**Chicago Crusader 05/03/14 E-Edition

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Blacks Must Control Their Own Community

To The Unconquerable Host of Africans Who Are Laying Their Sacrifices Upon The Editorial Altar For Their Race AUDITED BY

•C•P•V•S•

VOLUME LXXIV NUMBER 2—SATURDAY, MAY 3, 2014

PUBLISHED SINCE 1940

25 Cents and worth more

Community chimes in on reducing CPS truancy

By Glenn Reedus About one dozen South Side residents had to be turned away recently as a standing-room-only crowd gathered for a state hearing on truancy in preparation for possible changes in state laws governing school attendance.

The hearing, sponsored by State Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-16) and State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia (D-83), attracted about 80 community organizers, activists, parents, and educators.

The legislators are seeking recommendations to present to the Illinois General Assembly that new laws can be crafted on what was termed, “a crisis in Chicago Public Schools (CPS):” truancy.

Antoinette Taylor, a special-needs consultant, who chaired the meeting, said there is a direct correlation between not being in the classroom and negative outcomes. She added that one out of eight students had not been in the classroom for four weeks or more and explained the task force convening the hearing, “want to disseminate a lit-

STATE SENATOR JACQUELYN COLLINS led a recent task force on truancy.

The task force held its most recent public hearing in the city’s Chatham neighborhood. The public’s recommendations from the series of hearings will be delivered to the Illinois General Assembly July 31.

tle information and get a lot of information back.”

Alderman Latasha Thomas, 17th, was the first to offer a recommendation, telling the task force, “There is a need for more alternative schools.”

Thomas, chair of the City Council’s education committee, also asked, “If they don’t get an education now, what are they (truant students) going to do when they are 25 years old?”

Addictions and incarceration are two of the factors that must be considered when discussing truancy, according to Chapa LaVia, who stated that there are a number of issues that cause children to be unable to attend school or want to attend.

She noted that as of March, CPS had approximately 20,000 students classified as homeless, which is a CPS record.

While it wasn’t head-on, there were differing opinions of the impact of last year’s school closings on truancy.

John Paul Jones, who billed himself as a community activist, said many parents like (Continued on page 2)

Obama school proposal triggers backlash

By J. Coyden Palmer When Mayor Rahm Emanuel held a press conference last week to announce a new Barack Obama College Preparatory High School would be built on the site of the old Cabrini-Green housing complex, the backlash from city residents was immediate.

Many in the African-American community said they believe a school named in honor of the first Black President of the United States should have been on the South Side in the Black community where Obama and his family reside.

Those who care about Chicago’s green space said the building would congest an area already void of park space. And school advocates say another select-enrollment high school is not needed in that area, but there are several communities that could use a neighborhood school.

Add to all of this, a lack of communication from City Hall to residents and the local alderman in the proposed area of Clybourn Avenue and Larrabee Street adjacent to Stanton Park, and a big controversy is brewing.

Meghan Harte, the mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff, told a group of residents at a meeting earlier this week that she accepts re-

sponsibility for the lack of communication about the project. However, that did little to placate many in the audience, who said

the new school should be a neighborhood one and not one for selective-enrollment.

(Continued on page 7)

AN ARTIST RENDERING of the proposed Barack Obama College Prep, which would be built on the site of the old Cabrini-Green housing complex.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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NEWS

Chicago Urban League Travels To China with youths

By Wendell Hutson For the second consecutive year a group of youths will travel to China for free to learn about a different culture.

The two-week trip is being spearheaded by the Chicago Urban League and funded thanks to corporate sponsors like American Airlines.

“We could not have done this without our wonderful sponsors. These students deserve to step outside their comfort zone and see another part of the world besides America,” said Andrea Zopp, president and CEO of the Urban League at the organization’s annual lunch summit on Wednesday, April 30. “There are so many different cultures that exist in the world and we want our students to be exposed to as many as possible before graduating from high school.”

Joining Zopp at the summit were Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Ariel Investments Inc. founder John Rogers Jr. “Young people are our future so we should prepare them for that day,” Preckwinkle said.

Among the 20 students headed to China in July is Kameron Irvin, a freshman at Simeon Career Academy High School. “I can’t wait to get there and see what’s it like living in China,” he said. “When I found out I was going I could not believe it or stop jumping up and down in excitement.” Jazmine Reliford, a freshman at King College Prep, is also headed to China.

“Oh my God, I am like super excited about going. This is a once in a lifetime trip,” Reliford said.

James Willis, who also attends King College Prep, described the upcom-

THE CHICAGO URBAN LEAGUE at its annual lunch summit recognized Christian Fenger Academy High School Principal Elizabeth Dozier for her educational achievements this week. ing excursion as “an educational op- ple that attended the annual lunch in the business world to be taken seriportunity that comes around only summit, which this year’s theme was ously by her male counterparts and once in life.” News about the China “Fearless Collaboration: Where how 30 years after she graduated from college, minorities such as trip was shared with about 300 peo- Preparation Meets Opportunity.”

At the event, Christian Fenger women, are not in leadership posiAcademy High School Principal Eliz- tions. abeth Dozier was recognized for her “One thing I have noticed is that educational milestones, such as imchange happens faster when it begins proving the quality of life for Fenger from the top,” Gordon said. “Corpostudents. “There’s so much that rations should reflect the consumer needs to be done before we can say world and that is not happening fast we are there,” Dozier told the Cruenough because there are too many sader. “When the moratorium ends boardrooms lacking diversity.” for closing schools, who knows what will happen. But I do know that I will She suggested to improve diversity do everything in my power to make businesses need to have more minoriSTATE SENATOR JACQUELYN COLLINS (left) receives the sure Fenger stays open and to make ties on their boards, which would alsure our students are receiving the Legislator of the Year crystal from Mary R. Kenney, executive dilow minorities to institute changes best possible education.” rector of the Illinois Housing Development Authority. The state corporate wide.

She also said everyagency feted the senator for more than a decade of involvement in one needs a mentor if they hope to be Zopp praised Dozier for her continaffordable housing and anti-fraud initiatives. successful in life.

“My board memued efforts to save “our children from of predatory lending, and at the that high school students be bers are my mentor but everybody violence and instill in them not only height of the housing bust, she taught about household budgetshould have one.

If you don’t, you educational values but morale values worked to protect consumers from ing, rent and mortgages – and has better get one,” added Gordon.

“We too.” The keynote speaker for the mortgage fraud and mortgage res- made funding available to towns (minorities) need to push beyond our summit was Ilene Gordon, chaircue fraud. and cities to rehabilitate properties comfort zone and be prepared to man, president and CEO of IngreCollins has championed financial abandoned during the foreclosure bring something to the table if we dion Inc. The wife and mother spoke literacy – including a requirement crisis. passionately about her past struggles want a seat at the table.”

Sen. Collins named “Legislator of the Year” State Senator Jacqueline Y. Collins (D-Chicago 16th) was honored recently as the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s (IDHA) “Legislator of the Year.”

The IHDA called her “a true champion and the housing expert in the Illinois Senate.”

The award recognizes her 11 years of work in the Senate for consumer protection, foreclosure assistance and renters’ right. As chairperson of the Senate Financial Institutions Committee, Collins has sponsored important legislation protecting the rights of consumers entering into subprime mortgages, refinancing agreements and loan modifications. Long before the national recession hit, she warned colleagues about the threat

Community chimes in on reducing CPS truancy (Continued from page 1) him were taking a financial hit due to the 50 CPS schools that were closed. He explained that he now has to buy bus cards for his children, whereas, previously they could walk to school. He said he is aware of parents who keep their children home some days because they cannot afford bus cards every week.

Lafayette Ford, executive director of CPS’s Family and Children Engagement Services (FACE), who also is a longtime CPS employee, noted truancy has remained constant at about 30-35 percent for the last 15 years, at least.

Chronic truants are not facing a single problem causing their continued absence from school. Ford said the most effective means of helping that CPS can provide is to “pick a problem and concentrate on that.” He added research shows that every student with a 2

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Karen Lewis Linda Chapa LaVia truancy problem has 3.7 problems.

“You will not find one child with one problem and you solve it, they will go back to school.”

The 35 percent represents about 48,000 students. CPS is the nation’s third largest school district.

Minister Johnny Banks, executive director of A Knock at Midnight, (AKM), a truancy intervention program, offered a solution that drew some gasps from the crowd.

He suggested that parents receiving public assistance have some of their funds withheld when the students miss a certain number of days of school. He said there needs to be greater coordination between CPS and agencies, such as Dependent Children and Family Services (DCFS), so the latter can be notified when students miss a certain number of days.

“We (AKM staff ) go to at least 200 homes per week (to find out about truants) and 90 percent of those parents don’t feel they have any responsibility of getting their kids to school…If you take away some of their welfare when kids

don’t get to school, then you will have their attention.”

Chapa LaVia offered that a punitive measure, similar to the one Banks proposed, has been discussed by state officials.

A woman, who described herself only as Wanda, said several years ago when she worked in a nowshuttered office of CPS, that operation was responsible for helping return $20 million in per pupil funding to CPS. She also said that office also had an 80 percent success rate in tracking truants and returning them to school.

Many in the crowd chuckled when the woman explained that the office mailed letters to parents of truants telling them they faced a possible $500 fine and/or 30 days in jail. “It wasn’t true, but many parents believed it.”

Following the hearing, Collins described the hearing as helpful; adding the variety of participants

BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

gave critical first-hand information to the task force.

“Not only does this kind of input help us solve the problem, we can solve it in a way that favorably impacts the people who were directly affected by the problem.”

Collins noted that Phillip Jackson, executive director of the Black Star Project, a nonprofit educational organization, offered compelling testimony when he explained truancy is not simply an issue for students, but also for parents and the community.

“He took a holistic approach and that is how we need to look at this,” the four-term senator said.

Another public hearing is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 at Pilgrim Baptist Church, 3235 E. 91st St. Additional hearings have been scheduled for May 12, June 19 and July 14. The task force’s recommendations are to be submitted July 31.

www.chicagocrusader.com

NEWS

Anti-violence worker murdered outside her home

By J. Coyden Palmer At Crusader press time, Chicago Police were still searching for suspects in the shooting death of an anti-violence worker, who was shot while sitting in her vehicle outside her home in the West Pullman community around 10:30 p.m. on April 25.

Leonore Draper, 32, attended a stop-the-violence event an hour before she died. Police speculated she was the victim of a drive-by shooting and uncertain if she was the intended victim, but exploring the possibility that she was targeted because of her work.

Draper was a budget analyst for the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and a makeup artist. A few years ago, she and her husband bought their first home in the 11600 block of South Laflin, and Draper served on the committee of A Charitable Confection, an anti-violence, nonprofit group, operated by teens fighting violence on the South Side.

On Friday night, the organization hosted a fundraiser, and Draper was returning home from the event when she was murdered.

“Leonore was a good person trying to stop this plague of violence sweeping many parts of our city,” said Ron Holt, who lost his son, Blair, to violence in 2007. “We are vowing not to stop until the killer of this beautiful woman is brought to justice.”

Another person on the front lines trying to quell the city’s violence is Andrew Holmes. He said the murder of Draper hits home for those who are working every day in the streets to bring peace. Due to his work, Holmes shared that he has been threatened and hopes Draper was not targeted, but said regardless, her death is still a tragic one.

“Those of us, who do this work, do it voluntarily because we love the city, the community and the youth.

This woman cared for everyone and was trying to help teens learn how to solve their problems without vio-

lence. She will be missed,” Holmes said.

Draper’s husband, Jason, was being escorted into the couple’s home at the time of the shooting. An Eagle Scout, Jason suffers from multiple sclerosis, and neighbors say the Drapers were involved in serving the community in many ways; they are now concerned about his well-being.

“As Mr. Draper’s illness will continue to worsen over the years, I’m worried about how an event like this will affect him,” said one neighbor who did not want to be identified.

“They were a bright, happy young couple; the kind of young adults you want to have as neighbors.”

On April 28, a vigil was held for Draper on her block. Alderman Carrie Austin (34th) said there are too many illegal guns in her ward, and while the police do their best, it will be up to everyday citizens to turn in people who are committing crimes and become vigilant crime fighters.

JASON DRAPER PICTURED with his wife Leonore in 2009.

The couple bought their first home in West Pullman a few years ago. Jason suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and is an Eagle Scout. A neighbor described the couple as the type of people you want in your community.

As a sign of support for their fallen wearing orange on May 2. Funeral colleague, CPS employees will be arrangements are still pending.

New Tobacco ‘Apology’ Ads plan still excludes most Black Media

By George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief WASHINGTON (NNPA) – A revised plan for major tobacco companies to purchase court-ordered ads to admit that they deliberately misled the public about the dangers of smoking would add nine whiteowned newspapers to the list of publications carrying tobacco ‘apology’ ads but shut out more than 90 percent of Black newspapers and all Black-owned radio and television stations, according to documents filed in federal court.

“If they had asked, we could have helped them develop a better plan than this,” said National Newspaper Publishers Association Chairman Cloves Campbell. “They didn’t consult us and the end result is that we’re back to where this process started last year. What they have put on the table is totally unacceptable.”

If the NNPA files a motion in opposition to the revised plan, as expected, the judge has a number of options from which to choose, including making a final decision on the merits of the case or ordering the defendants to come up with a more comprehensive plan.

After being sued by the Justice Department and the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, the major tobacco manufacturers were found guilty in 2005 of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organizations Act (RICO) when they deliberately misled the public about the dangers and addictiveness of smoking.

U.S. Judge Gladys Kessler ordered them to halt the offending practices and place a series of full-page ads in newspapers and commercials on network TV during prime time for a www.chicagocrusader.com

year, reported by Target Market News to be valued between $30 million and $45 million, acknowledging their wrongdoing.

The defendants – Philip Morris USA, Inc., Altria Group, Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (in its own capacity and as successor to Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation and American Tobacco Co.) and Lorillard Tobacco Company – went along with a plan proposed by the judge that excluded all Black-

NABOB and NNPA member organizations to fulfill its remedial order.

Black-owned print and visual media remain a primary method of receiving information for African Americans.”

After accepting the filing by NNPA and NABOB, Judge Kessler ordered the defendants to address the issues raised by the two trade associations and cable networks that later filed similar briefs protesting the arrangement that favored the three major

owned newspapers and broadcast companies.

The tobacco companies submitted a revised plan last week after the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB), two trade associations whose member businesses reach more than 95 percent of all African Americans, filed an amicus or friend of the court brief challenging the original plan to run court-ordered ads only in white and Latino publications and on the three major television networks.

In an amicus brief supporting the Black Press, the NAACP said, “To rectify the damage created by Defendant in their targeting of African American communities, this Court should require Defendants to use

broadcast networks over them.

Among those joining the action were Fox Network News, Viacom (the parent company of BET, MTV and VH1), Univision, TV One, Radio One, CW Network and A&E Television Networks.

Under its latest plan, the tobacco firms propose advertising in only 13 of approximately 200 Black newspapers: The Arizona Informant, the Denver Weekly News, the InnerCity News (Conn.), the Gary Crusader (Indiana), the Louisville Defender, Insight News (Minnesota), the St. Louis American, the Omaha Star, the Ohio City News, Black Chronicle (Oklahoma), the Portland Skanner, the Seattle Skanner, and the Milwaukee Courier.

The tobacco companies proposed reducing what it called “major- circu-

BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

lation newspapers,” i.e. white dailies, from 29 to 27, eliminating the Boston Herald, the Florida TimesUnion, the Fort Worth StarTelegram, the Fresno Bee, the New York Post, the New York Sun [which has closed], the Orlando Sentinel, the Palm Beach Post, the Sacramento Bee, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Tallahassee Democrat from the original list.

Added were: the Baltimore Sun, the Birmingham News, the Charleston Post & Courier, the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the Detroit Free Press, the New Orleans Picayune, the Newark StarLedger and the News Journal in Delaware.

Remaining on both ad buy lists were: the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Boston Globe, the Charlotte Observer, the Chicago SunTimes, the Chicago Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times), USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

The filing, called a joint praecipe, stated: “The parties believe that they have reasonably accommodated the amici’s requests to modify the proposed Consent Order. While it is impossible at this late juncture to accommodate all of the concerns raised by the recently-appearing amici, the revised proposed Consent Order changes, the geographic distribution of major-circulation newspapers to

better reach African Americans, adds the largest African-American newspapers in 14 states, and allows Defendants to run a portion of the corrective statements on television on any other channel network that will reach the same number of viewers and more African Americans. The parties believe that these adjustments should satisfy the concerns raised by the amici and by the Court at the Status Hearing.”

Campbell, chairman of the NNPA, said the Black media remains deeply dissatisfied.

“What they have done is include some key cities that were ignored in the original proposal and assigned them to white papers while again bypassing local Black newspapers that were subjected in the past to heavy tobacco advertising aimed at Blacks,” he explained. “Tobacco companies can’t have it both ways. They can’t say we were effective advertising vehicles when they were peddling life-threatening cigarettes, but when it comes to correcting the public record under court order, they want to leave most of our papers on the sidelines.”

An examination of the proposed advertising reveals some curious selections.

Campbell said the tobacco industry could advertise in every Black newspaper in the nation without suffering any financial hardship.

“The tobacco companies considered us effective when they were targeting us for their products,” the NNPA chairman said.

“If anything, with our stronger circulation, digital platforms and our use of social media, we are even more effective in delivering messages to African Americans today than we were when they willingly patronized us.”

Saturday, May 3, 2014

3

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL THE DEMISE OF NET NEUTRALITY?

Network Neutrality, also known as “Net Neutrality,” is seemingly set for a head-on collision with doom. The term, Net Neutrality, was coined by Tim Wu, a Columbia media law professor, as an extension of the concept of common carrier. It is the idea that Internet Service Providers and governments should treat all data on the internet equally. In this regard, it would not discriminate or charge differentially by content, site, user, platform, application, type of attached equipment and modes of communication.

As we look back on the last few years of the Internet, it could be considered a “golden age,” wherein it is the one platform that can link users worldwide on an even playing field. There have been demonstrations of threats to this openness from some foreign countries that have opted to block certain content from their constituents, but for the most part, in America, the Internet has been an open platform.

This golden age of the Internet is about to be tarnished. Capitalist power brokers have finally received a positive nod from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to allow certain high rollers the option to split the Internet into two lanes, one for the big boys and one for the rest of us. What this can ultimately mean is that Internet start-ups and others without major funds will be relegated to the slow lanes, and the money muscle will dominate the fast lanes. Basically, the new rules would allow mammoth cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable to charge Netflix, for example, in order to gain access to the “faster” lanes. This idea may seem innocuous to some, who think that they are too far down in the pecking order to be impacted by the game, but others see this as the beginning of the end of Internet freedoms. The door has been opened to preferential treatment, and once that door has been cracked, it might be just a hop, skip and a very short jump to the adoption of other rules that would adversely impact everyday users. Make no mistake, if Netflix ends up in the slow lane, it would frustrate users who might seek out other alternatives for their viewing enjoyment. And if Netflix pays for faster access, you can bet your top dollar that the cost will be passed on to consumers. So, in this case, the consumer is stomped on no matter which way you see it.

And there will no doubt be other unforeseen consequences.

Blocked content, data discrimination, and more can result from this new foot placed on a very slippery slope. The wide open frontier of the Internet will be threatened with becoming a pock-marked entity wherein the hills and valleys of unequal access will replace the formerly level playing field.

Right now, the Internet is the main platform on which new start-ups can reach the same audiences that are targeted by large, established businesses. In this regard, it has been a godsend to many African Americans and other minorities in that they can cast their proverbial nets wide, thereby reaping significant economic benefits. But if, down the line, this access is blocked, limited and relegated to the back streets and alleys of the Internet, it would deal a heavy blow to aspiring entrepreneurs. They would be faced with a “Net” loss (pun intended) that would threaten their very existence! The attack on Net Neutrality, therefore, is a very serious matter and deserves the attention of everyone who is concerned about the equal opportunity and economic parity that the Internet has represented.

And because of this, everyone concerned needs to let their voices be heard. Save Net Neutrality! A luta continua.

4

Saturday, MAY 3, 2014

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Let’s set the record straight Dear Editor: No one cares more about ending Chicago’s devastating plague of gun violence than the 31 Illinois Legislative Black Caucus members. This is not just about our job as legislators. It is deeply personal. Many of us come from and represent Illinois’ poorest and most vulnerable communities.

We know the vital importance of controlling crime firsthand because we have witnessed the devastating toll it can take upon neighborhoods, families and young people.

That is why we were deeply offended by and resent Superintendent Garry McCarthy’s recent inflammatory comments where he blamed us for stalling his ill-conceived proposal to increase mandatory minimum prison sentences, which he claims would have prevented the deadly violence that occurred over Easter weekend.

This is a cynical and transparent attempt to shift the blame from where it really belongs and distract the public from addressing the real causes of gun violence.

Let us set the record straight.

The Illinois Legislative Black Caucus is not against using our jails and prisons to respond to gun violence.

But our current guns laws are strong.

In Illinois, people convicted of illegal gun possession can already be sentenced up to 14 years in prison.

While incarceration must continue to play an important role in our efforts to combat gun violence, we be-

lieve that increasing punishments and lengthening sentences, as Superintendent McCarthy wants us to do, will only make a bad problem worse.

An overwhelming consensus of experts and decades of experience have shown that man- datory minimums not only fail to prevent crime, but they also lead to a host of unintended consequences, which include undermining the fairness of our judicial system in ways that disproportionally impact minorities.

This includes the experience of New York City, which McCarthy likes to use as evidence to prove that more prison time leads to less violent crime. There is no debating the fact that New York City has witnessed a miraculous decline in violent crime in the last two decades. There is also no debating the fact that increasing prison sentences for gun crimes had nothing to do with this. The murder rate in New York City dropped 80%, from 2,250 murders in 1990 to 419 in 2012. New York voted to increase prison sentences for illegal gun possession in 2007. And here’s the problem with what McCarthy’s trying to sell the public: New York City’s increased mandatory minimum prison sentences came after 90% of the city’s murder decline had already occurred.

But let’s get back to what’s really happening in Illinois. We already have one of the most crowded prison systems in the country. Senselessly adding more people to this system for longer periods of time not only makes no sense, but it will also endanger public safety. Today we have about 49,000 inmates in a system designed for 32,000 people. We spend $1.3 billion on this system, but only two percent of this amount goes to

BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

rehabilitative, educational and vocational programming. Initial studies of McCarthy’s proposal estimated that it would increase Illinois’ prison population by several thousand inmates. This increase would invite federal intervention in our prison system, and leave us with only desperate options like using profit-driven private prisons.

McCarthy’s proposal would not just increase Illinois’ prisoner population; It would also increase the number of people who are released under the supervision of Illinois Depart(Continued on page 16)

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COMMENTARY

They are coming after your Children Beyond The Rhetoric

By Harry C. Alford NNPA Columnist Once again, the federal government has been caught making up numbers, this time to support its efforts to put career colleges and proprietary universities out of business.

As background, the U.S. Department of Education is trying once again to impose a “gainful employment” rule on college students who attend private-sector colleges and universities. These institutions serve a disproportionate number of African-American students, and provide these students with valuable career training and job skills. They serve an important purpose for students who come from underserved communities and have not succeeded in traditional education environments.

But if the government has its way, it will deny options to these students and shut down an entire sector of higher education. The “gainful employment” rule would apply arbitrary metrics only to these types of institutions. The government is proposing to deny financial aid to students who seek to attend programs that don’t meet these metrics, and the effect on both students and businesses would be disastrous.

Harry C. Alford These are not traditional education institutions. Private sector or Proprietary schools and career colleges teach on-the-job skills that are necessary for good, specific careers: dental hygienists, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, computer programmers, chefs, beauticians, barbers and many more who learn their trades at these institutions and get the foundation for a path to the middle class.

Companies depend on these institutions to train qualified employees and provide a pipeline of skilled workers to grow their businesses.

For years, these institutions have served both African-American students and African-American businesses well. Proprietary schools provide a pathway to career success and have allowed our African-American middle class to grow. I know this personally. My daughter graduated from high school and had trouble figuring out her next step. Eventually she landed in a private sector university and I was so proud when she got her Bachelor’s degree. Being motivated and full of self-esteem she went further. Next week, she marches onto the stage and will receive her Master’s degree. Two private schools saved my daughter’s future and now the Federal Government wants to slam their doors shut to other striving youth. It is an American tragedy.

That’s why it’s so disappointing to see the federal government aiming its sights at this sector of higher education and the students they serve.

And it’s even more disappointing, but not surprising, to see them twist the facts to make their case. As they say, “figures don’t lie, but liars certainly will figure. ” At least they’re getting called out for it. The Washington Post last week reported that the Department of Education went “too far” when it said that three quarters of the graduates of these institutions make less

than a high school dropout. Not only is this wrong—and the Washington Post dug into the numbers to show why—but what an awful lesson for the Department to teach!

We drill it into our kids that they need to stay in school, study hard, and graduate. We encourage them to go to college and continue their education so they can find a good career. To have the U.S. Department of Education cook the numbers and then suggest that students are better off dropping out of high school than attending a proprietary college is beyond the pale!

It also shows the lengths to which the Department will go to shut down these schools that have served our community so well. The Washington Post says that if you use the same math the Department uses on all private schools—from Harvard Dental School to child care training programs—well over half would fail! And yet the Department is proposing to regulate only proprietary colleges and universities.

At risk, by the Department of Education’s own admission, are more than 1 million students who will be negatively impacted by the proposed Gainful Employment regulation.What about their future?

Denying them a chance to improve the quality of their lives and better

living for their future children hurts them and hurts our economy. The chance of poverty increases exponentially. That will spike poor healthcare, crime (as an alternative to suffering), domestic violence and hopelessness. These ailments are far too familiar to our communities and crushing the hopes of more than 1 million students will take it to another much higher level. We must stop them from this.

I just don’t know why this Administration keeps fighting the principles of free enterprise. It may be a first amongst modern nations. We now have a government that decides to fight the vehicles of education and increased opportunity for its citizens. Let’s show the outrage!

Not every student needs to go to Harvard Dental School to get a great career. But students do need to have the option to pursue the education that is right for them and the ability to access higher education that can provide them with career options.

It’s time to tell the Department of Education to stop the gainful employment rule before it’s too late.

Mr. Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

Website: www.nationalbcc.org Email: halford@nationalbcc.org.

Racist NBA Owner has Fouled Out

By George E. Curry NNPA Columnist

New NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wants to spend several days “investigating” the clearly racist remarks of LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

There’s no need to waste a scintilla of another second on this foul-mouth bigot. Escort him to the closest exit and say good-bye – for good.

Record fines or a long suspension won’t do in this case if – and that’s a big if – the NBA is serious about addressing raw racism in a sport dominated by African Americans. Sterling, 81, has fouled out with his own words and the decision to permanently throw him out of the game doesn’t require a huddle around the scorer’s table to review his odious behavior.

Unless you’ve been under a rock or just landed from mars, you should know by now that Sterling, who has a long and acrimonious history with people of color, exposed his true feelings about African Americans in a conversation with his mistress, Vanessa Stiviano, who is almost 50 years his junior. The conversation was apparently taped surreptitiously in Sterling’s home by Stiviano, who describes herself as part Mexiwww.chicagocrusader.com

can and part Black. A 9-mintute segment of the conversation was posted Saturday to celebrity website TMZ. A 15-minute excerpt was later posted by Deadspin.

There was this exchange in one segment: V: I don’t understand, I don’t see your views. I wasn’t raised the way you were raised.

DS: Well then, if you don’t feel—don’t come to my games.

Don’t bring Black people, and don’t come.

V: Do you know that you have a whole team that’s Black that plays for you?

DS: You just, do I know? I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses.

Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have—Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?

At one point, Sterling said: “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with Black people. Do you have to…?”

“You can sleep with [Black people]. You can bring them in; you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games…”

“I’m just saying, in your lousy

George E. Curry f******* Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with Black people.”

“Don’t put him (Magic Johnson) on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.”

Finally, there was the following exchange: DS: You think I’m a racist, and wouldn’t— V: I don’t think you’re a racist.

DS: Yes you do. Yes you do.

V: I think you, you— DS: Evil heart.

DS: It’s the world! You go to Israel; the Blacks are just treated like

dogs.

V: So do you have to treat them like that too?

DS: The white Jews, there’s white Jews and Black Jews, do you understand?

V: And are the Black Jews less than the white Jews?

DS: A hundred percent, fifty, a hundred percent.

V: And is that right?

DS: It isn’t a question—we don’t evaluate what’s right and wrong, we live in a society. We live in a culture. We have to live within that culture.

V: But shouldn’t we take a stand for what’s wrong? And be the change and the difference?

DS: I don’t want to change the culture, because I can’t. It’s too big and too [unknown].

V: But you can change yourself.

DS: I don’t want to change. If my girl can’t do what I want, I don’t want the girl. I’ll find a girl that will do what I want! Believe me. I thought you were that girl—because I tried to do what you want.

But you’re not that girl.

Sterling, 81, has a long history of antagonizing Blacks.

In 2009, he paid $2.7 million to settle a suit accusing him of discriminating against Blacks, Latinos and families with children at an apartment building he owned in Los Angeles.

In addition, NBA Hall of

BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

Famer Elgin Baylor, who spent 22 years with the Clippers, filed a suit against Sterling in 2009 for wrongful termination. According to the Los Angeles Times, “In his deposition, Baylor spoke about what he called Sterling’s ‘plantation mentality,’ alleging the owner in the late 1990s rejected a coaching candidate, Jim Brewer, because of race. Baylor quoted Sterling as saying: ‘Personally, I would like to have a white Southern coach coaching poor Black players.’

Baylor said he was shocked.

‘And he [Sterling] looked at me and said, ‘Do you think that’s a racist statement?’ I said, ‘Absolutely. That’s plantation mentality’. ” Donald Sterling is the Paula Deen of professional basketball.

Accordingly, the NBA should stick a fork in him and tell him he’s done.

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA.) He is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. Curry can be reached through his website, www.georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge and George E. Curry Fan Page on Facebook.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

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COMMENTARY

MALCOLM X COMMEMORATION AND AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY CELEBRATION: PART I Dr. Conrad Worrill, Director/Professor, Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS) located at 700 East Oakwood Blvd, Chicago, Illinois, 60653, 773-268-7500, Fax: 773-268-3835 E-mail: c-worrill@neiu.edu, Website: www.ccicschicago.org, Twitter: @CCICS_ Chicago.

Dr. Conrad Worrill On Saturday, May 17, 2014 the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies is sponsoring the Malcolm X Commemoration and African Liberation Day Celebration.

The featured guest lecturer will be Dr. Marimba Ani, anthropologist, African Studies Scholar, and author of Yurugu: An African Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior.

Additionally, the day’s activities will include a performance by TIMELESS GIFTS, Joan Collaso’s Youth Program for the Performing Arts, video footage of Malcolm X and ALD Celebrations, and messages of solidarity from organizations in the African Community of Chicago.

The program will be held at CCICS, 700 East Oakwood Boulevard from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

This is the first of a two-part article on the origin and development of African Liberation Day (ALD). The celebration of African Liberation Day (ALD) in the United States began in May 1972 in Washington, D.C. More than 60,000 people participated in this historic event.

In 1973, ALD was decentralized and Chicago sponsored its first ALD celebration in May of that year. Since that time, we have celebrated ALD in various ways, with parades, rallies, and cultural programs.

From the 1980s through 1997, NBUF Chicago Chapter sponsored African Liberation Day /ALD on the Westside, where we marched down Madison Street and culminated with a rally and cultural program in Garfield Park. These ALD events have been very successful and we have been honored to sponsor them.

Other groups are now sponsoring African Liberation Day celebrations and activities throughout the United States.

African Liberation Day has become an institution throughout the African

world. It is a day when all people of African ancestry should come together. Whether you were born in Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Jamaica, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Belize, Bahia, Canada, Cuba, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Paris, or Chicago, as long as you are Black, you are an African, with a common heritage, and a common set of conditions.

As we prepare to participate in the upcoming weekend of events and activities, we must always remember the origin and development of African Liberation Day. Our ancestor, Kwame Ture, explained, “ALD was founded by Kwame Nkrumah on the occasion of the First Conference of Independent States held in Accra, Ghana and attended by eight independent states. The 15th of April was declared African Freedom Day to mark each year the onward process of the liberation movement, and to symbolize the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation.”

Further, the AAPRP (All-African People’s Revolutionary Party) points out that, “On the 25th of May 1963, 31 African heads of state convened a summit meeting to found the Organization of African Unity. They proclaimed May 25 as ALD and called for mass demonstrations and manifestations in every cormer of Africa and the African Diaspora.”

The idea of ALD has its origins in the long history of African people to break free of the yoke of European domination and white supremacy.

This is a time in which we emphasize our oneness as a people with a common past, common set of problems, and a common future.

The capturing of millions of African people, who were placed in slavery and introduced into the western hemisphere as property and commodities, is the backdrop upon which we commemorate African Liberation Day. It was the slave trade industry of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth-centuries involving Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Germany that served as the foundation for these western powers and provided them the margin of profit in getting the greatest return off of their investment. The western world still seeks to keep Africa and African people worldwide in bondage, so they can continue to maximize the greatest return off of their initial investment.

After chattel slavery was abolished in England and the United States, the slave trade industry began to wind down. The former slave-trading nations found themselves no longer needing slaves, but yet stumbled upon the other natural resources of Africa. They began to fight each other over the gold, diamonds, and other mineral and plant resources they were discovering.

This resulted in the calling of the Berlin Conference in 1884, where the European powers united to divide the continent of Africa among themselves. It has been discussed, historically, that those who control Africa, control the world. Therefore, the Berlin Conference was a crowning blow in African history. The results of this conference led to the carving up of Africa so that France, Britain, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Germany controlled separate territories throughout the continent.

This became known as the colonial period in African history. The colonial period in Africa, just as the enslavement of African people captured and brought to North America, had a devastating impact on Africa and African people. It was not until the early 1950s that the first African country gained political independence in the movement to reclaim Africa. That country was Ghana under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah who led the Ghanaian people in their fight against British colonialism.

I will continue the discussion of the origin and development of African Liberation Day in my next column.

Many groups around the country and the world where African people reside will be hosting ALD Celebrations this year. Don’t forget to support African Liberation Day activities in your area of the world and join us at CCICS on May 17 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

SLAMMING THE DOOR, AGAIN

By Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist The Roberts Supreme Court decided, this week, that the state of Michigan had the right to vote against affirmative action policies in college admissions. Michigan State is one of many - where mediocre white students challenge the fact that African American students, far more qualified than they are, have been admitted to college. This has happened in Texas and California, among other states. These challenges to affirmative action have roots in the 1976 Bakke care, where the 38-year-old Alan Bakke sued because his application to medical school was rejected and he felt that he was displaced in favor of a minority student. The Supreme Court ordered Bakke admitted to the University of California at Davis, and also ruled that affirmative action was permissible but not mandatory.

6

Saturday, May 3, 2014

What bothers me most about these anti affirmative action cases is the implicit white skin privilege that compels them. College admissions are an art, not a science. Students whose parents contribute generously to a college get an edge. In the name of diversity, a student from California, regardless of race, may get a bit of an edge at Dartmouth or Columbia. A violist, newspaper editor, or budding sports star, might also get a break. Meanwhile obdurate and privileged whites don’t go after these people. Their ire is directed toward African Americans and other people of color.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor got it completely right when she said that race still matters. When the Supreme Court upholds these anti affirmative laws they deny history.

Make it plain. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, a scant fifty years ago. Affirmative action policies were developed shortly after

Dr. Julianne Malveaux that so that the formerly closed doors of academia could be opened.

Affirmative action had a short shelf life before it was challenged in 1978, just 14 years after the passage

of the Civil Rights Act. The opponents of affirmative action say that the color blindness that the Civil Rights Act mandated prevents remediation from past discrimination. What about contemporary discrimination?

The University of Michigan, in its admissions policies, has evaluated students by a point system. Students get extra points if they have participated in Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. How many high schools in troubled Detroit have access to these classes? Yet the people of Detroit pay taxes to support a college that discriminates against them. When the anti affirmative action crowd talk about fairness, do they take this into consideration. When University of Michigan admits do not reflect the demographic of Detroit, aren’t the whites who attempt to dominate the welfare recipients of the state? The at-

BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

tempt for fairness is misplaced when anti affirmative action proponents want people of color to pay for a university system that gives white people preferential treatment.

In a few weeks we will commemorate the 60th anniversary of Brown v.

Board of Education.

While it took some time for Brown to be implemented, it was a Supreme Court decision that opened doors to equal education for those who have been discriminated against. With the most recent affirmative action case, the Supreme Court has chosen to slam doors in the face of those who have experienced historical discrimination.

This Supreme Court, collectively, has behaved no better than Southern nightriders who would stop at nothing too exclude African Americans from participation in education, voting, or owning property. This court is no (Continued on page 16) www.chicagocrusader.com

GOSSIPTARY

By Ima Gontellit

-Ima-

WATCH 16 EDITOR'S NOTE: This column is published as political satire, street gossip and humor, and therefore should not be considered as fact but rather as matter of opinion. None of the items therein are collected by the news gathering staff of the Crusader Newspaper Group. Items forwarded to The Chatterbox are kept confidential unless otherwise requested by the author in writing. For submissions please forward to: AChicagoCrusader@aol.com. Original photography and artwork are permitted.

Thank you for reading!

The aldermanic race to watch is straight out of Englewood. Look for gang-banger favorite Toni “All Smiles” Foulkes to take on CPD fa-

SPRINGFIELD GAMES We hear the jig is up for the Democrats in Springfield who now have to decide whether or not they going for the pot or the kettle. Word be dat DE SPEAKER (or the massa of the Black Caucus) been contemplating whether or not he got mo’ power with the Bald Eagle in the governor’s mansion or that billionaire. Either way Negro people loses, because ain’t no relief in sight from the violence, de joblessness, de youth waywardness, Rahm Emanuel, bad schools and Bob Shaw. With the little man in City Hall backing both candidates (one behind the scenes), we hear the billionaire with Negro

Toni “Smiles” Foulkes vorite Joanne “All Frowns” Thompson in what is sure to be some sort of brick throwing, “bitch calling,” “vote tampering allegations” campaign.

-ImaCOPS CAINT COUNT? We hear the CPD honchos may be lying about all de good work they been doing to lower the crime rate.

A new report came out that said they just bout made up their recent crime numbers and a whole lot of people done got SHOT and DROPPED in dis town and it ain’t showin’ up on de books. With the big lady going around calling De Tiny Emperor “da murder mayor,” we understand why the police chief would possibly order his minions to cook de books and make it look like all of his non-strategy is working.

None of this bolds well with the

Rahm Emanuel “friends” he paid for got some tricks for the tricks. Look for a new initiative to come out on Chicago crime dat makes sense only to those who ain’t being shot at. Now we hear bizarre rumors that Phil Jackson of the Black Star project is being looked at to fill a “high level state job in education,” should the Bald Eagle and his equally bald, but much more intelligent running mate win in November. We hear Mr. Vallas, a favorite in the Chatham area, has already made some secret promises to some of his former friends, and they are now “motivated to really get out the vote for Pat Quinn.”

-Imawww.chicagocrusader.com

Garry McCarthy thousands of families in this town looking for some resolution to the murders, rapes, beat downs, robberies and pumpkin heads that remain unsolved.

TONI MAY RUN Is what we is hearing on de street.

One lady told somebody “this be low hanging fruit,” and with the 50 Foot Woman’s great polling number she’d “be the dumbest politician in America” if she don’t run for the high office in de city. Now we hear she may be playing coy and timing her campaign due to the fact that the man she’s up against is a dirty ass fighter—not to mention he got all the billionaires in the state under his tiny foot. We hear her strategy just may be to wait until days after November, pretend the people were banging on her door begging her to do this, when she’ll announce she’s in it to win it. We hear that snot nose Christian Mitchell will play a prominent role in her campaign and his involvement will propel him from Springfield into a more prominent role, which he is also not ready for.

-Ima-

ONLY 20 BLACK PEOPLE ...actually think Buddy Guy own’s that blues club downtown in his name.

ONLY 2 BLACK PEOPLE ...actually think Preacher Leon Finney is not an upstanding businessman whose businesses seem to always be under federal scrutiny yet no charges are ever announced.

ONLY 17 BLACK PEOPLE ...believe Mayor Harold Washington died of natural causes.

ONLY 5 BLACK PEOPLE ....think Bob Shaw is not a stalking horse.

ONLY 110 BLACK PEOPLE ...at one West Side congregation seem to think the baby DON’T look lak de married pastor even though the infant’s teenage mother was one of his favorites.

ONLY 99 BLACK PEOPLE ...believe Rev. Al Sharpton is a legitimate freedom fighter who “just happened” to be caught up in a fed-

eral probe against the mob, Don King and James Brown.

-ImaBARACK OBAMA HIGH SCHOOL? While peoples is happy that something in dis town will bear the name of the first Black President that don’t involve hot sauce, we hear some folk down in DC were “caught off guard” when De Tiny Emperor announced he was opening up at $60 million brand, spanking new high school on the city’s near North Side in honor of the president. Saying it was a slap in the face to the Prez and his cute wife, who were lifelong South Siders, the man doing the listening and now the talkin, said the phone rang off the hook when the surprise was announced and the person on the other end assured the other person that De Tiny Emperor would soon “name some mo’ stuff” after the Obamas just before he runs for re-election.

Obama school proposal triggers backlash (Continued from page 1) “How it was done, I’m serious, it disturbed me,” said Alderman Walter Burnett, 27th, at a meeting for the Near North United Program on April 28. “But, at the same time, I know what benefit this can be for the community.”

One of Burnett’s constituents, Marcia Davis, said the school would cater to the class of students that are benefiting from the gentrification of the neighborhood and not to longtime residents whose children may not be able to attend the magnet school based off grades.

“It just adds to an already elitist system,” Davis said. “Right now, our neighborhood school is Wells, which is not a good school. And, when you realize there is already a select-enrollment school a mile away in Payton College Prep, you have to ask what the hell is going on here?”

Groups like Friends of the Parks (FOTP) are also steaming mad.

Members said the city has trampled over the rights of citizens and are considering filing a lawsuit to stop the project.

Cassandra Francis, FOTP president, said there have been meetings for years about how the space would be used and a high school was never part of the conversation.

“While we support high quality education of all Chicago children, Friends of the Parks opposes the placement of the Barack Obama

College Preparatory High School in Stanton Park,” began a press release from the organization.

The release stated, “Stanton Park is located in the center of the former Cabrini Green neighborhood, which has been the subject of multiple redevelopment plans headed by the Chicago Housing Authority for almost two decades.

In a city that has as its policy a minimum standard of the provision of five acres of public open space per 1,000 residents by 2020, this area appears significantly deficient relative to even the city’s own current standards of two acres of public open space per 1,000 residents as indicated in the Chicago Housing Authority’s Redevelopment Planning Manual presented two months ago. The taking of Stanton Park further compounds the public open space deficit in this community.”

Francis said the group was “blindsided” by the announcement last week and were scrambling to respond. She went on to say that local park officials were just as surprised, and community members, who enjoy Stanton Park, believe their voices were ignored.

“The local Stanton Park Advisory Council (SPAC), an official Chicago Park District-recognized entity, was not included in any planning process nor was the community given any opportunity for public input on this issue.

SPAC and other local community

BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

organizations only learned of the Obama High School’s planned location through last week’s press announcement. This lack of transparency in public process is troubling, particularly given a formalized community input process regarding the CHA’s redevelopment plans highlighting Stanton Park are now underway.”

Many in the Black community said Bronzeville would have been a great place for the school, and would give some encouragement to Black students. They also said the best-select enrollment schools are all in neighborhoods Black children from the South and West sides have to travel for miles to get to, and they need quality neighborhood schools with good infrastructure instead.

Jitu Brown of the KenwoodOakland Community Organization said the proposed Obama school is further proof that CPS and Emanuel are trying to get out of the neighborhood school business. He said the mayor’s focus continues to be on select-enrollment and charter schools at the detriment of the city’s children.

“Most kids in this city are going to attend a neighborhood high school. That’s just a fact,” Brown said. “So, it would make better sense to focus on all of those types of schools. Instead, we as a city, continue to cater to the haves instead of the have not’s.”

Saturday, May 3, 2014

7

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

NIGHT FOR A KNIGHT! The Cultural Service at the Consulate General of France in Chicago, The Shrine, and The Bridge invite you to the award ceremony of Chicago Jazz Legend Kahil El’Zabar followed by a concert by the Bridge (a transcontinental collaboration between France and the United States to present creative music) and a special performance by Kahil El’Zabar with guest vocalist, Dwight Trible. On Monday, May 5, Dr. El’Zabar will be awarded the French Ministry of Culture Award Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres from Fabrice Rozié, Cultural Attaché at the French Consulate. Kahil El’Zabar is being recognized for his many accomplishments in the creative music field, as well as his tireless efforts in bridging international communities through arts education and cultural collaboration. This event will take place at The Shrine, 2109 S. Wabash, in Chicago, at 6 p.m.

The Award Ceremony is at 6:30 p.m., and at 7 p.m. Concert Bridge #4 will take place. At 8 p.m., a concert with Kahil El’Zabar and Dwight Trible will be featured. The public is invited to attend this musical celebration of French-American friendship as a salute to the knighthood of Kahil El’Zabar. The event is Free!

CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY WHITNEY YOUNG BRANCH HOSTS LOCAL AUTHORS AT THE ONGOING MEET THE AUTHOR SERIES IN MAY: Join the Chicago Public Library in May when CPL’s Whitney Young Branch, 7901 S. King Drive, hosts its springtime Meet the Author series. Meet and greet several emerging Chicago novelists and discover what inspires them as they read from and discuss their work. A question and answer session will follow the readings and books will be available for purchase at the events. Upcoming events: Tuesday, May 6 at 6 p.m. at the Whitney Young Branch - Marc R. Chambers talks about his book “Love Slaves,” a fictional tale about the hardships two slaves encounter when they fall in love on a small Delaware plantation in 1850.

On Thursday, May 8 at 6 p.m., JoAnn Fastoff discusses “The Smoke Ring: (A Howard Watson Intrigue),” the latest novel in her ongoing mystery-intrigue series featuring FBI Special Agent Howard Watson. Fastoff is the 2013 winner of the Excellence in Literature Award in Fiction from the African American Arts of Chicago. Visit chicagopubliclibrary.org for more information.

UPCOMING PROGRAM OPEN HOUSE AT SOUTH SUBURBAN COLLEGE: South Suburban College will be hosting several upcoming 8

Saturday, May 3, 2014

program specific Open Houses to assist prospective and current students with preparing their academic plan for the Summer 2014 Semester. One of the remaining Open House events is as follows: Court Reporting, Thursday, May 8, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., in Room 5190, Oak Forest Center. For inquiries about this session send email to LCooke@ssc.edu.

Registration for the Summer 2014 Semester is now in progress. Summer class sessions begin Monday, June 2 and Monday, June 9. Contact the Office of Admissions at 708210-5718 for enrollment information, or visit www.ssc.edu. SSC’s Main Campus is located at 15800 South State Street, South Holland, Illinois. The Oak Forest Center is located at 16333 South Kilbourn Avenue, Oak Forest, Illinois.

ART EXHIBITION AT THE HAROLD WASHINGTON LIBRARY CENTER: Everyday Beauty - Urban Life Through the Lens of Rajeshta Julatum is ONGOING through May 30 in the 8th Floor North Flat Cases at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State Street. In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Visual and Performing Arts department presents the photographs of Rajeshta Julatem. Taken with an iPhone native camera, these photographs document the beautiful lines, unique patterns, colors, architectural details, and interesting perspective seen in the urban environment. Rajeshta Julatum (@ Tono-Ariki) is a self-taught photographer based in Toronto, Canada. For more information, visit chicagopubliclibrary.org.

LIFE TIME OFFERS FREE TUESDAY SOCIAL RUNS TO TRAIN FOR 2014 MICHELOB ULTRA CHICAGO 13.1 MARATHON®: Life Time – The Healthy Way of Life Company is offering free outdoor social runs every Tuesday, led by one of Life Time’s run coaches in order to help athletes train for events such as the Chicago Half Marathon, 2014 Michelob Ultra Chicago 13.1 Marathon® produced and presented by Life Time, Chicago Marathon and more.

(Tuesday times depending on specific Life Time locations). This is a great way to connect, communicate and run with a local group of people who are passionate about running. Social runs are free and open to the public, with runners meeting at their closest Life Time Fitness location. For more information visit http://lifetimerun.com/Sub_Social/tuesday night socialrun.html. Register to be one of the first to start and finish the 2014 Michelob Ultra Chicago 13.1 Marathon®

benefiting the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. For more information and to register, please visit: www.131marathon.com/chicago/.

MUSIC BY THE LAKE SUMMER CONCERTS ON SALE: Tickets for the annual outdoor summer entertainment venue Music by the Lake are now on sale at musicbythelake.com or by contacting the ticket office at 262245-8501. This Annual summer festival features weekend concerts June 28 through August 17 in the Ferro Pavilion on the shores of Geneva Lake. The 2014 concert season features six artist debuts and a range of musical genres including contemporary, children’s music, classic rock and swing. The weekend summer series features performances spanning the decades from the 1940s boogie-woogie era to today. The lineup includes The Beach Boys; Blood, Sweat & Tears with Bo Bice; a Beatles 50th anniversary celebration with tribute band BritBeat; children’s recording artist Laurie Berkner; music of Elton John and Billy Joel in Jim Witter’s “Piano Men;” and Andrews Sisters-inspired singing troupe Ladies for Liberty.

KATHLEEN THERESE MEANY, president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, stated that “Illinois residents will be able to dispose of their household hazardous waste (HHW) in an environmentally-friendly manner on Saturday, May 3 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Moraine Valley Community College, 9000 W. College Parkway, Palos Hills, IL.” A complete list of waste that will and will not be accepted can be found at http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/hazardous-waste/household-haz-waste/hhwc-acceptable.html. Meany concluded by saying, “these products are harmful to the water environment, so it is important that residents use, store and dispose of them properly. Two additional HHW collections will be held in Cook County; on May 17, items may be brought to Countryside City Hall, 5550 East Ave., Countryside, and on June 28, items may be brought to Eisenhower High School, 12700 Sacramento Ave., Blue Island. Operating hours for both are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Extended Coverage tended.

Everyone takes a tumble now and then; oldsters seem to do it more frequently, and most often at home. You can take preventive steps to prevent falls in your home.

For instance: *** Bathrooms are high-risk locations. Place nonskid strips or a rubber mat in the tub or shower.

Install grab-bars in the tub and next to the toilet. Put a nonslip rug by the tub.

Milton E. Moses

*** How safe are your stairs? Be sure you have handrails, ideally on both sides. Repair any broken steps or loose carpet. Use bright lights with switches at top and bottom.

*** Your safety is our concern. We’re the protection people who insure you at Community Insurance Center, Inc., 526 E. 87th Street, your insurance headquarters. We have been serving the community since 1962. For more information about the services we provide, call (773) 651-6200. You can also reach us via email at: sales@communityinsurance.com or visit the website at www.communityins.com.

*** In the bedroom, a lamp, a nightlight and phone should be within easy reach. Hallways should be uncluttered. In all rooms, allow for clear walking paths. Keep all cords against the wall. *** Be sure there’s a sturdy stepstool in the kitchen so no one needs to stand on a chair to reach high shelves. Clean spills promptly.

Don’t leave a stove burning unatBLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

www.chicagocrusader.com

BUSINESS

Over $90M Lost to Foreclosure Rescue Scams Communities of color hit hard again

By Charlene Crowell Earlier this month Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette charged an organization known as Freedom by Faith Ministries with defrauding over 100 consumers in Southeast Michigan. The alleged crime: foreclosure rescue scams.

Unfortunately the circumstances that led to the Michigan lawsuit represent a continuation of a disturbing trend of profiteers seeking to financially exploit the misfortunes of troubled homeowners. The U.S. Government Accountability Office in 2013 found over 40,000 complaints of foreclosure fraud occurred nationwide and together totaled losses to homeowners of over $90 million.

Each year from 2010 through 2012, more than 18,000 foreclosure fraud complaints were filed beyond the 9,000 complaints received in 2009.

Foreclosure scammers typically demand large, upfront cash payments from troubled homeowners and advise homeowners to stop making mortgage payments. They also dupe their victims into sharing important personal information such as Social Security and bank account numbers. After payment is received, the scammers do little or no work to ob-

tection Bureau continues its complaint resolution and the Lawyers’ Committee continues its litigation, Foreclosure Rescue, Inc. recommendations call for more policy reforms:

tain a loan modification for the homeowners. In the process, homeowners fall deeper into delinquency and also lose valuable time that could have yielded better results.

Free services of a HUD-certified housing counselor are available nationwide to help negotiate with mortgage servicers. Many times these housing counselors facilitate securing options to avoid foreclosure such as home modifications, refinance, forbearance, short sales and more.

A new research report, Foreclosure Rescue, Inc. by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law finds that foreclosure scams are beginning to take new forms while still fraudulently taking money from distressed homeowners. Some scammers falsely claim government affiliation while others include improper involvement of legal and real estate professionals.

For example, in West Palm Beach, Florida, foreclosure rescue “consultants” held seminars to teach people how to make money off of distressed homeowners. In Atlanta, attorneys were reported to have been randomly solicited to sign up as “partners” or “affiliates” of foreclosure rescue operations. And in Long Island, New York, legitimate housing counselors unknowingly gave fraud actors pow-

ers of attorney to presumably talk to banks on behalf of homeowners.

“African-American and Latino homeowners, already victimized by targeted predatory lending, have been victimized by scams at disproportionate rates compared to their percentage of the population,” said Yolanda McGill, manager of the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network for the Lawyers’ Committee.

When a troubled homeowner’s race is taken into account, stark racial differences emerge. White homeowners represent 78 percent of the nation’s homeowners and together account for less than half – 47 percent – of complaints filed. By contrast, both Black and Latino homeowners combined represent 16 percent of the nation’s homeowners, their combined fraud complaints are nearly the same number as those filed by whites: 44 percent.

“Senior homeowners also are victimized at high rates and their average loss is higher than other groups,” continued McGill. “The Lawyers’ Committee and our federal state and community partners continue to fight back and put these scammers out of business, including through litigation.”

The Lawyers’ Committee litigation includes 14 lawsuits against loan scam operators whose collective efforts affected over 400 troubled homeowners. The lawsuits sought both monetary and injunctive relief.

So far, 50 scam operations have been shut down and over $500,000 has been recovered on behalf of homeowners. Additionally, those found guilty have been banned from future participation in mortgage assistance relief servicers.

As the Consumer Financial Pro-

cops or fire fighters, no one told young Welburn that there were no African Americans working as designers for GM or any other car manufacturer at that time. Even if they had, it is doubtful that they would have persuaded him to alter his plans.

“My parents knew there were no Blacks designing cars, that it would be a challenge to get into the field and I was on a mission,” Welburn recalled, chuckling. “They thought, ‘Well, maybe he should be a mechanic or something. No, he wants to be a car designer.’ So they did everything to help me realize that dream,” Welburn recalled several hours before speaking at the 50th anniversary summit of the 1964 Civil Rights Act at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, where GM served as the lead sponsor.

His father, Edward, Sr., who owned his own auto mechanic shop, encouraged his son to work on his car designs; his mother, Evelyn, made sure young Ed never strayed academically.

“As a kid, I was a slow reader,” Welburn remembered. “I didn’t like reading at all. My mother sent me to all kinds of special programs every weekend. Then, she discovered how I loved reading car magazines. I was age 10 when I got subscriptions to Hot Rod, Motor Trends, all of these.

I would read these magazines coverto-cover.”

When he was 11 years old, Wel-

burn wrote a letter to General Motors asking for advice on how to become a car designer. To his surprise, he got a detailed reply, including a recommendation to get a college education.

Welburn did that at Howard University, graduating in 1972 from its College of Fine Arts, where he studied sculpture and product design.

While enrolled as a student at Howard, he interned at General Motors.

He started his career at GM in 1972 as an associate designer in the Advanced Design Studios. The next year, he joined the Buick Exterior Studio, working on the Buick Riviera and Park Avenue. In 1975, he joined the Oldsmobile Exterior. In 1989, he was promoted to chief designer of the Oldsmobile Studio. In 1996, Welburn accepted a two-year assignment with Saturn, working mostly out of its Russelsheim, Germany studio.

He became director of GM’s Advanced Design studio in Warren, Mich. After several key assignments, he was named vice president of GM Design North America in 2003 and two years later was selected to fill the newly-created position of vice president for Global Design.

Welburn has repeatedly demonstrated that he knows how to connect with GM’s customers, having had a hand in the design of such best-sellers as the Cadillac Escalade, (Continued on page 13)

GENERAL MOTORS GLOBAL Design Vice President Ed Welburn with the all-new 2014 Corvette Stingray at the 2013 Amelia Island Concours Friday, March 8, 2013 on Amelia Island, Florida. (Photo by Paul Figura for Chevrolet)

Charlene Crowell

• Allowing homeowners to pursue private rights of actions; • Enacting state laws that broaden fraud definitions to include any stage of the scam process; and • Incorporating explicit government warnings to consumers regarding potential scammers and how to avoid fraud.

Created in the summer of 1963 by President John F. Kennedy, an initial meeting of 244 lawyers, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit providing legal services to address racial discrimination. Anyone desiring more information on state and national resources for foreclosure fraud should visit www.preventloanscams.org.

To file an online mortgage complaint with CFPB, visit www.consumerfinance.gov.

Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

GM’s Top Designer has Always Been Career Driven

By George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief AUSTIN, Texas (NNPA) – Though no one knew it at the time, the decision by Edward T. Welburn Jr.’s parents to take him to a local auto show in Philadelphia around the time he was learning his multiplication tables would shape the rest of his life.

“I’ve been drawing cars since I was 2 ½ ,” he told a small group of journalists over breakfast here. “At age 8, my parents took me to the Philadelphia Auto Show and I walked in and there was this concept car and I pointed at it and said, ‘When I grow up, I want to be a car designer for that company.’”

At 63 years old, Welburn has had plenty of time to grow up. And not only is he the top designer for General Motors, the company that designed the Cadillac Cyclone, the car that he fell in love with at the ripe age of 8, he is the company’s vice president for global design, responsible for the entire GM brand.

Welburn is the sixth person to head GM’s design team in the company’s 106-year history and the first appointed to supervise all 10 design studios around the world instead of just North America. He is the highest-ranking African American in the automobile industry.

At the time, he was first dreaming of designing cars, a period when his playmates were aspiring to become www.chicagocrusader.com

BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

Saturday, May 3, 2014

9

EDUCATION

Mayor Emanuel congratulates Lindblom Academy students Lindblom Math and Science Academy students represent Chicago at Qatar Debate World Championship Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited with students from Lindblom Math and Science Academy to celebrate their recent participation in the Qatar Debate World Championship, an all Arabic language debate competition, and their involvement with the new Center for Arabic Language and Culture at Lindblom. Lindblom was the only school representing the United States at the debate competition – a competition comprised of almost entirely native Arabic speakers.

“I congratulate and applaud the students at Lindblom Academy for their incredible accomplishments in learning Arabic and representing the City of Chicago and the United States in Doha,” said Emanuel.

“The Center for Arabic Language

and Culture at Lindblom is an excellent example of the innovative educational opportunities provided to Chicago’s students, efforts that are preparing students to extend their education beyond the classroom and across the world to build global connections and skillsets.”

Through a partnership with Chicago Public Schools and the Qatar Foundation International, the Center for Arabic Language and Culture at Lindblom Academy has become a premier resource for K-12 Arabic language and culture programs in Chicago. Lindblom Academy was the first high school in the city to offer a for-credit Arabic program and has grown to be the largest non-heritage for-credit programs in the U.S. In addition to improving their Arabic language skills, the Qatar Debate World Championship allowed students to develop meaning-

MAYOR EMANUEL MEETS and congratulates students from Lindblom Math and Science Academy (l to r) Lacharro Hawkins, Brenda Macias, Karina Reyes and Erin Nwachukwu on their recent participation in the Qatar Debate World Championship. (Photo by Patrick Pyszka) ful connections with students from Robert Lindblom Math and SciThe Center for Arabic Language Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and and Culture has facilitated numer- ence Academy is located in West other countries. ous opportunities for connecting Englewood on Chicago’s South Side Chicago students to Arabic speaking and draws students from all areas of students around the globe. These Chicago, with a student body that is projects include an annual online approximately 97 percent minority education chemistry project be- and approximately 80 percent lowtween CPS students and students in income. Lindblom offers a demandQatar and a 12-week theater project ing college preparatory curriculum between CPS students and students where all core courses are honors and Advanced Placement. in Egypt.

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly announces winners of Congressional Art Competition

LINDBLOM STUDENTS MAKING connections with students from other countries at the Qatar Debate World Championship.

Father of eight achieves milestone for family at Roosevelt When Curtis Strong walked across the stage of the Auditorium Theatre at the Roosevelt University graduation on May 2, he became a role

model to eight children and made history as the first in his family to receive a bachelor’s degree.

A resident of Chicago’s South

Congresswoman Kelly announced the winners of the Second Congressional District High School Art Competition on Saturday, April 26, during a ceremony in the Lee E. Dulgar Gallery, located at South Suburban College in South Holland.

James “Drew” Richardson, a resident of Chicago’s South Side and a student at Walter Payton High

CURTIS STRONG (top left) pictured with his son Joe Quan Hawthorne (top center), wife Regina Strong, daughters (middle row, left to right) Essence Hawthorne, Mahogany Hawthorne, Latisha Strong (bottom row, left to right) Zarie Hawthorne and Catrina Malone.

Shore neighborhood and a Mittie, Moselynne and Dempsey J. Travis Scholar, Strong, 43, achieved a milestone that he promised his parents and grandparents long ago – a college diploma that he was handed on the theatre stage while immediate and extended family look on.

“It means everything to me and it will show those I love, regardless of the situation, that getting an education is possible no matter the obstacles,” said Strong, who earned an associate’s degree with honors at Kennedy King College in 2012 and then finished his last two years of studies as a sociology major at Roosevelt University.

College was out of the question early on for Strong, who joined the U.S. Navy right out of high school at the Hyde Park Career Academy and served overseas during Operation Desert Storm. Upon returning home, Strong married and started a family, requiring him to look for work that included jobs as an electrician and dietary aide in a nursing home. As his family grew larger, Strong found himself with expand(Continued on page 13)

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BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

Saturday, May 3, 2014

School, won first place for his entry titled, “Train of Thought.” Drew’s artwork will be displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol. He will also receive round-trip airfare for two to Washington, D.C. to attend a reception for the winners from all the congressional districts.

“I’m very proud of the 25 talented students who created such imagina(Continued on page 14)

JAMES “DREW” RICHARDSON, first place winner of the Congressional Art Competition, pictured with his entry piece titled “Train of Thought” and Congresswoman Robin Kelly. www.chicagocrusader.com

COMMUNITY

Kids and Cops Bridge Dialogue Gap More than 70 youth and 40 law enforcement officers from throughout the Chicago Metropolitan Area came together for a Can You Hear Me Now? Kids & Cops Dialogue on April 16 at the Chicago Public Safety Headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave., in Chicago. The event, designed to bridge the gap between law enforcement and young people, was sponsored by Chicago Area Project’s Youth As Resources program in collaboration with NOBLE (National Organization for Blacks on Law Enforcement) and the Chicago Police Department.

First Deputy Superintendent Alfonza Wysinger and Chief Eugene Williams, president of the National

The dialogue was kicked off by a dynamic poem performance by youth from LYRIC Mentoring (Let Your Rhymes Inspire Creativity).

The performance focused on the negative effects of stereotyping and was used by Youth As Resources Emcee Cesario Williams to invite the audience to share their stories of being stereotyped during a police encounter.

Chicago Police Officer Denise Gathings from the Second District talked about her experience of being stereotyped while out of uniform.

The incident occurred when she and her family had gathered on her mother’s front porch for a ball game.

Officer Gathings noticed some men

FIRST DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT Alfonza Wysinger (left) is pictured with David E. Whittaker, executive director of Chicago Area Project, and Chicago Area Project’s Youth As Resources Board members Naimi Melendez and Tametrius Files.

Organization for Blacks in Law En- down the block selling drugs and forcement (NOBLE) from the went upstairs and called the police.

Chicago Police Department, wel- However, when the police arrived, comed the youth and law enforce- the responding officers drove right ment participants. First Deputy Su- past the drug dealers and descended perintendent Wysinger explained on her family. Officer Gathings fithat the building the meeting was nally had to ask to speak to a superheld in used to be called the Chicago visor and revealed that she was a poPolice Headquarters. In 2011, the lice officer in order to diffuse the Chicago Fire Department moved situation. “Police officers and their into the building and it became the children go through the same issues Chicago Safety Headquarters. He that you go through,” she told the capped off his welcome by urging teens in the audience. the young people to “Study Hard Other officers and youth includand Reach for the Stars!” ing Second Police District Explorer Chief Williams thanked Chicago Cadet Tony Newman, 18, also Area Project and its Youth As Re- shared their negative stereotyping source program for coming together experiences. Newman also stressed with the National Organization for the importance of remaining calm if Blacks in Law Enforcement to help the police stop you. “When you are foster better interaction between law stopped, ask questions, but let them enforcement and youth. do their job,” he said. “Don’t put

YOUTH AS RESOURCES Board Member Arnetra Jackson talks about how she turned her life around during a recent event to encourage dialogue between youth and law enforcement. www.chicagocrusader.com

BLACKS IN LAW Enforcement is pictured with (l-r) Youth As Resources Board Member Antonio Monix, Aftan Brown, Dispatcher with the Country Club Hills Police Department, David E. Whittaker, executive director of Chicago Area Project, YAR Board Member Cesario and Chief John Richardson from the University of Illinois Police during Can You Hear Me Now?, a Kids & Cops Dialogue on April 16 at the Chicago Public Safety Headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave. in Chicago. The event was sponsored by Chicago Area Project/Youth As Resources in collaboration with NOBLE and the Chicago Police Department. your hands in your pockets or have a village to raise a child. “If that a red light and crashing into a utility doesn’t happen,” he said, “It will stay pole. The discussion focused on an attitude.”

Youth As Resources Board Mem- like this.” questions like: “In what order do The Can You Hear Me Now? Kids you hold the characters in this story ber Arnetra Jackson stressed the fact responsible for the tragedy” and “How could the characters have shown more caring towards Pat?” Small group facilitator Sandra Sosa from Chicago Area Project then had the small groups share their responses to the questions.

The larger discussion combined with the small group sessions are part of the CAP/YAR Can You Hear Me Now? method of using interactive communication techniques to foster better communicaYOUTH FROM LYRIC Mentoring (Let Your Rhymes Inspire Creativity) performed a poem that looked at the problem of stereotyping. that positive experiences can turn & Cops Dialogue meeting also fealives around. Her own experiences tured small group break out sesin a suburban environment com- sions. Each group was asked to read bined with her involvement in things like Chicago Area Project’s Youth As Resources program helped her turn her life around.

Chicago Police Officer Paul Chester from CPD Human Resources spoke about how he became an officer dedicated to being a positive force in the lives of young people. He transformed from a “lock you up” police officer into one who recruits high school youth for the police academy and giving young people information on dealing with the police. “I focus on you having the information you need to live to- CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER Denise Gathings from the Second morrow,” he said.

The depth of the discussion led District talks about her experiChicago Police Officer Terry Hop- ence of being stereotyped while kins to get up and praise the Can out of uniform.

You Hear Me Now? Kids & Cops “The Pat Story,” and then discuss it.

Dialogue. “We should take this back The story was about Pat, an 18-yearto the neighborhoods,” he said. old raised by a dysfunctional family Participants agreed with that idea. who is kicked out of an independent Ques Hammonds from LYRIC living program. Pat hot wires a car Mentoring spoke about how it takes and is tragically killed after running BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

TONY NEWMAN, AN Explorer Cadet with Chicago Police Department’s Second District talks about the importance of remaining calm when stopped by the police like he was while not wearing his cadet uniform. “When you are stopped, ask questions, but let them do their job,” he said. “Don’t put your hands in your pockets or have an attitude.” tion between law enforcement and teens and young adults. The April 16 meeting is part of a series of the Kids & Cops YAR Dialogue series.

(Continued on page 17) Saturday, May 3, 2014

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ENTERTAINMENT

By Raymond Ward OLD SCHOOL: In celebration of the extraordinary career of jazz legend Kahil El’Zabar, the DuSable Museum of African American History is pleased to present “An Evening with Jazz Great – Kahil El’Zabar.”

The event will take place on Saturday, May 10, beginning at 7:00 PM at the Museum, which is located at 740 East 56th Place (57th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue) in Chicago.

The event will begin at 7:00 PM with a screening of “Be Known,” a documentary which explores the life and career of jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer Kahil El’Zabar. Immediately following at 9:00 PM will be a performance by The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble featuring Kahil El’Zabar, Corey Wilkes and Ernest Dawkins.

Internationally acclaimed musician Kahil El’Zabar, is a multi-award winning percussionist/composer/band leader. He is also an accomplished educator, arts presenter/organizer and cultural activist. Music holds no bounds for El’Zabar. He has performed and collaborated with artists from diverse genres such as: Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Harris, Nona Hendryx, Pharaoh Sanders, Donny Hathaway, Paul Simon, Lester Bowie, Cannonball Adderly, poet Ntozake Shange and rock group Poi Dog Pondering. Kahil also founded and has led the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and the Ritual Trio for over 30 years. He is the creator, composer and conductor of the internationally renowned Infinity Orchestra, which is a multi-cultured, large ensemble of internationally acclaimed musicians. As a composer El’Zabar is heralded for his arrangements of Disney’s theatrical version of The Lion King. He has also scored music for feature films such as Mo’ Money, Love Jones and How Do You Like Me Now? Kahil El’Zabar’s commitment to community as a cultural activist and

By Elaine Hegwood Bowen, MSJ

Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series and Geoffrey Fletcher create magic

educator has inspired for him a life of service. He was Chairman of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) from 1975 -1983. He was a co-founder and board member of The National Campaign for the Freedom of Expression from 1984 – 1987. He created and curated the Traffic Series for Steppenwolf Theater and was also the Arts Administrator for the AACM and FEPA (Form for the Evolution of Progressive Arts).

As an educator El’Zabar has taught at the University of Arizona, Tucson from 1980-1983; University of Nebraska, Lincoln, from 19841990; University of Illinois from 1991-1996, El’Zabar became Artist in Residence for the City of Bordeaux, France through the Ministry of Culture from 2000-present. He has sat on panels for The National Endowments for the Arts, the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, and the National Performance Network.

Kahil’s current commission is a collaboration with the acclaimed sculptor Lucy Slivinski, entitled “Elevation Project.” “Elevation” is an inter-disciplinary arts multi-media project entailing performance, exhibition and text.

Admission to “An Evening with Jazz Great – Kahil El’Zabar” is $10 per person for DuSable Museum Members and $15 per person General Admission.

BOMBAY SAPPHIRE IMAGINATION SERIES 2014 winners from left: Chris Cornwell, Allyson Morgan, Maite Fernandez, Geoffrey Fletcher, Kiara Jones and Anthony Khaseria.

During the recent Tribeca Film bay Sapphire you wouldn’t hear ing and, as another group of highly Festival in New York, which was their voices and their stories.” talented filmmakers’ work is realfounded by Robert DeNiro after Fletcher shared with the Crusader ized, we look forward to similar suc9/11 to bring the artistic and film his delight in receiving submissions cesses in 2014,” said Heide Cohu, communities together, Oscar award- from across the globe.

Global Marketing Excellence Direcwinning screenwriter Geoffrey “We were thrilled to see the reach tor, Bombay Sapphire.

Fletcher hosted a private premiere of the program expand as it did.

The 2014 Imagination Series films party of five short films that aspiring This year the number of entries included: filmmakers from across the globe doubled from last year with 1,300, “Exit Log” from Chris Cornwell created, based upon the same script and they came from 68 countries!”

(UK): offered by Fletcher, with no further Fletcher, who earned an Oscar for In 2249, two space engineers’ jourdescription or assistance. his screenplay for the movie “Pre- ney through deep space takes a draWith such eclectic interpretations cious,” is happy to give back to the matic turn when they discover an on show, including a dramatic real- film community. “I started writing emergency message from the past. ization set in space, a love story with and directing films at the age of 14 They’ll have just three minutes to a dark twist and a fantastical world when my parents gave me my first decipher the message and decide surrounded by living street art, view- movie camera. I made countless their fate forever. ers were taken on an exciting and movies starring kids from the neigh“Reflections” from Anthony thought-provoking journey, as each borhood or animated films starring Khaseria (UK): filmmaker’s contrasting and creative my brothers’ old action figures. The A beautiful couple in beautiful survisions were brought to life. interpretations in this competition roundings - it should have been the The competition, which is in its were astounding, and it was a great start of the ultimate love story. But a second year, and party were spon- surprise to see these talented film- romantic meal turns dark and fansored by Bombay Sapphire. “Their makers take the exact same frame- tastical when they discover a hidden support of this exciting and impor- work of a story to such varied and mirror which shows their true reflectant initiative allows Tribeca and its inspired places,” he said. “Opportu- tion. filmmakers to be at the forefront of nities are so rare these days, but there “Graffiti Area” from Maite Ferfestival innovation and cutting-edge is so much talent out there. I would nandez (Spain): storytelling. With this showcase of have loved a break like this when I A mesmerizing look at the inexshort filmmaking from the Bombay started out.” plicable and unpredictable nature of Sapphire Imagination Series 2014, Having secured the accolade of the our own fears. When two young Bombay Sapphire and Tribeca are a 2014 British Short Film BAFTA, for graffiti artists start painting, the grafunique creative partnership,” said one of last year’s films, “Room 8,” fiti takes on a monstrous life of its Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Bombay Sapphire is looking for- own. Can they escape their own creOfficer of Tribeca Enterprise. ward to the release of this year’s ation, or even themselves?

John Patricof, President of Tribeca films. “The Imagination Series cele“The Other Side of the Game” Enterprises added: “I’m continually brates creativity and is committed to from Kiara Jones (USA): amazed by the caliber of work that the intrinsic beauty of film as an art A newly married couple is battling you see from the filmmakers and form. Year on year we continue to to get out alive from an unfamiliar artists all over the world, who with- support and offer a platform to cre- hostage situation in this taut psychoout the work of Tribeca and Bom- ative and innovative ways of think(Continued on page 13)

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Kahil El’Zabar,

Saturday, May 3, 2014

www.chicagocrusader.com

NEWS

Illinois High School Musical Theater Awards In celebration of outstanding achievement in high school musical theater performances, Broadway In Chicago announced the award recipients of the Third Annual Illinois High School Musical Theater Awards: Jonah Rawitz of Buffalo Grove, IL (Adlai E. Stevenson High School) and Julia Lindsey Whitcomb of Belvidere, IL (Belvidere North High School) who will represent the state of Illinois at The Jimmy™ Awards in New York on June 30, 2014.

Coal City High School was awarded the Grosh Scenic Design Award, a newly-established honor for High School Musical Scenic

Design, for their production of SHREK THE MUSICAL. Broadway In Chicago crafted a full day of workshops with theatre professionals for the twenty-four finalists that culminated in a performance on stage at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. During the day, finalists auditioned for a panel of casting agents and theater professionals who chose the recipients of performance awards, as well as the newly-established honor for High School Musical Scenic Design, The Grosh Scenic Design Award.

In addition to the day of workshops featuring the Associate

Choreographer of NEWSIES, the twenty-four finalists will receive tickets to see NEWSIES in Chicago (playing the Oriental Theatre Dec. 10, 2014 – Jan. 4, 2015).

Award recipient Julia Lindsey Whitcomb said, “Going to New York and performing on a Broadway stage seemed so impossible, and so far away that when I heard my name, I legitimately thought it was a mistake...too good to be true! I feel incredibly blessed!”

Jonah Rawitz added, “I am blown away by this once in a lifetime opportunity, and I feel very humble to have been part of such (Continued on page 19)

Julia Lindsey Whitcomb

GM’s Top Designer has Always Been Career Driven (Continued from page 9) Hummer H2, Chevrolet Avalanche and the SSR, a retro hot-rod pickup.

Getting to the top of his craft, means that Welburn has to be on the road a lot, traveling to 10 design studios in the United States and six other countries: Germany, Korea, China, Australia, Brazil and India.

“It’s kind of interesting to sit in traffic and see a family in one of your latest products and see how happy they are. That feels very good,” he said.

Welburn said it also feels very good to see the joy in the eyes of designers when he accepts one of their ideas.

“When a young designer’s design is picked and I say, ‘That’s the design we’re going with,’ it just…”Welburn’s smile completes the unfinished sentence. “And it doesn’t matter if they’re 20 years old or 50 years old – it’s like they are 14.”

When asked about the most difficult part of his job, Welburn is succinct: “Managing 2,500 creative individuals in a corporate world.”

Judging by the awards, he has managed well.

In 2008, the Chevrolet Malibu was named North American Car of the Year. In 2010, the Chevrolet Ca-

And the president would know. His official limousine, sometimes dubbed Cadillac One or Limo One, was built on the Cadillac DTS model.

Though Welburn’s dream of becoming a car designer never extended to meeting the first Black president of the United States, he is as exuberant about his career choice

now as he was when his parents took him to that memorable auto show in Philadelphia.

“I have so much fun doing what I do –I really do,” he said. “It’s not easy and there are significant challenges every day. But it’s soooo much fun.”

ED WELBURN LIVING his dream. maro was picked the 2010 World powerful leader in the world was sitCar Design of the Year and in 2011, ting next to the highest-ranking the Chevrolet Volt, a revolutionary African American in the automobile electric car, was selected North industry.

American Car of the Year.

“He just let me know how proud he The significance of Welburn’s con- was with the work that I do, and I was tributions to the turnaround at GM just like ‘Wow,’” Welburn told rewas underscored last year at the porters. “At the very last vehicle, he Washington Auto Show when he just remarked that the design of GM and President Obama sat alone in a cars have gotten so much better in the 2012 Chevrolet Malibu. The most past few years.”

Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series (Continued from page 12) logical thriller. You won’t expect what happens next.

“Need for Speed (Dating)” from Allyson Morgan (USA): Nate and Polly have the perfect relationship. A nice house, a white picket fence. There’s just one problem – the relationship is just a dream. In this lighthearted comedy, Polly tries to find her dream date at a speed dating event. But will anyone live up to her dream boyfriend?

Bombay Sapphire aims to inspire people into expanding their minds, thinking differently to reveal more about themselves and their imaginations. The team at Bombay Sapphire believes everyone has imagination and therefore aims to give everyone the opportunity to be inwww.chicagocrusader.com

spired, and to infuse their imagination with Bombay Sapphire.

Fletcher voiced similar sentiments, while encouraging aspiring artists. “I encourage people to never give up in the pursuit of their dreams and that they may need to create their own opportunities. Being resourceful to overcome obstacles is sometimes hard but, ultimately, it often helps you grow as an artist and a person.”

To view the films, visit www.youtube.com/BombaySapphire.

Motown the Musical extension Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy, along with Broadway In Chicago, announced that due to popular demand, Motown the Musical has added four weeks to its Chicago engagement. The national tour

launched at the Oriental Theatre last week and will now play 16 weeks, through August 9, before continuing on its national tour across North America. The final block of tickets for performances July 15 through August 9 is now on sale.

Featuring more than 50 classic hits such as “My Girl” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Motown the Musical tells the story behind the hits as Diana, Smokey, Berry and the whole Motown family fight against the odds to create the soundtrack of change in America. Motown shattered barriers, shaped our lives and made us all move to the same beat.

For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com or www.MotownTheMusical.com. Also call the ticket line at (800) 775-2000.

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ARTS AND CULTURE

International musical sensation “Les Misérables” at Oak Brook theater In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Drury Lane Theatre, presents the legendary musical “Les Misérables,” running through June 8.

Directed by multi-Jeff Award winner Rachel Rockwell, the cast is led by Ivan Rutherford, Jeff Award-winner Quentin Earl Darrington and Jennie Sophia.

The sweeping tale of “Les Misérables” features a book by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and music by ClaudeMichel Schönberg. Based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel, “Les Misérables” travels through three turbulent decades of 19th century France. Steeped with romance, passion, suspense and humanity, it is the story of the fugitive Jean Valjean, who is in a lifelong struggle to evade being captured as he is relentlessly pursued by the sanctimonious Inspector Javert. “Les Misérables” is the winner of more than 50 international theater awards, including eight 1987 Tony Awards (two of which were for Best Musical and Best Score).

The musical has been translated into 21 different languages and has been seen by more than 65

QUENTIN EARL DARRING TON as Inspector Javert. million people worldwide.

“Les Misérables” also stars Jeff Award-winner Mark David Ka-

plan, Sharon Sachs, Skyler Adams, Emily Rohm, and Travis Taylor, among others.

I was able to catch a performance of this amazing musical, which I had never previously seen.

From beginning to end, the artists were magnificent, in a sensational story that is timeless and good for all ages. For 30 years, Drury Lane Theatre has been a major force on the Chicagoland theater scene.

During that time, 10,208 performances have been staged, 7,683 actors have been employed, and thousands of people have enjoyed the venue’s 308 productions and concerts. Additionally, Drury Lane has hired more than 10,000 musicians, designers and crew members.

The performance schedule for “Les Misérables” is as follows: Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. ($45), Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. ($45) and 8 p.m. ($50), Fridays at 8 p.m. ($60), Saturdays at 5 p.m. ($60), and 8:45 p.m. ($60), and Sundays at 2 p.m. ($60), and 6 p.m. ($55).

Lunch and dinner theatre packages are available. Student group tickets start at $30 and senior citizens start at $40 for matinees and

IVAN RUTHERFORD as Jean Valjean and David Girolmo. $55 for a matinee luncheon pack- 630.530.0111, call TicketMaster age. For reservations, call the at 800.745.3000 or visit Drury Lane Theatre box office at www.drurylane.com.

Trumpet virtuosi Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer featured on Chicago Chamber Musicians’ FREE First Monday Concert May 5, 2014

The Chicago Chamber Musicians (CCM) will feature CCM Ensemble trumpeters Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer plus guest artists She-e Wu, vibraphone and Rachael Kerr, piano, on May 5 with works

by Stacy Garrop (b. 1969) David Sampson (b. 1951), and Brian Prechtl, as part of the FREE First Monday Series Concert in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center.

For 27 years, CCM has partnered with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to produce these monthly lunchhour concerts at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall, 78 E. Washington St. The programs begin at 12:15 p.m. and are also broadcast live on Chicago’s 98.7 WFMT. For more information, call 312-819-5800 or visit www.chicago- chambermusic.org.

Trumpet virtuosi Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer, with Rachael Kerr on piano, will be featured for Stacy Garrop’s Trumpets of Jericho, a work they premiered last February.

Garrop describes the work as portraying the biblical event in which trumpeters “circle the walls of Jericho seven times and triumphantly bring down the walls amidst trumpet blasts.”

David Sampson’s Three Sides for Trumpet, Vibraphone and Piano (2009) features Barbara Butler trum pet, She-e Wu, vibraphone and 14

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Chamber Musicians (CCM) is currently celebrating its 27th season as a society of musicians and music devotees committed to building an internationally recognized chamber music institution in Chicago. Since its inception, CCM has launched a critically and popularly-acclaimed subscription series; a touring program; the annual Family Concerts; and a remarkable set of community service programs. Remaining concerts on its Signature Series includes: May 18/19 Convivial Conversations.

CCM continues its long-running collaboration with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and 98.7WFMT to present the free First Monday Concert Series in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center.

A leader in new music, CCM has Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler Rachael Kerr, piano. Composer-inResidence for the Colonial Symphony Orchestra (1998-2007), David Sampson received a 2006 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Charles Geyer, narrates Brian Prechtl’s Lucky to be Born, which also calls for trumpet and vibraphone. The work received its world premiere at the Grand Teton Music Festival on August 10, 2010. Mr. Prechtl has been a percussionist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2003. Before joining the BSO, he was a member of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic in Fort Wayne, Indi-

ana for 14 seasons. As a composer, Mr. Prechtl has had world premiere performances at the Grand Teton Music Festival, at the Eastman School of Music and in Baltimore.

CCM is proud to announce its receipt of an Aaron Copland Foundation Grant honoring CCM’s programming of music by six American composers celebrating their 75th birthdays this year: William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Frederic Rzewski, Joan Tower, Charles Wuorinen and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.

About CCM Founded in 1986, The Chicago

commissioned 18 new works and collaborated with eminent composers such as John Corigliano, John Harbison, Aaron Jay Kernis, George Perle, Paquito D’Rivera, Richard Wilson, Joan Tower, and the late Peter Lieberson with recordings on labels: Summit Records, Naxos Records, Cedille Records, and Pollyrhythm Productions. In September 2013, CCM released its latest recording The Coming of Light on the Summit label.

CCM is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, the Julius N. Frankel Foundation, the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation and BentleyForbes.

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly announces . . .

(Continued from page 6)

tive artwork,” Rep. Kelly said. “The judges had a difficult task choosing the best from many remarkable pieces. My thanks also go out to the art teachers for guiding the talent and creativity of their students.”

The second place winner was Loreta Sutkus, a student at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, for her piece titled, “Power Up the System.”

The third place winner was Isabel Angulo, of Thornton High School, for “Special Deliveries.”

Three students received honorable mentions:

BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

Nathan Williams, of Bloom Trail High School, for “Fairy Tale.”

Ricky Palmer of HomewoodFlossmoor High School, for “I Came to Meditate to My Flute Music.”

Jamaal Gayles, of HomewoodFlossmoor High School, for “The Shame of Us.” Twenty-five students representing five high schools and the Tall Grass Arts Association submitted entries.

The high school art competition was established by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 to acknowledge and support the artistic talent of America’s young adults. www.chicagocrusader.com

SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING

A Moment to Super Size Your Thinking

By Effie Rolfe What’s Your Calling? After all these years of speaking, writing and being in the broadcast industry, I still find myself asking God—am I really doing your will?

It seems when I ask—a sudden desire to fulfill my purpose and mission to complete unfinished business comes alive. A few days ago, I was sharing with a friend the need to be fiercely aggressive about your destiny. We are in a race against time. Now is the time to diligently seek God’s wisdom for every aspect of your life. My mentor, Les Brown said if you don’t be territorial about your life, your time and destiny—someone or something else will occupy it. You must take it, before it takes you. My Pastor, John Hannah, always says “I need God like a fish needs water.”

Concerning our life—we need God’s wisdom in all we do. Thank-

Effie Rolfe

fully, He gives wisdom generously and freely. All we have to do is ask.

Your life depends on.

At this point in life, you need to be sure of your calling. There is no room for careless mistakes that could cause a set back of 20 years.

So in addition to wisdom, pray for insight and perception. You need detailed instructions to know your next move. Ask and God will give you a sense of knowing. It may be a request to do something, a dream or spoken word but someway you will get your answer.

What do you do well? What makes you feel alive? What gives purpose to your life and value to others? Don’t think about the negatives such as what you don’t have.

Right now, think about what you do have and begin to put those attributes to use. Moving forward, if you can enhance your gifts and talents, by all means do so but don’t allow the lack of confidence

to stop you from progressing. Forget about fear and work through the fear. Use what you got. What’s in your hand? Remember, God can take what you think is little to change the world. His desire is to get the glory and bless hearts. Will you allow yourself to be used? You have no excuse. God has used murderers—look at the life of Apostle Paul. Throughout the bible he has used liars, prostitutes, cheaters and even a donkey. Surely he can use you. Little becomes much when you place it in the Master’s hand.

What is your calling? Remember, the 3 most important days are when you were born, when you discover why you are born and when you begin to do what you were born to do. So sit down, be quiet—pray and seek God for the answer. Think about what puts a smile on your face. Think about what you would do for free. When

you love what you do—it’s no longer work—it’s your passion. In your passion—you will find your purpose. Chances are—you are already doing it and have been for quite some time. So often, we overlook the forest for the trees.

Your gift is right there—use it.

Walk in the area that has been destined for you. The minute you start, the sooner you bless yourself and the world. Most importantly, the sooner, God gets the glory.

The calling and purpose for your life is God’s gift to you. How you use it is your gift to God. Are your walking in our calling….? ©Effie Rolfe is the author of “Supersize Your Thinking,” a Media Personality and Motivational Speaker. You can visit my website: effierolfe.com or follow me at twitter.com/effiedrolfe.

The Crusader Gospel Corner Congratulations to Pastor Floyd D. James and the Greater Rock Missionary Baptist Church who recently held a $750,000 mortgage burning service. Their motto is “The Church designed with the

Pastor Floyd D. James Community in Mind.” Greater Rock’s Senior Pastor, Rev. Floyd D. James started an aggressive fundraising effort at the beginning of 2014 and in less than three months the church was able to raise over $63,000 by church committees formed in the names of the books of the Bible. “Today we move from maintenance to ministry,” said Rev. James. He cited the church’s mortgage indebtedness as a barrier to service. The church has immediate plans to increase the services it provides to the community including a day care center as well as their Drug and Alcohol ministry. The Breakfast of Champions for young males 12-18 years will be held on May 3. Other outreach services will include providing summer jobs; college scholarships; job readiness workshops business incubator; the West Side Churches www.chicagocrusader.com

Unity Back To School Prayer Service/Concert as well as the Health Ministry including Cancer Survivor and Prevention Program. *** Pastor John F. Hannah and New Life Covenant Southeast invites you to Our Cry—His Response an NLC worship experience featuring Stellar Award gospel recording artist, Kierra “Kiki” Sheard on May 2 at Christ Universal Temple, 11901 S. Ashland. Valencia Lacy, Director of the NLC music ministry also penned the Stellar Award single “Yes,” which landed on top of the billboard charts and became an international anthem for Shekinah Glory Ministry. Earlier this month, Lacy appeared on the Steve Harvey TV Show on NBC and the NLC Praise Team

Pastor Janice Donelson and Jehovah Jireh Prayer Ministry invites you to begin your week with prayer and the word of God at the Everlasting Word Church, 22 Highland Avenue in Aurora at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 5. Guest speaker is Pastor Valencia Hunley of Complete in Christ Ministries.

For more information call 630229-5068. *** BRL (Bold. Right. Life) Chicago Chapter will hold its “3rd Annual Touching The Generation Awards” on May 15 in Matteson at 7 p.m. The youth organization

Kierra “Kiki” Sheard

Valencia Lacy performed the song. The recording is a free event. The doors open at 6 p.m. and the concert begins at 7 p.m. For more information call 773-285-1731 or nlclive@newlifesoutheast.org. ***

was founded by Kierra “KiKi” Sheard to tackle the spirit of ignorance forced upon today’s youth by nurturing them spiritually and naturally in the Word of God and to proclaim that we are not ashamed to live a Bold, Righteous Life for Christ. BRL is motivated by this scripture, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a

future and a hope” Jeremiah 29:11. Originally structured as a choir, BRL has expanded to now include a drama and dance ministry.

BRL Chicago Chapter is excited to bring such a phenomenal event to the Chicagoland area and this year will honor extraordinary talent that’s blazing their craft, TGA recognizes individuals who have made positive impacts in the lives of people across the globe touching many generations. This anticipated event will be taped for television and hosted by Keno Greer of 102.3 FM Street Sermons. Honorees include Commissioned (including Fred Hammond), Richard Smallwood, Kim Burrell, Lecrae, Pastors Kimberly Ray and Grant Allison, Apostles Marshall Davis and Ron Wilson, WCIU Judge Greg Mathis and video award acceptance

by Kirk Franklin. Also, performances by the Maranatha Singers, Tanesha Jefferson, BRL Quad City Dancers, Ryan Booker, BRL Chicago, Arkutek, BRL Chicago Dance, BRL Phaze II, Just Friends and JMJ. A very special appearance during the event will be BRL’s Founder, Kierra “KiKi” Sheard.

It promises to not only celebrate great work, but also provide a platform to further expose, promote and celebrate the gospel through music. “Every young person can’t af-

Kirk Franklin ford to go to Stellar Awards, so BRL Chicago and myself with support of our leader Kierra Sheard wanted to give youth a chance to celebrate with some of their favorite artists and positive influences who have paved the way and are currently making major moves,” says Eric Rideout, BRL Liaison.

Pastor Trunell and Rev. Dr. Alexis Felder of New Faith Baptist Church International are host pastors. General admissions tickets are $15 and are available at New Faith. For more information about BRL Chicago and upcoming events, please go tohttp://www.brlchi.com/, www.facebook.com/BRLChicago or feel free to email: chicagobrl@gmail.com.

Phone: 773-359-3485 or 708-7201318.

Send Your Church News Send your church news to the Chicago Crusader, Newspaper at 6429 S. King Dr., Chicago, IL 60637 or by email: crusaderil@aol.com, by fax to 773-752-2817. Please email pictures in JPEG format only and do not email flyers. For more information call 773-752-2500.

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HEALTH

University of Chicago Medicine hosts its Twelfth Annual Day of Community Service The University of Chicago Medicine launched its first Annual Day of Service and Reflection in 2002 under the former Vice President of Community Affairs, Michelle Obama, now First Lady. The work, which will take place Saturday, May 10, is a part of the medical center’s mission to introduce faculty, employees, university students and their families to the assets of the city’s South Side. The service day engages community based organizations to work with University of Chicago Medicine in partnership on projects identified and directed by the host organizations.

The Day of Service event began with 32 hospital employees traveling to a handful of sites and now work

crews of 5-30 persons are bussed to twenty-five South Side locations.

The medical center also collaborates with corporate partners like the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, which also serves sites on Chicago’s South Side.

“It’s an honor to partner with a healthcare organization that serves the community in so many different capacities, and to join with them in one of their biggest days of service,” says Wendy DuBoe, President and CEO, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago.

Service projects range from prepping and cooking for homeless shelters, cleaning, painting and gardening. Selected projects receive a stipend that ensures that they have

VOLUNTEERS SORT CANNED goods for a local food pantry.

GARDENING IS A popular project, last year over 14 of the projects were organic gardens.

As a result of relationships built Gardener and manager of over 61 adequate supplies on hand to complete the work. “Over the years not through sweat equity, several site gardens.

The Urban Health Initiative is the only have we served the sites on the partners have become consultants Day of Service but a number of for other community health pro- University of Chicago Medicine’s community outreach engine and deeper partnerships have evolved. grams.

Although almost any project that through a recently conducted ComThe Radiology Department has found a special place in their hearts can be completed in a half day is eli- munity Health Needs Assessment for the Olive Branch Mission in gible for support, gardening is a fa- will focus additional attention in the Marquette Park, and they return to vorite. “As we learn about the im- areas of: access to care, pediatric obethe Mission to help whenever they portant role that fresh fruits and sity, pediatric asthma, diabetes, can,” says Susan Peters, Community vegetables play in wellness, it is no breast and colorectal cancer. wonder that the projects for the day Relations Manager. of service are heavily weighted toFor more information about the wards organizations with organic University of Chicago Medicine’s gardens.” says Gregory Bratton, Urban Health Initiative visit City of Chicago certified Master http://uhi.uchospitals.edu/ is talking about would have a favorable economic impact on a distressed part of the city, and benefit Chicago as a whole.

Several years ago the city was looking at developing a major movie/television production facility on the West Side near Fifth Avenue and Kostner. For whatever reason that good idea did not happen there but it did become a reality in the Little Village area where Cinescape is housed. The museum would be an ideal fit for he Fifth Avenue location given it is still a huge vacant parcel.

One location that keeps getting MEDICAL CENTER PRESIDENT O’Keefe rallies the troops mentioned for a possible presiden- before. she heads to her site assignment. tial library is the site of the former Michael Reese Hospital. It is cityowned land so a non-profit like the (Continued from page 6) library would be a perfect fit for the property. However none of the better than the administrators at has been “displaced” have grounds South Side alderman seems to be the University of Georgia who de- for a lawsuit? What impact will nied Charlayne Hunter Gault and Roberts have on race matters in touting its advantages.

It is not hard work putting togeth- Hamilton Harris admission, de- the future? While Justice Soer the specifics about the possible spite their qualifications. This tomayor is on the court to check sites, the facts that locating the li- court has legalized educational him, and while her opinions will brary there would create opportuni- segregation, and Sonia Sotomay- have some weight, she and her ties for scores, if not hundreds of or’s blistering attack on her col- colleagues will not be able to outBlack folks to open businesses relat- leagues reflects the sentiments of vote the historically myopic coalied to the library’s existence in our millions of people who are tired of tion.

Roberts led the cabal that this Court trampling on their part of town. slammed the door in the faces of The Black aldermen need to step rights and history. people of color. His justice is a Justice John Roberts is 59 years up to the plate and make sure Black “just us” attempt to reinforce Chicago is in the mix regarding old. He attended college when white privilege. these projects, or step down and people of color were admitted bestop perpetrating the fraud that cause of race conscious policies.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is a What are his resentments toward they are our “representative.”

DC based economist and auhis classmates who, equally qualithor, and President Emerita of fied, may have “displaced” some Bennett College for Women.

Cortez Wilmington of his friends? Does everyone who

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (Continued from page 4) ment of Corrections’ Parole Division, which has even less resources than the prison system. Parole agents frequently have caseloads of 100 or more parolees and often can do nothing more than check on them once a month.

The only thing McCarthy’s mandatory minimums will do is pack more people into our already overcrowded prison and parole systems, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and robbing us of the resources we need to address the root causes of violence by investing in jobs, education, and families and ensuring that enough police officers are on our streets.

What Illinois needs is comprehensive criminal justice reform. What our constituents and communities need is not more prisons but greater investment in safety, wellbeing and opportunities for the people who live here. What Chicago needs is a Superintendent of Police who is more interested in promoting real solutions to crime than he is in peddling discredited policies to avoid taking responsibility for the horrifically high rate of gun violence that’s occurring on his watch.

State Rep. Ken Dunkin Joint Caucus Chairman Illinois Legislative Black Caucus 16

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Where are the Black aldermen?

Dear Editor: I am truly mystified that I don’t hear one Black alderman raising his or her voice over the two major development possibilities for Chicago.

Understandably there is a lot more talk about the Obama Presidential Library coming to town than there is about the possibility of George Lucas, the Star Wars guy, opening up his $1 billion museum here.

Regardless though of how much media coverage and barbershop talk these potential projects get, our aldermen are mum on both of them.

These women and men need to speak up and let the mayor and the citizens know that our community would welcome either or both of these proposed projects.

When you travel along South Chicago Avenue, there are acres of vacant lots, or defunct manufacturing plants. The ratio of open land vs. operating businesses is probably 20-1. Why can’t the alderman or aldermen who represent that stretch put together a proposal to entice the city to tell Lucas that is a viable option for his planned museum?

The mayor has assembled some sort of committee to study where to locate the museum. Did you notice that unlike the city, the majority of the panel is non-minority? An instant institution like the one Lucas

SLAMMING THE DOOR

BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY

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Kids and Cops Bridge Dialogue Gap (Cont’d from page 11) The series is designed to continue the conversation and not only initiate but also maintain long-term relationships between police departments and youth in the communities they serve.

Chicago Area Project’s Youth As Resources is committed to exploring ways to bridge the communication gap by hosting open dialogues, town hall meetings, public service announcements and other creative and informed activities.

www.chicagocrusader.com

The intent of these meetings is for both groups to gain insight into each other’s perspective.

Future Can You Hear Me Now? Kids & Cops Dialogue meetings are planned and will take place in local neighborhood police districts.

HOUSES FOR SALE

For information about how to become involved in the Chicago Area Project/Youth As Resources Youth leadership Development Program, call Kathleen Mosley at 312-5883816 or at YAR@chicagoareaproject.org.

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HOUSES FOR SALE

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EDUCATION

West Side charter school means a second chance There is no shortage of news accounts about young Black students, particularly in urban areas dropping out of school. One West Side charter school is registering stories about students dropping in.

Ombudsman Educational Services charter school, 2411 W. Congress Pkwy, is helping those who needed a break from school for whatever reason, complete their educations. The school, in its first year of operation here has 482 students – all of whom are looking for a second chance. The second Ombudsman site is at 7500 N. Harlem Ave. and there

Shemeek Johnson

are 101 students there. Ombudsman operates schools in 19 states and the 27 Illinois schools are the most the company has in a single state.

Shemeek Johnson said he is confident the second chance he is getting at Ombudsman will propel him to his dream of attending college. When the now-17-year-old senior dropped out of North Lawndale College Prep School and before he enrolled in Ombudsman he joined the 27 percent of young African American males in Chicago that do not have a high school diploma.

Johnson was working at the non-profit YMEN when a fellow worker not only told him about Ombudsman, but took him to the Congress Parkway location.

He described the classes as “good.” “They are giving me an opportunity to get back on track and where I need to be,” the West Side resident added. One of seven children, Johnson said his favorite subject is math. Like many youngsters his age, Johnson has aspirations of playing professional football. He understands that opportunity may not materialize so he has what he terms his “plan B,” which is to become a physical therapist.

He came to his current school three credits shy of the 16 necessary for graduation. He added he will have those credits in time for a January graduation.

De Anna Leonard’s academic career is fueled by the desire to be a living example for her daughter.

Ironically, it was the birth of her daughter a little more than a year ago that caused her to drop out of school.

Unlike many of her counterparts Leonard didn’t struggle academically. She explained that she needed to work at a faster pace than traditional schools allow. “I didn’t fit in at my old high school,” she added.

She also offered “I am a fastpaced worker and enjoy learning at my own pace. Long school days just weren’t my thing. I felt like I was being taught the same thing over and over again,” continuing, “I was just ready for the real world.”

After Ombudsman, Leonard plans to attend Malcolm X College and then pursue a military career specializing in nursing. “My

De Anna Leonard mother got her education and I want to be able to serve as a role model for my daughter, too.”

About Ombudsman Ombudsman Educational Services (OES) is a division of Educational Services of America (ESA), the nation’s leading provider of K-12 alternative and special education schools and programs. Based in Nashville, TN. ESA partners with more than 240 public school districts in 22 states to operate more than 170 schools and programs.

Ombudsman is accredited by AdvancED and provides students with an approach and an environment that are different from a traditional classroom setting. Students receive computer-assisted

personalized instruction, individualized attention with a low student-to-instructor ratio and the freedom to work at their own pace.

Middle and high school students who have dropped out or are on the verge of dropping out of school often benefit from the one-on-one attention from Ombudsman. Instructors work with each at-risk student individually to determine his or her abilities, challenges and personal needs.

Ombudsman instructors help students identify and overcome academic obstacles as well as family, personal and emotional issues that impact their success. At Ombudsman, each student has the potential to graduate and succeed in life.

Father of eight achieves milestone for family at Roosevelt (Continued from page 10) ing responsibilities, including at one point being a divorced single father caring for kids as well as his parents and grandparents.

Today, Strong is the father of four children, ages 11 through 24, remarried and the stepfather of four additional children, ages 13 through 17.

He coaches basketball at Perspectives Charter School Calumet in Chicago and presided this season over the freshman team’s 25-7 winning record, placing the team in an elite group of eight in city basketball playoffs. He also coaches the Windy City Trendsetters Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) in Calumet City.

Strong also has been a mentor and volunteer for the King College Prep High School after-school program.

Most recently, he has been a practitioner of restorative justice practices and a peacekeeper with Roosevelt University’s Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation at the Morrill Elementary Math and Science School and Namaste Charter School, both in Chicago. www.chicagocrusader.com

student suspensions and expulsions.

“He works with youth to resolve conflicts while building on their sense of belonging, self-esteem and respect for one another. He also has a clear vision for a more socially just society, which has made him an important member of the Mansfield team,” she said.

After graduating, Strong hopes to continue working with and encouraging African American youths and young adult males about the need to get an education and a college de-

gree.

“Roosevelt has given me the opportunity to pursue my dream,” said Strong, who will be cheered on as he crosses the graduation stage by most of his children. “I want to be a role model to my kids and to young people in general,” he said. “I want them to see that all things are possible and to know that you can’t give up. You’ve got to keep pushing. I believe it is that kind of attitude that will help make change for the better for our children and for society as a whole.”

Illinois High School . . .

CHICAGO RESIDENT, Curtis Strong, is the first in his family to receive a college diploma, graduating from Roosevelt University May 2.

“Curtis has been able to forge rela- rector of the Mansfield Institute, tionships with young people in a which has a goal of shifting school way that fosters trust and respect,” cultures from being punitive to said Nancy Michaels, associate di- restorative, an approach that reduces

(Continued from page 13) a talented group of students.”

School Musical Theater Awards, Jonah Rawitz and Julia Lindsey also known as The Jimmy™ Whitcomb will be provided with Awards, are named for legan all-expense paid trip to partici- endary Broadway theater owner pate in a performance enrichment and producer James M. Nederprogram, representing the state of lander. Broadway In Chicago is a Illinois at the National High Nederlander presentation, and is School Musical Theater excited to join the network of theAwards, on Broadway, on Mon- atres across the country particiday, June 30. The National High pating in The Jimmys™.

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