NJG | Vol. 123, No. 33 - Aug 17, 2023

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Vol. 123, No. 33 | $1.50

August 17, 2023 - August 23, 2023

ANNIVERSARY MARCH ON WASHINGTON TO REKINDLE THE ‘DREAM’

By Hamil R. Harris (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

It was the morning of the 1963 March on Washington and Yale Law School student Eleanor Holmes Norton was so busy organizing buses to bring people to DC for the event that she almost got stuck in New York. March organizers,

– Martin Luther King III, chairman of the Drum Major Institute

including A. Phillip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Roy Wilkins were

already in Washington and they purchased a plane that landed at the national airport

as people were gathering at the Lincoln Memorial. see March, page 8A

SCOTT, SANDERS INTRODUCE BILL TO RAISE MINIMUM WAGE

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, have introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2023.

The legislation would gradually increase the minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2028.

Scott and Sanders said it would provide about 28 million Americans with a long-overdue raise.

“No person working full-time in America should be living in poverty,” Scott stated.

“Raising the minimum wage is good for workers, good for business, and good for the economy. When we put money in the pockets of American workers, they will spend that money in their communities.”

Republican members of Congress have repeatedly stifled efforts to raise the minimum wage, with many

claiming it would harm businesses, even causing some to close.

“The $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It must be raised to a living wage – at least $17 an hour,” Sanders insisted.

“In the year 2023, a job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality and recordbreaking corporate profits, we can no longer tolerate millions of workers being unable to feed their

Reconciliation & Healing

HAMPTON

The annual African Landing Commemoration Day will occur on Saturday, Aug. 26 at Fort Monroe, Virginia, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event highlights the arrival of the nation’s first recorded enslaved Africans in June 1619 to Point Comfort, now Fort Monroe. The Saturday event will include libations, drum call, African dancers and drummers. Other activities will be held on Friday and Sunday. see page 1B

Ches. Group Wants City To Invest In Residential Amenities

By Leonard E. Colvin Chief Reporter New Journal and Guide

families because they are working for totally inadequate wages,” Sanders continued:

“Congress can no longer ignore the needs of the working class of this country. The time to act is now.”

The Democrats and the legislation’s 146 co-sponsors said that after more than a decade with no increase in the federal minimum wage millions of workers are working full-time jobs but are still struggling to make ends meet. see Scott, page 6A

SENATOR SPRUILL COMMITTED TO HELP DEMS WIN THIS FALL

By Leonard E. Colvin Chief Reporter

New Journal and Guide

State Sen. Lionell

Spruill is living proof that a politician can enjoy life after losing a political race you may have had a chance to win.

On June 20, Spruill of Chesapeake lost a primary election for the newly drawn 18th State Senate District to fellow Senator Louise Lucas of Portsmouth.

Recent State Redistricting put both Lucas and Spruill into the same newly drawn 18th District.

This duo and other powerful Democratic and Republican incumbents were drawn into the same

House or Senate Districts.

To resolve the issue a primary election was formulated.

Some of those affected by the redistricting chose retirement. But not these two.

Sixty percent of the new 18th District is in

Chesapeake, the city Spruill represents under his former 5th District, and Spruill backers assumed long-time supporters would venture to the polls and help him continue his career in the Senate. Spruill said his campaign pulled about 37 percent of the vote in Portsmouth. He only needed 25 percent, according to his campaign analyst and directors. In Chesapeake, however, several key precincts, where previously he secured 1,350 plus votes, only delivered 440. That shortfall doomed his chances.

After a brief period of reflection, Spruill told the GUIDE he is back, reaching out to media and political

allies, talking strategy, advising, and declaring his willingness to help his party do well in the November 7 General Election.

Until that election, he is still Senator Lionell Spruill, Sr. He said he will continue to walk the halls of power in Richmond to carry on his duties as a lawmaker.

For the first time in years, he said, he is taking a vacation. He and his family members are off to Europe – Rome, Italy to see the cultural and historic sites.

Politically, Spruill said he won’t be sitting idle and is not hurting monetarily.

He has been offered a role with Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner’s network.

see Spruill, page 6A

The advocacy group, the New Chesapeake Men for Progress (NCMP) is convening a Community Leadership Advocacy Summit on August 19 at the South Norfolk Memorial Library, from 10 a.m. to noon.

According to Dr. George F. Reed, chairman of the NCMP’s Legislative Agenda Committee, the aim of the meeting is to share its economic and political agenda on issues facing the city with community, civic league, faith-based, business, and other leaders.

Reed said the NCMP will encourage the participants to share the information with their organizations and neighbors. Reed said the meeting will also be used to encourage the community leaders and groups to join their efforts to lobby the city council to act on provisions of the NCMP agenda.

A memorandum inviting leaders to the summit and outlining the agenda read: “With the rapid changes being considered in all parts of the city, we would be negligent in our responsibilities as citizens and community leaders not to have input in making our city an excellent place to live, work, and play.”

“Chesapeake is experiencing a rapid growth in population and income, and at the same time, has not provided the services, infrastructure, and amenities for a city of its size and wealth,”

– NCMP memo

read the August 8, 2023, memorandum from Reed and the NCMP President Clifton Randolph.

“Our city council and school board have not been very responsive to these concerns and needs, nor do they seem to have the wisdom and foresight to move the city forward progressively to meet future challenges.”

In the memo, the NCMP noted that it had been working on convincing the Chesapeake City Council to address the items on its agenda starting in 2021.

Reed said the city council has recently put the NCMP’s agenda on its list of “priorities” for action in the coming months. see NCMP, page 6A

“BLIND SIDE” MOVIE ICON CLAIMS FRAUD

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

Michael Oher, a former NFL star known for inspiring the film “The Blind Side,” has filed a petition in a Tennessee court with claims that the family who took him in lied about an important part of his life story.

Oher says the family used him for money, causing controversy around the once celebrated story of triumph.

The retired football star filed a petition in Shelby

County, Tennessee noting that the Tuohy family, who were portrayed as his adoptive parents in the film, never legally adopted him. Instead, they manipulated him into signing documents

Norfolkian Among WWII Bomb Developers

Only in the last two decades has information about Black scientists who helped develop the atomic bomb been fully released. One of them was born and raised in Norfolk. see page 7A

that made them his conservators after he turned 18. These conservatorship papers allowed them to make financial decisions on his behalf.

Oher’s legal filing claims that the Tuohys used their authority as his conservators to make a profitable deal for the film adaptation of his story.

The movie earned over $300 million and won an Oscar for Sandra Bullock’s portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy.

According to reporting by ESPN, the Tuohys allegedly received substantial royalties, while Oher received nothing despite being the central figure in the narrative.

Documents filed in court alleged that the movie paid the Tuohys and their two birth children each $225,000, plus 2.5 percent of the film’s “defined net

proceeds.”

Oher, whose eight year career included playing for the Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, and Tennessee Titans, didn’t receive compensation.

The court filing suggested that the Tuohys continued to promote the false narrative of Oher’s adoption, using it to their advantage for personal gain.

Oher’s lawyer, J. Gerard Stranch IV, said Oher discovered the truth in 2023, causing deep emotional distress.

The revelation shattered Oher’s belief in the family’s claim to be his adoptive parents, the attorney claimed. see Blind-Sided, page 7A

Michael Oher, known for inspiring the film “The Blind Side,” claims that the white family who took him in lied about an important part of his life story.

Dr. George F. Reed Chesapeake ... has not provided the services, infrastructure, and amenities for a city of its size and wealth.”

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.)

Photo: Courtesy

Sen. Lionell Spruill

My dad’s speech at the March on Washington nearly 60 years ago was a profound moment in American history ... we need to rededicate ourselves to the mission my dad gave his life for.”

Book Reveals Spy’s Infiltration Into MLK & The Movement

MEMPHIS, TN

(GLOBE NEWSWIRE)

In the famous photograph of the assassination of King on the balcony of Memphis’s Lorraine Motel, one man kneeled down beside King, trying to staunch the blood from his fatal head wound with a borrowed towel.

This kneeling man was a member of the Invaders, an activist group that was in talks with King in the days leading up to the murder. But he also had another identity: an undercover Memphis police officer reporting on the activities of this group, which was thought to be possibly dangerous and potentially violent. This kneeling man is Leta McCollough Seletzky’s father.

The National Civil Rights Museum recently opened its season’s Book and Author Series with a new book by Leta McCollough Seletzky titled The Kneeling Man: My Father’s Life as a Black Spy who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

In The Kneeling Man, journalist and litigator Leta McCullough Seletzky discloses her father’s infiltration into the Civil Rights Movement and the MLK assassination.

Marrell McCollough was a Black man working secretly with the white power structure as a spy. This was so far from Leta McCollough Seletzky’s understanding of what it meant to be Black in America, of everything she eventually devoted her life and career to, that she set out to learn what she could about his life, actions, and motivations. But with that decision came risk. What would she uncover about her father, who went on to a career at the CIA, and did she want to bear the weight of knowing?

The Kneeling Man reveals a new perspective on the FBI Counterintelligence Program’s (COINTELPRO) stronghold on civil rights activists and how it influenced local law enforcement and Black life in cities like Memphis in the 1960s.

An autographed copy of The Kneeling Man is available in the museum’s online store. For more information, visit civilrightsmuseum.org.

The museum’s book talk series continues on September 20 with The 5th Little Girl by Sarah Collins Rudolph, who survived the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

On October 4, the museum brings A Few Days of Trouble by co-authors

ARKANSAS EDUCATION DEPARTMENT WITHDRAWS

Brenda H. Andrews CHIEF

Leonard E. Colvin ASSISTANT TO

In The Kneeling Man: My Father’s Life as a Black Spy who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., journalist and litigator Leta McCullough Seletzky

Christopher Benson and Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr., the cousin of Emmett Till.

The museum’s Book & Author Series began in 2015 and has included appearances by historians and nonfiction authors including Ibram X. Kendi, Keisha Blain, Kellie Carter, William Pepper, and Candacy Taylor.

About the National Civil Rights Museum

The NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM, located at the historic Lorraine Motel where

civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, gives a comprehensive overview of the American Civil Rights Movement from slavery to the present. Since the Museum opened in 1991, millions of visitors worldwide have come, including more than 90,000 students annually.

Serving as the new public square, the Museum is steadfast in its mission to honor and preserve the site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. It chronicles the American civil rights movement

and tells the story of the ongoing struggle for human rights, serving as a catalyst to inspire action to create positive social change.

It is a TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Top 5 percent U.S. Museum, USA Today’s Top 10 Best American Iconic Attractions; Top 10 Best Historical Spots in the U.S. by TLC’s Family Travel; Must See by the Age of 15 by Budget Travel and Kids; Top 10, American Treasures by USA Today; and Best Memphis Attraction by The Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Business Journal. – civilrightsmuseum.org

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

The Arkansas Education Department has opted to strip course credit from the Advanced Placement (AP) African-American Studies course.

The AP African-American Studies course, a beacon of educational diversity and cultural enlightenment, will not be eligible for early college credit during the upcoming school year.

“The department encourages the teaching of all American history and supports rigorous courses not based on opinions or indoctrination,” Kimberly Mundell, the Education Department’s communications director, said in a statement.

“Arkansas law contains provisions regarding prohibited topics,” Mundell told local

From The Guide’s Archives

July 18, 1931

An Institution Once In The Hands of Receiver Stages Grand Comeback. NORFOLK

Approximately $10,000 was deposited and not a single withdrawal was made as Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company reclaimed its place in the uptown business structure Tuesday, the first day of activity since receivership was formally vacated Friday by decree of Judge Allan R. Hanckel of City Circuit Court.

Receiver Willis V. Fentress (who is) white turned over the keys of the bank to William M. Rich, President, Tuesday morning, and the institution which has been closed since early January reopened in a proverbial blaze of glory.

Hundreds of Colored and White citizens visited the bank on Tuesday and participated in the auspicious reopening. Although it officially began business at 10 a.m., Secretary-Treasurer Abner E. Lee reports that he was obliged to accept over $3,000 in deposits before 9:30 a.m.

Numerous floral tributes, telegrams, and letters of congratulations were received on Tuesday.

The three women Vice Presidents A.B. Ward, Emma V. Kelley, and Beulah Dodson were present in the lobby all day and assisted customers in filling out deposit slips.

Metropolitan is the first bank in Norfolk to reopen after having been closed, Rich, the President, said Tuesday.

“I feel the success of the bank is assured, although it has gone through a temporary receivership and reorganization. It has been put on a much stronger foundation by reason of the fact there is an addition of new capital and a board of directors made up of leading men and women of the community. Metropolitan Bank has 4,500 stockholders, who have paid up in cash $100,00 in capital. It has a surplus of $10,000 and more than $200,000 on deposits and a total of $310,000.

August 15, 1942

Edition of the Guide

Health clinics Opened by Sorors in Mississippi JACKSON, MISS Health workers, including physicians, nurses, dentists, nutritionists, social workers, and teachers from various parts of the United States last month opened in Holmes, County Mississippi the eighth annual health clinic

sponsored by the Alpha Kappa Alpha sonority.

The staff is assisted by Dr. D. Miner, resident physician of the Delta Cooperative; L. Cox, resident nurse of Providence Cooperative; Sam Franklin Jr., resident manager of Providence; and Mr. Cox, bookkeeper of Delta and Providence Farms.

The medical clinic this year is conducted by Dr. Edna Griffin of Pasadena, California. Dr. Griffin, a member of the Alpha Gamma Omega chapter of the sorority, has offices and a large practice in Pasadena and Los Angeles. She is active in civic, religious, and social affairs and is widely known for her active work with the NAACP.

One of the most popular and sought-after services of the clinics is the Dental Department, conducted by Dr. James H. Bell of Canton, Mississippi. With a population of over 40,000 in Holmes County, 70 percent of whom are Negroes, there is no Negro physician or dentist.

The one white dentist in the entire county has a practice that does not allow him much time for Negro patients.

How to get the most value from the meager variety of food provided in the area for most of the sharecroppers and tenant farmers is being taught with demonstrations and lectures by Mrs. Mary Andersson, a specialist in dietary science and a graduate of the home economics Department of Iowa State College and Leona Wright, who teaches home economics at Kennard Junior High School in Cleveland.

687 Feet Down Gives

The Reporter A Scare

By J. Andrew Bowler

CARETTA, W. VA

It is understood that we will all look forward to someday being lowered six feet into Mother Earth. But in my wildest dreams, the idea of being lowered 687 feet into the bowels of the earth never occurred.

Just goes to show we never know what’s in store for us for here I am in one of the “cages” at Olga Number Two mine descending at the breath-taking speed of thirty miles per to the mine level to get a few camera shots of Negro miners actually digging and loading coal from the bituminous coal mines of McDowell County.

Olga Number Two, in fact, provides conditions very unsatisfactory for camera use due to vapor and gases. The vapor forming a coating

and the

if contact is made with the high-powered flash bulbs.

Upon receiving this information, I was pleased to hear the suggestion from William Norris, Jr., fire boss, and one superintendent who was selected by general manager G.R. Jennis of Carter Coal Company to personally conduct me through the company’s mines.

“Let’s return to the surface,” not that I was nervous because I was scared stiff, and my mind was not on picture taking at all but “what was my mama doing and “Now I lay me...”

Norris’ conversation on mines and the caution exerted by all mine workers had a tendency to ease and reassure me as I readily acquiesced to try for pictures in Caretta Number Five Mine, a slope mine where the entrance is similar to a cave or tunnel. Here we boarded the electric tram with dinky coal cars attached to make a three-and-a-half-mile trip into the earth’s interior.

The layman would find it much easier to get an interview with “Der Führer” (Hitler) than to get an interview with a mine worker on the job down in the mines.

Everything regarding the individual is checked and double checked and sanctions have to come from the “top” in order for a superintendent to issue a pass for clearances are not taken on the lives and safety of the men far below the earth’s surface by night and day putting the heat on Hitler.

1,000 Black College Men Work At A Tobacco Farm

By Williams E. Weaks of Johnson C.

Smith University

GLASTONBURY, CONN.

One thousand college men from the leading Negro Colleges of the country are employed on the tobacco farms of Connecticut this summer and thousands of dollars are being earned by these men during the tobacco season. Men are here from the following Colleges: Hampton, Morehouse, Virginia State, West Virginia State, North Carolina State, Johnson C. Smith, Tuskegee, Shaw, Elizabeth City State Teachers, and Lincoln Academy. The money these men earn in Tobacco Land contributes immeasurably to their educational finances during the school terms.

The men who came North this year to work on various tobacco plantations found themselves in a rather serious and difficult situation.

station KHBS, referring to state education restrictions.

“Without clarity, we cannot approve a pilot that may unintentionally put a teacher at risk of violating Arkansas law.”

As several states undertake concerted efforts to circumscribe the boundaries of what educators can impart concerning race, gender, and sexuality, Arkansas has emerged as a new focal point in this ongoing dialogue.

NBC News reported that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders had earlier championed limits on education in the state.

In January, the Republican governor signed an executive order banning “indoctrination and critical race theory” in schools.

The assault on critical race theory, which isn’t taught in grade schools, has been among the most controversial GOP initiatives across the country.

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

CREDIT FOR AP AFRICANAMERICAN STUDIES RECEIVE WINGS AND COMMISSIONS

These “Hawkmen” of Tuskegee Army Flying School received their wings and commission on August 5 and are eager to play their part in the defense of America. They are from left to right: first row: Second Lts. Leon Claude Roberts, Walter I. Lawson, Newton, Virginia students of Hampton Institute. Second row: Second Lt. John Washington Rogers, Chicago, Ill; a student at Chicago Teachers’ College; Earl Eugene King, Bessemer, Ala. student at Tuskegee Institute, who had two years of ROTC; John William McClure, Koko, Indiana a student at Tuskegee Institute.

Living in a world of injustice and prejudice (down South), they were involved in past incidents which they did not have responsibility for instigating. Realizing the social and economic conditions of the community (South) as well as the presence of injustice and hate as a group of young Americans representing six or more different colleges from all parts of the South, they decided they were going to live in the community like gentlemen and take an active part in civic programs regardless of prejudice.

We decided to enjoy every right that the Constitution granted American citizens.

With the leadership of Thomas Hawkins, Assistant Dean of Men of Howard University, we moved from a summer camp that was dilapidated to a warehouse which had been converted into a dormitory for the college men.

Hawkins came to our rescue through the Connecticut Council of Churches on the same day that we moved from the camp into the city of Glastonbury.

Under this leadership, we were about to make our new home in a place with a recreation room fully equipped alone with athletic

equipment, such as softball, softball gloves, boxing gloves, volleyball, etc.

There was a plea for donations from the citizens of Glastonbury for the benefit of the USO. We did our part one hundred percent as citizens of the town. We knew that the residents here were surprised. The attitude of doubt changed quickly.

We knew by the look on their faces that they felt rather badly about what they had said about us before they knew it.

On July the Fourth, a community program was given at the ark in Glastonbury. We played an outstanding part in the program. The college men’s Glee Club under the direction of Harold W. McCoo of Fisk University was formed. McCoo’s work has made him well-known in the musical world.

The men played the (white) citizens of Glastonbury a softball game and showed a wonderful spirit of good sportsmanship. There were also boxing and wrestling matches given by the college men.

The Congregational minister invited Dean Hawkins and the Glee Club to be present at a program. Dean Hawkins was the main speaker of the day and the club furnished music.

discloses her father’s infiltration into the Civil Rights Movement and the MLK assassination.

NOT A ‘BRAWL’, BUT A VICIOUS ATTACK

PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIOLOGY VIRGINIA TECH

WHITE SUPREMACY COMPROMISE–THEN AND NOW

By Wornie Reed, Ph.D.

Many individuals see racial progress in the United States as an unsteady issue – sometimes positive and sometimes negative. Blacks appear to take two steps forward followed by 1-2 steps backward.

Some analysts have an explanation for this phenomenon. They argue that every time Black Americans make progress in American society – despite the many stumbling blocks in the way – the “powers that be” do something to halt that progress.

There is plenty of evidence during this era to support that argument. For example, the country elected Barack Obama president twice, signifying notable racial progress. However, since his elections, the Voting Rights Act was gutted, permitting voter restriction policies to increase, making it more difficult for many AfricanAmericans to vote.

To further enshrine this 1-2 step backward action, along with a few other things, Right-Wingers attempted a coup in January 2021. As part of this coup attempt, Senator Ted Cruz and nine other Republican Senators demonstrated the meaning of MAGA and how serious it is in turning back the clock.

On January 2, 2021, these senators released a statement challenging the Electoral College vote in the 2020 presidential election because of widespread election fraud--or the widespread claims of such fraud – similar to what the slavery-supporting Democrats claimed in the 1876 presidential election. Cruz and his fellow senators argued that the appropriate precedent was the Compromise of 1877, which resolved the presidential election in 1876 between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden.

For African-Americans, this was ominous and dangerous grounds that Cruz and others were treading, as the HayesTilden Compromise ended Black Reconstruction and drove Blacks from the voting booths. This result seemed to be the objective of Republicans in the current political environment.

During those days, during the Civil War and Black Reconstruction, Democrats were the bad guys, the ones fighting the war to preserve slavery, fighting Black racial progress, and restoring as much of the old order of things as possible.

Republicans were the good guys, fighting the war to limit or abolish slavery.

The 1876 election was one of the most disputed in American history. A stalemate existed as the electoral votes from four states were unresolved.

After months of debate, the two sides reached a compromise. Tilden and the Democrats made an offer that Hayes and the Republicans accepted. The Democrats would yield the presidency to Hayes if he and the Republicans would remove the troops from the South.

Reconstruction – between 1865 and 1877 – was a time of significant political participation by Blacks. Across the South, about 2,000 African-Americans served as elected officials, including state legislators and members of Congress.

Fourteen Blacks won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Mississippi had two U.S. Senators. There was broad

representation in the state legislatures. At one point, 76 of the 124 members of the South Carolina House of Representatives were Black.

A majority of the students at the University of South Carolina were Black.

In Virginia, right after gaining freedom, over 105,000 freedmen registered to vote, and 93,000 voted in the election in 1867. Between 1869 and 1890, about 100 African-American men served in the General Assembly of Virginia and hundreds more in city and county governments in the state.

All that integration of African-Americans into American society started falling apart after the HayesTilden Compromise in 1877. For example, by 1880, no Black students were at the University of South Carolina. With the federal troops removed, Southern Whites retook complete control and banished Blacks to the sidelines, keeping them there under a reign of terror.

History shows we have had ups and downs since then, sometimes moving forward as AfricanAmericans and their allies appealed to democratic ideals.

But times are changing as Republicans lose their interest in democracy and push toward authoritarianism, which will imperil the country, including AfricanAmericans. Limiting the political power of AfricanAmericans by limiting their vote is a means of accomplishing this horrible goal.

HOW WE SEE THE PAST REFLECTS HOW WE LIVE IN THE PRESENT

By Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

Our history involves both hard facts and interpretation – the context in which the hard facts are presented. Interpretation inevitably is political and contested. How we see the past reflects how we live in the present and what we hope for in the future.

That’s what makes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ efforts to impose a new curriculum for public school instruction on AfricanAmerican history both revealing and repellant. A furor has grown about the new state guidelines for the history of slavery which call for students to learn that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Depicting slavery as a jobs training program and a civilizing mission for the Africans who were enslaved has long been a central theme of those seeking to justify slavery.

The ugly reality, of course, is that Africans were brought here in chains against their will and were bought and

sold as chattel. They had no choice in what work they did or how they lived. The vast majority died in slavery. In the 1857 Dred Scott decision, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled for the Supreme Court – in what is viewed as the worst decision in history –that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States, and had no rights under the federal government. It took a Civil War – the most violent conflict in American history – and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments –for slaves to gain freedom, and even the possibility to develop skills “for their personal benefit” or to choose their mates, build their families, own property

By Julianne Malveaux (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

We need to watch our language. The debacle at the Montgomery Pier, where enslaved people were once offloaded and sold, is described as a “brawl.” The dictionary says a “brawl” is a “fight or quarrel in a rough and noisy way.” The Saturday, August 5 attack on a Black dock worker, Damien Pickett, who attempted to do his job should be described as a vicious and racist attack, not a brawl.

To be sure, thanks to the vigilant Black people who defended a conscientious worker, an attack descended into a brawl, but let’s not make it a mutual thing.

According to the video I saw, three white men attacked a Black man, and others attempted to defend him, with one swimming across the water to protect him.

Language is essential, especially in a racial context. The massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921 was described as a “riot.” But Black folks weren’t rioting. They were trying to live. Economically envious white people attacked Black people and property on a ruse.

Even today, though, the events of Tulsa are described as a “riot” without attributing the genesis of the violence to white people. Indeed, thousands lost their homes and were incarcerated in a socalled “riot” that was nothing more than white people hating the reality of Black wealth.

So when at least three probably drunken white men attack a Black man, don’t call it a brawl. Call it what it is. A manifestation of antiblackness. An attack on a man just trying to do his job. A justified defense of others who loathed how a senior man was kicked and stomped by unrestrained idiots. An attack,

and then perhaps a brawl.

Language is important. I am exhausted, for example, from hearing people talk about “white supremacy.”

There is no white supremacy. If the Montgomery debacle is any example, there is white unrestrained drunken inferiority.

Whenever we say “white supremacy,” we promote the myth of white delusions. Structurally, a system has been developed to advance whiteness and its twisted attempts at supremacy. Every time we use the term “white supremacy,” we reinforce the myth. Can we call it white delusions, white myopia, or white ignorance? Every day I breathe air, I am reminded that there is nothing supreme about white people except the legal structures they use to prop up their predatory capitalistic tendencies.

Black supremacy is such that a Black man, Nathaniel Alexander, invented the folding chair used as a defense instrument at the Montgomery Wharf. Black supremacy is such that we are still here, despite the Caucasity and the ignorance of some white men who so resented a Black man in authority that they chose to attack him. Black supremacy is such that, in the words of Dr. Maya Angelou, “Still we rise.” But Black folks aren’t asking for supremacy (although we exhibit it daily); we are simply demanding

equality.

All Mr. Pickett was trying to do was his job. White delusionalists seem to strongly object to a Black man instructing them to move their boat. There was no supremacy in their attack on an unarmed Black man, and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Jail time is a mild penalty for their absurd behavior.

The African-Americans who attempted to defend the dock worker and boat copilot are to be commended, and the community is to be commended for its spirit of “no more.” No more will people stand by and allow a Black man to be attacked by white thugs. No more will people stand silent and accept white delusionalism. Enough. Watching the Montgomery madness brought me to tears because it reminded me of the many times Black women have swallowed white insults and, careful for their survival, refused to say anything. They took it because they had no choice in the 1950s and early 60s. We have a choice now. There was no brawl; it was madness precipitated by an unwarranted attack. When referenced, this incident should be a response to an attack, not an equal brawl suggesting both sides had a grievance. A man was attacked. His community fought back. Enough.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, and commentator.

Three DS: Defend Democracy, Demand Diversity, Defeat Poverty

By Marc H. Morial To Be Equal (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

“For more than 100 years, this organization has worked to bring our country together in coalition in the collective fight for the freedom, rights, and justice of all people – we know we have more work to do, being clear-eyed about the moment we are in – a moment when state by state in places like Texas and Florida, extremist so-called leaders attack hard-won rights and freedoms.”

– Vice President Kamala Harris, National Urban League 2023 Conference

At my first National Urban League Conference in Pittsburgh in 2003, just weeks after I became President and CEO, I outlined a five-point Empowerment Agenda that evolved into the Five Pillars of our movement: Employment, Education, Housing, Healthcare, and Justice.

We are engaged in a battle for the future of this nation. It is clear that the

Marc H. Morial

back into the closet. With 2024 around the corner, and states purging their voting rolls and putting up barriers to the ballot box, we are going to need an effort like never before.

The second D is Demand Diversity.

James Crow, Esquire, who wore a suit and a tie instead of a robe and hood, and spoke of “states’ rights” and “welfare queens” instead of the n-word.

and more.

And the brief moment of freedom offered in the postCivil War Reconstruction Era was met across the South with bands of white terrorists, systematic suppression of the right to vote, brutal use of the criminal justice system to turn Blacks into prison labor, segregation of schools and public facilities.

In Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal under the Constitution, depriving African-Americans of equal justice under the law for 100 years after the Civil War. see Jackson, page 6A

Twenty years later to the day, at our Conference in Houston, I introduced a new phase of advocacy and activism – Empowerment 2.0 – that builds upon the foundation of the Five Pillars through what I call the Three Ds.

The first D is Defend Democracy. We will, and we must, demand the full restoration of the Voting Rights Act. We demand fair representation in Congress and state legislatures and an end to racially-based gerrymandering. We demand freedom of expression and freedom of speech, and we will not comply with book bans and warped lesson plans designed to erase us from history and force our LGBTQ brethren

We insist on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in all aspects of American life, from our courtrooms to our classrooms and campuses, from our factory floors and construction sites, our C-suites and every workplace in America. We must level the playing field, so our children and children’s children have an equal opportunity to succeed.

The third D is Defeat Poverty.

In order to close all racial income and wealth gaps, we will focus on closing gaps in education, healthcare, housing and justice. For a nation with a $23 trillion economy, the largest national economy in history, to have double digit levels of poverty and even more people living on the brink, is unacceptable.

The 20th century Civil Rights Movement of our fathers and grandfathers was a movement to defeat the white supremacist terrorism of Jim Crow. When I came to the Urban League in 2003, we were facing a new villain:

Twenty years later, we are facing the son of James and the grandson of Jim: Jimmy Crow. Not content with suppressing Black votes, he seeks the power to ignore election results altogether. He rants about “replacement theory” and “Critical Race Theory.”

We are engaged in a battle for the future of this nation. It is clear that the progress, hard fought, since the Brown decision, is under assault on every front. From the Supreme Court to rightwing state legislatures, to cable talk shows, to the utterances of some Governors, presidential candidates, members of Congress and the United States Senate – it seems they are trying to bend that moral arc not toward justice, but backward to a dark time, long gone. With the Three Ds as our battle cry and our clarion call, this generation of Urban League leaders, partners, and supporters is prepared to face the headwinds that lie before us.

progress, hard fought, since the Brown decision, is under assault on every front. Depicting slavery as a jobs training program and a civilizing mission for the Africans who were enslaved has long been a central theme of those seeking to justify slavery.

Every time we use the term “white supremacy,” we reinforce the myth. Can we call it white delusions, white myopia, or white ignorance?

But times are changing as Republicans lose their interest in democracy and push toward authoritarianism, which will imperil the country, including African-Americans.

Julianne Malveaux

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.

Unlikely Allies and Uncomfortably Large Coalitions

By Ben Jealous (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

“Spend your energy

figuring out what’s the one thing that you can agree on with a political foe,” Gen. Colin Powell told me years ago. “Figure that out and you can get a lot done.”

We’re seeing that proven across the Midwest from Illinois to North Dakota where unlikely allies with different interests and perspectives are joined in fighting against several multi-state carbon dioxide pipelines proposed by huge agribusiness and fossil fuels companies.

For some, it’s a simple as private companies trying to take private land that belongs to someone else to make private profit for themselves. For others, the pipelines would extend our reliance on dirty fuels and prolong pollution from industrial farming and the ethanol producers it supplies. Together they see the pipelines as unnecessary, destructive to precious land, and potentially dangerous.

“We might not agree on a lot of things, but this is something we will all oppose, these pipelines,” says Kim Juncker, who farms land with her husband in Butler County, Iowa, that could be grabbed for what’s called the Navigator project. “We will lock arms on this one.”

Juncker calls herself a “constitutional conservative” and explains her political leanings and

in her view those of many landowners simply: “We like our property rights and we like our freedom.”

Environmental activists have seen that opposing pipelines demands the voice of the people who own land that they don’t want to sell to the developers. For their part, landowners appreciate that environmental groups bring their organizing experience and their capacity to monitor the smallest details in the fight. One of the biggest challenges is farmers are busy farming and can’t make opposition a full-time job.

Tim Baughman, who owns land with his sister in Crawford County, Iowa, that could be disrupted by the Summit pipeline, attended a safety meeting with the developer last week; the only reason he learned of the session was hearing about from a farmer in another part of the state. In turn, he does his best to keep two other landowners informed. They’re among nine in the

county who haven’t signed voluntary easements for the pipeline to cross their land and are less connected to the digital world, he says.

More than 150 landowners now join weekly Zoom calls with environmentalists to share information and strategy. One outcome is that more than 460 landowners have filed to intervene when the Iowa Utilities Board holds its hearing in a few weeks over the Summit pipeline’s request to take land through eminent domain. That’s no small feat as Baughman’s own filing to intervene was 51 pages long.

Our system allows for the power of enough people to thwart the power of money, which the pipeline developers certainly have. That’s how opponents have managed to claim some big wins.

In North Dakota, the public service commission last week denied Summit the permit it needs to move forward, citing issues from impact on cultural sites and wildlife areas to property values; the company can reapply. In Iowa, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would have significantly limited

HBCU CAMPUSES ALREADY OPENING FOR FALL 2023

New Journal and Guide Staff

Students began arriving at Howard University about a week or so before they will begin arriving on Virginia campuses at Norfolk State, Hampton, and Virginia State.

nice and welcoming, and the process so far has been super easy,” said Dixon, a freshman nursing major from Florida. Her parents appeared excited but emotional while dropping off their youngest child.

the pipelines’ ability to take land involuntarily with nearly two-thirds of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans in support (the bill unfortunately was killed in the state Senate).

To really harness that people power, we need to build coalitions that are uncomfortably large. That’s what pipeline opponents have done. People who will question whether carbon is damaging the climate are fighting alongside people who will question the role of biofuels in prolonging our fossil fuel addiction.

In a country that can feel so divided, there’s promise in that beyond the pipeline fight. As General Powell told me, “As you win one victory together, you might just discover along the way that there’s something else you agree on.”

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.

FEARLESS FUND & ALLIES RESIST ATTACK ON AWARDING GRANTS TO BLACK WOMEN

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

A resounding call for justice echoed through the halls of the news conference held in New York as attorneys representing the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund declared their unwavering commitment to fight against a lawsuit they deem both misguided and frivolous.

The venture capital firm, dedicated to dismantling barriers faced by women of color in accessing funding, is facing legal action brought forth by the American Alliance for Equal Rights, a nonprofit helmed by antiaffirmative action activist Edward Blum.

The legal challenge, brought before the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, poses a potential turning point in the ongoing debate over considering race in workplace matters.

A powerhouse legal team, including prominent civil rights advocate Ben Crump, declared they would fight Blum and others, alleging that the Fearless Fund

Jackson

Continued from page 4A

During the century of segregation, the Civil War was taught as a “lost cause” of state’s rights. Slavery was often portrayed as a “benevolent institution.” The Reconstruction was depicted as a time of rapacious carpetbaggers and lecherous Black politicians preying on innocent whites throughout the South. It was only with the civil rights movement, courageous work by honest historians, and the Supreme Court overturning Plessy in Brown v. Board of Education, that our schools began to teach something closer to reality.

discriminates against nonpeople of color.

“We stand here not just to defend a cause but to defend the Fearless Fund from the enemies of equality,” Crump passionately stated.

Founded in 2019 by three Black women, the Fearless Fund has championed economic empowerment and opportunity for women of color.

The fund’s cornerstone initiative, the Fearless Strivers Grant Contest, has provided financial support to Black women entrepreneurs, with awards amounting to as much as $20,000.

However, the American Alliance for Equal Rights

DeSantis hand-picked the Florida board that approved the new curriculum instruction. It is part of the central theme of his presidential campaign: what he calls the “war on woke.”

“Woke,” his spokesman reported, is the “belief that there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”

DeSantis doesn’t believe in that. So he naturally turned his attention to purging the schools of books, and purging the curriculum of unvarnished history. He touts his “Stop Woke Act” which protects students from any instruction to “feel guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress” due to their race, color, sex or national origin.

It is impossible to describe slavery, the horrors like the

argues that the program violates a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 that bars racial discrimination in contracts.

The organization claims that some members are being excluded from the contest due to their race, demanding relief from what they perceive as an infringement on their rights.

“Today, the playing field is not level – that is beyond dispute,” emphasized Alphonso David, a civil rights attorney, and President & CEO of The Global Black Economic Forum.

“Those targeting Fearless Fund want to propagate a system that privileges some and shuts out most. They want us to pretend that inequities do not exist. They want us to deny our history.” Crump asserted that “Blum ‘thought they would be the easiest ones to pick off. Oh, was he wrong.’”

Others joining in defense of the Fearless Fund include the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the National Women’s Law Center, and the Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher law firm.

“This attack does not

Greenwood Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, or Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, without causing “distress” at the reality of our racial history. It is impossible to understand today’s America – and the women’s movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, the fight over rights for members of the LGBTQ community – without looking at how entrenched biases still scar our quest for equal justice under the law.

DeSantis, of course, thinks that he will benefit politically by touting his pasteurized version of history and his “war on woke.” That hasn’t gone so well. Despite burning through tens of millions of dollars, his presidential campaign is stalled. The more people see of him the less

Norfolk State University students will arrive on campus, unpack, and attend several opening events before classes begin on Aug. 21. According to Hampton University’s calendar, classes are scheduled to begin Aug. 28. Classes will begin at Virginia State University on Aug. 21

At Howard, Lalia Dixon, a freshman nursing major from Florida, was one of hundreds of students who recently unpacked boxes, signed her housing agreement, and picked up her keys.

“I was nervous coming here, but everyone is so

“We send the students in by themselves first as the first detachment from mom and dad. Once they do that, we release their key to them and they can check their room out and start moving in,” said Itale Watie, a graduate assistant and incoming doctoral student, speaking on the university’s website.

As students checked in, a deejay from Omega Psi Phi Fraternity spun a playlist of today’s hits and the classics. Howard University cheerleaders danced as incoming freshman and their families walked up the ramp to College Hall South.

Phylicia Rashad Stepping Down As Dean At Howard

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Actress Phylicia Rashad recently announced plans to step down as the dean of Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.

Rashad, who has served as dean since 2021, made her recent announcement at the end of her three-year contract. During her tenure, donations to fine arts programming at Howard University increased significantly.

at several colleges,” wrote Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, who was appointed in 2014 and will retire in 2024, in a recent statement.

Rashad, through a university official, declined a request for comment on her pending departure, which will come at the end of her three-year contract.

change our mission. In fact, we will remain steadfast on ensuring that the Fearless Fund will continue to empower women of color entrepreneurs,” said Arian Simone, CEO and cofounder of the Fearless Fund.

Backed by industry giants like J.P. Morgan Chase and Mastercard, the Fearless Fund has invested over $26.5 million in businesses led by women of color.

They’ve awarded grants totaling more than $3 million to Black women-owned businesses.

“This lawsuit turns civil rights law on its head,” affirmed Jason Schwartz, Partner at Gibson Dunn.

“Offering grants to Black women small business owners fill an important void to achieve economic freedom.”

Blum’s claims are baseless and seek to subvert existing law, added Alphonso David, another of the Fearless Fund’s lawyers and president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum.

“We are prepared to vigorously defend Fearless Fund and the critical work that they do,” David stated.

they seem to like him. He wanted to present himself as a competent Donald Trump, Trump’s venom without the legal mess, but that doesn’t seem to be selling.

Perhaps DeSantis is discovering that racial dog whistles don’t have the strength they used to have. Much of the backlash to his curriculum has come from Black Republicans. The young generation is turning against DeSantis and other Republicans in overwhelming numbers. They seem to be more comfortable with their diversity and more impassioned about the gun violence that is killing them, the economy that doesn’t work for them and the extreme weather that threatens their very future. Now that would be a lesson worth teaching.

Donations include Netflix’s $5.4 million gift to establish The Chadwick A. Boseman Memorial Scholarship, which provides incoming theater students with a four-year scholarship to cover the full price of tuition. Rashad has also welcomed nationally and internationally recognized scholars, artists and creatives to the department.

“Dean Rashad has held a long-standing commitment to arts education and literacy; having served as adjunct faculty, master instructor, and guest artist/ lecturer and administrator

Rashad graduated with honors from Howard’s theater program in 1970 and appeared on Broadway in the hit musicals “The Wiz” (1975) and “Dreamgirls” (1981). She starred in “The Crosby Show” from 1984 to 1992. She also played Cosby’s wife in the series Cosby (1996-2000).

She, her award-winning sister Debbie Allen, and their father, Andrew Arthur Allen (a 1945 Howard dental school graduate), graduated from Howard. She also served on Howard’s Board of Trustees from 1996 through 1999 and then again from 2013 to 2016.

Ben Jealous

People who will question whether carbon is damaging the climate are fighting alongside people who will question the role of biofuels in prolonging our fossil fuel addiction.

Attorney Ben Crump

Continued from page 1A

He said that the community needs to ramp up pressure to assure the council follows through.

Spruill

Continued from page 1A

He said he could accept a seat on a powerful state Board or Commission at the request of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, Spruill said State Democrats have a good chance of retaining the Senate.

The closest race in the Senate may involve Delegate Clinton Jenkins, who is working to win the 17th Senate District against

Scott

Continued from page 1A

They noted that one in eight workers in the United States earns wages that leave them in poverty, even when working full-time and year-round.

“And there is now no place in America where a full-time worker making the federal minimum wage can afford to cover the rent for a modest two-bedroom apartment,” Scott asserted.

“The Raise the Wage Act is good for workers,

incumbent Emily Brewer. State Senator Mamie Locke, the current chair of the Senate Caucus, and running unopposed in Senate District 23, said Jenkins has a good chance to jump from his seat in the House to the Senate.

She said Democrats will provide funding.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, Congressman Bobby Scott, and State Senator Lucas, all of whom won Portsmouth, Suffolk and other Democratic friendly parts of the 17th before redistricting, will campaign with him to bolster their support.

businesses, and the economy,” he continued. “When we put money in workers’ pockets, they will spend that money at local businesses. The Raise the Wage Act will ensure that everyone can share in a stronger economy.”

The lawmakers noted that the Raise the Wage Act of 2023 would:

• Gradually raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $17 by 2028; Index future increases in the federal minimum wage to median wage growth to ensure the value of minimum wage does not once again erode over time;

• Guarantee that tipped

Locke said the 17th District is among seven races that will determine which party will control the Senate. She said Democrats have a chance of adding at least one or more seats to a 22-19 majority in that chamber.

Locke said that if Democrats retain their majority, she will run to become the first AfricanAmerican female majority leader in the Senate.

Senator Lucas is the current President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and she hopes to retain that seat and become the Senate Finance Committee Chair.

workers are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing out the subminimum wage for tipped workers, which will ensure decent, consistent pay without eliminating tips;

• Guarantee that teen workers are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing out the rarely used subminimum wage for youth workers; and

• End subminimum wage certi fi cates for workers with disabilities to provide opportunities for workers with disabilities to be competitively employed and participate more fully in their communities.

This includes, according to Reed, building a sports complex with swimming pool, a performing arts center, and a convocation center. Also, important are improving diversity and inclusion in the city’s operational leadership, as well as moving toward a ward-based election system of electing city council and school board.

The NMCP noted the lack of investment in a number of historically Black neighborhoods in the South Norfolk area and the problem of flooding in Pughsville which it said, “has existed too long and requires a concerted response from citizens.”

“Some progress has been made, yet more work is to be done,” the memo noted. “We as citizens and community leaders have a significant opportunity to help in defining what our city will look like in the future.”

Reed told the GUIDE there is one area where the NCMP can report some movement: the construction of a Comprehensive Sports Complex/Swimming Pool.

Days ago, Third District

U.S. Congressman Robert Scott presented a $3 million check to city leaders as Reed and other civic leaders stood nearby.

Reed said, “That was a good start toward the total estimated cost of $20 million for the project.” The public pool will be called the Dr. Clarence V. Cuffee Community Center – Pool.

Cuffee was the city’s first Black City manager.

It will include a 25-yard competitive indoor pool with a diving well and a leisure pool with a water

playground and therapeutic pool, classrooms, and showers.

Another item on the NCMP agenda relates to a long-standing need to build a Multipurpose Performing Arts Center and Convocation Center. It has been placed on the city council’s priority list for consideration, but unfunded, the memo said.

“The current conference center only has the capacity to seat about 1,000,” said Reed. “So, we have no venue for large concerts or entertainment activities. Why are we spending $50,000 to ODU to use the Chartway Center for Chesapeake graduation exercises? Why do people have to leave the city for entertainment?”

The NCMP memo cited a recent Multipurpose Event Facility Market Study by Johnson Consulting, a Chicago-based Hospitality Consultant, which detailed a performing market feasibility study through the Economic Development Authority for a potential multi-purpose event center. Reed said the lack of such facilities is not due to any fiscal shortcomings by the city.

According to its Annual Financial Report for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2022, the city’s net position was $2.2 billion, an increase of $82.3 million over the last fiscal year. Also, as of June 30, 2022, the city reported a surplus of $82.1 million. The NMCP memo said city leaders need to “Create a framework for diversity and Inclusion. This is a work in progress and progress has been made with the hiring of a minority in the City Managers’

office, Parks, Recreation, and Tourism and Human Services.”

Reed’s organization, however, believes a ward system of voting will place more minorities on council and school board. There are only two AfricanAmericans currently sitting on the Chesapeake City Council. Reed said six of the current nine-member council live in the same zip code.

He said, based on the last census, Blacks make up 29 percent plus of the city’s population.

Chesapeake, he said, could create minoritymajority wards in Camelot, Georgetown, Crestwood, and the Deep Creek sections of the city.

Before the Republicans took control of the Governorship and the House of Delegates in 2022, the Legislature passed a bill giving citizens the right to use the courts to abolish atlarge system of elections, if a protected class of citizens’ voting rights were infringed.

A suit was filed claiming that Virginia Beach’s hybrid borough and atlarge system discriminated against African-Americans and denied their ability to elect council members of their choosing.

Virginia Beach, the state’s largest city, was forced by the federal court to abolish such a system and impose a 10 single-member district and election of mayor at-large. Currently, there are four Puerto Rican-Americans on that city’s city council, for the first time.

Chesapeake and Portsmouth are the last two cities in Hampton Roads still using the at-large system.

Some progress has been made, yet more work is to be done.”

– Chesapeake Men For Progress

Memo

(L-R) Senators Louise Lucas (L) and Lionell Spruill (R) with Publisher Brenda H. Andrews in 2018 during the New Journal and Guide’s Impacting Lives Breakfast. Both have been honored as Impacting Lives Awardees.

Photo: NJGArchives

Blind-Sided

Continued from page 1A

Oher’s legal fi ling seeks to terminate the conservatorship held by the Tuohys and prevent them from exploiting his name and likeness.

The petition also demands a full accounting of the pro fi ts generated using Oher’s story and compensation for Oher’s rightful share of these earnings.

Born into a family grappling with drug addiction, Oher faced hardships, including foster care placements and homelessness. His trajectory changed when he was taken in by the Tuohy family, which provided stability and support.

ESPN noted that Oher’s athletic talents thrived, propelling him to a successful college and NFL career.

However, the court fi ling highlighted that if Oher had been legally adopted, he would have retained control over his fi nancial matters. Tellingly, the conservatorship arrangement stripped him of this autonomy, which became instrumental in the family’s alleged fi nancial exploitation.

Further, the Tuohys had

previously claimed they received only a fl at fee for the movie and shared what they earned with Oher. But recent revelations counter these assertions.

“The lie of Michael’s adoption is one upon which Co-Conservators Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy have enriched themselves at the expense of their Ward, the undersigned Michael

Norfolk “Unsung Hero”

Instrumental In Developing WWII Atomic Bomb

Oher,” Oher’s lawyers wrote.

“Michael Oher discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February of 2023, when he learned that the Conservatorship to which he consented on the basis that doing so would make him a member of the Tuohy family, in fact provided him no familial relationship with the Tuohys.”

By Leonard E. Colvin Chief Reporter New Journal and Guide

Seventy-eight years ago, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6; three days later the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

The two incidents forced the Japanese to surrender and thus ending WWII and the U.S. conflict with that nation.

This was the only time such powerful and destructive weapons have been used.

One of the box office blockbusters in this summer’s movie season is “Oppenheimer,” depicting the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist and Director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos Laboratory which developed the technology and built the deadly weapons.

He was born in 1904 in New York City to Jewish immigrants who exited German before the Nazis rose to power. The Harvard-trained scientist is defined as the “father of the atomic bomb.”

The movie depicting his life and trials has grossed over $500 million.

While Hollywood is celebrating the life of Oppenheimer on the silver screen, Norfolk and Virginia have an “Unsung Hero” who also made contributions to the creation of the atomic bomb and later equipment used to detect the deadly byproducts of atomic material.

His name is Robert J. Omohundro.

Omohundro was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia in 1921.

The future Physicist was one of a select few AfricanAmerican scientists and technicians to work on the

Omohundro was

Manhattan Project and thus contribute to the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Omohundro, according to his Bio and articles in the GUIDE, was one of 19 African-American scientists who worked on one part of the project or another.

In 1941, in the first example of Affirmative Action and in order to spur employment opportunities for Blacks, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which stated that “there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense of industries of Government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.”

The Manhattan Project did create opportunities for Black Americans’ advancement, but many Black workers grappled with Jim Crow segregation.

There were 179,000 people who were hired for the project overall.

But with the exception of these few highly trained scientists, most of the Black workers at Oak Ridge and Hanford, which were the sites of several huge Manhattan Project facilities, took on jobs as construction workers, laborers, and janitors.

The eldest child of Henry Omohundro and Brownie Pierce Omohundro, Robert had one sister, Gladys, and four half-siblings, Joseph, Mildred, Annie Mae, and Dorothy from his father’s first marriage.

Omohundro graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, in 1939 and then earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s in physics from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

After graduation, he worked as a radio tester with the Western Electric Company.

Omohundro’s contribution to the atomic bomb project was his work as a mass spectroscopist. Mass spectrometry (MS) is a technique that scientists use

to help identify particles in samples by their mass.

During World War II, Omohundro, who worked at a secret test facility in Arizona, was also responsible for developing devices to locate and measure radiation emissions from atomic warheads.

These devices were used long after World War II by the International Atomic Energy Agency in airports around the world to detect clandestine transfers of fissionable material and portable neutron detectors.

From 1948 to 1984, Omohundro applied the techniques of nuclear physics honed during his work on the Manhattan Project to developing technology at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

He was noted for his development of devices that prevent the propagation of plutonium at airfields. In addition, he continued his World War II research by designing more advanced devices for radiation detection from nuclear warheads.

In 1963 and 1971, he obtained two patents in the field of nuclear physics. Over the course of his career, Omohundro authored and coauthored 40 scientific articles. Omohundro was a member of many professional associations and groups, including Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

Robert Johnson Omohundro died of cardiac arrest at George Washington University Hospital on May 15, 2000, in Washington, D.C. He was 78-years-old.

Most Black and White scientists who contributed to the “Manhattan Project” had to keep their activities a secret.

So only in the last two decades has information about Omohundro and other Black professionals been fully released to the public.

One of them was Dr. William Jacob Knox, Jr., a chemist with a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work on uranium separation was crucial to the development of atomic bombs. Knox became the Manhattan Project’s only Black supervisor after he was appointed to lead the all-white Corrosion division of the project at Columbia University.

Another was a 21-year-old mathematician named Jesse Ernest Wilkins, who joined the University of Chicago’s Met Lab to research plutonium in 1944. A child prodigy, he was admitted to the University of Chicago at 13-years-old, Wilkins earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D. in just six years.

Another Black scientist, Samuel Proctor Massie, Jr. of Arkansas, began work as a research assistant for the Manhattan Project in 1943 at Iowa’s Ames Laboratory, converting uranium isotopes into liquid compounds. After the war, Massie completed his Ph.D., and taught at Langston University in Oklahoma.

The contributions of these men and other Black scientists like Jasper Jeffries, Carolyn Parker, and Moddie Daniel Taylor were crucial to the Manhattan Project.

The Tuohys had previously claimed they received only a flat fee for the movie and shared what they earned with Oher. But recent revelations counter these assertions.

Michael Oher

one of a select few AfricanAmerican scientists and technicians to work on the Manhattan Project and thus contribute to the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Robert J. Omohundro

Continued from page 1A

Planes landing at Reagan National Airport often follow the Potomac River and then take a 45-degree turn at the Memorial. Seated on the left side of the plane as it made a left turn, Norton looked out the window and her heart filled with emotions.

“When I looked out the window of the plane, I could tell that march would be a big success,” Norton said. “There were more than 250,000 people, which was more than had ever come to Washington, D.C.”

Today Norton is the D.C. Delegate in a very divided Congress and as organizers prepare for the 60th anniversary of the March, she often reflects on that event and thinks of what is possible.

“The march was extremely successful because out of this march came three Civil Rights bills.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act,” said Norton who will be one of the veterans speaking at the march on August 26th.

Rev. Al Sharpton, president and founder of the National Action Network, said, “As we honor the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, we must also remember why we continue to march and carry the torch of Dr. King’s vision today.”

Martin Luther King III, chairman of the Drum Major Institute, said “My dad’s speech at the March on Washington nearly 60 years ago was a profound moment in American history ... Despite the significant progress we have made over these six decades, we need to rededicate ourselves to the mission my dad gave his life for. It is difficult to not be disgruntled with everything going on in the world.”

Andrea Waters King, MLK III’s wife, and president of the Drum Major Institute, said “The struggles of Black

Leaders from 60 different orgs will attend the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington.

and Brown Americans, particularly women and girls, faced 60 years ago are, in many ways, still prevalent today.

“Dr. King called on us all to work to eradicate the triple evils of racism, poverty, and violence by standing for peace, justice, and equity. As a mother, I’m afraid for my teenage daughter, but I am empowered to use my voice to ensure that her future and the future of all young girls is as bright as her grandfather dreamed.”

Organizers hope the 2023 March on Washington will set the tone for 2024 exactly 60 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders organized the pivotal March on Washington in August 1963.

The pre-program for August 26th March begins at 8 a.m. and the main program starts at 11 a.m. At the end of the program, participants will march from the Lincoln Memorial.

In 1963, urged by Gospel singer extraordinaire Mahalia Jackson, King veered from his prepared text and answered the singer’s request to talk about “the dream,” he had for America.

“And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream ...” King said. He continued in perhaps his

most famous words: “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character ...

Dr. Gerald Durley, 81, the retired pastor of Atlanta’s Provident Baptist Church and a veteran Civil Rights Activist, was standing in the crowd in 1963. “I came to the March as the President of the Student Body at Tennessee State University,” he said.

On August 26th, Durley will join Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King, III, Andrea Waters King, Rev. Jamal Bryant, and leaders from 60 different organizations for the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington.

This year’s anniversary march co-chairs include the Anti-Defamation League; the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; the Legal Defense Fund; the NAACP; the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; the National Council of Negro Women; the National Urban League; and UNIDOS, formerly the National Council of La Raza.

Rev. Al Sharpton Martin Luther King III

SECTION B COMMUNITY & MORE ...

BOOKWORM REVIEW: ALTHEA: THE LIFE OF TENNIS CHAMPION ALTHEA GIBSON

see page 6B

ENSLAVED AFRICAN LANDING DAY COMMEMORATION, AUG. 26

Reconciliation and Healing From The Legacy of Slavery

HAMPTON

The annual African Landing Commemoration Day weekend takes place this year, August 25-27, 2023. The major ceremony will occur on Saturday, August 26 at Fort Monroe, Virginia, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The weekend highlights the arrival of the nation’s first recorded enslaved Africans and honors African heritage and contributions.

In August 1619, more than 20 Africans landed at Old Point Comfort, the present-day Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va., and were forced into labor as slaves.

Until recently, history recorded and generations of

school children were taught that the arrival of enslaved Africans took place in Jamestown, a short distance from Hampton.

However, since 1994, Project 1619 Incorporated, started by Hamptonian Calvin Pearson, founder and president, has been working to set the history straight about where the first enslaved Africans debarked. Project 1619 started African Landing Commemoration Day in 2008.

“African Landing Commemoration Day is similar to Juneteenth. The landing of enslaved Africans in 1619 is the day that forever changed the fabric of society. It ushered

in a system of divide based solely on skin color,” said Pearson in a press release in 2021. He continued, “We celebrate African Landing

Day because there is still room for reconciliation after so many years. It allows us to honor the contributions of our ancestors to make America. They were made to, for the sake of America, endure torture, lynchings and inhumane treatment. The purpose of my organization is to tell the truth about the 1619 landing.”

The Saturday event will include libations, drum call, African dancers and drummers. Organizers encourage guests to bring lawn chairs for additional seating (chairs are provided) and drums to participate in the “Circle of Drums.” see African, page 2B

Historic African Arrival Marker at Fort Monroe

African

Continued from page 1B

A Bell Ringing Ceremony For Healing, Remembrance and Hope, along with a Flower Petal Ceremony to Remember Lives Lost Through The Middle Passage are among the attractions.

The weekend begins on Friday, Aug. 25 at 10 a.m. with the Tucker Family Cemetery Commemoration. The Tucker Family of Hampton is recognized as being descendants of William Tucker, the first African child born in America. This ceremony is held in the Tucker Family Cemetery.

On Sunday Aug. 27 at Fort Monroe Beach from

6-8 a.m., a Cleansing and Healing Program by Priestess Amani Tori Nefer Atum Re will be held. Attendees are asked to wear white. One of the future goals of the Project 1619 Incorporated organization is to construct a National Memorial to honor the first enslaved Africans. For more information go to project 1619.org; Facebook Project 1619.

Newport News Mayor & Senior Leaders Will Study At Harvard

NEWPORT NEWS

Newport News Mayor

Phillip Jones, Assistant City Manager Ralph “Bo” Clayton and Director of Human Resources Allison

Dichoso are headed to Harvard where they will receive training at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, located in Massachusetts. Harvard professors will cover an array of topics that at least 40 mayors and 80 senior municipal leaders from across the globe are expected to attend, according to a recent press

News Mayor Phillip Jones

release on the city’s website. Harvard professors will discuss the development of new policies, engaging

KEEP ON TRYING

BY DELORES DUDLEY HAMPTON ROADS ʼ POET,

When you have a task to do, keep on trying.

Even if you are feeling blue, keep on trying.

People may say it wonʼt work, and their words may surely hurt, Still, somehow, forget each irk, and keep on trying.

with residents, poverty reduction, equitable growth and jobs, climate, resiliency, affordable housing, transportation, and infrastructure.

Jones, Newport News’ recently elected mayor, said, “It is an honor to be chosen to participate in the Bloomberg Harvard Leadership Initiative along with Bo and Allison. This is an outstanding opportunity for us to engage with municipal leaders from across the world and learn innovative approaches to address complex challenges and improve the quality of life for our residents.”

When you feel youʼre all alone,keep on trying.

When you feel you canʼt go on, keep on trying.

When youʼve tried the whole day long, and you feel no longer strong,

Still live life as though nothingʼs wrong, and keep on trying.

When youʼve come to your witʼs end, keep on trying!

When you canʼt relate to one close friend, keep on trying!

When youʼve lost, and you are “broke” and LIFE gets harsh, and you can not cope,

Just deep within say, “I see a glimpse of hope,” and keep on trying.

When the doctors give sad news, keep on believing, And pray that comforting words will come to you as you are grieving.

When someone passes quickly away, and you cry all night and day,

Dry your tears and stand up and say, “I will keep on trying.”

When world news is about heinous acts, keep on trying, To hear, though awful, the horrible facts, keep on trying:

PORTSMOUTH HOUSING COMMUNITY TO OFFER NEW AFFORDABLE UNITS

PORTSMOUTH

Virginia Housing has awarded LowIncome Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to Bains Pointe, a new 50unit affordable housing community proposed in Portsmouth. It is named after Eliza Bains who was instrumental in helping slaves gain freedom via the Underground Railroad in Portsmouth.

Bains Pointe which is being developed by Woda Cooper Companies, Inc., will serve singles, families, and seniors that earn 30 percent to 80 percent area median income. Construction for Bains Pointe is expected to begin in mid 2024.

“We are desperately in need of additional affordable housing provided by Woda Cooper Companies because they have already proven that they can deliver a quality product that citizens need and will enjoy,” said Lisa Lucas-Burke who serves as the city’s Vice Mayor and is a member of Woda Cooper Companies, Inc.

“Bains Pointe will certainly improve the condition of our downtown area, while providing a new affordable housing option for residents and visitors who may be looking to

choose Portsmouth as their new home.”

Located at 1100 High Street, the new development will be comprised of a four-story building with an elevator. It will offer 39 two-bedroom apartments and 11 threebedroom units. Units feature modern design, quality finishes, and fully equipped kitchens with ENERGY STAR appliances including dishwashers. The property is expected to be certified EarthCraft Gold. Several units will include features for those with disabilities.

Proposed community amenities offer residents access to an on-site multipurpose room with kitchenette, laundry facility, a covered seating area, and playground. Bains Pointe will have onsite management and maintenance provided by Woda Management & Real Estate.

Virginia Housing awarded the LIHTCs to Bains Pointe through its competitive Qualified Allocation Plan to identify where expanded affordable housing is most needed in the state. The LIHTCs will be sold to an investor in exchange for equity financing with additional mortgage financing. Eight units have attached rental

To see beyond those nightmare like scenes and somehow in your mindʼ s eye.

assistance through Project Based Vouchers awarded by the Portsmouth Housing & Redevelopment Authority.

Bruce Watts, WCCI Vice President – Development and Chief Diversity Officer, said Bains Pointe represents strong collaboration, starting with the City of Portsmouth who approached Woda Cooper after seeing the impact of its earlier affordable community Holley Pointe which opened in 2022.

“They came to us at the grand opening for Holley Pointe and encouraged us to find a new site to develop because the community needs more housing,’” Watts recalls.

“We are very excited to develop a second property in Portsmouth that will not only provide quality housing but also honor the city’s commitment to equality for residents by honoring Eliza Bains who was an important historic figure for the city.”

In addition to providing quality housing for working families, Bains Pointe will also offer onsite supportive services for residents who need assistance in accessing community resources to help them live successfully and independently.

Norfolk Human Services Relocating Customer Service Operations

NORFOLK

Norfolk’s Department of Human Services is temporarily relocating its vital customer service operations to the Attucks Theatre (1010 Church St., Norfolk, VA 23510) to accommodate essential building renovations at its current facility.

Beginning Monday, Aug. 21, residents seeking assistance with benefit programs, housing support for children and families, safety and wellness support and other essential programs will find the team ready to provide service at the Attucks Theatre weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Protective services

View your beautiful, lifetime dream, and know that life can be better than it seems,

So, keep on trying!

Life is wonderful you know, bright as the morning sun and white as the winterʼs snow, but life does bring ups, and it also brings downs,and at times it may seem that the weight of this world is just all around, But please just remember on lifeʼs journey as you pass through, to seek to pass lifeʼs test with humility and love as JESUS ordained all of mankind to do, and make up your mind be it sunshine or rain that if you fall down, you will stand up again and again, for you will not give up and never give in until there is victory, until you do win and all they will say is he or she is successful today because they let not one person or situation remain in their way, For truly the storms arose, and they threatened their peace, but they weathered them all ʻtill the raging waves ceased, and you can do the same through your deep downpours of rain if you are able to bear your sorrow and are able to with stand the pain ... Look to that day, “0,” look to that day when all that you feared will have passed away ...

and programs will continue serving residents around the clock. Residents seeking public assistance can apply online anytime. The Attucks Theatre was selected as an alternative site as it is equipped to accommodate all essential services with the same convenience and access currently provided at the department’s primary site on Monticello Ave. Building renovations at its permanent facility are expected to be completed in early 2024.

Anyone requiring assistance is encouraged to visit www.norfolk.gov/ humanservices or call (757) 664-6000.

because you rose up and held all of your enemies at bay and kept on trying!

Delores Dudley

New Journal and Guide Staff

Newport

Baines Pointe

Anti-Reason Over Conscience

By Sean C. Bowers

Rational thinking is our way to hear, absorb, and internalize the issues of our time, in real time. As individuals we use reasoning to process input, form our convictions, make our stands, make our choices and eventually, come to our voting decisions.

To try to reason without evidence or facts makes one unreasonable.

The conscience is our barometer to the truth. It is where we, as human beings hold fast to our empathic sense of common decency, understanding, and the application of (all the religions of the world,) golden rule. When one is without “conscience” one becomes, unconscionable. When one can completely turn off his own conscience, he, in effect, are decides to “NOT FEEL” others, but only feels himself, and others who agree with them. That type of thinking only leads to who is next up, to be persecuted.

In the Civil War era, practically the entire South intentionally turned off their consciences. They felt entitled, above God’s laws, superior to all others both slaves and abolitionists. Today we see that old “Better Than” mentality when the Republican Right continues to try and inflict their will onto the rest of U.S. Americans.

They do not think in terms of legal, fair, or just. The Right only knows “power grabs,” as their total numbers shrink. Last week in Ohio voters easily rejected Republicans’ attempt to change their state’s constitution by 57 percent to 43 percent. The vote kept the Right from changing a simple majority (over half) to a super-majority of 60 percent.

In each overreach, the Right is choosing to turn their backs on the democratic principles of “one vote, per person” fairness. Each overreach comes with an issue. The Right is in the minority, not holding any kind of majority, simple or super. First, the Right turns off their reasoning to stopguard pesky facts and any inconvenient truths from

Sean C. Bowers

being brought forward, considered, or even being heard and debated, let alone being put to any vote.

Next, by turning off their consciences of any personal responsibility and moral integrity, members of the Right become (in their minds) all-knowing, incapable of being wrong, GOD-Like, that they, and only they matter, that only they get to vote and get to decide the future course of our entire nation.

They are as shameless as they are willing to throw out the rule of law, and dismiss all who disagree with them, and any forms of guilt or personal accountability for their choices and actions. When they feel above the law, they often preach division and can become violent lawless individuals in search of whom to persecute, next.

The longer they lie, cheat, and attempt to steal America, the more addicted to that sense of righteous power, they become. Numb to their own actions, violations, and abuses of usurped justice and the longaccepted rules of law since our 1776 founding, they endanger everyone in many most selfish ways.

The choice is clear. We Americans who DON’T adhere to the Right’s self-destructive course must hold the line of justice for all time by ALL available legal means. The vote, and all other progressive forms of legal public unity are our best-chosen nonviolent weapons against the Right’s psychological break with fact-based reality.

In reality, we all have to live with the results of our actions, our choices, our decisions, our policies, and yes, our conscience (even when, and if, we have turned it off.)

A reality television personality has managed to convince a portion of the American Right that the “FAKE REALITY” he touts, sells, and fund-raises off of, then bankrupts is better than the Democratic Republic foundations and principles which has fostered U.S. for nearly two-and-a-half centuries.

It seems that the specter of jail time for those proven guilty parties has a way of making individuals remember reason, facts, treason, their oaths, and to reconnect to them their conscience. We are undeniably connected to each other. HARD PRISON TIME also serves as the best deterrent to more abuses in the future and reduces the future bad choices of other wanna-be copycats.

Reason, conscience and personal accountability are the minimal requirements for any political party or candidate to ever lead America, anywhere.

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.

The vote, and all other progressive forms of legal public unity, are our best-chosen nonviolent weapons against the Right’s psychological break with factbased reality.

MOMENTS of MEDITATION

By Rev. Dr. Archie L. Edwards, Sr.

WHO IS THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?

Read: Matthew 18:1-6, 10 (NASB)

Conceit, says Webster, is an “excessive appreciation of one’s own worth.” And as Paul writes, conceit is one of the characteristics of the last days. That word is tucked into the list which appears in the third chapter of 2 Timothy (vv. 1-4).

Greatness in the World’s Eyes. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, the Apostle mentions the word “conceit” three times, and each mention reveals something about how the world defines greatness.

The first occurrence is in the list of qualifications for an overseer of a church (v. 3:6). What does this passage imply? In the world’s eyes we are great if we hold a position of high rank or authority. The next mention of conceit is in chapter 6 (vv. 3-4). From this passage we can see that in the world’s eyes we are great if we have an abundance of knowledge and can out think others. Finally, in verses 9-10 and 17 of the same chapter, we can infer that in the world’s eyes we are great of we are rich and indulge in an extravagant lifestyle.

Note that it is not having the money or owning the possessions that is evil, it is loving them. The insatiable craving for more is what’s wrong. In the world’s eyes,

greatness is having rank, knowledge, or riches. But in God’s eyes greatness is measured differently. The “Greatest” in Heaven Eyes. To find out how God measures greatness, let’s go to Matthew 18 (v. 1). Like children with their hands caught in the cookie jar, the disciples stand silent in the shame of being caught bickering. But they manage to muster enough courage to ask Jesus to settle the debate:

“Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” (Matthew 18: 1). Jesus responds in a disarming way (vv. 2-4). How unassuming and unpretentious children are. So playful and naïve and innocent. So unimpressed with things like title, and salary. So unsophisticated and uninhibited.

Who is the greatest in the eyes of Heaven? Whoever is as humble as a small child and part of that humility is seen in a child’s total dependence and absolute trust. That is the way God wants us to be – deferring to Him, leaning on Him, listening to him, trusting what He says, yielding.

On these children of faith, whose lives are characterized by innocence, trust, and humility, God

places special favor. If their developing ages of faith are tripled up – the Greek verb is skandalizo – a harsh penalty will be meted out for the scandalous one responsible. How seriously does God view the offense of leading an innocent one down an evil path of exploitation, abuse, and destruction?

The illustration in verse 6 indicates that the penalty will be harsh. The fact it would be better for the person to die.

Sipping down to verse 10, we see another severe warning. Jesus warns His disciples not to despise one of these little ones.

To God, children are so valuable that each has a specially assigned angel for his or her safe keeping. And not just a private in God’s angelic army, but angels who have privileged access to His very throne. What a statement about the priority God places on children!

To All Who Wish To Be Great. First: stay in touch with children. Spend time with them. Study their ways. Gain a new appreciation for their value in God’s eyes. Second: Ask God to give you some of their qualities. Ask Him to give you their innocence, their sense of wide-eyed wonder, their clinging dependency, and their humility. Third: Treat with respect all who emulate the ways of a child. Be kind to them, even to the least of them. Especially to the least of them. Give them a listening ear. Give them a smile. And most importantly, give them your heart.

Rev. Dr. Archie L. Edwards, Sr., is an Associate Minister at Second Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk.

“JEW AND GENTILE ONE BODY IN JESUS CHRIST– HIS TRUE SPIRITUAL CHURCH” (Eph 2:15) Scofield Study Bible KJV

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I thought I had concluded my four part series on Jesus’ True Spiritual Church. However, The Holy Spirit has an “After Word.” Although I have discussed the “new man” in Eph. 2:15 and Eph. 4:24, as being essentially different, on a deeper and more profound level, the two are convergent. The “new man” is the believer and the believer is the church. Some years ago, Karine, my 7-year-old great-granddaughter, asked me, ”Why did Jesus marry a building?” I marveled at her deep spiritualism at such a young age. (For the answer is in the question.) Her question reflected her soul, knowing that the church is the Body and Bride of Jesus Christ symbolized by the physical building.

I informed Karine that the Believer is the True Church and Bride of Jesus Christ and not the physical structure. She asked, ”Why do we go to church then?” Karine answered her own question, ”I know – to see each other.” Then I smiled.

Observe: Karine was correct and many times we do attend church to see people and to fellowship. However,

the primary purpose in going to church is to worship the Lord God in spirit and in truth. Jesus states in John 4:21: “Woman, believe Me ... the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

Therefore, when we enter into His gates for praise and thanksgiving, our worship must be spiritual and truthful. Otherwise, our worship is nothing more than sounding brass and tinkling cymbal and we may as well stay home or go somewhere else.

But we can’t stay away from church, for Paul admonishes us: “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together ...” (Hebrews 10:25) In true worship, our spirits are washed by the Word of God. (Eph. 5:26) Jesus says,

“Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.” (John 15:3)

Observe: “The church is the place where we come to find out what we are doing right. As such, it is the place of affirmation. The church is also the place where we come to find out what we are doing wrong. As such, it is a place of correction. The church is also the place where we come to hear the promises of God. “For all the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, unto the glory of God by us.” (II Corinthians 1:20) “We need all three of these processes to live good Christian lives.” (Message Bible pg. 1955) Observe: There is a special case for worship in The Black Church. According to W.E.B. Dubois, noted Black Scholar and Historian, ”Black Religion is known for its preaching, singing, and what he called, “the frenzy.” In his book, “Special Occasions In The Black Church,” Benjamin S. Baker states, ”When Black people assemble for worship they not only want but need release from pentup emotions from a history of slavery, segregation, shame, and on-going societal restraints and abuse. They want to know they are children of the King and the Lord is on their side.” see Rivka, page 6B

“UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH” (Matthew 16:18) PT. 5

REBECCA’S WELL BY REV. DR. REBECCA R. RIVKA

Rev. Dr. Rebecca R. Rivka

HAMPTON NORFOLK

POH 150, OES ELECTS OFFICERS

By Ellen Stewart Special to the New Journal and Guide

Pride of Hampton Nr 150, Order of the Eastern Star, PHA recently elected their 77th Worthy Matron Kimbe Watson, since its organizational meeting

October 9, 1939. Sister Mollie Scott was its first Worthy Matron and Brother Lawrence Brown was the first Worthy Patron.

The group has occupied three edifices during its existence, King Street, Queen Street and present – Shell Road.

On June 10, 2000, Golden Sunset Nr 65, of Phoebus merged with Pride of Hampton. Their present membership is 44. The Chapter is a Life member of the N.A.A.C.P., and has published one cook book of its favorite recipes. Annually, they have established scholarships, honored outstanding Stars (members); participated in Thanksgiving baskets; the Daily Press (newspaper) Christmas Fund and American Cancer Relay for Life.

WM Kimbe Watson has selected as her favorite scripture Psalm 51, “Create in me ...” as her first, and secondly, Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence.” Her favorite song, “Deliver Me.”

Theme: “Empowering

Each Other.” Uniquely, her motto, “Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be; and embrace who you are.” Selected quote “What God has for me, Is just for Me.”

WM Watson was born in New York, received her early education at PS156 in Harlem, New York; continuing high

school at Lawton in Lawton, Oklahoma due to her father’s military travel. She entered the United States Coast Guard achieving a dual Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services Resources and Healthcare Management. She also has a degree in Criminal Justice with a concentration of Human Services. She was later honorably discharged. Ms. Watson is one of four siblings. Busily, she found the time to raise two biological children and foster care three additional jewels.

Organizationally, she serves as President, Kappa Epsilon Psi Military Sorority, Inc; current (President) Most Ancient Matron, Heroines of Jericho; Inner gatekeeper, Order of Golden Circle. She has been gainfully employed at Fort Eustis as Human Resource Specialist for the past 16 years. To be more active, she has a nonprofit organization which makes wigs for women who have suffered hair loss. Lastly,

Young Artists: Enter Public Art Competition In Huntersville Park

By Leonard E. Colvin Chief Reporter New Journal and Guide

The huge green space sitting at Tidewater Drive and Goff Street in the heart of the Historic Huntersville neighborhood section of Norfolk is getting a facelift.

by local young artists for display.

The City of Norfolk wants to see a unique piece of public art installed in Huntersville Park and has put out a request for artists to submit proposals.

coalition will lobby the city for funding for a marquee, with the site’s official name on it.

Next spring a community event dedicating the new features at the park will be held.

she owns a cleaning and packing business. Her committees from auditing to concentration of the sick and distress are planned for this retired military newly appointed Worthy Matron, the first for Pride of Hampton. Worthy Patron is Joseph Shears.

Other officers include Ms. Trinia Craddox, Associate Matron; Associate Patron PWP Kenneth Barbour; Conductress, Ms. Janet Wilkes-Gaskins; Associate Conductress Ms. Vanita Barbour; Secretary, PWM Debbie Phillips; treasurer, PWM Juneifure Vaughn. Trustees, PWMs Joya Peppers, Tallie Bynum and Ellen Stewart.

Serving as Marshal is Ms. Lorna Latibeaudiere; Flag bearers, PWMs, Ruby Gatling; Madeline Barnes and Ms. Brenda Fauntleroy. Sentinel is John Walker. Warder PWM Monica Hunt.

Star Points: Ms. Shelley Walker, Tillie Stringfield, Loretta Washington, Angela Tucker and Shantel Gainey.

Recently residents and patrons of the “Huntersville Park” which sits adjacent to the Huntersville Community Center have seen the installations of new playground equipment, construction of a new picnic shelter and soon resurfacing of the tennis courts.

According to city officials, the field, which is used for recreational football, will get a new set of goalposts and eventually a walking trail constructed around it.

The project is a collaboration between the Huntersville Civic League and the newly formed Huntersville Empowerment Coalition and the city.

One feature of the park’s renovation is the installation of public artworks crafted

This project is open to all artists over 18 years of age, but local artists of color are especially welcome to apply.

As described in the proposal request, they’re looking for “ ... bright, energetic artwork that relates the stories of Huntersville, celebrating its rich heritage and history.”

The Huntersville Empowerment Coalition, according to its Executive Director, Beatrice Garvin, said the group will continue to lobby for continued investment in the Huntersville community as well as improvements to the park going forward.

She said the coalition will lobby for internal and exterior upgrades to the 30,000 plus square feet Community Center that was built in 1975.

Also, Garvin said the

CHESAPEAKE

She said that the facelift and the dedication are part of an effort to make the site a destination for the entire city, not just Huntersville residents.

In describing what they are looking for in terms of artwork, the committee said it should be “pedestrian scale” yet attract attention from vehicles on the adjacent and very busy Tidewater Drive. The artwork must be made of durable, permanent materials that are safe and easily maintained, standing the test of time and the elements.

Deadline for submitting an application and work for the Public Arts competition is September 18.

For an application for the Public Arts competition and requirements go to norfolkarts.net or Contact Email: karen.rudd@ norfolk.gov

NAACP TO AWARD RESIDENTS AT FREEDOM FUND EVENT

CHESAPEAKE

The Chesapeake NAACP will host its Annual Freedom Fund Fundraising event on September 23, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, 1765 South Military Highway, Chesapeake, VA 23320.

The 2023 Theme is “Remembering Our Lineage And Supporting Our Legacy.”

During the event The Freedom Fund Honoree Award will be given to residents

in the city of Chesapeake that have supported the NAACP values, mission, and vision and made a significant contribution to Chesapeake and willing to support equality and justice for all.

The ticket is $50 which covers your lunch voucher and designates $30 to be used by the branch for community activism.

For tickets and more information, visit NAACPChesapeakeVP1@gmail.com.

WM Kimbe Watson

Rivka

Continued from page 4B

Three basic concepts must prevail: First, there is the recollection of the past. This is remembering that the Lord has brought us from a mighty long way ...” When I think of the goodness of the Lord ... If it had not been for the Lord on my side, tell me

where would I be?”

Second, there is the affirmation of the present. “The Lord is blessing me right now; He woke me up this morning and started me on my way ... Great is Thy Faithfulness, O, Lord My Father; There Is No Shadow Of Turning With Thee ...”

Third, there is the Eternal Hope based on Jesus. “Some glad morning when this life is over, I’ll fly away...Just as soon as my feet strikes Zion ...”

Finally, when it’s preaching time – it’s Shouting Time. You will hear expressions as, “Watch yourself Preacher; Take your time now; Well, that’s all right.”

The Black Church is our affirmation of life. Life is worth living. No matter what we are going through, Jesus will take care of us… “Weeping May Endure For A Night, But Joy Cometh In The Morning.”

Blessings and Shalom

TORY LANEZ RECEIVES 10 YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR SHOOTING MEGAN THEE STALLION

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

@StacyBrownMedia

After a series of delays, legal maneuvers, and tumultuous proceedings that have stirred controversy within and beyond hip-hop, a California judge has sentenced rapper Tory Lanez to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion.

The sentencing comes after a Los Angeles jury, in December, found Lanez guilty of all three charges linked to the July 2020 shooting in Hollywood Hills. Lanez, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted of assault with a semi-automatic firearm, possession of a loaded unregistered firearm within a vehicle, and reckless discharge of a firearm.

Megan Thee Stallion, whose real name is Megan Pete, had accused Lanez of shooting her in after they exited an SUV they’d been

traveling in.

LosAngeles County District Attorney George Gascón said since the shooting, Lanez had repeatedly tried to intimidate Megan.

“Through the past three years, [Lanez] engaged in a consistent pattern of behavior aimed at intimidating [Stallion], muzzling her, and obstructing her from defending herself and sharing her version of events,” Gascón said.

“Despite enduring physical violence, verbal assaults, and endeavors to publicly disgrace her, she exhibited remarkable strength by recounting the events of that pivotal night to both the jury and the world.”

The district attorney added that he’s hopeful Megan’s courage would inspire others who confront violence and hesitate to come forward.

“Numerous individuals in our community confront acts of violence from those in close proximity every day,

BOOKWORM REVIEW

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

ALTHEA: THE LIFE OF TENNIS CHAMPION ALTHEA GIBSON

often feeling powerless to come forward,” he stated.

“I trust that [Stallion’s] bravery will kindle a sense of optimism for those grappling with helplessness.” He also read a statement issued by Megan.

“Every day I think of others across the world who are victims of violence and survive,” the multiple Grammy award-winning artist stated.

“It is truly the most powerless feeling, especially when you question whether the justice system can truly protect you.

“Fortunately, the district attorney’s office fought for me. I’m incredibly grateful to them and the jury for the attention to the evidence and siding with the truth. But if it can happen to me, imagine those who lack the resources and support systems to help them.”

Lanez has vowed to appeal his conviction.

Love-all. It sounds like a sweet way to start a game, doesn’t it? But you know the score: nobody’s made any points in this tennis game. Basically, the score is zero-zero but things could change with one good backhand shot. As in the new book “Althea” by Sally H. Jacobs, tennis, like life, moves quickly.

No one knew the significance of that day in 1941. Mostly, it was just another afternoon at one of Harlem’s elite Black tennis clubs, a club that enjoyed a recent surge of popularity in a sport that wasn’t just for white people. “Negro” players embraced tennis in great numbers, too, and on that day in Harlem, spectators watched as a sullen, “skinny thirteenyear-old [Black] girl” smacked around a few balls as if she wanted to punish them.

Young Althea Gibson treated tennis balls with the same aggression she had received.

She was born in the South but raised in Harlem after an aunt offered to bring baby Althea north during the Great Migration.

Once reunited with her parents, Althea had a shaky

“Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson”

By Sally H. Jacobs ©2023, St. Martin’s Press $32,

464 pages

relationship with them: by the time she was twelve, her father beat her, teaching her to fight the hard way. He punched her regularly until she “’tore him up’” one day.

Later, she used her fists on the streets, where she spent most of her time. She shoplifted to eat, spent hours watching “the flickers” and she “found other kinds of competition that absorbed her as much as fighting ...” She bested most boys at ball sports – once even challenging Sugar Ray Robinson to bowl against her, which led to a lifelong friendship. She loved basketball but tennis is where she excelled.

In 1938, Gibson was named New York City’s paddle tennis champion,

which gained her a coach. Her appearance at that elite club in 1941 led to formal tennis lessons. The following year, she attracted the attention of two wealthy doctors who took her under their wings and smoothed her rough edges.

And then they set their sights on the big tournaments...

At a time in history when we see Black athletes on fields and courts as an everyday thing, it’s important to remember who helped put them there.

Author Sally H. Jacobs tells the almost-forgotten story of one woman whose struggle to win wasn’t just in her sport.

In that way, “Althea” is a very nice surprise. Jacobs doesn’t soften Gibson’s early lifestory and with that, readers will get a true sense of the steeliness that Gibson possessed even as a young girl. Other stories hint that Gibson was a complicated person, androgynous, “aggressive,” often angry, impatient, and driven. This, and the explanations of the game and the times and social mores in Gibson’s lifetime make it clear that not saying Gibson’s name in the same breath with Jackie Robinson and Jesse Owens is a grave mistake.

Sports fans, don’t miss this biography. Black history scholars, you want it. Tennis lovers, there’s a lot of tennis here, so make a racquet for it. “Althea” is a grand slam.

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