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JULY 22, 2016

VOL 5 ISSUE 47

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JULY 22, 2016

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JULY 22, 2016

VOL 5 ISSUE 47

Don’t silence the voices!

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After the horror, We Must Build One America

By Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. President, Rainbow PUSH Coalition via George Curry Media

“It is more dangerous to be Black in America. You’re substantially more likely to be in a situation where police don’t respect you.”

The speaker was not Barack Obama; it was former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Even a conservative firebrand such as Gingrich was shaken by videos showing Black men killed by police in Baton Rouge and suburban St. Paul.

Then, the lone assassin in Dallas shot and killed five police officers and wounded seven more. Grief, fear and anger spread.

The challenge now - for every concerned American - is how we react to the injustice and the violence. We know that our justice system suffers from massive and systematic racism. It is more dangerous to drive while Black.

African Americans are more likely to be stopped, more likely to be searched, more likely to be arrested if stopped, more likely to be charged if arrested, and more likely to be jailed if convicted. The budget of many small towns is based upon the fines, penalties and fees largely paid for by African-American offenders. Police, state’s attorneys and judges tend to have a shared perspective, an organizational kinship.

How do we respond? After the shootings of Philando Castile in Minneapolis and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La. - as after Ferguson, Mo. and Baltimore and more nonviolent demonstra-

tions spread across the country. Whites joined with Blacks and Latinos and Asian-Americans to call for an end to the killings, for justice, for the recognition that Black Lives Matter. These are the tactics taught by Jesus, Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, not because they were scared of violence but because they were wise about change.

Nonviolence condemns the sin, but not the sinner. It indicts the injustice by forcing recognition of our shared humanity. It summons the better angels of our character, not the bitter angers of our fears.

We must choose reconciliation over retaliation and revenge. This is a teachable moment if we are finally willing to learn that too many guns, too much injustice and growing disparities is a lethal cocktail.

It is unfair to associate this terrorist attack with our long struggle for peace and justice for all. This crime has endangered those who would protest nonviolently against injustice. It roused fears and spread hatred. The reactionary will use his crimes to try to discredit the reform movement. Police across the country will be even more on guard. Violence isn’t an answer; it is sabotage.

America is scarred by what has become routine violence. There is good news. The murder rate is dropping.

The number of police killed in the line of duty is lower in recent years than it was in earlier decades. But according to the tally of the Washington Post, 509 people have been shot by police to date in 2016, a pace slightly ahead of last year’s. And gun violence continues to take a grisly toll.

The cameras that now are everywhere have begun to expose to America the reality that people of color have known all too well. Now people of good conscience must come together and demand change. This will take multiracial coalitions, electoral mobili-

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zation and peaceful protest.

But the camera’s eye shows us only a glimpse of the symptoms; it does not reveal the roots of the disease. The camera lens can reveal the police abuse, breaking the curtain of silence. But it does not show the roots of the problem.

The reality is that there are still two Americas. We’ve overcome legal racial segregation but we haven’t overcome legal resource segregation in schools, jobs, contracts, investments, access to capital, technology and deal flow.

Poor African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be crowded into impoverished neighborhoods, marked by drugs and guns, by violent streets and broken schools, unemployment and crushed hopes. Police are tasked to keep order amid the despair. It is an impossible job.

Yes, we need justice when police officers brutalize the innocent. We need more training, more cameras, more community relations, and new community forms of policing. We need to end the racial disparities in arrests, searches, sentencing and more.

But the police will still be in an impossible position unless we get serious about making this one America, in redressing the lack of jobs, the broken schools, the shortage of affordable housing, the lack of health care and drug treatment, the shortage of parks and recreational facilities. That is why we need a White House conference on the two Americas, on racial disparity, poverty and reconstruction. We need a plan for jobs, for rebuilding our impoverished neighborhoods, for replacing guns with books and drugs with hope.

Without that, the camera lens will continue to reveal that the horrors and the

crimes are continuing, and the spiral of hate and fear deepening.

Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is founder and president of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition. You can keep up with his work at www.rainbowpush.org

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JULY 22, 2016

Quit Playin’

by Vincent L. Hall

This is a reprint from June 28, 2010. Chief Brown survived then and survived being fired by a covert group of haters just eight weeks ago.

We’ve had the usual post-tragedy Kumbaya coteries and “We are the world” worship services.

Now Dallas needs a codified master plan to end child poverty, food deserts, educational disparities/segregation and the growing apathy for homelessness in Dallas.

Dallas needs a window seat!

“So can I get a window seat, don’t want nobody next to me. I just want a ticket outta town a look around; and a safe touch down. I just want a chance to fly, a chance to cry, and a long bye bye.”- Erykah Badu, Window Seat 2010 Erykah Badu must have had a premonition. Her infamous third eye and earthy insights have proven providential. She caught our eye as she walked out of her

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HALL: Can I get a Window Seat? clothes and into the spotlight during the “Window Seat” video.

But her lyrics went farther than the eye could see.

Whether we admit it or not, most of us occupy the aisle seat near Erykah wishing she would trade with us.

Life is complicated these days as we look into the window of a future that is uncertain and unbelievable.

Who could have imagined the BP Oil spill and who knows how the slick saga will end?

Who among us seriously conjured up the thought of a Black President, and what does all the hatred he receives mean for the future of race relations?

And just to bring it closer to home, who would have thought that Dallas would be in the throes of a controversy so hurtful, harmful an ugly that we wince at the thought?

How is it that a man we held in such high regard has had to endure the worst Father’s Day imaginable, and be treated so callously and indifferent in the midst of

his grief?

Dallas Police Chief David Brown, and oh how I love to call him Chief, has to have suffered through a nightmare unfit for even the worst criminal. In a senseless volley of events, his own son produced the worst nightmare imaginable to his profession. Chief Brown’ first priority is to protect and serve the citizens of Dallas.

But as an officer who has risked his own life for 30 years he’s equally committed to protecting those who are charged to protect us.

If I could, I would reserve him a window seat. I’m sure he wants a ticket outta town, a chance to fly, a chance to cry and a long bye bye.

But as the chief dispatcher of Dallas’s safety and well being, he can’t escape. Chief Brown has been left to face the worst irony and tragedy of his life in plain view for his fans and foes to see.

Let me be real. I understand the enormity of an of-

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ficer being shot down in the line of duty. But the loss of life to a hard working young father is equally as important to those who knew and loved him.

The Brown family’s grief and agony was multiplied by the circumstances surrounding this incident. The Chief’s home life and work life merged in a most unfortunate way.

This community does not need a fall guy it needs to fall in line. The time wasted pointing fingers at the Chief and at the Lancaster PD is sad on a number of levels.

Instead of questioning Chief Brown’s fitness for duty, perhaps we should question our failings as a community.

This drama could have been played out by any of our children.

Other than Erykah, nobody loves a window seat more than me. But if the Chief asked me, I would give mine up. Take the time to fly, cry and say your goodbyes.

Chief, we love you, we pray for you, and we’ll fight for you if it becomes necessary.

Vincent L. Hall is an author and award-winning writer.

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JULY 22, 2016

Questions from a Black Man (Open Letter to America from Royce West)

Why are you afraid ... of ME?

If I have done the work and earned a place at the Is it because of the color of my skin? table, why is it difficult for you to listen to my recMy APPEARance?

The way I talk or walk, or dress? ommendations; often discarding them only to agree Are you set off by my mannerisms? when someone else restates my idea?

Or have the lessons taught about me at YOUR home, And, why am I condemned for wanting the same crept outside? things you desire?

Do lessons learned at school, or in some books paint Respect, the pictures you see when you see ME? A family, Or is it the awful images of me portrayed by televiAccess to a first class education, A job where I can make a desion programs or in videos?

In your heart of hearts, what precent living and a contribution, and conceived beliefs do you have about To be secure in my home and me as I stand before you? community.

What baggage do you arrive with?

Can you understand why a What about me frightens you? grown man would not like to be Why is it that when you approach called “boy?” me, you feel a sense of insecurity?

Will you OPEN your HEART to And when I approach you, fear feel what I feel? shows in your eyes.

Can you OPEN up your HAND If I ask you a question and WE disand reach out for mine? agree, why do you feel disrespected?

Can you OPEN up your MOUTH Is it the tone in my voice? and speak the truth?

Or my demeanor during our discusWill you OPEN up your MIND sions? to my experiences and in doing Is fault found with the words I use? so OPEN your EYES to your realWhat is it?

Does my age not matter? ity as ME? If I respond politely to your inquiry or not, what Maybe then, you wouldn’t be afraid. changes?

We’ve asked these questions for generaHow is it easier for you to grant men of other ethnictions. I hope and pray that our sons and grandities the regard you deny to me? sons don’t have to ask them again.

Why then, is your first response to my misstep, the July 15, 2016 label of criminal?

No matter my test score or achievement, no level Royce West is a Texas State Senator, representmakes me worthy, or successful in your eyes. ing District 23.

Why? WWW.MYIMESSENGER.COM

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JULY 22, 2016

SUPPORTING FAMILIES

BACK TO SCHOOL BASH Moorland Family YMCA 907 E. Ledbetter Rd Dallas 75216 214.375.2583 www.moorlandymca.org

Sunday, August 21st 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Children must be accompanied by parent or guardian to receive school supplies

Health Fair & Screenings Food, Fun, Activities Various Vendors Haircuts

Giving Guidelines: • Register & Pick Up Ticket day of the Event • 1 bag per ticket • School age child/children must be accompanied by parent or guardian.

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all.

YMCA Mission: To put Christian values into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for

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JULY 22, 2016

Don’t make our most vulnerable children wait longer?

Child Watch

By Marian Wright Edelman President, Children’s Defense Fund via George Curry Media In an important show of bipartisanship, Congress is on the cusp of an historic step to help many of the most vulnerable children in our nation -those who are abused and neglected and at risk of entering foster care and lingering in group care.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Family First Prevention Services Act (H.R. 5456) on June 21to help keep these children safely with their families and out of foster care. I hope the Senate will do the same before it leaves for summer recess and not keep vulnerable children waiting and waiting longer.

Alumni of foster care frequently say the most important step the state could have taken was to help their family early on to keep them out of foster care. They talk about what a difference it would have made if drug treatment or other supports were available to keep their families together and offer them needed stability in their lives.

We often overlook the trauma children experience when they are uprooted from their home, family, and school and are expected to adjust to new environments. My mother was a wonderful foster parent to nearly a dozen children, yet many of her foster children yearned for their birth families. This separation trauma can be intensified for children in group homes and lead to worse life outcomes than experienced by children in family foster homes. Many children who move frequently from family to family or one group setting to another and from school to school wish they could have a stable family all children need growing up.

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Passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act, identical to the Senate bill introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), will make historic and crucial investments in prevention for children and families. Currently, major federal child welfare funding is available to states only after a child has been removed f r o m t h e i r home and placed in foster care.

This has created a disincentive to help families at the front-end.

The Family First Prevention Services Act finally recognizes that mental health and substance abuse problems bring the majority of children into the child welfare system. It allows federal dollars to be used to prevent and treat such problems and to fund home-based programs to strengthen parenting skills for children in their own families.

The Family First Prevention Services Act also redirects federal fiscal incentives to states to help children who must enter foster care be placed with families rather than in more expensive and less effective group care. Over the years, foster care alumni have shared their experiences in group home settings with members of Congress and explained how they needed the love and support of their parents or extended families, not rotating shifts of staff in a place that felt more like a business than a home. So this long overdue bill acts to reduce the unnecessary funneling of children into group care settings.

Federal dollars are available for family foster care or quality residential treatment programs for children with special emotional or behavioral needs - often the most expensive care. The bill includes enhanced protections to ensure

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children remain in residential programs no longer than treatment requires. States will continue to receive federal support for programs serving pregnant and parenting teens and youth 18 and older transitioning from foster care to adulthood. After more than 35 years of federal support, states and localities will now have to pick up the full tab for the care of children in other group settings to better align federal dollars with prevention and the most family-like foster care settings that offer better outcomes for children.

These new funds for prevention and restrictions on group care funding will not take effect until three years after the bill is enacted. This three year delay gives state and local agencies, private providers and child and family advocates ample time to prepare and work with the Department of Health and Human Services to build on the new law’s flexibility in defining who is eligible for prevention services, how the services are defined, and the definition, structure and eligibility for residential treatment programs.

Could some states get less federal money for group care than they have been receiving? Possibly, but only if they maintain the status quo rather than supporting more family-like settings and treatment for children with special needs.

And now all states will be able to use federal dollars for services and treatment to help keep children safely in their families and out of more expensive foster care.

A number of states already have time-limited federal waivers allowing more flexible use of federal foster care dollars to show the benefits of investments in prevention. The new federal prevention funds in the Family First Prevention Services Act will become available in 2019 as those waivers end. The new federal reforms build on what Congress has learned from states’ efforts to increase prevention investments and move children in foster care to more family-like settings, steps that improve child outcomes.

Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go to www.childrensdefense.org

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JULY 22, 2016

The legacy of trauma

Can stress be passed on to one’s children?

dismembered and left to hang in full view of all survivors.

More and more, scientific research supports that premise.

Known as “epigenetic change,” the science says that intense psychological trauma can be and is passed on to future generations. Profound or extreme stress apparently alters the chemical markers in genes. That means that the depression or other psychological effect one might experience because of trauma can be passed on to one’s children.

The human mind can only take so much. People who come home from war suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the jury is still out as to how many of these suffering soldiers are responsible for crimes on this side of The Pond. War veterans suffer greatly and actually get very little professional help for their post-war suffering.

If this research is accurate, it means that people today are carrying the results of the stress their ancestors endured. If that stress has been extreme and the psychological and emotional damage has been great, it is probable that we are carrying, to a greater or lesser degree, the pain of our mothers and fathers.

The fact that White supremacy and its child, racism, has been so much a part of American life takes on an added dimension when this possibility of genetically transmitted trauma is considered. To be sure, African Americans have not had the benefit of counselors and therapists as we have endured the hate and violence meted out by White supremacists. One can only imagine how our ancestors kept themselves together after seeing loved ones murdered in front of them, bodies burned,

African Americans, it seems, have been in a war for decades; we have had to “fight” violence with little redress or hope for justice. White people either cannot or will not see or believe that the suffering White supremacists have caused African Americans has been damaging to the depths of the very cores of people trying to hold on. While many Whites have denied the horror of the violence of White racist violence, African Americans have been unable to deny that same violence, but have had to sublimate and bury memories of what they have seen and endured, in order to function.

One can only wonder how the parents and families of African Americans who have been felled by racist violence - aka domestic terrorism - have been able to hold on and survive in this society. There has been no support, no acknowledgement of the horror meted out, no forcing the perpetrators of murder, rape and psychological trauma to be accountable for their actions.

That means that on top of their hurting souls, African Americans have had to also carry anger at being treated as though they (we) have no feelings, no

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emotions, and no pain.

It is singularly maddening to hear people talk about how they want justice; Fred Goldman, the father of Ronald Goldman, for example, has been living in a state of trauma ever since O.J. Simpson was acquitted of his son’s murder. The pain of losing his son has been exacerbated by the fact that in his mind, his son’s murder has not been avenged; there has been no justice.

For Black people, there has very seldom been justice, and the pain of the stress and trauma White supremacy has caused, coupled with that lack of justice, has very likely caused a couple of generations of African Americans to live in that stress and pass it on to their children, even if unknowingly.

Many White people resent the phrase, “No justice, no peace!” They consider it a threat. But it is not a threat. It is a statement of truth. No person has peace if he or she has not had justice when wronged. The African American community has been walked over, left out, pushed aside and forgotten for literally hundreds of years. There has been no justice....and so there is no peace.

It’s the price of genetically transmitted trauma from a society which refuses to own the fact that White supremacy is a destroyer of lives and possibilities of all people- Black and White.

Rev. Susan K Smith is an ordained minister who lives in Columbus, Ohio. She is the author of several books, including "Crazy Faith: Ordinary People; Extraordinary Lives" and "The Book of Jeremiah: The Life and Ministry of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. She is available to preach or do keynote addresses. Reach her by emailing revsuekim@sbcglobal.net

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JULY 22, 2016

Why We Can’t Get Along

By Lee A. Daniels George Curry Media Columnist

“Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate and unequal ... The alternative is not blind repression or capitulation to lawlessness. It is the realization of common opportunities for all within a single society.”

Those words weren’t written or spoken to describe today’s crisis of race and injustice now being exposed, condemned and lamented in a flood of videos, news articles, opinion columns and polls. They were written a half-century ago for the 1968 Kerner Report, the document of the emergency presidential commission that examined the causes of the Black urban rebellions that convulsed American society just at the moment when the Civil Rights Movement had achieved its great national legislative victories from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.

Of course, the Kerner Report deliberately got the first part of that famous assessment wrong. America was not “moving” toward two societies. It had always been.

The so-called “White backlash” that erupted in both the South and the North in the early 1960s and the Black urban rebellions that came later both illuminated how difficult re-constructing American society as one nation “indivisible” still was.

So it remains today when - to cite one relevant example - a Black elementary school supervisor named Philando Castile and a Black United States Senator named Tim Scott shared an experience common to vast numbers of Black Americans: be-

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ing harassed by White police officers for no reason other than the color of their skin.

For Philando Castile, a man described by friends and co-workers alike as friendly, compassionate and responsible, that harassment - he had been stopped by Minneapolis-area police 52 times for alleged minor traffic violations in recent years led to his unjustifiable killing by a police officer.

For Senator Scott, Republican of South Carolina, the racial explosions of this month compelled him to deliver last week in the Senate what a Washington Post report described as a “bristling and personal speech” about his numerous negative encounters with White cops, including being repeatedly pulled over for alleged traffic violations.

“The vast majority of the time,” Scott said, “I was pulled over for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood, or some reason just as trivial. Imagine the frustration, the irritation, the sense of a loss of dignity that accompanies each of those stops.”

Scott also said the negative encounters included his being stopped and questioned by U.S. Capitol police officers several times as he was entering the Senate office buildings, despite his wearing a pin that identifies him as a member of Congress. “I have,” Scott continued, “felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness and the humiliation that comes with the feeling that you are being targeted for being nothing more than yourself.”

The repeated, infuriating, and too often lethal shared experience of these two individuals, who otherwise occupied vastly different stations in American society, with millions of other Black Americans underscores that “being targeted for being nothing more than yourself” remains the central fact of that centuries-old American tradition: the “racial divide.”

That’s the foundation of all the polls published in the wake of the police shootings in Baton Rouge, La., where Alton Sterling was shot to death and in suburban St.

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Paul, the site of Philando Castile’s killing, and Micah Xavier Johnson’s sniper attack on White Dallas police officers a day later. They’ve confirmed the blunt title of a late-June Pew Research Center survey released before the incidents occurred: “On Views of Race and Inequality, Blacks and Whites are Worlds Apart.”

Especially, one might add, on views of police behavior.

Why should anyone be surprise - given that we continue to literally see Black and Latino men, women and children beaten and killed by non-Black police officers in questionable circumstances. And to discover how commonplace are the bigoted emails, tweets and text messages some White police officers exchange with one another while on duty. And to read governmental reports documenting that numerous police departments allow officers to behave in virulently racist and even criminal ways toward the citizens of color they’re supposed to serve. And, finally, to discover that in case after case of these beatings and deaths, holding police accountable for their actions is thwarted by institutional processes that are - to use a currently fashionable word - “rigged” against justice being done.

We can and should be inspired by the significant progress Blacks and other previously stigmatized groups have made in claiming the protections of full citizenship. The growth in tolerance among Whites that have helped produce that progress is clearly evident in the Pew report as well.

But, its findings, along with those of the latest batch of polls and surveys on race, also underscore the major continuing dynamic of U.S. Black-White relations. That is that Black Americans - and American society at large-are still ensnared in the old dynamic of slow progress shadowed by diminishing but still-fierce resistance.

Lee A. Daniels, a former reporter for The Washington Post and the New York Times, is also a former editor of The National Urban League's The State of Black America.

JULY 22, 2016

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O’Reilly Says MLK Would Not Have Supported Black Lives Matter

By George E. Curry George Curry Media Columnist Fox News Host Bill O’Reilly escalated his ongoing attack on the Black Lives Matter Movement by asserting without a hint of evidence that if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive, he would not support the group.

“With all due respect to President Obama, well-meaning activists do not associate themselves with a group that often commits violent acts, and encourages violence through irresponsible rhetoric. Dr. King would not participate in a Black Lives Matter protest,” he said in a Fox News commentary.

First, Black Lives Matter does not, contrary to O’Reilly’s assertion, often commit violent acts or encourage violence through what he characterized as irresponsible rhetoric. He is part of the crowd that thinks the chant of “Black Lives Matter” should be discarded in favor of “All Lives Matters.”

Forever trying to bridge the gap between Blacks and Whites, President Obama explained the nuances associated with the phrase.

“I think it’s important for us to also understand that the phrase ‘black lives matter’ simply refers to the notion that there’s a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed,” he told a gathering of enforcement officials, civil rights leaders, elected officials and activists recently in Washington, D.C. “We shouldn’t get too caught up in this notion that somehow people who are asking for fair treatment are somehow, automatically, anti-police, are trying to only look out for Black lives as opposed to others. I think we have to be careful about playing that game.”

It’s a game O’Reilly plays well, which is why he has the gall to claim that Dr. King would not support the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Credible civil rights leaders strongly disagree.

Bernard LaFayette, Jr., who worked with Dr. King as a field organizer and now chairs the board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the organization Dr. King

co-founded, said: “Dr. King supported the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee [SNCC] so it stands to reason that he would support Black Lives Matter as long as they practice nonviolence.”

Rep. John Lewis knows that from first-hand experience. As chairman of the upstart SNCC, he participated in numerous marches with Dr. King, including the 1963 March on Washington and the Selma to Montgomery, Ala. March that led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Lewis has praised the Black Lives Matter Movement and quoted Dr. King, as he did at a recent protest in the Capitol, by saying, “ The time is always right to do what is right.”

O’Reilly, never a King supporter, opposes many of the things Dr. King fought for during

his lifetime, including affirmative action. Nothing in his background qualifies him to be an expert on what Dr. King would say or do if he were still alive.

Those who are active in the Civil Rights Movement today have no doubts that Dr. King would be supportive of the young people who make up the core of Black Lives Matter.

“Dr. King would enthusiastically embrace the philosophy and activism which inspires Black Lives Matter because every life matters,” said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. “The continuing disparities and unequal treatment most apparent in but not limited to the police/ community relations and the criminal justice system demonstrates

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that all lives have not mattered equally.

“Black Lives Matter sends a powerful wake-up call to our nation in the same way that a young Dr. King activist of the 50s and 60s shook the foundation of the segregated South.”

This was not the first time O’Reilly has disparaged Black Lives Matter.

On July 8, he told Hilary Shelton, Washington bureau chief of the NAACP: “I think that if you really want, if African Americans really want to bring the country together and have good racial relations, they have to distance themselves from Black Lives Matter.”

Instead of doing that, Shelton distanced himself from O’Reilly’s advice.

“I believe in my conversations with leaders of Black Lives Matter, and even my participation in a demonstration in which we marched from the capitol building here in Washington, D.C., to the front of the White House in a very peaceful demonstration with a number of members of Congress. In much the same way those marched in Dallas, Texas, we saw things very differently. We have to take on those issues in a very significant way,” Shelton said.

“Let us not forget two things, Bill. Number one is that those marches were for good reasons. Indeed, if we look at the disparities and the attacks of African-Americans and the killings of African-Americans by police officers, even unarmed African-Americans, the numbers and the data is important as well... and we look at the data, we see that twice as many African-Americans and unarmed African-Americans are shot by police officers than White Americans in our society. That raises a problem.”

And the problem is that Bill O’Reilly and others of his ilk prefer to blame the Black Lives Matter Movement for how they react to police disproportionately killing African Americans rather than police misconduct that precipitated the marches.

George E. Curry is President and CEO of George Curry Media, LLC. He is the former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA).

He is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. Curry can be reached through his Web site, georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at twitter.com/currygeorge, George E. Curry Fan Page on Facebook, and Periscope. See previous columns at http://www.georgecurry.com/columns.

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JULY 22, 2016

Community

July 18-22

Dallas NFL Alumni Hero Youth Football Camps Warren Sports Complex, 7599 El Dorado Pkwy, Frisco, TX

July 21

is touring in support of his 2016 album,Climate Change. His concert will be held at American Airlines Center. His concert will start at 7pm.

July 23 Chris Tucker will be live Saturday at 8p.m. @ the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie TX. Go online to purchase your tickets.

Hypochondria’ explores what it is to exist simultaneously and in equal measures inside your head and as a (mostly) functioning member of society. Margo Jones Theatre, 1121 1st Ave, Dallas, TX 75210 Dates: Opening Night: Thursday, July 28 at 8:00 pm Regular Performances:

Friday, July 29 at 8:00 pm Saturday, July 30 at 8:00pm Sunday, July 31 at 8:00pm

Tickets: Available online at https://the -tribe.ticketleap.com/hypochondria-by-claire-carson/

Box Office, open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Join the citizens of Dallas County and celebrate our community with family fun as we break the Guinness Book of World Records Soul Train Line with

July 29 War Room Friday, • Sundown

Drake & Future with Roy Woods, DVSN, and special guest will be in concert at the American Airlines Center Dallas 8pm.

July 22 The Prayze Factor People’s Choice Awards Inspired Artists Tour is bringing inspired artists to the for front of the gospel music industry with a 40 city tour throughout the U.S., Canada, Jamaica, the Bahamas and will make its next stop in Dallas/Ft Worth and Chandler Texas July 22-24, 2016.

Friday July 22nd @ 7pm ~ The official meet and greet media mixer at the Radisson Hotel Ft Worth-Fossil Creek 2540 Meacham Blvd., Ft Worth, ****** Alice in Wonderland Light Show Gaylord Texan Grapevine Resort & Convention Center, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051 Get Directions » 817-778-1000 (phone) ****** Prayze Factor Awards The full schedule of events can be found at www. prayzefactorawards.com Sponsored in part by The International Music Association, Round The Clock Entertainment Group, The Prayzefest Gospel Network, All Nations TV, Centertainment Radio/TV, WPGN Radio Atlanta, and the Prayze Factor People’s Choice Awards. ***** Beneath the Stars Poetry Slam and Concerts 7:00 p.m.

DeSoto’s Town Center Outdoor Amphitheater This epic event begins with a poetry slam and continues through the evening with The Funky Knuckles, a jazz/funk fusion band. Concessions provided

by Big Tony’s West Philly Cheesesteaks.

Pitbull in concert with Prince Royce and special guests Pitbull will bring his The Bad Man Tour to Dallas, also featuring Latin megastar, singer-songwriter Prince Royce and other special guests. Pitbull

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Looking Fortune 500 (Dress for Success in the Workplace) 10:00 AM thru 11:30 AM MLK Community Center 2922 M. L. King, Jr. Blvd.; Room 104 Dallas, TX 75215 For More Information: MonaLisa Cash 214-421-5200 monalisa@dbcc.org ****** The Prayze Factor People’s Choice Awards Free Concert at Kingdom Advancement Ministries 1033 East Annie St., Ft Worth, TX zt 7p.m. *******

DeSoto’s Town Center Outdoor Amphitheater War Room explores the family dynamics of a seemingly tight-knit group. Gather at 8:30 p.m., and the movie will start around 9:00 p.m. Concessions will be available for purchase.

July 31

Join the Leadership Dallas Alumni Association for a morning of volunteer service at the North Texas Food Bank from 8:45am-11:30am. ****** A COMMUNITY IN CRISIS: A RAW, OPEN AND CANDID DISCUSSION ON THE RECENT ACTS OF VIOLENCE BY AND AGAINST POLICE 7pm at The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, The URBAN COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTH TEXAS invites the DFW community to attend the first in a series of community conversations. Community Activist, Marvin Earle will moderate a panel of comprised of former Judge John Creuzot, Dr. Brian Williams, staff surgeon specializing in trauma surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital; Sgt. Christie Thomas, of the Dallas Police Department, Minister Dominique Alexander- Next Generation Network and other community guests, a former gang member, several millennial activists, and students.

July 24 The Prayze Factor People’s Choice Awards ~ Free Concert at Macedonia Baptist Church 615 John Milton St., Chandler, TX 4:30pm

July 28 Texas Rangers play the Kansas City Royals at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Baseball @ 1000 Ballpark Way Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011

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over 500 participants held at Southwest Center Mall (3662 West Camp Wisdom Road, Dallas, TX 75237) 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Vancouver White Caps vs.

FC Dallas will be Sunday at 6:00pm held at the Toyota Stadium and Soccer Center.

August 3 Ringling Brothers Circus opens at American Airlines Center - Dallas

August 5 K.Michelle will be performing at the House of Blues in Dallas TX Saturday @ 8:30 PM. Doors open at 7:30 PM. This is an all age event.

July 30 July 30-31, Plaza Theatre It’s Peter Pan to the rescue when Wendy is taken captive by the dreaded Captain Hook, who has his own sinister plans for our hero.

Join Wendy, Michael, John and the Lost Boys in Neverland for CORP’s on-stage production of Disney’s Peter Pan, Jr. Tickets: $12 at GarlandArtsBoxOffice.com, 972205-2790, or in-person through July 29 at the Granville Arts Center

Best Southwest TGIF Legislative Breakfast Series at Methodist Charlton Medical Center.

August 9 Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson hosts The 2016 Annual Youth Summit and Diversity Dialogue at the SMU Meadows School of the Arts 6101 Bishop Blvd. Dallas, 8:00 AM-2:30 PM Contact: Harrison Blair at 214-922-8885 to

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Calendar August 12

Best Southwest TGIF Legislative Breakfast Series at Methodist Charlton Medical Center.

August 13 Maze featuring Frankie Beverly & Chaka Khan with special guest Raheem DeVaughn will be at the Verizon Theatre Saturday at 8p.m. Tickets prices ranges

August 20

The HeadsUp! Foundation and Athletes4Change will host the “#DallasStrong: HOOPS4HEALING” Basketball Showcase and Celebrity All-Star Game. This event will benefit both the surviving families of our fallen officers as well as the youth and families of the communities our officers serve and protect each day.

Best Southwest TGIF Legislative Breakfast Series at Methodist Charlton Medical Center.

August 27 Marketing Using Social Media Grow your business with industry-tested tactics

****** 2016 Health Fair and Back-to-School Rally at the Curtis Culwell Center. Students, accompanied by a parent or guardian, will have an opportunity to receive free school supplies, clothes and uniforms, as well as low-cost immunizations. Garland ISD students must register by Aug. 1 to take advantage of the free supplies.

Details and the registration form can be found here: http://www.garlandisd.net/sites/default/files/english_flier_edit_4.pdf ****** from $34.75-$150.00. ****** AISD back to school kickoff Arlington ISD, churches of Arlington, Arlington NAACP., Junior League of Arlington, Gene and Jerry Jones Family North Texas Youth and many more organizations will be putting a event together at 8:00 am until noon. It will be held on the west outdoor plaza and indoor platform of AT&T Stadium.

August 14 Chrisette Michele will be performing at the Verizon Theatre, at 8pm. Go online to purchase your ticket.

August 17 ATTEND A SECOND WEDNESD A Y BUSINESS CHAT D/M/W/ SBE business owners who want to work with NTTA or who wish to promote their businesses are encouraged to attend monthly Business Chat Sessions in the NTTA Boardroom.

Sessions provide an informal setting for vendors to meet with key decision-makers at NTTA, share information about their companies and allow NTTA staff to present information to vendors in a manner that is tailored to specific industries. North Texas Tollway Authority, 5900 W. Plano Parkway, Plano, TX

August 19 Best Southwest TGIF Legislative Breakfast Series at Methodist Charlton Medical Center.

The Taming by Lauren Gunderson Circle Theatre 230 W. 4th Street Fort Worth, TX 76102 Sundance Square Entertainment District When: August 18 - September 17, 2016 Previews: Thursday, August 18, 7:30 pm ($15) Friday, August 19, 8:00 pm ($20) Saturday, August 20, 3:00 pm ($15) Opening Night Saturday, August 20, 8:00 pm ($38) School Night Friday, August 26, 8:00 pm ($5 students - $10 faculty & staff )

and tools. Learn about creating sales funnels, advertising and promoting via social media. Devise and implement your own social media strategy from soup to nuts. Create interactive and engaging content for your website and social media profiles.

10:00 AM thru 11:30 AM

August 30 Business Expo/Taste of Balch Springs 5-7pm Tickets $4 in Advance $5 at the door

September 3 DeSoto Arts Live! Art and Music Festival 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

DeSoto’s Town Center Outdoor Amphitheater DeSoto Arts Live! celebrates the visual and performing arts! A Plein Art Show will feature artists paint-

September 15 CITY OF FORT WORTH WORKSHOP: RFP, RFQ, ITB AND BEST VALUE Thursday, September 15, 2016 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM (CDT) Fort Worth Business Assistance Center 1150 South Fwy Fort Worth, TX 76104

September 17 Brazos Valley Area Alumnae (BVAA) chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. 30th Anniversary Celebration Luncheon at 12:30 PM pro-

ceeding a Rededication Ceremony at 11:00 AM at the Phillips Event Center at Briarcrest, 1929 Country Club Dr., Bryan, Texas 77802.

September 24 Live Well-Go Green Expo: Exhibitors Wanted The City of Garland is seeking exhibitors for the Live Well-Go Green Expo (formerly the Healthy Living Expo), scheduled on Saturday,. Those interested may download an Exhibitor Application at GoGreenGarland.org.

Contact GoGreenGarland@GarlandTx. gov

October 8

August 21

DFW beauty guide will be hosting a free makeup class from 2pm-6pm Saturday at Magnolia Hotel.

SUPPORTING FAMILIES

BACK TO SCHOOL BASH Moorland Family YMCA 907 E. Ledbetter Rd Dallas 75216 214.375.2583 www.moorlandymca.org

Sunday, August 21st 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Children must be accompanied by parent or guardian to receive school supplies

Health Fair & Screenings Food, Fun, Activities Various Vendors Haircuts

Giving Guidelines: • Register & Pick Up Ticket day of the Event • 1 bag per ticket • School age child/children must be accompanied by parent or guardian.

• There are a limited amount of tickets FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE & INCOME-BASED MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE

all.

YMCA Mission: To put Christian values into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for

The Dallas Regional Chamber will host four of the most influential Members of Congress at an interactive luncheon on Tuesday from 12PM-1:30PM. Leaders of our North Texas Congressional delegation will discuss important issues that impact our region, including infrastructure, environmental regulations, and federal budget priorities. Following a panel discussion, the congressmen will answer questions from the audience.

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ing live at the event. There will also be strolling minstrels, child-friendly activities and food vendors. Plus, The Original Lakeside Band and other musical acts will be keeping the crowd moving! Vendor opportunities are still available. Go to artsdesoto.com for more information!

October 22 The Kids Ultimate Fitness Challenge is the nations largest mobile fitness event travelling from coast-to-coast dedicated to helping keep kids healthy and active. At the Kids Ultimate Fitness Challenge, kids of all ages get the opportunity to flex their physical fitness by participating in a time-based obstacle course that includes sprinting, jump roping, wall crawls, hurdles, jumping jacks, sit ups, and tunnel crawls, before finishing off the course with a 20 foot confidence climb and 60 meter dash to the finish. It will be from 10am until 6pm at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Don’t Believe the

Hype!

#Blacklivesmatter

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JULY 22, 2016

Join in the efforts to put an end to Family Violence!

Log on to www.iwillrise.org or call (888)230-RISE and see how you can help or get help!

REVOLT INSPIRE SUPPORT EMPOWER 14

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JULY 22, 2016

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WHAT BLACK PARENTS MUST DO THIS SUMMER BY: DR. JAWANZA KUNJUFU

There is a three year gap between Black and White students. Many people love to believe it’s due to income, fatherlessness, educational attainment of the parent and lack of parental involvement.

I believe a major reason for the gap is we continue to close schools for the summer as if we are an agrarian economy. Very few Black youth will be farming this summer. If you multiply 3 months by 12 years you will see the 3 year gap.

There is nothing wrong with Black youth if their schools remained open during the summer and/or their parents kept them academically engaged.

Middle-income parents who value education enroll their children in some type of academic experience during the summer.

They also visit libraries, museums, zoos and colleges.

Other parents allow their children to sleep longer, play more video games, watch more television and play basketball until they can’t see the

hoop.

These students will have to review the same work they had mastered in May in September.

Black parents cannot allow their child to lose three months every year.

Black parents cannot say they cannot afford the library.

It’s free! Most museums have discounted days.

A male friend of mine shared his experience with me when he took his family to the museum. He wondered why so many people were staring at him.

His wife and children had to tell him he was the only Black man in the building!

I am appealing to every father to take his children this summer to the library, museum, and the zoo. I am

appealing to every mother if he won’t, you will.

We need every parent to make sure their child reads at least one book per week and to write a book report. I am reminded of the formula Sonya Carson used to develop Ben Carson to become the best pediatric neurosurgeon. This low-income single parent, with a third grade education, had enough sense to tell her sons to turn off the television, read a book and write a report that her sister would grade!

I have a theory that I can go into your house and within 5 minutes tell you the type of student who lives there and predict their future. I believe that engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants etc. need different items in their house than ballplay-

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ers, rappers, and criminals. I am very concerned when I visit a house that has more cd’s and downloads than books.

My company African American Images has designed a special collection of books for boys.

Research shows one of the major reasons boys dislike reading is because of the content. The set is titled Best Books for Boys.

We also have one for girls, parents and teachers.

Enjoy your summer.

Let’s close the gap.

I look forward to your child’s teacher asking your child what did you do for the summer?

And your child answering we went to the library, museum, zoo, colleges and other great educational places.

Author of “There is Nothing Wrong With Black Students,Changing School Culture For Black Males, Raising Black Boys, and Raising Black Girls”

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JULY 22, 2016

Redefining Racism

By Ezrah Aharone

As America celebrated 240-years of "democracy" on July 4, 2016, the longstanding tradition of hero-worshiping Thomas Jefferson continued.

Meanwhile, as the slaughter of Black people continues in parallel tradition, America tends to disassociate the 18th-century racism and violence of its founders from 21st-century racism and violence of its followers.

Let me however state three points that are indispensable yet absent from today's public discourse regarding democracy and racism. First, 21st-century racism needs to be redefined in modern connotations based on historical "processes and outcomes."

Second, contrary to common perceptions, chattel slavery was not simply a matter of depriving Black people of freedom via chains and laws, whereby the solution simply involved the removal of chains and the ratifying of new laws.

Third, Jeffersonian Democracy (America's founding practices and ideals as pretensed in the Declaration of Independence by Jefferson himself) is erected upon an "unprincipled relationship" which Euro-Americans have historically superimposed upon Black America as norms with virtual impunity.

By "unprincipled" I mean that Jeffersonian Democracy is deliberately designed with dishonest ways and deceptive practices that have proven insufficient and unsuitable to redress the racial complexities it deliberately created, while Euro-Americans have benefited in consequence. Hence, Black people have struggled incessantly for centuries on political hamster wheels to somehow show "worthiness" to wear the coveted badge of Americanization that they regulate.

Thus in redefining modern racism I assert that "the unprincipled nature of this relationship is both racism and the purveyor of racism" . . . everything else is symptomatic.

This same "unprincipledness" breeds dense denial, apathy, and snobbery as personified by people like Rudolph Giuliani (Republicans and Democrats alike) whose thickheaded orientation to race is perched eye-level with the sociopathic-like tendencies of many founders. To them, despite

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its inhumanities, Jeffersonian Democracy has always been a sanctified force of good, goodwill, and godliness that "civilized and blessed Africans to live in the greatest country in the world."

But despite all pomp and religiosity, July 4, 1776 is a point of origin where any sincere examination of racism and violence must begin.

This incubates the spot where chattel slavery and Jeffersonian Democracy kissed as parent institutions that birthed perpetual incarnations of racism that has mutated and merged into the norms of society ever since, where nowadays you can watch pointblank shootings of unarmed Black people by "law enforcement" on Facebook and YouTube.

Here is what cannot be denied: In 1776 the founders had the moral authority and political opportunity to materialize true democracy.

All they had to do was self-apply the ideals they self-professed. Nobody forced them or succeeding government administrations to enslave or segregate or subhumanize anyone.

But in the swashbuckling spirit of John Winthrop, they were driven by the same aggression, exceptionalism, and profit motives that impelled 17th-century Europeans to cannonball themselves out of Europe seeking cash crops and resources on indigenous lands of others.

So in dual and calculated fashions the founders not only constitutionalized "Black life" as chattel, they also constitutionalized "gun rights" in part to make slavery possible. Without guns, the scale of slavery would have been impossible.

As such, there are unbroken threads that stitch together centuries of slavery and guns with violence and racism, when Black Lives [did not] Matter . . . When Europeans flooded Africa with hundreds of thousands of guns annually to capture and colonize Africans; when White men were required to tote guns to church on Sundays in South Carolina by law; when the Fugitive Slave Act of the constitution allowed Africans to be hunted down by gunfire by law; when the 13th Amendment allowed Blacks to be convict-leased and festively killed by law.

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Chattel slavery no longer exists but "unprincipledness" still corrodes the core of race relations, even though integration somewhat window-dresses how power gets visibly dispensed (similar to South Africa).

Nevertheless, once 18th-century "unprincipledness" became constitutional and psychological, the proverbial train of Jeffersonian Democracy commenced running full speed nonstop to racist destinations of 21st-century disparities, disproportions, distrust, apathy and violence that now plagues society.

So in redefining modern racism, I further assert that the murder of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the 5 Dallas policemen along with the robot-obliteration of Micah Johnson is not racism per se.

Nor is the murder of the 3 Baton Rouge policemen and Gavin Long racism per se.

They rather are emblematic of racism. They are derivative outgrowths of racism. They are scabby byproducts of racism. They are natural outcomes of "manmade unprincipledness" that was metaphorically baked into the cake of Jeffersonian Democracy.

Modern racism is then compounded by Black and White politicians (President Obama included) who use paddycake language to dodge hard truths that should otherwise be central to national discourse on race and democracy.

Trying to address 21st-century racism without addressing its combustive 18th-century genesis is as insincere as a mugger who sends "Get Well Soon" cards to those he hospitalized. Until modern racism -- in all its multiforms of "unprincipledness" -- is systemically understood and structurally confronted within the context of its political origin, societal practices, and psychological reaches, the quest to alleviate its ugly outgrowths and aftereffects will be as futile as the proverbial dog chasing its tail . . . determinately yet unendingly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This article was culled in part from The Sovereign Psyche: Systems of Chattel Freedom vs.

Self-Authentic Freedom by Ezrah Aharone who is an adjunct associate professor of political science at Delaware State University. He is also a political and business consultant on African affairs, as well as the author of Sovereign Evolution and Pawned Sovereignty. He can be reached at www.EzrahSpeaks.com.

JULY 22, 2016

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The staycation that takes you places While the film lasts 40 minutes, the stunning images are sure to be remembered for a lifetime. Adventurers take viewers around Travel the country, explorand see ing the beauty of natnatural ural terrain. wonders The offering is just throughout in time as the United the counStates celebrates the try. Get up 100 year anniversary close with of national parks. personal Another eye-catchartifacts ing exhibit is Eye of that are the Collector. An treasured elite 15 showcase by many. their collections in The Perot the Museum’s first Museum of exhibit of this kind.

Nature and The self-curated seScience in ries of displays feadowntown ture a wide variety D a l l a s of items, including has globDebbie Garrett’s exal scenes tensive black doll of awe that collection. bring visuFrom traditional al delight... fixtures of fossils, all within brain games and so reasonable much more in bedistance, tween, museum-goand perhaps ers can definitely find your budget. plenty to explore.

The NaThe Perot Museum tional Parks Adventure 3D film is current- delivers five floors of education and enterly being shown in the Museum’s Hoglund tainment for all ages. It’s definitely a sumFoundation Theater. mer trip worth taking.

Photos and story

By Eva D. Coleman

About the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. The top cultural attraction in Dallas/Fort Worth, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a nonprofit educational organization located in the heart of Dallas, Texas, with campuses in Victory Park and Fair Park. With a mission to inspire minds through nature and science, the Perot Museum delivers exciting, engaging and innovative visitor and outreach experiences through its education, exhibition, and research and collections programming for children, students, teachers, families and life-long learners. The 180,000-square-foot facility in Victory Park opened in December 2012 and is now recognized as the symbolic gateway to the Dallas Arts District.

Future scientists, mathematicians and engineers will find inspiration and enlightenment through 11 permanent exhibit halls on five floors of public space; a children’s museum; a state-of-the art traveling exhibition hall; and The Hoglund Foundation Theater, a National Geographic Experience. Designed by 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis Architects, the Victory Park museum has been lauded for its artistry and sustainability. To learn more, please visit perotmuseum.org.

National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice Confab in Dallas

In addition to being elected Asst. Treasurer of the organization, Andre Turner, shown here with members of the Texas delegation, received the President’s Award

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JULY 22, 2016

Odyssey is the hometown favorite

By Dorothy Gentry Contributing Editor and Sports Writer A young girl named Dorothy in a classic movie said it best: “There’s no place like home.”

Just ask LeBron James.

And Dwight Howard.

And now, Odyssey Sims.

The guard for the WNBA’s Dallas Wings (formerly the Tulsa Shock) is a native Dallasite who was born and raised in Irving. She played at Irving MacArthur High School, was recruited by Baylor University (where she helped lead them to the 2012 NCAA Championship) and was drafted No. 2 overall by the Shock in the 2014 WNBA Draft.

When the Shock decided to leave Oklahoma for Dallas earlier this year, Sims says she couldn’t believe it.

“Is this real? Is this for real, for real? This is happening right now?” Sims recalls when she learned of the team’s move to her hometown. “I was jumping up and down and couldn’t believe it.”

Since then, Sims has been delighting Dallas fans along with teammates Skylar Diggins and Glory Johnson with fast action, powerful plays and great fun on the city’s first WNBA franchise.

The Wings, who play at College Park Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington, have dubbed themselves “The New Home Team” since arriving in May and have not disappointed.

The team regularly holds special theme nights such as Teacher Appreciation and Military Appreciation.

Sims, who averages 14.7 points per game, has instantly become a fan favorite. She has over 13,000 followers on Twitter (@Lucky_Lefty0); over 45,000 followers on Instagram (lucky_lefty0) and a growing fan base on Facebook.

The former WNBA 2014 All-Rookie Team member, a southpaw, is glad to be home among the familiar. “I live not even two miles from the high school (Irving MacArthur) and go back there to visit all the time,” she said. “I’m happy.”

Sims, whose first name means a long journey that turns into a fortune, has displayed an impressive basketball work ethic and amassed a plethora of awards, accomplishments and kudos ever since high school.

While at MacArthur, Sims made the McDonald’s All-America Team, recognized by USA Today – All USA Girl’s Basketball team and was honored with the District 7-5A’s MVP all four years. On May 21, 2010, Sims’ No. 3 MacArthur jersey was retired, marking the first time that any athletic jersey, boys or girls, had been retired in the 47-year history of the school.

She was recruited by the Baylor University (Waco)

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Bears and helped lead their team to the 2012 NCAA Championship with then-teammate Brittney Griner.

Sims’ athleticism earned her the coveted Nancy Lieberman Award as well as the Wade Trophy and she was also named Big 12 Player of the Year.

And for a record second time, the young basketball player with the infectious smile saw her Baylor jersey – this time #0 – retired earlier this year. She’s grateful for the honors but is quick to deflect any congratulations.

“Growing up I was never really big on awards or accolades. I don’t really like talking about myself,” she replied. “I didn’t even tell coach (Wings Head Coach Fred Williams) until like a week after and he was like ‘why didn’t you tell me!?’” But I am thankful and grateful for the honors.”

Sims has also played internationally as part of the USA team winning gold medals in the 2011 & 2013 World University Games.

In January she was named as a finalist for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team and last month she and teammate Aerial Powers were named to the 11-member USA Basketball Women’s Select Team. They will train alongside the USA Women’s team and play in a USA Basketball showcase later this month in Los Angeles.

In the midst of a busy and packed schedule, which included celebrating her 24th birthday July 13, Sims took time to share her thoughts on current events, her mission and vision in life and what she hopes her legacy will be.

On her vision: “My vision is to make a lasting impression on each person I meet, ultimately becoming a household name, known for working extremely hard towards completing my purpose in life. I believe God assigned everyone with a purpose and we fail to execute our purpose with love. My vision is to do everything I can to be a better person and public figure with extraordinary passion and love. I see myself creating powerful lanes for people to fall into and together create a better world.”

On her Mission: “My mission is to empower, encourage, and inspire the world through my voice,

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whether it is though basketball, giving back to communities, public speaking, or any other avenue God sees fit for me. I just want to make an impact, and show people that life is far from perfect, but worth it.”

On #blacklivesmatter and NBA players calling for all athletes to support more social issues: “The BLM movement is an important issue for sure.

With social media and all, we as professional athletes have to watch what we say about things because all it takes is for one person to misconstrue what you have said. We can speak on issues but it is just our opinions and at the end of the day, you can’t be wrong for how you feel.”

On the so-called NBA “super teams” sprouting up around the league: “A lot of times a player can’t always control what team they are on or drafted to so in some ways, things don’t seem fair. But it is, what it is.

It’s not really unfair. Everyone’s been on a team loaded down with stars but it still doesn’t mean you will win.

You still have to play the game.”

On former Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, who won eight NCAA titles and who died last month at the age of 64 of early onset dementia in the form of Alzheimer’s: “I met her and went to her basketball camp when I was a sophomore. She told me I was great and she actually wanted me to come to Tennessee. She was a great coach. When I was being recruited she was nothing but positive. Just to know her, have met her and talked to her is unbelievable. She was a legend. She is a legend. The best coach to ever do it.”

On former teammate Brittney Griner, who plays with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and with whom she won the NCAA Championship at Baylor: “We are both busy athletes but we do talk periodically.”

When all is said and done with her basketball career, Sims said she wants her legacy to be one of inspiration to all.

“My legacy is to inspire women and men alike to use their gift that walks them into a future that impacts the world.

“I want to build an empire by inspiring youth to become the best at whatever they want to be, no matter where they come from. I plan to inspire young girls and women around the world with my talent and my voice to leave the biggest impact on the world that they possibly can.”

Follow Sims on social media: •Facebook: www.facebook.com/officialodysseysims •Twitter: www.twitter.com/lucky_lefty0 •Instagram: www.instagram.com/lucky_lefty0 Go to: http://wings.wnba.com/ for a schedule of Dallas Wings games.

JULY 22, 2016

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ENDOMETRIOSIS AWARENESS DEEMED HIGH PRIORITY The Endometriosis Foundation of America and the American College of Obstetricians andGynecologists talk collaboration for endometriosis awareness New York, NY — Endometriosis, a disease that affects 1 in 10 women of reproductive age globally, has prompted the collaboration between two leading non­profit organizations dedicated to the improvement of women’s health; the Endometriosis Foundation of America (EFA) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

Tamer Seckin, MD, FACOG, and Founder of Endometriosis Foundation of America (EFA), EFA Medical Director, Dr. Harry Reich, a pioneer in minimally invasive surgery for treating endometriosis; Dr. Ray Wertheim, endometriosis specialist; and Theresa Davidson, EFA Managing Director, met with ACOG’s Vice President for Practice, Dr. Christopher Zahn, and Director of Federal Affairs, Rachel Gandell Tetlow to discuss: Collaborating for the full-scale expansion across all states of the EFA’s adolescent education program, The ENdometriosis: Promoting Outreach and Wide Recognition (ENPOWR™) Project.

Implementing more robust efforts to improve the standards of diagnosis and care associated with endometriosis, particularly among young adults so as to reduce the current delay to diagnosis in the field of Adolescent Gynecology.

Improving training standards for surgeons on the techniques specific to endometriosis, such as proper recognition and excisional removal of the lesions.

Producing updated practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis.

“I am thrilled about collaborating with ACOG, as it is one of the most influential women’s reproductive health organizations in the nation, with the ability to make a tremendous impact on practice as a whole,” said Seckin. “Early diagnosis is crucial to detecting endometriosis and awareness is key to timely treatment. Working with ACOG, the EFA can expand its awareness campaign nationwide to reach so many more medical professionals and women.”

According to the Journal of Human Reproduction, women who suffer from endometriosis have to wait an average of 12 years before getting a proper diagnosis. “This is unacceptable, and it has to change,” said Seckin. He added, “Misdiagnosis, dump diagnosis and ignoring or dismissing the symptoms of endometriosis, and incomplete and improper surgeries are the main reasons for the long delay in diagnosing, and treating the disease.”

In March, EFA co­founder Padma Lakshmi met with congressional leaders on Capitol Hill to initiate discussions about more collaborative efforts to facilitate endometriosis awareness. “The collaboration between the EFA and ACOG is the first of what I hope will be many partnerships with the EFA,” said Seckin. “The EFA looks forward to creative partnerships both in the public and private sectors that will help spread the word out about this debilitating disease.”

Dallas ISD Summer Learning programs offer high quality programs for students DALLAS — Dallas ISD continues to provide high quality programs for students through the Summer Learning Program made possible through partnerships with Big Thought, Teach for America and Compass, the district’s teacher alternative certification program.

Summer Learning comprises three initiatives: the pre-K through grade 8 Summer Achievers Academy, high school credit recovery and Accelerated Instruction, a more traditional summer school offering geared towards students needing to pass state assessments and provided instruction to students that did not meet local promotion standards.

In June: 180 elementary and middle schools provided Summer Readiness to 7,075 students in graded 1-8; 180 elementary and middle schools provided SSI to 6,154 students in grades 5 and 8; 25 high schools provided EOC Test Prep to 2,062 students.

In July: Eight elementary and middle school campuses offered the Summer Achievers Programs, which currently serves 2,100 students in grades PK–8.

10 High School Credit Recovery Programs were offered this summer, serving 3,576 students in grades 9-12.

“What’s unique about our summer programs here in Dallas ISD are that we are not only serving students but also training and developing teachers by utilizing TFA and Compass Interns in summer learning classrooms to help teachers hone their teaching skills in preparation for the upcoming school year,” said Crystal Rentz, Director of Summer Learning.

“Each TFA and Compass intern has a mentor teacher working with them to coach and model great teaching. The mentor teachers for these interns are some of the district’s highest rated teachers under the Teacher Excellence Initiative,” said Rentz.

One week ago, following recent events in Dallas, elementary and middle school Summer Achievers Academy students were provided a space for students to debrief through an art project in which students produced powerful artwork currently being displayed at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center near downtown.

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JULY 22, 2016

Spiritually Speaking

by James A. Washington The concept of freedom has been rattling around in my brain lately.

I am focusing on the freedom afforded all of us who claim salvation through Christ. There is something quite liberating when you know or realize that you have been “set free.”

Have you ever thought about what that really means?

The word release comes to my mind. However you want to describe it, I think the revelation of Jesus as Lord and Savior removes a lot of barriers and obstacles and yes, burdens, that we as human beings place upon ourselves.

That’s why I believe as people initially come to Christ, they are overcome by a fresh perspective about life. It’s an enlightened one; one filled with less pressure.

I think that’s why folk cry in church when it happens.

“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians

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Free at last, free indeed 5:1. The question is what are been replaced with honesty you a slave to? and integrity, hope and In a very real sense, this truth, confidence, self worth, type of freedom provides the promise of everlasting incredible spiritual insight life and yeah I know, above where addictions are all love. overcome, hurt feelings are One of the hardest things healed, guilt is removed and to understand in this life, insecurities conquered when and then act upon, is this Jesus enters the picture. love yourself thing. God Whatever you have been even commands us to love enslaved by, you become our neighbors as we love freed from. ourselves. Without Christ One of the biggest things in your life, I believe that that happens when Christ concept of self love can enters your life is that fears sometimes be distorted and in many cases become are conquered.

And if we’re honest with perverted.

Love with humility is ourselves, we all have fears. I know I do. It can an awesome thing. When be the fear of being alone, love is set free within you, of being without, of being life takes on a whole new humiliated, ostracized or meaning. You no longer have to live in the shadows even the fear of dying.

The knowledge of Christ in of pretense; rather, you can all of these situations cancels now live in the light of truth. those fears. You are released I can be who I really am and from them. That’s what I so can you.

Then the world will see believe people mean when they say “set free.”

That’s how I’ve come to understand real joy in EARLINE GADSON the context 9-10-1934 - 6-10-2014 of spiritual awareness i.e. being blood bought and saved.

I have been set free from fear, anger, greed, selfishness, self doubt and even self hatred.

Believe it or not, so have you.

These things have hopefully

you as God sees you and not who you think it ought to see.

I am who God made. If that’s good enough for God, then certainly it’s good enough for anyone who wants to deal with me and that includes you. I am free and it is wonderful.

Freedom is my gift from God paid for by Jesus Christ.

Know the truth and the truth shall set you free. You are not what the world would have you be. You are what God made you to be.

Seek Him and you will undoubtedly find the real you.

May God bless and keep you always.

James

REMEMBERING

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JOYCE ANN BROWN

2-12-1947- 6-13- 2015

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JULY 22, 2016

Simba brings positive spirit to Dallas

By Dorothy Gentry Contributing Editor/Sports Writer

Justin Anderson is a 22-year-old rising star in the NBA as a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

His nickname is Simba – yes from the popular Disney movie “The Lion King” - and he admittedly suffers with time management.

Yet a packed house of City of Dallas employees, many of whom took their lunch breaks, filled the Dallas City Hall Flag Room to capacity to learn what keeps the well-spoken athlete inspired to play the part of a servant leader, and to hear his advice and tips on how they, too, can set themselves up for greater leadership.

Anderson was the keynote speaker for the City of Dallas Black Employees Support Team (BEST) Breaking the 4th Wall Leadership Lecture Series. BEST is an employee-run organization that facilitates career development and events to enhance employees potential within the city. It offers professional development, career planning, networking, volunteer opportunities and special events. BEST members are City of Dallas employees who are actively committed to the betterment of municipal government.

Danielle McClelland, a City of Dallas employee for over 20 years, is first vice president for the organization that seeks to encourage its members and work as advocates for African American employees, who make up about 1/3 of the city’s workforce, to move into leadership positions within the city.

“We want to encourage those who have chosen the public sector as a profession that there is great honor in what we do,” she explained. “This is a calling (working for the city.) We think it is important that the city be strong and it is important to have a strong employee base.”

Anderson’s biggest advice to those gathered: Be a servant leader, know yourself and what you bring to the table and stand on it.

“One thing I want to challenge you all on… and you all are probably going ‘Who is this 22-year-old guy trying to challenge me to do something?’ I get it. I’m sorry,” he said to warm laughter flowing throughout the room. “I want you to challenge yourself to go home and think about who you are.

Where you at in life? Why should we ask for more?

“Look at where we are and look at the world we live in,” he continued “At what point are we going to humble ourselves?”

Anderson recalled dropping in the basketball rankings as he went through high school at Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Maryland, but relied on his knowledge of self to stay focused.

“I had this internal strength that I knew I’m bigger than anyone here, than basketball. I knew who I was and what I could bring to any university, to any team,” he said. “I was a smart, educated, respectful young man and I could always hang my hat on that.”

Anderson said he “started to grow and get to

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know myself. I had a coach at Virginia who always used to say, know who you are. And I think the way we measure success today is where am I ranked, where am I at in the business world, where am I at in my office… We tend to forget that that is not necessarily what success is.“ Success he said, can be defined as taking advantage of opportunities that come your way.

Anderson told engaging and funny tales of growing up in Montross, Virginia, a town of about 350 people where “everybody was your cousin and your uncle and I talked to deer sometimes because you don’t have anyone else around,” and how he was prepared for the opportunity when it came knocking.

“It took a lot for me to get to this point in basketball and to Dallas, Texas. Growing up,

the Mavs were my favorite team, Dirk was my favorite player and Texas was my favorite state,” he said. “But I never got to meet Dirk, never got to go to a Mavs game and had never been to Texas and it just all worked out.

“It has been awesome for me to play here in Dallas. Here I am in 2016, passing the ball to Dirk for a 3 and he’s the 6th all time scorer in the NBA,” Anderson said. “What did I do to deserve to get here and I think I know what it is.”

The answer, he said, was knowing who he was.

“I knew who I was. I think I understood that what I brought wasn’t trying to be the best player, I wasn’t trying to come in and showboat or whatever the case may be.

“I came in and I wanted to serve my teammates.

I wanted to serve the veterans who were already there I just wanted to play my little part even if it was that little,” he said with a gesture of the hands.

“Sometimes I didn’t dress out. There were times they sent me to Frisco (Texas Legends D-League team) and ya’ll know how bad that ride is,” he said as the audience laughed in agreement.

“The Dallas North Tollway. 30 minutes. And we (the Mavs and the Legends) were playing at the same time. Ugh. But I had to serve. I had to do what was best for the organization. Whatever they asked me to do I would respectfully do it to the best of my ability because we never know where opportunities may take you.”

Anderson, who humbly calls himself an open-

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book, dialogued with city employees answered questions and offered his thoughts on different topics: On basketball: This game has always been my passion, my escape. When things were going wrong at home, I had that to hold on to. Whenever I got emotional, I would always turn to the game.

And if you love what you do, use it as your escape, it gives you that much more juice, that much more energy. What contributes to my success, whenever something went wrong or hurt me, I would go outside and shoot baskets and play basketball On his nickname “Simba”: What can I say? The Lion King. Simba. Relentless. Family. Smart. Quick.

Heady. Watch the movie. Watch that little rascal.

There was a line from a J. Cole song that said, “I was like a young Simba, couldn't wait to be the king.”

Right now I’m just a prince. I’m still trying to be hungry and I’m still fighting to be the best I can be. To protect mine. To feed mine. Don’t get me going.

Watch the movie, I’m telling you.

On his failures: I had some abuse in my family that I felt it held me back emotionally my whole life.

Now I am in a position because my voice can be heard to share with others. I am also not good with time management. But there are a ton of failures in everyone’s life but how can you make those failures your successes? Every inch along the way, try to figure out how to make that failure a success.

Role Models: I love Michael Jackson. When you talk about someone who had a pure heart even though it didn’t come out that way sometimes.

When you talk about someone trying to make a change. He was different. I love to work with youth.

I love them. They are our future. We make mistakes and we are supposed to put them in position to not make same mistakes as us. He showed me, his documentary, how to enjoy life. He made mistakes and had failures. But I look up to him and also my brother (Edward). He was always the soundboard in our family. He is very calm. His wisdom and knowledge is great. He is one of my heroes for sure. But I also take tidbits from everybody On NBA Super Teams: I think it’s just basketball.

Our whole lives we play against super teams. In AAU ball they would have the five best in the state and we have to go against them. What it has done is make things more competitive. I don’t think it’s bad at all. I like challenges.

On the future: One thing they always say is you are the CEO of your own company This – pointing to himself - is my brand. This is who I am. My interests have changed from 18 to 22 and will change from 22 to end of my career. I have dabbled in different fields to see what I like.

I want to continue to know myself. I have always lived by that and just knowing who I am. And I think who I am will carry me thru. If I had to pick an occupation right now if I were to retire, it would be working with youth either coaching, mentoring or teaching. But as of now, one thing I will continue to do is make myself a better person.”

JULY 22, 2016

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