NJG | Vol. 124, No. 10 March 7, 2024

NEWJOURNAL & GUIDE NEW JOURNAL & GUIDE

State of Black America Report Dives Into Persistent Disparities

By Stacy M. Brown Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

NNPA NEWSWIRE

The National Urban League has unveiled its highly anticipated 2024 State of Black America Report, a comprehensive benchmark and thought leadership document offering profound insights into racial equality in the United States.

Established in 1976 under the visionary leadership of the late Mr. Vernon E. Jordan Jr., the organization’s fifth president, the report remains a cornerstone for understanding the multifaceted challenges faced by Black Americans across crucial domains such as economics, employment, education,

The report delves into the persistent racial income gap, which has remained virtually unchanged for over two decades.

health, housing, criminal justice, and civic participation. This year’s edition continues the tradition of featuring insightful commentary from influential figures in various sectors, providing a comprehensive view of the complexities of the current landscape.

Economic empowerment is central to the National Urban League’s mission, and the Equality Index is a powerful tool to measure progress for Black Americans

relative to whites. Attributing the mission’s core to economic empowerment, National Urban League President Marc Morial emphasized the nuanced progress revealed by the Equality Index. “Civic engagement and health show improvement among African-Americans; however, significant work remains in the areas of economics and social justice,” Morial stated. see Report, page 2A

LINE UP

– 59 YEARS LATER –Who Killed Malcolm X?

By Ariama C. Long Amsterdam (NY) News Staff

After more than 50 years, it’s hard to believe that the assassination of civil rights icon Malcolm X has not been fully solved. A few years ago, his longtime jailed accused and convicted “killers” were exonerated, and just recently, witnesses came forward alleging that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and federal government agencies had a hand in snuffing out X’s life.

X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at age 39 while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom. He was shot a total of 21 times by a group of men, in front of his wife and daughters. At the time, three Black Muslim men – Muhammad Aziz, the late Khalil Islam, and Mujahid Abdul Halim – were convicted of killing him and imprisoned. Aziz and Islam maintained their innocence and were paroled in the 1980s. Halim was paroled in 2010.

Aziz and Islam’s convictions were overturned in 2021 by Judge Ellen Biben after new evidence emerged that the NYPD and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) withheld information that would have

Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at age 39 while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom.

cast doubt on them as suspects, reported the Associated Press (AP). It’s now known that there were also undercover cops in the ballroom at the time of X’s killing, some of whom testified to interfering with X’s security team. Which begs the question: Who killed Malcolm X? see Malcolm X, page 6A

Florida Slashes DEI State-Funded Jobs; Alabama To Follow

Associate Editor

Danica Royster

see Ward 7, page 5A

According to news reports, the University of Florida issued a recent memo that said it has slashed all DEI positions, closed the Office

of the Chief Diversity Officer and stopped DEI-focused contracts with external vendors. The university will now use its $5 million DEI funds, allocated for salaries and expenditures, into a retirement fund for the school’s faculty, according to the memo.

Gov. Ron DeSantis applauded the move in a post on social media platform X, saying, “DEI is toxic and has no place in our public universities.” see DEI, page 5A

Photo:Wikipedia Malcolm X

Barbara Johns led in the fight to desegregate public schools.

Photo: Courtesy

RICHMOND GREENLIGHTS MEMORIAL TO HONOR FORMER SLAVE SITE

RICHMOND

Richmond city leaders and community groups recently announced plans to build a $265 million kind of “Smithsonian” memorial on the 10-acre

Shockoe Bottom site that once housed Lumpkin’s Jail and other sites used to operate the nation’s second-largest slave market.

Its projected completion date is 2037. Its projected location is on either side of the city’s busiest thoroughfare, Broad Street. Its projected

Report

Continued from page 1A

The 62,000-square-foot museum will be located at the north end of the Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground.

opening is scheduled to coincide with the 300th anniversary of Richmond founder William Byrd II, a wealthy plantation owner, according to news reports.

“Shockoe Bottom used to be the country’s second largest market for the buying and selling

housing for Black Americans. However, it points to political opposition hindering the enactment of key policies, including voting rights and policing reform.

of enslaved Africans,” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said at a recent gathering held at Main Street Station in Richmond to announce the longawaited “Shockoe Project.”

Stoney, who is running for governor, said, “We brought down Confederate

monuments and relics of the lost cause and we are now raising monuments and memorials that will achieve a more equitable and inclusive Richmond for our future.”

The 62,000-square-foot museum will be located at the north end of the Shockoe Bottom African

Burial Ground, a grassy area north of Broad Street between Interstate 95 and the train tracks. The site will include a memorial, a walking path and a 2,200-square-foot retail and restaurant pavilion fronting Broad Street.

According to The Shockoe Project website,

“Its mission is to recognize and preserve the historical significance of the sites that tell the story of what happened here.” Richmond was a major slave-trade hub. The project results from “significant discoveries that have been hidden for too long. “

compared to their white counterparts, utilizing whites as the benchmark due to historical advantages.

The 2024 Equality Index for Black America stands at 75.7 percent, indicating that despite notable strides, African-Americans still miss approximately 24 percent of the pie that symbolizes full equality.

Breaking down the Equality Index, categories include economics, health, education, social justice, and civic engagement. Each category is carefully weighted based on its significance, and nationally representative statistics are employed to calculate sub-indices that capture the relative well-being of African-Americans compared to whites. “Civic engagement and health are areas in which African-Americans are doing much better,” Morial noted. “However, economics and social justice still need plenty of work.”

The report delves into the persistent racial income gap, which has remained virtually unchanged for over two decades. Black Americans earn, on average, 64 percent of the income of their white counterparts. “The Civil Rights Act of ‘64, the Voting Rights Act of ‘65, and the Great Society programs in the middle 1960s probably cut the American poverty rate in half in 15 years,” Morial remarked.

Civic participation among Black Americans presents a mixed picture, with increased voter registration (69 percent in 2020) but a decline in actual voter turnout (42.3 percent in 2022). Assessing President Joe Biden’s performance, the report acknowledges achievements such as a record-low Black unemployment rate and efforts to expand healthcare access and affordable

“We are in a world of deep attack by an ideological extreme that wants to erase so much of the civil-rights movement,” said Maya Wiley, President of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and co-author of the study. Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Justice Department, assured, “We’ve been working across the country to reach underserved communities so that we understand the problems that communities face.”

Despite those challenges, the National Urban League said it remains steadfast in its commitment to closing

March 2, 1963

Edition of the Guide

Virginia High School Principals Attend Convention

(Negro) School Principals from Virginia joined high school Principals from every state and many parts of the world at the 47th annual convention held recently in Pittsburgh. These are the high school principals from Virginia: From left to right: J.D. Woodson, Fredericksburg; S.P. Morton, Franklin: C. B. Howlett, Heathsville; W.M. Clayborne, Disputanta; J. F. Banks, Christiansburg; G. L. X. Cowling, Richmond; C. D. Paige, Petersburg; J. E. Turner, Martinsville; U. B. Breadeaux, Lexington; S. L. Phillips, Roanoke; C. N. Bennett, Manassas; J. A. Hubbard, Blue fi eld; and C. W. Brown, Chester, Others attending but not pictured: C. L. Atkins, C. W. Seay, L. A. Synod, R. A. Armstrong, G. M. Richardson and C. L. Conyers.

School Desegregation Pioneers Forgotten

ATLANTA

In the long battle by Negroes to break down the segregation barriers in the southern institutions of higher learning, the rugged pioneers of the movement have been almost forgotten amid the attention focused on the present-day followers.

Those who first dared to knock at the doors of Dixie colleges and universities found trouble and frustration. But in the 27 years since Donald Murray of Baltimore was ordered to attend the University of Maryland, doors have been opened to hundreds of Negro students.

Of the 240 public colleges with all white enrollment, 150 will now accept Negroes That is about 62 percent.

Paradoxically, only 15 of the 52 Negro colleges will accept white students, only 29 percent. Most are in southern states and must adhere to state segregation laws.

Some of the presidents would be ousted, the

the racial gap. Morial urged accelerated action, emphasizing unrestricted voting access, economic reforms to address poverty and wealth disparities, and crucial support for children, such as the expired child tax credit that significantly reduced child poverty rates.

He asserted that the 2024 State of Black America Report serves as a comprehensive call to action, urging the nation to confront systemic challenges hindering Black Americans’ journey toward genuine equality.

“What’s dramatic is that the Civil Rights Act of ‘64, the Voting Rights Act of ‘65, the Great Society programs in the middle 1960s, probably cut the American poverty rate in half in a 15-year period,” Morial said. “So can we? Yes, there are ways.”

From The Guide’s Archives

school’s appropriations would be cut, or the institutions might even be closed if they did so; if they did not adhere to such rules.

One of the most celebrated pioneers of colleges was Autherine Lucy. On February 1, 1956, armed with a court order, she arrived at the University of Alabama.

She stayed for three days amid tension-charged rioting. She was expelled for charging that the university conspired in the violence.

At the University of Georgia, Hamilton Holmes and Charlene Hunter were removed from the Athens campus in a midnight rescue by the State Patrol in January 1961.

The next week, they returned and stayed. Hunter is still enrolled but not involved in extracurricular activities. She has a Negro roommate, one of six on campus. Holmes graduates in June and will be off to medical school at Emory, which admitted him freely.

Five Negroes are enrolled in all-white colleges in Virginia and Florida. Barriers were dropped at the University of Florida with the admission of George H. Starke, Jr., in 1958.

Brutal Slaying of Youth Spark Community Action

NORFOLK

Discovery of the halfnaked, dead, and mutilated body of a 9-year-old fourth grader in an infamous Norfolk “death tract” has fused the local citizenry into one accord: “Do something about it.”

Police officers have voluntarily put themselves in an around-the-clock investigation of the death.

A community group has requested the “death tract” be cleaned up. City officials have already launched efforts in that direction.”

A reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprit in the death has been established.

The police released a statement about the death of the John T. West fourth grader Irwin Tyrone Taylor from Detective Captain C.

D. Grant. He declared, “The Taylor case and the late December slaying of 12-year-old Isaac Wilson, an Indian, whose body was found just a stone’s throw away from where the Taylor child was discovered, is its top priority.”

Irwin, the second victim since January 3, like Isaac Baker Wilson, 12, had been sexually assaulted. Wilson died from suffocation, and Isaac died from three stab wounds.

Alarmed parents, headed by Louise S. Winfield of Washington Avenue, sent a letter to city officials asking that the area where now four bodies have been found along the Pennsylvania Railroad track line be cleaned up.

The railroad company this week began clearing the field near its freight station where the murder victims have been found since January 3 and four since 1955.

Meanwhile, three people grilled by Norfolk Police in their investigation of the sex slayings of two boys found on a lot between Goff Street and St. Julian Avenue have been given a lie detector test, the Guide learned, but the detectives reported no break in the cases.

Some of the evidence uncovered by sleuths who were thrown into action after the body of Irwin Tyrone Taylor was found in another lot on February 17 has been given to the FBI.

Boxer And Singer Have One Thing In Common: No Driver’s Permits

NORFOLK

Norfolk’ Rock ‘n Roll singer star Gary U.S. Bonds (Gary Levone Anderson) is no boxer, nor is he known as a virtual talking machine. Yet, he and boxer-talking machine Cassius Clay have something in common. To wit, they both have empty places in their wallets where their driving permits should be.

Clay, the likable “Louisville Lip,” was deprived of his permission to drive last week after he had piled up enough points under the Tennessee State Traffic Control System –to lose such a permit for a

few months. Bonds had his driving permit lifted last week also after his conviction on a reckless driving charge. Bond’s case was worse: he was compelled to do a sixday stretch at Norfolk’s County farm.

The recording artist became entangled with the police some days ago when his car struck a dog belonging to a white neighbor in Green Hill Farms. Bonds lives in a neighborhood that is becoming increasingly desegregated. And the fact that he is driving a highpowered, ultra-modern, and costly automobile driven by an Ivy Leagueclad colored person whose reputation reaches beyond the confines of the neighborhood, city, and state has struck neighboring whites as a pill too nasty to swallow.

March 7, 2001 Edition of the Guide Community Leader, Former Newport News Mayor Dies

By Leonard E. Colvin

Jesse Rattley, the first African-American and woman Mayor of Newport News, died March 2 at age 71 after a long bout with cancer.

Rattley was a woman of great stature not only in her adopted home of Newport News, but around the nation. And that was reflected in the local and national display of affection and respect after the news of her death.

Political, religious, and civic leaders from around the region responded to her death with sorrow and praise for her life.

When Rattley first acquired a seat on the Newport News City council, according to Rev. Marcellus Harris, the AfricanAmerican community in Newport News and around the nation was working to cash in on the gains made by the Civil Rights Movement.

Harris, Pastor of the First Baptist Church Morison in Newport News, said Black leaders knew they had the numbers in votes and were eager to do something for the first time in that city’s

history – electing a minority to the council in 1970. Harris said she emerged from the politics of the southeast community and electrified the people. “She had the people and the religious leadership behind her, and we won a seat on the council.”

“That showed the people what their votes and participation in the process could do,” Harris said.

50 Years Of Sterilizations Is Rooted In Reducing Racial Mixing

By Leonard E. Colvin

During the recent session of the 2001 Virginia General Assembly, legislators passed a resolution that expressed “regrets” for the state’s policy of “eugenics.”

The practice gave the state the authority to involuntarily sterilize some 8,000-plus men, women, and children in Virginia’s mental health hospitals for half a century.

On the surface, the procedure was deemed a means of deterring the “feebleminded,” mentally ill, or people prone to criminal or other sexually devious behavior from reproducing themselves.

But for AfricanAmericans, the motive was also tied to race. From the days of slavery, Blacks had been deemed intellectually, physically, and morally inferior to whites. “Eugenics” via sterilization was a measured, humaneand legal way to deter the expansion of the AfricanAmerican populous, some racist bureaucrats thought.

Sterilizing the most defective species could improve the species by removing future faulty members. Most importantly, removing the most undesirables would reduce the chance of AfricanAmericans intermixing with Whites. Forced sterilization of an identified segment of the Virginia population was legal under the Racial Integrity Act (RIA) from 1929 to the mid-1970s and was carried out in state mental health facilities. Central State, where Blacks were housed, was a prime target for the policy.

PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIOLOGY VIRGINIA

TECH

C.A. TINDLEY –GOSPEL PIONEER (PART 2)

By Wornie Reed, Ph.D.

Reverend Charles Albert Tindley took his pastoral role seriously. He took to the streets to meet and teach people his religious message. In this process, he ascertained their needs and set about securing connections with city officials and agencies to advocate for his people.

He also helped his parishioners gain the money to buy houses by starting a Building and Loan society for his church.

Never attending school, Tindley became highly educated. He was a voracious reader, accumulating 8,000 books in his library. Early on, he mastered English and then learned Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.

Through the years, those who remembered Tindley remembered the great crowds who came to the church constantly to hear him preach. “People from everywhere – Black and White – before integration was supposedly popular, were there to hear Tindley preach.” His skill as a preacher, blending profoundness with simplicity, was so great that seminary students of all races came to his services to study his method. Over his prestated objections, after his death, the congregation named the church Tindley Temple.

Tindley saw his songwriting as secondary and supportive of his sermonizing. His hymns stressed the necessity of struggle but included the “good news” of God’s support.

New African-American arrivals, primarily poor and illiterate, poured into the North, Philadelphia, and Tindley’s church. Primarily poor and illiterate, they highly valued the simple, direct, and emotional style of life of which Tindley spoke in his sermons and hymns. He used their language,

Charles Albert Tindley’s gospel hymns, the first published in 1901, became the prototype for a composed body of religious music later called “gospel,” unlike the communal and oral approach associated with the folk spiritual and rural gospel traditions.

taking a biblical passage and restating it in ordinary, everyday words: According to Tindley Temple legend, a mother with several young children and a deceased husband came to Reverend Tindley to report her predicament and ask for his help in general and his help in understanding her desperate situation as a Christian. Her plight and many others like her weighed on the pastor, who went into his study after dinner and meditated over these issues. Tindley wrote one of his classic songs in this private session, “We’ll Understand it Better By and By.”

Here is the first verse of that song:

We are often destitute of the things that life demands, want of food and want of shelter, thirsty hills and barren lands; we are trusting in the Lord, and according to the Word, we will understand it better by and by. [Refrain]

That is one of Tindley’s hymns that appear in numerous hymnals. Perhaps Tindley’s most famous hymn is “Stand By Me.” Written and copyrighted in 1905, it is the second most wellknown hymn in AfricanAmerican Christendom.

“Stand by Me” is a typical Tindley Gospel hymn. It references trials and tribulations” and beseeches God for

continued support. Here is the first verse of the song.

When the storms of life are raging, Stand by me. Stand by me.

When the world is tossing me, like a ship upon the sea, Thou who rulest wind and water, Stand by me. Stand by me.

Tindley had a significant influence on the development of gospel music. A remarkable strand of that influence occurs with the hymn “Stand By Me.” Over the years, many prominent gospel singers have recorded versions of that song. But Tindley’s influence went beyond that. Inspired by the hymn, Ben E. King sought to derive a secular version. His recording in 1960 became one of the most enduring pop songs ever. King had a big hit that significantly influenced popular music, as it has been recorded over 400 times by many different artists. The result was that it was once named the fourth most performed song of the 20th century.

But the story continues.

Some musicologists argue that Tindley’s “Stand by Me” is not just echoed in cover versions. Country queen Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man,” recorded in 1968, was thought to have been influenced at least subliminally by Tindley’s hymn.

All this from a guy who grew up effectively an enslaved person and learned to read and write when he was a teenager.

Whales Are Dying & The Fossil Fuel Industry Is Lying

By Ben Jealous (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

Whoever would have thought fossil fuel industry front groups would make whales and other marine species a cultural wedge issue? However, thanks to a deception campaign targeting wind energy that’s exactly where we find ourselves.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center in New Jersey rescues and rehabilitates live beached animals and performs necropsies on the remains of dead ones to pinpoint their causes of death. Sheila Dean, one of the group’s founders, describes how the rampant misinformation connecting whale deaths to sonar used in surveying the seafloor for offshore wind farms is making her job more difficult. And it is distracting people from what is really killing the whales: vessel strikes, climate change, plastic pollution, and entanglement in fishing gear and marine debris. “I’ve been doing this for 47 years. We had a lot of whale deaths in 2023 but there have been years we’ve had more. In 2013 we had a lot of whales and dolphins washing up. Our necropsy data show a wide variety of possible causes of death, including blunt force trauma from suspected vessel strikes. If the sonar

from mapping was killing marine life, our shores likely would have been littered with hundreds, if not thousands of dead and dying marine mammals.”

The frenzy that has been whipped up against offshore wind energy has thrust Dean’s organization into the storm. Anti-wind activists and the people they have duped are demanding close examination of whale’s ears to show signs of damage from sonar. But most beached whale remains are in an advanced state of decomposition, making that impossible. Where there have been beached animals that have not been too decomposed, mostly dolphins, the MMSC and its partners have gone the extra mile and incurred great cost for CT scans and lab analysis. The results? No evidence of auditory trauma.

Disruptions

in the whales’ feeding patterns, water salinity, and currents are likely the result of climate change.

Scientists have been clear. Disruptions in the whales’ feeding patterns, water salinity, and currents are likely the result of climate change. Dean points out the whales are following their food source, which is what brings them into the shipping lanes.

Finding no evidence that sonar mapping for offshore wind farms is connected to the whale deaths, groups like Dean’s are being targeted as if they are part of some cover up fueled by the wind industry. Dean is clear that her organization takes no money from the wind industry.

Meanwhile, the real problems behind the increase in whale deaths go unaddressed. And with climate change perhaps the largest overriding problem, and our transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy the solution ... well, it is not hard to see how this is by design. see Whales, page 5A

By Walt Carr

WOMEN’S EQUALITY IS STILL A DREAM

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

(TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

Like African-Americans, women have not yet achieved equality. We’re still trying to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Not until the 1970s women’s history was virtually unknown as to the contributions women continue to make to the world.

When women did get some recognition, it was for only one week. We’ve fi nally, like AfricanAmericans, graduated up to a month, but as much as women do to make this a better world, I submit to you women should be honored in some way every day. I doubt that many people haven’t even thought about the fact that while we have numerous men honored with a federal holiday (without deserving one), there is not a single woman with such an honor! It is time for us to enlist some of those men to support women by working for a federal holiday in the name of Rosa Parks for her bravery in sitting on that bus on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama. She did it without fear of

what would happen to her. Her courage was signi fi cant not just for women, but for all of us.

On that day, the whites in charge wanted to keep pushing her to the back of the bus but she refused. We’re at a point in our country where many in charge of creating our laws are still trying to push women back by eliminating Roe v. Wade, and more recently ruling that frozen embryos are children! Immediately after that decision, one of the leading anti-women’s rights promoters, Thomas Hawley Tubberville of Alabama, proclaimed “We need more kids!” He had not even read the decision but he had his answer on the case ready. I guess reading, analyzing,

Honor your mothers during Women’s History Month by promising them you won’t vote for a self-declared dictator!

and taking a position in favor of women and children is not something the Senator of Alabama is not required to do! I pray that men like him don’t have daughters or granddaughters who could be negatively impacted by his votes. Wouldn’t it be great if their votes turned out to negatively impact his return to the Senate when he faces the voters? What is it that gives men like him (and a lot of others in his party) the right to control the bodies of women?) No matter how hard you try, you will not fi nd a single thing he has done since he’s been in Washington, D.C. to help that would take care of the least of these – not women, not children.

see Equality, page 5A

THE WORLD IS WATCHING

By David W. Marshall (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

Our European allies are seeing what many of us in America have seen since Donald Trump came onto the political scene. With concerns about what a second Trump presidency may bring, Europe is now Trump-proofing itself in preparation for the worst.

During his four years in office, former President Trump shocked America’s closest allies in Europe by upending the transatlantic balance on which the postWorld War II Western world was built. From the solid alliance between America and Europe, the United States became the respected and dependable leader of the free world.

Today, Europe’s main concern is that a re-elected Trump will pick up where he left off by halting aid to Ukraine and reneging on America’s promise to defend its NATO partners, thus leaving Europe vulnerable to attack by Russia and Vladimir Putin, Trump’s true ally. The former president has falsely suggested our allies owe unpaid balances and has often criticized their defense spending. In recent years, the European

nations have increased their defense spending in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But Trump’s blunt ultimatum to NATO – pay more or we won’t protect you – is troubling and has a bigger agenda behind it. The paradox is that many critics condemn Trump’s divisive tactics and rhetoric but agree with his central point: Europe has depended on the United States for far too long. Presidents from Harry Truman to Barack Obama have urged Europe to increase its military spending, but no other president has come close to Trump’s offensive threats. Ironically, Trump is threatening NATO allies about “paying their bills” while he has a history of reneging on his own bills –

Today, Europe’s main concern is that a re-elected Trump will pick up where he left off by halting aid to Ukraine and reneging on America’s promise to defend its NATO partners.

many times at the expense of small businesses.

As a piano dealer, Michael Diehl was a small businessman who won a bid in 1989 to supply $100,000 worth of grand pianos to Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Diehl was still waiting to be paid months after the delivery was made. Despite having a contract, he was told that the gambling mecca ran into financial difficulties and could only give him 70 cents on the dollar. Diehl was forced to take the discounted payment and lose $30,000.

see World, page 5A

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

OP-ED

BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND THE IMPORTANCE OF TELLING OUR HISTORY

By U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn

Black History Month is a time to celebrate the giants that came before us and reflect on the shoulders upon which we stand. I am reminded of Lewis Latimer, the son of former slaves, whose invention of the filament allowed Thomas Edison’s light bulb to function properly. I am reminded of Septima Poinsette Clark, a South Carolinian who Martin Luther King called the mother of the civil rights movement, whose workshops inspired icons like Rosa Parks. And I’m

Equality

Continued from page 4A

On another subject, many American women, salute Yulia Navalny’s courage during Women’s History Month for her announcement that she’ll carry on her late husband’s work, and we honor Yulia. She no longer has to be called the 1st Lady of Russian Opposition because she is now the Leader of Russian Opposition! Those

Whales

Continued from page 4A

Lies and deceit have always been the stock-in-trade of the fossil fuel industry’s public relations and lobbying efforts. Back in 2009 when I was national president of the NAACP, the lobbying firm for a major coal industry group faked a letter to Congress from our Albemarle-Charlottesville chapter in Virginia to stop a climate bill. The letter even used NAACP letterhead and declared opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act, a bill we actually supported! So let us follow the money behind the rising tide of local front groups opposing offshore wind development. The organizing efforts and litigation come from organizations with benign names like the American Coalition for Ocean Protection and Save Right Whales. Those

World

Continued from page 4A

The piano dealer was not alone. A USA Today analysis uncovered 60 lawsuits by individuals who say Trump and his businesses failed to pay them for their work.

The list includes plumbers, painters, waiters, bartenders, real estate brokers, and even law firms that helped him defend such suits. Records released by casino regulators in 1990 show that 253 subcontractors on a single project were not paid in full or on time.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Trump had a handshake agreement where Giuliani and his team would get paid by the Trump political operation for their post-election work.

According to campaign finance records, Giuliani’s companies were only reimbursed for travel and not paid for the $20,000 a day he requested.

Trump is self-serving when he consistently fails to honor his financial obligations, even to his closest ally, Giuliani. Therefore, when Trump complains about European allies who are “delinquent” with their 2 percent GDP contributions, he is guilty of the same accusation he is

reminded of Robert Smalls, who I sincerely believe is the most consequential South Carolinian who ever lived. While enslaved, he absconded a Confederate boat, freed his family and friends, campaigned for Blacks to be allowed to fight for the Union army, and later became a member of the South Carolina legislature and Congress. As a former history teacher and student of history, I’m deeply concerned by the dark efforts at work to silence these stories. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund estimates that more than 1,600 books have been banned across the country, with 566 books

of us who are activists in America, love Alexi Navalny and we thank Yulia and Alexi’s mother, Lyndmila, for upholding the name of Alexi Navalny.

The crowds of people who showed up for Navalny’s celebration of life is the strongest evidence of the love of the Russian people for Navalny. What just happened in Russia should show us how important it is to vote for our democratic leaders and have those votes count. For the man in America who wants to be President again and has shown us

organizations link back to dark money groups like the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the Caesar Rodney Institute, and the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. And those groups are funded by fossil fuel interests like Exxon Mobil and the Charles Koch Foundation. Major players include operatives who have been on the forefront of climate denial for years and involved in previous political smear jobs like the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth. These groups opposing wind energy are not just screaming their lies into the wind. They are shifting public opinion. A Monmouth poll shows public support for New Jersey’s offshore wind projects has dropped from 76 percent to 54 percent in the wake of the disinformation campaign around whale deaths.

The Northeast as a region has been among the most forward-thinking when it comes to the use and development of renewable energy. If these groups are

implying to them. So, what is his true motive? In many ways, Putin and Trump are one and the same. We know that Vladimir Putin hates NATO and all that it represents – unity. He hates the common bond and the strength in numbers associated with the group of aligned nations. NATO is unity. Its unity keeps Putin in check, which he does not like. Its unity is fueled by separate parts working together and joining to form one cohesive body. NATO is a unified body that Russia cannot destroy externally. For it to be effectively weakened, the alliance must be undermined and divided internally, which is why NATO must become Trump-proof. Putin also hates democracy; therefore, American democracy must be Trump-proof as well. The internal attempts to destroy American democracy by those with a faithful allegiance to Trump are getting bolder by the day. In a speech at a recent CPAC meeting, a well-known right-wing influencer, Jack Posobiec, spoke about how important it is for conservatives to band together to end democracy in America and presumably replace it with Christofascism like in Russia. “Welcome to the end of democracy,” he declared.

American democracy is unity. Its unity is

having been banned in Florida alone. Teachers and librarians are living in fear of triggering the next battle of the ongoing culture war as they simply try to do their job. These efforts are directly connected with widespread attempts to take control of local school boards. In 2022, several new board members –who had the support of rightwing activist group “Moms for Liberty” – were sworn into the Berkeley County School District in South Carolina. Within two hours, the board had fired the district’s first Black superintendent, removed the district’s lawyer, banned “critical race theory,”

he likes authoritarians like Putin, it’s obvious he wants to become one. Take note of what these people do when they’re not subject to democracy and its rules.

Please don’t fall for the gold sneakers with the T on them. The sneakers aren’t going to help you if you have a man in the White House who already identifies you with crime. Honor your mothers during Women’s History Month by promising them you won’t vote for a self-declared dictator!

Dr. E. Faye Williams, President of The Dick Gregory Society.

successful in blocking the development of renewable energy adoption and production in the Northeast, it does not bode well for the rest of the country. And the fossil fuel industry knows it.

We are already seeing Big Oil and Gas target solar with blatant misinformation targeted at communities across the country. A recent NPR report detailed how one group connected to polluters and climate deniers, the so-called Citizens for Responsible Solar, “has helped local groups fighting solar projects in at least 10 states including Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.”

So if it has not already, misleading campaigns of the fossil fuel industry could be coming to a town near you. Remember if you see a group opposing clean energy, it is usually a good idea to follow the money behind the message.

Ben Jealous is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club and a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

represented through political bipartisanship and by allowing all people to have an equal voice with equal political authority.

The same people who maintain and who seek to end democracy are accomplishing their goal of internally dividing and destroying what was once the Republican Party. The GOP was never Trumpproof and is no longer a political party committed to governing in the best interests of the overall nation or our democratic allies. The white evangelical church was never Trumpproof. Christians and nonChristians continue to be turned off and baffled by white evangelicals’ worship of the criminally charged Trump. Trump has gotten away with so much his entire life.

From not paying his workers and contractors to being indicted for overturning a presidential election. Why should we expect him to stop? The remaining question we now face is with the Supreme Court. Is it Trump-proof?

Decisions before the Supreme Court could directly impact Trump’s legal and political future. The world is waiting and watching in disbelief.

David W. Marshall is the founder of the faithbased organization, TRB: The Reconciled Body, and author of the book God Bless Our Divided America.

whatever that is, and put the framework in place to ban various books from schools.

Other school districts in South Carolina followed suit – Clarendon, Charleston, Colleton, and Sumter – and have come under fire within the last year. They are all led by Black superintendents. These are coordinated actions not intended to support the education of our children, but to further a political agenda sponsored by “Moms of Liberty” and various other ultra-right wing MAGA groups.

The dangers of continuing down this path are too great to ignore. I often quote philosopher George Santayana who once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Based on the recent events unfolding across my home state which gave birth to Brown v. Board of Education, it’s clear we are already headed in that terrifying direction.

It is a common myth that the origins of the Christian right can be traced back to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. As the story goes, religious conservatives were so deeply disturbed by the possibility of the legalization of a woman’s right to choose that they mobilized, eventually garnering the attention of President Richard Nixon. President Nixon then used the issue as a cornerstone of his 1972 presidential campaign.

However, it was the issue of school desegregation in the 1950s and ‘60s that unified the bloc. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision sent shockwaves throughout

Ward 7

Continued from page 1A

Recently, he was seen handing out flyers in South Norfolk and posted an announcement of his candidacy on Facebook.

Norfolk State University (NSU) Educator and Campostella Heights civic activist Keela Boose said she is “considering” a run.

The same can be said for Kim Sudderth, who lost the 92nd House District primary race to Bonita Anthony last year.

Educator and Norfolk Public School Assistant Principal Phillip Hawkins is gearing up another race for council.

He recently lost bids for Ward 4 and Superward 7. But Hawkins said a growing number of people were urging him to seek the seat.

More candidates may throw their hats into the ring before the deadline to

DEI

Continued from page 1A

He added, “I’m glad that Florida was the first state to eliminate DEI and I hope more states follow suit.”

On Jan. 21, DeSantis dropped out of the 2024 Republican presidential race, suspended his campaign, and endorsed Trump. His campaign failed to attract massive support, as it encountered “setbacks like mass layoffs and the fallout from producing a social media video that featured a Nazi symbol,” according to The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said if state lawmakers pass a bill barring diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in Alabama’s state-funded public schools and universities, he would encourage parents of minority student-athletes

the country, particularly in the South where Jim Crow flourished, and segregation was the dominating way of life. In response to Brown, white residents established racially segregated private schools to avoid complying with the ruling. Notably, most of these schools were religiously affiliated. Black families joined together in the successful 1971 Green v. Connally class action suit to prevent the institutions from being granted tax-exempt status and to ensure no one could receive tax deductions for contributing to such schools. Tensions were further inflamed in 1975 when the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University, a racially segregated evangelical Christian institution.

Today, this same Christian right has rebranded and united with MAGA Republicans to remove Black history books from our schools, strip women of their right to choose, and end the miracle of IVF.

file on June 18, the day of the state primaries.

According to some candidates who are “considering” or have launched a campaign, there are two reasons for them seeking one of the most powerful positions in the city’s political hierarchy.

One is to work to make a “difference” in a political system that has not addressed the critical issues facing the city’s voters, especially in the Black community.

According to several of the candidates, they were “upset and disrespected” when they were alerted that there was an effort to “draft” Christine Smith by people allied with current council members.

They say it was intended to “draft” and throw support behind a candidate by the political establishment who would be “safe” and willing to go along with the council’s current power dynamic.

When told about that scenario, Smith said, “I’m

to select colleges in states “where diversity and inclusion are prioritized.”

Woodfin’s statement refers to the state Senate’s recent approval of a bill that would bar public schools from affirming “a divisive concept,” such as teaching that “slavery and racism are aligned with the founding principles of the United States” and that “fault, blame, or bias should be assigned to members of a race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.”

The bill would require an Alabama House vote before it can be signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican.

Each of these efforts are intertwined with the generations of discrimination that the African American community has experienced. Yes, the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s was a complex struggle for justice and equality for the Black community. But I reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s prescient words in his famed “I Have a Dream” speech, that “[Our white brothers] have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”

As the son of a fundamentalist minister and Chairman of the Democratic Faith Working Group in Congress, I lean heavily on my faith in challenging times. Matthew 25:40 teaches us that “whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” It may be easy to turn a blind eye when the injustices do not impact you. But the scripture assures that we will “reap what [we] sow.”

Our stories – Black stories – should and must be told.

aware that’s the narrative. I have lots of voters in Ward 7 supporting me.”

“We are not having it this time” said one of the candidates who did not want their name used for this article. “I have a great deal of respect for Christine. But I think our city council should not be trying to put a thumb on the scale to help a candidate gain an advantage.”

“They want to draft someone they can support with the assurances they will vote with the majority on key issues,” another candidate said asking that their name not be used for this article.

“The person they draft won’t have any conviction of their own and will be told how to vote,” said another of the candidates, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Their every move and word will be scripted to ensure they stay in line. This is why so many people are interested in running. We want a fair shot and not be beholding to the council.”

Woodfin said, “Although I’m the biggest Bama fan, I have no problem organizing Black parents and athletes to attend other institutions outside of the state where diversity and inclusion are prioritized. If supporting inclusion becomes illegal in this state, hell, you might as well stand in front of the school door like Governor [George] Wallace.”

About 30 percent of all athletes enrolled at statefunded schools in Alabama are non-white. The state is home to five Football Bowl Subdivision football programs, highlighted by Alabama and Auburn and their combined string of four straight national championships in recent years.

South Carolina Congressman James E. Clyburn

Photo: NationalArchive

Lincoln Captures CIAA Men’s Basketball Title; Fayetteville State Win CIAA Women’s Crown

By Randy Singleton Community Affairs Correspondent

Lincoln University (PA) won the 2024 Men’s CIAA basketball championship with a 54-51 victory over Fayetteville State University on Saturday (March 2) at the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, MD. Lincoln (17-13) was led by Ethan Garita, who scored 15 points and grabbed 5 rebounds, along with 3 blocked shots. Garita was named the game’s MVP. In the women’s championship game, Fayetteville State (27-3) captured the 2024 Women’s CIAA basketball crown with 6459 win over Elizabeth City State University. Keaya McLaughlin scored 17 points and had 2 steals for FSU and was named the

Malcolm X

Continued from page 1A

On Wednesday, Feb. 21, at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center (the same ballroom where X was shot), two elderly witnesses who used to be on X’s security detail came forward with the legal assistance of civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Flint Taylor. Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, one of Malcolm X’s daughters, was also in attendance.

Walter Augustus Bowe, 93, and Khaleel Sultarn Sayyed, aka Ramakrishna, 81, were arrested a week before X’s assassination, jailed for about 18 months, and had never spoken before publicly. Sayyed was present for the conference, but Bowe was reportedly not feeling well.

In Sayyed’s affidavit, he stated that he was introduced to Raymond A. Wood, an undercover police officer at the time. He witnessed Wood bring up the idea of destroying the Statue of Liberty at a meeting but was not taken seriously.

“I was asked by a close follower of Malcolm X to serve as security at Malcolm X’s home, after it was firebombed on February 14, 1965,” said Sayyed. “I was offered this opportunity because it was widely known I respected Malcolm X and was interested in the [Organization of AfroAmerican Unity] OAAU.”

Five days before X’s shooting, Sayyed and Bowe were wrongfully arrested and accused of plotting to attack a national monument. They have both said in sworn affidavits that they believe their arrests were directly connected to an alleged conspiracy by the FBI and the NYPD’s Bureau of Special Services and Investigations (BOSSI) unit, which was later called the Special Intelligence Services or the Special Services Division, to kill X.

Similarly, it is now known that the Chicago police played a hand in the murder of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, leaders of the Black Panther Party, said Taylor who worked on the case for 13 years.

In December 1969, special police raided the Black Panther Party apartment in Chicago, and Hampton and Clark were left dead in a hail of gunfire. The police falsely claimed that there was a fierce shootout where shots were fired back at the police. However, bullet holes and blood pools proved that bullets were sprayed into the rooms as the men slept. Hampton was shot at point-blank range in his bed.

The police who raided the apartment weren’t indicted.

Sayyed and Bowe have

game’s MVP. Talia Trotter and Nyah Wilkins both chipped in 12 points each for the victory. FSU held ECSU to only 27 percent shooting from the field. The Lincoln University men and the Fayetteville State women will both participate in the NCAA Regionals.

Notes: The CIAA featured a Super-Saturday Fan Fest event at the Baltimore Convention Center with over 40 vendors and interactive displays. Some of the musical artists who performed during tournament included Sugar Bear of EU, DJ Kool, and Fatman Scoop. Bria Faison of Winston-Salem State was crowned Miss CIAA 2024 and Keenan Lowndes of St. Augustine University was crowned Mister CIAA 2024.

now joined with the family of Malcolm X and a legal team to figure out exactly why and how government agencies had allegedly hidden evidence in the assassination of X.

Crump said they have requested information from the city and the Department of Justice about the undercover agents and officers present in the ballroom when X

was killed. They have been stonewalled so far, but are determined not to give up.

“I think they know we’re getting close. That’s why they refuse to release any of the information,” said Crump at the press conference.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member who writes about politics for the Amsterdam News

Statue

Continued from page 1A

The Virginia NAACP soon stepped in to lead a lawsuit on the students’ behalf seeking to end segregation. The resulting case, known as Davis v. County School Board of

Prince Edward, was the only student-initiated case to be consolidated into Brown v. Board of Education, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that public school segregation was unconstitutional.

During Saturday’s meeting, Commission members received feedback on the fullscale model from family

members of Barbara Johns, who passed away in 1991. The Johns family have been advising Weitzman throughout the creative process and expressed their satisfaction with the model’s embodiment of the likeness of its subject. Joan Johns Cobbs, sister of Barbara, thanked the sculptor for including the family in the design process.

CIAA Women’s Champion Fayetteville State University

Photo: RandySingleton

CIAA Men’s Champion Lincoln University

Photo: RandySingleton

MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

A Conversation With New Journal & Guide Publisher

By Glen Mason Contributing Writer

Special to the New Journal and Guide

HAMPTON ROADS

What better story to write for Women’s History Month than a story on New Journal and Guide editor and publisher Brenda H. Andrews.

One would be remiss if one did not give one of journalism’s most intrepid crusaders her due. She is the documentarian of a people and the myriad aspects of their lives that dailies only visit occasionally. Still.

As some would see taking stewardship of the Guide as a business opportunity, Andrews says she saw it as “an assignment.”

It was an assignment that turned into her life’s mission.

“What magnificent valor,” to quote one of Alexander Dumas’s Black Musketeers or mousquetaire noir.

Recently, Andrews was just getting back from the National Newspapers Publishers Association conference in Fort Lauderdale. After putting the latest issue of the New Journal and Guide to bed, Andrews took time for a lunch interview at the popular Victory Rivers Burger Bistro. There she was asked where she gets her intestinal fortitude.

“I come from a family which believes that we never have to depend on someone else to pay our way,” said Brenda Andrews, editor and publisher of the third oldest African-American newspapers in the United States. “When I hook into something I don’t let it go until I feel it’s time to let it go. I saw obtaining the Guide as a divine assignment.”

The assignment of a lifetime. What a historic journalistic legacy to bear for anyone much less a young Black woman in a male-dominated field during the early eighties.

For lack of a better metaphor, the Journal and Guide is a legacy newspaper that documented and covered the life and plight of the African Diaspora when racism, Jim Crow and institutional journalism did not or would not. It was first published in 1900 as the newsletter of a benevolent

society of Black men formed to support newly emancipated Black women and children. It grew into a full-fledged newspaper, covering news, sports, African-American culture, and society from all over the world. When U.S. dailies sent their male staffers off to World War II, its newsrooms, at least locally, would often “rewrite news and photos from the Journal and Guide.” The Guide had its own photographers, writers/soldiers, and correspondents in Europe just like the Associated Press and United Press International. Several studies and published dissertations have documented that the Guide “provides a Southern perspective on moments in African-American and American history.” Norfolk Journal and Guide originated as The Lodge Journal and Guide. When P.B. Young Sr. purchased it in 1907, it was a four-page weekly with a circulation of 500. By the mid-1940s it had been expanded to 32 pages. The Young family would eventually sell the paper to radio pioneer Bishop Levi Willis in 1972. In 1974, it was purchased by the Reverend Milton Reid, who became its publisher and religious columnist.

Wanting to spend more time with his church and pastoral duties, he sought out an editor and assistant in 1982 to take over for his daughter Maravia Reid, who had decided to get married. His selection for the job, Brenda Andrews, assumed ownership from Reid 10 years later during a critical time in the paper’s history.

A native of Lynchburg, VA, Brenda Andrews’ aunt who lived in Virginia Beach had told her about writing for the Journal and Guide, a newspaper in Norfolk. Incidentally, the

The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”

– Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931)

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a prominent Black journalist, known as a crusader against sexism, racism, and lynchings.

newspaper was published by her aunt’s minister, Rev. Reid. Andrews first arrived in Norfolk to transition from a career in the Army to civilian life. She was recently divorced, with a young son. In 1982 Andrews took the leap of faith that turned into her lifetime assignment.

“I was a single mother who had to raise a young son,” said Andrews.

In the U.S. Army for four years, Andrews was a Public Affairs Specialist, then a Sergeant which is how she received her journalism training and experience. Her college degree from California State University at Sacramento was in English and psychology. She spent two years in Germany and two years at the Pentagon as a featured military journalist.

“Even as a child, I perceived that The Norfolk Journal & Guide brought excitement and pride. I looked forward to it every Thursday evening.

I was delighted to see my name in print during my Girl Scout years,” said Paulette Jones-Morant, retired educator, now a Washington D.C.-based artist/photographer who was featured in the Guide last summer.

“Many years later my wedding was included in the Social Whirl. Publisher

Brenda Andrews is a phenomenal woman and community servant.”

Leonard Colvin, recently retired as the Guide’s award-winning Chief Reporter. He was asked what he thought drove Andrews as a publisher besides being a mother and single parent. Weren’t the odds against her?

“Well, we all faced pressures and I suspect Ms. Andrews, as leader, wore the brunt of it. Like a lot of single Black women, who are placed in such high-profile positions, she was fortunate to have a very strong family and friend support system,” said Colvin. “So, her son, Oronde benefitted from loving and supportive family members who were there when she was absent from home, etc. “I think she weathered that challenge very well, for her son has evolved into a very successful man, educated professional, husband, and father. Also, as long as there is a reasonable and manageable income flow, practical ideas to use it, and imaginative and competitive people dedicated to do their assigned tasks, such odds can be overcome. As you see the Guide has done well under her leadership over four decades.”

“She is regarded as a businesswoman, a socially conscious community leader, and a journalist dedicated to the cause of allowing ‘Black people to tell their story’,” Colvin continued during a phone conversation. “To tell that story without fear of White people may deem it unnecessary or wrong.”

Leon Carter is an award-

It was a challenging assignment I received in 1982 to keep the presses rolling for such a time as this that has renewed efforts in the 21st centur y to ban Black voices.”

winning editor who now is the Editor at Large at The Athletic. Carter was the sports editor of an award-winning Norfolk State University’s student newspaper the Spartan Echo. He said he still thanks Andrews for just providing him with the opportunity to build his professional portfolio.

“The Journal & Guide served an important role for Norfolk State University journalism majors in the late 70s and 80s. It was an outlet for us to get our stories published,” said Carter, now based in Connecticut.

“I remember freelancing a piece on a march in Washington in 1981 to get MLK’s birthday a national holiday. I remember that day like it was yesterday because it was cold and snowy as I listened to speakers such as Jesse Jackson and Coretta Scott King. And Stevie Wonder sang his now famous Happy Birthday song! All this was in my story that the Guide published and I included it in my clips package when I began applying for jobs.

“A few months later I landed my first job at the Louisville CourierJournal,” said Leon H. Carter, who also has held leadership positions at New York Daily News and ESPN.

“Brenda Andrews has been the vocal structural backbone and face of the NJ & Guide’s ability to remain the 124-yearold champion of equity, equality, and justice nationally these last 40+ years of her leadership, all done with amazing grace and class,” said Sean C. Bowers, an author and poet who started writing a Local Voice column in the Guide 27 years ago.

Now Andrews has her hooks on securing the Guide’s future. She says the future of journalism and publications like the Guide will be digitally based.

Yet, she maintains, there still is and will continue to be a vital place for print publications. The Guide currently prints both a hard copy edition and a digital one. It has a dedicated website and digital newsletter that are updated weekly, with plans to update daily. Other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram are used, also.

“Since the pandemic,

there has been more emphasis on digital distribution of news and information,” confided Andrews. “It is the way the whole industry is going not just the New Journal and Guide and the Black press. There is much more emphasis on digital and electronic distribution. As we (the journalism industry) continue there is going to be more and more. People get their news in different ways than they did 20, ten even five years ago. It’s an industry challenge we are all facing” The New Journal and Guide is one of a handful of historical African-American-owned newspapers that have been digitized (from 19252003) and can be accessed via computer at the Slover Library in Norfolk. It is on microfilm from 1916 to 2023.

Currently a grant from the Virginia AfricanAmerican Cultural Center is allowing the newspaper company to digitize a portion of the photos in its extensive photo collection that dates to the 1930s. Andrews is called upon frequently as a public speaker and program panelist locally and around the country. She serves as a member of the national board of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, representing over 230 Black newspapers across the nation, and in 2019 was selected by her peers as Publisher of the Year.

“In my travels and speaking engagements around the country, I share my background in civil rights and my position as the owner and steward of a piece of American history.

“It was a challenging assignment I received in 1982 to keep the presses rolling for such a time as this that has renewed efforts in the 21st century to ban Black voices. But I’ve won enough battles through my faith in God to remain encouraged that the struggle is yet worthwhile.

“I believe we all are created on purpose for a purpose. My purpose has been unfolding and fulfilling at the New Journal and Guide since I arrived in 1982,” she concluded. “I feel very blessed to have my legacy tied into preserving and advancing this historic institution that has told so many important stories.”

Glen Mason

Publisher Brenda Andrews Photo: ErnestLowery

SECTION B

13TH ANNUAL 900 MEN STRONG BREAKFAST PLANNED

HAMPTON ROADS

Virginia State Senator

Aaron Rouse will keynote the 13th Annual 900 Men Strong Scholarship and Community Service Awards Breakfast on April 13, 2024. The event will take place at 8:30 a.m. at the Chesapeake Conference Center.

Sen. Rouse, a former NFL player for the Green Bay Packers, currently represents State Senate District 7, which includes parts of the cities of Virginia Beach and Norfolk. After retiring from the National Football League, the Virginia Beach native returned home to Virginia

Beach where he began his career in public service, first as a Virginia Beach City Councilman. On January 10, 2023, Rouse was elected to his Virginia State Senate seat.

Each year, the breakfast has successfully galvanized over 600 Men throughout Hampton Roads who are being role models to young men by attending the breakfast. This year’s event is open to both Men and Women.

During the event, seven college-bound seniors will be awarded $1,500 scholarships for their academic achievement and community

UNCF Honoree

VIRGINIA BEACH

Virginia Beach City Councilwoman Dr. Amelia RossHammond and son Anwar display her large African-themed UNCF award presented by the UNCF during the 7th Mayors Masked Ball on March 2 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. Also receiving awards were Bishop Kim and Elder Valerie Brown, Dr. Scott Miller,Tricia Anne Pangliman Orgilla, and Newport News Shipbuilding.

service to Hampton Roads.

Over the years more than $66,000 have been awarded during the breakfast to support college scholarships.

Also, each year, area men are selected and honored for unselfishly giving back to the Hampton Roads community. The 2024 honorees are Ashley Avery, President Booker T. Washinton Alumni Foundation; Darren Sanderline, Basketball Coach at Kempsville High School; Brandon Pope, Counselor Sentara Healthcare; and Don Carey, Chesapeake City Council Member.

Men and Women of all ages (Fathers, Sons, Daughters, Brothers, Sisters, Grand Dads, and Grand Mothers, Uncles, Aunts, Nieces and Nephews), Law Enforcement, Churches, Non-Profits, City Wide Sports Teams, Fraternities, Sororities, Lodges, and Schools are

invited to become a part of this regional wide effort to galvanize the Men and Boys of our communities to stand up to Make A Difference Through Education. For online ticket purchase and registration information visit www.900MenStrong. org or you may call (757) 627SCBC (7222). see 900 Men Strong ad inside, page 3-B

Residents Sought To Serve On Chesapeake Boards

CHESAPEAKE

The Chesapeake City Council is seeking residents to serve on various boards and commissions. Applications for vacancies are due in the City Clerk’s office by March 31, 2024.

Openings include:

Board of Zoning Appeal; Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority; Fine Arts Commission; Hampton

SMALL BUSINESS DIRECTORY

Roads Disabilities Board; Local Board of Building Code Appeals; Parks, Recreation and Tourism Advisory Board; South Norfolk Revitalization Commission; Tidewater Community College Board.

For more information or to apply, contact the City Clerk’s office at (757) 382-6151, or visit Boards and Commissions at CityOfChesapeake.net.

GET NOTICED AND PLACE A

Photo: Courtesy

Sen. Aaron Rouse

Publisher’s Conversations: Rev. Dr. Keith I. Jones “A BLESSED ENDING FOR A NEW BEGINNING”

By Brenda H. Andrews NJG Publisher

Rev. Dr. Keith Ivan Jones was a young Army officer on his first assignment when he recognized how important it was to him to talk about God to a generation “that had never heard of God.”

At that time, Jones, who currently is retiring as the Senior Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Norfolk, Va., was a Quartermaster Officer; not yet the Army Chaplain he was destined to become. He was responsible for making sure equipment, materials and systems were available and functioning for missions. It was a job that required him to make sure the soldiers he oversaw had proper and adequate equipment to accomplish their mission.

Recently, Rev. Jones sat down to talk with the New Journal and Guide Publisher as he prepares to exit the Shiloh pulpit.

Much of his life, he says, has involved communications whether as an Army Quartermaster Officer or a member of the Clergy. The Chesapeake, Va., native son credits the undergraduate education he received at Norfolk State University for preparing him as a “professional life skills instructor.”

As a young Army Officer, when he sought out an opportunity to advance his military career, he knew increasingly he wanted to make a fuller impression on the lives of the soldiers with whom he interacted. By then, he says, he had observed hundreds of troubled young soldiers marching into the offices of chaplains for help in handling the crises in their everyday lives. Only what he observed was that they usually received lessons on morality that didn’t resolve their conflicts. He began to

question if he could not offer troubled soldiers something else in how to live their lives more fully. So he chose to become a chaplain with a focus on counseling and crisis management.

That choice was undoubtedly influenced by his own spiritual mentor when he was a student at Norfolk State.

Then, his driving aspiration as NSU student government president was to separate the state from the church, so that the church would not influence decisions about government.

Yet, Jones may have been a little conflicted because he also was a part of the NSU Campus Ministries under the direction of a man who made a lasting impact on his life then and later as a Chaplain and a Civilian Minister. Rev. Elward Ellis, who was the NSU Campus Minister when Jones was a student, was a “fun” Christian, Jones says, who won the respect and attention of reticent young rebels who may have wanted to remove the ministry from the state-funded campus.

Rev. Jones’ movement into the Army’s Chaplaincy was one he has never regretted. He sought and gained a Master’s degree in counseling which he used in the Army and also as a civilian after retiring from the Army.

As a result, “I have spoken into so many people’s lives,” he says. “I want them to be able to see God in me,” like he saw God in Rev. Ellis, his spiritual mentor.

Rev. Jones retired from the U.S. Army in 2004, after more than 28 years as a Quartermaster Officer and Army Chaplain. As a Chaplain, he advised senior military leaders and soldiers worldwide. He held positions of increasing responsibility including the Division Chaplain for

the 25th Infantry, the first African-American to do so, and he served as Pastor of the Army War College Memorial Chapel, one of the Army’s premier pulpits.

Before he received the call into the pulpit of the Black Church, Rev. Jones served as the Director of Counseling Services at Hampton University. There he coordinated a comprehensive program of academic counselling, psychosocial training and mental health services.

With a chuckle, he says the call to serve the Black Church “was a back door sense of calling,” coming last in his career cycle after the Army and working at Hampton University.

Over the years, he has been actively engaged in community service and has been am esteemed leader among his peers in local, state and national ministers conferences, serving as the 57th president of the Metro. Ministers Conference of Virginia.

Today, as Rev. Jones prepares to retire from the pulpit he has occupied at Shiloh Baptist Church for 15 years, his congregation is planning a series of retirement activities, to include a “Roast” Retirement Gala on March 16, 2024. Also, there will

BOARD ENGAGEMENT –FROM OVERSIGHT TO ACTION

When preparing for a major fundraising initiative a nonprofit may think about all the people and institutions they believe will want to support their campaign.

Someone is sure to suggest “Oprah” or “Beyoncé.”

Others will ask, “How can we get MacKenzie Scott to consider supporting our work?”

Still, others will mention upcoming government grant opportunities or new grant programs announced by major national foundations. All are potential sources of funding, but what about closer to home? What about the board?

When your fundraising goal increases so do expectations of the board. When approached about a gift, many funders and donors will ask two questions: “Do all board members give?” and “How much is the board giving?” They expect the first question to be answered with “100 percent.” The second question can be answered by sharing one of two responses, without obfuscation. “Total board giving is $_____” or the total that the board has given and raised is $________.”

If you share a version of the second response, some people will still want to know the amount the board has given. The thinking behind this is

simple, and expressed by a foundation executive, “Why are you asking me for funds when your board isn’t willing to give in a meaningful way.” That may sound unfair, but it is a reality. Board giving – and engagement in fundraising –influences the size of an investment by those who can give at the highest level. BoardSource, an excellent resource for everything you want to know about nonprofit boards, restates this truth as “Many foundations only contribute to organizations where every board member is a contributor.” It is understood that there are many skills and talents that need to be represented on a board and that everyone’s financial capacity and responsibilities are different. At the same time, financial support is a major responsibility of board members. Each board will make its own decisions regarding their board-giving policies. BoardSource provides some suggestions for how to approach this.

What’s most important is to understand that board giving and board fundraising are both critical to an organization’s fundraising success. We always recommend a board policy that includes a request for

financial support, and for engagement in fundraising. Here’s one big reason: many nonprofits rely on their board members to “give and get” a total of 20 percent of their fundraising goal. That means there is a role for each person to play, in addition to giving. This can range from identifying and cultivating prospective major donors and funders to actually soliciting these individuals. Board members can serve on a campaign committee or host an event at their home or office. Some may be able to provide in-kind resources and professional services. Others may be willing to accompany the executive director on a visit to a foundation or corporate supporter.

If you are a board member, you must understand that giving and fundraising are part of your responsibilities. Your engagement is critical to your nonprofit’s success.

Comprehensive Fund Development Services. Video and phone conferencing services always available. Let us help you grow your fundraising. Call us at (901) 522-8727 or visit www.saadandshaw.com.

Copyright 2024 – Mel and Pearl Shaw of Saad&Shaw

Rev. Dr. Keith I. Jones

I have spoken into so many people’s lives. I want them to be able to see God in me.”

be a two-night revival at Shiloh with Dallas-based Rev. Dr. Frederick Haynes, Friendship West Baptist Church, as revivalist. Dr. Haynes also is the new President/CEO of Rainbow PUSH, succeeding Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Rev. Jones says he foresees himself active in the public sector after this most recent retirement. He will definitely stay faithful to the call from years ago as a young Army officer to make an impression on the lives of people in need. For him that includes activity around social justice and issues like health and economic disparities and helping people to selfempowerment. He currently is active as a Board Director for the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, a justice-focused consortium of faith-based entities, seeking fairness for all

people by lobbying state and national governing bodies.

Along the journey to today, he has gained professional certifications in suicide intervention, substance abuse counselling, grief recovery, mental health first aid, and domestic violence prevention.

Recently taking on a new personal responsibility as husband to Hester Taylor Clark Jones, he says their unannounced plans do not currently include relocating from Hampton Roads. He has two daughters, Hannah and Adrienne, and two grandchildren, James and Nora. Rev. Jones announced his retirement to the Shiloh Family a year ago. His last sermon as the church’s pastor will take place on Easter Sunday March 31. It was a thoughtful decision he welcomes today as time

draws nigh for him to begin another chapter of his life and what his departure also means for his successor.

“I am providing a space for a new generation to come into Shiloh and take the church to a new level,” he says.

“I feel God’s call away. My time has been good.”

Among his accomplishments he counts most worthy is that he has created a social media footprint at Shiloh. The church has a website and live streams its weekly worship services and other activities which has expanded its ministry outside of the church doors.

“We use all platforms to reach people,” Jones says, to include zoom, Facebook and YouTube which began before the 2020 pandemic closed down churches around the world.

“We were already using social media when the pandemic struck so we were able to continue our worshipping virtually.”

While most churches and businesses had to get on board with the new way the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to communicate, Jones says Shiloh was already a step ahead. Its visibility in the community increased, he says. The church still has online viewership in and outside of Hampton Roads that does not attend inperson worship, and, says Jones, they continue to give faithfully to the work of the church.

“Yes,” he says, with a smile of completion, “I am leaving the church in a good place; both (its) spiritual health and (its) good infrastructure.”

Hello and welcome to The Bridge Corner. In this session, we will continue to list and explain the responses to the 1 No Trump opening bid. The 1 No Trump (N/T) opening bid, like EVERY one-level opening bid, is saying four things: 1) Giving point count (1 N/T = 15 to 17 points); 2) Indicating whether or not there is at least a 5-card major suit in the hand (1 N/T = no 5-card Spade or Heart suit in the hand); 3) If 1 Spade or 1 Heart is opened, then asking for at least 3 cards in the suit opened; if 1 N/T, 1 Diamond, or 1 Club opened, then asking for at least a four card major suit. So, when 1 N/T is opened, the opener is asking his partner for at least a four card Spade or Heart suit (Majors) and at least 8 points in order to respond. In our previous session, we described the Stayman Convention: with a 4-card Major suit(s) and 8+ HCP, bid 2 Clubs = STAYMAN. This bid says “opener, do you have a four-card Spade or Heart suit? If so, name it. When the No-Trump opener answers this 2 Club bid, responder bids his point count.

• With an 8-card Major suit fit discovered

• 8 – 9 HCP bid at the

3 level in the discovered

8-card Major suit fit

• 10 – 14 HCP bid at

the 4 level (game) in the discovered 8-card Major suit fit

• With no 8-card Major suit fit discovered

• 8 - 9 HCP bid 2 No Trump

• 10 – 14 HCP bid 3 No Trump

Now, let’s take a look at the Jacoby Transfer Convention: With 0+ HCP, bid the suit below your long Spade or Heart suit (must have 5+ cards in the Major suit).

2 Diamond or 2 Heart bid = 0+ High Card Points

This says “I have at least a 5-card Major suit in the suit directly above the one I named. * If I (the responder) bid 2D, I want you (the 1 No Trump opener) to re-bid 2 H. * If I (the responder) bid 2H. I want you (the 1 No Trump opener) to re-bid 2 Spades. After the No Trump opener accepts the transfer, responder tells opener his point count:

Points 5-Card Major Suit

0 -7 Pass

- 14

Raise to 3 level in

4 Spades or 4

In our next session, we will work with some suit-opening bid practice hands.

TIDEWATER BRIDGE CLUB

The Banks at Berkley 701 South Main Street, Norfolk, VA 23523

WEDNESDAYS 10:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

This is a locked building. An assigned person will be at the door to let you in until 11 a.m. Take the elevator up to the second floor Community Room. The game fee is $4 for 2 ½ or more tables. Bring your lunch. Light packaged snacks/water will be provided.

Winning Pairs from the February 28, 2024, Bridge Game

Shirley Nottingham –Sandra Starkey (1)

Gloria Brown –Barbara Whitfield (3)

Lillye Holley –Leon Ragland (2)

Elva Taylor –Jennifer Douglas

Rose Ward – Lawrence Owes

Any question, concerns, or comments, please feel free to contact Lawrence Owes, President, Tidewater Bridge Club at l.a.owes1@gmail. com.

MCCLELLAN WANTS POST OFFICE RENAMED FOR HISTORIC FIGURE

By Rosaland Tyler Associate Editor New Journal

and Guide

Virginia Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, the first Black female elected to the post, recently introduced House Resolution 7385, that will rename the Petersburg post office after Virginia’s first Black congressman, John Mercer Langston.

Langston who was elected president of Virginia State University in 1885, served in the U. S. House of Representatives after the Civil War from 1890-1891.

McClellan announced the resolution at a recent ceremony at Virginia State University’s Langston Hall. Langston left Congress in 1891. The next Black Congressman to be elected from Virginia was Robert “Bobby” Scott of Newport

John Mercer Langston Rep. Jennifer

News, in 1993, to represent the 3rd District, a post he continues to hold.

McClellan was elected in a 4th District special election in 2023 to replace Donald McEachin, the state’s second African-American congressman, who died from cancer shortly after he was reelected in November 2022.

McClellan

When voters elected McClellan – a Petersburg native and state legislator from Richmond to replace

him in a special election in February 2023, she told NBC News, “ It still blows my mind that we’re having firsts in 2023. My ancestors fought really hard to have a seat at that table, and now not only will I have a seat at the table in Congress; I’ll be able to bring that policymaking table into communities that never really had a voice before.”

The 89-year-old postal building in Petersburg is located at 29 Franklin St.It was built in 1935 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program.

RECOGNITION DAY FOR VIETNAM VETERANS PLANNED AT NSU

NORFOLK

On March 29, a recognition and pinning ceremony honoring Veterans of the Vietnam War will take place at NSU in the Student Center Room 138AB at 9 a.m. The program is sponsored by the NSU Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving, the Military Services & Veterans Affairs Office and the NSUAAMilitary Alumni Chapter Foundation, Inc.

LOCAL VOICES OBITUARY

Calvin P. Lambert Jr.

March 16, 1951 - February 8, 2024

Calvin P. Lambert Jr., 72, retired Army veteran, passed away on February 8, 2024, in Jacksonville, FL. Calvin was born on March 16, 1951, in Portsmouth, Va. For his bravery while serving in Vietnam, he received the Army Commendation Medal with Valor for Heroism and The Purple Heart.

should be sent to Lambert Family, 1013 Amherst Lane, Va. Beach, 23464, before 5 p.m., March 15, 2024.

Veterans must have served on active duty during Nov. 1, 1965 to May 15, 1975, regardless of locations. Those who have already received a label pin are invited to be recognized; however, veterans are authorized only one pin.

RSVP by March 22 to alumnirelations. nsu.edu/VietnamWarRecognitionPinning For more info, email smithsonya@gmail.com

A CHOICE BETWEEN TWO GRANDPAS

By Sean C. Bowers

Let’s compare the actions of grandparents we know and make our own judgments about their competency, resolve, trustworthiness, and their unsupervised usefulness.

Grandpa one still drives and exercises riding and yes, falling, off his bike. Grandpa two has only ever driven a golfcart; his idea of exercise is cheating at trying to be a golfer.

One Grandpa protects and defends women’s rights to an independent reproductive choice. Grandpa two has been the most misogynistic President ever, openly bragging about stacking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade’s 50-year history of women’s selfdeterminative rights.

Grandpa one calls for the total importance of NATO and defending our allies as the best way to prevent

future world wars. Grandpa two calls for Russia to attack our NATO allies of the past 75 years.

Grandpa one protects the cornerstones, foundations and institutions of our Democratic republic, while Grandpa two openly admits he want to be a dictator, if re-elected, on Day 1. Grandpa one protects freedom of speech, the vital irreplaceable role of the media and press as the 4th estate to keep the three

Joe Biden is the grandpa who won’t get you killed, or have a hit squad take you out, arrest you without any proof and get away with it.

legislative branches of our system honest for the people. Grandpa two calls for the FCC-controlled shutdown of any media outlets he doesn’t approve of their coverage of HIS transgressions. He actually argues, believing HE is above the law.

Grandpa one worked to reach a bi-partisan deal for southern border immigration reform to fix the system’s border issues in good faith with the opposition, and to provide aid to two allies in wars he didn’t start. The other Grandpa calls for deportation camps and ICE units to round up illegal aliens, depriving people of their asylum rights. He also calls for the border issue to remain uncorrected so he can run on is as an issue in 2024.

Grandpa one mourns publicly and privately with shooting victims and families of Buffalo, Charleston, and Pittsburgh, when race-based targeted murders and public whiteassault-weapon-basedmodern-day lynchings have occurred. The second Grandpa race-baits dogwhistling all non-whites with his “fine people of both sides” comments after Charlottesville.

Grandpa one has worked to lower the deficit as he walks the striking picket lines with American rankand-file workers. Grandpa two’s only passed legislation was a tax cut for the top 1% wealthy Americans, while he ran up 7-8 trillion dollars in debt, an amount that is more than all other U.S. Presidents combined.

Grandpa one has come clean about everything questioned by reporters in his 50-year public service. He has fully cooperated with all the rules, laws, and subpoenas served him. Grandpa two has openly been caught in over 30,000 documented lies (over 21 per day while in office) and has never honored a single subpoena, of the many issued to him and his staff.

Grandpa one lost his oldest son to long-term “burn pit” cancer issues that occurred during his military service. Grandpa two openly mocks the military, war heroes, and Gold Star families calling them “suckers and losers,” while never having served himself. His daddy got him five deferments to avoid serving and going to Vietnam.

Grandpa one knows how to govern and has passed more laws than all the presidents combined since LBJ in the 1960s. Grandpa two embraces total chaos, instability, and global insecurity with his “America First” (to worst) isolationist ideology rhetoric.

Grandpa one protects American institutions that have served us well and been in place for nearly 250 years. Grandpa two sent his armed followers and dragoons to the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, to

stop the peaceful transfer of power after having lost over 60 court cases clearly telling and showing him, he was the clear 2020 election LOSER.

One Grandpa you can trust alone with your kids as an example to them. The other you wouldn’t dream of ever leaving him alone with your children with for any reason. This is the same man you wouldn’t leave your leave your wife or daughters alone with for a second as he is a convicted rapist. In the final analysis, one grandpa has brought us back after COVID-19 and the financial collapse (overseen by Grandpa two) to new endurance records in job creation and stock market all-time highs, even while bringing down the exploding interest rates without a fullblown depression. Grandpa two fantasizes about weaponizing his potential future administration to be one of complete “retribution.” Grandpa one is still functioning as one of the most successful administrations for our nation, as the economy metric number’s evidence clearly show. Grandpa two has shown he is unfit for office, before we even get to the 91 felony counts brought against him in four separate national cases. His argument is not of his innocence, rather it is to obstruct, to delay and try to run out the clock. To justify this, he says Presidents can’t do the job without breaking laws. He is the only president to ever offer this kind of feeble, tribal, libel, drivel. Grandpa one is still up to the job, getting things done, defending all Americans’ rights, and supporting our allies abroad. He is not a danger to himself and others, as Grandpa two has repeatedly proven himself to be. Vote Joe Biden in 2024. He is the grandpa who won’t get you killed, or have a hit squad take you out, arrest you without any proof and get away with it.

Bottom Line: Grandpa one stands the leadership test of time to continue to build America through the unity of our overall diversity. Grandpa two is unsafe, untrustworthy, and dangerous to anything and everyone he has ever touched and then lied about.

Sean C. Bowers has written the last 27 years for The New Journal and Guide, CHAMPIONING overcoming racism, sexism, classism, and religious persecution. More of his work can found by searching “Sean C. Bowers” on the NJ&G website, on social media at Linkedin.com or by email V1ZUAL1ZE@aol. com NNPA 2019 Publisher of the Year, Brenda H. Andrews (NJ&G 37 years) has always been his publisher.

Sean C. Bowers

MOMENTS of MEDITATION

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

ONLY ONE GOSPEL!

Galatians 1:1-10

“Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” – (Galatians 1:8)

With this lesson we begin a series of studies from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Though every book of the Bible is important, probably none has had a greater impact on Christian teaching and conduct than this one.

During Paul’s third missionary journey, he visited the Corinthians and spent three months with them (Acts 20:2-39). During this time he answered the challenge of some Judaizing legalists (those who believed that keeping the Mosaic Law was essential for salvation) who opposed his teaching (2 Corinthians 10:7-11; 11: 13-22). While there, he received news about the spread of legalism in the Roman Province of Galatia, among the churches that he had founded on his first missionary journey (Acts 13-14).

Since this issue was fresh in his mind, and he had maintained close contact with these churches after their founding, he dashed

off this letter to them to deal directly and decisively with the vital issue of salvation by faith alone. The Source of Paul’s Authority. In characteristic fashion, Paul begins by identifying himself – not just by name, but also by position. He is an apostle, one who has been sent forth on a mission. Paul states the source of his apostolic authority in the most emphatic, unequivocal terms possible. He was sent, “not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father” (Galatians 1:1). He proclaimed the gospel, therefore, by divine authority alone, an authority that came to him without human meditation. Undoubtedly Paul had in mind the life changing experience that he had when he encountered the risen Lord on the road to Damascus – something he never got over, and to which he alluded repeatedly in his letters, as well as in his personal reminiscences that Luke has preserved in Acts 22 and 26.

He held that this encounter put him fully on a par with the other apostles, a part of whose qualifications for apostleship was that they

were witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 1: 211 -22; 2:32). The establishment of apostolic authority was essential if the reproof and correction that he was about to write to the Galatians were to be accepted and acted on as he hoped they would be.

The Source of Paul’s Gospel. Paul’s identification of the source of the Gospel is sandwiched between a benediction and a doxology.

The core of the message that Paul seeks to impress on the Galatians in the rest of his letter is this: Salvation originated in “the will of our God and Father” (Galatian 1:4c).

It was implemented by Jesus Christ, “who gave Himself for our sins” (v. 4a). His purpose was “to rescue us from the present evil age” (v. 4b). All this is the outpouring of God’s grace, through which we can have peace (v. 3), and for which we give God the glory (v. 5).

Human effort –specifically, keeping the law, even God’s law – has nothing to do with this rescue operation. It is God, and God alone, who saves. He is the sole source of the Gospel that Paul proclaimed and about which he wrote.

The Source of Paul’s Astonishment. In each of his letters to churches, after the customary salvation and greeting, Paul expresses thanksgiving for the people to whom he is writing (e. g., Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians 1:4). In this letter, he does not do so. It is not, we may suppose, because he is angry with them, but simply because the matter at issue is so important that he feels compelled to come to grips with it immediately. see Gospel, page 6B

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

“ ...WOW,WOE,WOE – THE DEVIL HAS COME DOWN UNTO YOU ...” (PT.

(CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK)

In part two of this article, we stated that Netanyahu is not a Biblical Jew because he is a descendant of Gomer, Noah’s grandson. These are the Celts known as secular, East European Ashkanazi Jews. Observe Jesus’ statement in Revelation 3:9, that makes a further distinction between Noahic and Abrahamic ancestries –” Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie ...” – This may shed further light on Eddie’s question regarding the genesis of the Israel Hamas War. The fi rst woe is past and the second woe is on its way. “God gives woes or warnings to men of His judgments before He sends them; He sounds an alarm by The Written Word, by ministers, by men’s own consciences and by the signs of the times; so that if a people be surprised, it is their own fault.” (Matthew Henry Commentary, Vol. 6, pg. 1151).

Observe The Second Woe: “And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand:

(Rev. 8:13 – Rev. 12:12b) Scofield KJV

Rev. Dr. Rebecca R. Rivka

and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of Heaven.

The second woe is past; and behold the third woe cometh quickly. (Rev. 11:13-14) The trumpet judgments continue ...”And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in Heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever ... And the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of His testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail ...” (Rev 11:13-19)

Great wonders appear in Heaven ... a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet ... Satan ... The Child ... and Michael and his angels. The woman

is Israel and The Child is Jesus Christ. “And there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels fought and prevailed not ... he was cast out into the earth and his angels with him ... And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, Now is come salvation ... for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night ... And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Rev 12:1-11)

Observe The Third Woe: “ ... Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Rev 12:12b) We are aware of the adversary’s accelerated activities in the earth. We see horrific news events that tear at our souls and cause our hearts to bleed. We know that the present worldsystem organized upon the principles of force, greed, selfishness, ambition, and sinful pleasure is his work. But the devil was defeated at the cross and the lake of fire is his doom. Amen. see Woe, page 6B

BOOKWORM REVIEW

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

KIDS BOOKS ABOUT WOMEN’S HISTORY

You can do it. All your life, you’ve been told that you can do anything you set your mind to do. Try new things, get better at old things, dream big and act bigger. You can be soft and tough at the same time. And if you need any inspiration, well, look to these great picture books...

Shortly after her birth in India, Minda Dentler got terribly sick with a disease called polio, and doctors said she would never walk. Alas, her birth mother was very poor and couldn’t afford to care for Minda, so she put Minda up for adoption. In “The Girl Who Figured It Out” by Minda Dentler, illustrations by Stephanie Dehennin (Sourcebooks Kids, $18.99), that’s just the beginning of a story that started in Mumbai, came to America, and continues at the Ironman World Championship. Kids who say, “I can’t,” will learn from someone who could; for that, it’s great for 5-to-7-yearolds.

For a similar story, look for “The Fabulous Fannie Farmer: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook” by Emma Bland Smith, pictures by Susan Reagan (Calkins Creek, $18.99). Yes, Fannie Farmer was a real girl once, a

girl who learned to cook from her mother. Back then, recipes weren’t written down but after Fannie recovered from polio as a teenager, her “passion” for cooking simply boiled over. Young cooks ages 7-to10 will love this delicious tale even more because the book contains recipes!

Growing up with four sisters in a poor New York City neighborhood didn’t stop

Sarah Brenner, either, even though girls then were treated differently than were boys. In “One of a Kind: The LIfe of Sydney Taylor” by Richard Michelson, illustrated by Sarah Green (Calkins Creek, $18.99), Sarah grew up looking for ways to make the world a fair place for everyone. She gave herself a new name, got an education, and wrote a book about her life

and Jewish children like she was once. Six-to-10-year-olds will love this story, especially if they’ve ever read Green’s iconic children’s book.

And finally, for the 7-to-10year-old who’s rarely far away from their bicycle, “Pedal, Balance, Steer: Annie Londonderry, the First Woman to Cycle Around the World” by Vivian Kirkfield, illustrated by Alison Jay (Caulkins Creek, $18.99) will be a favorite read. It’s the story of Annie Londonderry, who was a very hard worker. When she learned of a challenge –$10,000 for the first person to bicycle around the world in fifteen months or less (which was a lot of money in the 1890s) – well, how could anyone resist something that fun?

Fun – but also lots of work! Could she do it? Be sure to check out the biography at the back of the book because your 5-to-9-year-old will want to know.

If your child needs more women-powered inspiration, be sure to ask your favorite bookseller or librarian for ideas, They’ve got plenty of great stories you, or for kids of any age. Take a look through the shelves and see what you can find. Go ahead. You can do it.

FUN PUZZLE FOR YOUR LEISURE

Gospel

Continued from page 4B

So he expresses astonishment at the rapidity with which they had turned away from the grace of God to something quite different: legalism.

Furthermore, they had turned to a different kind of “gospel” (Galatians 1:6), which is really not the Gospel (the “Good News”) at all. Two different Greek words are used to refer to this false teaching. At the end of verse 6, the word means “a different kind of” gospel; at the beginning of verse 7, the word means “the same kind of” gospel.

Paul is saying that, though its proponents refer to this false teaching as “good news,” it is in fact not “good news” at all, for, as his later discussion will make clear, it offered no hope of salvation. It was a perversion of the Gospel of

Woe

Continued from page 4B

Brothers and Sisters, in times like these we need a savior, we need King Jesus to walk with us and talk with us all along life’s way. “We must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His Might. We must put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye

Christ (v. 7). This leads Paul to make a statement so forceful in tone content that some have been offended by it and have charged him with religious bigotry (v. 8). He says that if he should ever change the heart of the Gospel message, or even if a heavenly messenger should bring a different message, such a being should be “eternally condemned.”

Paul could hardly have used stronger language to express his rejection of legalism and his condemnation of those who propagated this teaching. But for the sake of emphasis, and so that there could be no possible misunderstanding of his meaning, he repeats the essence of what he has said, with a few changes of wording that serve to reinforce his meaning (v. 9).

Paul is fully aware that his position will not earn approval from his opponents, or from most human beings, so he now refers to the source of the only approval that he sought.

shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; that utterance may be given unto us, that we (like Paul here)may open our mouths boldly, with Holy Ghost Boldness, to make known the mystery of the gospel, to the saving of souls, for which we are ambassadors for Jesus Christ. (Ephesians, chapter 6)(emphasis mine)

NOTE: Now I understand The Palestinian Covenant (Deuteronomy 30:3). Palestine really means Israel. There is no country named Palestine. In 600 B.C. The Romans changed the name of Israel to Palestine. So all who lived in the land whether Arabs or Jews were known as Palestinians. The land belongs to Israel, period. (source: Jewish Jewels Newsletter, March, 2024).

Blessings and Shalom

CLASSIFIEDS

JOB OPENINGS

DEI PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR ESTIMATED HIRING RANGE FOR THIS POSITION IS $63,880.20 - $74,989.80. DOE

As the DEI Program Administrator, you will play a vital role in ensuring we are cultivating a workplace that celebrates uniqueness, embraces collaboration, and dismantles barriers. The impact to the organization in this role is limitless. Youʼll shape our DEI roadmap, collaborate with leaders to design, and implement impactful programs, dive into diversity metrics, analyze trends, and translate insights into actionable strategies. Requires a Bachelorʼs Degree in Organizational Development, Public Administration, Business, Sociology, Human Resources or a related field and 5 - 7 years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

The City of Newport News offers a comprehensive benefits package to include a Virginia Retirement System defined benefit and defined contribution plan, medical, dental, vision, and a variety of wellness initiatives. We offer great training programs for new and current employees, competitive pay, and paid time off!

If interested in learning more about our current job openings and to apply visit https://www.nnva.gov/193/Apply-for-a-Job

©2024, various publishers, $18.99 each, various page counts