Adw nov 12 (1) by Atlanta Daily World

Volume 88 • Issue 14

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

Civil Right leaders urge leniency for Tyrone Brooks P. 3

Obama Covers LGBT Magazine P. 5

Johnny Gill at Mayor’s Masked Ball P.6 November 12-18, 2015

November 12-18, 2015

COVER STORY

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

How Big Oomp fueled Atlanta’s Hip Hop explosion By Terry Shropshire What do T.I., Young Jeezy, Lil Jon, Bonecrusher, David Banner, Three 6 Mafia, 8 Ball and MJG, Sammy Sam, Raheem the Dream and the Ying Yang Twins all have in common? They were aided in their pursuit of success through the mixtapes explosion engineered by Big Oomp in the 1990s. Case in point: Triple 6 Mafia and how we blew the song up, “Running Around the Club.” In Atlanta, Big Oomp is more than a multifaceted entrepreneur. He is an underground institution. He is a fascinating figure in the history of hip hop in Atlanta, he built a regional hip hop empire without the aid of the Internet, without the help of social media. At one point, Oomp owned 12 record stores, had a weekly television show and a radio program syndicated on more than 20 stations in the Southeast. He was Atlanta hip hop personified. Unlike the big money machines that pushed the likes of OutKast and Ludacris, Big Oomp has earned success by grinding in the streets and flooding the clubs with his mixtapes and depended on word-ofmouth instead of a public relations machine to get the word out. And it worked phenomenally well. The underpinnings of the Big Oomp empire were built when, shortly after high school, Big Oomp ran into DJ Jelly and MC Assault, who ran up to his green Cherokee at a stop light near the Job Corps building in the early 90s, selling their mixtapes. Oomp, who fell in love with rap when he first heard the Fat Boys – “I loved their songs, their whole appearance, their image. They were just fun. Man, I fell in love with them jokers,” he said, adding that he had been looking to get into the music game from the back end. The Fat Boys inspired Big Oomp to buy a microphone and cassette player and begin spitting rhymes, but he didn’t stick with it. However, after high school, Oomp was looking to make investments in the rap game and DJ Jelly and MC Assault were looking for investors. You could say they met at the intersection of Destiny and Opportunity. “At that time there was no one putting out mixtapes, no one other than King Edward J. He had a little crew. I invested in the vision of those guys (DJ Jelly and MC Assault). I invested a lot of money in them. And I gave them a real business setup, real equipment, and we started making mixtapes.” When they started seeing success beyond what they originally envisioned, the rappers told Oomp, “’We need a place. We need a store to sell out of.’ And that’s what led to our first place being out of the Greenbriar Discount Mall in 1991. The mixtape game exploded in Oomp’s Southwest stomps. “I swear in two months it was crazy, we were making so much money that we opened up another spot on Old National Highway ... and then that store began making so much money. Next thing, we opened up another. After about two years, we had like 12 stores. At one point, we had the largest blackowned retail chain in the South.” Pretty soon, he put his biggest mixtape competition, Edward J. of Decatur, out of business. And, using very persuasive tactics, he convinced Atlanta radio stations, who were very New Yorkcentric and only played some Miami music (most notably Luke Skywalker, aka, Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew fame), to begin playing the music of his Georgia born-and-raised artists such as Sammy Sam and others he was pushing. That was all she wrote. There were also two significant events that pushed the Big Oomp brand out there even further. Rapper Lil Jon came out in 1997 with his first

ADW | 2

song “Get Crunk.” (“We were the ones that blew the song up,” he said). And then there was the 90s cultural phenomenon “Freaknik,” in which tens of thousands of young black college students from around the country converged on Atlanta to party. “Atlanta artist were still in Atlanta. You couldn’t hear underground artists such as Lil Jon and Raheem the Dream. They hadn’t reached Chicago, Miami and places like that. People were coming for Freaknik. I swear we did $20,000-$30,000 that whole weekend. We had (mixtape) booths from one end of Auburn Ave. to the other. The (tourists) were able to come here for Freaknik, buy the mixtapes and take them back home to their cities.” Another major music industry development took place when Big Oomp took his game from the streets to the TV. He began “Live Wit Da Oomp Camp,” a weekly video show hosted by Baby D and DJ Jelly, which was aired late nights on weekends on UPN Atlanta, and featured everyone from Future to Ludacris. In addition, Oomp does a radio show called “The Dirty South Showdown,” which is broadcast on 20 Southeastern radio stations. The enterprising entrepreneur also owned Top Quality Productions and Top Quality Publishing, a management company and graphics company respectively. The game has changed drastically with the advent of the information superhighway, better known as the Internet. It totally altered the way music and albums are created, marketed and sold and it was done in ways that were admittedly foreign to Big Oomp. “I didn’t envision that [things] would turn out this way, with the technology and the internet and the free music and all that stuff. CDs are almost obsolete,” he said. “Back in the day, we had to package it, go to the post office, mail it and it took five days for them to even get our music [on the West Coast]. Now it can be t w o

seconds as compared to five days. Big OOmp also noticed another trend that was not so friendly to his empire. “Now folks want free music. They don’t even want to buy rap music anymore. The music is going to get online at some point, and they want to wait to get it for free.” Instead, Big Oomp said, artists have found another way “to eat.” “These days now, ain’t no money in CDs. Artists are eating on shows. They ain’t eating off of records. The artists come into the game knowing that. They want you to take their free music, and spreading on the internet like it is, they are going to get shows. They don’t even care about the records. If they can get a nice niche to get a couple of dollars, they happy. They want to get that free music out there, to build that hype so that they can get booked for shows. And that’s called performance money. Ain’t no record sales money. It’s crumbs in that now.” He also notes how A&R has in large part evaporated because people are more concerned with an artist’s digital presence. “Your presence is important on the Internet, your awareness,” he said in his booming bass baritone that careens and ricochets off the walls inside Patchwerk Studios, where Big Oomp cut his first records. “They are going to Google you, they are going to pull your Instagram.

Atlanta Daily World

Founded August 5 1928; Became Daily, March 12, 1932 W.A. Scott, II, Founder/Publisher August 5, 1928 to February 7, 1934 Published weekly at 100 Hartsfield Centre Parkway Suite 500 Atlanta, Georgia 30354 Periodicals Postage Paid at Atlanta Mailing Offices. Publication Number 017255 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Atlanta Daily World, 100 Hartsfield Centre Parkway Suite 500 Atlanta, Georgia 30354 Subscriptions: One Year: $52 Two Years: $85 Forms of Payment: Check, Money Order, VISA American Express, MasterCard MEMBER: Associated Press Atlanta Business League Central Atlanta Progress Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce National Newspaper Publishers Website: www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com Lorraine Cochran General Manager lcochran@realtimesmedia.com

Roz Edward

Managing Editor redward@realtimesmedia.com

Terry Shropshire

Managing Editor / Web Editor tshropshire@realtimesmedia

Juan Sifuentes

They want to see your views, h o w much footage you got on the Internet, how long it’s been there, how many people looked at it. That’s how they determine what type of artist you are now.”

Graphic Designer jsifuentes@realtimesmedia.com

Atlanta Daily World is powered by Real Times Media The Atlanta Daily World is not responsible for unsolicited photos, manuscripts, etc., unless return is requested with postage. Address all correspondence to and make checks payable to Atlanta Daily World, rather than to individuals.

NEWS

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

‘Fight for $15’ hits back after GOP candidates’ debate By Lynette Holloway As protesters called for a wage hike outside the Milwaukee Theatre Tuesday night during the fourth Republican presidential debate, the two front-runners argued against increasing the salary for thousands of low-wage workers. In the first question at the debate hosted by Fox Business Network and the Wall Street Journal in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, real estate mogul Donald Trump and retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson were asked if they support a minimum wage hike. The answer was a resounding, “no.” “Taxes too high. Wages too high. We’re not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is,” Trump said. Carson blamed the Black unemployment rate on too high wages for minimum wage jobs. “That’s because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down,” he said. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said an increase would cause workers to lose jobs to technology. “Here’s the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business.” The statements came as about 1,000 Fight for $15 protesters rallied outside the arena, capping off a day of rallies in 270 cities. Fast food cooks, cashiers, home care workers, farm workers, among others, banded together in a call for a wage hike and a union in one of the biggest strikes to hit America’s fast-food industry. An estimated 64 million Americans are paid less than $15 and comprise a powerful new voting bloc. Jihad Williamson is one of them. The Fight for $15 member walked off his job yesterday at McDonald’s and protested outside the debate in Milwaukee, he said in a statement to NewsOne. “When fast-food workers first went on strike three years ago

in New York City, most people gave them no shot to win,” he said. “Now, in the first question of the Republican debate, candidates were forced to respond to our calls for $15 and union rights, because there’s a growing understanding in America that $15 an hour is what American workers everywhere need to survive and support our families. We are a powerful voting bloc of 64 million nationwide and have one message for candidates of all political stripes running for office in 2016: come get our vote.” Democrats have been outspoken about their support for the initiative. During his State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and candidate Bernie Sanders have both gone on record in support of Fight for $15. The Democratic National Committee, which railed against the Republicans’ Tuesday night debate performance on the issue, said the candidates do not represent a choice for hard-working Americans. “Right off the bat, Republican candidates … in the tradition of Mitt Romney before them, continued to demonstrate that they don’t understand how the American economy works for the middle class,” DNC spokesman Michael Tyler said in an email statement. “Rather than supporting investments in the middle class, like making college more affordable and raising the federal minimum wage, they stuck to old tax policies that only serve to prop up the wealthy and powerful corporations.” Workers earning less than $15 per hour are disproportionately women and people of color. And more than half of African American workers and close to 60 percent of Latino workers make less than $15. With those numbers, the Republican Party clearly is not interested in courting voters of color, whose votes are badly needed to win the White House.

November 12-18, 2015

Mayor Reed pushes to end veterans’ homelessness

Mayor Kasim Reed announced on Veteran’s Day his collaboration with United Way in a push to end military veteran homelessness in the city of Atlanta. Mayor Kasim Reed joined United Way of Greater Atlanta CEO Milton Little to provide an update on the City of Atlanta’s goal to move all homeless veterans into housing by the end of 2015. This campaign is part of a collaborative effort to meet President Obama’s goal of ending veterans’ homelessness across the country by the end of 2015. Reed and Little were also joined by: Leslie Wiggins, Director, Atlanta VA Medical Center; Jack Hardin, Chair, Regional Commission on Homelessness; and Cathryn Marchman, Executive Director, Partners for H.O.M.E. at a press conference on Veteran’s Day at the United Way of Greater Atlanta.

Civil Rights leaders urge leniency for Tyrone Brooks ATLANTA (AP) _ Several heavyweights of the 1960s civil rights movement asked a federal judge this week to show leniency to a former Georgia state representative and civil rights activist who’s being sentenced on fraud charges. Tyrone Brooks, an Atlanta Democrat, pleaded guilty in April to one count of filing a false tax document and no contest to five counts of mail and wire fraud. His sentencing hearing began Monday, Nov. 9 and U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg is expected to sentence him. An indictment alleged that Brooks solicited about $1 million in contributions from the mid-1990s to 2012 from individuals and corporate donors, saying the money would be used to fight illiteracy in underserved communities and for other causes. The contributions were made to the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, which Brooks had led since 1994, and to Universal Humanities, a tax-exempt organization Brooks founded in 1990. Prosecutors have asked Totenberg for a two-year prison sentence. Brooks’ lawyers are seeking five years’ probation, citing his lifetime of dedicated civil rights work. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and fought alongside King against racial discrimination, testified in a video message that Brooks has made “some serious and

foolish mistakes,” but he urged Totenberg to find mercy. “That’s a long time to be in prison,” he said of the prosecution’s request. “And it doesn’t serve any good purpose. It won’t help restore anything that has been lost.” C.T. Vivian, another friend and confidant of King, said Brooks came into the civil rights movement as a young man eager to make a difference and has been doing so ever since. He said Brooks should be allowed to continue doing that. “We need him out and moving about,” Vivian said. Andrew Young, a former U.N. ambassador, congressman and Atlanta mayor, said under questioning by former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, an attorney for Brooks, that he’s always been impressed by Brooks’ dedication and that funding has always been an issue for the civil rights movement. Federal prosecutor Kurt Erskine seized on a statement Young made, that “the letter of the law” applies to handling money. Erskine asked what he meant by that. “I meant that you have to be accountable, and we always did the best we could to be accountable. We never used things personally,” but had to stretch and make do, Young said. Prosecutors have acknowledged that Brooks has made a positive impact, but they argue he used his reputation and trust

to solicit donations for personal expenses, including utility bills, dry cleaning, clothing, restaurant meals and cable bills. A representative for the Coca-Cola Company testified Tuesday that Brooks’ influence in the community and relationship with company leaders affected the decision to donate to both Universal Humanities and GABEO. Universal Humanities’ letterhead, which Brooks used to solicit donations, listed prominent people on its board of directors _ people who told investigators they’d never heard of the organization, prosecutors said. State Sen. Emanuel Jones testified Tuesday that he had never heard of the organization before he saw media reports about the investigation and hadn’t been aware that Brooks had listed him as a member of the organization’s steering committee in promotional materials. “Once I learned of this organization, I was extremely dismayed and confounded,” he testified. Brooks’ lawyers have argued their client solicited money for charitable causes and worked tirelessly doing charitable work. Brooks was not motivated by greed, but rather spent money sustaining himself and his work on social causes, and most of his donors would have been fine with that, knowing they were supporting his ongoing work, they’ve argued.

3 | ADW

BUSINESS

November 12-18, 2015

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

Siebert Brandford Shank forms leading black, hispanic and woman owned firm Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., L.L.C., the nation’s No.1 ranked MBE municipal finance firm and a top five ranked MBE corporate underwriting firm, announces a realignment of its ownership structure to create the preeminent black, Hispanic and woman owned firm on Wall Street. Joining the ownership are Hon. Henry Cisneros, a former mayor of San Antonio and former HUD Secretary; Hon. William C. Thompson, Chief Administrative Officer and Managing Director of Siebert Brandford Shank, and former New York City Comptroller; Sean Duffy, SBSCO’s Managing Director of Institutional Sales, and Victor Miramontes, previously CEO of North American Development Bank. Co-founder Suzanne Shank will become majority owner of the firm and hold the title of Chairwoman and CEO. Since its founding in 1996, SBSCO has transacted more than $2 trillion for significant infrastructure financing across the country as well as bond and equity transactions for major corporate clients. The company’s product and service offerings include municipal bond underwriting, corporate debt and equity underwriting, investment banking and execution services for many of the largest Fortune 500 Board Chairman Milton Jones, Jr. & President & CEO Leona Barr-Davenport

Cordially Invite You to the...

nd Annual Meeting

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Atlanta Marriott Marquis | 265 Peachtree Center Avenue, NE | Atlanta, GA 30303 Reception - 5:30 PM | Dinner - 6:00 PM

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

DARYLL GRIFFIN

SIMON ROBINSON

Accolades. Inc.

American Systems, Inc.

IRA JACKSON

Perfect Image

Money In The Movies Panel: How You can Profit in Hollywood South

Roger Bobb

Producer, President & CEO Bobbcat Films

Laronda Sutton

Director of Mayor’s Office of Entertainment City of Atlanta

Terri Vaughn

Actress

SPONSORS

The Atlanta Business League Annual Meeting serves as a yearly recap, acknowledging the strides that the ABL and its members have created. It also recognizes African American owned businesses that have conducted continuous business for over 25 years; and serves as an induction ceremony entering them into the ABL Business Hall of Fame. Additionally, this program is solidified with an on stage conversation with industry specialists who challenge and inspire entrepreneurs and professionals to do even greater things.

Scan code for additional information and registration

ADW | 4

For information or tickets, visit www.atlantabusinessleague.org or call (404) 584-8126

companies. The firm was founded in 1996 by the late Muriel Siebert, the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, together with Suzanne Shank and now retiring chairman Napoleon Brandford III. “I am pleased to continue to build upon the legacy that Muriel, Napoleon and I started in 1996 when we founded the firm,” said Ms. Shank. “It is significant that as we enter the 20th anniversary year of the firm, our municipal and corporate clients continue to reward us with major transactions for our proven superior structuring, pricing and distribution capabilities and our deep pool of employee talent.” “I am optimistic about the role that a strengthened SBSCO can play in advancing the public financing of needed infrastructure and essential public facilities in our country,” said Mr. Cisneros. “… I know from personally having worked in every state in our nation that there is immense work to be done and I am certain that SBSCO has the capacity to do its part to build the nation’s future.” “Since I’ve been with SBSCO, we have grown bigger, better and stronger,” said Mr. Thompson. “… As one of Wall Street’s top tier firms, we have already set a high standard and with these changes we will be even more competitive

moving forward.” “I am thrilled to be a part of this ownership group and I know that our firm is going to continue to be a leading force on Wall Street,” said Mr. Duffy. “SBSCO has been at the center of some of the biggest and most important corporate and municipal infrastructure investment transactions in this country and this enhancement to our ownership will build on that record of success.” “I am excited and honored to team up with Suzanne and the great team that SBSCO has assembled,” said Mr. Miramontes. “… It is my goal and hope that together we will all take SBSCO to an even higher level of client service, profitability and growth.” “I’ve had two key long term objectives in my career. One was to build a top 10 Wall Street firm, and second was to successfully transition it to the next generation, creating a legacy firm that maintains its industry leading presence,” said Mr. Brandford. “… This dynamic leadership will propel SBSCO as America’s preeminent African-American and Hispanic financial firm.” With dual headquarters in New York and Oakland, CA, SBSCO maintains 17 offices nationwide including Atlanta. To read this story in its entirety visit atlantadailyworld.com

Opportunity Hub and TechSquare Labs partner for high-tech diversity By Terry Shropshire Atlanta is home to some of the largest coding schools in the Southeast United States, a quarter million higher education students, and two of the top five historically black colleges and universities. This talent pool combined with the burgeoning startup scene and concentration of large corporations, creates an unparalleled opportunity for technological advances. TechSquare Labs, a seed fund and technology innovation hub for startups and corporations, recently announced their merger with Opportunity Hub, the largest diverse and inclusive entrepreneurship center and multi-campus co-working space in the nation. Opportunity Hub’s Founder and CEO, Rodney Sampson, joins the TechSquare Labs team as the Chief of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives. Together with Paul Judge and Allen Nance, Sampson will focus on creating curriculum, products and solutions to increase diversity and inclusion in technology, build a platform to incubate and fund diverse co-founding teams, and help corporations meet their own internal strategies to bridge the divide between corporate innovation and supplier diversity. TechSquare Labs offers 25,000 sq. ft of innovations labs and working space, including an incubator, venture fund, and corporate innovation programing in Technology Square, an Opportunity Zone and ground zero for innovation in the Southeast. The team uses their prime location and business experience to leverage connections between corporations, technical cofounders, and educational institutions to accelerate startups and foster innovation within large enterprises. By bringing

on Sampson and merging with Opportunity Hub, TechSquare Labs will broaden their program offerings and become a champion for inclusion in the technology sector. “Over the last three years, Opportunity Hub has led the nation in launching diverse and inclusive startup and technology ecosystems garnering greater access to vetted mentorship and early stage capital for minorities and women,” said Sampson. “TechSquare Lab’s [has] a proven track record of starting and investing in scalable companies that create jobs and increase shareholder value. Their willingness to invest in the building of a diverse and inclusive end-to-end technology ecosystem demonstrates their commitment to developing Atlanta’s economy and our city’s attractiveness to the global markets.” TechSquare Labs’ first diversity initiative includes the launch of a pilot code school and cofounder’s college in collaboration with Atlanta’s Workforce Development Agency for training of new software engineers from underserved and underrepresented communities in Atlanta.

COMMUNITY Barack Obama becomes first U.S. #HBCU Love? Bennett College alum goes in on #SpelHouse president on LGBT magazine cover

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

By Britta Lee President Barack Obama, already known as the first U.S. president to advocate for gay rights during an inauguration speech, just became the first Commander-In-Chief to pose for the cover of an LGBT magazine. Gracing the cover of OUT magazine’s OUT 100 issue as “Ally of the Year” comes as no surprise — Obama is likely to go down in history as one of the most progressive presidents, if not the only one who has fought so tirelessly for LGBTQ rights. Shortly after taking office, Obama signed a bill repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. And in June, after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of samesex marriage nat ionw ide, O b a m a delivered an emotional address to the nation, calling it a “victory for America.” “This is the first time a sitting president has been photographed for the cover of an LGBT title, a historic moment in itself, and a statement on how much his administration has done to advance a singularly volatile issue that tarnished the reputations of both President Clinton and President Bush,” OUT’s editor-in-chief Aaron Hicklin wrote. Obama granted the magazine an interview that highlighted his own upbringing and how it affects his perspective on equality. “My mom instilled in me the strong belief that every person is of equal worth,” Obama told Hicklin. “At the same time, growing up as a black guy with a funny name, I was often reminded of exactly what it felt like to be on

November 12-18, 2015

the outside. One of the reasons I got involved in politics was to help deliver on our promise that we’re all created equal, and that no one should be excluded from the American dream just because of who they are. That’s why, in the Senate, I supported repealing DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act]. It’s why, when I ran for president the first time, I publicly asked for the support of the LGBT community, and promised that we could bring about real change for LGBT Americans.” He also discussed how daughters Sasha and Malia have helped him recognize the generational shift in attitudes towards the LGBTQ community, urging for the end of damaging conversion therapy for young people that doesn’t allow them “to be who they are.” “To Malia and Sasha and their friends, discrimination in any form against anyone doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t dawn on them that friends who are gay or friends’ parents who are same-sex couples should be treated differently than anyone else,” Obama said. “That’s powerful. My sense is that a lot of parents across the country aren’t going to want to sit around the dinner table and try to justify to their kids why a gay teacher or a transgender best friend isn’t quite as equal as someone else. That’s also why it’s so important to end harmful practices like conversion therapy for young people and allow them to be who they are. The next generation is spurring change not just for future generations, but for my generation, too. As president, and as a dad, that makes me proud. It makes me hopeful.”

.com ailyWorld

by Powered

Black Who in “Who’s d ” unveile Atlanta P. 4

the oduces BET intr ooks” ‘WestBr P. 6

Needs Extraordinary People To Serve the Community 

Located 25 Minutes West of Downtown Atlanta



Service Oriented: “We are One” with the Community



Career & Leadership Development Opportunities



Over 125 Employees in a Family Like Environment



Winner of the 2015 IACP Civil Rights Award



Advanced Training



State Of The Art Equipment & Facilities



Take-Home Car Program



Health Benefits



Competitive Salary



Retirement Benefits



Tuition Reimbursement



Specialized Units

Real Time

9 • Issue me 88

Volu

“sister school” as beast-like is heartbreaking. I could go on about the things I’ve heard about “Morehouse Men” but it’s just not worth going that low down into the gutter. He wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last. But I can’t fully blame this “brother” and those like him when low-hanging fruit is located right across the street. What’s the point anyway of having a sister school located nearly five hours away? That’s the story of how I realized I had no brother school a long time ago during that fateful trip to Morehouse’s homecoming, when I saw firsthand how my fellow Belles and campus queens were treated. The “low-hanging fruit” part is what seems to have escalated things.

Today’s Law Enforcement

ntaD www.Atla

CEO May in Such Dismay s Media

back to AKAs give students Gwinnett P.9 5 r 8-14, 201 Octobe

In a controversial piece entitled, “Dear Bennett College: Just End It with Morehouse Already,” Aziza Jackson, a graduate of Bennett College in North Carolina, writes that the historically Black, exclusively women’s college should cut their ties with their (supposed brother institution) Morehouse College because the prestigious all-male school has obviously replaced them with the sisters of Spelman College. This sparked some HBCU drama across social media. Read an excerpt below: “…in an extremely recent conversation with a guy, we started talking about school and more specifically HBCUs. The guy proudly tells me that he is a Morehouse Man as if he expected me to do a cartwheel or something in response to this revelation. I said, “Oh, cool, I went to Bennett” and asked if he knew anything about my school. He said, “Yeah you all were our original sister school before quietly being replaced. Y’all have some beasty alumni though.” *Pause* First it’s alumnae not alumni. Secondly, for a black man — or excuse me, a Morehouse Man—to refer to black women as beast-like —period— is unacceptable, and to refer to the alumnae of your supposed

“We are One” APPLY TODAY www.douglasvillega.gov PO Box 219 Douglasville, GA 30133 770-920-3010

5 | ADW

ENTERTAINMENT Johnny Gill to perform at ‘RHOA’s’ Kandi Buruss speaks on relationship Mayor’s Masked Ball UNCF with Phaedra Parks

November 12-18, 2015

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

fundraiser

By Terry Shropshire

Kandi Burruss and Phaedra Parks are two of the more even-tempered, lowermaintenance cast members of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta. However, the former close friends’ shot up to the top of the RHOA drama list after Parks accused Burruss of being a delinquent, uncaring friend. Burruss, who appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” with Vivica A. Fox following the Season 8 opener of RHOA, was asked if Parks doesn’t trust her

because she’s siding with her husband, Todd Tucker, and Parks’ imprisoned husband, Apollo Nida, when it comes to Parks and Nida’s nasty breakup. “I don’t really feel a way,” she said. “Todd and Apollo are friends, that’s true indeed, but I feel like it has made Phaedra assume that I’m taking sides just because Todd is siding with Apollo. Well, not necessarily that he’s siding with Apollo, but that he’s friends with Apollo.” Burruss went on to explain that she’s being found guilty by Parks just by association.

“I feel like in mind, she feels I’m against her. And it’s only been one thing that I spoke on that was disagreeable. But other than that, I don’t really side with Apollo on anything,” Burruss explained. Burruss’ and Parks’ quandary was completely overshadowed on the show by the national uproar created when fellow “WWHL” guest Vivica Fox openly questioned former boyfriend 50 Cent’s sexuality and even called him a “booty snatcher,” which incited furious return shots by both Fifty and Soulja Boy at Fox.

‘Selling It: In the ATL’ Viewing Party at T.I.’s Scales 925 ATLANTA -- Three major players of the newest hit reality show, WE tv’s “Selling It: In the ATL” were posted up strong at T.I.’s brand new restaurant in downtown Atlanta for the viewing of the inaugural episode. A’lana Banks celebrates “Selling It: In the ATL” viewing party with cast members and friends By Terry Shropshire Soul crooner Johnny Gill, who came to fame via New Edition and his superior vocal performances, will perform at the United Negro College Fund’s 32nd annual Mayor’s Masked Ball on Saturday, Dec. 19, at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta. The four-time Grammy nominated singer will join a cornucopia of celebrities and dignitaries attending the exclusive soiree, including Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and UNCF President and CEO Michael Lomax. The honorary co-chairs of this year’s gala are: Shan Cooper, the vice president and general manager at Marietta of LockheedMartin Aeronautics Company in suburban Atlanta, and Jack Sawyer, president of the Southeast region of Wilmington Trust. The Mayor’s Masked Ball is one of the signature fundraising events for the UNCF, the nation’s largest and most effective organization dedicated to raising money for minority college students. The annual fundraising gala will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a VIP Masked Award Reception, Silent Holiday Auction, Red Carpet Parade of Stars and Dignitaries, Elegant Dining, Parade of Masks, dancing and live entertainment by Gill. The Mayor’s Masked Ball which began in 1983 is the creation of Billye Aaron, wife of baseball legend Hank Aaron, and Ambassador Andrew Young. The Ball is hosted by the city’s current mayor and is largely supported by local corporate and civic entities. A much anticipated holiday event that raises unrestricted dollars for UNCF’s support for local students, the Ball attracts a diverse array of attendees from across the area, including local celebrities, dignitaries, civic and elected officials.

Times Powered by Real

Media

rld.com www.AtlantaDailyWo

Issue 8 Volume 88 •

be John Lewsi to honored at NCHRM P. 3

Black , famous, Republican P. 7

and

Pope’s visit warmed s some black Catholic P.9 October 1-7,

2015

Times Media

Volume 88 • Issue 5

Formerly the exclusive bastion of testosterone, the real estate market in the ATL has some major female players who are taking over the game. Seven of them are featured in “Selling It,” including A’lana, who has sold homes to T.I., Mariah Carey and Tyler Perry and secured temporary homes for the likes of Samuel Jackson and Jim Carrey while they worked on movie projects in the metro area.

The two others parked in the glitzy and glamorous real estate space include Sarah Lowe, who bills herself as the broker to the Buckhead aristocrats and the powerful and influential in the Atlanta and Georgia scene. Not to be outdone, Chrishena Stanley, the “empire builder” is also a key character in the show because she employs her own mother who taught her how to thrive in the risky real estate game.

Praise News Politics Business Education www.AtlantaDailyWor ld.com

Beat the job search blues P. 5

‘Empire’ to return for second season P. 7

Does race affect cell phone use? P. 8

September 10-16,

Myth of the ‘Black Mecca’?

ADW | 6

(Photos by Terry Shropshire for Atlanta Daily World and Real Times Media)

2015

Entertainment

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

EDUCATION

November 12-18, 2015

Georgia Officials approve merger of Albany State HBCU ATLANTA (AP) — Faced with declining enrollment, Georgia officials are combining a historically Black state university with a twoyear state college that also has a high minority student body, creating what they expect will be a stronger institution that retains its Black majority and avoids the criticism that has met similar proposals in other Southern states. Some advocates for historically Black colleges and universities are even hailing the move. Albany State University’s 3,500 students will join with Darton State College’s 5,500 students under the plan approved by the state Board of Regents. Albany State University’s name, majorityBlack status and its interim president all will remain in place as the two institutions merge. Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president & CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund that raises money for the institutions including Albany State, said HBCU supporters should consider Georgia’s approach a gift. “I want to make sure the HBCU community is not always positioned as negative, that you can never please us,” Taylor said “That hurts us. If we go in and focus on the negative, the rest of Georgia is going to say: ‘We can’t win.’” Albany State University’s enrollment has dropped 25 percent since its peak in 2011. Darton State’s student body this fall was

44.7 percent Black, 48.5 percent White and 3.3 percent Hispanic or Latino. Its enrollment also has dropped in recent years, down 14 percent since 2012. Based on this fall’s combined enrollment, 62 percent of students at both schools identified as Black. Georgia officials said Albany State is a

VP Joe Biden addresses Morehouse men on sex and violence By Terry Shropshire Vice President Joe Biden stopped by historic Morehouse College on Tuesday to talk about a grassroots campaign to end sexual violence. In one of his several college campus stops on Tuesday, Biden told students on the Atlanta University Center institution that sexual assault is declining across the nation, with the exception of college campuses. Speaking as part of a sexual violence prevention program called “It’s On Us,” he encouraged students take a pledge to work against sexual assault. “It is never, never, never, never, never appropriate for a man to use physical force against a woman for any reason other than self-defense,” Biden said. “Your generation can begin to change the dynamic on campus in a way that has never happened before.” Tuesday’s campus stop, coincided with education and awareness events across the country to put the issue at the forefront. Biden was joined on stage by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Morehouse College President John Wilson. Biden, who authored the Violence Against

Women Act in 1994, said cases of abuse have since fallen nationally by 58 percent, but not much has changed on college campuses. “It was a great disappointment, because I thought we had begun to change the culture,” he said. Earlier in the day, Biden told students at Clemson University in South Carolina that people must get involved in stopping sexual violence before it even happens. “If you see somebody walking a drunk girl upstairs, and if you don’t have the courage to stop him you’re an accomplice. You’re a coward. You’re no man.” Biden boomed. “If you don’t have the courage to step in, at least alert somebody,” he said, according to GreenvilleOnline.com.

top choice for Darton State students who go on to four-year college. Historically Black colleges and universities played a key role during Reconstruction and long into the Jim Crow era, offering Black Americans a place to earn degrees while preserving the “separate but equal” doctrine

that stood until the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. The government has tried in the past to strengthen the more than 100 HBCUs across the nation, and the Obama administration made the institutions a central part of its goal to increase college graduates by 2020. Still, many such schools have struggled to maintain enrollment after desegregation offered other options to minorities, while state and federal funding has shrunk. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund reported that 75 percent of students at historically Black colleges and universities receive Pell grants and 13 percent receive PLUS loans. Response in Georgia has been muted since the proposal’s announcement, but the path forward is delicate. Officials must decide about faculty, leadership and staff training, said Tiffany Jones, director of higher education search at the Southern Education Foundation. “In any merger, supporters want to ensure this isn’t a step toward these institutions disappearing,” Jones said. As in other consolidations, a committee with representatives from both schools will hold town hall-style meetings and help make those decisions. To read this article in its entirety visit atlantadailyworld.com

Students Doodle for Google and schools

Atlanta’s students are eligible for a unique nationwide opportunity to win up to $30,000 for college, a $50,000 grant for their school and be featured on Google.com’s homepage. The Doodle 4 Google initiative challenges students from across the country to use Google’s homepage as a canvas to doodle with any materials to show what makes them unique. Participants can submit entries online now through Dec. 7. Completed submissions must include an entry form, a 50-word statement from the artist and a digital version of his or her doodle. For this year’s contest, students can create a doodle that tells the world “What makes me … me.” Kids have all kinds of things that make them unique, so they can use all kinds of materials to create their doodles — from crayons, to clay, to graphic design, even food and video games — while incorporating the letters G-o-o-g-l-e. A panel of six judges — including Emmy-Award winning actress Julie Brown, As-

tronaut Yvonne Cagle, NBA Player Stephen Curry, Director Glen Keane, NWSL Player Alex Morgan and Writer B.J. Novak — will name 53 state and territory winners, five national finalists and one national winner. State and territory winners will be featured in the Doodle 4 Google gallery and receive an Android tablet and t-shirt printed with their doodles on it. Five national finalists will receive a $5,000 college scholarship and a trip to Google headquarters in California. One national winner will have his or her doodle featured on Google.com’s homepage for a day, receive a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 Google for Education grant for his or her school, a trip to Google headquarters, a Chromebook and an Android tablet. State award winners will be announced during the first week of February 2016. National Finalists and the National Winner will be announced at the end of March.

7 | ADW

November 12-18, 2015

POLITICS

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

Roland Martin and Hillary Clinton do more than ‘Wobble’ The clip of Roland Martin, host and managing editor of TV One’s “NewsOne Now,” teaching Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton how to “wobble” may have gone viral, but it’s the substantive issues that the veteran journalist tackled with the former Secretary of State that stole the show. During the Town Hall in South Carolina, which was hosted by the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, Martin left no stone unturned. From medical marijuana and diversity on the Supreme Court, to the dismal state of veteran affairs, Clinton was faced with her toughest scrutiny to date as she made her case for African American voters. On The Supreme Court: After requesting that the Black women in the audience stand up, Martin asked Clinton, “…will you put a Black woman on the Supreme Court?” Clinton laughed and played to the room before effortlessly dodging the question: “Do we have any candidates here? Well, I would certainly consider people who have the energy, and the intellect, and the experience to be on the Supreme Court.”

Martin didn’t let her off that easy, adding, “We got a whole list, so it would be good to see a sista on the Supreme Court. I’m just sayin.’” It sure would. On Veteran Affairs: Martin opined that the Secretary of the Department of

Veteran Affairs should be a priority cabinet position, on par with Secretary of State and Attorney General. Martin opined that the Secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs should be a priority cabinet position, on par with Secretary of State and Attorney General. To that end, he asked Clinton, “What is your commitment to ensuring that the Department of Veteran Affairs is the best federal agency and will you make that a fundamental priority if you are President of the United States?” Clinton responded, “And the answer is yes…there are certainly systemic problems with the VA. And they need to be fixed and no one should tolerate them. It’s an outrage if anyone has been mistreated or left untreated by the VA.” On Medical Marijuana: When asked what her plan was to tackle the issue of marijuana prohibition on the federal level, Clinton declared that she does, in fact, support the use of medical marijuana. “I want to see how it works before we do a national plan from the federal government because I think there’s a lot for us to learn. But what I do want is for us to support research into medical marijuana because a lot more states have passed medical marijuana than have legalized marijuana,” Clinton said.

Ben Carson suggests separate bathrooms for LGBTQ Presidential candidate Ben Carson faced continued fallout from the LGBTQ community after he suggested transgender people should have their own bathrooms. Speaking with Fusion’s Jorge Ramos, Carson’s comments came in response to the recent LGBTQ anti-discrimination measure in Texas that was rejected this week. “It is not fair for them to make everyone else uncomfortable,” he explained. “It’s one of the things that I don’t particularly like about the movement. I think everybody has equal rights, but I’m not sure that anybody should have extra rights — extra rights when it comes to redefining everything for everybody else and imposing your view on everybody else. The way that this country was designed, it was ‘live and let live,’ and that’s the way I feel.” Carson’s comments come dangerously close to mirroring the separation of Black and White bathrooms during Jim Crow. The GOP frontrunner then took things a step further by stating that the LGBTQ community shouldn’t have “extra rights,” before again repeating his disapproval of gay marriage. The Human Rights Campaign states Carson’s stereotypes are damaging to the entire LGBTQ community due to his huge platform as a presidential candidate. This week, the retired neurosurgeon led 29 percent of GOP primary voters, the biggest among the Republican candidates. “Ben Carson’s hateful comments are out of touch and all candidates should immediately

ADW | 8

make clear that they disavow his dangerously transphobic views,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement. “Ben Carson can’t go a week without invoking reckless and irresponsible stereotypes about the LGBT community, and his suggestion that transgender people be required to use segregated bathrooms echoes an ugly past our countr y should n e v e r revisit.”

HEALTH From the kitchen to the kids table, staying healthy this Thanksgiving is a snap

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

November 12-18, 2015

• Play a game of flag football: Many parents probably remember participating in a game of flag football with their own families as kids. Get your entire family involved for this classic Thanksgiving game. • Plan a family workout the next day: Don’t spend the day after Thanksgiving feeling tired and sluggish. Make a commitment as a family to get moving and burn off those calories from the day before.

By Dr. Mark Kishel Thanksgiving only comes around once a year, but can easily throw your children’s healthy eating habits out the window. This year don’t let yourself or your family fall off the wagon. By staying active, eating healthy and being aware of any food allergies, you can get through Thanksgiving without a hitch.

Staying Safe According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 90 percent of serious allergic reactions in the United States are caused by eight foods: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, wheat, soy, peanuts and tree nuts -- and an estimated 4 to 6 percent of children in the United States are affected by food allergies. So, how do we prevent these food allergies from disrupting our Thanksgiving? Here are a few easy tips: • Save labels: If you’re hosting, be sure to save any packaging so that parents of children with food allergies can read them before dishing up plates. • Bring a dish to share: Bring an allergen-free dish to share so that you know there will be something that you or your child can eat. • Label dishes that include allergens: By labeling dishes that contain any of the eight common food allergens, those with food allergies can easily spot dishes they may need to avoid. • Let kids with food allergies serve themselves first to avoid cross

contamination: Allowing kids with food allergies to get their food first decreases the chances of using cross-contaminated serving utensils. Staying Healthy The holiday season is the most difficult time of the year to maintain healthy habits. With so many temptations, how is it possible to encourage your children to choose fruits and vegetables over that slice of pie? • Have a variety of fruits and vegetables: By serving fresh cut vegetables as an appetizer and having fruit ready as a non-traditional dessert or snack, you and your family can avoid filling up on carbohydrates and sweets. • Set a positive example: If your kids see you eating and enjoying healthy dishes, they will often follow your lead. • Let your kids help plan the menu: Your kids are more likely to eat the foods they help create, so be sure to make them feel included and encourage them to select healthy dishes. • Wait before you get a second plate – and encourage your family to do the same:Pace yourself and stop eating when you’re full. This will help to make sure that you and your kids don’t overeat. However, if your kids are picky eaters, be sure to find a healthy dish or two that you know they will eat before they reach for dessert. Staying Active It is way too easy to spend Thanksgiving watching football rather than outdoors getting exercise. Don’t be a couch potato on this calorie-laden holiday. Here are a few tips for staying active: • Participate in a local fun run: Many cities have family-friendly TurkeyTrots that you can participate in on Thanksgiving Day. Get the whole family together and begin the day on a healthy note. • Go for a walk or a hike: A walk is a great way to not only get exercise, but for the whole family to spend time together as well.

By following these easy steps, you can walk away from the Thanksgiving table and know that you kept yourself and your children in tip top shape! Mark Kishel, MD, FAAP, is Regional Vice President and Senior Clinical Officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Atlanta joins White House Healthy Communities Challenge

ATLANTA – The City of Atlanta announced today its participation in the White House “Healthy Communities Challenge,” an initiative to actively inform communities that have a high percentage of uninsured individuals about the Affordable Care Act. The initiative will encourage Atlanta residents to consider Health Insurance Marketplace coverage. Since the Affordable Care Act’s coverage provisions have taken effect, the adult uninsured rate in Georgia dropped from 21 percent in 2013 to 15 percent in 2015. However, in Atlanta and the surrounding region, there are 304,000 uninsured residents who are still eligible for the Marketplace. “We are excited to participate in the White House Healthy Communities Challenge and will work hard to reduce the number of uninsured residents in the City of Atlanta,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. “It is our responsibility to ensure that all Atlantans have access to health care services, regardless of their wealth or income.” Atlanta Joins White House ‘Healthy Communities Challenge’ The City of Atlanta is proactively looking for partnerships with a variety of organizations throughout the

metropolitan region to reduce the number of uninsured residents. Open enrollment for the 2016 Marketplace insurance plan ends on Dec. 15, 2015. At the end of this third open enrollment period, the Department of Health and Human Services, along with state-based Marketplaces, will publish tallies of new Marketplace signups in participating communities. These tallies will be compared to HHS estimates of the number of eligible uninsured people at the start of open enrollment to see which communities made the most progress during the challenge. The city that wins the challenge with the most newly-insured residents will receive a visit from President Obama to celebrate their success. In addition to Atlanta, the White House reached out to the following cities to join the challenge: Milwaukee, WI; Charlotte, NC; Nashville, TN; Chicago, IL; New Orleans, LA; Dallas, TX; Oakland, CA; Denver, CO; Philadelphia, PA; Detroit, MI; Phoenix, AZ; Great Falls, MT; Richmond, VA; Kansas City, MO; Salt Lake City, UT; Las Vegas, NV; Seattle, WA; Long Beach, CA; and Tampa, FL.

9 | ADW

CLASSIFIEDS

November 12-18, 2015

It pays to advertise in the Atlanta Daily World.

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

Subscribe for 2 Years and Save! RATES: Mail Subscription Rates (Check one) 1 Year for $52 2 Years for $85 PAYMENT: Check, Money Order, American Express, MasterCard or VISA

Credit Card#: Name: Address: City:

State:

Zip:

PERSONAL Psychic John. 20 years of experience. I specialize in removing bad aura. I will help you choose your mate and marriage partner. Do you want to change your life? For more information call 773-883-7288 and receive one (1) FREE reading.

Phone: Email: CLIP AND MAIL: ATLANTA DAILY WORLD 100 Hartsfield Centre Parkway, Suite 500 Atlanta, Georgia 30354

Advertise Services Our Readers Need in the ADW Classifides! Handyman Contractors Cleaning Services Electricians

Plumbers Roofers and More!

Contact ADW sales representative at

678-515-2053 or lcochran@realtimesmedia.com

Call 678-515-2053 or email lcochran@realtimesmedia.com

How to place a Classified Ad ONLINE: www.atlantadailyworld.com MAIL: ATLANTA DAILY WORLD 100 Hartsfield Centre Parkway • Suite 500 Atlanta, GA 30354 EMAIL: lcochran@realtimesmedia.com TELEPHONE: 678-515-2053 PAYMENT: Cash, check, or credit card DEADLINE: Every Tuesday, 12:00 pm (noon) RATES: Open Classified Advertising Rates $25.00 for four lines . Additional lines $5.50 each. A line consist of 26 characters including spaces and punctuation. All rates listed above apply to line ads. DISPLAY ADS: Contact 678-515-2053 or lcochran@realtimesmedia.com

We Accept...

ATLANTA DAILY WORLD – Pick Up Locations Auburn Avenue Library - 101 Auburn Avenue The Apex Museum - 135 Auburn Avenue Silver Barbershop - 392 Auburn Avenue Auburn Cleaners - 388 Auburn Avenue McGhee Tennis Center - 820 Beecher Street Big Daddy - 3085 Campbellton Avenue Nail Spot - 589 Cascade Road Kroger - 590 Cascade Road Stylistic Hair Salon - 590 Cascade Road Shear Barber Shop - 590 Cascade Road Cascade Nail - 590 Cascade Road Spark Unisex - 591 Cascade Road Ethnic Braid - 593 Cascade Road China Cafereria - 609 Cascade Road Cascade Grill - 1053 Cascade Road CVS - 2237 Cascade Road Big Daddy - 2284 Cascade Road Frills Hair Salon - 2290 Cascade Road Dream Wings - 2292 Cascade Road Louisana Seafood - 2298 Cascade Road Hans Express - 2345 Cascade Road J R Cricket - 2348 Cascade Road Kroger - 3425 Cascade Road Papa John’s - 3425 Cascade Road Atlanta Fulton Library - 3665 Cascade Road PUBLIX - 3695 Cascade Road Pak Mail Center - 3695 Cascade Road Tire Plus - 3735 Cascade Road Kaiser Permante - 1175 Cascade Parkway Dixie News - 13 Decatur Street Chanterelles - 646 Evans Street Baltimore Crab - 1075 Fairburn Road

ADW | 10

Trends Barber Shop - 1075 Fairburn Road LT’S - 1270 Fairburn Road Mr Abdullai - 2377 Fairburn Road Ben Hill Rec Center - 2405 Fairburn Road The Barber Shop - 2841 Greenbrair Pkwy The Herb Shop - 2841 Greenbrair Pkwy Le Nails - 2841 Greenbrair Pkwy Salon Culture - 2841 Greenbrair Pkwy Medu Book Store 2841 Greenbrair Pkwy Citgo Service Station - 2995 Headline Drive Master Beauty Supply - 3031 Headline Driver Mr Everything - 870 Martin L King Dr Key Low Cut Barber Shop - 876 Martin L King Dr The Beauty Beauty Industry - 901 Martin L King Dr Advance Tax Service - 903 Martin L King Dr Citizen Trust Bank - 965 Martin L King Dr Atlanta Library - 1116 Martin L King Dr Shell Service Station - 1720 Martin L King Dr M L K Coin Laundry - 2860 Martin L King Dr African Braid - 3050 Martin L King Dr Adamville Rec Center - 3201 Martin L King Dr Adamville Library - 3424 Martin L King Dr Shummy - 3550 Martin L King Dr Linda’s Cleaners - 3565 Martin L King Dr Yasin - 3641 Martin L King Dr Washington Park - 101 Ollie Street Washington Tennis Center - 102 Ollie Street 100 Black Men of Atlanta - 241 Peachtree Street Executive Shoe Shine - 241 Peachstreet Kanley Restaurant - 75 Piedmont Road Citizen Trust Bank - 75 Piedmont Road Post Office - 576 Piedmont Road

PUBLIX - 595 Piedmont Road Playmaker Barber - 270 Ponce De Leon Eats - 600 Ponce De Leon Borders - 650 Ponce De Leon Kroger - 725 Ponce De Leon Dugus - 777 Ponce De Leon PUBLIX - 1007 Ponce De Leon Merkerson’s Fish Market - 740 Ralph D Albernathy Blvd SW Scott Library - 1917 Candler Road Gutbusters - 2107 Candler Road CVS - 2458 Candler Road Gene Package - 2538 Candler Road Gene Laundrymat - 2538 Candler Road Big Men Package - 2594 Candler Road Dramatic Design - 2701 Candler Road Music Media - 2701 Candler Road Amber Bristo - 3910 Flat Shoel Parkway Master Barber - 3910 Flat Shoel Parkway T Nails - 3665 Flat Shoel Parkway Kroger - 2875 N Decatur Road PUBLIX - 2155 N Decatur Road Kroger - 3108 Briar Hill Road Post Office - 3104 Briar Hill Road Up Sweep Beauty Salon - 3649 Flakes Mills Road PUBLIX - 3655 Flakes Mills Road Mo Better Restaurant - 3927 Flat Shoals Parkway Barber Shop - 3929 Flat Shoals Parkway PUBLIX - 3870 N Druid Hills Road Helen S. Mills Multi Purpose Facility - 515 John Wesley Dobbs Ave. SE Healthful Essance - 875 York Avenue NW Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

VIEWPOINTS

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

November 12-18, 2015

GUEST COMMENTARY

by Nick Chiles

by Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.

Charters and heavy testing hurt our schools

Soaring costs, social science data drive slash in prison populations As Earth’s most prolific jailer, America faces a thorny question: What do you do with millions of inmates when they return home? That challenge is at the heart of many bipartisan prison reforms that are sweeping the nation. Georgia recently tackled this issue. The staunchly Republican state has become a widely recognized national leader in prison reform, creating a network of programs to help inmates when they are behind bars and after they are released. Georgia’s efforts were spurred by a sober realization: If the Peach State didn’t curtail its convict population, it would have to spend an additional $264 million in the next five years just to house inmates. This amounted to more than the state spends each year on any category other than education and health care. Facing such formidable costs, Georgia — led by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal — began implementing an array of reforms that helped it begin to lower its spending on corrections. “When you look at the way we have done corrections over the last decade, we’ve been using a very expensive brand of interventions, and in spite of the fact that it’s more expensive, we were getting worse results,” Jay Neal, the former director of the Governor’s Office of Transition, Support and Reentry in Georgia, said. Aside from expenses, another factor has driven reform: Social science data proves that inmates can be rehabilitated and set on the road to redemption with education and drug treatment programs that wind up being much cheaper than repeatedly imprisoning the same offenders. Consider that a total of 17 states — such as Colorado, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, not exactly hotbeds of liberalism — have, in recent years, directed funding away from prison construction and toward “evidence-based” programs and services that aim to keep ex-offenders from returning to prison. For the first time since the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics began tracking the numbers in 1978, the state and federal prison populations both declined in 2014. The total decrease was by more than 15,000 inmates, the second-biggest annual reduction on record, bringing the nation’s prison population to its lowest level since 2005. As most major reformers point out, more than 95 percent of America’s incarcerated eventually return to their communities — 600,000 every year. So what happens if there are no jobs or housing awaiting their return? They likely will commit more crime. For that reason, before he stepped down, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder directed each of the 93 U.S. Attorneys to designate a prevention and reentry coordinator in his or her district. With an eye toward helping ex-offenders secure employment, 19 states recently have adopted a policy known as “ ban the box” — prohibiting employers from asking

job applicants whether they ever have been convicted of crimes. Reformers in Georgia and elsewhere also have set their sights on rolling back laws barring ex-cons from obtaining licenses in such fields as lawn care, massage therapy, barbering and auto repair. In designing Georgia’s plan, widely praised for its comprehensiveness, Neal said the state borrowed heavily from existing programs in Texas and Michigan. Aryeh Lightstone, senior vice president for Copia, a New York-based digital education company, explained that state-level inmates desperately need schooling if they are going to avoid crime and thrive in the real world. “According to the Department of Justice, over 70 percent of federal inmates can’t read above the fourth-grade level,” Lightstone said. In early October, the Justice Department announced it was preparing to release about 6,000 inmates to ease overcrowding and roll back the stringent penalties given to nonviolent drug dealers. This will be one of the largest discharges of federal inmates in American history. “Our nation is being robbed of men and women who could be workers and taxpayers, could be more actively involved in their children’s lives, could be role models, could be community leaders, and right now they’re locked up for a nonviolent offense,” President Barack Obama said about the release action. Obama even traveled to Oklahoma to visit a federal prison last summer —a presidential first. In a Nov. 2 visit to Newark, New Jersey, Obama noted that one out of every three working-age Americans has some sort of criminal record. This makes it tough for them to find work. But ex-offenders have little chance of succeeding unless the local communities are open to the idea of absorbing them — giving them jobs, allowing them to rent apartments and accepting them without fear and discrimination. About 20,000 men and women enter Georgia’s prison system every year, and about that many leave it … [but] the majority come right back to the community where they grew up, where they got in trouble,” Neal said. “When we talk to these communities, the question we ask is: What do you want when they come back to your community? Do you want them to be in prison without the proper program and the proper support and resources available? Or do you want us to do everything we can, to use the best of our abilities and resources to prepare them to come back? If we reduce crimes committed, we reduce the victims of crime and ultimately we make the community a better place by bringing better citizens back home.”

Across the country, parents have been in revolt against high-stakes standardized testing, with kids tested over and over again while creativity is cut out of classroom curricula. Parents — particularly in targeted urban schools from Chicago to Boston — are also marching against the forced closing of neighborhood schools, displacing kids and shutting down needed neighborhood centers. Now there is more and more evidence that the parents have it right — and the deep-pocket “reformers” are simply wrong. First, the Obama administration — which has pushed high-stakes testing as central to its education agenda — announced that kids were being tested too often, with too much school time devoted to preparing for and taking required tests. In what a writer for the New Yorker described as a major “mea culpa,” the administration now recommends that standardized testing be limited to 2 percent of class time. Maybe music, art and creativity will have a chance once more. Second, a report by the Center for Media and Democracy on charter schools — the centerpiece of the so-called reformers’ agenda — reports that some $3.7 billion in federal money has been larded onto charter schools in the past two decades with virtually no accountability. The result is often a simple ripoff: schools that never open or open for a few months and shut down. Some highly touted cyber charters — schools featuring online courses — are, as Education Week reported, essentially useless, like not going to school at all. Others, like the highly touted New York Success Academy Schools, apparently boost their test scores by identifying low-performing students who have “got to go” and finding ways to get rid of them.

And now the National Assessment of Education Progress, the gold standard for measuring progress, reports that American kids have lost ground in math, and either were stagnant (4th graders) or worse (8th graders) in reading. Charters are spreading like kudzu; wall-towall standardized testing is nearly universal — and the parents are right: It isn’t working. The reality, as National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia has pointed out, is that the nations that have outperformed the U.S. in recent years don’t do the things that the deep-pockets reformers have been touting. They don’t terrorize teachers; they train, respect and pay them. They don’t set up private charters and drain money from public education; they devote more resources to the poorest students, not less. They don’t do repeated high-stakes standardized testing; they evaluate teachers and students carefully, mentor them and improve them. The school “reformers” are hurting, not helping. Closing neighborhood schools too often divorces parents from their students’ schools. Demeaning teachers is leading to higher turnover, when experience is central to becoming a good teacher. Repeated standardized testing takes the joy out of learning, making kids less likely to find their strength. As Jeff Bryant of the Education Opportunity Network writes, parents are driving an “education spring,” revolting against an elite reform agenda that is driving away good teachers, undermining public schools, and draining funds and fun from our public schools. Parents are right to keep the pressure on.

Atlanta Daily World for the advertisment results you are looking for.

ADWnews.com

11 | ADW

November 12-18, 2015

ATLANTA DAILY WORLD

com ailyWorld.

Powered

Volume

s Media

by Real Time

e 12 88 â&#x20AC;˘ Issu

ntaD www.Atla

www.AtlantaDailyWorld.com

Atlanta Daily World for the advertisment results you are looking for. WAR tic

set to g felons ide 6000 dru nationw be released P. 3

named 11th s Gerogia ines e for bus best stat P. 4

brates ton cele Trina Brax Bar-Chix of opening P.7 5 Nov. 4, 201 Oct. 29 -

on domes violence and bullying

Contact ADW sales representative at 678-515-2053 or lcochran@realtimesmedia.com ADW | 12