vegas police confirmed they executed a search warrant on July 17.
Executed in the nearby city of Henderson, the new warrant has left the public curious about the nature of the search and the specific locations involved.
A police spokesperson refrained from providing additional details regarding the recent progress in the case, including the potential identification of a suspect.
The 25-year-old rapper was traveling in a black BMW driven by Marion “Suge” Knight, the founder of Death Row Records, as part of a convoy of about ten cars, supposedly en route to a nightclub following the Mike Tyson versus Bruce Seldon championship fight at the MGM Grand.
The police confirmed that no other occupants were in the car at the time.
At an intersection near the Las Vegas Strip, while the BMW sat at a red light, a white Cadillac carrying four individuals pulled up alongside it.
That’s when one of the occupants opened fire, unleashing a barrage of bullets into the passenger side of Knight’s car.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Shakur sustained four gunshot wounds, at least two of which hit his chest.
A bullet fragment grazed Knight himself or shrapnel from the vehicle.
Following the attack, Shakur was rushed to a hospital, where he battled for six days before succumbing to his injuries.
The Virginia Beach campus of Virginia Wesleyan University (VWU) is poised to become the new home for the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia MOCA).
VWU and MOCA recently announced their collaboration on the construction of a state-of-the-art facility to be built on the University’s grounds.
The activity is being viewed by the partners as a major leap forward for the arts and education in the Hampton Roads community and beyond.
The new facility will serve as a hub for creativity and innovation, fostering artistic expression and offering an immersive experience for visitors and students alike, according to a VWU press release.
The facility will be equipped to host a range of exhibitions, performances, and educational programs available to students and the greater public.
The new facility will replace Virginia MOCA’s current home near the Virginia Beach oceanfront.
Jonathan E. Pruden, Chair of the VWU Board of Trustees, said, “This collaboration between Virginia MOCA and VWU is a testament to our shared commitment to the arts and education in our community.”
Gary Ryan, Director and CEO
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This definition of surplus was based on whether the schools were below 85 percent utilization by grade level. The estimated cost of operating these surplus schools in 2022 was more than $20 million. Over the last 10 years, Sturtz said, the estimated cost to the division was about $81 million.
If NPS continues the course, it would be operating 14 surplus schools by 2031, costing about $15.5 million each year.
of Virginia MOCA, commented, “This partnership will anchor us in our mission to present locally relevant, nationally resonant art that is exceptional. While Virginia MOCA remains an independent museum, our collaboration with VWU will allow us to do even more of what we do best: create groundbreaking exhibitions and engage the community in thoughtprovoking artistic experiences.”
Dr. Scott D. Miller, President of Virginia Wesleyan University, shared his enthusiasm for the joint venture, emphasizing the positive impact it will have on students and the local community.
“By integrating the arts into our campus, we are creating an environment that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and cultural appreciation,” he said. “This
Tidewater Park Elementary School was closed to students at the end of this school year. Those students will be moved to Ruffner Academy. Easton Preschool was also moved to Fairlawn Elementary School. Both of these moves were approved in March 2022.
The idea of a lone “surplus” high school, according to supporters of the continued use of BTWHS, is a source of concern for people like Josette Hayes and Avery.
Hayes, a 1979 graduate of BTWHS, and other alumni and supporters of the school, came together in 2014 as the Concerned Citizens of Booker T. Washington High School (CCBTWHS).
The group was formed due to complaints from students,
Teachers
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collaborative effort with Virginia MOCA will further strengthen our commitment to providing a wellrounded education for our students.”
According to Dr. Miller, funding for the project has been generously provided by local philanthropists Jane Batten, Joan Brock, and Susan and David Goode, who, he noted, have long been strong supporters of Virginia MOCA and VWU.
“This new facility will in effect be an incredible new classroom on the campus of VWU,” Ryan added, “where we will conduct the very best interdisciplinary, experiential learning through the most vibrant art of our time. We are excited to help shape the future leaders of the world through the power of art.”
Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer said, “The City of Virginia Beach is a home to the arts, and we are thrilled that Virginia MOCA will continue to call our community home as it embarks on this next chapter of growth.” Further details are expected in the fall. For more information and updates on the Virginia MOCA-VWU collaboration and the construction of the new facility, please follow the official websites of Virginia MOCA (www.virginiamoca.org) and Virginia Wesleyan University (www.vwu.edu).
alumni, and faculty about the eroding mechanical and physical condition of the school.
Hayes said she noted personally the poor condition of the HVAC system, the mold of the ceiling tiles, poor lighting in the school’s auditorium and the inability of the bleachers on one side of the gym to open and close.
Members of the CCBTWHS, like Hayes, constantly stood before the school board to voice their concerns.
This group and the BTWHS Foundation have raised money to support student activities at the school, support faculty and staff, and create better communication about the activities at the
school. BTWHS and I.C. Norcom High in Portsmouth are the only pre-desegregation-era all-Black high schools still operating as such in Hampton Roads.
The budget report noted that the overall population of students attending Norfolk Public Schools stands at roughly 27,000 plus students, down from 35,000-plus a decade ago. The division has been losing some 500 students a year as Black and white middle-class families have enrolled their children in private schools or in neighboring school divisions.
They also have applied for admission in school zones within Norfolk that are not struggling.
Taisha Steele, the VEA’s Director of Human & Civil Rights said, “While half of the students in Virginia are students of color, more than 8 in 10 of our teachers are white. We know that all students benefit from diverse teachers, and these benefits are particularly pronounced for our students of color.”
In 2017 the administration of Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe, recognizing the trend, budgeted the annual $50,000 grant program.
Virginia lawmakers appropriated $50,000 a year for the grants in each of the last three two-year budgets.
The grant program is intended to help provisionally licensed teachers of color who are seeking full licensure by subsidizing tutoring and test fees for the exams required for full licensure. A provisional license lasts three years. Many teachers do not obtain their full license because of barriers like cost and time.
At the same time, Virginia and other states have been
Today NPS has a majority Black student population, similar to other urban locales in the state and around the nation.
In the budget report, it was noted that while the NPS Division was losing its student population, BTWHS was expected to have a projected increase in the number of students.
The approval of the budget took place recently after a joint Board/City Council meeting which centered around the shrinking student population and adjustments in the funding needs and use of existing facilities.
Council members noted their concerns about the shrinking student population. Several council members
obtain full licensure.
facing an overall dip in the number of K-12 teachers. At the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, there were over 2500 school vacancies in the state. School divisions such as Norfolk, Portsmouth and others were working to fill the gap with substitutes and raising the salary they paid educators. The grants were designed to help provisionally licensed candidates in obtaining full licensure, including additional exam preparation.
The state Department of Education first announced the program in December 2018 in a superintendent’s memo under then-Gov. Ralph Northam, and then each following summer up to 2021.
It was a byproduct of an educational task force to diversify Virginia’s educator pipeline.
suggested consolidating or closing some underutilized schools would be in order to reduce the cost and funding pressure.
Hayes said the CCBTWHS group is recruiting a national STEAM Advocacy group to help with the implementation of the new curriculum at BTWHS.
A feasibility study on the school nor the funding pressures, she said, will deter organizations like the CCBTWHS from keeping up their guard.
“Several years ago, the Dr. Adale M. Martin, chair of the Board, said that the city of Norfolk could support five high schools,” said Hayes. “We hope that is true moving forward.”
The grants were designed to help provisionally licensed candidates
VWU and Virginia MOCA will construct a stateof-the-art facility on the University’s grounds, replacing the current MOCA museum.
Correspondent
New Journal and Guide
NORFOLK
The MEAC kicked-off the 2023 football season with its annual Media Day Press
Conference at the Hilton Main Hotel in downtown Norfolk on Friday (July 21). Norfolk State was picked to finish 5th in the six-team conference, ahead of only Delaware State, which is undergoing a complete rebuild with the hiring of new coach Lee Hull.
NSU head football coach Dawson Odums, joined by players defensive back Joseph White and offensive lineman Baron Franks II, took questions from the media about the upcoming season. The Spartans had four
Coach Dawson Odums
players selected to the preseason all-MEAC second team: offensive lineman Vincent Byrd, Jr., defensive lineman Anthony Blume, defensive back Joseph White, and defensive back R.J. Coles.
Coach Odums said that he is seeking more creativity and explosive plays on offense
so he replaced the offensive coordinator with new coach Ray Pickering.
Coach Odums recruited six new quarterbacks and a number of wide receivers to spark the offense. Coach Odums added key recruits to improve the defense and cut down on the number of big plays given up in close games.
The Spartans play four home games this season, with the first on Labor Day Saturday (Sept. 2) against longtime rival Virginia State at 2 p.m. at Price Stadium.
2023 MEAC Predicted Order of Finish:
1. NC Central
2. Howard
3. South Carolina State
4. Morgan
5. Norfolk State
6. Delaware State
Norfolk State University
(NSU) Professor Emeritus, Dr. Grady James, has received the 2023 Distinguished Virginian Award from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters. He was among four distinguished honorees recognized for their four outstanding contributions to broadcasting and the Commonwealth.
Recipients were presented with awards during the 86th Annual Summer Convention Awards Banquet held at the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront Hotel. The Distinguished Virginian Award honors those who, by their own actions, have contributed substantially to the wellbeing of the Commonwealth, its citizens, or the broadcast industry.
Recipients have spent a majority of their life in Virginia, and command the respect of broadcasters and the general public.
Dr. James, a native of Ocala, Florida came to Norfolk State University in 1960, when it was a Division of Virginia State University in Petersburg. He was hired as Director of the educational media center, a similar position he held at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Several years later he designed the institution’s first television studios, and equipped them with color cameras, teleprompters, appropriate lighting systems and news sets. The studios became laboratories for teaching mass communications courses.
Always interested in a career teaching at an HBCU and in broadcasting, he found an opportunity to do both at Norfolk State and WTAR radio and television, the CBS affiliate in Norfolk, where he won five awards for his work in radio and television programs. In 1971 his documentary, “The State of the Welfare” was voted
the best radio documentary in depth report. The award was given by the Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters and the Virginia News Photographers Association.
In 1971 James launched a weekly half-hour public relations television series“Norfolk State Highlights” on WTAR (now WTKR) television (Channel 3). It aired Sunday nights at 11:30 following the CBS news. He was producer and host of the show for eight years. The series won the National Unity award in 1977, as the best education series. The award was sponsored by the Lincoln University (Missouri) School of journalism.
In 1985, James developed
a communications conference where he brought local and national broadcast, cable and print professionals to NSU to discuss issues in the “real world,” internship opportunities and interact with students. The conference ran for 13 years and was cosponsored by Mr. Peter Easter and the Virginia Association of Broadcasters.
Dr. James holds bachelor’s degrees from BethuneCookman College (Florida), Columbia College (Chicago), and M.S. and Ed.S degrees from Indiana University in Bloomington. He also holds a doctorate in educational media from Temple University in Philadelphia.
He is a member of the Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals Hall of Fame, the Norfolk State University Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Virginia Commonwealth Communications Hall of Fame. He is a member of the Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Virginia Association Broadcasters and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated. He is also a veteran of the United States Army.
A new highway marker in Suffolk will direct tourists to a small but largely forgotten Virginia town called Belleville, which was the first planned mixed-use community for African-American Christians in Virginia.
Records show the Rev. William Saunders Crowdy, formerly enslaved, bought and transformed the 40-acre site into a small town in 1902. Located about an hour and half from Richmond, Belleville and Freeburg were settlements where free Blacks lived.
Belleville steadily grew but was sold seven years later at a 1909 auction. Before the sale, Belleville was home to several, African-American-owned businesses including Noah’s Ark Clothing, a restaurant, a grocery store, a coal and wood yard, a print shop and a barber shop. Although Crowdy was born enslaved, he became an entrepreneur after the Civil War and also established Lucyville, located about 30 miles away.
VIRGINIA BEACH
A statue of a Confederate soldier that once stood near Virginia Beach’s City Hall will be moved to private land in the southern part of the city and maintained by a foundation.
City Council members recently approved the relocation for the Confederate monument that has been in storage for three years. Acting City Manager Tom Leahy released a recent statement that said Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, which provides visitor services to 20 Civil War battlefields and other related historic
sites, will take over ownership and is partnering with two organizations that wanted to keep the statue in Virginia Beach: the United Daughters of the Confederacy Chapter 435 and Princess Anne Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 484.
The recent decision to relocate Virginia Beach’s Confederate statue occurred after City Council members refused to accept proposals that required the city to take on too much cost and responsibility.
Currently, the Confederate statue is completely covered and there is a locked gate around the statue.
“Belleville later expanded and became self-sufficient, with its own electric plant, stores, and many other facilities,” Virginia Highway Marker Program Manager Jennifer Loux said, in a recent statement. This new highway marker aims to educate the public… ”which many people might not know,” Loux explained in a recent statement.
“They lived a good life,” local Belleville historian Mera Hertel, 45, told the Belleville News-Democrat in a 2017 interview. “They wouldn’t have been able to do that anywhere else.”
During slavery, free Blacks in Belleville built homes, maintained farms, raised livestock, and nurtured their children, although free Blacks throughout the county were susceptible to being kidnapped and sold into slavery or losing their freedom by violating Black codes and other laws.
“You had to have papers proving you were free,” Sarah Cato told the Belleville-News Democrat. “You had to carry them on your person at all times, subject to challenge and surrender of those papers for examination by any white person who demanded them. That could be a drunk or a child.”
Against this largely forgotten but troubling backdrop, Belleville is now the site of a new state highway marker, which is one of seven newly-approved Virginia Department of Historic Resources markers that will
be erected in Virginia on highway roadsides in the coming months.
The remaining six highway markers which offer information about African-American history are Nottoway County’s Luther H. Foster High School, the city of Lucyville, Washington Park Community, Black legendary Suffolk Guitarist Arthur Crudup who played with the Beatles, B.B. King, and Elton John, as well as Stephen Bates, the earliest-known Black sheriff and constable who served as sheriff and constable from 1875-79. The list of recently approved state highway markers in Virginia also includes Richmond’s first municipal AfricanAmerican Cemetery, which was launched in 1816 as the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground.
According to Suffolk’s latest highway marker, Belleville was once home to a locally acclaimed acapella choir, the Choice Singers, who entertained throughout Hampton Roads and also performed at the annual Tidewater Fair near downtown Suffolk. Belleville was also home to a popular baseball team, the Belleville Greys. This popular all-Black baseball team competed in the Negro League. Thousands attended the Negro Baseball Leagues’ weekly Sunday games. The construction of Belleville’s newly-announced highway marker may take up to eight months to install.
Records show the Rev. William Saunders Crowdy, formerly enslaved, bought and transformed the 40-acre site into a small town in 1902.
By Glen Mason New Journal and Guide
Arts and Culture
Correspondent
OXEN HILL, MD
It’s the opening morning praise and worship service at the National Black Catholic Congress XIII held July 20-23 at the Gaylord Hotel and Conference Center last Friday. The massive Maryland Ballroom is at capacity due to the “overwhelming response.”
Karen Womack of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception sat listening to the choir led by Ms. Lynne Gray, Director of Music for Congress XIII, and Mr. Rawn Harbor, Director of Liturgy for Congress XIII. After the invocation, she sat quietly, reflecting on the occasion. She was asked what it was like being around many Catholics of Africa’s Diaspora and her faith. What was she experiencing at that moment?
Just as she began to articulate her thoughts, her eyes sparkled. There was a warm, sisterly, motherly smile as a tear rolled down her cheek.
The look in her eyes said everything: spiritual salvation. How pleased her late mother would be with her there. A retired educator, she sat speechless. Her tongue was tied with peace and happiness, and thoughts of her mother, the late Hattie Paige, reflected in her smile.
The Maryland Ballroom was filled with energy
different than a usual Catholic fellowship. For lack of a better metaphor, it was how you would feel if you could travel back in time to the University of Timbuktu. Think of the peaceful exchange of minds there. The thirst for the wisdom of our ancestors. Think of the beauty of the marketplace, the colors of fabrics beyond the usual aesthetics, the gentle banter of barter.
The presence of their Lord embellished their faces.
“This is my first time attending NBCC, and the experience is more than I hoped for,” said Lauren Davenport, assistant lacrosse coach at Notre Dame of Maryland University. “It is always welcome and comforting to be in an environment where I get to be unapologetically Black AND Catholic.
“The experience became fulfilling when I got to reconnect with priests I encountered while living in Baton Rouge – who were integral in my faith formation beginning years ago. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from so many people and to spend time in worship and fellowship with fellow Black Catholics from around the country.”
Many of St. Mary’s parishioners said they were glad to see friends from retreats, conferences, and seminars. The plenary sessions were well attended. Various parishes, especially
Various parishes, especially the Basilica’s, ensured strong attendance at the sessions on racism and mental health.
the Basilica’s, ensured strong attendance at the sessions on racism and mental health.
The session on racism, “Synodality, Black Catholic Spirituality, and the Racial Divide,” was moderated by Daryl Grigsby, Color Me Human Board President.
The mental health segment, “Leveraging Mental Health: Thriving Through Our Stories,” was presented by Regina Boyd of Boyd Counseling Services Licensed Counselors and Sister Josephine Garrett, Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth Licensed Counselor.
Father Jim Curran, the rector of the Basilica of St. Mary, said he was “extremely” proud of the number of parishioners who attended, especially the youth ministry. The significance of the role of St. Mary permeated the Congress.
“The NBCC was a wonderful experience and just reaffirmed the fact that I
am a Proud Black Catholic,” said Christine Booth, a retired educator and Basilica parishioner. Mojaan Bruce, a sophomore at Oscar Smith who attends St. Mary, said the Congress was a leap of faith for him as part of the Basilica’s youth ministry. He shot a video for the Basilica’s coverage of the convention.
“As a recent member of the Catholic Church, the XIII Gathering of the National Black Catholic Congress provided inspirational affirmation of the universality of the Christian spirit,” said Blake Morant, a law professor at George Washington University, where he was Dean in 2014-2019. “To witness so many individuals of color manifest a spirituality that is endemic in Catholicism reaffirmed and inspired.” He continued, ”The XIII gathering, which was racially inclusive, serves as testimony to what we
need in contemporary society. Namely, despite our differences, our commonality of humanity remains an indelible bond. “
“The significance of the Basilica being a presence at the Congress came in two ways,” according to Ortega Pretlow. The sermons for Sunday’s (closing) Mass said it all.
“As Catholics, particularly African-American Catholics, ‘we are wheat ready to flower the world,’” said Pretlow. “Another Bishop told us we, as a race, have come to a time in our lives where we need to stop defending ourselves as a race but give to the world who we are: spiritual beings created to evangelize to those who don’t know Christ and who our God is. And that is what the village of the Basilica does.”
“This was my first time attending the 13th National Black Catholic Congress. I didn’t know what to expect
because I’d never attended one. I chose this one because the location at National Harbor was close to my home and easily accessible for traveling there. I only knew that Black Catholics would attend it from around the country,” said Mona Gunn.
“It was quite impressive meeting Black Catholics from the different Dioceses and Archdioceses around the country. The first plenary with the roll call and shoutouts from each Diocese or Archdiocese was exciting to see and be a part of at that session.”
Gunn added, ”Visiting the exhibit area and seeing the Basilica of St. Mary’s booth as soon as you walk in the room warmed my heart. It was a great opportunity for educating Black Catholics around the country that the Basilica is the only AfricanAmerican Basilica in the United States.
“I look forward to attending the next one now that I know what to expect. That was the message I got from those who were not first-time attendees. They said I would be hooked and return for the next one.”
Recently, the major news broadcast networks reported that over onehundred of the more than five-hundred currently elected U.S. Senators and members of the House of Representatives are DIRECT DESCENDANTS of slave owners. It was a disgusting 28 percent of sitting Republicans and 8 percent of Democrats. This week the same major networks reported on the wealth gap between our same elected officials and the average American citizens whom they serve. Those findings revealed that these same elected officials (all more than 500 of them) are between ten-eleven times wealthier than the average American.
The wealth of average one/fifth=(100/500)= 20 percent) of exConfederates who owned, profited from, and built their generational
Theirs (The Right’s) is a doctrine of “NO.” They have continued to do so since 1863 ...
and the foundational structural protective pillars of our Democratic systems.
5. Pro-NAZI, (White Supremacy) as hell
6. 45 is lying guilty. He hasn’t been telling the truth, since his birth
wealth on the backs of their ancestors’ SLAVE LABOR. Now they continue that “ownership of others” mindset with their attacks on legal pro women’s-choice abortion (a fifty-year right,) LGBTQ Issues, Gun Safety, Voter Rights, and Global Warming. They proudly proclaim their desire to “OWN the LIBS.”
The Right says they don’t like, want, and won’t tolerate the government over-reach into our lives while simultaneously attacking all these issues
The only trickle-down theory that has ever worked is the way racists, sexists, and classists of an old Southern mentality still practice those dark arts to this day with their own children and grandchildren. Theirs is a doctrine of “NO.”
They have continued to do so since 1863, over one-hundred-sixty years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and a full sixty years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s march on Washington, D.C. where he first outlined his peaceful dream for America.
In King’s “Dream” speech, he dreamt of and outlined a future
where all Americans would be able to work together, attend school and college together, worship together, and overcome together. Those breakthroughs, advances, and systemic evolutions of kindness, fairness, and justice that would best serve on all fronts the broadest amount of all (320,000,000 million of) Americans is being blocked and prevented by this unholy Conservative Christian Right.
Pick an issue, which the Right isn’t right on with a majority of Americans.
1. Joe Biden Won the 2020 election by over nearly eight million votes.
2. Anti-women’s abortion free choice, voice
3. Anti-gun safety
4. Pro-Hatred of Mike Pence
7. Climate change is real, here now, with the two hottest ever back-toback-days this past WEEK
8. Joe Biden’s economy is bigger and better than 45’s ever was
9. Joe Biden has created more jobs (thirteen million) with the lowest unemployment rate 3.7 percent ever (in just three years)
10. 45 will lose by 10,000,000 votes in 2024. Don’t let the door slam your tail on your way out, again, loser, poser
In today’s reality, the Right sounds exactly like the Confederates from
which they are descended. Sean C. Bowers has written the last 25 years, as a WhiteQuaker 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 H. Andrews (NJ&G 35 years) has always been his publisher.
When They, (R) Republican Red state RED, Their corporations vote as rich White people with unlimited donations, “live or dead”
The Right, Only Restricts “others” (so-called) rights
The Right never met a search for a solution to a problem, they committed, But those Jan 6’ers’ crimes they want pardoned and permitted
All the ways the Right can be “IN your business,”
Except for governing, leading, or ever working for the people, witness
Why, Try, America?
Why Buy, America?
Don’t Cry, America. Here’s Why, America. America’s Fly!
When they say, we can’t stay, We vote, win and come to play, every day.
Read: Luke 10:38-42, Isaiah 40:27-31; Matthew 6:24-34; Philippians 54:4-7
This study is dedicated to all the women named Martha in the world. Not literally all the women named Martha but all the people cut from the same pattern as the Martha in the Bible. Modern-day Martha can be anyone: male or female, young or old, rich or poor, married or single, new Christians or veteran saints. But one thing is sure – an anxious cloud hovers over their heads and fogs their hearts.
Let’s get a closer view of worry by paying a visit to the home of that biblical Martha on the same day that Jesus is visiting. As we walk through the door, a definite flurry of flustered activity confronts us.
(Luke 10: 38-40)
Here is a responsible, conscientious woman, determined to have everything just right in honor of Jesus’ visit. But Mary, her sister, leaves her with all the preparations. And on top of this, it seems to Martha that Jesus hasn’t even noticed she is struggling in the kitchen alone. Martha gets irritated not only with Mary but with Jesus as well. So the Lord gently rebukes her (vv. 41 -42).
The Greek term for worry means “to be divided” or
“inwardly distracted.” Jesus was saying, “Martha, you are all torn up inside.”
Worry, also, chokes us several ways. A worried face is a wrinkled one. Look at the different contortions worry can produce.
First, there is the face of anger and impatience. As they did with Martha, these feelings rush in where there is an absence of inner tranquility; when we’ve run out of rest and confidence in God.
Second, there’s the face of rush and hurry. Like Martha, who was too busy for her own guest, we become frantic with our own busyness.
Third, fear and panic contort our countenance, sometimes with serious results. An article in Newsweek Magazine reported that a woman stayed in her home from age 3 until age 61 because she was afraid to go outside.
Worry’s last face is wrinkled with pessimism and criticism. When Martha lashed out, her critical spirit launched a manipulative, campaign soliciting Jesus’ sympathy –“Lord, do you care? Worry twists our faces with gloom, pessimism, and blame.
Spiritually, worry assaults our faith, and we end up in
a fog of doubt that blurs the face of God. Physically, it steals our health – many of the medical problems that ravage our bodies are stress-induced. Emotionally, worry destroys our peace; the tranquility necessary for a normal life evaporates. When a storm is on the horizon, we often search for shelter of our own instead of for rest in God’s word.
We do not have the strength to handle life by ourselves; even young and strong people buckle under its pressures. Would you like to exchange a hassled, drained life for one of new strength? Rejuvenation occurs when we decide to wait upon God’s strength rather than lean on our own (vv. 30-31).
In all our worries, Jesus reminds us to see things as God sees them. That is the key – and if we fail to grasp it, the thought of tomorrow can cause us unnecessary grief (v. 34).
In Philippians 4, Paul gives us three commands to help ward off worry (vv. 4-6a). Paul exhorts us to rejoice, to be patient, and to stop worrying –easier said than done! But in verses 6b-7, he explains how it is possible (vv. 6b -7).
When we pray, incomprehensible peace acts as a faithful watchdog over our hearts and minds. And anxiety is kept at bay when we talk things over with God. We all know what it feels like to be a Martha. We need to dispel our anxious thoughts by focusing not on worry itself, but on God. So let’s be willing to wait on God during tense times, when our strength sinks to low ebb, and commit ourselves to Christ and His resources instead of our own.
Jew is defined as a descendant of the Hebrew people and an adherent of Judaism. Gentile is described as one who is not of the Jewish faith or a non-Jewish nation. Christians are also referred to as Gentiles. Race in scripture refers not to skin color but to nationality or ethnicity. Therefore mankind is known in scripture as either Jew or Gentile. Society describes race according to skin tones of Black, brown, yellow or white. OBSERVE. The “new man” in Ephesians 2:15 & Ephesians 4:24 are not synonymous. In (Eph 2:15), the “new man” is the church. In (Eph 4:24), the “new man” is Paul’s regenerate, spiritual, born-again-man as distinguished from the man of old, corrupt, human nature, the inborn tendency to evil in all men. This “new man” has become a partaker of the divine nature and life (II Peter 1:4)(Colossians 3:3,4), and in no sense is he the old man made over, or improved. This “new man” is Christ formed in the believer. “ ... which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27b) “Therefore if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Corinthians 5: 17) OBSERVE. According to my research, the following bibles collaborate Scofield’s “for to make in Himself
of twain one ‘new man,’ so making peace; And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through Him (Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” (Eph 2:15b, 16-18) Jew and Gentile one body in Christ– the true church.
◆◆◆
THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE (1978). “For He is (Himself) our peace – our bond of unity and harmony. He has made us both (Jew and Gentile) one (body), and has broken down (destroyed, abolished) the hostile dividing wall between us, by abolishing in His (own crucified) flesh the enmity (caused by) the law ... that He from the two might create in Himself one new man – one new quality of humanity out of the two – so making peace.”
THE TONY EVANS STUDY BIBLE (2019). “This new group – one “new man” (Eph 2:14,15) –that incorporates Jews and Gentiles is called the church. Heaven’s new community is a “new race” reconciled to God in “one body” through the cross.”
J.B. Phillips THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MODERN ENGLISH (1947). “You were Gentiles: We were Jews. God has made us FellowChristians. He has made a unity of the conflicting elements of Jew and Gentile by breaking down the barrier which lay between us. By His sacrifice Jesus removed the hostility of the law, with all its commandments and rules, and made in Himself out of the two, Jew and Gentile, one “new man,” thus producing peace.” (Eph 2:14,15)
THE PARALLEL NEW TESTAMENT AND UNGER’S BIBLE HANDBOOK (1975). “Jew and Gentile together, we have been made a “new community” of His people, “The Church,” Jesus Christ Body,here called the “new man.” (Eph 2:15)
...
To Be Continued Blessings and Shalom
CHURCH
RICHMOND
Kelly Atkinson of the National Montford Point Marine Association, announced that twin brothers Linwood E. Wingfield and Melvin J. Wingfield of Richmond would be honored for their service as Montford Point Marines during World War II. On July 15, both men were awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal posthumously in Glen Allen, Va. Lindwood and Melvin enlisted together on January 17, 1944. They were both honorably discharged at the rank of Corporal in 1946. The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress and is the highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals and institutions.
The Montford Point Marines were the first Black Americans to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps after President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 establishing the Fair Employment Practices Commission in June 1941. The recruits trained at the segregated boot camp Montford Point Camp in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
On February 19, 1945 (D-Day), Black Marines of the 8th Ammunition Company and the 36th Depot Company landed on the island of Iwo Jima. Black Marines also participated in amphibious landings on Okinawa, Peleliu and Saipan.
Linwood and Melvin were born November 21, 1925; they were the
youngest twin sons of William Wingfield and Emma J. Mosby. The brothers grew up on King Street in Richmond and attended Maggie L. Walker High School. They worked at Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company after their discharge from the Marines. Melvin later moved to New York and worked as a Dry Cleaner in Jackson Heights, New York.
Corporal Linwood
Elijah Wingfield Sr. died October 3, 1967, and is interred at Glendale
National Cemetery in Richmond, Va. Corporal Melvin Joshua Wingfield died April 13, 1970, and is interred at City Point National Cemetery in Hopewell, Va.
The National Montford Point Marine Association presented the United States Congressional Gold Medal to the Wingfield family at the Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 10657 in Glen Allen, Va., on Saturday, July 15, 2023 in the presence of family members and friends from across the country.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently named a Lynchburg pastor and educator and a former aide to U.S. Congressman Scott Rigell to the Virginia African-American Advisory Board.
One of the new appointees is the Rev Dr. Owen Cardwell, who pastors Diamond Hill Baptist Church, in Lynchburg, according to a recent press release on the University of Lynchburg’s website. Cardwell also serves as the Rosel Schewel Distinguished Chair of Education and codirector of the Center for Human Development at the University of Lynchburg.
The second new appointee is Shannon Kendrick of Virginia Beach. She is the president of Kendrick Consulting Group, located in Norfolk, according to her company’s website. The two new appointees will each serve a four-year term on the 21-member board, which was launched by the previous administration.
In a recent press release, Youngkin said, ““I am thankful for these appointees’ service to our commonwealth as we continue to make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family. Their critical work will provide essential help as we move into my administration’s day-two agenda.”
Of his appointment, Cardwell said in a recent statement, “I’m looking
forward to…having a voice
to express the needs and concerns of the AfricanAmerican community and to represent the University of Lynchburg, It’s not about party politics. It’s about representing the hopes and concerns of my constituents.”
Cardwell was one of the first four Black students to desegregate E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg. Prior to desegregating Glass, Cardwell attended allBlack Dunbar High School in Lynchburg. Cardwell was a teenager when he met the Rev. Dr. Martin L. King. He has participated in and led many civil rights demonstrations, served in the military, and served over 50 years as a Baptist preacher.
`He is also the founder and executive director of the Heroes and Dreams Academy in Richmond, a service-learning based mentoring program for atrisk youth. He co-founded the Family Restoration Network in Ashland, Va., an organization that aims to restore fractured families and reconnect incarcerated
fathers with their children. Cardwell earned his doctorate at Union Institute and University in Cincinnati. He earned his masters in theology from Boston University and a masters in adult education from Cambridge College in Cambridge, Mass.
The second nominee, Kendrick graduated with honors from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. She earned her MBA at Regent University. In addition to serving as the director of strategic partnerships and governmental affairs at the Peace Corps, she has also served as a congressional aide for Congressman Scott Rigell. She served as senior vice president of marketing, communications and operations at the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance in southeastern Virginia. She was recognized as 2013’s Top 40 Under 40 in Hampton Roads, and received the YWCA of South Hampton Roads 2016 Women of Distinction Award.
Millions of cell phone owners have been warned they risk destroying their devices as record-breaking temperatures continue across the U.S.
Phone experts from SellCell have offered advice to help Americans protect their tech in sweltering temperatures.
Phones are designed to work at temperatures no higher than 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, with highs surpassing 100 degrees across multiple states, millions of people risk damaging their phones. When cell phones get too hot vital components can be irreversibly damaged such as burst and pixelated screens and in extreme cases, overheating can cause the battery to blow up.
Steps that can be taken to reduce the risks of this happening to cell phones include turning all unnecessary settings off, removing phone cases and keeping them in a cool and shady area.
A spokesperson for SellCell said, “Much like humans, electronics struggle to cope when they get too hot so while sweltering temperatures continue to sweep across the U.S., cell phone owners must take extra care of their devices.
“There is a high chance that if you are too hot, your phone is too, and it can cause permanent
damage to the device, even causing it to blow up.
“The safest advice is to keep the cell phone inside, but if that is not possible, make sure to keep out of direct sunlight and turn all settings down.”
Here are SellCell’s ten tips to protect cell phones during the heatwaves:
1. Leave it indoors
Keeping the phone inside, preferably in an air-conditioned, cool and shady room, is the safest way to look after a phone while the heatwaves continue. It is very easy for devices to overheat, especially while temperatures are dangerously high, so keeping them protected inside is the best option.
2. Take notice of warnings
Most smart devices, like iPhones, Sony and Samsung, will display a warning sign if they are getting too hot, and may even shut down completely in an attempt to regulate temperatures. It is vital to take notice of these warnings as they indicate a problem and move somewhere cooler.
3. Never leave it in a car
Temperatures in cars can rocket above safe levels in a matter of minutes, and a cell phone will quickly start baking if left
inside. Temperatures in a parked car will quickly exceed the maximum recommendation of 95 degrees, so never leave it in there on a hot day.
4. Don’t use the device too much
Cell phones can quickly overheat from external temperatures alone, but making calls, texting, and playing music and games will only make them work harder and generate more heat. Consider leaving the device in aeroplane mode if it absolutely can’t be left at home.
5. Stay away from the fridge and freezer
On a hot day, it may seem like a quick fix, but extreme shifts in temperature can be catastrophic to phones. Taking a device from one hot extreme to a cooler extreme can shock the phone and in some cases lead to condensation build up behind the screen.
6. Stay out of direct sunlight
Make sure that cell phones are never positioned directly in front of sunlight as it will cause them to heat up quicker. They are made up of materials that absorb heat quickly causing them to reach extreme temperatures, overheat and stop working. If left for too long, leaving them in direct sunlight is the
quickest way to damage the batteries, and cause them to catch fire.
7. Turn off unnecessary settings
To avoid any other possibility of overheating, turn off all unnecessary settings that drain the battery to limit overheating. Consider turning down the brightness and shutting down open apps, and multiple windows.
8. Don’t put it on charge
Putting a phone on charge when it is already hot will only add to the issue. Charging the phone will generate more heat, especially if using a fast charging appliance, poor quality charger or if it is being overcharged.
9. Take off the Case
It is best to remove cell phone cases when temperatures are high as it acts as insulation. The extra layer will trap heat and cause it to overheat quickly, so removing the case is a great way to keep it cooler.
10. Get Insurance
Ensure you get insurance on your cell phone and adequate damage coverage. Cell phone insurance can be a lifeline, but make sure to check the policies around how long it takes to repair and replace phones and time scales.
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For more information on this position and instructions on how to apply visit https://www.hrpdcva.gov/page/employment/ or https://www.hrtpo.org/ page/employment/. EOE
Closing Date: Open until filled; resumes reviewed on an ongoing basis.
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