NJG | Vol. 124, No. 28 - July 11, 2024

NEWJOURNAL & GUIDE NEW JOURNAL & GUIDE

Foolery of Subjective Mainstream Media Hosts, Nervous Democrats

By Stacy M. Brown Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

NNPA NEWSWIRE

President Joe Biden’s age and misperceptions of cognitive decline have set off a self-destructive political firestorm within the Democratic Party, causing a dramatic shift towards favoring former President Donald Trump despite his impeachments, 34 felony convictions, and a litany of other alleged crimes and hate-filled rhetoric.

Mainstream media’s increasingly favorable treatment of Trump, coupled with internal Democratic nervousness and unrest, has added to the turbulence, increasing the possibility that America will elect its first self-declared dictator.

Mainstream media’s increasingly favorable treatment of Trump, coupled with internal Democratic nervousness and unrest ... increasing the possibility that America will elect its first self-declared dictator.

President Biden Will Deliver Keynote Speech During NAACP Convention

LAS VEGAS

The nation’s preeminent civil rights organization has announced President Joe Biden will join the group as a key speaker at the 115th National NAACP Convention taking place in Las Vegas from July 13 to July 17.

President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden has engaged with The Association multiple times this spring.

see Media, page 7A

Simply put: The socalled mainstream media in America has devolved into “subjectivity” with the clear abandonment of the principles of investigative and factual journalism, while the Black Press of America remains and retains its historic and contemporary “objectivity.”

LANDMARK CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OBSERVES ITS 60TH ANNIVERSARY

By Rosaland Tyler

Associate Editor New Journal and Guide

When federal lawmakers passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was 17, Vice President Kamala Harris was 1, Civil Rights Advocate Al Sharpton was 10, and former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele was only 7.

The 1964 Civil Right Act officially ended segregation in public places, outlawed job discrimination, and opened new doors.

Some of these highprofile leaders recently celebrated the law’s 60th birthday. The point is that before the 1964 Civil Right Act officially ended segregation in public places, outlawed job discrimination, and opened new doors, Justice Thomas would not have been able to legally take three recent trips paid for by Republican Party

donor Harlan Crow. Vice President Harris would not have been able to legally stay in hotels or travel on public transportation to perform her job. Sharpton probably would not have been chosen to host a popular MSNBC show starting in 2011. Steele

probably would not have served as the first Black Republican National Committee Chair from 2009-2011. In other words, Thomas’ skin color would have legally prevented him from boarding a private jet flight from Missouri to Montana in May 2017; a second private jet flight from Washington, D.C., to Georgia and back in March 2019; and a further flight from D.C. to California in June 2021.

see Civil Rights Act, page 2A

‘UNITE

THE RIGHT’

NATIONALISTS ORDERED TO PAY $2M MORE

By Rosaland Tyler

Associate Editor New Journal and Guide

Plaintiffs, who received physical or emotional injuries at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, said they are pleased that a recent federal appeals court ruling in Richmond will allow each of the plaintiffs to receive $350,000, instead of the $43,750 each would have received under the lower court’s ruling. Recently, a three-judge panel restored

In 2021, a jury ordered 17 white nationalist leaders and organizations to pay more than $26 million in damages.

more than $2 million in punitive damages, finding that each of the plaintiffs should receive $350,000, instead of the $43,750 each would have received under a previous lower court ruling. In 2021, a jury ordered 17 white nationalist leaders and organizations to

pay more than $26 million in damages. In fact, a jury ordered white nationalist leaders and organizations to pay a total of more than $26 million in damages to people with physical or emotional injuries from the event. see $2M, page 8A

“Ahead of this crucial election, the NAACP has worked fervently to educate our members and our community on the importance of exercising our right to vote,” said NAACP President and CEO, Derrick Johnson. “The rights of Black Americans are under rampant attack – from efforts to limit access to education, the mass absolving of diversity programs, and officials at every level actively working to dilute voting rights. There is no better time than now for our presidential candidates to reassure our community that our voices are heard and our concerns are a priority. We welcome President Joe Biden as a key speaker at our national convention. It is our hope that we leave Las Vegas feeling more empowered to cast our ballot – knowing in full faith that we will not be silenced.”

President Joe Biden engaged with The Association multiple times this spring. The current president and presidential candidate gave an address at the NAACP’s Brown v. Board 70th anniversary event at the National African-American History and Culture Museum. He also attended the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Detroit as a key speaker for the annual event.

see NAACP, page 2A

EPA Administrator Will Address Environment At NAACP Convention

LAS VEGAS

During the 115th NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas, NAACP leadership, and Valley Water will host Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, EARTHGANG Foundation Executive Director, Dr. Jazmine Nicholson, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director of External Affairs, Brandi Richard Thompson and more for a day of programming focused on addressing the most pressing environmental challenges facing Black America and building a more resilient future.

“From the Gulf Coast to Ghana, the NAACP’s fight for environmental justice knows no boundaries. As we continue to experience the impacts of a manufactured climate emergency, we must see an equitable investment in the protection and advancement of Black communities and other frontline communities,” said Derrick Johnson, NAACP President & CEO. “We are excited to welcome our partners for a collaborative reflection, and recommitment to enhancing resilience across communities.

see Regan, page 2A

SEN. TIM KAINE TOURS NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN PORTSMOUTH

PORTSMOUTH

Portsmouth’s Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Manager welcomed U.S. Senator Tim Kaine to their city on July 5th to capture a look at the city’s rich economic vision for its future. They were joined by U.S. Congressman Bobby Scott, State Sen. L. Louise Lucas, and other local elected of fi cials, including Chesapeake Councilmembers Dr. Ella Ward and Don Carey.

Others in an entourage of invited guests accompanying Kaine were residents of Portsmouth and citizens from other Hampton Roads cities. Businessman Glen Francis served as a tour guide and escort.

The half-day tour included visits to a number of Black-owned sites, a business roundtable discussion, and concluded with a late lunch and reception with the Senator at Roger Brown’s Restaurant. Mayor Shannon Glover, Portsmouth Economic Development, and Bloom Coworking Marketing have teamed up to oversee an Innovation District Plan with a focus on creating an entrepreneurial atmosphere in downtown Portsmouth that will grow new jobs and new business development. see page 8A

Michael Regan

Photo: ErnestLowery

Civil Rights Act

Continued from page 1A

And Thomas’ race would probably have prevented him from flying to Bali, Indonesia, on July 12, 2019; or enjoying another Crow-financed trip to Monte Rio, Ca., from July 18 to 21, 2019. Reports show the items paid for during Thomas’ trips included “food and lodging” at a hotel and a “private club.” Thomas’s race would probably have stopped him from traveling for the past 25 years as a guest of Crow.

Although Thomas may never publicly thank tireless civil rights advocates such as the Rev. Dr. Martin L. King Jr., or John Lewis, who was arrested more than 40 times, or hundreds of adult and child protestors who police often arrested, beat with fire hoses and attack dogs in the 1960s, Thomas is one of many prominent Blacks who benefitted from the law’s passage. Thomas may never publicly express his gratitude to Harry Tyson Moore, a Black teacher and NAACP leader who died with his wife after a KKKdetonated bomb exploded in their Florida home in 1951. But Thomas still stands on the shoulders of giants, including Moore and his wife – the earliest civil rights leaders to be assassinated.

“They have passed the baton to us, and we will continue the fight for the promise of America,” Harris, the nation’s first Black female vice president said in an X post, as several highprofile Blacks recently commemorated the 60th anniversary of the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

“As we commemorate this milestone achievement, we are faced with the unfortunate reality that many of our gains and hard-won civil rights are under threat once again,” the Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, said in a recent statement.

“Whether it’s voting rights, access to quality education, reproductive rights, equal opportunity in the workforce, LGBTQ+ rights, or simply put –equality across the board – everything is on the line at this pivotal moment including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as illustrated by the case of Fearless Fund – the first case where a company was sued for exercising DEI by giving grants to women of color,” he added.

Sixty years after Congress passed the 1964

Phone:

PUBLISHER

Brenda H. Andrews

ASSISTANT

Desmond Perkins

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Rosaland Tyler

CHIEF

PRODUCTION:

In 1964, Congress passed Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

Civil Rights Act, Martin Luther King III, who was only 10 when his father was assassinated, said in a recent X post, “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ... has come under attack from a radical Supreme Court. What we do this year will determine decades of voting and civil rights. Those are the stakes. Act accordingly.”

But, Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump suggested that the passage of the 1964 law only represented a shift in racial relations that must be maintained. “Our fight for justice continues,” Crump said. Maintenance means people must still “address ongoing discrimination & disparities and work tirelessly to achieve true equality for all.”

Courtland

Cox, now

July 10, 1948

Edition of the Guide

Court Action In Princess Anne County

PRINCESS ANNE COUNTY

No official announcement has been made and members of the joint citizens committee who have been working to secure improved conditions in the county’s colored schools were non-committal on a court suit looking toward equalization of the county’s school facilities. This appeared imminent following the failure of Princes Anne County voters to approve a $250,000 bond issue to build a new Colored County School.

Princess Anne County voters turned down the $250,000 bond issue by a 331 to 359 vote but at the same time voted by substantial majorities for extensive improvements to three white schools in two magisterial districts.

Only 695 of the county’s more than 3,000 qualified voters went to the polls. This referendum assured the issuance of a bond of $325,000 to finance additions and improvements to the Bayside Elementary School and the Kempsville High School, both white, the vote being 182 for and 113 against.

As about possible future actions by the joint citizens committee following the failure of the bond issue referendum on the colored schools, W. Frances Taylor of Virginia Beach, Chairman of the committee, would go on say, “No Comment.”

Officials and members of the three organizations represented on the joint citizens committee were likewise non-committal but the Journal and Guide learned on good authority that the next step by the committee will be filing a suit

July 5, 1958

of the Guide

83, was 22 when he stood alongside civil rights icons Bayard Rustin and John Lewis at the 1963 March on Washington. Cox recently told ABC News, “250,000 people came to Washington, D.C. They came together to say, ‘Enough is enough. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.’”

Cox said, “I think one of the things that was most impressive to me, as a young person, both in terms of my peer group and the people I worked with, is that they were determined to make the change. It’s one of the grandest things I’ve ever done in my life.”

This is “an ongoing battle that’s been going on for 80 years,” Cox told Reuters in a July 2 interview.

NAACP Continued from page 1A

The NAACP has shared invitations to both presidential candidates as a welcome to address its members at the upcoming national convention.

When elected officials, activists, organizers, faith leaders, entertainers, changemakers, NAACP members and local residents convene to celebrate the Black community’s collective power, they will be focusing on the theme, “All In.” Through workshops, plenary sessions, and panel discussions, convention organizers say they will forge a path forward on the most pressing issues facing Black communities today, including voter suppression, student debt, DEI, cannabis-

Regan

Continued from page 1A

Together, we will ensure that our nation is all in on a healthier future for everybody.”

The NAACP has a decadeslong history of fighting for environmental justice, often serving as the first responder when disaster strikes in Black communities. The Association continues to advocate for clean water for all, support and learn from Black communities across the Diaspora, while

This year, we are All In on our ongoing fight for the preservation and advancement of democracy.”

related convictions and reproductive rights.

In addition to President Joe Biden, major speakers will include: Rashida Jones, MSNBC President; Arian Simone, CEO of the Fearless Fund; Symone Sanders-Townsend, Political commentator and MSNBC Co-Host; Dr. Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and more.

NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson explained the theme: “This year, we are All In on our ongoing fight for the preservation and advancement of democracy. We are excited to bring the energy and vibrance of the

cultivating strong relationships with disaster preparedness and response organizations.

“From day one, President Biden promised a bold and ambitious environmental agenda and EPA has been at the very center of this work, delivering real results for the American people,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan.”Together, with partners like NAACP, we continue to move further and faster than ever before. I’m looking forward to sharing more on this progress to invest in our communities, bolster international cooperation in places like Africa, lift up our HBCUs, and ensure all people

From The Guide’s Archives

– President Derrick Johnson

Black community to our thriving Las Vegas branch.”

Additional events at this year’s national convention include The Neighborhood, the epicenter of empowerment where NAACP programs, membership, and campaign activations take centerstage; the annual Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) competition, the Cinematic Shorts Competition; and the Spingarn Freedom Fund Awards Dinner. For more information about the 115th NAACP National Convention, including a schedule of events and registration details, visit naacp.org/convention.

in this country have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.”

Ahead of the BidenHarris Administration’s announcement of $20 billion in private, communitybased funding for equitable, environmentally friendly developments, NAACP hosted EPA Administrator Regan in an exploratory trip to visit Portland’s sustainable building models. The Resilient Futures convening in Las Vegas, which will be attended by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Board Chair Anyeley Hallova, seeks to build upon NAACP’s work to advance sustainable, equitable developments.

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

$500,000 Church Underway Here

By Richard E. Moore NORFOLK

The cornerstone of what is soon to be one of the city’s finest churches was laid during an impressive service last Sunay afternoon.

A large crowd was on hand for the cornerstone laying of the $500,000 New Calvary Baptist Church being constructed at the corner of Wide Street and Virginia Beach Boulevard.

Elder Samuel A. Wilson, pastor of the church, was in charge of the service and the cornerstone laying ceremony was conducted by the Friendship Lodge No. 3 of Pythias.

The day’s event began with an impromptu parade through some of the uptown areas. The church members and the Booker T. Washington High School summer band led an assemblage to the site of the new church

A brief Service was conducted within the walls of the unfinished church.

When finished the new church is expected to be one of the most modern in this area, with a main auditorium, which will seat 1,500; an educational department with 36 rooms; a nursery department; and an assembly room.

Completion of the nearly half million-dollar structure by the New Calvary congregation will be a milestone of the relatively young church’s history.

The church was started in 1934, the result of separation from the older Second Calvary Baptist Church. The New Calvary congregation met at first in buildings which was built at the present site.

Can’t Seize NAACP Membership Lists BY UPI

WASHINGTON

Race leaders all over the nations hailed this week, an historic ruling of the

United States Supreme Court which set aside a $100,000 contempt fine imposed on the NAACP in Alabama for refusal to produce membership lists.

The court held unanimously that Alabama cannot force the NAACP to produce its membership list. It ruled Monday the lists are immune from state scrutiny under the 14th Amendment.

The court said more hearings are necessary on the state’s attempt to oust the organization from the state.

The NAACP had wanted the court to invalidate the state’s temporary restraining order preventing the organization from soliciting support in Alabama.

Justice John A. Harlan, speaking for the tribunal, noted that the Alabama Supreme Court concerned itself only with the contempt questions. He said the NAACP should appeal the restraining order in state courts and get a ruling on the that before coming to the High Court.

Tents Hold 83rd Session

RICHMOND

The 83rd Annual session of the Grand United Order of Tents convened at First African Baptist, in Richmond June 2426. Tent women from Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia and North Carolina converged on the capital city. The public meeting was held on Tuesday night.

Highlights of the program were welcomes by Attorney Romand Ealeuy, Dr. Thomas Henderson, and Mrs. Dorothy V. Turner, of Danville. Mrs. Rosa B. Neade, the Grand Superintendent and President South District No. 1 Superintendent, gave a brief message of greeting and introduced the Grand Officers.

Virginia City Has Three Lady Embalmers

By Johnnie A. Moore

A mother’s request that a woman be used to embalm her body following her death prompted one of her daughters to become Tidewater’s first licensed colored woman embalmer in 1929. Since that time a least two other women in this section, have earned licenses and are pursuing the profession locally. In addition to preparing the dead for burial, two of the three women embalmers serve as funeral directors. All from Portsmouth, the three morticians are Mrs. Nancy Thomas Wheeler, Miss Velma D. Colden, and Mrs. Evelynn Hyke Gray.

It was while working as a bookkeeper at the Old Grogan Funeral Home in Portsmouth that Mrs. Wheeler said she heard her mother express a desire to be embalmed by a woman. Shortly afterwards she entered the Renouard Training School for Embalmers in New York City and graduated in February 1929 as the only woman in a class of 20 persons.

Upon returning to Portsmouth, Wheeler established the Wheeler Funeral Home which is in its 28th year of operation.

Wheeler humorously recalls that she thought about giving up work with the dead because of fear, after entering the profession.

The turning point came, she said, one night after she opened a door of the mortuary to enter the embalming room when suddenly a sheet blew from the cooling table, revealing a corpse which had been placed in the room earlier, without her knowledge.

After making a hasty departure from the room, Wheeler said it was when she concluded that she would have to conquer her fear, if she planned to remain in the embalming profession and immediately began to discount fear of the dead as being foolish.

July 11, 1971 Edition of the Guide Death Claims Jazz Trumpeter

NEW YORK

Legendary “Satchmo” Armstrong, the gravel voiced singer and jazz trumpeter, died July 6 at his home. Armstrong was only recently released from Beth Israel Medical Center after a long siege of heart and kidney trouble. He had been practicing an hour a day on his golden plated trumpet for a return to work His death at his home in the Corona section of Queens was announced by Bill Doll Associated, his publicists. Armstrong entered Beth Israel Hospital March 15 in critical conditions., After several setbacks, which forced doctors to perform tracheotomy and placed him on a respirator, he regained his strength.

The hospital was deluged with mail for the New Orleans born jazz great, and President Nixon sent a telegram, which Armstrong taped to his door.

Hampton (Institute) Plans $45,000 Project On Drug Abuse

HAMPTON

Hampton Institute has announced that plans are being finalized for the inauguration of an Office of Education Finance project to combat drug abuse. This project will be known as the Hampton Institute Drug Education Program (HIDEP).

An official of the Office of Education has stated that Hampton Institute is one of 30 colleges being funded to become models in a nationwide drug education program. H.I. was informed by the Office of Education that a total of $45,000 will be available for its 1971-72 drug education program when all aspects of it are approved. The target date for final approval is August 15, 1971. The program will be student organized and administered with some staff and faculty assistance. The H.I. Summer Staff has been assigned to the work through August.

RICHMOND

TO

160TH BIRTHDAY OF MAGGIE L. WALKER

FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO CHARTER A BANK

RICHMOND

The 160th Birthday of Maggie Lena Walker will be commemorated on July 13, at the Richmond Public Library at 2 p.m. with a presentation by noted historian Elvatrice Parker Belsches entitled, “A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Mrs. Maggie Lena Walker: A Woman For All Seasons.”

Walker, who was born July 15, 1864 in Richmond and spent her entire life there,

was the first of her gender and race to break discriminatory barriers and achieve many outstanding accomplishments.

When she died in Richmond on December 15, 1934, she had founded a bank, newspaper, and gained fame in civic and humanitarian circles.

Historian Elvatrice Parker Belsches was the recipient of the Maggie L. Walker Heritage Award in 2010 for her verification that Walker was born in 1864

instead of 1867. Belsches will deliver a multimedia presentation that expands the narratives around Walker’s life through the use of rare photographs, documents and powerful narratives. She will also share some of her newer scholarship surrounding Walker’s life.

Belches is the author of the publication, Richmond, Virginia: Black America Series (Arcadia Publishing). Register at rvalibrary.org/events.

MRS. MAGGIE LENA WALKER: A WOMAN FOR ALL SEASONS

By Elvatrice Parker Belsches Special to

the New Journal and Guide

In the pantheon of outstanding Black American leaders of the early 20th century, several loomed large: Booker T. Washington, Mary McLeod Bethune, Mary Church Terrell, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and numerous others. However, no treatise examining exceptional Black leaders of this era is complete without the inclusion of Mrs. Maggie Lena Walker.

Walker was born to Black cook Elizabeth Draper in 1864, during the height of the Civil War, on the estate of staunch Richmond, Virginia Unionists, The Van Lews. Although it is unclear if Maggie Walker’s mother was free or enslaved at the time of her birth, her father was Eccles Cuthbert, a white journalist and native of Ireland. Walker’s mother eventually married William Mitchell, a Black hotel worker who died under suspicious circumstances while Walker was a child, thrusting the family into dire circumstances. Walker assisted her mother with laundering the clothes of others, while attending the public schools for Blacks in Richmond.

Walker joined the First African Baptist Church during her youth, a church that had officially branched off from the integrated First Baptist Church in 1841.

Walker graduated from The Richmond Colored Normal and High, a school organized under the auspices of the Freedmen’s Bureau to train Black students to become educators. Graduates of Richmond Colored Normal, as it was most commonly known, endured a rigorous course of studies. Walker’s graduating class of 1883 would mount a protest over the fact that graduates of the white high school in Richmond would typically hold their graduation exercises in the Richmond Theatre, whereas the graduation exercises of Richmond Colored Normal were commonly conducted

at The First African Baptist Church. Walker and her classmates threatened to strike and subsequently, the exercises were held at the school. She would teach for several years before marrying Armstead Walker, Jr., a contractor. Maggie Walker joined the Independent Order of Saint Luke as a teenager. This benevolent organization, which provided sick and death benefits, was founded in 1867 by Mary Prout and others in Baltimore, Maryland. It would prove pivotal in the development of Walker as a nationally-known organization leader.

By 1899, Walker had ascended to the office of the Right Worthy Grand Secretary of the Independent Order of St. Luke. She eventually presided over an organization

Maggie L. Walker championed education, self-help and entrepreneurship.

that grew to reportedly over 60,000 members in over twenty states. She was later bestowed the title of Right Worthy Grand SecretaryTreasurer of the organization. Walker championed education, self-help and entrepreneurship. In 1901 she put forth the need for the Order to start an emporium, a newspaper and a bank. She would serve as the managing editor of the St. Luke Herald Newspaper, founded in 1902 and in 1903, Walker became the first known Black woman to found and become president of a chartered bank in America, with the opening of the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia. As a champion of civil rights, Walker didn’t sit idly by when the Virginia Passenger and Power Company implemented its segregated street car policies granting the conductors the power to move Black passengers. see Walker, page 7A

Elvatrice Parker Belsches Maggie L. Walker

PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIOLOGY

VIRGINIA TECH

EXPERIENCING THE RACIAL CONTRACT IN OPERATION

By Wornie Reed, Ph.D.

The efforts to eliminate the history of AfricanAmericans from books and classrooms are so fierce because that history is crucial to understanding the history of the United States and the current retreats from attempts at a multiracial democracy.

That history goes back centuries.

In addition to providing answers about the origins and workings of society and government, classical social contract theory purported to explain the justifications of socioeconomic structures and political institutions. However, the philosopher Charles Mills showed this theory to be defective in that it ignores the centrality of the Racial Contract and the role of White supremacy.

He explained how the modern world was expressly created as a racially hierarchical polity, globally dominated by Europeans.

Thus, he says, “We live in a world which has been foundationally shaped for the past 500 years by the realities of European domination and the gradual consolidation of global white supremacy.”

No single act corresponded to drawing up and signing a contract. Instead, there were many acts through the centuries, including papal bulls (edicts by a Pope).

A primary example is the Doctrine of Discovery, which established spiritual, political, and legal justification for colonization. These actions also included theological pronouncements, European discussions about colonialism and international law, pacts, treaties, and legal decisions, academic and popular debates about the humanity

This country began moving toward a multi-democracy in 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, but the forces against such a movement increased their resistance.

(or lack thereof) of nonwhites, the establishment of formalized legal structures of differential treatment, and much more. This was the Racial Contract – an agreement between Europeans about white supremacy.

White supremacy is the unnamed political system that has made the modern world what it is today. The Contract is not between everybody. It is just between the people who count, “we the white people.” All Whites are beneficiaries of the Racial Contract, though some whites – e.g., poor whites –are not signatories to it.

The founding fathers of America created a system to protect themselves, a privileged minority – white male landowners. The result was a flawed system, establishing minority rule, where the president is not elected directly by the people but by the electoral college, where the person winning the presidency is not the one getting the most votes from the people. The election of senators also violates the one-person, one-vote principle, which is when small states get two senators just like large states. Nowadays, this means that smaller, primarily white states have more power in the Senate than larger and more diverse states.

As Ari Berman explains in his book Minority Rules, “To entrench and hold on to power, a shrinking white conservative minority is

relentlessly exploiting the undemocratic features of America’s political institutions while doubling down on a wide variety of antidemocratic tactics, such as voter suppression, election subversion, dark money, legislative power grabs, immigration restrictions, census manipulation, and the whitewashing of history.” The book goes a long way toward explaining some horrors of the modern American political system.

This country began moving toward a multidemocracy in 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, but the forces against such a movement increased their resistance. Taking advantage of minority rule, they eventually gained control of the Supreme Court, which ended this multiracial experiment in 2013 with the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, which had enabled Black participation in political processes.

Five of the current six Right-wing Supreme Court Justices were appointed by Presidents Bush and Trump, each of whom won the antidemocratic Electoral College vote but lost the popular vote. These partisan Justices are doing the bidding of antidemocratic and white supremacy forces in the country.

The first step toward halting the Supreme Court and the rest of the judiciary is for us to vote against this antidemocratic tide – while we can.

Throwing Everything We’ve Got at the Climate Crisis

By Ben Jealous (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

Independence Day at its best is a call to action to leave our children an America as good as its promise. This time of year makes me think about my family’s journey in this country. My father’s family is white. He descends from the youngest combatant at the Battle of Lexington and Concord. My mother’s family is Black. She descends from two Black Virginia statesmen who helped to rebuild the Commonwealth after the Civil War. One of them descended from Thomas Jefferson’s grandmother. Today, both families, like many Americans, live at or near some version of the same address. It is that place where there used to be factories and when they shut down, what shot up was poverty, despair, suicide, and opiate addiction. And as if all that were not enough to deal with, it keeps getting hotter.

The floods come more often. The super storms do as well.

If there is a silver lining in all this struggle, it is this: There is one solution that can tackle all these problems, and that is throwing everything we’ve got at stopping the climate crisis. If we do that, we will turn around the economy, our neighbors’ lives, and the fate of the planet itself.

CARRTOON By Walt Carr

DANGEROUS IMMUNITY

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

Ordinarily when we hear the word immunity, we don’t think about the possibility of a United States President being free to do whatever his/her heart desires – and certainly not to allow a President to walk down 5th Avenue and shoot someone without consequences It certainly would not be a reason for voting for him/her!

Knowing the “permission” the Supreme Court” has just given any crook who has a desire to do wrong to just do it! What it means is we can just forget the meaning of what we keep being told –“No one is above the law.”

Donald Trump has always figured he is above the law, and he was comfortable saying it knowing he had the current Supreme Court in his hip pocket. So many times, he has told us what he plans to do if he gets back in office. He’s trying to deny that he knows about the sins he committed during his unfortunate time in the White House.

Trump has violated every norm expected of someone who dares to serve as President of the U.S. The U.S. has its problems. Just ask African-Americans, Hispanics, Arab Americans, Muslims, LGBTQIA members, poor people,

women when it comes to deciding matters of their own bodies, Progressives, people who speak out against unfairness – and you know the rest. The blessing is there are numerous people who risk their all to make things better for all of us.

Just ask Jack Smith, Fani Willis, Marilyn Mosby, and those who challenge the system by working to bring about equality and justice. Ask those who work for reparations for America’s past sins. Ask the women who try to re-gain what they are allowed to do with their own health care. Ask those who work for justice for all without regard to race, creed or color. Ask the large number of Black women who’ve been punished for doing their jobs as prosecutors. Ask those who once said, “We’ll take our cause to the United States Supreme Court” but now

Voting in November is critical if we are going to win a race over a manytimes convicted criminal who is dodging other potential convictions

dread the thought of taking a righteous cause to the Supreme Court. Ask those who no longer rely on our Supreme Court for fairness except for the efforts of Justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor who said “The President is now a king above the law. With fear for our Democracy, I DISSENT.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said, “If the structural consequences of today’s paradigm shift mark a step in the wrong direction, then the practical consequences are a five-alarm fire that threatens to consume democratic self-governance and the normal operations of our government.”

see Immunity, page 6A

Presidential Immunity & The Second Revolutionary War

The next five years will define who leads the world economy, us or China. Our leadership in innovation and design allowed us to take an early lead in the areas of electric vehicles (EVs) and other green technologies. But China leads in manufacturing. Today they dominate solar panel production and have overtaken the US on EVs as well. Still, we have not given up the fight, despite calls from Fox News and others for us to do just that.

Georgia is home to the largest solar panel production facility in the Western Hemisphere. The same company that owns that plant, Qcells, is about to open another one in Georgia that will be the only plant outside of China producing every component of the panel, from ingot to finished product. Tennessee, North Carolina, and other southern states have a battery belt. EVs are

There is one solution that can tackle all these problems, and that is throwing everything we’ve got at stopping the climate crisis. If we do that, we will turn around the economy, our neighbors’ lives, and the fate of the planet itself.

rolling off the assembly lines in Detroit and elsewhere. Illinois has very recently become home to a boom in production of both EVs and EV components. In short, because of the green economy America has helped the world give birth to, and the investments in manufacturing and infrastructure made under President Biden, we are opening new factories with increasing frequency and beginning to see the signs of an economy that will lift all boats again.

see Climate, page 6A

By David W. Marshall (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

There are times when leaders from the past can be very prophetic in their words, and we should take heed of their warnings.

Ulysses S. Grant is most known as the commanding general who led the Union Army to victory over the Confederates during the Civil War. As a war hero driven by a sense of patriotic duty, he broke ranks with thenPresident Andrew Johnson over Reconstruction policies and ran for president.

Grant, who became president in 1869, was a progressive Republican in line with Abraham Lincoln. As the 18th president, Grant stabilized the post-war national economy; supported the Fifteenth Amendment, which protects voting rights; vigorously enforced civil and voting rights for Blacks; and prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan.

He was an effective civil rights executive who appointed Black Americans and Jewish Americans to prominent positions in the federal government while signing the bill creating the Justice Department. He effectively worked with other radical Republicans in protecting Black Americans during Reconstruction.

During a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, Grant stated that “if we are to have another

contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason & Dixon ... but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other.”

In 1875, the president of the United States accurately predicted the political climate in 2024. Grant's prophecy has become more evident with the recent Supreme Court ruling giving immunity to the U.S. president, thereby creating a monarchy. The “contest” Grant is referencing has become the 2024 presidential election. We hear so much about a second Civil War in our nation. What we really need is a second Revolutionary War to save what is left of our American democracy.

As America celebrated the 248th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, our nation has come full circle. During the summer of 1776,

We should believe him when he says he will call for a televised military tribunal for former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and the jailing of top elected officials, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

colonists celebrated the birth of America’s independence by holding mock funerals for Great Britain’s King George III as a symbolic end of the monarch’s hostile grip on America. Our nation fought and won a Revolutionary War, which served as an outright resistance and rejection of having a monarch lead the country. As the 6-3 supermajority on the Supreme Court determined that presidents and former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts” while in office, it changed everything. see War, page 6A

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

David W. Marshall

Ben Jealous

Armed With New Technology & Tactics, Russian Trolls Are Back To Disrupt US Elections

By Marc H. Morial CEO, National Urban League (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

“Russia remains the most active foreign threat to our elections. The Russian government’s goals in such influence operations tend to include eroding trust in U.S. democratic institutions, exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the United States, and degrading western support to Ukraine. Russia relies on a vast multimedia influence apparatus, which consists of its intelligence services, cyber actors, state media, proxies, and social media trolls. Moscow most likely views such operations as a means to tear down the United States as its perceived primary adversary, enabling Russia to promote itself as a great power.”

—

U.S. Director

of

Intelligence

National

In the spring of 2019, the National Urban League’s State of Black America report was the first to highlight the extent of Russian efforts to deceive, manipulate and exploit Black voters in the 2016 presidential election. Five months later, a Senate Intelligence Committee report confirmed our findings: Russian trolls targeted Black Americans more than any other group to dissuade them from voting. Now, as the 2024 presidential election approaches, the Russians are at it again, armed with new technology and new techniques. Videos, spewing

Marc H. Morial

disinformation, with voices and images manipulated by artificial intelligence, are the medium of choice for Russian operatives. Falsely represented as the work of independent journalists or whistle-blowers, the videos are considered more likely thank simple blog or social media posts to enter the mainstream discourse.

Though the tactics are new, the goal remains the same: the election of Donald Trump and the implementation of Trump’s pro-Russia policies. Trump has said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to our NATO allies who don’t meet defense spending guidelines.

He would end U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion.

Key to Russia’s disruptive plan is the promotion of racial strife and the suppression of Black votes.

“By far, race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign designed to divide the country in 2016,” the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee concluded. Of Russian

Our best defense against disinformation, national security experts say, is identifying and publicizing the propaganda push.

operatives’ top 10 Instagram accounts, five were focused on African-American issues and audiences. Their Twitter content was “heavily focused on hot-button issues with racial undertones such as the NFL kneeling protests.” And 96 percent of their YouTube content was targeted at racial issues and police brutality.

“Some of the videos featured expressly voter suppressive content intended to dissuade African-American voters from participating in the 2016 presidential election,” the committee found.

Russia continued to target Black Americans through the 2020 presidential election.

Our best defense against disinformation, national security experts say, is identifying and publicizing the propaganda push.

“The great antidote to all of this is being able to shine a light on it,” former NSA director Gen. Paul M. Nakasone told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “If they are trying to influence or interfere in our elections, we should make it as hard as possible for them.”

STOP THE LYNCHING OF PRES. JOE BIDEN

By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.

There are moments in life when the convictions of the spirit and personal consciousness collide in opposition to the mainstream, popular outcries for the blood, life, and the end of the future existence of another human being. I refuse to be a silent witness to another lynching in America. Thus, the following is what I have observed and witnessed firsthand over the past days to the lynch moblike escalation of calls for President Joe Biden to step down from campaigning for reelection in 2024. I am not representing any organization or political party. On the 4th of July 2024, while sitting quietly in Raleigh, North Carolina I jotted down my personal views.

Although I am a proud Democrat, I am so saddened by the backstabbing cowardice of those who dare to publicly call for President Biden to step down while having an utter contradictory refusal to utter publicly any call for former President Donald Trump to step down and to end his fascist-engaging campaign to retake The White House. The question is why? The attempted political lynching of President Joe Biden has more to do with disingenuous political infighting than difficulties at a nationally televised political debate. What are the real motives from all of those who are calling for President Biden to step down?

Some will say that my

The question is why? What are the real motives from all of those who are calling for President Biden to step down?

words and expressions here are too strong and controversial. That may be true because there should be strong words and expressions that always should call out and condemn any form of lynching. A political lynching is also a crime against the oneness of our humanity. Such is the situation today in America.

It is the politics of division versus the politics of unifying all Americans for the best interests and future of the nation that is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Equality is on the ballot. Equity is on the ballot. Freedom is on the ballot.

The antidote to the current resurgence of ignorance, racism, cowardice, fascism, and retrenchment from freedom, justice, equality, and equity is to work hard daily and diligently to ensure the largest voter turnout this year in American

history. Why do I claim responsibility for urgently making this statement on July 4, 2024? AfricanAmericans, like others who fought and died in the fields and streets in the 13 American colonies during the Revolutionary War against the British Empire 248 years ago, have a birthright to the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776, and later to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Although thousands of people of African descent, who were not enslaved, enlisted and fought for freedom and independence against the British, no people of African descent were invited or permitted to attend the formative meetings of the newly emerging nation’s democracy and Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1787. see Biden, page 7A

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. President Joe Biden

TAM AWARDS $1000 SCHOLARSHIP TO SOPRANO

LILLIAN M. PARKER

By Julius McCullough Special to

the Guide

NORFOLK

In a resounding celebration of musical excellence and academic achievement, the Tidewater Area Musicians, Inc. (TAM) hosted its inaugural Scholarship Breakfast on June 22, 2024, at the esteemed Double Tree by Hilton Hotel. The event marked a historic occasion as TAM bestowed the prestigious “Julius E. McCullough Music Education and Music Performance Scholarship” upon Lillian M. Parker, a talented soprano and recent graduate of Phoebus High School.

Master of Ceremonies, James L. Rivers called the breakfast to order. The morning began with a flourish as guests were welcomed by TAM President, Mrs. Lorraine M. Bell, and Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander. The program unfolded with elegance and purpose, beginning with heartfelt welcomes from TAM President Mrs. Lorraine M. Bell and Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander.

Mayor Alexander praised TAM’s longstanding dedication to nurturing local talent and promoting musical education among youth in the Tidewater area.

“Since 1975, Tidewater Area Musicians, Inc. has been a cornerstone in our community, encouraging young musicians to pursue their dreams and enriching our cultural tapestry,” remarked Mayor Alexander.

State Senator L. Louise Lucas, President Pro Tempore of the Commonwealth of

Immunity

Continued from page 4A

Justice Elena Kagan laid out grim visions of U.S. democracy. In the Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson’s written dissent, these women speak for us on the Supreme Court. Tragically, they are not in the majority in order to encourage us to be hopeful. Now, we just long for the day vacancies

War

Continued from page 4A

Justice Sonia Sotomayor explained, with its decision in the immunity case, the court’s majority “makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of government that no man is above the law.” Sotomayor continued, “The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

Sotomayor’s sad and alarming assessment is compounded by former Justice Department officials who served under Donald Trump during his first term. Two former Justice Department officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the ruling would embolden Trump. They said it would give him cover to improperly pressure the Justice Department for his own political benefit—to prosecute an enemy or go easy on an ally – by saying he was executing his official duties as president.

Virginia, who could not be present, writes, “The Scholarship Program, a cornerstone of this organization, provides crucial support to growing musicians, helping them realize their dreams. I am particularly proud to honor Julius E. McCullough, who leaves an indelible mark on the musical world through his many contributions. The Julius E. McCullough Scholarship not only bears his name but also represents his lasting legacy for generations to come.

Under the distinguished patronage of Dr. Adolphus Hailstork, a luminary in the world of composition and keynote speaker for the occasion, the morning commenced with a spirit of celebration and cultural enrichment. Dr. Hailstork’s presence added a touch of grandeur, reflecting TAM’s commitment to fostering musical excellence and cultural heritage.

The program featured performances that stirred the soul, including a moving rendition of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” by soprano Amber Garrett and an original saxophone solo by Mason Windley, last year’s scholarship recipient, and Berklee School of Music student.

Dr. Hailstork took center stage, sharing poignant insights into his life and career, punctuated by musical excerpts that underscored his profound impact on contemporary music. Dr. Hailstork’s presence added a profound dimension, as he shared personal anecdotes and insights into his journey as a composer.

The highlight of the morning came with the presentation of the $1000 scholarship to Lillian M.

become available under the right President, for the three women now there to survive – and continue growing with the occasional thoughtful question that comes from Justice Amy Coney Barrett!

So many issues are hanging by a thread if we who care about our democracy don’t step up to the plate. We, the people, are being asked if we prefer an older man who knows and practices the truth or a slightly younger man who doesn’t know the

“It gives him tacit approval to keep doing it,” said a former official when referring to the Supreme Court ruling. “It sets him up to do the things he has said: to investigate people and send them to jail.” The damage is done. The former president is totally insulated from criminal prosecution. The court has essentially opened the door for Donald Trump to return to the White House and become the authoritarian dictator he always wanted to be. When a more powerful Trump speaks of terminating the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election, we should believe that he will make all efforts to undermine the rights protected under the Constitution.

We should believe him when he says he will call for a televised military tribunal for former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and the jailing of top elected officials, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He should be believed when he speaks of using the Justice Department as a weapon to go after political opponents, including members of his own Republican Party.

When Grant’s administration created the Justice Department, it was

Parker by Mr. McCullough assisted by Mason Windley. With grace and gratitude, she accepted the award, which not only supports her aspirations but also honors the legacy of Julius E. McCullough, a pillar in the community for his dedication to music education.

In a fitting finale, Ms. Parker serenaded the audience with a captivating rendition of “Se Tu M’ami” by Alexandro Parisotti, leaving an indelible mark on the gathering.

“Lillian, may this scholarship empower you to reach new heights, to explore the depths of your musical abilities, and to carry forward the legacy with pride and passion,” remarked Mr. McCullough, encapsulating the sentiment of the event.

TAM’s commitment to fostering musical talent and cultural awareness among African-American youth was evident throughout the morning. From the stirring performances to the heartfelt speeches, the Scholarship Breakfast underscored TAM’s mission to preserve and promote diverse musical traditions.

As the event concluded, guests departed with a renewed sense of admiration for TAM’s contributions to the cultural tapestry of Hampton Roads. The legacy of Julius E. McCullough continues to inspire future generations of musicians through the generosity and vision of TAM.

For more information on Tidewater Area Musicians, Inc. and their initiatives, visit www.tamnorfolk.org.

Contact: Tidewater Area Musicians, Inc. P.O. Box 5622, Chesapeake, VA 23324.

truth?

Voting in November is critical if we are going to win a race over a manytimes convicted criminal who is dodging other potential convictions if we are to preserve our democracy, and return to a time when “No One Is Above the Law!” VOTING IS THE MECHANISM BY WHICH WE PROVE IT!

Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of The Dick Gregory Society and President Emerita of the National Congress of Black Women.

not intended to persecute true patriots like himself, who fought for the freedom of all American citizens. It was never intended for a U.S. president to directly interfere with the functioning of the Justice Department through public attacks or intimidation of its prosecutors.

The dividing line Grant spoke about concerning our national existence is even clearer now. On one side of the line are those having the patriotism and intelligence to passionately oppose a convicted felon who will abuse his power to the detriment of the people and nation.

On the other side, it’s the opposite: Those with hypocrisy, ambition, and ignorance who passionately support a convicted felon to be a future dictator. This fight is our new Revolutionary War.

The only ones who can stop King Donald I from power are the uncommitted, apathetic, and uninformed citizens who must decide which side of the line they will cross.

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

Climate

Continued from page 4A

This means thousands upon thousands of good jobs coast to coast. It has been revolutionary in places like Dalton, GA, the location of Qcells’ existing Georgia plant. There, a wall is decorated with the artwork of employees’ children showing their parents as heroes saving the planet.

The other part of the equation to save the planet requires us to protect and rebuild our forests. Expanding wild areas and protecting nature brings more jobs to rural America and helps preserve ancient ways of hunting, fishing, and

connecting with the natural world. The benefits of protecting and planting more trees are not just for rural areas.

Restoring our urban tree canopies is one of the most effective things we can do to combat the urban heat crisis in cities across the country. Recently I have been out visiting cities around the country, from Phoenix, Arizona to Lansing, Michigan, with US Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Homer Wilkes promoting the administration’s $1.5 billion tree planting initiative.

Every new tree casts shade and its shade makes the temperature feel 1015 degrees cooler than it does in the sun. That encourages people to get outdoors. More people

outside and on the street means communities are better protected, safer, and more connected. And better connected communities are more content and, due to reduced social isolation among its members, experience less suicide. The pursuit of America’s promise is an ongoing journey. Although we may feel separate from each other at times, we walk this road together. And we will all rise or fall together. On America’s birthday, let us choose to rise by meeting the challenge of the climate crisis and making the world a better place for everyone along the way. Ben Jealous is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club and a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

(L-R): Julius McCullough, Lorraine Bell, Dr. Adolphus Hailstork, Elizaberth Eccles, James L. Rivers

Photo: Courtesy

(L-R): Julius E. McCullough, Mason Windley, Lillian M. Parker

Photo: Courtesy

Walker

Continued from page 3A

Along with the other Black leaders such as John Mitchell, riders were urged to boycott the streetcars. The Virginia Passenger and Power Company would later go into receivership.

As the managing editor of the St. Luke Herald newspaper, Walker championed the hiring of Black teachers at her alma mater, Richmond Colored Normal. At the founding of the local chapter of what would become the Richmond Urban League and the Richmond Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of

Biden

Continued from page 5A

My great, great, great, great grandfather, The Reverend John Chavis (1763-1838), fought as a young, enlisted soldier in the Revolutionary War against the British in our home state of North Carolina and in the state of Virginia. The Chavis family has lived in Granville County, NC for over 285 years. My father, Benjamin F. Chavis Sr. (1898-1965) enlisted and fought as a young Sergeant Major soldier in the United States Army in World War I. The point here is that generations of African and African-American soldiers have enlisted and fought and died to defend and protect the nation and democracy for the past 248 years. And we are not going to permit anyone or anything to deny our birthright to freedom and democracy. For us, the right to vote in America is bloodstained and sacred. We know from our lived experience the

Colored People, Walker was a charter member of each organization. Walker also was a leader in the National Council of Negro Women and a founding member of the state and local af fi liates of the organization. The state and local af fi liates played a major role in the Negro Reformatory Movement and public health initiatives. With the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting woman the right to vote, Walker teamed with other Black leaders to educate Black women on their new rights and responsibilities. She was on the Board of Trustees for Nannie Helen Burroughs Training School for Women and Girls, and she also served as a trustee for Hartshorn Memorial

horror, pain, and suffering from centuries of physical lynchings in America to satisfy the sheer fear, hatred, white supremacy, and ignorance of racism.

Today, we also know when mobs cry out for the downfall and political lynching of those who have been our allies in our long struggle for freedom, justice, voting rights, and equity; we cannot be silent.

It is ironic that also here in Raleigh, NC less than 24 hours after the questionable so-called debate in Atlanta, GA, President Biden spoke eloquently and forcibly at the N.C. State Fair Grounds about a couple of miles away from the John Chavis Memorial Park in downtown Raleigh. President Biden stated, “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know –I know how to tell the truth.”

The truth is therapeutic. Our nation needs more truth over the lies and prevalent fake news.

At the same time, as the

College for Women, which merged with Virginia Union University in 1932. Among her notable friends and leaders who visited her at her home in Jackson Ward were Mary McLeod Bethune, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, Robert R. Moton, and countless others. In 1925 Virginia Union University conferred upon Mrs. Walker an honorary Master of Science degree.

Mrs. Walker was truly a woman for all ages.

Elvatrice Parker Belsches was the recipient of the Maggie L. Walker Heritage Award in 2010 for her veri fi cation of an earlier birth year for Maggie L. Walker and her creation of the Historic Jackson Ward Podcast Tour by the National Park Service.

calls for President Biden to step down, the United States Supreme Court has now ruled that future and past presidential “official acts” of violence, crime, repression, voter suppression, and insurrection are all immune from prosecution as long those acts are official acts within the core responsibilities of a President of the United States. This is dangerous and fundamentally against the meaning and principles of democracy.

That is why now, more than ever before, we must raise our voices and mobilize our families and communities to go out and vote in record numbers in the Swing States and in every other state across the nation. We all have work to do.

We said back in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, “When things get tough in our struggle for freedom, we have to become tougher.”

Join me and raise your voice with me. Let’s vote in record numbers throughout America. Stop the lynching of President Joe Biden.

Reverend Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.

Media

Continued from page 1A

Meanwhile, AfricanAmericans have notably defended Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently faced a racist headline and story from the New York Post calling her potentially the first “DE&I President.” A headline right out of Trump’s vision of America.

All the while, Democrats are playing a deadly game of “What have you done for me lately.” Eleven House Democrats – Reps. Adam Smith (WA), Jerry Nadler (NY), Mark Takano (CA), Joe Morelle (NY) and seven others – reportedly urged Biden to step aside for the 2024 race during a recent conference call.

Adding to the controversy, Biden’s campaign reportedly provided pre-approved questions for recent radio interviews, sparking outrage and leading to the firing of a host at WURD Radio. The move has been criticized for undermining journalistic integrity and feeding into the narrative of media manipulation.

Overlooked is that most communication directors and publicists routinely offer questions to journalists. That WURD was offered and accepted isn’t the bombshell and gotcha story that CNN, whose hierarchy reportedly are Trump donors, made it out to be. CNN’s utter failure to challenge 90 minutes of lies during the debate has gone unreported compared with Biden’s poor performance. However, other networks and news outlets, like the Washington Post and the New York Times, have failed to challenge the former president’s authoritarian rhetoric and legal transgressions.

Trump, unabashedly campaigning on promises of revenge and authoritarian rule, has gained momentum with little pushback from mainstream media. A Daily

Trump’s campaign on promises of revenge & authoritarian rule has gained momentum with little pushback from mainstream media.

Beast report revealed that Trump weaponized the Justice Department to prolong the imprisonment of his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who was jailed for crimes committed on Trump’s behalf. Cohen warned of Trump’s dictatorial aspirations. “He’ll run the country like a king, like a supreme leader, like a monarch, like a dictator, like the Führer,” Cohen asserted.

“Look. I get it,” attorney and writer Daniel Miller wrote on X. “There is more than one issue that’s important in this race. I get that Biden’s debate performance, as well as related issues, is news. But can we also spend some time on the fact Trump seems to have an odd interest & even an admiration of Hitler & Nazis?”

Miller continued:

“Biden was really bad in the debate, but can we also talk about how Trump reportedly said ‘Hitler did some good things?’ Don’t we think that’s relevant to whether Trump would be a moral president and whether he’d abuse his power to do awful and illegal things?”

“I get Biden’s immigration policy hasn’t been perfect. But can we also talk about how Trump said migrants are ‘poisoning the blood of our country?’ That seems relevant given Trump world is planning to deport 11 million immigrants by placing them in ‘vast holding facilities.’”

“I get that some on the far Left who hate Biden are really antisemitic,” he added. “But can we also talk about Trump hosted Nick Fuentes for dinner, said there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ and

has otherwise trafficked in antisemitic tropes and outright antisemitism?”

Then there’s Project 2025, a conservative manifesto aiming to reshape American policy radically, which has also become a focal point of concern. Despite Trump’s denials, evidence closely connects him to the MAGAinspired project his former aides created.

Key figures behind Project 2025 include Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, former Vice President Mike Pence, Senators Ted Cruz (RTX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Lee (R-UT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Elise Stefanik (R-NY). The project threatens to dismantle democratic checks and balances, empowering Trump to enact his extreme agenda if re-elected.

“If it talks like a dictator and it walks like a dictator, then you better believe it will rule as a dictator,” Biden-Harris 2024 spokesperson Sarafina Chitika stated. She emphasized Trump’s history of abusing power and the existential threat he poses to American democracy.

Despite concerns about his age, Biden has achieved significant legislative and policy successes in his three years in office, arguably more than his predecessor and many other presidents. His administration has passed historic infrastructure bills, advanced climate initiatives, and navigated the country through a post-pandemic economic recovery.

“If elected to a second term, Trump would prosecute anyone he deems an enemy, unleash troops on protesters, and essentially unravel the rule of law as we know it,” MSNBC Host and former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated. “And this time, he plans to line his administration with people who will actually help him do it.”

Continued from page 1A

Most of that money – $24 million – was for punitive damages, but a judge later slashed that amount to $350,000 – to be shared by eight plaintiffs, due to the fact that a state law imposed the $350,000 cap on punitive damages and said it should be applied per person instead of for all eight plaintiffs, as a lower court judge ruled.

“Today’s decision restores over $2 million in punitive damages from the jury’s verdict, which sent a clear message against racist and antisemitic hate and violence,” attorneys Roberta Kaplan, David E. Mills and Gabrielle E. Tenzer said in a recent

statement. The lawsuit funded by Integrity First for America, a nonprofit civil rights organization formed in response to the violence in Charlottesville, accused some of the country’s most well-known white nationalists of plotting the violence, including Jason Kessler, the rally’s main organizer. During the two-day protest at the University of Virginia over the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, James Alex Fields Jr., a white supremacist from Maumee, Ohio, intentionally drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens more. Fields, who was one of the defendants in the civil case, is now serving a life sentence for murder and hate crimes. $2M

Portsmouth Tour Highlights Its Innovation District

By Ernest Lowery Community Engagement New Journal and Guide

PORTSMOUTH

There were a high volume of elected officials in attendance who made a visit to the Portsmouth AfricanAmerican Museum on Elm Ave. on July 5, 2024. Senator Tim Kane, Congressman Bobby Scott, Senator Louise Lucas, Mayor Shannon Glover, Councilwoman Lisa LucasBurke, Councilwoman Dr. Ella Ward and Councilmen Don Carey were in

attendance. Sen. Kaine was in Portsmouth at the city’s invitation to observe firsthand some of the excitement now ongoing related to Portsmouth’s Innovation Plan. From 1-5 p.m., an entourage of area citizens visited several sites that began at the Portsmouth Colored Library.

The entourage traveled to the Holly Point Apartments, an affordable housing complex by Bruce Watts, then moved to the Bloom building where the future of Portsmouth was discussed at an economic roundtable.

A walking tour on High Street included stops at several small businesses. Among the last stops was a tour of the Mustard Seed Place by A. Reddix and Associates, a development that is striving to be who’s who downtown with an abundance of lavish business space that is almost completely filled.

After the long day everyone was treated to a fi lling late lunch at Roger Brown’s restaurant and Senator Kaine and others gave a wrap up on all the spectacular and innovative moves Portsmouth is investing in its future.

Business Economic Roundtable

(L-R): Senator L. Louise Lucas, Senator Tim Kaine, and Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke

(L-R): Mayor Shannon Glover, Cong. Bobby Scott, Sen.Tim Kaine,Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke and Bruce Watts

Dr. Angela Reddix and Sen. Tim Kaine

(L-R): Mayor Shannon Glover, Sen.Tim Kaine and Congressman Bobby Scott,

AllphotosbyErnestLowery

Local Veterans Launch Veterans For Biden-Harris In Virginia Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH

On Tuesday, July 9, the Hon. Anne Holton, Del. Michael Feggans, and Virginia veteran leaders hosted an ice cream social during which they helped launch Veterans for Biden-Harris.

A coalition of veterans, service members and military families gathered, calling out Trump’s record of insulting and disrespecting veterans, as they galvanized support for reelecting President Biden and Vice President Harris.

“Veterans, service members and military families know better than anyone the threat a second Trump term poses to our democracy and the freedoms our military fights to protect,” said organizers in a press release in advance of the meeting.

“This coalition will be organizing, mobilizing, and engaging their community about the clear choice they will face in November between Joe Biden, who is fighting for our nation’s service members and their families, and Donald

Trump, who has a long history of disrespecting Americans in uniform.”

They continued, “As a military father, President Biden believes we have a sacred obligation to care for our nation’s service members and their families. He will never stop fighting to repay the debt of gratitude we owe them, and as president, he has delivered health care to more veterans than ever before by expanding access to VA health care, achieved record-low veteran unemployment, and signed the PACT Act to get thousands of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits the health care they need.”

“Donald Trump called our fallen service members who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect and defend America “suckers” and “losers,” and wants to cut veterans’ benefits, while handing out tax giveaways to billionaires and big corporations.”

Leaders of the Virginia Veterans for Biden-Harris

Free Community Program Offers Substance Abuse Meetings During Summer

NORFOLK

Changing Lives 365, a local non-profit, is hosting free programs to deter and lessen substance abuse in the Hampton Roads Community this summer. They are calling it, “The Summer of Self-Care”. This program will be free to adults 18+ in the community whether they or someone they know is battling with a substance abuse.

Evidenced-based topics covered will include Coping Skills, Music Therapy, Anger Management, Community Resources, Grief Processing, Family Support, SelfCare, Budgeting and more. Classes are free and open to adults 18+. Classes run weekly until the beginning of September 2024.

The program will be led by Qualified Mental Health Professionals and Certified Substance Abuse Counselors. According to the Virginia Department of Health Fast Facts: In 2022, there were:

• 2,490 drug overdose deaths among Virginians, a 5 percent decrease from 2021.

• Almost eight out of 10 (79 percent) drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and tramadol.

• 22,398 drug overdose emergency department (ED) visits among Virginians, a 5 percent increase from 2021. The opioid epidemic in Virginia has reportedly cost $5 billion dollars. To learn more about the Free Community Substance Abuse Program please call (757) 440-3125. The program is sponsored through a grant by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health Services, and other local business partners. Changing Lives 365 is located inside Because We Care II at 1761 Church Street, Suite 109, Norfolk Virginia. A low to moderate income zone in Norfolk. The mission of Changing Lives 365 as a non-profit is to provide behavioral health and mental health resources where insurance falls short. For more information, please contact c.berry@ changinglivesvirginia. onmicrosoft.com

are The Hon. Anne Holton, Marine parent; Tonya V. James, Biden-Harris Political and Coalitions DirectorVirginia/Marine Veteran; Del.

Michael Feggans, Air Force Veteran; Charley Conrad, Chair-DPVA Veterans and Military Families Caucus Navy Veteran.

78th Worthy Matron Elected

By Ellen Stewart Special to the Guide

HAMPTON

Pride of Hampton Nr

150, Order of the Eastern Star, PHA recently elected its 78th Worthy Matron, Trina Bailey Craddox. She is a native of Surry County, Virginia, where she received her early education. Further matriculation was acquired from Virginia State College, Petersburg; Master’s Degree from William and Mary, Williamsburg; and extended education from James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

She currently serves as Principal, Luther Porter Jackson Middle School; while still finding time to serve as the Supervisor and Shelter Manager, Surry County Department of Emergency Services Evacuation Assembly Center at LPJ. Her most significant accomplishment has been maintaining a “fully accredited” school.

Her favorite scriptures are: I Corinthians 16:13 “Be on guard; stand firm in faith; be courageous; be strong.” Her well-chosen theme is: “It Starts With Us.” And, her favorite song is “Break Every Chain”. Her thoughtful quote by Margaret Thatcher is “Don’t follow the crowd. Let the crowd follow you”, which assures “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

WM Craddox is the Godparent to Antoinette and Tamera Edler; Jaylen and Jordan Fedderman; and Paula Rainey. Lastly, her organizational affiliations are: member Va. Council for Teachers of Mathematics; Va. Middle School Association; Va. Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development; National Association of Secondary School Principals; Swan’s Point Church, Spring Grove, VA (serving as a Trustee and choir member); Past Illustrious Commandress, Zem Court, 2013; and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.

The Worthy Patron is Past Worthy Patron Curtis Barbour; Associate Matron is Sister Janet WilksGaskin; Associate Patron is Bro. DeSon Walker; Treasurer and District Deputy, PWM Juneifure Vaughan; Secretary, PWM Debbie Phillips; Assist Secretary, and PGWM Jacqueline T. Sutton. PWM Kimbe Watson serves as Conductress; Assistant Conductress is Sis. Shelley Walker. Trustees are Sisters Ellen Stewart, PWM, Sis. Joya Peppers, PWM and Sis. Tallie B. Thomas, PWM; Warder, Sis. Monica Hunt, PWM; Sentinel Bro. Joseph Shears, PWP. Serving as Flag Bearers are PWM Ruby Gatling; PWM Madeline Barnes; Sis. Brenda Fauntleroy with Sis. Lorna Latibeaudiere as Marshal.

Attention now turns to Grand Chapter Session where Pride of Hampton’s First Grand Worthy Jacqueline T. Sutton rounds out her term.

Dt. Leanda Regan Is Two-Time Winner!

By Ellen Stewart Special to the Guide

Daughter Leanda Regan, Zem Court 98, Daughters was recently recognized as the 2023 Outstanding Daughter of the Year. She is a native of Southern Maryland, where she obtained her early public education. Further matriculation was acquired at St. Leo University (FL) in Virginia, with a degree in Psychology.

Dt. Regan was the recipient of “Daughter of the Year for the Desert of (Virginia). This title was Directress, of Voter Registration. Her efforts for Zem Court (alongside the Nobility of Zem Temple 122) were hard, energetic efforts to enlighten, inform the Court and the communities of Hampton and Newport News of the elections do’s and don’ts which greatly enhanced the successful poll results. Her quiet, positive can-do attitude, giving

Leanda Regan

100 percent, exceptional sisterhood, determined to succeed, with her smile as she urges those around her to roll up their sleeves and push just a little more has been proven over and over again goals attained. She’s the Chairperson, of the

Community Involvement/ Voter Registration; CoChair Thanksgiving/Feast and serves on six other committees.

Dt. Regan is truly the epitome of what exemplifies in both wellearned awards.

FEUDING WITH FAMILY FEUD

By Shedrick Byrd

Do you watch TV game shows? From time to time I do. One of my favorite shows is “Family Feud.”

The Family Feud show is a four-segment half an hour TV game show in which families of five persons compete to answer surveyed questions. Each question is supposed to have been asked of 100 people by the game show staff. The winning family then gets a chance at the end of the segments to answer enough questions asked of 100 people to accumulate 200 points. If they accumulate 200 points

BOARD MEMBERS: ARE YOU READY TO LEAD A CAMPAIGN?

PART TWO OF A TWO-PART SERIES

Non-profit fundraising requires full engagement by the board of directors.

If you are a board member or nonprofit leader – this column is for you. We offer serious suggestions for your consideration – things that have been shared with us over the years by those who can give and influence gifts at the highest levels.

Let’s start with “who is on your board?” People who can influence major gifts and resources want to know if they know anyone on your board. This is part of their evaluation of an organization’s leadership and capabilities. They want to know that your board can steward major gifts and investments and that you can deliver on your promise.

If you feel that your board is not comprised of “well known individuals,” we recommend two different actions. First, consider building a fundraising advisory committee. Our other recommendation is that you cultivate recognized leaders and explore whether or not they would be open to serving on your board. In both cases a change in culture will most likely be involved. Along with the benefits that accompany change there are also the bumps along the way. Take time to

think about how you will work with new leaders and volunteers. Ask them about their expectations and be prepared to do things differently, or to explain the value and reasoning behind why things are the way they are right now.

Stakeholders and large donors want to know how you will meet your fundraising goals. A common question is “does your board give at 100 percent?” Some will ask, “how much does your board give and raise each year?” The question implies your board is actively engaged in giving and fundraising. Experienced major donors will ask is “do you have board members who can give or influence 80% of the funds you want to raise?” That can be a shocking question if you haven’t been asked it before. Here are a few other things to consider during pre-campaign selfexamination. Are we as board members known amongst the giving community? Are we known as trustworthy, and do we inspire confidence? Are we in a position to attract top leadership who – in collaboration with staff and board – can assure success? These are hard questions to ask and answer. But without

active, engaged, and well-known leadership, fundraising is an uphill climb. No consultant or staff person and offset the strength and engagement of the board, no matter how brilliant their alternative plans.

Fundraising begins with an assessment of your board’s fundraising capacity, willingness to give, and most importantly their willingness to introduce you to those within their networks who may be able to help you meet your goals. Your CEO and board chair need to work together to identify, recruit, and – if needed – reconfigure the board. Spend your time and energy here and engage those who can give and influence top gifts before you begin campaign planning. At the end of the day, the success or failure of a campaign rests with who is serving on your board.

Comprehensive Fund Development Services. Video and phone conferencing services are 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

the family wins $20,000.

Since I have been watching the show, oh, maybe a year or so, I have seen a lot of black families participate on the show but very, very, few have I seen win the first round. In order to get a chance to win $20,000. You have to win the first round. If you win the first round and beyond, you can win up to five rounds attain $100,000 and a new car. I have never seen that happen! I have seen white participating families win $60,000 and a new car. Never have I seen a black family win more than $40,000 and a new car.

The show producers always seem to have black families competing against white families and the white families usually win. Since I like the show so well I wondered

The show staff could do a better job editing answers they get from the 100 people they interviewed. Some of the answers are just outlandish.

what are black families doing wrong. So, I then started to pay more attention. Sometimes black participants seem to be a tad bit slow, in doubt and don’t hit the answer button fast enough to move to the next phase of the game where the entire family gets a chance to participate in the answers. Some of the questions in that phase of the game are so outlandish none of the contestants can answer them.

The questions are supposed to be the answers from 100 women and/or men. Although if that’s the case I wonder who does the game show critiquing before putting the questions on the air?

Steve Harvey is the host for Family Feud. He is probably the best host the show has ever had. I wondered if Steve Harvey had paid attention to or cares what’s going on with black family participants. He has to notice how few black participants win the first round. It seems he enjoys

hosting the show, but he is so interested in looking good, being the star of the show and changing clothes between shows until he doesn’t seem to care about the disproportion of black families winning on the show. As black families lose again and again he would tell them how well they played and how good they looked on TV. He then moves on to the white family for the $20,000 questions. The show in my view could certainly use better critiquing. One immediate thing the show could do is to have more black families compete against each other. The show staff could do a better job editing answers they get from the 100 people they interviewed. Some of the answers are just outlandish. Steve Harvey could concentrate on being a better host rather than being the star of the show.

Shedrick Byrd is a contributor to the New Journal and Guide.

Hello and welcome to The Bridge Corner. In this exercise, we are taking a second look at “Developing Winners in No Trump.” This is the exact hand from our last session! The reason we are re-visiting the hand is because the No Trump contract is THE most frequently bid and played contract in duplicate bridge; we wish to emphasize the techniques for play of the hand. Look at item #6 below; now play the hand with Declarer winning the first trick lead with the Ace of Spades. What happens if Declarer now plays any suit other than the club suit? In the No Trump contract, the first time Declarer wins the trick after the opening lead, Declarer should switch to his longest suit and continue to play his long suit until the opponents play their winning high card in Declarer’s long suit.

1) South opens the bidding with 1 Diamond. South is the describer and North is the responder and the captain.

2) North, the responder, can’t support opener’s suit nor bid a NEW SUIT at the one level. The response would be 1 N/T and is invitational. Responder has 5 to 10 points and no four-

card major. Opener does not have to bid again.

3) The contract is 1 N/T and North is the declarer.

4) East makes the opening lead with the Q Spade.

5) Declarer needs seven tricks but only has six sure tricks. Declarer can develop the extra trick in the Club suit.

6) Declarer should play the Clubs after winning the first trick to develop the extra trick needed. Meanwhile, declarer keeps the winners in the other suits to prevent the opponents from taking tricks.

7) Declarer should make his 1 No Trump contract.

TIDEWATER BRIDGE CLUB: Richard A. Tucker

Memorial Library

2350 Berkley Ave., Ext. Norfolk, VA 23523

The dates for the next four games are:

1) Friday, July 19 - 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

2) Friday, August 2, 2024 – 10 a.m. to

Shedrick Byrd

Worthy Matron, Trina Bailey Craddox

Daugther

FIRST BLACK WILSON HS ALUMNA

AMONG 2024 WEST POINT GRADS

By Rosaland Tyler

Associate Editor New Journal and Guide

Portsmouth native Stevie Gary recently crossed the commencement stage at West Point, shook hands with keynote speaker President Joe Biden; then, she headed to a six-month tour of duty at Fort Moore, in Georgia.

Gary, who received a fullride West Point scholarship in 2019, made history when she became the first Black female from Wilson High to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Stevie Gary

good experience for me,” said Gary, who will embark on a three-year tour at Texas’ Fort Bliss after she leaves Fort Moore, in Georgia.

NSU Event Highlights Its Workforce Program For Vets

NSU NEWSROOM

She described her tenure at West Point as “definitely difficult. There were many long nights, many injuries, many mental battles that I had to overcome,” the newly minted second lieutenant said in recent news reports. “However, that came with great people that were around me. Not just my family at home, but I got to meet a new tribe of people at West Point,” said Gary, who was a member of West Point’s gospel choir.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s CHIPS for America Program and the U.S. Department of Labor’s VETS Program visited Norfolk State University on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, to showcase veterans workforce training activities delivered through NSU’s Nanomanufacturing Certificate Program (NCP).

industry jobs. It is offered in collaboration with Tidewater Community College and Pennsylvania State University and is critical to the national CHIPS for America effort to build a workforce of more than 90,000 skilled semiconductor technicians.

“It’s still unbelievable,” said Gary, one of 1,036 cadets who graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point on May 25. “All praise to God, without him, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I am happy that I had a great support system. My mom, my family, my siblings.” Her support system also included devoted teachers at Wilson High, where she was a member of the basketball and track teams.

Portsmouth teachers took “the time to put little tidbits of life information” along the path “so that was a really

Her mother, Michelle Hughes said, “I birthed greatness. I’m extremely proud. I really am. I was just telling her, 23 years ago, you were just a baby. She never gave me any problems!”

Lisa Boatright King Named New Executive Director of Norfolk Sister City Association

NORFOLK

The Board of Directors of The Norfolk Sister City Association, Inc. (Norfolk Sister Cities) recently announced the appointment of Lisa Boatright King as its new Executive Director. She has served as their interim Executive Director since February of this year.

Boatright King holds a master’s degree in social work from Norfolk State University and has years of success with non-profits and in the human services field. She has extensive experience in nonprofit administration, including volunteer and community guest

coordination, communications, event planning, and bookkeeping.

A native Virginian, Boatright King has lived in Norfolk since 1993, where she has been an active Norfolk Public Schools volunteer for many years. Her strong people skills and management experience easily lends itself to the maintenance and growth of this long-established, community nonprofit. If you are interested in learning more about Norfolk Sister Cities, please visit their website at www.NorfolkSisterCities.org or call (757) 627-0530.

Stamps Are Going Up To 73 Cents On July 14

WASHINGTON, D.C.

The cost of first-class Forever stamps will rise by five cents from 68 cents to 73 cents on July 14, an increase of more than 7 percent.

Stamps purchased at 68 cents by July 14 can be used “forever” once the new rate is enacted.. International postcards and international 1-ounce letters will increase by 10 cents each, from $1.55 to $1.65.

Post office box rental fees will not change.

NCP helps equip military veterans, as well as transitioning military personnel, with skills in nanotechnology-based manufacturing and new product development. These skills are needed by companies to move life-changing nano-scale applications out of the laboratory and into the marketplace.

The program is an approved U.S. Veterans Administration SkillBridge that features a 12-week short course for veterans seeking to compete for semiconductor

CHIPS for America is launching a six-state strategy to reach veterans by leveraging the services offered via the Department of Labor’s American Job Centers. Locally, the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, which is funded by the Department of Labor, assists businesses in accessing qualified workers and job seekers in search of suitable job openings and training –which includes a focus on veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses.

“We are honored to highlight Norfolk State University and the Hampton Roads Workforce Council Veteran Employment

Center’s efforts in bringing this program to life. It is an excellent example of how interagency collaboration can have a powerful impact not only within a local community, but throughout the nation’s economy,” said Margarita Devlin, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations and Management, Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service. The event also included a tour of NSU’s cleanroom and training facilities. NSU is a member of the Virginia Alliance for Semiconductor Technology (VAST), a consortium that includes more than 35,000 square feet of shared semiconductor fabrication facilities, serves more than 150 faculty research groups, and trains more than 600 students. VAST upskills 300 veterans and adult learners annually through the Fast Track to Semiconductor Careers Certificate Program.

Looking the Other Way

By Sean C. Bowers

People talk about not seeing things,

Like not seeing Nazi’s and what anti-Semitism’s Holocaust brought and brings

They talk about there being no prejudice no racism, Let me tell you their living in a hallucinogenic holographic prism

These are the same they who talk about, she had it coming and deserved what she got, These same people look the other way thereby allowing their sisters and mothers rampage and in hell their souls will rot

Now the republican right wants us to look the other way from the poor, The religious right conveniently forgot that help the needy passage, cause their greedy and only want more

They, those who look the other way, Want you to keep driving oil technology to and from their bank, every day

It’s only by looking the other way, These they’s are enabled to keep their warped logics in play

They want you to look away and ship your loved ones off to nursing homes,

To die alone with only unanswered unattended ringing phones

So here’s to not looking the other way, Here’s to standing up for all people’s rights, the rights of the straight and gay

You look in your soul long enough and you see your reflection, You know in your heart eventually, you’ll be next on their list for inspection, By not looking the other way, we all move forward through truthful introspection

I can’t look the other way, The Quaker in me won’t let me look at people any other way, But straight on, right on, 24-7, 365, June through May

Fantasies and Delusions

By Sean C. Bowers

I came from nothing and nowhere with delusions of grandeur, Of a future with us as dual loving roles to each pure

Yet my fantasies in my mind speak to my life long desire, To be loved, accepted, appreciated, and wanted for what I am by one who of me would never tire

Billy Joel composed this titled composition for a love out of tribute and inspiration,

I have felt that same type of energy arise in me more creativity translated to pages through perspiration

I now know and understand the answers were always there waiting for me to step to them,

As an age old spiritual yet to be released in this time, this form, this translation of an ancient hymn

Sean C. Bowers writes 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 e-mail at V1ZUAL1ZE@aol.com NNPA 2019 Publisher of the Year, Brenda H. Andrews (NJ&G 37 years) has always been his publisher.

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

THE CAUSES OF CONFLICT MOMENTS of MEDITATION

James 4:1-12

At the close of chapter 3 James listed the qualities of the wisdom from above and referred approvingly to “those who make peace.” Chapter 4, however, opens with quarrels, conflicts, war, murder and fighting. For centuries, conflict has been common among God’s people. The many denominations and Christian groups that exist today bear witness to this. True believers, of course, must separate from unbelievers to maintain the purity of the church, but that is not the issue here. What divides believers into warring factions? Interestingly, the same things that cause sin in an individual’s life: the flesh, the world and the devil.

THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH. What (4:1-3) were the believers doing? 1. They were quarreling; and 2. They

were fighting. This may refer to physical fights or it may refer to verbal disputes (see 1 Timothy 6:4; Titus 3:9). 1. They were lusting; and 2. They were murdering. Actual killing would not have been tolerated by the Roman authorities. James probably used this term to shock them into realizing the gravity of their hateful feelings toward each other (see Matthew 5:21-22).

James identifies the source of their conflict as “your pleasures that wage war in your members” (4: 1). “Members” may refer to those who make up the body of Christ (Romans 12:5). If so, the self-centered gratification of their desires is seen as the first cause of the conflict situation. Or, “members” may be actual parts of their physical bodies (1 Corinthians 12:14-18). In this case,

eternal conflict results from attempting to gratify the sensual desires of the human body. Though sexual appetite is a part of this, all the physical senses and sensations are included.

James 4:2 implies that at least some of their desires were legitimate and could be satisfied if they would ask God (see Matthew 7:7). Some of them, perhaps were going through the motions of prayer (James 4:3), but their prayer had not been answered. This was because they were asking in the wrong way and with a wrong motive. Prayer must include a willingness to accept God’s plan (see Luke 22:42). These believers needed to move from a selfcentered philosophy to a God-centered philosophy. When that happens, a prime cause of conflict is removed.

THE DEMANDS OF THE WORLD. James refers to his readers as “adulteresses” (4:4). Though some within the fellowship may have been guilty of physical adultery, James was probably using this term in a figurative sense (like his reference to murder in verse 2), to refer to spiritual infidelity.

The Bible – especially the Old Testament – contains many parallels between the marriage relationship and the bond, between God and His people. James calls

his readers, whether male or female, “adulteresses” because they had been unfaithful to their Lord. Their infidelity showed in their preference for the world and its ways rather than God. What a contemporary ring this has! How easy it is, sometimes without realizing what is happening, to compromise our standards and values.

“Spirit” (v. 5) apparently refers to the Holy Spirit. This statement is not an exact quote from the Old Testament, but summarizes much Old Testament teaching. The Holy Spirit desires and expects – and makes possible – our undivided submission to the Lord. God’s grace is greater than the power of self (v. 6a).

THE DECEIT OF THE DEVIL. Pride is the foremost obstacle to conversion and Christian growth. If we are to live as God’s children should and accept His sovereignty over every phase of our lives, we must reject the deceit of the devil when he whispers that we can do things better ourselves.

When we turn to God in genuine humility, the conflicts – internal and external – that trouble us individually and as member of the body of Christ will be resolved.

James lists 10 imperatives that will produce this happy result if they are needed:

1. Submit to God (v. 7a);

2. Resist the devil (v. 7b). When we set ourselves squarely against him, he will flee;

3. Draw near to God (v. 8a). Where do we obtain the strength to resist the devil? From the submitting to God (v. 7a) and from drawing close to Him. God will meet us as we approach Him;

4. Cleanse your hands;

5. Purify your “hearts” (Psalms 24:3-4) are required of those who would gain access to God’s presence;

6. Be miserable; 7. Mourn; 8. Weep (James 4:9a). The people to whom James was writing had a great deal of repenting to do before the joy of the Lord could be restored to them;

9. Turn your laughter into mourning, and your joy to gloom (v. 9b). A time of sorrow and dejection would come when they recognized their failure; and

10. Humble yourselves before the Lord (v. 10). James’ last command is almost a repetition of the first. If they did this, God would raise them up.

CONFLICT AND LAW.

The conflicts plaguing these believers found expression in words –especially words spoken against one another. In doing this, they were actually speaking against the law and setting themselves up as superior to the law. Only God has the authority and power to save and to destroy, so it is presumptuous for Christians to sit in judgment on each other. Instead of judging and tearing down one another, these believers should have been loving and building each other up. If James were to write a letter to you and your church today, would he have reason to ask, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?” Could he point to the desires of the flesh, the demands of the world, or the deceit of the devil in your life and in the lives of your fellow believers? Would he find that conflicts were being generated and perpetuated because of judgmental attitudes toward one another? More than anything else, a Christian, like a believing Israelite of old, needs “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [his] God” (Micah 6:8). If all believers were, to do so, conflicts would soon vanish, and we could “fight the good fight of faith” (1Timothy 6:12) against the enemy without and unhampered by conflicts within.

CHURCH ADs & DIRECTORY DIRECTORY

BOOKWORM REVIEW

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

TREATING VIOLENCE: AN EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR TAKES ON A DEADLY AMERICAN EPIDEMIC

Well, thank you so much to your co-worker.

That’s where you got this ick, this scratchy-throat, achy-body, upset-stomach, can’t-sleep virus. He sneezed and that’s all it took. Now you’ve got what he had and you’re trying not to spread it anymore. As you know, and as in the new book “Treating Violence” by Rob Gore, MD, an epidemic affects everybody.

Once upon a time, Rob Gore had a brother.

Angel wasn’t biologically related but within a short time after Gore’s parents fostered the young boy, Gore considered Angel as a sibling. They tussled and played together. Gore watched over his “brother” and when Angel got older, he did the same for Gore. But Angel was anything but an angel and slowly, he turned to hustling drugs.

Gore says he wishes he’d done more to stop him. Eventually, Angel went to prison.

“Treating

Violence: An Emergency Room Doctor Takes On a Deadly American Epidemic”

Rob Gore,

By

MD ©2024, Beacon Press $27.95, 200 pages

Growing up in Brooklyn, Gore knew that the streets were not kind to people who looked like him, people with Brown or Black skin, and he understood early how privileged he was. He was granted – and sometimes squandered – the best education. In high school, after he was given a chance to “shadow” sports medicine practitioners and after he

noticed a lack of Black people in medical careers, he saw his own future. Gore attended Morehouse College, with an eye toward helping Black and Brown people in crisis.

According to the CDC, he says, “homicide ... is the number-two cause of death for Black males ages one to nine ...,” but there are ways to identify issues before they become dangerous, out-of-control problems. The process moves through examination of a person’s childhood traumas and what happened to them as adults, followed by listening, validating, and asking for calm. Gore understood this as a young doctor, and he decided to do something about it.

“Lack of funding was a roadblock” for it, he says, “but the seed was planted and my conviction continued to grow.”

You’re tired of attending funerals, and tired of reading about another dead child somewhere. You’re ready to act. You’re ready to read “Treating Violence.”

FUN PUZZLE FOR YOUR LEISURE

Indeed, this book might light a fire under you: author Rob Gore, MD first explains what street violence does to Black communities and families, which is shocking and upsetting. This begins his biography, which is a brief (too-brief!) set-up for how and why Gore ultimately founded KAVI, an organization that uses trained volunteers to lower the anger level and any desires for revenge when someone is the victim of violence. The story is a rousing one, but readers may feel a bit cheated by the rushed transition from Gore’s life and his work as an ED doctor, to KAVI. Information on KAVI and similar organizations may spur you to take action. An abrupt stoppage of Gore’s personal stories may disappoint you.

Still, with the Surgeon General’s recent warning on gun use in mind, “Treating Violence” couldn’t be more timely or necessary. Find it, read it for the excellent biography and the ideas, statistics, and urgency – and get to work.

FILM REVIEW: SING

By Dwight Brown Film Critic

(4 Stars)

It’s refreshing when a film poses answers to the most confounding social issues. Countless feature films and documentaries exam the plight of systems and institutions that treat Black folks unfairly. Too few offer solutions. That’s the reason this drama, which is basedon-fact and real people, is so illuminating. It offers results. Prison reform is a hot topic, and this production depicts it in a way that makes the rehabilitation of the incarcerated an inspiring journey. An allegory worth retelling and spreading. The setting is Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Ossining, New York.

Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) is a small group of convicts who’ve become actors, and its members put on shows every six months. One of the founders, John “Divine G” Whitfield (Colman Domingo, Rustin), writes many of their plays. He recruits a temperamental prison yard bully, Divine Eye (Clarence Maclin), into the group. Then the troupe, their director (Paul Raci, Sound of Metal) and key players (Sean San Jose, John Divine G. Whitfield) prepare to stage a time travel theater piece.

Writer/director Greg Kwedar, with co-writers Clint Bentley (Jockey) and Brent Buell, weaves reality, a play-within-a-play scenario, rivalries, jealousies, failures and hope into an extremely emotional and uplifting film. You have to love the characters; the ones society deems incorrigible. All the prisoners are interesting, but Divine Eye is intensely compelling because his character arc puts the ultimate dreams and goals of the theater group on display. Healing and redemption. Also, the real Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin plays himself!

The push and pull, between Divine G and Divine Eye, is so tense and real because Domingo and Maclin convey the rawest emotions. Arguments, accusations, fear, anxiety and finally love and understanding. It’s a process the actors go through with a keen sense of duty to their characters. A mentoring that brings the most unlikely prison actor to his zenith. They and others are given the words and feelings they need to show that growth and redemption is possible. Says one con: “We’re here to become human again. And enjoy the things that are not in our reality.” All the depictions and interpretations of prison life resonate. All. Kwedar (Jockey) directs the ebbs and flows and ups and downs with a real focus on primal feelings, authentic performances and a rhythm that makes 105 minutes (editor Parker Laramie) of jail time a vibrant experience. It’s a vision to behold (Pat Scola, cinematographer; Ruta Kiskyte, production design; Desira Pesta, costumes; Jacob Harbeck, art direction). In between scenes, the camera focusses on exterior and interior shots that are perfectly lit and composed. Like those in an art film. By film’s end, passion and optimism rush over you. And knowing that some of the formerly incarcerated men from the real RTA group are in the main cast brings the film’s theme full circle. The real-life director of RTA made an astonishing claim: “67 percent of inmates will return to prison after being released. The recidivism rate for RTA members is 3 percent.” That’s because their arts therapy group rebuilds prisoners from the inside out. Ever heard of an empowering jailhouse movie that posed even a tiny solution for breaking the cycle of mass incarceration? That’s the magic of the stirring film Sing Sing – it has answers.

Colman Domingo as John “Divine G” Whitfield