NJG | Vol. 123, No. 34 - Aug 23, 2023

NEW JOURNAL & GUIDE

NEWJOURNAL &

60 YEARS LATER, REPORT SHOWS ECONOMIC EQUALITY IS ‘STILL A DREAM’

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

Sixty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a groundbreaking new report has laid bare the stark truth of ongoing Black economic inequality in the United States.

Titled “STILL A

THIS WEEKEND’S MARCH

The 60th Anniversary March program at the Lincoln Memorial will begin at 8 a.m. and conclude at 1 p.m. At the program’s close, march lineup instructions will be announced from the stage and all marching speakers and special guests will join the march lineup. Attendees not marching should remain in place or depart from the Memorial once the program concludes.

DREAM: Over 500 Years to Black Economic Equality,” the report, coauthored by prominent experts Dedrick AsanteMuhammad, Chuck Collins, Omar Ocampo,

and Sally Sim, and published by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), underscores the enduring disparities faced

by Black Americans and highlights the pressing need for concerted action to address these disparities.

“Sixty years ago, Dr. King observed that

REPORTER FOR GUIDE RECALLS COVERING FIRST GREAT MARCH

By Leonard E. Colvin

Chief Reporter New Journal and Guide

Two weeks before the 1963 March on Washington, D.C., Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was in Hampton Roads talking to various groups in the hope of building support for August 28, 1963 event.

Malverse Nicholson recalls covering King’s visit to the region for the Norfolk Journal and Guide.

Now, Nicholson, 85, is part of a very unique class of journalists: one of the last living African American reporters who covered the first March on August 28, 1963.

Come August 26, members of King’s Family and representatives from various Civil Rights Groups will re-stage the 60th Anniversary of the Great March at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.

Nicholson from 1962 to 1968, according to an October 5, 1968 edition, was a general assignment and Sports Reporter for the GUIDE. He held other media-related positions before joining the staff at Norfolk State University, starting in 1979, first as Assistant to the Vice President for Development, then Assistant to President Harrison B. Wilson and the school’s Legislative Affairs Office. He retired from NSU in 2000.

In 1963, Nicholson covered an event for the GUIDE at Peanut Park in Suffolk which King attended. King also visited

Dr. King In Norfolk Before The March

America has defaulted on this promissory note to Black citizens,” stated Chuck Collins, an IPS senior scholar who directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good in Washington, D.C.

“Six decades later, despite incremental progress on some fronts, the check of opportunity has still come back with insufficient funds.”

Dedrick AsanteMuhammad, Chief of Race, Wealth, and Community

for NCRC, lamented, “It is deeply troubling that, sixty years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Black economic equality remains nothing more than a dream for most Black Americans.”

“The revelation that it would take more than 500 additional years to close the economic gap for Black Americans is a stark reminder of the systemic inequities that persist,” Asante-Muhammad asserted. see March, page 8A

Voter Suppression In Chesapeake? 2 Early Sites Closed

By Leonard E. Colvin Chief Reporter New Journal and Guide

The Chesapeake City Council voted on August 15 to designate four public libraries as early voting centers for the upcoming November 7 General Election.

But none of them are located in the majority African-American sections of Virginia’s second-largest city, including the Cuffee and Camelot Community Centers.

Starting October 23 to November 4, residents of Chesapeake can vote early at the Major Hilliard, Russell Memorial, Central and Indian River library branches.

Residents also can vote by mail or at the General Registrar’s Office 45 days prior to the General Election on November 7.

Black civic and political leaders are concerned that the city did not include the Cuffee Community Center or the Camelot Community Center to vote early.

Dr. Ella Ward

various venues in Norfolk, where he stayed at the then new Golden Triangle Hotel downtown.

Nicholson recalled convincing King to take a picture with him in the

hotel.

Nicholson, 23, and married with two children, also was an English and Journalism teacher at Crestwood High at the same time.

He wrote about events at Crestwood and in 1962, John Q. Jordan, the GUIDE’s Executive Editor, impressed with his skills, had hired him. see Nicholson, page 5A

WOMEN’S GROUP ISSUES APPEAL TO HIGHLIGHT PEACE IN OCTOBER

Special to the New Journal and Guide

During October 2023, the 12th Annual Month of NonViolence, Families, Voter Rights and Opportunities, will take place across America. Twenty states have signed on to participate in activities that support nonviolence and promote peaceful coexistence among diverse communities. The annual effort is led by Black Women for Positive Change, (BW4PC) “to find ways to

stop the growing epidemic of mass shootings and individual violence,” according Dr. Stephanie Myers and Honorable Daun S. Hester, National Co-Chairs, Black Women for Positive Change.

This year’s focus is on promoting “Peace Circles,” that teach young people and adults how to improve

communications, resolve differences and ways to de-escalate fighting and violence. The effort to expand Restorative Peace Circles, is organized BW4PC, along with Good Brothers, Millennials and GenZs.

“We must teach youth and adults how to change their personal, family and community cultures, so

Enrollment Growth Explosion At NSU

The NSU Class of 2027 is currently moving into their residence halls on the Norfolk State campus, as the university expects to have more than 6,000 students attending classes.

see page 1B

The Cuffee Center Precinct serves a community that is 54 percent AfricanAmerican in South Norfolk, according to Chesapeake Councilwoman Dr. Ella Ward, the lone vote against the move.

She said that many elderly African-Americans and those without reliable transportation would be deterred from using the early voting option.

Ward and representatives of the Chesapeake NAACP voiced their opposition to the council’s decision on the night of the vote.

The Chesapeake Electoral Board approved the changes at the behest of the city’s General Registrar Mary Lynn Pinkerman.

The board swapped the Camelot Community Center for Major Hillard Library, which has been the location for the Deep Creek area in years past, with only about a mile difference. They eliminated both the Greenbriar Library and the Cuffee Community Center.

That leaves only four locations instead of the six they had last year.

see Voter, page 8A

Smooth Jazz Nights

violence can be avoided,” stated the National CoChairs in a press release.

“We have worked for 12 years with government leaders, civic leaders, faith leaders, educators, and the business sector, to put a priority on violence prevention and to promote de-escalation of violence. see Peace, page 8A

During October 2023, the 12th Annual Month of NonViolence, Families, Voter Rights and Opportunities, will take place across America, the attorney claimed.

The Cuffee Center Precinct serves a community that is 54 percent African-American in South Norfolk, according to Councilwoman Dr. Ella Ward, the lone vote against the move.

NORFOLK

The 40th Annual Norfolk Waterside Jazz Festival went off without a hitch, great weather and all! New Journal and Guide Publisher Brenda H. Andrews, displays newspaper’s sponsorship banner. see page 7A

Malverse Nicholson (at left) was a 23-year-old GUIDE reporter when Dr. King visited the area in 1963. Behind King is Norfolk pastor and local March leader, Rev. Milton A. Reid, with his young daughter Maravia, and peeping between King and Maravia is daughter Michelle.

Photo: CourtesyofMalverseNicholson

Photo: WandaCamm

OKLA. SUPREME COURT REVIVES TULSA LAWSUIT

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

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal challenging the dismissal of a lawsuit to secure reparations for the last three remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The decision comes after the lower state court dismissed the case in July, prompting the survivors to take the matter to the state’s highest judicial authority.

The attorney representing the survivors said his clients are pleased with the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision, even though the exact hearing schedule is unknown.

Lessie Benningfield Randle (108 years old), Viola Fletcher (109 years old), and her brother Hughes Van Ellis (102 years old) have filed a lawsuit against the city of Tulsa.

The lone survivors are seeking reparations for the ongoing difficulties their families experienced after the tragic 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The trio resided in Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood, which was decimated during the racially motivated massacre. Their lawsuit seeks relief for the damage inflicted during the massacre, labeling it a “public nuisance.”

The survivors also seek to recover unjust enrichment gained through the exploitation of the tragic event.

Earlier, Judge Caroline Wall dismissed the case with prejudice based on the city’s argument that it should not be held liable.

City officials contended that a mere historical association does not grant the right to seek compensation from any project connected to the Tulsa Race Massacre.

The victims turned to the state’s highest court, asking the justices to let them testify before they die.

They insisted that they wanted to share their experiences of the massacre and how it affected them and the Greenwood community.

The survivors’ legal

Multiple Cases Dropped In

Tyre Nichols’ Death

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal challenging the dismissal of a lawsuit to secure reparations for the last three remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

team argued that Judge Wall’s ruling imposed an unjust and impractical requirement on parties alleging public nuisance claims.

“If this truly is a nation of laws and a state based on the law, then my clients, the last known survivors of the massacre should be able to go to court and have a court of law determine what occurred,” asserted Damario SolomonSimmons, a national civil rights attorney and founder of Justice for Greenwood. He stressed the importance of survivors being able to bring their case to court to evaluate the harm and address the problems caused by the widespread destruction.

The survivors’ lawyers argued that the District Court’s ruling requires too much detail in requesting solutions for public nuisance claims, even before the legal proceedings are complete.

This requirement, they argued, is unsupported by Oklahoma’s notice pleading code or legal precedent.

The lawyers also said that the District Court allowed the city to break a promise made in open court.

In that promise, city officials agreed not to file new motions to dismiss the survivors’ claims about unjust enrichment.

However, the city filed another motion to dismiss, which the District Court erroneously granted.

“This is a fight for righteous justice and redress. It’s not about anything other than advancing this case according to the law as it is written,” SolomonSimmons emphasized.

He called upon the Supreme Court to meticulously review the law and swiftly overturn Wall’s erroneous decision to dismiss the case.

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

The district attorney’s office in Tennessee has dismissed between 30 percent and 40 percent cases linked to the five former officers facing seconddegree murder charges in the death of Tyre Nichols.

Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy said his team had examined approximately 100 cases involving the accused officers. He noted that the team discovered numerous decisions that could face reversal.

Mulroy’s spokesperson, Erica Williams, said charges have already been reduced in approximately 12 other cases involving the ex-Memphis Police officers, in addition to the dismissed cases.

The district attorney forwarded four cases to the U.S. attorney’s office for alleged excessive force.

According to Mulroy, the five officers’ blatant lack of credibility throughout the charges also were considered in making these decisions.

The brutal beating of Nichols, 29, captured national attention with civil rights advocates and others quickly denouncing the officers’ actions.

After the release of video of the beating taken from officers’ body cameras, national outcry grew louder.

The Department of Justice recently launched an investigation into the use of force and arrest practices within the Memphis Police Department.

The episode added to an ongoing series of incidents between the police and the Black community, sparking protests and renewing discussions about police brutality and the need for police reform in the United States.

Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Emmitt Martin, Justin Smith and Demetrius Haley, are the five officers, who were almost immediately arrested.

They have pleaded not guilty to an array of criminal charges, including seconddegree murder.

Authorities said the officers fatally assaulted Nichols after a routine traffic stop.

The officers were part of the Scorpion crime suppression team, a unit now disbanded since Nichols’ death.

While Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis dissolved the unit, some members joined other divisions within the department.

The Department of Justice recently launched an investigation into the use of force and arrest practices within the Memphis Police Department.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke from the Civil

Rights Division noted that even in a predominantly Black city like Memphis, there appears to be a potential disparity in traffic enforcement, disproportionately affecting Black drivers.

The Justice Department initiated a separate review in March, focusing on use-offorce policies, de-escalation strategies, and specialized units within the Memphis Police Department.

Federal investigators are now delving into the specifics of Nichols’ arrest and subsequent death. Nichols’ mother sued the city and its police chief because of her son’s death.

“I think the Tyre Nichols case harmed MPD’s credibility,” Mulroy told reporters.

“I think the DOJ investigation is going to help with that. Either they’re going to find problems and then they’ll give solutions to them, or they don’t find problems and that’ll be good.

“I don’t see the existence of the DOJ investigation as being a threat to the credibility that potential jurors would give to MPD testimony. If anything, I see it as a cure for any such problem.”

August 22, 1925

Garvey’s Paper Repudiates Cox and John Powell

NORFOLK

John Powell and Earnest

S. Cox of Richmond, prime movers in the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America, an organization dedicated to the “saving” of the White race have been making the public impression that the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Anglo-Saxon Clubs stand for one and the same thing. But recently they were repudiated in an editorial which appeared in last week’s issue of the Negro World, Marcus Garvey’s newspaper.

The Negro World says, “We are against them because they are against us, and we protest that they have no authority to use Mr. Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) to further their infamous propaganda of isolation and degradation of the Negros in American life.”

Several local people who have read the editorial in the Negro World sense something amiss in the situation as created by the repudiation of Cox and Powell when it is known they have recently been the guests of both the Richmond and local branches of the UNIA and have delivered addresses which at times received vociferous applause from Garvey followers.

The Negro World said they have no authority to use Garvey and the Association to further their use of propaganda. At the same time branches of the UNIA are hiring city auditoriums for Cox to use to spread his “Infamous propaganda.”

Observers who have closely scrutinized this anomalous situation reason that either the Negro World or Garvey is cloaking something or there is a serious misunderstanding within the ranks of the UNIA. The Negro World Editorial said, “A

movement has been started in Virginia with headquarters in Richmond which appears to have more than one name such as the White Americans Society, the Anglo-Saxon Clubs and the like, whose purpose it is to segregate and drive the Negro out of American life whether he wants to be driven out or not.

“The contentions are that the Negro has no future in the United States, he should have no contact or association with White people in any of the thoughts or efforts of the nations. ‘Race purity’ is the slogan that the AngloSaxon clubs have adopted. Under this heading, they would make a pariah of the American Negro and drive him out of the country.”

Powell recently saw Garvey in Atlanta and has been using the visits as a club with which to smash the Negro’s head. He claims that Garvey assured him that he has the “fullest support” of his organization.

Garvey tells us that the extent of the assurance is that he believes in the doctrine of “race purity” and “Africa for Africans.”

The Norfolk Journal and Guide has been giving much space to its Richmond correspondence in playing up the alleged alliance of Garvey with Powell and Cox. Cox has written a pamphlet headed ‘Let My People Go’ and dedicated it to Garvey, but there is nothing in it that Garvey can subscribe to except the principle of ‘race purity’ and ‘African for Africans.’

All the propaganda to rule the Negro out of citizenship and American life is foreign to the main purpose and Garvey could not subscribe.

Ending Segregated Federal Bureaus Up

To Senator Butler

BOSTON

A direct attack on federal segregation resulting in the starting of a positive move to eliminate it was made this week here at a faceto-face interview with the Chairman of the National Republican Committee

in an audience granted by Senator W. M. Butler whose campaign for return the U.S. Senate.

Rev. D. L. Ferguson opened the appeal, Secretary William Monroe Trotter elaborated on the prevalence and injury of the practice and urged Butler to remove it through his power as national party chairman and chief advisor to the President; suggesting the League supports the party in the belief that with a president and a Chairman both from Massachusetts, segregation will be removed,

Senator Butler said he was opposed to segregation and would work against it. While it was a matter of principle and he had been told there was little of it in Washington, yet his mind was open as to its extent.

He did not favor legislation against it as segregation was an executive and administrative matter. He said he would introduce the Dyer Bill at the coming session. He might not be able to have the way on segregation but would try and would conference with the representatives of the league.

( Editor’s Note: Segregation of the races in the federal workplace in the various cabinet offices was imposed by the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson. )

The Wife Turns Beatings On Her Husband

NORTH CAROLINA

Mrs. Will Walker of Dunn, North Carolina has turned the other way the beatings she has been regularly receiving at the hands of her husband.

On several occasions in the past, Will Walker has been fined and served time on charges of wife beating, states a dispatch from Dunn.

But last week Mrs. Walker was in court with a charge of beating her husband. Will Walker asked the indictment and implored the court to protect him from the attacks of his wife, it is said. Mrs. Walker was assessed the cost.

August 22, 1953

Edition of the Guide

“I Loved Him,” Says Bride, 22; “Like Them Young,” Says Groom, 111”

NORTH CAROLINA

“When I first saw him two years ago in Washington, N.C., I knew that I loved him but did not think of marriage at the time ...”

“I like them young. Can’t stand old women. They fuss too much and cost too much to keep around.”

These statements are a thumbnail summary of the wooing and wedding of 111-year-old Alexander Ogman and 22-year-old Clyde Mae Godard

The Pitt County newlyweds can’t understand why their marriage should be of so much interest to so many people. With broad smiles covering their faces, the bridegroom of five scores and eleven years said, “They come, and they come asking questions and taking pictures.”

This has been taken good-naturedly. The only part that got under his skin was when the “white folks laughed at me when we went for the license.”

Sitting on the decaying porch of his three-room shack, it was hard to believe that this man was really 11 years past 100 his claim was steadfastly held. The only time his age has been questioned, Ogman said, was recently when a white neighbor who is 82 called and stated he knows Ogman is nearer to 120. A person of robust build

and large frame he still has four of his original teeth. His face is not wrinkled, without any trace of baldness. His slow gait and difficulty to stand after sitting for a long time belie his statement that “I can outwork any man you put beside me.”

Crowd At Rites of Slain Special Police Officer VIRGINIA BEACH

More than 150 automobiles, according to police estimates, were in the procession Thursday making up the funeral cortege for Hezikiah Little Jr., special police officer who was instantly killed by a pistol bullet at Seaview Beach on August 8. The funeral services were held at St. Mark’s AME Church in Oceana with the pastor Rev. D. W. Mack officiating, assisted by Revs. David Wright and Frank Waters.

Escorting Norfolk County police handled the many cars from Atlantic Park in London Bridge, the route the procession had to take to avoid blocking Virginia Beach Blvd. After turning at London Bridge three more miles had to be covered before reaching the church.

Music was furnished by the senior and junior choirs under the direction of organist Emma Hairston. A sermon was rendered by Raymond Graves. There was a perfusion of flowers.

The chapel was filled, and many people were forced to remain outside.

Interment was in Seatack Cemetery with Taylor Funeral Services in charge of arrangements.

According to the police investigation, Special Officer Little was struck by a bullet fired by a fellow special officer who intervened in a scuffle in which the victim was engaged with a soldier at the resort.

Fellow officer Overton Jenkins, a resident of South Norfolk, is being held under a $2,500 bond on a charge of manslaughter.

The soldier Alvin Spruill stationed at Fort Eustis was shot in the hip during the altercation which led to Little’s death.

Clyde Mae Godard (22) and Alexander Ogman (111)

PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIOLOGY VIRGINIA TECH

THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON

By Wornie Reed, Ph.D.

Monday, August 28th, marks the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. On a typically hot summer day in D.C., more than 250,000 of us gathered to make a civil rights statement.

There were many speeches. Of course, the mesmerizing “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the most iconic speeches in American history. However, I wish to call attention to the speech by John Lewis, then the 23-yearold President of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). It is notable because other leaders censored his speech. On the afternoon of August 27th, Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle saw a copy of Lewis’ speech and objected to the following statement, among others:

“To those who have said, ‘Be patient and wait,’ we must say that ‘patience’ is a dirty and nasty word. We cannot be patient, we do not want to be free gradually. We want our freedom, and we want it now.”

Scheduled to give the opening invocation, the archbishop called the White House to complain since the White House had given its blessing to the event (Perhaps I will address later what I thought at the time about the White House providing its approval –or disapproval – of a civil rights protest event.)

Boyle was horrified. He called Bayard Rustin, who organized and coordinated the whole event, and informed him that he would withdraw if Lewis were allowed to deliver this speech. He objected to Lewis calling “patience” a dirty and nasty word.

Rustin had a meeting with Lewis that evening, explaining that regarding patience that way was offensive to the Catholic Church. Lewis removed the reference to patience as a “dirty and nasty word” but kept the rest.

Rustin promised there would be more editing the next day before the occasion. Bobby Kennedy heard about the speech and was not pleased.

The next day at the Lincoln Memorial, Lewis was met by other leaders who opposed his speech’s

TRUE?

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

(TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

So shortly before he was scheduled to speak, (John) Lewis was shuffled into a security guard room behind the Lincoln statue, where A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rev. Eugene Carson Blake of the National Council of Churches pressured him to tone down the speech.

tone, including liberal union leader Walter Reuther and NAACP leader Roy Wilkins. But Lewis was opposed to changing the address any more.

So shortly before he was scheduled to speak, Lewis was shuffled into a security guard room behind the Lincoln statue, where A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rev. Eugene Carson Blake of the National Council of Churches pressured him to tone down the speech.

Lewis objected to softening his speech.

However, in addition to King and Rustin, the great A. Philip Randolph, the chair of this March on Washington, prevailed upon him. I say “this March on Washington” because Randolph led the so-called “March on Washington Movement.”

He was a trade unionist and civil rights leader who was influential in the AfricanAmerican struggle.

He founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and brought them into the AFL-CIO, where he was Vice-President, winning their first major contract with the Pullman Company in 1937. He started the March on Washington movement to pressure the U.S. Government. He complained about Blacks being shut out of employment in industries with federal contracts, warning President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 that unless he did something about this, he would lead 100,000 protesters in the streets of Washington, D.C.

President Roosevelt’s response was Executive Order 8802, barring discrimination in defense industries and federal bureaus and creating the Fair Employment Practices

Committee. This enabled Blacks to begin working in the war industries.

In 1948 Randolph and his March on Washington Movement demanded that the government integrate the armed forces and threatened civil disobedience. Fearful of righteous widespread civil disobedience and needing the Black vote for his re-election campaign, President Harry Truman ordered an end to military discrimination “as quickly as possible.”

In the 1930s and 1940s, Randolph undoubtedly led the way for the later civil rights movement. As John Lewis described the situation, this venerable hero looked at him with tears and pleaded. “I’ve waited my whole life for this opportunity. Please don’t ruin it.”

Consequently, Lewis relented.

Blake did not like the words “Black masses” and “revolution,” saying it sounded communistic. But Randolph defended Lewis for those terms, saying he used them himself. So, the two references to “Black masses” were trimmed to one, and “We are now involved in a serious revolution” became “We are involved in a serious social revolution.”

Lewis also softened his comparison of the coming days of the civil rights movement to Sherman’s march through the South. However, even with the changes, Lewis’ speech made its intended points.

The original text of John Lewis’s speech was too militant for the older civil rights leaders; however, it was mild compared to the speeches of the subsequent two SNCC presidents, Stokely Carmichael and Rap Brown.

For so long now, many of us have been asking ourselves if Donald Trump is going to escape accountability again for his gross behavior. We are afraid he will enjoy the benefit of being white? For what like seems forever, we have heard Trump’s insults, his bragging about being able to walk down Fifth Avenue, shoot somebody and get away with it!

Just imagine somebody who has had his hand on the trigger to start World War III talking that way! For those who knew the background of this man – how did he ever get elected to become an embarrassment and a danger to American democracy? As well, I ask of those who would still vote for him after nearly 100 serious indictments, why? So many still stand proud to be supporting him for another term as President! These are people who claim to love America more than anybody, but they are still willing to vote for him next time around!

I remember when Colin Kaepernick took a knee to help America become great for all of us, and he got punished severely. Roger Stone, after being convicted 3 years ago and being sentenced to over three years in prison, but his old buddy, Donald Trump, pardoned him and he was able to remain on the outside to organize an effort to return the favor. Unfortunately, he was caught organizing and pushing a fake election plot for his old buddy, Trump! He was so at ease dictating the plan as though he was a master professor! Thank God, a brilliant Black woman has put together a Who’s Who in trying to wreck our democratic election in 2020. The stars of that show

appear to be Rudy Giuliani (once a superstar as Mayor of New York City – the Chief of the RICO Act – starring in “Who’s Who in the Georgia Indictments!” Now Trump won’t even pay is legal bills! The superstars joining Rudy are Mark Meadows – Donald Trump’s sidekick in the White House; John Eastman – one of Trump’s lawyers now wants to sever his case from Trump’s. He was once an attorney for Trump, founding and Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. Now he’s learning what a constitutional right is as a coconspirator with Trump.

After their lead coconspirator, they’re finding there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. They ran into a sister named District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia. When she announced their indictments, she was so cool, so professional, and so thorough in her work that people were applauding her for finding company for Trump – and not just the few I’ve named, but 18 coconspirators!

One wonders what Trevian Kutti (the publicist) and Harrison Floyd (AKA Willie Lewis Floyd) – Bossman of Black Voices for Trump) were thinking. Supporting Trump was bad enough, but being willing to go to jail for him is a bit much when they

should have known what Trump thinks about Black people – and what he has always done to harm us!

I hope they’re hearing what Trump says about Fulton County, Georgia’s District Attorney Fani Willis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Judge Tanya Chutkan handling Trump’s case in Washington, DC. He’s saying things out loud that no decent person would ever call such distinguished public officials. I wonder if Ms. Kutti and Mr. Floyd would like to hear what Trump thinks of them! I haven’t figured out why some Black people feel they must join people like Trump to do the dirty work against other Black people. I say dirty work because that is exactly what they knowingly did. With all the challenges we already face, it’s a pity how some of our people allow themselves to be used against us to help elect him again!

Dr. E. Faye Williams, President of TheDickGregorySociety.Org

THE SENSIBLE, THE MAD AND THE MISSING

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

The 2024 presidential race is taking shape. It looks like a choice between the sensible, the mad and the missing. Joe Biden seems intent on running on his record, a sensible route for the incumbent. His major challenger, the inescapable Donald Trump, is replaying his madcap candidacy –his program a mixture of resentment, racism, bluster and victimization. What’s missing are the big challenges that America can’t avoid and can’t seem to face.

Racist Lawlessness On Display In Georgia’s Trump Case

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

“With Trump, you don’t need to look for a dog whistle. It’s a bull horn when it comes to race. And I do think that’s deliberate. We’ve seen the – I mean, slanderous attacks that he has put out against Fani Willis, you know, alleged things I won’t even repeat. So, he’s not really hiding that he’s going to lean into that element, and this is, you know, taking place just outside of Atlanta. When you saw the courtroom, it was a lot of Black men and women who are serving in that courtroom … It’s textbook Donald Trump but it comes as no surprise.”

– Former White House Director of Strategic Communications

Alyssa Farah

If anything illustrates the depths to which Donald Trump and his supporters have sunk in responding to his racketeering indictment in Fulton County, Georgia, it’s his reference to those he falsely accuses of voter fraud as “riggers.”

MAGA extremists, who have been using the word as a substitute for the n-word on far-right social media sites, responded with racist delight.

Trump has put a dishonest,

racist, and misogynistic spin on the old legal adage: If the law is against you, pound the facts. If the facts are against you, pound the law. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.

But no amount of pounding and yelling can obscure the breathtaking lawlessness outlined in the sweeping indictment Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed this week against Trump and his 18 alleged co-conspirators. By charging them under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act Willis

has at last cast their brazenly corrupt conduct in the proper legal light.

While the narrowlyfocused federal indictment that Special Counsel Jack Smith filed against Trump earlier this month acknowledges six alleged co-conspirators, they are neither identified nor charged. Fulton County’s indictment of 18 coconspirators – and reference to 30 more unnamed, unindicted co-conspirators – illustrates the far-reaching scope of the massive scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election. see Morial, page 5A

In this first term, Joe Biden has surely exceeded expectations. He has broken with the conservative era’s trickledown economics, and passed major initiatives to rebuild America’s decrepit infrastructure, to revive manufacturing and move away from our disastrous trade policies, and to launch an industrial policy focused on renewable energy and energy efficiency.

He’s enjoyed record low unemployment even as inflation has plummeted, and real wages have started to go up. He’s voiced his support for unions and equal justice under the law, even if his initiatives in those areas have been blocked by Republicans and a couple renegade Democrats in the Senate. He will run as a competent leader who got things done.

Trump, who dominates the Republican field even as indictments rain down upon him, doesn’t really have an agenda – or rather his agenda is himself –“I alone can fix it.” He promises, for example, to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours, because he says he can. What he offers is grievance and theater. He rails against an America that is a wasteland, three short years after he made it great again. For substance, he offers postures – send

troops to the border, get tougher on the Chinese, double down on oil and coal and rollback climate and environmental legislation.

What’s missing in this face-off is the necessary, the set of challenges that we can’t avoid, but refuse to face. For example, America’s health care system fails us. It costs nearly twice as much per capita as the health systems of other advanced countries while providing worse care and far worse medical outcomes. Our life expectancy is declining, a stunning measure of its failure. Millions remain without health insurance. Many millions more struggle to afford the care that they need. Private equity barons are merging hospitals, purging nurses, and slashing services. Medicare is rapidly being privatized, even as costs soar and coverage declines. When I ran for president in 1988, I called for a national health care plan –Medicare for all.

see Jackson, page 5A

Inequality is at obscene extremes, but passing fair taxes that would enable us to strengthen Social Security and invest in public education faces a Republican Party that is universally opposed to lifting any taxes on the wealthy.

They ran into a sister named District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia. When she announced their indictments, she was so cool, so professional, and so thorough in her work that people were applauding her for finding company for Trump ...

Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.

Marc H. Morial

No amount of pounding and yelling can obscure the breathtaking lawlessness outlined in the Fulton County District Attorney’s indictment against Trump.

Morehouse And Jackson State Selected As Two of 10 National Maternal Health Research Ctrs.

By Rosaland Tyler

Associate Editor New Journal and Guide

Morehouse and Jackson State will soon operate two of the 10 Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence that will stretch from California to New York, thanks to a recent $24 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The new research centers will open at a time when more women are dying from pregnancy-related causes for several reasons. First, women are older when they give birth. The average age for a new mother is 30. The second reason is that new mothers, at this age, may have chronic but untreated health issues such as diabetes and heart disease. Each year in the U.S., 700 to 900 women die from pregnancy or childbirthrelated causes, and some 65,000 nearly die.

Black women are increasingly dying from pregnancy-related causes.

In 2021, the Black maternal death rate stood at 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in the U.S.

This past April, threetime Olympic medalist Tori Bowie, age 32, died while she was in labor, alone, in her Winter Garden, Fla. home (which was in foreclosure and did not have lights or running water). Her death not only aimed a spotlight on the fact that Black women are three times more likely than White women to die from childbirth-related causes such as eclampsia, hemorrhaging, and high blood pressure – her death also highlighted the impact that mental health issues may play in pregnancy-related deaths. Bowie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental-health condition that causes extreme mood swings.

When she died, she was eight months pregnant and weighed 96 pounds, according to news reports. According to NBC News, “Officials said they believe Bowie’s mental health played a role in how she handled what became an increasingly difficult

Morial

Continued from page 4A

Trump’s alleged criminal enterprise operated not only in Fulton County, but “elsewhere in the State of Georgia, in other states, including, but not limited to, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and in the District of Columbia.” Its members engaged in “various related criminal activities including, but not limited to, false statements and writings, impersonating a public officer,

Jackson

Continued from page 4A

Bernie Sanders repeated the call when he ran in 2016 and 2020. Congressional progressives led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal have introduced legislation and held hearings on a sensible plan that would save money while covering more people and lowering costs to patients. This issue isn’t in the debate – but health care costs and the crisis of care are escalating rapidly, and it simply cannot be avoided.

Or consider the continuing scourge of children in poverty. The expanded Child Tax Credit that Joe Biden succeeded in passing as part of his American Rescue Plan reached more than 61

Nicholson

Continued from page 1A

Nicholson was low man on the newsroom totem pole, he said. Thomas Young, who had been running the paper for several years, was in control.

His father, P.B. Young Sr., the paper’s founder, had passed a year before in 1962.

Jordan ran the news operation at the paper’s three-story headquarters on Church and Wide Streets.

Thomas Dabney, P.B. Young Jr., Sportswriter Cal Jacox and social writer Undine Young were still playing their trade as the senior reporters in their areas. Nicholson’s family resided in Lambert’s Point.

With King visiting Tidewater, as Hampton Roads was called then, news of the March was building, but the old hands at the GUIDE were not impressed, Nicholson recalled.

Malverse Nicholson

Nicholson said that he recalled all of the businesses in D.C. were closed, and the streets were empty of cars and pedestrians.

As time passed the Mall filled with commoners and celebrities and political royalties such as Dick Gregory, Sammy Davis,Jr., Charleston Heston, and others.

The Kennedy administration had been clashing with Alabama Governor George Wallace over desegregating the state’s main university.

King had launched his southern campaign in Alabama and Georgia. NAACP Leader Medgar Evers had been shot to death three months before in Mississippi.

Nicholson said he managed to convince a staff member of Bayard Rustin’s organizing team to give him copies of all of the speeches to be delivered that day, including Dr. King’s. He carried those back to Norfolk and the Editors used them to compile a story on the messages of the March.

pregnancy, one she dealt with without much assistance from friends, family or medical professionals.”

Neighbors saw Bowie sleeping on the floor at a local recreation center and another time, sleeping on a bench with groceries near her feet at a park near her house. According to the autopsy report, “possible complications” contributing to Bowie’s death include “respiratory distress and eclampsia.”

And this where the 10 newly funded Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence come in.

Specifically, the newlylaunched centers will gather and distribute data, in an effort to help guide clinical care and reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths. The grants are expected to last seven years and total an estimated $168 million, pending the availability of funds.

It is part of the NIH’s IMPROVE initiative that was launched in 2019 in response to high rates of pregnancyrelated complications and deaths. The centers of excellence will include 10 research centers, a data innovation and coordinating

forgery, filing false documents, influencing witnesses, computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to defraud the state, acts involving theft, and perjury.”

Omitted from the federal indictment was an alleged conspiracy to breach voting equipment and access voter data. “In Georgia, members of the enterprise stole data, including ballot images, voting equipment software, and personal voter information. The stolen data was then distributed to other members of the enterprise, including members in other states.” Nor does the federal indictment refer to a bizarre

million children in 36 million households. Experts estimated that it reduced childhood poverty by 30 percent. Surely it makes more sense and costs less to invest in head start, childcare and day care at the front side of life than welfare and jail care on the backside. Yet, the expanded tax credit was ended after one year – and childhood poverty in America is worse than any other industrial country. This list can go on.

Inequality is at obscene extremes, but passing fair taxes that would enable us to strengthen Social Security and invest in public education faces a Republican Party that is universally opposed to lifting any taxes on the wealthy. College debt is higher than credit card debt and makes it harder for the young to afford marriage or a home. Efforts to reduce it have been blocked.

hub and an implementation science hub, according to a recent NIH press release.

“Together, these institutions will work to design and implement research projects to address the biological, behavioral, environmental, sociocultural and structural factors that affect pregnancyrelated complications and deaths,” the NIH noted.

“They will focus on populations that experience health disparities, including racial and ethnic minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, those living in underserved rural areas, sexual and gender minority populations and people with disabilities.”

The 10 centers are located at Avera McKennan Hospital, Sioux Falls, S.D.; Columbia University, New York City; Jackson State University, Miss.; Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Michigan State University, East Lansing; Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta; Stanford University; Tulane University, New Orleans; University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, and the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

plan, advocated by Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, to use the military to seize voting machines around the country and re-run parts of the election.

Future historians will rely on Fulton County’s case, not the federal government’s, for the full story of one of the darkest chapters in American history. The meticulous work of Willis and her team is all the more remarkable given the constant abuse and threats of violence, incited by Trump, that his supporters have hurled at them. Regardless of the outcome, Team Willis as well as the witnesses and grand jurors whom MAGA extremists also have targeted, will emerge as the heroes.

Our military budget is at record heights, even as the Pentagon remains the greatest source of waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Yet our commitment to police the world – to maintain dominance in every region, on land, sea and space –demands even more. We have guided missiles but misguided leaders. The result is endless wars, constant conflict, and ever greater demands to spend ever more.

The sensible, the mad and the missing. Faced with the choice, Americans will no doubt vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump, the sensible over the mad and maddening. But it is the missing issues that will have the greatest impact on the daily lives of voters. The country desperately needs citizen movements and strong leaders who will expand the debate.

“They did not think much of it at all,” said Nicholson, who now lives in Chesapeake. “They did not think many people would attend. They thought it was going to be just another March with a few speeches. So, they gave the story to me. No one realized how much of a story and event it would turn out to be, otherwise, I would not have been assigned the story.”

Jordan, Nicholson recalled, bought him tickets for a charter bus sponsored by the Norfolk NAACP to D.C. which arrived in the nation’s capital around 10 a.m. on a Wednesday morning.

“The bus was full,” recalled Nicholson. “The only people I remember were Attorney J. Hugo Madison and Vivian Carter Mason. After we got off the bus, I picked up my press credentials, which allowed me to roam all over the place.”

“There were people from all over the country and I ran across some interesting stories of why people attended the March,” he recalled. “I managed to work my way to the front of the Lincoln Memorial, up the stairs, and got a spot near the podium. I got a good view of the sea of people the speakers were looking down at that day.”

Nicholson said he saw all of the key speakers milling about, waiting to make their speeches. What Nicholson and other reporters did not know was that all of the speeches had been screened by the Kennedy White House and March organizers.

The White House feared not only violence but political backlash because the March symbolized the growing power of the Civil Rights Movement led by Black people.

There was no violence. There were only three arrests of three white men, according to the Associated Press. Two were members of the NAZI Party who tried to stage counterprotests. The other man was caught with a loaded shotgun in his car.

The Freedom Rides and Sit-ins had got underway three years before.

Nicholson was tasked with capturing the views of the people and the atmosphere.

He did not recall much about any of the speeches before King, who had an approved and prepared speech.

But at the urging of Mahalia Jackson, King abandoned his prepared text and used his “I Have a Dream” oratory he had been delivering at venues prior to August 28.

It was the last captured legacy of the March.

“The speech fired people up,” said Nicholson. “I could see that the people were excited about what he said. That was the Legacy of the March.”

Nicholson said that most white newspapers gave little attention to the March.

“If it were not for the GUIDE and other Black Newspapers, the March would have gotten little coverage,” said Nicholson. “The March brought attention to Dr. King and the Movement. It reminded me of where we were at that time in history.”

“I am glad they are having an anniversary,” he said. “It will show the current generation just how far we have come ... and how far we have to go as a people.”

EXCERPTS FROM I MARCHED FOR FREEDOM! NORFOLK JOURNAL

AND GUIDE SEPTEMBER 7, 1963

By Malverse Nicholson

“I left Norfolk at approximately 5:30 a.m. ... to participate in the most dramatic and profound experience that I perhaps will ever be involved in so long as I shall live ...”

• “On every hand were concession stands selling hot dogs, sodas and icecream. And there was a makeshift book store-magazine center stand featuring books by Negro authors. One such book, ‘Another Country,’ by James Baldwin, was apparently moving fast. There were also colorful postal cards bearing pictures of famous Negroes and a magazine entitled ’50 Facts About the Negro That Can Be Proved.’”

• “The mood was a happy one with marchers joyfully chanting freedom songs: ‘Freedom, Freedom, Freedom,’ ‘We Shall Not Be Moved,’ etc.

“Integrated groups posed for pictures to cherish the moments of the demonstration for a lifetime. By 11 a.m., the crowd had swollen to a proportion that it was spilling into Constitution Avenue.”

• “I saw Negroes and whites join hands and voice singing ‘We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.’”

• “I saw an elderly woman carrying a placard saying, ‘We Want Freedom, Now.’ Her voice was firm, but she

showed no anger as she said, ‘I want my grandchildren to have some of the things that are denied me.’

• “I saw the children from Prince Edward County, Va., who have been without formal education for several years. Their NAACP Youth Council president said they were overjoyed to be a part of the demonstration.”

• “When the soulful Mahalia Jackson sang, “I’ve Been Buked And I’ve Been Scorned,” it brought tears to the eyes of many, especially the elderly persons whose faces mirrored the pain they have suffered, and are still suffering because of segregation, intimidation, and the evils of second class citizenship.”

• “Then there was the climatic speech of the leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘Now is the time,’ cried Dr. King, ‘to make real the promises of democracy ... Free at last, free at last; thank God almighty, we are free at last.’”

• “Making my way back to the bus, and thinking back on the events of the day, I could not help but believe the demonstration was a success.

“It was peaceful.

“It was nonviolent.

“It showed the world the Negro is not satisfied with second class citizenship. It showed that some whites are sympathetic to the plight of the Negro.”

Olympic medalist Tori Bowie died alone during childbirth. Shown during the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.

Photo: ErikvanLeeuwen(Wikipedia).

The centers will focus on populations that experience health disparities, including racial and ethnic minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.

BRITISH SOUL ICON BILLY OCEAN ON STAGE AT RIVERS CASINO

PORTSMOUTH

Billy Ocean, the Grammy award-winning pop, soul and R&B sensation, is coming across the pond to The Event Center at Rivers Casino Portsmouth.

Recognized as Britain’s most commercially successful Black artist and songwriter, Billy Ocean will take the stage for one night only – Saturday, October 7, at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $39 and will go on sale today at 3 p.m.

A native of Trinidad, Billy Ocean is best known for his chart-topping hits like “Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)” and “When The

40th Annual Norfolk Jazz Festival Brings Smooth Vibes To Waterfront

Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going.” Ocean has collected several Gold and Platinum records across the world – drawing inspiration from soul singers like Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, and pop groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He has sold over 30 million records and his music has repeatedly reached the number-one spot on pop charts in the U.S., Australia, Germany, and the U.K. All patrons must be 21 years of age or older. For tickets and more information please visit RiversCasino.com/ portsmouth.

By Randy Singleton Community Affairs Correspondent New Journal and Guide

NORFOLK

The 40th annual Norfolk Jazz Festival brought the sounds of smooth jazz to the downtown waterfront this past weekend (Aug. 18-19).

Friday’s show featured the energetic lineup of saxophonist Kim Waters & keyboardist Kayla Waters, international pianist Keiko Matsui, and master saxophonist Gerald Albright.

Saturday’s show featured the powerhouse lineup of Kandace Springs, the trio of Jazz Funk Soul-Jeff Lorber, Everette Harp, and Paul Jackson, Jr., with Dave Koz & Friends-Candy Dulfer, Eric Darius, and vocalist

Maysa Leak closing out the evening. Thousands of fans sat in lawn chairs on the rolling hills of Town Point

Park enjoying the live performances, the view of the downtown waterfront, arts and crafts vendors, and a variety of cultural foods.

The New Journal and Guide was one of the principal sponsors of the 40th annual Norfolk Waterfront Jazz Festival.

Keiko Matsui

Kandance Springs

(L-R) Vickie Rogers, NJG Publisher Brenda H. Andrews and Congressman Bobby Scott

Gerald Albright

(L-R) Eric Darius, Maysa Leak, Dave Koz and Candy Dulfer

New Journal and Guide Publisher, Staff and Friends

Kayla Waters

Kim Waters

Photo: JamesRogers

PhotosbyRandySingleton

New Journal and Guide banner

Continued from page 1A

Sally Sim, a senior organizer, and project specialist at NCRC, emphasized the urgency of the situation.

“The sobering projection and findings of our report sixty years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom reinforce that the dream for economic equality for Black Americans remains unfulfilled,” Sim stated.

“On this historic anniversary, let us turn this report into a catalyst for meaningful action towards comprehensive solutions and public support for policies and initiatives that promote Black economic equality.”

Some key findings from the comprehensive report were that, despite modest advancements made by African-Americans since the 1960s, including reduced poverty rates, increased high school attainment, and lower unemployment rates, income disparities between Black and white Americans have only slightly improved.

The report exposes that in 2021, African-Americans earn 62 cents to every dollar earned by white families.

The report’s authors said, at this rate, achieving income parity would take an astonishing 513 years.

Further, the wealth gap between Black and non-Black

Peace

Continued from page 1A

We, the people of all backgrounds, races and religions, must find ways to stop the growing epidemic of mass shootings and individual violence.”

The Peace Circles Committee is led by Professor Renata Valree, of Peace in Education, in California, and Kimberly Best, CEO, Best Conflict Solutions LLC, in

Americans has experienced only marginal growth, with African-Americans possessing 18 cents for every dollar of non-Black wealth in 2019. If this pace continues, it will take approximately 780 years for Black wealth to match non-Black wealth.

Median household income for African-Americans has shown minimal growth, growing just 0.36 percent since the turn of the century. Strikingly, it remained lower than white median family income in 1963.

Even after over six decades, the Black-white homeownership divide persists.

Black homeownership has grown from 38 percent in 1960 to 44 percent in 2021, while white homeownership surged from 64 percent in 1960 to 74 percent in 2021. The report outlined a series of recommendations to combat Black economic inequality:

1. Advocate for full employment and guaranteed jobs to ensure equal economic opportunities for all.

2. Enact a substantial land and homeownership program to address the enduring homeownership gap between Black and white Americans.

Tennessee. Dr. Valree and Ms. Best stated, “We are aware that effective Peace Circles are used by Educators in many cities and states. We invite School Superintendents, principals, and teachers to expand this effort by organizing Peace Circles at their schools. School districts and educators can sign up at www.monthofnonviolence. org.

Individuals and groups who sign up will receive free Peace Circles Tool Kits. Also, connections will be made for persons interested in receiving

3. Commit to individual asset building, including financial education, asset matching programs, and supportive policies, to facilitate access to wealthbuilding opportunities for Black Americans.

4. Implement policies to reduce dynastic concentrations of wealth and power, tackling the structural barriers that impede economic progress for Black Americans.

5. Explore targeted reparations to address historical injustices and provide meaningful redress for the economic disparities Black Americans face.

The authors noted that, as the nation reflects on King’s enduring vision for equality and justice, the report serves as a sobering reminder that pursuing Black economic equality remains an unmet challenge in America.

“The findings of this report are sobering and demand immediate and comprehensive action to address the economic disparities faced by AfricanAmericans,” remarked Omar Ocampo, a researcher for the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at IPS.

“We must invest in transformative policies that address systemic racism and create an equitable society.”

advance training through a National Association for Community Mediation or local community mediation center.

Co-sponsors of the 12th Annual Month of NonViolence, Families, Voters Rights and Opportunities, and the Peace Circles initiative are National Black Nurses Association, Peace in Education, Best Conflict Solutions, National Association for Community Mediation, 100 Fathers Inc., Everytown for Gun Safety, Trusted Inc., Preeclampsia Foundation and Positive Change Foundation.

On the night of the council vote took a vote, Pinkerman said that turnout at the Cuffee site was only at 1 percent during the 2022 pre-general election early voting cycle.

The Registrar said the cost of operating six sites was a factor in the Electoral Board’s decision, too.

“I was upset,” Dr. Ward said. “There was no time for public comment for or against the item. They have reduced the number of early voting sites and Sunday voting for the same reasons.”

So far as the low voter turn in 2022, Ward said having a small turnout is not a good enough reason to get rid of that location.

“Because 1 percent turned out,” she asked. “Well, that’s better than zero percent and that 1% percent may not turn out when it’s time to vote and they do matter.”

That’s something Chesapeake resident David Washington, a member of the NAACP, agreed on when he said, “That 1 percent, if they don’t get an opportunity to vote early, they may not vote at all. So, you just denied a percentage of your taxpayers the opportunity to go vote because you’re worried about a percentage.”

Before the council’s vote, the state Democratic party sought to persuade Chesapeake officials to vote against the changes.

In a statement a day after the vote, the State Democratic party, spokesperson said in a statement, “The Va. GOP leadership in Chesapeake is pursuing a course of action that will make it more difficult for Virginians to vote. The locations that the Republicans seek to eliminate are in the heart of the Black community of Chesapeake. This action will unambiguously make it harder for Black

Virginians to cast their ballot and is unmistakably voter suppression.”

Dr. Ward was not the only African-American city leader who was upset about the change.

“We will not stand by (as the city closes) different localities that will hinder others from being able to exercise their right to vote,” said Chesapeake NAACP Interim President Dr. Shirley Auguste.

Dr. Auguste said that she is concerned about the changes for two reasons.

“It is not rational or logical” she said. “Voters should have all access to the ballot including early voting. They should have access to voting precincts within walking distance like Camelot and Cuffee Centers. Now they have to go all the way to Hilliard.”

She also said the action shows a lack of transparency.

Dr. Auguste said that the city failed to alert the community as required by state law. She said the Registrar claimed she placed the changes in a notice in the weekly publication “The Clipper.”

“But I looked for it and did not see it,” she told the GUIDE. “Also, many members of the council said they were not aware of the issue being placed on their agenda until they saw it the night of the vote

Dr. Ward noted that Chesapeake is the most Republican leaning city in Hampton Roads. There are no Democrats on the school board and no Black or Democratic constitutional officers in

the state’s second-largest city. At one time state and national Republicans detested early voting, which was a tool Democrats used to compete in elections. Republican states and locales have been passing laws around the nation to lower Black voter participation, thus Democratic party turnout.

But this year

Conservative Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin in his vow to recapture the State Senate and maintain control of the State House of Delegates has urged Republican voters to use early voting heavily.

If Republicans manage to secure both Houses of the General Assembly, Democrats fear a reversal of legislative progress in civil rights, voting rights, and women’s reproductive rights.

Dr. Ward is the lone Democrat on the 9-member Chesapeake City Council. The city is 29 Percent African-American.

State Senator Louise Lucas will face Republican Tony Goodwin in the 18th Senate District general election set for Nov. 7.

More than 60 percent of the 18th Senate District is in Chesapeake and the rest in Portsmouth. Democrats expect a heavy GOP turnout in Chesapeake come election day with the intent to defeat Lucas.

“This is a very crucial election. I think this is an example of an effort to suppress the Black vote,” said Ward. “But we have got to work hard to assure this does not work against us.”

The report serves as a sobering reminder that pursuing Black economic equality remains an unmet challenge in America.

We will not stand by (as the city closes) different localities that will hinder others from being able to exercise their right to vote ... Voters should have all access to the ballot including early voting.”

– Chesapeake NAACP Interim President Dr. Shirley Auguste

SECTION B COMMUNITY & MORE ...

NSU SEES ENROLLMENT GROWTH EXPLOSION

NSU NEWSROOM

Despite decreases in enrollment at some colleges and universities across the Commonwealth, Norfolk State University is in the midst of an enrollment explosion.

The Class of 2027 is currently moving into their residence halls on the Norfolk State campus, and they are moving in unprecedented numbers. The university is adjusting to accommodate as much of this growth as possible, say officials. They say the university is excited that more students are seeing the tremendous value of a Norfolk State education and the best is being done to make room for as many new students as possible.

The growth at NSU is not only based on new

students, but also the result of more returning students being present on campus this fall. According to university officials, retention numbers are moving in the right direction, which means more NSU students are continuing in their studies and ultimately headed to a successful graduation date in the near future.

Increased admissions and retention numbers are all positive signs for Norfolk State, but it doesn’t come without some growing pains. Norfolk State has the capacity to house 3,100 students on campus. This fall the university is looking to have over 6,000 students attending classes, which places a huge demand on the Office

of Housing and Residence

Life.

“While we would love to house all of our students directly on campus, the demand has exceeded our capacity. We have partnered with two local hotels to accommodate the high demand, and we are committed to ensuring those students have transportation to campus as well as on-site staff and security,” said Leonard Brown, VP of Student Affairs.

The campus is already exploring ways to expand its housing inventory, including construction of new residence halls and public-private partnerships to seek community support to address critical needs.

The enrollment boom is being attributed to

the national exposure that Norfolk State has received recently with its Top Ten Ranking for HBCUs by U.S. News and World Report, the Spartan Legion band performing in the 2023 Tournament of Roses Parade, the 2023 Women’s Basketball team winning the conference championship and competing in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, and numerous awards for NSU students by the White House, Target Corporation and Beyonce Knowles BeyGood Foundation.

“Now is our Time” is the mantra that is being whispered around campus, say officials, adding, “if this growth is any indication, the whisper will soon become a roar.”

Pharaoh Family Foundation Launch

HAMPTON ROADS

The Jay Pharaoh Fine Arts Scholarship awards program observed its 10th Anniversary recently with the Pharaoh Family Foundation Launch and Fund Raiser. Pharaoh, a stand-up comedian, impressionist and actor who was born and raised in Chesapeake, was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2010 to 2016. He continues to tour performing stand-up.

He was presented a Virginia General Assembly commendation from Del. Cliff Hayes of Chesapeake, thanking him for providing scholarships for Indian River High School students pursuing studies in the arts. Pharaoh graduated from Indian River in Chesapeake. In the future he plans to extend the scholarships to other deserving young people from other high schools as well.

STATUE UNVEILED IN LYNCHBURG HONORS FIRST BLACK MAYOR

New Journal and Guide Staff

LYNCHBURG, VA

A statue of Lynchburg’s fi rst elected Black mayor was recently erected at Fifth Street and Federal Street near downtown Lynchburg because advocates never gave up.

The statue honors Mayor Murrell W. Thornhill, who was fi rst elected to Lynchburg City Council in 1972 as the Ward II representative. He was elected mayor in 1990. Thornhill, also a civil rights activist during the Movement of the 60s, and 70s, was known popularly in the Black community as “Teedy.”

The statue is located at the business hub near Thornhill’s funeral home business where numerous Black merchants earned a living during the Jim Crow era. But their descendants ran into roadblocks while they were trying to erect a Thornhill monument,

which was unveiled on Saturday, Aug. 19, at 10 a.m.

Alvin Elliott, the chairman of the Fifth Street Community Development Corporation, said the statue has been in the works since 2015 and proponents had to raise $70,000 to complete the project, which hit multiple roadblocks, including the pandemic and a waiting period for

LOCAL VOICES

Nominate A Neighbor, Community Group For An U.P.L.I.F.T. Award

NORFOLK

Norfolk’s Department of Neighborhood Services recently announced the 11th Annual Neighborhood Expo and 4th Annual Community U.P.L.I.F.T. Awards coming to Northside Park on Saturday, Sept. 16, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This year’s Neighborhood Expo theme is “Ignite 2023” and is centered on sparking community connections by bringing neighbors, friends, civic leagues, community organizations and City departments together for a fun, engaging and inspirational event promoting unity and civic engagement across generations. One of the event highlights is the 4th Annual Community U.P.L.I.F.T. Awards. U.P.L.I.F.T. stands for Unity, Public Service, Leadership, Innovation,

Friendship and Teamwork and the awards honor individuals, civic leagues, community organizations, businesses, non-profits, and religious organizations who have served or benefited their neighborhoods and Norfolk residents. The awards are presented during the Neighborhood Expo from 2 to 3 p.m. Community U.P.L.I.F.T. Awards nominations are open and will be accepted through 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 1. Visit www.norfolk. gov/uplift for a nomination form and criteria. The Expo includes food trucks, music, raffles, exhibitors, entertainment, and prizes. Bring a lawn chair and dress comfortably as the Expo is entirely outdoors –light rain or shine. The event is free and open to all ages.

Hampton and Portsmouth Filling Slots For Election Workers and Candidates

HAMPTON ROADS

Sign up online, if you want to work as a 2023 poll worker in Hampton or sign up in person if you plan to launch a 2023 political campaign in Portsmouth.

Hampton poll workers will earn $125 a day for working from 5 a.m. to about 9 p.m. on Election Day, according to a recent news release on the city’s website.

Expect a long day, if you apply to work at the polls, the Hampton Voter Registrar’s Office stated on its website. “Whenever possible you will be placed in your ‘home’ precinct or

the precinct of your choice, so officials will likely see people they know. Campaign workers will earn $125.”

Meanwhile, the City of Portsmouth is urging political candidates to file their candidacy forms from Aug. 28 to Sept. 12. The City of Portsmouth currently has 15 open (elected) slots.

“All filings must be done in person,” a statement on the City of Portsmouth’s website explained. “The filing fee is $5 or submittal of a petition with fifty (50) signatures of qualified voters in the City.”

Carolina Bronze to work on the statue. Another Lynchburg Black mayor, Rev. Carl Hutchinson, Jr., whose family also operated a funeral home business in the 5th Street business hub, said the statue will be a reminder of Thornhill’s life and legacy. “As long as a person is remembered, they never die ... and so he is not dead,” said Hutcherson.

ABOUT-TO-BE “POSTMORTEM” OF FRIENDSHIPS WITH TWO OF THE WHITE PRIVILEGED

By Sean C. Bowers

On 66th Street in Virginia Beach where I grew up, we rented a one-room-garageapartment for $100 a month, in 1971, when I was seven.

Two of my neighborhood friends’ parents had bought their houses and the land in the late 1950s, early 1960s for $20,000 each. Because the parents handed down their home investment to their sons, many years later those properties both sold for over $800,000 each. Quite a nice profit if you can get it.

Both my friends’ parents worked hard and prospered, as did their sons. Because the North End was a NON-redlined (so-called protected) White neighborhood, their property values benefited greatly increasing almost 40-fold. Had their parents been poor or renters like our family, or they would been relegated to purchase only inside the poorest red-line district, (usually those were people of color;) they would have lost as much as 40-45 percent (or $312K- $351K) for those of you are keeping score.

On one end, the North (White) End, you have the valuable oceanfront community exponentially increasing in value; on the South (Black) End down by the Seatack neighborhood, properties rate now at less than half their worth are still being depressed by the very red lines that were once used to separate them.

My two friends, both MAGA-headed Republican supporters to their cores, often complain of how Joe Biden’s economy is not any good, not growing fast enough, and not going in the right direction. They whine, off-key, about how badly the country is doing and how it is getting worse. One tried to spit a FOX News talking point about how the main problem in America today is due to the fact that there are only 3 out of 10 twoparent homes in Black and minority communities. I did the research. The numbers (F)ACT-ually show the twoparent home number to be 37 percent for Black families and 48 percent for their White counterparts. That 11 percent difference is NOT the biggest issue facing America today, and never was.

Both these friends moved out of state, eventually taking their inheritance money with them. Neither of them understands, admits, or owns up to the facts of how much of their inheritance was built on their White privileged built-in, and the Southern-home-cooked, red-

Many of the people I grew up with in the Virginia Beach community could easily research their own family historical records to see exactly just how much they profited from Red Lining, and still do, to this day.

Sean C. Bowers

advantage that built them up, while simultaneously artificially depressing others’ home values.

The talking points they both believe and regurgitate are straight off the craycray hot presses of that bastion of (IN)correct “free speech” FOX NEWS owner, Australian-born, Rupert Murdoch.

Many of the people I grew up with in the Virginia Beach community could easily research their own family historical records to see exactly just how much they profited from Red Lining, and still do, to this day. That is the sad part that came after the HORRIFIC SLAVERY part: The WHITE-Reconstructiononly, after the Civil War, straight through the G.I Bill after WWII. You guessed it. Another “FOR WHITES ONLY” housing first-time home ownership boom of the 1950-1970s for military veterans come home from war. My friends’ complaints of their perceived “grievances” is a rubber-roomed, whacked job of mis-informed, semiilliterate, discombobulated, 1/10 might-have-beens, never-was’ and never-willbe’s. Both are now too old and feeble to be much of a danger to anyone but themselves. Yet, both-men are subject to the down-stream sideeffects cost of swallowing whole the Right’s lies, 45’s insurrection, coup, treason, and lawsuits (three pending, soon-to-be-four,) once Judge Fani announces her RICO Charges this week in Atlanta, Georgia.

Growing up, both of these guys, were like brothers to me. Yet now, they disrespect our nation, themselves, and others by continuing to follow 45 and his (about to be repeatedly proven) criminally illegal cohorts. They do so, oblivious to how much poorer they and their parents would have been, if not for those White compartmentalized, systemically nationwide WHITE “hook-ups” they still benefit from to this day.

Both these friends have worked and are working their way out of my world

with each and every passing day. It’s sad to relinquish old friends when we need all the friends we can get. I still looking for points of agreement, knowing that we are all children of God.

In the end, the toxicity of their actions, thoughts, and words speak for themselves. It is a “siren song” of toxic masculinity, crossed with an in-bred run-wild racism, with a dose of underling scared sexism, and a measure of pessimism that corrodes. Yet, remarkably, it is STILL their (BORN AGAIN) steroidal WHITE-albino-ed orange dream-cycled, jam. 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.

New statue bears the name of Mayor Thornhill at the base.

Photo: Courtesy

Pharaoh and family with Del. Cliff Hayes and Congressman Bobby Scott.

Photo: Courtesy

Del. Hayes, Jay Pharaoh, Congressman Scott

Photo: Courtesy

MOMENTS of MEDITATION

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

WHY ARE YOU SO TIMID?

Read: Mark 4:35-41 (NASB)

When Ernest Hemingway was wounded in the First World War, author Ben Patterson tells us, “Doctors picked 237 pieces of shrapnel out of his body.” As might be expected, he never forgot that experience. But it was so much the memory of the pain that stayed with him, it was how close he had come to death. He felt that it set him apart from the rest of the human race for the remainder of his life. He recalled the men who shared the experience with him in the convalescent hospital, some of them with faces reconstructed, iridescent and shiny from the work of the plastic surgeons. They too were set apart by their brush with death. They too, were suspicious of anyone who had not had the same shattering encounter. Other people seemed trivial and shallow by comparison.

“From this, Hemingway derived a formula for his novels: Put a good man into a situation where he comes face-to-face with death – in the arena fighting a bull, or in combat. Then you will see him in his truest and deepest dimensions. You will find out just how good he really is. The trial will not make or break him, it will reveal him.” Trials do not make or break an individual; they merely reveal the individual.

Hemingway’s thesis is exemplified in the trial that washed over the Disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee. For it was on that windswept sea that their sea that their true colors were revealed, prompting Jesus’ question: “Why are you so timid?”

Various Circumstances That Produce Anxiety Trials and their attendant worries plague all of us. In fact, worry is one thing that sets us apart from the rest of the animal world.

We are, perhaps uniquely among the earth’s creatures, the worrying animal. we worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still.

Lewis Thomas

When worries surround us, we can succumb to anxiety –which can be so severe as to be immobilizing. The categories of worries that steal away our joy and replace it with panic are legion. For instance, physical conditions, shooting pains across our chest. Sudden memory loss, unexplained headaches. Dizziness. Cancer. The lengthening shadow of death that stretches across our path. We also worry because of relational breakdowns. The treat of a law suit. The looming

possibility of divorce. The estrangement of a friend or child.

And then there are personal fears. The fear of failure, or even of success. Then the fear of being found out. The fear of assault or of theft. Agoraphobia. Claustrophobia. There are almost two hundred categories of phobias that can crawl over us like ants on a picnic lunch.

And besides these, there are environmental anxieties. Earthquakes – the “big one,” for Californians. Floods, for Texans. Tornados for Kansans. Drought, for lawns. The greenhouse effect. The hole in the ozone layer. Toxic waste. Nuclear energy. The worries are as wide as the earth is round. As Christians, we are not immune to such worries, regardless of whether they are real or imagined. We, too, can get itchy fingers and press the panic button.

The Next Time Timidity Strike. The next time anxiety attacks and you feel like panicking, don’t reach for medicine cabinet – rely on the following three-way prescription instead. Refuse to allow yourself to be controlled by the situation. Remember yourself of what you believe and what you know. Replace fear of the seen with faith in the unseen.

Our Father,

In this hour of quietness, we acknowledge Jesus as Lord and we place ourselves without reservation at His disposal. Find within us hearts ready to acknowledge you as Sovereign over our lives. Help us to be people of humility and trust, whose faith, when tested, stand strong. We pray in the powerful name of Christ who stilled the Storm. Amen

“Church, Synagogue & Temple Doors Closed!!! Now What?”

Jesus tells the woman at Jacob’s Well:” Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, Worship The Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship The Father in Spirit and Truth: for The Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is Spirit (Holy Spirit): and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.”

(John 4:21-24)

So, Church Doors, Synagogues and Temple Doors are closed across America and the whole wide world due to the social distancing mandate. This is to keep people apart that the COVID-19 Plague will be contained and abated in the Name of Jesus whose shed Blood is the protection and defense against the devil and his mess, hence the hoarding of toilet tissue for cleaning up his mess. (a little humor) We in the church are not so much concerned about gathering in a congregational way to worship on Resurrection Sunday.( We do not say Easter for it is a pagan name derived from “estar” or queen of heaven, which makes God angry. (Jeremiah 7:18)

True Christians can remain home and worship quietly in “Spirit and in Truth” as Jesus has commanded. For true worship is an internal, spiritual process. We can return to corporate church worship when the Plague is contained and consumed by Almighty God. And this is contingent upon us church folk doing what is stated in II Chronicles

7:14. “If My People who are called by My Name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will Heal their land.” It’s all on us, church folk. We have the vaccine and the Physician – Jesus, The Great Physician and His Mighty Working Power of His Wondrous Saving Blood. God does not dwell in brick and mortar, but in the hearts and minds of

His people. It is good to come apart and rest awhile from so much ego and hero humanitarianism in some of our more modern modes of worship. Good old Gospel Preaching of Grace and The Workings of The Cross have given way to “walking into your destiny,” asking for God’s gifts and not exalting Christ and His Divine, Unconditional Love for all mankind.

Take this time to “go within” and commune friend to friend with Jesus. Allow the Holy Spirit to come along side to still your soul and to teach you spiritual matters from His Word. Study your bible. Limit TV and chatter. “Study to be quiet ... ” (I Thessalonians 4:11) . Use the words of communion scriptures and learn to commune yourselves at home.

You have the “priesthood of the believer” rights and, as such, the power to approach the throne of God without the intercession of pastor or priest. Jesus and His Blood are all you need. And when the Father looks through the sacri fi cial cup of your heart and sees the Blood of His Dear Son, He says ... ” When I See The Blood, I will Passover (Skip) over you. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. see Rivka, page 6B

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

Rev. Dr. Rebecca R. Rivka

Preparing Our Future Generation: Program Boosts Learning

By Judith Stevens Special to the New Journal and Guide

During COVID, Teaching Assistant

Kathleen Barnett noticed a troubling trend at Tallwood Elementary School where she worked. Many children on the virtual learning track, with no face-to-face instruction, were falling behind through no fault of their own.

“I knew the kids I worked with were missing out,” she said.

Though unprepared for higher learning, many children were moved to the next grade, as social promotion was commonplace. So in March, 2021, Ms. Barnett did something about it. It began with a “cooler conversation” with other concerned teachers about what to do with the students who were falling behind. And that is how a small non-profit organization to tutor children one-on-one, “MySpace – MyPace,” was born.

“Our mission is to ensure equity for learners through proper PLACEMENT, PACING, and COLLABORATION,”

Kathleen explained. “When a child is socially promoted and placed in a learning environment for which he or she is unprepared, they fall further behind and the pace of teaching is not considered for those students.”

She continued, “MySpace – MyPace customizes learning spaces and lesson plans for the individual child and paces the instruction, according to individual need. We remind the students that we are pacing, not racing, and this practice alone helps them relax and connect to the learning process in their own way.

Collaboration with each child’s teacher and family supports overall learning and empowers their parents.”

Kathleen approached other concerned retired teachers to ask for their help.

“Every single person I asked said yes,” she said. “A former coworker in Richmond came and stayed for three weeks.”

Her church, Unity Renaissance of Chesapeake, partnered with the fledgling group and provided classroom space and a safe place for the learning to begin.

The first year MySpace – MyPace began with eight children and 12 instructors, eight of whom were retired educators. Each child had his or her own tutor. They also welcomed volunteers to assist with food service and transportation for student field trips.

In 2022, the program enlarged, accepting students from elementary and middle schools.

In 2023, I found a group of 16 lively inquiring minds whom I met when they visited our campus at the Association for Research & Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in Virginia Beach on a field trip to implement a Mindfulness Component of their studies.

Seventeen children of varying ages, including a guest, a smiling young man using a walker –supervised by eight adult volunteers, including founding retired teachers, Beatrice Clendinen, Lucia Hinton, June Kates, Ella Maull, Kyle Parker-White, Kathleen Barnett and six Peer Teacher-Assistants –arrived at our one-block campus overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

We toured the Meditation Garden, the bamboo forest, walked the labyrinth, and

showed the children the original vault that once housed the nearly 15,000 readings given by Edgar Cayce, called “the father of holistic medicine.”

A.R.E. staff members shared copies of the A.R.E.’s Children Magazine and taught the children to sign, “I love you.” They spent time arranging and balancing stones around our fountain.

Kathleen says they are ready to return for story

time in A.R.E.’s third floor Meditation Room with a view of the ocean, and a visit to our Yoga Studio.

“The staff at A.R.E. has encouraged and inspired us to continue this work with even greater motivation,”

Kathleen says of her newfound friends.

“MySpace – MyPace has been sustained through donations from family and friends,” Kathleen adds. “We hope to inspire other communities to create

similar programs that close learning gaps and bring greater awareness to the injustice of social promotion.” Kathleen Barnett’s premise is that adult literacy does not begin in adults; it can be traced to what a child is given in the classroom. Her determination – and her volunteers’ determination – to ensure that AfricanAmerican, Hispanic and children of all races are

given the tools to succeed, is making a difference in our community. We owe her a debt of thanks.

For more information, to volunteer for the Program, donate to this homegrown non-profit, or to offer names of children you know who could benefit from this exemplary training, contact MySpace – MyPace founder, Kathleen Barnett, at (804) 647-8425 or email: Kidznkat45@yahoo.com.

THE COMMODORES AND THE SPINNERS ON STAGE AT RIVERS CASINO PORTSMOUTH

PORTSMOUTH

Two legendary musical acts will perform at Rivers Casino Portsmouth on September 9, at 8 p.m. – The Commodores and The Spinners. Tickets start at $59.

The Commodores, with timeless classics spanning decades such as “Easy,” “Three Times a Lady,” “Brick House,” and “Night Shift,” will delight fans old and new.

Adding to the spectacular evening of funk and R&B, will be

The Spinners who have captivated audiences with their universal appeal since their start at Motown in 1961. Favorites like “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love” have earned the group six Grammy nominations, 18 Platinum and Gold Albums, and a well-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Brian Bork, Vice President of Marketing, Rivers Casino Portsmouth, said about the show,

“Their timeless music has been the soundtrack to the lives of many and we’re looking forward to presenting our guests with an amazing and unforgettable night of entertainment.” Guests are encouraged to secure their tickets early, as availability is limited. All patrons must be 21 years of age or older. Tickets can be purchased in person at Rivers Casino or online at RiversCasino. com/Portsmouth.

MySpace-MyPace youth visit the Association for Research & Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in Virginia Beach.

Photo: Courtesy

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

Paramount Global has pulled out of a deal to sell BET Media Group to renowned filmmaker Tyler Perry.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Paramount announced that they had ended the bidding process, which would have included VH1 and BET Studios, streamer BET+ and the BET channel – because “a sale wouldn’t result in any meaningful deleveraging of its balance sheet.”

Paramount Global had received bids ranging from approximately $2 billion to $3 billion.

Perry’s potential ownership would have made BET Black-owned again after 21 years, while VH1, for the first time, would have boasted an AfricanAmerican owner for the first time.

Earlier this year, Perry’s longtime friend Rolanda Watts, proclaimed that he cemented his place in history

Rivka

Continued from page 4B

When we plead the Blood of Jesus, over COVID-19, the plague must Passover, skip over our dwelling places. Communion Scriptures are: Matthew 26:26-29)

(Mark 14:22-25)(Luke 22:17-20)(I Corinthians 11:23-24) (I Cor 10:16). Study these and write out

by acquiring the two major television networks, making him the first AfricanAmerican to do so.

However, others including Roland Martin said the story wasn’t true, that a deal had not been reached.

The renowned actor and filmmaker previously expressed optimism about purchasing BET, stating his keen interest if it were a possibility.

Perry, who had already enjoyed tremendous success in collaboration with BET, partnering with his Tyler Perry Studios banner to create the popular streaming service BET+, was no stranger to the network.

He acknowledged the unexpected nature of the potential acquisition, stating, “I’ve been there for four years now and had tremendous success ... If that is possible, I’m very, very interested in taking as much of it as I can.”

The exact financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, but experts on this sort of transaction have placed a significant value on the acquisition of

and exercise your own personal Lord’s Supper words. Make the words simple by using Jesus words ... ” this is my body, eat this in remembrance of Me ... This is My Blood of the New Testament., drink ye all of it ... ” I have communed myself at home for years. I use whatever I Have – water, juice, bread, crackers, cookies. Find other things to do around the house –clean it up – throw away stuff rearrange furniture, etc.

the two networks. Since its launch, the BET+ streaming service has experienced remarkable success.

In 2021 alone, BET+ was responsible for half of the subscribers and nearly all revenue growth for the channel.

The platform features a wide range of original films and series from the extensive BET program library, captivating audiences with diverse and engaging content.

The acquisition of BET and VH1 would have marked a significant milestone in the representation and ownership of the entertainment industry.

Perry’s success as an AfricanAmerican entrepreneur and his commitment to showcasing diverse stories and voices have paved the way for increased opportunities and inclusivity in the media landscape.

The Madea star currently owns a minority stake in BET and also produces a large portion of the programming available on BET and BET+.

Finally, Pray much for Lady Brenda Andrews, Publisher and Owner, of the awarding winning New Journal and Guide. Miss Brenda is brave and undaunted in publishing only the news that is fit to be published concerning African-Americans and the larger culture. It is by her spirit and purpose in life, that we have access to the good news of our people all over this world. Personally, I thank you Brenda for giving your paper to me as a

FUN PUZZLE FOR YOUR LEISURE

Nichelle Lewis’ Tik Tok Performance Lands Her a Role as Dorothy In Broadway-Bound Production of “The Wiz”

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

Nichelle Lewis, a 24-yearold entertainer, known as a triple threat in theater, music, and social media, will star in the revival of “The Wiz” on Broadway.

A seasoned actress who has appeared in “Hairspray” and showcased her vocal prowess on “American Idol,” Lewis reportedly captivated casting agents with her creative TikTok escapades.

Now the Virginia native has seized the coveted role of Dorothy.

Nichelle

conference pulpit for 11 glorious, volunteer years. Blessings and Shalom.

CORRECTION

The role places her in the prestigious lineage of iconic performers like R&B superstar Stephanie Mills and pop icon Diana Ross.

“It’s been a pretty crazy journey,” Lewis conveyed in an Associated Press interview on Monday, Aug. 14.

“I’m honored to be making my debut as Dorothy. I know I’m following in some really big footsteps.”

“The Wiz” will soon begin a tour across the United States, starting in Baltimore this fall and heading to Broadway in 2024.

Lewis will act alongside Wayne Brady and Alan Mingo Jr., who will take turns playing the mysterious character known as the Wiz.

Singer and actress Deborah Cox will grace the stage as Glinda.

The cast includes Kyle Ramar Freeman as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tin Man, and Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow.

A graduate of Molloy University’s class of 2021, Lewis ingeniously harnessed the reach of her modest TikTok account to showcase her vocal range.

One of her renditions, “Home” from “The Wiz,” resounded far and wide, reaching the ears of astute casting agents who promptly beckoned her to audition.

“I’m so excited that this is a part of my story, because I feel like there’s so many people out there who started out with such a small following, and I feel like they’re hard on themselves about it,” she remarked.

“But I’m like, ‘You never know whose watching those videos.’ I never knew that ‘The Wiz’ was looking at my videos.”

“The Wiz,” an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s timeless “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” is a book by William F. Brown and is brought to life through the music and lyrics of Charlie Smalls.

Lewis acknowledged the importance of the heroine’s quest to discover herself in a strange world and said she supports others in finding their true selves.

“I feel like it’s extremely important for people, especially right now, to see that they can be powerful just by being themselves and just by being individual and unique,” she told the AP.

“So, I think that’s how the show speaks to me.”

“The Wiz” originally debuted on Broadway in 1975, earning seven Tony Awards, including the coveted title of Best Musical.

The production included memorial songs like “What Would I Do If I Could Feel” and “Ease on Down the Road.” It featured Mills as Dorothy, Dee Dee Bridgewater as the good witch Glinda, and Andre De Shields as the enigmatic Wiz.

The 1978 cinematic adaptation featured Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross.

In 2015, a live televised rendition featured Queen Latifah, Ne-Yo, and David Alan Grier.

With her mother embracing the news with jubilant tears and ecstatic exclamations, Lewis acknowledged the transformation her life may now take.

“She’s like, ‘Your life is going to change,’” Lewis spoke of her mother’s reaction.

“And I’m like, ‘I don’t know. It probably will. I feel so blessed, and I’m so glad I get to share it with her.”

TYLER PERRY BET DEAL FALLS THROUGH AS PARAMOUNT REMOVES NETWORK FROM SALES BLOCK

Spiritualism in last week’s article should have been spirituality.