and,Rowlett Mesquite www.texasmetronews.com Free - Take One Richardson DS IN & E.Dallas ett ite on Fax (903) 450-1397 1 Year Subscription $45.00 as
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MY TRUTH
By Cheryl Smith Publisher
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Part 2
I was a talking to Ms. Thelma Youngblood one day and I said a cuss word. Now I have known Ms. Youngblood for almost 30 years and she is my elder so I immediately apologized. While she brushed aside my apology, I know she appreciated that I exhibited the home training that she knew I had in me. During a recent board meeting, I watched a young student approach board members who were 10, 20, 30 and 40 years older than her, but she still added a courtesy title overtime she addressed one of us. It was so refreshing because anytime I have watched young teens on the hit game show Family Feud address host Steve Harvey as, “Steve� I want to reach inside the screen and give them a sampling of home training. Even using conservative numbers, Steve Harvey is old enough to be a grandparent of a teenager. Why do these children feel so comfortable addressing adults by their first names? As a teenager, I can only think of two people I called by their first name and they were my God Parents, Charles and Liz. All other adults were called Ms., Mrs. and Mr. So and So. To me, Liz and Charles were terms of endearment and respect, when speaking to my Godparents. When Andre, Alayna, Annya, and Ayanna were young, they were given a choice of calling adults, Mr., Mrs., Ms., Aunt, or Uncle. I didn’t force the title on them. They could decide how they felt about a person and conduct themselves accordingly. See TRUTH, page 9
Volume 6, No.21
Texas
TEXAS METRO NEWS MARCH 28, 2018
Metro News Another Shooting Will another murder go unpunished? Will Stephon Clark receive the same “justice “ as Alton Sterling?
By Genoa Barrow (Sacramento Observer/ NNPA Member)
SACRAMENTO—Angr y and frustrated residents are demanding answers after a police-involved shooting left an unarmed, Black man dead last week. Stephon Clark, 22, was fatally shot in his Meadowview area backyard Sunday, March 18 after two Sacramento Police Department (SPD) officers shot at him more than 20 times. Local law enforcement officers were in the area after receiving a 911 call about a man suspected of breaking into vehicles in the area. A Sacramento County Sheriff ’s Department helicopter spotted a man they believed to be that suspect, described as being 6’1�, thin, and wearing a black hoodie and dark pants, in a backyard and they directed SPD officers on the ground to that location. Helicopter personnel also communicated to officers that the suspect had picked up a “toolbar� and broke a window to a residence. Officers who had been canvassing other yards, eventually entered the front yard of a home on the 7500 block of 29th Street and
Stephon Clark
observed Clark, along the side of the residence. Officers commanded Clark to stop and show his hands. According to a statement released by the SPD, the officers say Clark turned and advanced towards them while “holding an object which was extended in front of him.� The officers said they believed Clark was pointing a gun at them and, “fearing for their safety,� they fired their duty weapons. Police admit they only found a cellphone, not a gun or a “toolbar,� on the scene. On Wednesday, March 21 the SPD released video footage of the interaction from the body cameras worn by both officers, as well as audio from the initial 911 calls and dispatch. Chief Daniel Hahn, the city’s first African American police chief, has
vowed to be transparent in such incidents since he took the position last year. Sacramento City Council policy on Police Use of Force mandates that the SPD release video and audio associated with police-involved shootings to the public within 30 days. The policy was adopted after a mentally ill Black man, Joseph Mann, was shot and killed by SPD officers in Del Paso Heights in 2016. The three-day turn around in the Clark shooting is much quicker than has happened in years past. “SPD acknowledges the seriousness of this incident and the impact it has on our community,� reads one of two statements on the shooting, released by the SPD last week. “We are committed to providing timely information, communicating openly, and working directly with our community, so that they have a full understanding of what occurred,� the statement continues. The body camera videos are each about 17 minutes long. While neither officer has been identified, one appears to be White or Hispanic and the other African American. In the graphic video, the officers don’t appear See SHOOTING, page 6
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WOMEN’S HISTORY
“From Boys to Men� By Edward E. Gray
As a man, it’s always hard to write about women. It shouldn’t be; however, you risk the chance of not knowing what to say. More than likely you will Ed “THE COMMISH� Gray say too much or not enough. With that being the challenge, let me begin by saying men have heard the roar of an empowered sisterhood. I grew up in an unrepentant sexist world in the sixties and seventies. As a young man, I was influenced by the rights and privileges borne to me as a boy. Let’s face it, as a boy you could be called “mannish,� and people would laugh at you, because it is expected that boys were little men with all their flaws. I could be loud and abrasive as a boy, and people would say, “Boys are just being boys.� But assertive girls were told to be more ladylike. Girls were taught that boys were to be aggressive and assertive and girls were to defer to boys — even if the girls came in first place. To be a girl, you were taught to defer to the boys. As I transitioned from being a boy to man, not much changed. In the hiring of employees, young men were hired first over young women because employers feared lost production. It was believed that because women bore children, they would become a liability. See BOYS, continued on page 7 www.texasmetronews.com