September 25, 2013

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N.C. voting changes affect students LACI OLLISON

Register Reporter

By 2016, college students and citizens in North Carolina will have to adhere to new policies in regards to voting.

By way of a Youtube video, Governor Pat McCrory announced in August that he signed House Bill 589. “Common practices like boarding an airplane and purchasing Sudafed require photo ID, and we should expect nothing less for the protection of our right to vote,” the governor said.

The bill will require voters to show photo identification at polling sites. However, only military ID cards, a valid driver’s license, passports, and tribal cards will be accepted.

Student identification cards will not be an acceptable form.

Eliminating the use of student ID cards as an acceptable form of identification forces students to not vote in the county of which their campus is located.

College students must request an absentee ballot from the precinct of their permanent address or parents may pay a $2,500 fee

so that their child may vote out of their district. It is also unclear if students will be able to use their on-campus addresses as their permanent residence in order to get a DMV issued ID. “I think voter ID is a way to suppress the voice of the youth and rewind the clock of our state by 50 years,” said Sasasha Flemming, a junior AfricanAmerican studies major. “The restrictions that are in VIVA are similar to those that were implemented in the 60’s.” VIVA stands for Voter Identification Verification Act, another name

for HB 589.

Cardes Brown, the president of Greensboro’s NAACP branch said that the legislation restricts students from being allowed to vote in cities where their colleges and universities are.

“Students in essence are really not allowed to vote in areas where they should be permitted to vote,” Brown said. He feels that students are affected by the decisions that are made in Guilford county and that they should be able to take place in the voting process.

Although the bill provides a

“free ID” to be offered at nearby DMV’s, the state estimates that between 203,351 and 318,643 voters registered in North Carolina lack an ID, and that providing them with one would cost $834,200 in 2013 and 2014, and $24,100 every two years after that.

Just hours after McCory’s signature, the ACLU of North Carolina and other groups filed a lawsuit against the bill, charging that it violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The North Carolina NAACP and

Advancement Project followed shortly after, filing another lawsuit.

HBD 589 also eliminates same-day registration, ends preregistration for 16 and 17-yearolds and reduces early voting by a week.

Since 2007, same day registration allowed voters to register and vote during the early voting period. Beginning January 2014, voters will need to be registered 25 days before the voting date.

“I think the voters will be  See VOTING on Page 3

Students showcase businesses ASHLEY MINER Contributor

PHOTOS BY SYMONE AUSTIN • THE A&T REGISTER

RESIDENTS RALLY FOR CHANGE (Above) Citizens stand at the corner of E. Market and Dudley Streets on September 19, 2013 to rally for Jonathan Ferrell, a man killed by police in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. (Below) Residents protest police brutality in Greensboro.

25 protest violence

Greensboro residents rally against police brutality ZIRIS SAVAGE

Register Reporter

On the corner of E. Market and Dudley Streets, a small crowd of about 20 people rallied to protest the murder of Jonathan Ferrell on Thursday. Ferrell was shot and killed by a CharlotteMecklenburg police officer on Sept. 14.

For Jessie Barber, a participant in the rally, the death of Ferrell hit close to home.

On May 18, 2001, her 22-year-old son Gilbert was shot and killed by a Guilford County sheriff’s deputy in Jamestown, N.C. Just like Ferrell, Barber’s son got into a car accident in the early morning hours.

“When I heard about Mr. Ferrell it was like de ja’vu,” she said. “But it’s like de ja’vu every time they kill some-

body, which is often. Way too often.”

Barber said the neighbors heard noise from outside their houses and called the police. Less than two minutes later, after deputy Thomas Gordy arrived on the scene, her son was dead.

“It’s crazy how similar the case was to what has happened to Jon Ferrell,” said Scott Trent, organizer for the Stop Mass Incarceration Network (SMIN) of Greensboro. “We’re just trying to show some opposition to these kinds of murders and these kinds of killings.”

Nationally, The National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project (NPMSRP) Police Misconduct Statistical Report said there were 4,861 reported cases of misconduct by police officers in 2010. Of those, 23.8 percent of the misconduct reports were consid-

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Keep up with breaking news on our Web site. Slideshows, videos and more are available online.

Police shoot and kill armed man at N.C. Central early Tuesday morning.

See what Opinions Editor Meagan Jordan has to say about Blacks murdered by police.

Freshman dual-athlete has potential on the basketball court and football field.

After DJ Mister Cee’s resignation from Hot 97, will homosexuals be accepted in the hip-hop industry?

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The Student Government Association hosted N.C. A&T’s first entrepreneurship fair on Saturday. Forty-three student business owners from both A&T and Bennett College were able to promote their companies at the fair.

“One of my initiatives this year was to do a lot more with entrepreneurship promotion on campus and financial education,” said Alexis Cash, SGA treasurer. “I think entrepreneurship is taking your passion and sharing it with other people.”

Business owners included jewelry designers, hair stylists, a mobile grocery store owner, online bloggers, online TV show producers, clothes designers and bow tie makers Victoria Bolden, a journalism and media studies student at Bennett College for Women promoted her line of handmade crochet outerwear.

“My first year, I used to just sit in the lobby and crochet scarves for myself, and people started to ask me and inquire about the work that I did and how they could get some [items], so from there I decided to go into business for myself.”

Michael Thomas, a sophomore English student, visited the fair to see what the student business owners had to offer.

“I am interested in entrepreneurship and I think the best way to become aware of it, is to look at other students who are doing it,” Thomas said. He wants to become a professional writer and is currently working on the AGG MAG, an online magazine focused on life and style at A&T campus.

According to the General Entrepreneur Monitor (GEM), 30.5 percent of people ages 1824 intend to start private businesses.

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, September 25, 2013

WEDNESDAY

100 Men In Black

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Harrison Auditorium 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

THURSDAY

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Pregame

Harrison Auditorium 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Football game v. Howard Aggie Stadium 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY

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QEP Workshop for Faculty Bluford Library 9 a.m. - noon

QEP Workshop for Students Bluford Library 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

FRIDAY

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Cool Mist Interest Meeting GCB Auditorium 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

3

Gunman killed near N.C. Central after pursuit Associated Press

DURHAM — Police shot and killed an armed man who came onto North Carolina Central University’s campus after he exchanged gunfire with officers, the public university said Tuesday.

The man was tracked to the school by Durham police late Monday after he took a bus to leave the scene of an earlier police response, university officials said in a statement.

Campus officials locked down

the school’s buildings between 10:15 p.m. Monday and about 1 a.m. Tuesday.

NCCU police approached the suspect, but he fired a shotgun at an officer and NCCU police returned fire. The man then ran into a wooded area.

A Durham Police dog tracked his location and authorities demanded that he surrender, ending about 45 minutes later in a second exchange of gunfire and the man’s fatal wounds.

The man’s name was not immediately released. University police said he was not a

student.

Durham police believed the man was involved in a residential burglary Monday afternoon where several weapons were stolen, followed by an armed robbery near downtown, NCCU Police Chief Tim Bellamy said.

Other people were involved in the two crimes, but it was unclear whether they were on or near the campus Monday night, Bellamy said.

Durham police spokeswoman Kammie Michael did not respond to messages from The Associated Press asking why

police officers were pursuing the man. She referred questions to the school and the State Bureau of Investigation, which is reviewing the shooting.

SBI agents called in to help by campus police were working to confirm the dead man’s identity, spokeswoman Jennifer Canada said.

Three university officers have been placed on administrative leave while the SBI investigates.

University Chancellor Debra Saunders-White said in an email to students, faculty and

staff that the school would hold a meeting Tuesday to discuss the events.

North Carolina Central is part of the University of North Carolina system with an enrollment of more than 8,000 students. The historically black school opened in 1910.

Durham police will have two officers patrolling the university’s campus for the next several days to provide extra security, Bellamy said.

Farmers market exceeds expectations TAYLOR YOUNG Contributor

North Carolina A&T hosted its first farmers market on Saturday. The school became the first HBCU to host an oncampus farmers market. Kayla Harris and the Honors Program initiated the market for A&T. “I think the market went really well for the first one,” said Harris, a sophomore biology and horticulture student.

Farmers brought a variety of home grown fruits, vegetables, and other goods. Chip Moore was one of the local farmers at the event. “I don’t grow food for a profit. I do it for the enjoyment and the education behind it,” he said.

Tramell Forney, an A&T senior horticulture student, was also amongst the farmers. Forney comes from generations of farmers and beekeepers. “I would like to start a career in North Carolina Cooperative Extensions as a horticulture agent,” said Forney. “But this summer I received a job of-

fer as a horticulturalist for a 15,000 acre farm in Beaufort, South Carolina called Clarendon Farms after a three month internship.”

Forney continued his family’s tradition of becoming a beekeeper in 2005 and now has 17 beehives. He sells raw honey to restaurants, country clubs, resorts, and local stores.

Many student organizations volunteered by providing healthy, dorm friendly recipes for snacks as well as skin care products. Chipotle also donated vegetarian burritos for the event.

Some students who are limited to eating on campus were excited about the farmers market because it provides a healthier lifestyle for campus.

“Being an HBCU and African Americans having the highest rates of like heart disease and high blood pressure, I feel like having a farmers market on campus is really going to do the world some good and maybe it will spread to other HBCUs,” said Justice Phillips, a freshman computer science

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ered excessive force cases.

“Police brutality stops when we make it stop,” Trent said. He explained the purpose of SMIN is to protest against police brutality, race based mass incarceration and racial profiling.

NPMSRP also reported that there were 127 fatalities due to excessive force by cops in 2010.

Of those deaths, 71 percent were caused by the use of a firearm.

“A lot of people don’t respond unless it happens to them, but people should be aware that at any moment it could happen to them because it’s an epidemic,” said Barber.

Since 1999, Trent has been heavily involved in protesting.

He said ever since he was a young child growing up in FuquayVarina, N.C. he’s had an up close look at how poorly police treated people. He said he never wanted to be a part of that cycle.

The organization provides

RALLY From page 1 ty Director of Elections, Charlie Collicutt. “We will have a lot of people that are going to show up and after six years of allowing citizens to register during early voting, we will have to tell people that they cannot vote.”

“That’s going to be a transition for our staff to do. It was a safety net, and now it’s not there anymore,” Collicutt said.

PHOTO BY SYMONE’ AUSTIN • THE A&T REGISTER

ALEXANDRIA DILLARD purchases vegetables from Chip Moore at A&T’s farmers market on September 21, 2013.

major. Phillips lives on campus with limited transportation, so the farmers market provided a healthier selection of foods.

Phillips bought a dozen apples for $3 and a pound of grapes for $1. Students as well as others who went to the farmers market were able to buy produce and other goods with quality, conveniently, and

cheap.

Amber Urooj, a graduate student, also enjoyed the market. “[The farmers market] brings agriculture back to A&T’s campus because we tend to focus just on the engineering side,” Urooj said.

Harris hopes to have the next farmers market on Oct. 12.

“I have built a great bond with the vendors and so many of them are contacting some of their colleagues, which will build their own partnership with the campus market,” she said.

—Email Taylor at tlyoung1@aggies.ncat.edu and follow The Register on Twitter @TheATRegister

an outlet for people to speak up about police brutality. Trent said he wants to see the community come together and show opposition to what has been happening to African-Americans for a long time.

Since the George Zimmerman trial, Trent feels that most people are “fed up” with police brutality.

“Police have to respond to a different feeling by the community,” Trent said. “I think that’s the only reason the officer that killed Ferrell got picked up.”

Around the nation, people will protest against police brutality on Oct. 22, the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. SMIN will take part in the protest.

For more information about SMIN of Greensboro visit facebook.com/StopMassIncarcerationNC or call 336-638-1448.

—Email Ziris at zasavage@aggies. ncat.edu and follow The Register on Twitter @TheATRegister

Preparation has begun for November’s local elections.

Collicutt said that when college students vote they are declaring that they have a voice in the city. “Whether its water rates or trash rates, these are the people that have the most say in your daily life. A lot of people attach importance to the presidential race, but the city council are the ones that have more of a say on what goes on in your daily life.”

Brown feels that this is a

PHOTO BY SYMONE AUSTIN • THE A&T REGISTER

A PROTESTER holds sign at rally to stop police brutality on September 19, 2013.

very critical election. “Our city council has dealt with a number of issues that will have long lasting effects upon the African American community,” he said.

“And there are indications that if we do not as a community participate in this election with respect to numbers, it will show up even more than any time in the past after the election.”

—Email Laci at lkolliso@aggies. ncat.edu and follow The Register on Twitter @TheATRegister

BUSINESS From page 1 A&T’s School of Business has recently added entrepreneurship as a minor concentration for students.

—Email Ashley at ajminer@ aggies.ncat.edu and follow The Register on Twitter @TheATRegister

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Young Afghan militants ready to kill and die mark magnier MTC Campus

KABUL, Afghanistan— Abdul Wali Fadaei is proud of his family history.

His father died when he drove an explosives-laden car into the capital’s upscale Hotel Inter-Continental in 2011, a brazen attack that killed 18 people, including seven militants.

His brothers he won’t say how many or their ages _ are studying to become suicide bombers.

Fadaei, 17, was arrested last year before he was able to detonate the explosives he’d transported in a Toyota from Kandahar to Kabul in order to kill Americans.

“The message my father left me when he became a martyr was that I should follow him,” Fadaei said, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone while sitting on a thin mattress in a small, dank room in Kabul’s government-run juvenile rehabilitation center.

“I regret my attack failed, but I gained by trying. I’ll decide about trying again after I’m out.”

Next to him sat Esmatullah Bilal, with a crew cut and an Abe Lincoln beard. He got caught with a 26-pound suicide vest shortly before a planned attack.

Bilal, who’s 17 too, doesn’t feel any remorse. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“I want to kill foreigners in Afghanistan,” he told a Western reporter, intensity emanating from his dark eyes. “If you live here, we’ll come after you and kill you. You’re lucky you’re so close and you’re not dead.”

The youths are two of 35 militants in custody at the juvenile center on Kabul’s potholestrewn Badam Bagh Road. Most of the nearly 250 other detainees, ages 12 to 18, are being held for robbery, vehicular manslaughter, delinquency or other crimes.

All inmates take two hours of

basic math and literacy classes each morning. Militants then study the Quran for 90 minutes on their own until lunch. (Most of the other youths pass on that option.) In the afternoon, there are vocational classes, such as tailoring, and the option to lift weights or play ping-pong.

Officials of the center, an unmarked two-story building surrounded by a double-layer metal fence, razor wire, a 15-foot wall and guard towers, used to separate militants from the general population.

After hard-line juveniles were caught planning attacks, however, the groups were combined in an attempt to dilute the militants’ power, an approach viewed skeptically by Western experts wary that militants will recruit others.

In fact, Fadaei and other failed suicide bombers say they work to “educate” fellow detainees about jihad. While most don’t listen, they said, a few do.

Afghanistan’s detention system does little to stem the spread of extremism among young people or adults, analysts say, and may actually harden those inside by allowing them to cultivate networks of like-minded individuals. Facilities are overcrowded, understaffed and highly dependent on the honesty and commitment of their directors or wardens.

Although the Kabul facility is called a rehabilitation center, the center’s acting director, Abdul Qadim Manzur, has his doubts.

“It’s sad, but there isn’t much we can do,” he said with a sigh in an office of near-empty bookcases and overstuffed chairs.

“These children are very deeply affected.”

It’s one of the few things on which Manzur and Fadaei agree.

“When you have strong faith, their activities won’t change you,” said Fadaei, cracking his knuckles as he spoke.

Children and teenagers enlisted into extremism are influenced by family members, human smugglers or recruiters at hard-line seminaries just across the border in Pakistan, rehab center administrators said. The youngsters are taught to hate “infidels” and are promised virgins in paradise.

“Islam is a very powerful religion that’s used to fan hatred,” Manzur said. “If we were in their training center 24/7, we’d become brainwashed too.”

The U.N. mission in Afghanistan has documented 23 cases of boys recruited by the Taliban and other extremist groups in the first half of 2013 compared with 66 for all of 2012. Experts say the actual figure is probably far higher. Most of the youngsters were employed as suicide bombers or to plant roadside bombs.

There were 189 militant youths in Afghan juvenile rehabilitation centers in 2012, the government said.

Children offer several advantages for militant groups, said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a Washington-based attorney and radicalism expert. Youngsters, he said, are impressionable, don’t have dependents and tend to wholeheartedly embrace causes.

Along the fence outside the juvenile detention center, dozens of boys whooped and screeched as a visitor passed. A few simulated the donning of a suicide vest and pressing of a detonation trigger. Then they gave thumbsup signs.

Fadaei said he had wanted to carry out his attack in Kabul because bloodshed in the capital receives more attention.

He said it took two days to drive to the city, working his way around checkpoints. Once he arrived, he got lost and had to ask for directions. He was arrested a few hours later in a safe house, shortly before he was to carry out the suicide attack.

U.S. to drawdown troops from Afghanistan Jay price

MTC Campus

KABUL, Afghanistan— As the United States begins the major phase of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, military officials say equipment and vehicles are moving out of the country briskly but that planning the final details has been complicated because negotiations with the Afghan government have stalled over how many American troops might remain.

The complex push to get the equipment and vehicles out of land-locked Afghanistan and back to the U.S. is expected to cost up to $7 billion.

A year ago, the U.S. had about 50,000 vehicles in Afghanistan. About 25,000 are left, along with 20,000 shipping containers. About 1,200 damaged, worn-out or outmoded mine-resistant trucks will be chopped up and sold for scrap, and other vehicles will be loaned to partners in the NATO-led coalition here, turned over to Afghan forces or sold to friendly nations, said Brig.

The coalition’s combat mission ends in December 2014.

Senior U.S. commanders say they expect Afghanistan to sign an agreement calling for some U.S. troops to remain in the country as trainers and advisers, but negotiations over those remaining troops have been on hold for months now.

That’s forced logistics commanders to develop scenarios for what they’ll do if there’s no agreement and all U.S. forces are sent home, simply because they must have plans ready for all the possible situations.

An interim drawdown goal set by President Barack Obama is to reduce the 62,000 U.S. troops here to 34,000 by midFebruary, and the departure of equipment and vehicles is essentially keeping pace with that of the troops, Gamble said.

The amount of materiel being shipped out has been relatively steady for months, but it’s expected to accelerate soon as the main part of that drawdown begins with the end of the

summer fighting season.

It shouldn’t be a problem to handle that jump in volume, said Col. Jim Utley of U.S. Transportation Command, which oversees the logistics of getting people, vehicles and equipment to and from the United States and foreign operations.

“As the fighting season winds down and units start to redeploy, we’re sure the cargo pace will pick up, but I think we’ve built enough capacity that we can definitely meet the requirements, and we’re on a glide path to meet the presidential drawdown goals, so I think everything is going as well as could be expected,” Utley said.

“To be honest, up to this point, we haven’t really touched our capacity yet in terms of moving things out,” he said.

“We built a lot of capacity; we have a lot of different routes, a lot of ways to move things out.”

The main route, via truck through Pakistan to the port of Karachi, for example, has about eight times the capacity that the Army currently is using, he said.

The U.S. has three basic ways to ship people and things out of Afghanistan. The cheapest by far is south through Pakistan.

More expensive is the so-called northern distribution network, which is a host of convoluted routes across Afghanistan’s northern border through central Asia and various former Soviet bloc nations to several ports.

The most expensive route is by air, either short hops to ports such as Dubai or directly back to the United States.

Sensitive cargo such as weapons and communication systems has to be flown, as does most equipment that belongs to units headed home, since they must refurbish it and get it ready in case they’re called to duty.

The military tries to ship most of the rest out via Pakistan to save money, but the Pakistani border is subject to frequent closings for reasons large and small.

After U.S. helicopters fired on a Pakistani border outpost

in 2011, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers, that country closed the route for seven months.

Earlier this year, road shipments out of Afghanistan were halted for several weeks when Afghan officials began charging customs duties. A few weeks ago, the route shut down for a week because of a port strike unrelated to the U.S. shipments.

Cultural differences also come into play. In July and August, the shipments by road were essentially halted for several weeks because truck drivers, security guards and border officials took time off for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

After that, the traffic through Pakistan, which for much of the year has carried about 70 percent of the materiel being shipped, resumed its normal pace.

The volatility of the route means it’s vital to keep the other options open, such as the routes to the north, by regularly shipping modest amounts of equipment through them, Utley said.

“We call it keeping it warm,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is maintain the entire network, and to do that we need to ship at least a minimal amount of cargo along those routes. That keeps the tactics, techniques and procedures fresh not only for our folks, but also keeps the officials working those locations engaged.”

One problem with using the northern routes as a full alternative is that some of the countries involved don’t allow shipments of U.S. combat vehicles. For now, only cargo in shipping containers goes that way.

If something unforeseen happens that prevents moving vehicles through Pakistan for an extended period, either they’d have to be flown out or the United States could try to negotiate their passage with the countries to the north, Gamble said.

He doesn’t know what or who gave him away, but he’s been in detention for a year now, with three left to go on his sentence.

A quiet, almost likable confidence emanates from Fadaei, whose round face is patched with an adolescent beard. He said he’d never attended school, but did train in a camp for his mission. His trainers weren’t the same people who taught his father, but training centers are everywhere, he claimed, some preparing more than 200 children for suicide missions.

Seated beside Fadaei on the mattress, Mahmadin, who uses one name, wouldn’t say much, apparently reluctant to jinx his release date, less than a month away. He wore a childish bead ring he’d made himself, with an M in it for his name. He whispered his answers to his peers, saying he was “16 or 17.” He had been caught in Kabul wearing a suicide vest.

Bilal was dismissive of a guard in an ill-fitting uniform who sat nearby, pointedly saying he didn’t care what the guard heard because it was the truth.

Training camp recruits are as young as 8, he said. They practice with vests that get heavier as they age, with the biggest boys donning 35-pounders. He said he wasn’t big enough yet to handle the largest sizes.

Repeatedly, he asked the reporter why he wasn’t a Muslim, saying all other religions were discredited after Islam was founded. He also warned that nonbelievers face hellfire after they die.

“This world is paradise for infidels but prison for true Muslims,” Fadaei said. “Our real world is the next world.”

There’s little mental health expertise in Afghanistan, despite deep psychological scars born of decades of war, brutality and poverty.

A few years ago, the juvenile center employed a psychologist

who made progress deprogramming militant juveniles, Manzur said. But the specialist returned to Iran and wasn’t replaced.

Most adult and juvenile deprogramming and rehabilitation programs, whether in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore or elsewhere, are two-pronged, said Marisa L. Porges, a research fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School.

One element is literacy training, vocational skills and job placement. The other targets ideology, often using moderate Muslim clerics who offer a more mainstream version of Islam.

The success of the programs is mixed: Many deem Yemen’s program largely ineffective; analysts rank Singapore’s among the most effective, in part because of its intrusive approach. And the Saudi program is the best-financed.

But Afghanistan’s reform programs aren’t well-funded, structured or particularly effective, analysts say. Nor is there adequate security for those trying to help.

“There’s no real effective programs for militant youngsters in Afghanistan,” said Marnie Gustavson, executive director of Kabul-based Parsa, a civic group focused on women and child welfare.

The group tried for three months to rehabilitate an 11year-old would-be suicide bomber from Pakistan before he stole a phone and called his handlers. They threatened Parsa officials if they didn’t let him go. One day he just disappeared, presumably picked up by his contacts and taken back to the border area.

“He was so indoctrinated at such a young age; at some point it was like a switch going on,” she said. “He was going to repeat. He was a bomb.”

Kenya mall attack: Officials say all hostages are free Nicholas soi

MTC Campus

NAIROBI, Kenya— Authorities said they were going floor by floor through a darkened, smoldering mall early Tuesday as they searched for remnants of a team of attackers that had seized the building, and that they believed all those trapped or held hostage had been freed.

U.S. officials said they could not confirm reports that Americans were among the estimated 10 to 15 attackers. The al-Shabab militant group, which claimed responsibility for the assault, is linked to al-Qaida. It is known to have recruited Americans, Europeans and other foreigners, including Kenyans.

Officials, who reported Sunday that 68 people had been killed, lowered the toll to 62 on Monday, saying some of the dead had been counted twice.

Among those killed were six British citizens; two French; two Canadians; and a well-known Ghanaian poet, Kofi Awoonor.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said a nephew and his nephew’s fiancee had been slain, but that more than 1,000 people escaped the upscale mall after the attack began midday Saturday.

A major assault by security forces began with gunfire ringing out at dawn Monday. The attack reached a crescendo in the early afternoon, with a volley of explosions and heavy arms fire. Black smoke poured out of the building, as a fire raged for many hours.

Kenyan armed forces chief Gen. Julius Karangi said the fire was started by the assailants as a diversion in a bid to flee the building, but provided no more detail.

Explosions and gunfire continued on and off throughout the day. Defense officials said the attackers were in one location in the mall, with no way to escape.

Earlier Monday, Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said at a news conference that

efforts to release the hostages had been “very, very successful” and those being held were “very few.”

But it wasn’t clear whether people had simply escaped the mall after hiding or whether they had been freed by security forces. There was also speculation that the attackers may have been holed up in a supermarket within the mall, without hostages.

As of late Monday, it appeared no one had come forward to say they had been held by the militants and freed by security forces. Several people described Sunday how they had hidden in the mall and later escaped.

Al-Shabab said it attacked Kenya’s most prestigious shopping center to punish the country for sending soldiers into Somalia. The group had been warning for two years that it would mount a major terrorist assault in Nairobi, but to date its attacks have largely been smallscale shootings or grenade attacks.

The group had controlled most of Somalia, which has been without a functioning government for much of the last 20 years. But it has lost most of its strongholds since Kenya invaded. An African Union military force is also working with Kenya’s weak national government.

Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said the U.S. had been concerned for some time about efforts by al-Shabab to recruit Americans to fight in Somalia. Americans are known to have joined the group.

“This is an issue that has been tracked very closely by the U.S. government, and it’s one that we’ll be looking into in the days ahead,” he said.

Rhodes said the U.S. was determined to continue to pressure al-Shabab. He said Obama had called Kenyatta to offer assistance with the investigation of the attack and efforts to confront al-Shabab.

Pakistan church bombing claims the lives of 78 Tom hussain

MTC Campus

ISLAMABAD— Two suicide bombers attacked a Christian congregation in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar at the end of Sunday worship services, killing at least 78 people and critically wounding 120 others.

One of the attackers stormed the main entrance of All Saints Church in Peshawar’s Kohati Gate area, firing a pistol at police guards, killing one, and tossing a grenade, according to the city’s police chief, Mohammed Ali Babakhel. Prevented from entering the church by police fire, he detonated the 13 pounds of high explosives in the jacket he was wearing.

Thirty seconds later, a second attacker who was already inside detonated a bomb.

About half of the 350 worshippers escaped without injury.

No one claimed responsibility immediately for the attack.

The terrorist attack in Peshawar was the worst on a minority religious community since May 2010, when attacks on two congregations of followers of the Ahmadi reform branch of Islam killed 94 people.

The attack on the church Sunday sparked protests by Christians and other minority communities in Peshawar and other cities across the country, and was condemned by the government and Muslim scholars.

It was followed shortly after by a CIA drone attack on a suspected militant compound in the North Waziristan tribal area, the last remaining stronghold of the militants in Pakistan after a four-year military counteroffensive involving 150,000 troops.

The U.S. drones fired four missiles into a compound in Shawal, an area of North Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan, killing six suspected militants and wounding three others, security officials said.

The identity of those killed was not immediately apparent.

Christians make up roughly 2 percent of Pakistan’s estimated 200 million population. They are among the poorest Pakistanis and largely consigned to menial professions, partly because of discrimination by the Muslim majority.

The two communities have mostly co-existed in harmony, but Christians have increasingly in recent years been accused of blasphemy by religious extremists for burning Quranic texts.

The accusations have frequently provoked mob violence

by Muslims, including the 2009 arson of a church and 77 Christian homes in the central town of Gojra, in which seven Christians died. But many of the accusations have later been turned out to be spurious, including complaints filed by a Muslim man whose sexual advances had been rejected a Christian woman.

Blasphemy is punishable by death under laws introduced in the 1980s by the military dictator Gen. Mohammed Zia-ul Haq, who championed religious militancy among Afghan rebels fighting Soviet occupation forces.Haq also fostered discrimination against religious minorities and women, reducing the legal value of their eyewitness statements to half those of male Muslims.

Subsequent attempts by liberal Pakistani politicians to amend the blasphemy laws have been met with violent opposition, including the 2011 assassinations of the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, and the minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian.

Moderate members of the Islamic Ideology Council, a Pakistani government-sponsored body of Muslim scholars, earlier this month proposed an amendment to the blasphemy laws that would have made false accusers liable to capital punishment. The move was blocked by conservative clerics, who included those who had worked with Haq to introduce the controversial laws.

theBIZ

The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, September 25, 2013

5

Lenders go online as regulators crack down lindsay wise

MTC Campus

WASHINGTON— The banner ad atop the website features a wide-eyed baby cradled in an adult’s hands with the words, “Did that special vacation for two end up producing a third? Castle Payday has life’s unexpected expenses covered.”

On a growing number of sites like this one, short-term loans are just a click away for Web-surfing borrowers, regardless of any history of bankruptcy, bounced checks or other credit problems.

The catch is that these socalled payday loans often come with sky-high interest rates of 400 percent or more. The Castle Payday website advertises an effective 888 annual percentage rate, meaning a 14-day loan of $500 will end up costing the borrower $675.

Those who can’t scrape together the cash to pay off the loans along with their other bills may be tempted to take out another short-term loan to cover the first, potentially ensnaring them in a cycle of debt.

Consumer advocates complain that companies like Castle Payday are setting up shop on the Internet to avoid laws in some states that restrict or ban traditional storefront payday lending.

“More and more states are cracking down on payday lending and it’s a lot easier to hide online than it is to hide in a storefront,” said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. PIRG, an advocacy group.

But industry groups contend that online payday loans are legal and provide a vital service for millions of struggling Americans with few credit options.

“Most consumers don’t have the ability to get $500 or $600 in an emergency through their banks or credit unions,” said Peter Barden, spokesman for the Online Lenders Alliance, a trade organization. “Credit card limits have been reduced, equity loans have been reduced, so people are increasingly looking to alternative financial services companies for short-term credit. And like with any other industry right now, they’re looking online.”

Payday loans are illegal in 15 states, including North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Nine others _ among them Washington and Florida _ do allow payday loans but enforce strict rules that limit fees, require longer repayment periods or restrict the number of loans per customer, according to a Pew Charitable Trust study.

In recent months, state and federal regulators have intensi-

fied pressure on banks to stop working with online lenders.

But the industry is fighting back in court.

The legal situation is complicated by the fact that many online lending websites are run by Native American tribes, which say their sovereign status means they aren’t subject to state laws. Castle Payday, for example, is operated by the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians in Michigan.

The Lac Vieux joined with another tribe this month to seek an injunction against a New York regulator, arguing that states have no authority over them.

Benjamin Lawsky, the New York superintendent of financial services, had sent ceaseand-desist orders to Castle Payday and 34 other online lenders to stop them from making payday loans to consumers in New York, where payday loans are illegal. Lawsky also asked more than 100 banks to deny the lenders access to the automated system used to process electronic payments, so that they can’t debit borrowers’ accounts.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the Lac Vieux and the Otoe-Missouria tribe of Oklahoma condemn what they describe as regulators’ “bareknuckle attack” on tribal sover-

eignty. If not stopped, the suit warns, New York’s “campaign of misrepresentations, threats and coercion” will destroy tribal businesses and devastate tribal economies.

Tribes located in impoverished and isolated areas need the proceeds from online lending to fund their governments and essential services _ everything from education programs to new fire trucks, said Barry Brandon, executive director of the Native American Financial Services Association, an advocacy group for tribes involved in the online lending business.

“We have had reports from some of our member tribes that the revenues they are producing from their online lending operations are now making up between 25 and 50 percent of the tribal budget,” he said.

Brandon acknowledges there are some bad actors in the online lending business _ including some companies that falsely claim affiliation with tribes _ but he says most tribal businesses operate responsibly and in accordance with federal law.

Unfortunately, non-Indian online lenders often claim tribal sovereignty in situations where their ties to tribes are loose at best, said Uriah King, vice president of state policy with the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham, N.C.

Financial crisis leaves 401(k)s vulnerable Lindsay wise

MTC Campus

WASHINGTON— As the father of two college-age kids, Rob Harris knew that finding money to pay soaring tuition costs wasn’t going to be easy.

Reluctant to saddle himself or his children with loans, the 55-year-old product development manager from Kansas City, Mo., tapped another source: his retirement savings.

Harris plans to pay himself back, but his decision to prioritize his kids’ education is at least partly responsible _ along with rising health care costs and a sluggish stock market _ for pushing his target retirement age from 59 to 62.

“Everyone says you shouldn’t do it, but there were several years the market was a big loss. You’ve got money there, you’ve got a real need, why not use it?” he said.

Harris is among a growing number of Americans who are dipping into their 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans to pay for more immediate needs such as tuition, overdue bills, credit cards and mortgages.

One in four American households withdraw a total of more than $70 billion from 401(k) s or similar retirement savings plans for non-retirement spending needs every year, according to a report published this month by the financial advisory firm HelloWallet.

With traditional pensions fading into memory, and Congress considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare, many Americans working in the private sector expect their 401(k) nest eggs to guarantee financial security in their older years.

But in the aftermath of the Great Recession, increased “leakage” from 401(k)s in the form of cash-outs, hardship withdrawals and loans is worrying policymakers and retirement savings experts, who also bemoan the plans’ high fees and stubbornly low participation rates.

Some are looking for ways to reform 401(k)s, or even offer innovative alternatives.

One such plan has been proposed by Teresa Ghilarducci, an economics professor at The New School in New York City and an ardent critic of 401(k)s.

“A good pension plan helps people accumulate money, helps them invest money appropriately, and helps people pay out your pension for life, and

the 401(k) fails at all three of those dimensions,” Ghilarducci said.

Her plan would require that employers deduct 2.5 percent of their employees’ pay, a contribution that businesses could match if they chose. Employee contributions would be mandatory.

The money would be set aside in a fund that pays a guaranteed, modest rate of return to supplement Social Security.

The return could be guaranteed by a paid fund or an insurance company, and it would be paid out after a worker retired in the form of an annuity for the rest of that person’s life.

“What people put in and what they earn is what they’re going to get out, so it’s a safe and secure savings account that’s only there for retirement purposes,” Ghilarducci said.

California already has moved to adopt a voluntary version of Ghilarducci’s plan that would pool contributions from privatesector workers in a state-administered, professionally managed fund.

The state is awaiting a feasibility study and a final vote by the legislature before launching it by the end of 2013.

Other states exploring the possibility include Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and North Carolina, Ghilarducci said.

Ghilarducci would like to see a plan like hers adopted at the federal level, but “Congress does not have an appetite for a bold social program,” she said.

Last year, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, floated the idea of privately run pension plans he calls USA Retirement Funds.

Workers without a pension or a 401(k) would be able to make automatic contributions toward retirement through pre-tax payroll deductions. Businesses would be required to contribute as well but would receive tax credits to offset the cost.

Workers would receive regular payments from the funds throughout retirement, like a pension. The proposal hasn’t made much headway.

Whatever politicians ultimately come up with, 401(k)s aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, said David John, a senior research fellow in retirement security and financial institutions at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

“There is always a temptation _ and this is especially true in Washington _ to completely

rewrite the system and specify every detail of it, but the fact is that although the 401(k) system is imperfect in many ways, it’s a vibrant, active system,” he said.

A government-specified program, he added, wouldn’t have the same vibrancy and would be tough to pass against industry opposition.

Instead, policymakers can take smaller steps to improve the Individual Retirement Account/401(k) system, John said.

To discourage people from tapping their retirement savings, policymakers could make it easier for old 401(k) balances to be automatically transferred to a person’s new employer.

This would reduce cash-outs when people change jobs, he said.

Policymakers could help people save more through a mechanism called automatic escalation, which would move up the proportion saved from a worker’s income by 1 percent a year, John said. “This is something that exists right now and we have a certain number of companies that are doing that.

We don’t have enough,” he said.

John also would like people to receive monthly statements from their plans showing how much income they can expect to see at retirement, so they can plan better.

For now, though, 401(k)s remain “as good a place as any” to save, as long as investors don’t treat the plans as rainy day funds, he said. The success of 401(k)s depends on longterm investment.

Those who make pre-retirement withdrawals get hit with big tax penalties, plus they lose whatever they would have earned in interest. “Keep saving, save throughout your career, and don’t touch the money,” John advised.

Created by Congress in 1978, 401(k) plans were intended to supplement traditional pensions and Social Security.

Now they are the most widespread private-sector, employersponsored retirement plans in the United States. In 2011, the 401(k) system held $3.2 trillion in assets on behalf of 51 million American workers.

Experts recommend saving at least enough to qualify for an employer match every month, usually a minimum of 6 percent of your paycheck if the match is 3 percent. But even counting

on Social Security, you probably need to be saving 12 percent to 15 percent to replace 80 percent of your pre-retirement income if you don’t have a traditional pension plan, said Diane Oakley, executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security.

Most Americans don’t even come close. Only half have any retirement savings at all.

A 2006 law tried to boost those numbers by making it easier for businesses to automatically enroll employees, but coverage remains low. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that 37 percent of civilian workers in the United States participate in a defined contribution plan such as a 401(k) or an Individual Retirement Account.

Those Americans who do participate in 401(k)s are contributing less and draining their savings more, leaving the typical household approaching retirement with $120,000 in 401(k) or IRA holdings, according to a 2010 survey by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

For a retiree, that works out to only about $575 in monthly payments.

“We haven’t really seen how 401(k) plans are going to translate into providing people with a lifetime income of retirement,” Oakley said.

The government’s focus on encouraging or increasing 401(k) deposits misses the economic reality of many Americans’ lives, she said.

“Individuals know they’re important, but they’re also in a situation where economically their families are pressed at all ends, and too often we save for retirement with the last dollars we have left,” Oakley said.

Harris doesn’t regret withdrawing a few thousand dollars from his retirement fund to help send his kids to college.

He figures he’s still in pretty good shape because he’s vested in his employer’s pension, will receive Social Security benefits, and has been saving between 6 percent and 12 percent of his paycheck in his 401(k) for years. He knows others aren’t so lucky, though, and he worries about his children’s retirement prospects.

“I think the 401(k) becomes more important now than when I got out of school,” he said.

“Now pensions are gone, so I think it puts more responsibility on the individual.”

“When we scratch the surface, they don’t look like tribal lenders,” King said. “They look like sham relationships that benefit the lenders, not the tribe.”

In one high-profile case, the payday lending operation AMG Services Inc. in Overland Park, Kan., claimed to be owned by the Miami and Modoc tribes of Oklahoma and the Santee Sioux of Nebraska, yet the tribes reportedly only received 1-2 percent of the revenue from each loan.

The real benefactor allegedly was race car driver Scott Tucker, who used $40 million collected from borrowers to sponsor his racing team, according to a complaint filed last year by the Federal Trade Commission. Sovereign immunity for the tribes is a very serious issue, but it shouldn’t be used as a fig leaf for predatory lending, King said.

“At the end of the day, a payday loan is a junk product that gets people deeper into debt, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a bank or nonbank or a tribe, the reality is that it’s just not a good product and it doesn’t matter who provides it,” he said.

Consumers also should be wary of phony online payday loan websites designed to steal their names, Social Security numbers and bank information, he said.

A federal judge in Illinois last week ordered one such operation in Tampa, Fla., to halt operations after an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC accused defendants Sean Mulrooney and Odafe Ogaga of using websites with names such as Vantage Funding, Ideal Advance and Your Loan Funding to debit consumers’ checking accounts without their permission. Tens of thousands of customers lost more than $5 million to the scheme.

Mulrooney and Ogaga allegedly used the scam to finance luxurious lifestyles, complete with fancy cars _ Mulrooney owned a Maserati GranTurismo, while Ogaga owned a Rolls-Royce Ghost and a Ferrari, court documents show.

“You absolutely have no idea who you’re dealing with when you take out a loan online and you agree to let somebody put their hand in your bank account,” said Mierzwinski, the consumer advocate with U.S. PIRG. “Please step back and think: Is there any other way I can get this money to meet my bills? Because once you go into high-cost payday lending, whether online or in person, it’s not something you do once. It’s usually something you do again and again and again.”

Back-to-school is high season for child identity theft pamela yip

MTC Campus

As you prepare to send your child back to school, your todo list will include immunizations to protect against illness.

Don’t forget to also immunize them against identity theft.

Unfortunately, the mountain of paperwork you have to fill out for such things as after-school programs and sports team physicals leave your children prime targets for identity theft.

According to a 2012 study

by Javelin Strategy and Research, 2.5 percent of U.S. households with children younger than 18 experienced child identity theft. In reality, the number is higher because many young victims may not realize their identity has been stolen until they become adults.

“Parents may also be responsible for some underreporting of this issue because a family member they are trying to protect, or they themselves, committed the crime,” Javelin said.

It’s beyond amazing to me that a parent or another family member would commit such a crime that has lifelong consequences for a child.

“In the past two years, we’ve seen the issue of child identity theft garner media and consumer attention, but there are many misunderstandings about this crime and more work needs to be done to educate consumers,” said Steve Schwartz, president of Partner Services at Intersections, which provides consumer and corporate identity risk management services.

The No. 1 thing that identity thieves are after is a child’s Social Security number, the primary component of crimes that utilize a synthetic ID, the Javelin report said.

Criminals create a synthetic ID by combining a child’s Social Security number with a different date of birth to fabricate an identity that can be used to commit fraud.

“Synthetic identities are very difficult to detect,” the study said.

Guarding your child’s Social Security number is critical to protecting his or her identity.

“When someone asks for a date of birth or a Social Security number in connection with a child _ whether it’s preschool or kindergarten _ you really need to ask them, what do you need it for and what are you going to do with it and who else is going to see it?

How do I know that it’s protected?” said Adam Levin, founder of Identity Theft 911, which provides identity management and identity theft recovery services for businesses.

“The thing parents have to remember is that this is an asset.

Failure to properly guard it exposes your child to what could be over a decade of credit abuse that they’re not even aware of until they get old enough to actually apply for something. Then, they’re suddenly unpleasantly surprised.”

Here are some tips for protecting your child’s identity: _Don’t carry your child’s Social Security card around with you. _Use a cross-cut shredder to destroy documents with your child’s full name and other identifying details, including date of birth. _Teach your children the importance of protecting their personal information on social media. “Children should never post their full name, address, date of birth or other details on social media sites,” said Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus. _Make sure your kids use passwords for their smartphones and tablets. Also, teach them the importance of changing passwords frequently and never sharing passwords with others. _If you’re notified by letter that your child’s personal information has been compromised, first confirm that the letter is legitimate.

If so, take advantage of any free identity protection services offered and contact the three credit bureaus. _If you have several children and one is a victim of identity theft, closely monitor the personal information of your other children.

“Criminals are opportunistic, thus likely to target multiple children in the same household,” said the Javelin study.

Children shouldn’t start their adult lives the innocent victims of a crime that could prevent them from establishing a firm financial foundation. Guard their identities like you do their lives.

theWORD 6

The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The crime of being black, living in America

In 1999, Amadou Diallo was killed in the Bronx N.Y. for pulling out his wallet to show police that he was not an alleged rapist.

In 2006, Sean Bell was killed on his wedding day for pulling out a phone. In 2012, Trayvon Martin was killed in Miami, Fla. for suspicious activity involving skittles and iced tea by a neighborhood robo cop.

In recent news, former FAMU football player Jonathan Ferrell was shot and killed by officer Randall Kerrick. Police received a call about a man attempting to break into homes.

When the police arrived, they found what was described as the “suspect.” In reality it was Ferrell seeking help after surviving a severe car accident.

Supposedly, Ferrell charged at Kerrick and two other officers on the scene. With one officer failing to control Ferrell with his taser, Kerrick fired multiple shots resulting Ferrell’s death.

Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter. According to the Charlotte Observer, this incident is one of five deaths within 12 months, dealing with Charlotte Mecklenburg Police. Police ruled the remaining four deaths as being justified.

In a post about Redefining

Criminology on Iambored.com, it showed that since 2011 there have been 3, 445 cases reported of misconduct and 258 incidents of police brutality that resulted in fatalities.

MEAGAN The people who JORDAN are supposed to protect and serve our community are the ones causing the most trouble.

With family in law enforcement, I have the advantage of understanding the concept of when to pull and shoot your gun.

According to a relative who is in the police force, “the gun is the last resort in a situation. You are only supposed to shoot when you actually see the threat, or if your life is in danger. You have to be focused to make the right judgment. You cannot be nervous or triggerhappy. I think a lot of police officers get intimidated and react by shooting unnecessarily.”

An officer’s job is to protect and serve the community, and take the proper precautions to protect themselves.

Police Officers become untrustworthy when they take the law too far.

The sad part is, the majority of police brutality is geared to-

Bad call from gov’t on gun law Sometimes, I think that those in governing positions get bored. What happens when you are bored? You do unintelligent things (make unintelligent decisions).

Perfect example, KIMBERLY signing legislation FIELDS to allow concealed weapons to be carried into bars, restaurants and other places that sell liquor, parks, playgrounds, public recreation areas, funeral processions, and parades along with any other place that does not forbid it.

You can also leave them locked in your trunk at public schools and universities. Crazy right? Well, CBS News and the Charlotte Observer reported this summer that North Carolina has approved a bill that allows just that. The heat must have gotten to them this summer, because there is no way someone in their right mind could logically evaluate this bill and decide that it is a good bill to pass.

Let’s recall some events.

There was a Columbine in 1999, Virginia Tech in 2007, Northern Illinois in 2008, Sandy Hook in 2012, Boston marathon bombing in 2013 and countless bar fights and shootings that occurred throughout the United States.

Most of these occurrences have not received a lot of publicity. Have we not learned anything from these events?

Along with this bill, the Winston-Salem Journal notes that patrons who have a license to carry are required to have a background check and the state is required to report any information about mental-health and substance-abuse court findings to the national instant criminal background check system.

After this bill was passed in North Carolina, Laurrissa Armstrong, a teacher, was killed by her estranged husband almost a month later as reported by the High Point Enterprise.

Armstrong tried getting an order of protection against her husband multiple times and they were all rejected, ultimately leading to her death.

What’s the problem? He may have had a license to carry, but

was he diagnosed as mentally ill at that time?

Were there any records of substance abuse reported to the court?

That’s the problem; there is no real way to regulate gun control.

Just because you are not a substance abuser or mentally ill at the time of registration does not omit the possibility of ever becoming one.

Although you do not have a license to carry does not mean you are not capable of getting your hands on an illegal firearm somehow, some way.

Mayor Allen Joines of Winston-Salem told the Winston-Salem Journal; “Winston-Salem police officers are concerned about the legislation and the potential for serious injury to innocent bystanders.”

They should be. Guns do not mix well with anger, but mixing guns with anger and alcohol will raise an even bigger issue. Not only will it raise the murder/manslaughter rate in North Carolina, but every suspect will probably cry self-defense.

They have a license to carry, do not have a record of mental illness or substance abuse and probably felt threatened at the moment and reacted in an act of defense.

I am not saying someone is right or someone is wrong, but the North Carolina government has something messed up.

I suggest they take a furlough day or two, spend time with their family and maybe even go to a few bars at night, sit in a park, or join a funeral procession, then come back to the drawing board. Maybe they will see things from a different perspective then.

—Email Kimberly at theatregister@gmail.com and follow us on twitter @TheATRegister

ward the African American community.

Dressing a certain way, having a certain car, and the color of your skin is what makes you a suspect.

My father, a headstrong deacon in the church, has been pulled over numerous times for driving a car that officers associate with drug dealers.

The fourth amendment gives citizens the right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects. Against unreasonable searches and seizures, not be violated and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause supported by oath affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be searched.”

The New York Times reported that if an officer questions a civilian, requiring a search, the Supreme Court could rule that the fourth amendment does not apply because the suspect is free to walk away.

How many people know that they have the right to say no and walk away? When police officers read our rights, we know that we are allowed to remain silent, but when they require a search do they tell us that we have the right to walk away? No. Why? Because

the Supreme Court rules that people do not have the right to know that they can say no to an officer.

The fourth amendment fluctuates which is the reason why most officers legally get away with murders all the time. If a civilian runs from police for any reason the fourth amendment right is of no use. It per-

mits the officer “reasonable cause” to suspect the person as a “criminal.”

I find it a major contradiction that citizens do not have the right to know their own rights. The average person does not spend their time reviewing the constitution. If a part of a police’s job description is to tell the suspect that they have

the right to remain silent, they can include the right to say no in the case of a search with no warrant. If communities are educated about their rights, justice will be served.

—Email Meagan at msjordan@aggies.ncat.edu and follow us on twitter @TheATRegister

Abortion should be the woman’s choice Abortion is the act of one else’s right, exterminating a pregnancept the woman’s to cy. Today abortion is a continue with a full controversial issue. term pregnancy or Some believe that to terminate it. Who it is an act of senseless is the government to killing, while others betell a woman what to lieve it is the woman’s do with her unborn right to do what she child? pleases with her body. CORNESHA There are those Those who are “Pro- RAJAH who argue “if you Life.” don’t want to get They believe that abortion pregnant, use protection!” What is murdering a helpless indi- about those who use protection vidual. Then, there are those or other contraceptives and still who are “Pro-Choice,” or those become pregnant? What about who believe that it is the wom- those women who become an’s decision to keep or abort pregnant as a result of being the fetus. I believe that it is no sexually abused by strangers,

friends, or family members?

Should they have to bare the pain of knowing their child was conceived against their will?

Everyone has different circumstances, but the decision of whether a woman should conceive should be left up to the person responsible not the government.

Some say “adoption is always an option.” Of course it is, but what about those foster parents that are only adopting children for money, or mistreat and abuse the children?

Studies show that 18.8 percent of foster children suffer from physical abuse, 7.9 per-

cent suffer from emotional abuse, and 6.2 percent suffer from sexual abuse.

No child should have to suffer because of someone else’s negligence.The U.S. Declaration of Independence gives citizens freedom of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This is my life; I am at liberty to do what I please. If abortion is what will make me happy, then so be it.

—Email Cornesha at theatregister@gmail.com and follow us on twitter @TheATRegister

Abortion is a form of murder and should not be supported It is not the I am a young woman women’s fault that who is pro-life. In Jershe was raped, emiah 1:5 it says, “Before abused, or misused.

I even formed you in your Instead of dwellmother’s womb, I knew ing on what could all about you.” have happened, or God goes on to tell how it could have Jeremiah the plans he been prevented, it had for his life before he is imperative to see even took his first breath. TAYLOR the blessing in the With that, any being put YOUNG storm. I urge womon earth was put here en, young and old, for a reason. I empathize with women who conceive children to be mindful of what they do.

It is sad that abortions are against their own will, but I do not understand women get- encouraged just as much as ting an abortion because a child birth control is encouraged to a little girl that just hit puberty. does not fit into their life.

It is part of a doctor’s “spill” when they find out a woman is pregnant, they say “you have options.”

Options meaning depending on how far along you are, you are given the option to get rid of your child. Pregnancy is common in college and I am sure that if students were aware that abortions were covered through the school’s insurance, it would only make it easier to get one.

Here at A&T, Blue Cross Blue Shield covers majority of our students through student insurance. The benefit package covers abortions. According to

Guttmatcher Institute, unintended pregnancies are the highest among poor low-income women and women aged 18-24.

The Institute also says, “Black women are still more likely to end an unintended pregnancy by abortion than women in other racial and ethnic groups.” What does this say about black women in America?

I see abortion as premeditated murder.

—Email Taylor at theatregister@ gmail.com and follow us on twitter @TheATRegister

Students too dependent on cell phones and technology We have all had those moments where we drop our phone, and for that quick second you pause just praying the crack is not bad. Imagine dropping your phone and picking it up, only to realize that the screen is cracked, completely white and you cannot see anything.

Unfortunately, that was the case for me. Not only was my phone messed up, but I had to go a week before my replacement came. Like the saying goes, “you don’t know what you got until it’s gone.” I never realized how dependent I was on my cell phone. What do you do in those awkward situations when passing someone on the side walk?

How would I know what time to meet up with my friends at the café? What about my Twitter, Facebook or Instagram?

I began to wonder what did our parents do without cell phones? It is something that many of us would feel lost with-

out. Research says that “we are so dependent our phones, that we check them every six-and-a-half minutes.” Not because you PRINCE felt a vibration ADAMS from getting a call, but because you can not help yourself. as breathing.

According to the Daily Mail, looking at a phone is the first thing most people do each day after waking up and the last thing they do before going to sleep. Studies from Pew Research Center show that about 91 percent of Americans own a cellphone about 17.2 million of them own smartphones. On this one device, I can listen to music, contact people, and look up random questions that pop up in

my head. Are we becoming too dependent on this little device?

Is Siri becoming your answer to everything?

Are you dependent on your cell phone? It is okay. You are just like everyone else on this hyper-connected planet! Times magazine’s Techland section led a huge international poll of 5,000 Americans, Britons, South Koreans, Chinese, Indians, South Africans, Indonesians, and Brazilians. They found that everyone in the world checks their phone unconsciously. The survey illustrates how obsessed we all are with staring at our tiny screen for hours and hours of the day. From this study, researchers found that 84 percent of the interviewees said that they could not go a single day without their phones. About 50 percent of Americans sleep with their phone next to them like their favorite stuffed animal, which includes more than

80 percent of 18-24 year olds.

Twenty percent of interviewees check their phone every ten minutes.

Smartphones have become the norm. Good etiquette and manners in certain settings seems to have been thrown out the window during the digital age. After the first day or two going without a phone, it was nothing. Yes, I had to go back to the early 2000s and start emailing people. Not to mention, Facebook message became my go to. A week without my phone made me realize that there is more to focus on then a phone.

Now, are you one of those that need to have their cell phone with them 24/7 ? If something were to happen to your phone, could you even go a day without it?

—Email Prince at theatregister@ gmail.com and follow us on twitter @ TheATRegister

Editor’s note:The opinions expressed on The Word are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the staff of The A&T Register. All house editorials are written and revised with input from the editorial board, staff, and is approved by the editor. All submissions must be sent to theatregister@gmail.com to be considered for submission and should be no longer than 250 words. Submissions must be received by the Sunday prior to publication at 5 p.m. to be considered. The A&T Register reserves the right to edit all submission content for clarity and grammar. Submissions become the property of The A&T Register and will not be returned.

theSCORE The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, September 25, 2013

7

AGGIES RUNDOWN football TEAM

MEAC

Bethune Cookman 0-0 North Carolina A&T 0-0 North Carolina Central 0-0 South Carolina State 0-0 Florida A&M 0-0 Howard

0-0 Savannah State 0-0 Delaware State 0-0 Norfolk State 0-0 Morgan State 0-0 Hampton 0-0

OVR. 3-1 2-0 2-2 2-2 1-3 1-2 1-3 0-3 0-3 0-4 0-4

THIS WEEK’S GAME: vs. Howard Aggie Stadium 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU) NEXT WEEK’S GAME: vs. South Carolina State Georgia Dome-Atlanta, Ga 3:30 p.m.

volleyball TEAM

FILE Photo • a&T register

A&T linebackers Brandon hover (9) and tony clodfelter (57) attempt to strip a Howard running back William Parker (3) during the Aggies 38-10 victory in 2012. The Aggies play the Bison (1-2) Thursday at Aggie Stadium.

Broadway, Aggies look to start 3-0 Jeremy days

Register Reporter

Rod Broadway, A&T’s head football coach, has been coaching football since the late seventies. He began his career as the defensive line coach at East Carolina University.

Tomorrow, Broadway and team seek to uphold their undefeated record as they play against the Howard Bison at Aggie Stadium. The game is scheduled to be televised nationally on ESPNU at 7:30 p.m.

This season, Broadway and his coaching staff look to improve on a 7-4 2012 campaign.

In an interview, Broadway discussed several topics regarding last season and what fans should expect this year, as his third season as A&T’s head coach.

Broadway, an Oakboro native, says he chose to coach at A&T for several reasons. “I thought it would be a great challenge. It

also gave me an opportunity to get closer to my family again.”

Off the field, Broadway is a family man. Broadway’s son, Kenneth, a former Central football player played under Broadway.

After several years in the profession, Broadway understands how much hard work goes into coaching. “We work 15 hours a day seven days a week. We try to have family night Thursday night after practice so coaches are allowed to spend time with their family”.

For Broadway, coaching football is much more than just X’s and O’s. “Well, it’s a lot more than just coaching football. It’s also trying to develop people and build champions out of people,” said Broadway.

Broadway has certainly had the winning formula in the past, leading NCCU to two CIAA championships in 2005 and 2006, and winning the SWAC championship as the head coach

of Grambling State University in 2008.

Broadway emphasizes leading his players into the direction of becoming not only exceptional players, but great men.

A&T linebacker Tony Clodfelter says, “Coach Broadway gives us stability in our program entering his third season. He has an open door policy where we can talk about problems we are facing.”

When asked about the winloss column, Broadway quickly changed the conversation to the week to week basis by which the A&T football program approaches the season. “Well, we just want to get better you know.

Our goals are simple, we want to make improvements from week to week and play as hard as we can play.”

According to the win-loss column, last year was one of the Aggies best seasons in recent memory. Coach Broadway provided us with his own breakdown of last season. “Well, in terms of

Track program ready for lift off Kalyn Hoyle

Managing Editor

N.C. A&T’s track and field program expects to improve tremendously this coming season.

“Physically, I believe we can run with any team in the country,” said Duane Ross, director of the track and field program.

Ross, a member of the 2004 USA Olympic team, became A&T’s director of track and field in July of 2012, after taking over for interim coach James Daniels.

Ross is serving as the fifth director for the track and field program in the past three years for the Aggies.

“My athletes asked me jokingly, how long are you going to be here?” said Ross.

“I understood it was the environment at the time.”

Ross says he took steps to immediately create an environment of stability and brand a culture that the players could easily adjust and commit to.

Before coaching at A&T, Ross experienced a great deal of success at Methodist University.

At Methodist, Ross coached nine individual NCAA champions and 46 All-Americans.

Ross feels that this year’s team will take strides in the right direction.

Last year, the men’s team placed fourth as the women’s team went on to place sixth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

“2012 was a transition year, and we lost a lot of students from the year before,” said Ross.

Ross was quick to endorse sophomore distance runner Saeed Jones, redshirt senior sprinter Daryl Williams, and redshirt junior hurdler Jeffery Lewis.

He also added that senior sprinter Earl House has spent the summer rehabbing an Achilles tendon injury from last year.

When asked about team camaraderie, Ross was quick to cite his newcom- Ross ers, “freshmen acting like seniors is what you need for a championship team.”

“A good recruiting class and getting the athletes who want to run for you is one of the first steps in building a successful program.”

In March, Ross announced his first five recruits to sign at A&T--Josiah Elliot (WinstonSalem, N.C.), Caleb Gabriel (Raleigh, N.C.), Barry Harris (Greensboro, N.C.), Dominique Irons (Haddon Heights, N.J.), and Thomas Jones II (Burlington, N.C.).

Josiah Elliot, brother of former A&T track star Jarrell Elliot, ranked first in the state in the indoor 800 meters and second in the 500m.

Caleb Gabriel placed fourth in the 55m and sixth in the 300m at the 2013 Class 4A Indoor State Championships.

Barry Harris was ranked third in the state in the 500m and eighth nationally.

Dominique Irons is the 2013 New Jersey state champion in the 55m.

Iron’s jump of 48-feet and 9-inches was second in the state and eighth in the country, while his time of 6.42 seconds in the 55m race was number one in the state and 14th nationally.

Thomas Jones II was ranked second in the state in the 55meter hurdles and 11th nationally.

The Aggies are coached by second year assistant coach Perry Cabean, first year as-

sistant coach Bill Dunn, and second year coach Tempest Vance.

Cabean will coach cross country runners and serve as a coach for long distance events for the men’s and women’s outdoor and indoor track programs. Cabean is known for his 10-year coaching and management contributions to the Tri-City Relay Track Club.

Dunn is entering his first season as an assistant coach.

He spent time coaching at Methodist Univeristy under Ross, where 13 school records were broken. At Methodist, Dunn specialized in coaching mid-long distance events.

Vance will serve as the horizontal and vertical jumps coach and the program’s operation coordinator this season.

Reflecting on last year, Ross reiterated that improvements were made saying, “everyone did a personal best last year.”

It is clear that Ross has high expectations for the Aggies.

“They’ve [returning players] had a year in our program. I think it’s time for us to take off.”

When asked what the student body can do to help Ross said, “It would be wonderful to see our own student body in the stands.”

The men’s cross country team will compete in the UNC-Charlotte Invitational in Belmont on Saturday at 5 p.m..

—Email Kalyn at kdhoyle@ aggies.ncat.edu and follow us on Twitter @ATRegister

W’s and L’s it was successful, should have been a lot better you know, we had a chance of winning nine ball games and that hasn’t been done around here in a long time. But the thing you learn in coaching is you can’t let great opportunities slip away from you”.

Last season, A&T had no shortage of nail-bitters. Broadway gave us some insight into how everything went down.

“Well, they’re all good. Beating South Carolina State for the first time in a long time, beating FAMU, beating North Carolina Central, beating Howard again after losing up there our first year here, a game I think we should have won. All the wins were good.”

In the past, A&T student athletes handling academic responsibilities have been a concern.

Broadway provided a brief update on the current state of his players in the classroom. “We were able to achieve a 944 last

year with our APR and that’s the highest in the history of the school.”

Broadway goes an extra mile to see that his players are in good academic standing. The coach initiated a policy that requires players to complete a certain amount of study hours depending on their GPA. If a player does not complete their assigned hours, the player will be ineligible for that week’s game.

When asked how he wants to be remembered as a coach, Broadway said, “I just want to be a person that tried to do the right thing the right way, lived the right way, and that influenced people.”

Broadway has an overall record of 82-33 and is 14-10 in his three-year tenure as A&T’s head football coach.

—Email Jeremy at jsdays@ ncat.edu and follow us on Twitter @ATRegister

Dual-sport athlete brings versatility Tremayne farmer & miranda jacobs Contributors

Two uniforms, two playing locations, but one player.

In most cases, being a college athlete is similar to working Keyes a full-time job. They practice in the morning, work throughout the day, and go home at night.

The continuous cycle has been known to tire even the best of athletes. For many, they cannot imagine taking on twice the workload.

Denzel Keyes, a freshman chemistry major from Kinston, is embracing this opportunity. In his first year as an Aggie, Keyes has his work cut out for him.

Keyes is not only a member of the football team, but is also on A&T’s basketball roster.

Keyes’ highly decorated high school career helped earn him a spot on both teams. Playing high school football, Keyes was pre-season All-State, AllConference, and Area Offensive Player of the Year. As a senior he caught 13 touchdowns and compiled over 600 receiving yards.

Keyes was All-Conference and All-State in basketball, averaging 18 points and 8 rebounds as a senior at Kinston High.

Being recruited for football early and basketball later, Keyes enjoys both sports equally. When asked which sport was his favorite, the 6’4 200 pound Keyes answered, “probably basketball because I have been playing it a little while longer than football, but I really like both.”

Keyes started out playing both sports as a child and continued to progress with the encouragement of his family. “I

want to do well for my family. Just to say thank you for all they have done for me,” said Keyes.

The wide receiver and shooting guard signed with A&T after his brother and sister spent time as students here. Keyes says he felt comfortable and welcome when he first arrived at A&T. Keyes attended workout camps for both basketball and football this past summer, describing his days as “football practice, basketball practice, class, lunch, football practice, and finally basketball practice again before turning in for the night and preparing to do it all over again the next day.” Now that school has begun, Keyes says his only free time is when he goes to sleep at night.

Keyes’ goals for football include giving his best effort and catching everything thrown in his direction. His basketball goals are simply to improve his skill set. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Keyes’ two sport situation is that the seasons overlap each other. Football season has started and continues through early December.

Basketball begins in November and finishes up in March.

A&T football Offensive coordinator Ricky Bustle stated, “Denzel is adjusting well on the football field, the coaches are moving him around at slot receiver and wideout.” Keyes has totaled three receptions for 36 yards so far in 2013. “Coaches and teammates are embracing him well and Keyes has a great personality,” said Bustle.

Howard

Hampton Morgan State Norfolk State Florida A&M Coppin State Delaware State Maryland Eastern-Shore Bethune Cookman North Carolina A&T South Carolina State Savannah State NorthCarolina Central

MEAC 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0

OVR. 10-5 5-7 5-8 4-10 3-6 3-11 1-8 1-11 1-13 1-14 0-13 0-15 0-16

THIS WEEK’S MATCH: Friday vs. North Carolina Central Durham, N.C. 7 p.m.

NEXT WEEK’S MATCH: Friday vs. Bethune Cookman Daytona Beach, Fla. 7 p.m.

AROUND SPORTS

SEATTLE—There were simple economics at play.

Sidney Rice, the Seahawks’ highest-paid and No. 1 receiver, had yet to get going in Seattle’s first two games. He was too big an investment for that to continue.

Part of his lack of production was because he was still rounding into form after sitting much of the preseason. But part of it was because he didn’t have many opportunities, which were reflected in his stats through two games: three catches for 48 yards on eight targets.

Rice blew by those numbers in Sunday’s 45-17 thumping of Jacksonville. He was targeted seven times and hauled in five passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns, including one in which he beat double coverage.

Golden Tate, Seattle’s No. 2 receiver, entered with five catches and 70 yards on eight targets. And he, too, blew past those numbers against the Jaguars, hauling in five passes for 88 yards on eight targets. He also had two rushing attempts for 29 yards.

Tate had five catches or more in three games last year, including the playoffs, but many viewed him as a breakout player in training camp. The way he dissected Jacksonville in a variety of ways _ he also averaged 8.3 yards on four punt returns _ looked what many envisioned back then.

“I’m still growing as a player, still growing in this offense, still proving myself,” Tate said.

“But I think today was definitely a positive step.”

Baldwin said Seattle made it a focus to get Rice and Tate more involved this week, but how it happened was pretty simple.

First, Seattle still rushed for 156 yards and averaged more than four yards per carry. Second, by focusing so much on the run, Jacksonville left Seattle’s receivers and tight ends to run free in the secondary. Rice and Tate took particular advantage.

“We feel like when we get one-on-one coverage with those guys,” backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson said, “they should make the play. And that’s what we got going today. That’s why I felt our offense took off a little bit more.”

And that meant big days for the explosive Tate _ he made one leaping catch over a defensive back down the sideline _ and the now-healthy Rice.

8

The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, September 25, 2013

&

SCENE HEARD

Hip- Hop versus Homosexuality Can the two really Coexist?

DANIELLE SPOTTSVILLE Contributor

She is Back!

After what seems to be months with out seeing Queen Latifah, Dana Evans is back in the spotlight with a new gig. The Queen kicked off her new show with an appearance from long time companion John Travolta and a performance by Willow Smith.

The show is cyndicated through CBS. According to Latifah in a recent interview with the Associated Press, she states, “ I kind of want to push things a little bit further, as far as I can respectfully, within the daytime space. I want more out of daytime TV.” The Queen Latifah Show airs weekdays at 9 am. -K.P.

Recent controversy with New York radio station Hot 97 and long time DJ Mister Cee, have drawn attention to the ongoing discussion of Hip Hop versus homosexuality.

On Sept. 11, Mr. Cee made a brief and shocking announcement of his resignation from his 20 year position saying, “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and I don’t want to put this station through more than what they’ve been through.” According to claims on Twitter and other social networking sites, Mr. Cee was recorded soliciting sexual favors from male cross-dressing internet personality Bimbo Winehouse, who thought it would be nice to make a vlog exposing Mr. Cee, and posting it for the world to see.

To make matters worse, this is not Mr. Cee’s first offense.

Back in 2011, Cee ended up in court, pleading guilty for loitering while engaging a male prostitute. Earlier this year he was arrested after pursuing a male prostitute. It is no question that Mr. Cee’s run-ins with the law could have been a burden for the publicity of his radio station, but after such a long run why would Mr. Cee let this drive him away from what he devoted two decades of his life to.

According to society Hip Hop and homosexuality do not

mix. The Hip Hop world has always had this hard, stagnate, strictly heterosexual motif.

Whether intentional or unintentional, rap artists are constantly throwing around derogatory and discouraging terms and phrases against being homosexual. So, it is understandable that Mr. Cee would not feel comfortable continuing to work within this industry.

Not to mention, his being outed in such a public and humiliating way. Maybe Cee was running from ridicule that he knew would come, or even seeking refuge from the criticism he had already encountered on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.

It is unfortunate that Hip Hop and Homosexuality cannot peacefully coexist, especially since the two worlds intermingle a lot more than most members would even expect.

However, the efforts of celebrities like Macklemore, Frank Ocean, Jennifer Hudson, and A$AP Rocky are slowly but surely working to unite the Hip Hop world and the LGBT population.

Macklemore released his single “Same Love” advocating gay-marriage rights, and just before releasing his debut album Channel Orange, Frank Ocean opened up about being bisexual.

Jennifer Hudson and A$AP Rocky have made smaller, yet significant efforts like singing or speaking on behalf of the

LGBT community.

The increase in support has even begun a trickle down effect. Not only are members of the Hip Hop industry trying to bridge the gap, but now founders of the It Gets Better Project Dan Savage and John Shore have created another movement, the Not All Like That Project (see notalllikethat.org) to encourage Christians to join in the fight against homosexual discrimination.

In Mr. Cee’s case, it is unfortunate that his sexual orientation would cause such an uproar in his professional life, aside from his risky business endeavors of course.

If celebrities continue to use their “powers” to help the LGBT community, it is not hard to imagine that in the near future the Hip Hop community will be more accepting of those w h o have alternative sexual preferences.

There is no telling how long it will take for the rest of the world to

jump on the bandwagon, but as the saying goes Rome was not built in a day.

Until this day comes, it is important that recording artists, music moguls, and anyone who has any sort of involvement in the Hip Hop industry be conscious of what they are contributing to: Hip Hop vs.

Homosexuality or Hip Hop for Homosexuality.

— Email Danielle at theatregister@gmail.com and follow The A&T Register @TheATRegister

hotlist

theSCENE

Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 The A&T Register’s guide to what’s going on this week in arts and entertainment.

ON SCREEN BAGGAGE CLAIM Paula Patton plays flight attendant Montana Moore in this new romantic comedy about finding “Mr. Right.”

Moore is in a race against time to find the perfect guy before her younger sister’s wedding day. Using her frequent flyer miles, Moore sets up run-ins with exes in hopes of finding the man of her dreams. The cast includes Trey Songz, Taye Diggs, Jill Scott, LaLa Anthony, Boris Kodjoe, and many more. “Baggage Claim” premiers Sept. 27th.

ALBUM REVIEWS

Nothing is the Same for Drake’s New Album

The Canada standout, decided to give a tribute to the legendary Hip-Hop Group, WuStarted from the bottom and Tang Clan. The song “Wu Tang now rapper Drake is back at Forever” adopts a slow beat to the top of the charts. The Cash tribute to the famous Clan. It looks to touch the Money superstar recently souls of those who dropped his third studio are listening. The album “Nothing was the song describes the Same.” Drake’s sophorappers past expemore album “Take Care” riences with stripdefinitely broadened the pers, and past lovperspective of hip-hop auers. He also gives dience. The album takes tribute to those listeners on a roller coaster who have experiwith sensitive beats, and enced a one-night tough verses. The album Drake stand. did well in the first week One of the selling 631,000 copies.

The Canada native, decided songs of the summer “Hold on to lighten the mood on “Noth- We’re Going Home” sparked ing was the Same.” The rapper major attention. The song refocused on grabbing the audi- minded us of the rapper’s ability ence with soulful beats, and to show off his vocals whenever heartfelt verses. Not to mention he wants. The beats and vocals the album cover. Using anima- made for a unique hit. “The tion to grab hip-hop audiences, Language” a song in which had the cover has a modern day pic- a Migos’ flow to it. A failed atture of the rapper, and a picture tempt to combine a Southern flow, with a Mid-South beat. of infant Drake.

The late addition of Cash Drake beings the album with an attention grabber in Money Veteran Birdman ques“Tuscan Leather.” A chopped tions if the rapper really wanted and screwed Whitney Houston the CEO/rapper at the end of a sample keep listener’s attention. song. That was not successful Of course, the rapper makes a from the start.

Drake finally leaves his fans reference about his crush, Nicki Minaj. “Not even talking to with a one of a kind with “All Nicki, communication is break- Me.” The song features two ing, I dropped the ball on some heavyweights in Hip-Hop, Big personal ish, I need to embrace Sean, and 2 Chainz. A dynamic addition to the single. The song it.”

“Started from the Bottom,” leaves the audience with a hipthe anthem for going through hop anthem. The official album hard times only to lead to suc- dropped September 24, 2013. cess provides hope for all. The single provides optimism, and — Email Dominique at thefaith for those who need it. The song will have fans wanting to atregister@gmail.com and follow parade around, throwing dollar The A&T Register @TheATRegister bills in the air.

DOMINIQUE MOODY Contributor

20

QUESTIONS

The Electric Lady Hopes to Shock and Awe Critics

CATHERINE SINGLETARY Contributor

When it comes to superstar Janelle Monae, “what you see is that you get.”

Janelle Monae released her highly anticipated album, “The Electric Lady” on September 10, 2013. The album follows the journey of her alter ego Cindi Mayweather and an android, which Monae refers to as the minorities in America.

“The Electric Lady,” is a follow-up to her debut album “Metropolis Suite I of IV: The Chase” (released in 2007) and her sophomore album “The Arch Android” (released in 2010.) This album continues with her suite themes and “outer space” like ways.

The album is a mixture of funk, soul, and feel good vibes.

Monae captures the mind and soul at the same time with this album. Songs such as “Look into your Eyes,” “It’s Code,” and “Can’t Live without your Love,” remind listners of the late 1970’s R&B music.

Whereas songs such as “Q.U.E.E.N.,” “Electric Lady,” and “Ghetto Woman” have a fresh R&B sound and are accompanied by live instruments, such as horns, a guitar, and a piano to give it that sound to just vibe.

These songs are also very empowering for woman and convey the message that it is okay to be yourself and do “your thing” in life. The album has a few legendary and talented features such as Prince, Erykah Badu, Solange Knowles, Miguel, and Esperanza Spalding. The al-

bum debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 47,000 copies in the U.S. Critics are saying Janelle Monae has created a “masterpiece” and first week sales go to show how the fans like the album.

Fans have shown numerous outpours of support and love towards her new album.

One fan tweeted, “You never cease to amaze me.5 songs in & I already can tell that “The Electric Lady” is just as impressive as “The Arch Android.”

Monae responded to all of the love and support from her fans by tweeting, “I remember selling my CD’s out my boarding house on Parsons Street. Still humbled!” She later added, “Thank you. God is love.”

Janelle Monae is a very humble and inspiring artist.

She wants her music to inspire and encourage all, especially her fans.

She refers to her fans as F.A.N.D.R.O.I.D.S. and shares this message to them on the inside of her CD cover, “May these songs bring

wings to you when you are weak and humility when you are strong.

May the evil stumble as it flies through your world.”If you have not heard The Electric Lady by Janelle Monae, you are truly missing out.

Go out and support the talented artist .Janelle Monaes’ The Electric Lady album receives an overall A- grade for originality, spunk, and class.

Give this electric album a listen.

— Email Catherine at theatregister@gmail.com and follow The A&T Register @TheATRegister

Are you creative?

See you Wednesday 5 p.m. GCB 328A

A

1. What was up with NCAT 17 in their feelings about relationships on Twitter? 2. Did you read the tweets? 3. How much do you want to bet the majority of the guys that are talking junk are single? 4. Or maybe they are ugly? 5. What are the odds it is both? 6. Who is following the GHOE dos and don’ts page on Instagram? 7. How many people have committed some of the don’ts? 8. Who is this guy running the page? 9. How long ago did you graduate, sir? 10. Can you say pressed? 11. Has anyone heard about Antoine Dodson renouncing his homosexuality? 12. Does anyone really believe him? 13. Did you also hear he has a baby on the way? 14. What is up with guys these days? 15. What is up with all these temper tantrums? 16. DeAndre Liggins, did you really throw an Xbox at your girlfriend? 17. How old are we again? 18. Has it come to anybody’s attention that Miss Body Party’s video has resurfaced? 19. So that makes YouTube, Worldstar, Facebook, and now Best Vines, right? 20. Did you think making the video private would make it go away?

ON SHELVES THE WEEKEND- KISS LAND Toronto artist, The Weekend, has finally dropped his debut album and fans will not be disappointed. Standing on his own, The Weekend only does one collaboration with Drake on this album. This is sure to dismantle any recent rumors of a beef between the two artists. Give it a listen.

ON TV I DREAM OF NENE Wedding bells are chiming as NeNe and Gregg Leakes make their way down the aisle in their housewives spin-off “I Dream of NeNe.” There will be bouquet tosses and bridezilla meltdowns as Ms. Leakes plans the wedding of her dreams.

With the clock winding down and talks of a pre-nup, will love conquer all for the couple the second time around? Audiences are guaranteed plenty of laughs and even a few sentimental tears. “I Dream of NeNe” airs on Bravo, Tuesday nights at 9/8 c.

Come be a part of theScene Contributors Meetings every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in GCB 328A