www.chicagocrusader.com
Blacks Must Control Their Own Community
AUDITED BY
•C•P•V•S•
VOLUME LXXIII NUMBER 27—SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2013
PUBLISHED SINCE 1940
25 Cents and worth more
Robbins poised to get first supermarket By Glenn Reedus What is a person supposed to do when he has never had an opportunity to buy fresh produce, meats or other grocery staples in his hometown? If the man is Darrell Mitchell, you apply your penchant for details, research skills, social media acumen, and your money to build a supermarket for that community. Mitchell, 39, a Robbins resident since 1988, is on the cusp of opening Save-More Finer Foods in the hamlet of about 5,300 residents. An accountant, Mitchell spent four years researching and writing grant applications for a planned 23,000-squarefoot supermarket and 25,000-square-foot adjacent urban garden at 3300 W. 137th St. Robbins’ Mayor Tyrone Ward described Mitchell as “a real hero. By opening a supermarket in Robbins he will create jobs and change lives for thousands of people. It goes to show you that you don’t need a big bank account you just need a big heart to get things done.” The project is not completely done as Mitchell, a Richards High School grad, is in the final weeks of trying to raise $50,000. He is using the crowd-funding
website — fundanything.com. These sites allow people all around the world to contribute to a cause. For Save-More the levels range from $5 for a thank you postcard to
$25,000, which buys the donor naming rights to the urban garden for three years. To date, Mitchell has garnered a $650,000 Neighborhood Stabilization Grant from
Cook County. However, Mitchell is still looking for additional investors. The coun(Continued on page 17)
ROBBINS IS POISED to get its first supermarket in nearly a half century. The site at 3300 W. 137th St. has been targeted to be the future home of the Save-More Finer Foods. The store, an adjacent urban garden, and an aquaponics center are all part of the planned development. The developer, Darrell Mitchell, shown in the wallposter, is using crowdfunding to raise the balance of the dollars needed to leverage bank financing.
Sharpton Tackling Chicago’s Gun Violence By Wendell Hutson The continued gun violence that plagues Chicago and many urban areas is what Rev. Al Sharpton said he plans to focus on during his stay in Chicago. The New York-based community activist, radio and TV personality, and founder of the National Action Network organization said he wants to first meet with as many community stakeholders in Chicago as possible as he searches for ways to reduce gun violence. “These are the people on the ground who know firsthand what’s out there on the streets,” Sharpton told the Crusader. “I plan to bring other national figures to Chicago to visit and I’ll work from Chicago to bring a spotlight on a problem killing our community and that’s gun violence.” CRUSADERNEWSPAPERGROUP
@CRUSADERNEWSPAP
THE REV. AL SHARPTON has moved into a West Side apartment and plans to commute from his home in New York once a week to address gun violence in America.
On Sunday, October 20, Sharpton moved into an apartment in the Austin community on the West Side where he will work closely with the Rev. Ira Acree, pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church, and the Rev. Marshall Hatch Sr., pastor of New Mount Pilgrim M.B. Church both in Austin. The goal, said Acree, is to reduce gun violence and increase Black businesses. “Black businesses that are successful is the best thing we have going for our community,” noted Acree. “We want to push the economic development piece behind this effort to reduce gun violence.” For Sharpton, who plans to commute at least one day a week to Chicago, he plans to use his nationally syndicated radio show to bring more awareness to the Chicago gun violence problem. (Continued on page 17)
INSIDE THIS ISSUE IMA HAS HER OWN VIEW OF REV. SHARPTON’S MOVE TO CHICAGO (See The Chatterbox on page 7)
NEWS
Former Rosenwald Courts gets rehab financing By Wendell Hutson Janet Holmes lived at the shuttered Rosenwald Courts from 1994 until the low-income apartment building closed in 2000. Now with the City Council recently approving $125 million in tax incrementing financing to redevelop the building, former tenants like Holmes are excited about the idea of moving back. “I miss the Rosenwald. All my friends lived there with me and we used to have a good time hanging out and talking about our problems,” recalled Holmes, 41, who now lives in a two-bedroom apartment with her two small children on the far South Side. “I know some people might think I am
crazy for wanting to move back to the Rosenwald because of all the gangs and stuff. But actually I was safer there than where I now live (in Roseland).” At a recent City Council meeting Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the tax incentives were being approved to preserve the rich history of the Rosenwald. “The Rosenwald has a long and storied history, but the city’s support for its comprehensive rehabilitation will ensure its best days are yet to come,” the mayor said. The city also plans to chip in a $58.6 million bond sale, $34.2 million in low income housing tax credit equity, a $5 million Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant and $2.8 million in tax cred-
FORMER ROSENWALD COURTS TENANT Janet Holmes said she is excited about the possibility of moving back into the Bronzeville apartment complex once it is rehabbed.
its. No completion date has been set for the renovation. Former tenants included Nat “King” Cole, Quincy Jones and Gwendolyn Brooks, according to historian Timuel Black. Named after former Sears, Roebuck and Co. President Julius Rosenwald, the building opened in 1929 with the goal of providing stable housing for working-class Black families in the aftermath of the Great Migration, added Black. The four-story building spans an entire city block between Michigan and Wabash avenues and 46th and 47th streets, and it will be turned into an apartment-andcommercial complex, according to David Roos, executive vice president of Landwhite Developers LLC based in Granger, IN, which is redeveloping the building. The rehabbed building will consist of 235 units of which 138 are for seniors, and 750,000-squarefeet of commercial space, according to Roos. In its heyday the Rosenwald boasted 431 units. But Alderman Pat Dowell (3rd) whose ward includes the Rosenwald said the new “affordable” units do not mean necessarily lowincome. Household incomes for tenants living in affordable units would be $20,000 to $50,000 a year, and no Housing Choice Vouchers (formerly called Section 8) would be accepted. Without vouchers it is unlikely
THE ROSENWALD COURTS received $125 million in tax incrementing financing from the city of Chicago for a planned redevelopment of the Bronzeville apartment complex. that a lot of former residents, like S. Drexel Blvd.], but then it closed Monee Richardson, would be able too,” Richardson said. “That’s to return. Richardson lived at the when me and my (three) kids Rosenwald for 14 years and like moved to the West Side [in North Holmes relocated after the build- Lawndale] and I hate it. My ining closed. come situation has not changed so “When I first moved out I went if I cannot use my Section 8, I to the Sutherland building [4559 guess I won’t be returning.”
The Modern Slavery and Apartheid
Pass laws used against two African Americans for practicing Pan Africanism Part II By Shaka Barack President of the Marcus Garvey Institute Until the African Hebrews came along, there had not been a bolder leadership that was willing to separate and practice true manhood that would take them out of America, since Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvey justified repatriation to our motherland Africa in these words, written in the Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, “If the Negro were to live in this Western Hemisphere for another five hundred years he would still be outnumbered by other races who are prejudiced against him. He cannot resort to the government for protection for government will be in the hands of the majority of the people who are prejudiced against him, hence for the Negro to depend on the ballot and his industrial progress alone, will be hopeless as it does not help him when he is lynched, burned, Jim2
crowed and segregated. The future of the Negro, therefore, outside of Africa, spells ruin and disaster.” The whole of Europe was in a similar situation, when they came out of the Dark Ages, and faced the Black Plague from 13471340. According to author of A Short History of Renaissance Europe, Jonathan W. Zophy, wrote, “The great classical scholars and humanist of the period”…, “helped to revive the wisdom of classical Greece and Rome,”… “and urged their followers to immerse themselves in the ancient language and literature as a means of individual and societal improvement.” Likewise, our great scholars on the life and works of Marcus Garvey, that led to or ushered in the Harlem Renaissance of the mid 1920’s, such as the late Dr. Tony Martin, (Feb. 21, 1942-Jan. 17, 2013) author of the Marcus Garvey Library, a set of 9 books he edited, helped preserve or re-introduce the wisdom of Marcus Garvey and his organization the
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Dr. Tony Martin UNIA & ACL. It is ironic how when asked who is the greatest Black leader we have had in America, Marcus Garvey’s name is always among the top ten. However, outside of The Marcus Garvey Institute, seldom do you see our religious, political, or
educational leaders, who will urge their followers to immerse themselves in the philosophy, wisdom, literature, rituals, laws, objects and aims of Marcus Garvey. What the white right is doing to shut down the United Sates Gov-
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
ernment is what whites like them have done to erase Marcus Garvey from history, and to shut down President Robert Mugabe and the government of Zimbabwe. Sabotage, disruption, destruction, imprisonment and assassination, now come in the form of sanctions. Before whites used sanctions against US they used warfare as the means by which whole civilizations on several continents have been destroyed. The Aztec, Inca, and Mayan civilizations of the Americas, have been destroyed through a combination of the white mans guns and his diseases. They always have had the same purpose of taking the land, the labor and the resources. President Robert Mugabe returned the farm land in Zimbabwe to its true owners, and the westerners became upset, and asked the United States, that in spite of the fact that it has around 45 million people of African descent to also put up sanctions against Zimbabweans. The westerners are merely (Continued on page 18 www.chicagocrusader.com
NEWS
Alderman wants police brutality fund, opposes tougher gun sentencing By J. Coyden Palmer Twenty-first Ward Alderman Howard Brookins recently proposed a $20 million fund be created for victims of Chicago police brutality and questioned if a three-year mandatory sentence for illegal gun offenses is necessary. Brookins’ proposed ordinance also would specifically address issues suffered by victims of former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge. The ordinance would provide free tuition at the City
Colleges of Chicago; a commission to administer financial compensation to victims with no other financial redress; establish a South Side center that would have medical, psychological and vocational counseling; and require the Chicago Public Schools to teach a history lesson about Burge. “We have paid out millions in Burge case settlements already,” Brookins said. “We need to close this unfortunate chapter in our history and give reparations to
Howard Brookins
those who were victims. This ordinance addresses many of the issues Burge’s victims are still facing today.” Brookins’ ordinance got support from fellow alderman Joe Moreno (1st). Moreno said most of Burge’s victims were poor people who did not have a political voice to fight back. One of Burge’s victims, Anthony Holmes, spent 30 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Holmes said the fund would help people like him who have been out of the job market so long, many people consider them unemployable. Holmes added the money would give those released time to build their work skills while still being able to live on their own and get used to society again. “It’s a terrible thing to be released from prison but still live in fear, because you have become institutionalized,” Holmes said. “It’s why so many guys end up right back inside.” Attorneys representing many of Burge’s victims also think the proposed ordinance would give them something they have been asking from the city for years that has nothing to do with money. “This ordinance serves as a formal apology for the Chicago police torture cases,” said Jeffrey Mogul, an attorney with the People’s Law Office, which represents many Burge victims. As Emanuel continues to face
SOME ALDERMEN WANT a fund established to aid police brutality victims, and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy (right) and Mayor Rahm Emanuel are pushing for a three-year minimum prison sentence for those possessing a firearm illegally. criticism regarding Chicago’s Association and other groups that crime rate and murder statistics, have come out and opposed the he and police Supt. Garry Mc- measure. Carthy have been pushing for a “We have had tougher senmandatory three-year sentence tences shoved down our throat in and a requirement that 85 per- the past to no avail. It only seems cent of the sentence be served for to increase our residents mistrust illegal possession of a weapon of the police and the system itself, conviction. The issue could come which is incarcerating Black men up this week in Springfield dur- at a high rate,” said Ald. Jason ing the fall veto session. But Ervin (28th), who said he beEmanuel is getting pushback lieves poor Hispanics will be tarfrom home as several Black alder- geted by a tougher law as well. men are questioning if that law Ald. Walter Burnett, whose would only increase the incarcer- ward boundary cuts across all ation rate of African Americans racial lines, said he believes lockwhile doing little to reduce crime. ing up people for longer periods The Black aldermen are in line of time is not the answer. He said with a group they have been (Continued from page 17) fighting with the National Rifle
Black aldermen push for breast cancer funding By Wendell Hutson October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and several Black aldermen took the time to request more funding for low-income and uninsured women suffering from breast cancer. City Hall is considering privatization of the Breast Health Program, which provides free mammograms to uninsured women who recently lost state funding. Aldermen Pat Dowell (3rd), Carrie Austin (34th), Leslie Hairston (5th), Emma Mitts (37th), Deborah Graham (29th), and Lona Lane (18th) jointly called on the Illinois Department of Public Health to renew a grant that helped fund the city’s counterpart agency to administer the program, which concentrates on the screening and treatment of women on the South and West sides. According to Dr. Odie Payne III, vice president of the Chicago-based Public Health Organization, the mortality rate for Black women is much higher than it is for white women. “The city’s plan to close the breast health program is especially alarmwww.chicagocrusader.com
ing considering the breast cancer mortality rate among African Americans in Chicago is 62 percent higher than that for white women,” Payne said. Payne added 24 of the 25 city communities with the highest breast-cancer mortality rate are on the South Side. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services reported that from 2006 through 2010, breast cancer rates increased 0.2 percent among Black women but remained stable among whites. But white women still have more cases of breast cancer nationally with about 127 cases per 100,000 compared with 118 cases per 100,000 Black women. All the more reason why more funding is needed, said Dowell. “I will be working very hard with my colleagues to ensure that services remain in place for African American and other minority women,” said Dowell, a breast cancer survivor. “Maintaining breast health is very important.” “Why you would remove the centers from these communities and put the program in the hands of people who are not familiar with the communities doesn’t make any sense to me,” Hairston concurred.
“They need to be in the communities where women are not being diagnosed and are dying of breast cancer. If the city is mismanaging it, they need to fix the program in the areas where they mismanaged it.” According to the city’ Department of Public Health, almost 5,000 women a year receive breast exams, mammograms and referrals for treatment through the Breast Health Program. All the more reason the program needs to be kept going, said Austin. “I know the state would not want to discontinue services,” Austin added. However, state officials said restoring funding seemed unlikely for now. “The grants for Fiscal Year ‘14 have gone out, so that’s not a possibility,” said Melaney Arnold, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health. “And they have not requested officially from the Illinois Department of Public Health to initiate the process going forward.” In discontinuing the grant earlier this year, the IDPH cited the program for mismanagement, specifically the quality of care, the lack of
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
SEVERAL BLACK ALDERMEN held a City Hall news conference recently to urge the state to restore funding for a breast cancer program for low-income and uninsured women. (Photo by Ted Cox) referrals after the withdrawal of quality mammography services and Mercy Hospital following city non- to fully funding the current mampayment, and the failure to respond mography program,” said Brian to state inquiries going back to an Richardson, a spokesman for the audit in September of 2011. city’s Health Department. “Since Regardless if the state restores 2011, we have continued to mainfunding to the program, city offi- tain approximately $1.7 million in cials said women would continue to city funding for this vital service anreceive breast cancer services. nually, which has been augmented with a smaller portion of state dol“The city of Chicago is commit- lars — approximately $300,000 ted to ensuring women receive this past year.” Saturday, October 26, 2013
3
EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL A NOT SO CIVIL WAR OF WORDS There is a video circulating wherein an African American man was stopped and questioned by a white police officer. He was WWB, i.e., “walking while Black.” The police officer got out of his car to stop this young man and commenced to question him. He ended up saying, in so many words, that the man’s kind was “making this country weak.” When the man, who was not doing anything wrong but walking down the street asked why he was making the country weak, the officer replied that he was a “freeloader.” The young man responded saying that he had a job, and was on his way to work, and that he was not a freeloader. The officer then asked where he worked, and the man’s reply was that he worked at a country club as a server. The officer said, a server of what, weed!?! The foregoing is a true story, and demonstrates the actual hatred and extreme racial profiling that is going on in many African American communities. It is ironic that we now have an African American president, and African Americans are represented in the highest levels of government, industry, entertainment, education, sports, law and more, yet the notion that if you’re Black you are automatically an underachiever is still uppermost in the minds of many white Americans. These ideas are partially influenced by right wing talk radio and its Tea Party bigots who are waging a Civil War of Words against America. (Actually, they are just stirring the pot to bring to the surface a seething racism and hatred among certain types of white people that has been “sub rosa” for a long time). This is tearing the country apart, and the hatred of African Americans is probably one of the reasons that they are so adamant about destroying the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.” It is doubtful that certain Republicans, especially those of the Tea Party ilk, would be so intent on actually trying to bring the country down to oppose legislation that would help a lot of Americans if they realized that the majority of those who would benefit are white. It is true that many who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder are Black, but it is also true that there are even more impoverished whites, merely because there are more white people in America. To be fair, the schism that we are feeling as a country is not just fueled by a disdain for Blacks and other minorities; it is also an attack on the poor. This message is made very loud and very clear by the fact that over 40 million Americans are without healthcare, yet those who oppose Obamacare want to dismantle it without putting anything comparable in its place. In fact, that idea has been left out of the equation altogether. The bombastic Senate minority leader, Ted Cruz (R-Texas),who has been extremely vocal and was (is!) willing to shut down the country in order to make his point, staged a 21 hour filibuster opposing legislation with Obamacare attached, yet to this day he has not offered an alternative that would provide some type of relief to the millions of Americans without healthcare. This sends a message that says he’s not for anything that will help poor people get affordable healthcare. And if the healthcare issue is life-threatening, which it often is, the message is that he doesn’t care if people die because they don’t have healthcare. This is the height of callousness. In essence, the Tea Party, which is largely responsible for pulling the nation into this regressive pessimism, is the origin of a Civil War of Words that, if it continues to escalate, can have a deleterious effect on all of America, if it can’t be counterbalanced by those who are more progressive and reasonable. And going back to that cop who said that the Black man was making the country “weak,” it is a wonder that he hasn’t seen that the Tea Party is doing that very thing! A luta continua. 4
Saturday, October 26, 2013
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Pull the plug on Stony Island Dear Editor: It was great news to see that Mayor Emanuel decided to postpone a vote on his proposal to rename Stony Island. Now he needs to take the next step and pull the plug on the whole idea. As a lot of people stated, the mayor was pandering to Black folks with his latest move. The mayor realizes he is in trouble with the Black community and is trying to backdoor his way into our good graces. No doubt, that many people who look like us, will be duped by his soft-spoken ways. What we all need to remember is how he orchestrated the closing of 50 schools and shuttered the Red Line along the Dan Ryan for months. This mayor has no qualms about making life uncomfortable for Black people. Additionally, when we look at his administration, there is only a sprinkling of Black folks in top tier jobs. So he decides to try to rename Stony Island and make us forget all that he has done that is not beneficial to our community. Emanuel’s moves are timed to help him ease into campaign mode as he will be trying to get re-elected in less than two years. I am willing to bet that in his mind, he sees himself as having done something that benefits minorities in the city. He has to try to appeal to the Black and brown communities because there aren’t
enough white folks left in Chicago to elect him on their own. It is good that he wants to do something to honor the late Bishop Arthur Brazier – but changing the name Stony Island for Brazier’s legacy is the wrong move. Martin Brown
Josh Marks left us obligations Dear Editor: The tragic news of the death of 26-year-old Joshua Marks stunned us all. And for those who knew him I don’t know if enough condolences can be offered. By all accounts Josh Marks wanted just a few things: to remain rooted in his faith, to be a good son, brother and friend, as well as become a world-renown chef. He apparently lived a life that brought him most of these. Now we will never know how close he would have come to the world knowing about Chef Josh. The bigger issue associated with Marks is the last year of his life and how he suffered apparently silently with mental illness. An illness so strong that it caused him to take his life. Now, in death, he gives us a series of obligations. Even if we didn’t know Marks we are obliged to become more mindful of mental illnessespecially in the Black community. We are obliged because of Josh Marks to equip ourselves with the knowledge of how to recognize the signs of one or more mental
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
disorders. Josh Marks left the message that even though he did not, speak out when the pressures get to be too much. Both Josh’s mother and stepfather remember that he changed during and after a national cooking competition. The reality television show he was trying to win put a set of pressures on him like nothing he had ever experienced. Our obligation to Josh Marks is to make sure we listen closely when a friend or family member is having a challenging experi(Continued on page 17)
CHICAGO CRUSADER (U.S.P.S. 596080)
Editor-Publisher
Dorothy R. Leavell Advertising Director
J.L. Smith 6429 South King Drive Chicago, Illinois 60637 773-752-2500 An independent newspaper serving the Southside Westside and Northside, printing the news impartially empowering what it believes to be right and appealling what it believes to be wrong without regard to party politics. Devoted to the Industrial, Educational, SocioPolitical and Educational advancement of Black people. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VOL. LXXIII NO. 27 OCT. 26, 2013 _______________________________________________________________________________________
Published Weekly NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
New Concept Media Service P.O. Box 377946 Chicago, IL 60637 Member National Newspaper Publishers Association __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Subscription Rates - $25 Per Year $14.00 for 6 months $44.00 for 2 years
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Periodicals Paid at Chicago, IL POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: THE CHICAGO CRUSADER 6429 South King Drive Chicago, IL 60637
www.chicagocrusader.com
COMMENTARY
There’s no Shame in this Game By Harry C. Alford NNPA Columnist There has never been a political climate like this in modern times. We are now in an era of constant chaos. Our elected officials are fighting with no end game in sight. The citizens of our nation are slowly going into a mental depression. Even a stenographer for the House of Representatives recently had a major meltdown right on national television. Obamacare, national budget, debt ceiling, de- ficit, immigration and other issues are starting to take a toll on our patience and confidence in our leadership. It seems that it is not going to get any better in the near future. We have a president who doesn’t bother to write a budget for the federal government. The United States is the largest corporation in the world and we have been running it without a budget for the last five years. A shoeshine man has a budget! We are not cutting spending to prevent us from bursting through our debt limit. Congress is “kicking the can” down the road by giving short term extensions (continu-
Harry C. Alford ing resolutions) of our limit. We must settle on what is a manageable debt limit and live by it. In 2008, our debt was at $10 trillion. Now it has worked its way up to nearly $17 trillion. Our credit rating is dropping and our dollar is weakening. Congress and the White House are playing a kind of Russian roulette with defaulting on our national debt. Other nations must be laughing at us. Obamacare is a “Frankenstein” approach to improving health-
care. This socialist approach to providing healthcare to individuals and families is turning out to be a farce. It is going to be far more costly to individuals, families and businesses than the President predicted (or lied about). Major corporations decried about what they found out recently. So, the President gave them a year waiver before they have to “bite the bullet.” Unions, who fiercely supported the program, have found out that they too will have to take a major financial hit. They screamed and the President gave them a waiver. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who led the fight to victory for the law, has convinced the President to give waivers to virtually all the businesses in her district. Congress, who passed the legislation, has declared itself exempt from the new rates. They are forcing it down our “throats” but exempting themselves from the pain. What kind of leadership is this? They are the lucky ones as the rest of us will have to suffer noticeably higher premium rates and exorbitant deductibles. They just don’t care. They have grandstanded acting like they are going to defund
Obamacare. Speeches, debates, filibustering and primetime interviews on television – 24/7 was all show and no go. But let’s not get too depressed about Obamacare. It is such a messed up piece of legislation that there is no way to correct it. It is indeed a “train wreck” as the Senate author of the bill now realizes. When we have had enough of this monster it will implode. It won’t be workable and the only option will be to pull the plug. I predict by mid-2014 during the election races for all of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate this sick idea will face a silent death. God is great! It will go down as the biggest calamity of all time and it will be Barack Obama’s legacy. The above just isn’t stuff that depresses us. It is a serious threat to our national security. Our rival powers such as Russia, China, India, etc. are looking at our loony style of management. They see it as a weakness. The world is like a school yard. The stronger nations will bully and exploit the weak ones. While their military budgets are noticeably increasing, ours is stagnant or decreasing. Russia alone is in-
creasing its military by over 93%. What is on the mind of President Vladimir Putin? There is a precedent. When Japan decided to go to war with the nation around it their spies came to the United States. They watched our military training exercises. They noticed at Fort Polk, Louisiana that our soldiers trained with broom sticks instead of rifles. That’s how small our military budget was. They figured that we could be whipped. They were wrong but we encouraged them to attack. Think about this as we decrease our military budgets. Also, our overall financial state may head “south” without anyone knowing where the bottom will be. Our retirement funds, savings, and paychecks will shrink. It will personally affect everyone. Such negative potential and they (elected officials) smile and talk “turkey” to each other. PLEASE WAKE UP!!! Mr. Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce®. Website: www.nationalbcc.org. Email: halford@nationalbcc.org.
Obama’s Showdown with ‘Teapublicans’ is Just Beginning By George E. Curry NNPA Columnist Believe it or not, President Obama’s decision to finally stand up to Teapublicans – a Republican Party hijacked by Right-wing Tea Party zealots – in the latest standoff over the Affordable Care Act and the debt ceiling was the easy part. Next comes the real fireworks over the budget. And, judging from the past, the Democrats are likely to wave the white flag of surrender, even before the first shots are fired. Don’t forget that although Obama campaigned on the promise of extending the Bush tax cuts only for individuals earning less than $200,000 and couples making less than $250,000, which would cover 98 percent of all taxpayers, he eventually capitulated under Republican pressure, extending the Bush-era rates on incomes below $450,000 for families and $400,000 for individuals. And in his unsuccessful effort to reach a grand bargain with House Speaker John Boehner in 2011, according to leaked confidential documents, Obama expressed a willingness to support cuts to TRICARE, the health insurance program for the military and military retirees; Social Security, Medicare, housing, nutritional assistance and other social programs. www.chicagocrusader.com
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich explained why he, too, feels Obama will cave in to Republican demands. “He’s already put on the table a way to reduce future Social Security payments by altering the way costof-living adjustments are made – using the so-called ‘chained’ consumer price index, which assumes that when prices rise people economize by switching to cheaper alternatives. This makes no sense for seniors, who already spend a disproportionate share of their income on prescription drugs, home healthcare, and medical devices – the prices of which have been rising faster than inflation. Besides, Social Security isn’t responsible for our budget deficits. Quite the opposite: For years its surpluses have been used to fund everything else the government does. “The President has also suggested ‘means-testing’ Medicare – that is, providing less of it to higher-income seniors. This might be sensible. The danger is it becomes the start of a slippery slope that eventually turns Medicare into another type of Medicaid, a program perceived to be for the poor and therefore vulnerable to budget cuts. “But why even suggest cutting Medicare at all, when the program isn’t responsible for the large budget deficits projected a decade or more from now? Medicare itself is enor-
George E. Curry mously efficient; its administrative costs are far lower than commercial health insurance.” Equally troubling are the signals the president is already sending on the budget. “Keep in mind that the budget that we are going to pass under any deal is going to be the Republican budget. It will have cuts that are much more substantial than Democrats would prefer,” Obama said in an interview with New York’s WABC-TV two days before the government reopened. “The Democrats have not asked for anything to reopen the government. The Democrats haven’t asked for anything for paying our bills on time.” The last time I checked, the Senate
and the executive branch were controlled by Democrats. Republicans control only the House. And the only reason they control the House is because of gerrymandered congressional districts. In the last election, House Democrats received more votes than House Republicans. So why does President Obama feel that the nation will be stuck with a “Republican budget”? Second, Obama correctly noted that Democrats have not asked for anything to reopen the government or raise the debt ceiling. And, as Congressman Gregory W. Meeks of New York observed, that is the problem. Meeks told Politico, “At no point have we said what our demands are. All you’ve heard was what their demands are. Maybe we should put down what our demands are of what we need and what we want because there’s things that are important and dear to us also, and then the negotiations start from there.” The tragedy is that Democrats usually won’t stand firm even when public opinion is on their side. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press conducted a survey in March asking: What is more important, taking steps to reduce the national debt or keeping Social Security and Medicare benefits as they are? According to Pew, 55 percent favored keeping Social Security and Medicare benefits as they are, 34
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
percent preferred taking steps to reduce the national debt, and 11 percent said both are equally important. Yet, Obama is willing to make concessions on Social Security and Medicare. With no demands on the table, it’s impossible to know what, if anything, is important to the Democratic Party anymore. That’s not the case with the Teapublicans. Love or hate them, they have clearly and forcefully stated they want to privatize Social Security, turn Medicare into a voucher system, and want deep cuts in social programs. They have not only articulated their priorities, they have demonstrated with the shutdown how far they are willing to go to fight for their misguided beliefs. What are Democrats willing to fight to the end for? If you find out, please let me know. George E. Curry, former editorin-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 Web site, www.georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge and George E. Curry Fan Page on Facebook.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
5
COMMENTARY
RACIAL SOLIDARITY AND ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE Dr. Conrad Worrill, Director/Professor, Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS) located at 700 East Oakwood Blvd, Chicago, Illinois, 60653, 773268-7500, Fax: 773-268-3835 E-mail: c-worrill@neiu.edu, Web site: www.ccics-chicago.org, Twitter: @CCICS_Chicago.
Dr. Conrad Worrill
In this present era of economic and educational onslaught against the African Community in Amer-
ica, it is important that we understand that the rise of the African Centered Education Movement should be linked to our quest for economic independence. We must free the “African mind” through African Centered Educational activities so that we might better understand the importance of economic self-reliance. One model that we draw strength from in pursuing economic and educational liberation is the model established by the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in the 1920s. The more I read and study about Marcus Garvey, the more I am amazed at the great contributions he made to African people to become a self reliant and self sufficient people. At the core of Marcus Garvey’s program was his urging of African people to acquire education and economic power. As he always started, “A race without power is a race without respect.” When we examine the economic condition of Africans in America, and throughout the world we find one glaring problem— we, as African people do not control our economic resources at the level we should. This is primarily due to our miseducation as a peo-
ple. In a disproportionate manner, African people depend on the European and Asian world for food, clothing, and shelter. More often than not, the European and Asian worlds are the producers, processors, distributors, and wholesalers. African people are the consumers. This was one of the major problems that the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey addressed during his lifetime and that Minister Louis Farrakhan continues to address. As Dr. Tony Martin writes in his book Race First, which is one of the best books written on the works of Marcus Garvey, “Marcus Garvey, unlike his major rivals in the United States, built a mass organization that went beyond civil-rights agitation and protest and based itself upon a definite, well thought out program that he believed would lead to the total emancipation of the race from white dominion.” To implement his program, Garvey set up the Negro Factories Corporation (NFC). Its objective was to build and operate factories in the big industrial centers of the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa. The NFC established a chain of cooperative grocery stores, a restaurant, a steam laundry, tailor and
dressmaking shop, a millinery store, and a publishing house. Mr. Garvey also established a steamship company, The Black Star Line. He envisioned a fleet of steamers carrying passengers and establishing trade among African people of the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa. In the summer of 1920, Garvey launched his full blown program at the First Annual Convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) of which he was the founder and first President General. On August 2, 1920, after a massive parade of thousands of well drilled, uniformed ranks of the UNIA, 35,000 delegates from all over the United States and some twenty-five countries convened at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. It was, according to the New York Times, one of the largest gatherings in the history of the hall. Dr. Martin explains that, “Central to the ideological basis underpinning Garvey’s program was the question of race. For Garvey, the Black man was universally oppressed on racial grounds, and no matter how much people try to shy away from this issue, the fact is, this is still true today.” As Malcolm X used to say, it
was our Blackness “which caused so much hell not our identity as Elks, Masons, Baptists or Methodists.” If we are ever to become a liberated people this idea must be deeply rooted in the day to day organizing and mobilizing of our people as we seek economic and educational liberation. Far too many Africans in America have abandoned this idea in their organizing projects. Mr. Garvey understood that the foundation of our liberation was economic and educational independence based on racial solidarity. There are numerous lessons we can learn from the legacy of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Without economic independence tied to the acquisition of political power, African people in America and African people everywhere will continue to be the subjects of the whims of other people. In this regard, Garvey said, “...you can be educated in soul, vision and feeling, as well as in mind. To see your enemy and know him is a part of the complete education of man... Develop yours and you become as great and full of knowledge as the other fellow without entering the classrooms.”
STOP THE SLAVERY COMPARISONS By Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist The brilliant surgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson is out of order and out of control when he compares the Affordable Care Act to slavery. As a physician, he must know how many people lack health care, and how much work this administration had done to right that wrong. As a health advocate, he must have seen those men and women who decide to forego pain medication in favor of something to eat for their children. As a distinguished medical leader, he must have read the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports that talk about the differential ways in which health care is delivered in emergency rooms, with Black and brown men less likely than others to receive medication for their pain, even when it involves a broken bone. So when Carson says that the Affordable Care Act is “worse than slavery,” I truly wonder what he knows about slavery. Does he 6
know about being dragged from one country and placed on an auction block in another? Does he know about enduring backbreaking work, day after day, hour after hour, where the most human desires like love and companionship are snuffed out by the needs of greedy masters? Has he had a limb – a leg, an arm, a tongue, severed to make an example for others? Has he felt a shackle on his neck, across his Adam’s apple, so tight that he could not breathe? Has he tried to run, and been captured and beaten? Or beaten even if he did not run? Does his back show the signs of white rage? Has he seen his own child sold at auction? Has he lain down with his woman, his love, knowing that she had no say in who the master decided to have sex with her? Has he been literally, not metaphorically, been emasculated, his body a victim to a master’s rage. Has he learned to read, because according to North Carolina law, “to teach a slave to read is to excite dissatisfaction in the general population.”
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Dr. Julianne Malveaux Whites who taught slaves to read were fined as much as a year’s wages. Slaves who taught each other to read risked 39 lashes. I don’t know what the amazing Dr. Ben Carson is thinking when he compares anything in our current space to slavery. He has not known a slave’s life, and blessedly neither have most of us. But we
know that affordable health care is not the same thing as slavery. I am tired of people making slave comparisons as if, while acknowledging slavery as horrible, reduces it to a political volleyball. The minimum wage is “worse than,” but slaves were never paid. Health care, however flawed, is worse than slavery, but slaves had little health care, especially after they failed to produce for massa. A hardship here, a problem there, is worse than slavery. Memo to those who lack historical consciousness – no it isn’t! Slavery means having no control over your destiny unless you choose to take control, and even then, slavery is about conforming or risking life and limb. Slavery is about the evisceration of families, about the lives and loves shattered for the profit of those who failed to value Black people as equal, as human. Slavery is not about a law you don’t like, not about a wage you don’t like. Anyone who lives and breathes air in these United States today will never know the
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
brutality of a century and a half ago. I will acknowledge Dr. Ben Carson as an amazing surgeon. That is, after all, what he is known for. Somebody put a mike up to his mouth though, so he decided to step off medicine and into politics. If he is into slavery he needs to go back to his own plantation. You have choices, Dr. Carson, and slaves did not. We may agree or disagree about the Affordable Health Care Act, but we will never agree that the Affordable Care Act is worse than slavery. If you don’t know slavery, pick up a book. And understand that if you picked up this book in more than fifteen states in 1831, you’d acknowledge that enslaved people didn’t have the right to vote. You do. Only after you feel the lash of slavery can you speak to this. You are generating headlines but not good sense with your slavery comparisons. Dr. Julianne Malveaux is a DC based economist and author. www.chicagocrusader.com
GOSSIPTARY
By Ima Gontellit 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!
WHY SHARPTON IS HERE? Many a’ folk are scratchin’ their scalps trying to figure out why the incredible shrinking man, also known as Reverend Al Sharpton, is injecting himself into the West Side of Chicago. While the reformed and unapologetic government informant says he is moving to the city to “bring a spotlight,” on the people and groups who are working to curb violence in the city, he originally said he was coming because he was going to put Chicago’s violence problem itself on the national news. (We guess after he got a call from the 5th Floor, he changed his mind.) It appears that a few people in this town really believe that by this man living one single day a month in a cushy apartment on the West Side he will somehow magically stop all the years of homicides, batteries, assaults, slaps across the face and kicks in the ass throughout the Windy City and do what people like Jesse Jackson, Bobby Rush, Danny Davis, Father Pfleger, Prince Asiel, Wallace ‘Gator’ Bradley, Mark Allen, Otis Moss, III, Charles Jenkins, Commence Fire, Ron Holt, the Chicago Police Department, Homeland Security, and three thousand other people who are “putting the spotlight” on violence and the city’s problems can’t do. Maybe he is really moving here because they got good Harold’s in Austin. However, this move don’t pass the smell test. Why would two preachers from the West Side (one of whom has a lower I.Q. than a few people in his church) send a personal invitation to another preacher from New York to move to their own community to do the work they (and their www.chicagocrusader.com
churches) should be doing? And, why would a preacher from New York accept such an invitation, knowing the racial, class and Negro politics in this city? And given all dat done happened in this city to the Black peoples, how come Sharpton ain’t opened his big mouth not one time to take the tiny Emperor on the fifth floor of City Hall to task for his evil doings? He ain’t come to say he gone attack public policy. He ain’t come to say he gone go off about a lack of jobs. He ain’t come to say he gone go after these do-nothing elected officials who skin and grin in our face ‘round election time, but soons they gets de job, they don’t know yo’ name. Oh now, Mr. Sharpton, is coming to put a “spotlight” on “people already doing the work” and on “violence itself.” Oh, and if you don’t like it—you ain’t nothing but a no good “gangbanger,” yo’self, Sharpton say. If you don’t like him coming here and if you’re asking questions about what’s really going on—you ain’t worth two dead flies, or so Sharpton, must think. Chilren hear ye: Violence aint just happening out of thin air— and all violence ain’t the same. You do know that don’t you? A guy slapping his woman upside the head because she ain’t answered her cell phone is different from a drug dealer shooting another drug pusher for failing to make him pull his weight. Two rival gang-bangers going at each other is different from six teenagers getting into a brawl inside their high school. And both of those crimes are different from two best friends who wind up hating each other enough to shoot at each other through a city park. And, of course that kind of violence is different from some crazy grandmother who beats her grandchild to death; or the violence of a thug who decides to beat up a 15-year-old for his tennis shoes. There’s Black on Black violence, Mexican on Mexican violence, white on white violence, old on young violence, sexual violence, economic violence, domestic violence, and nigga (cussword). So with all these different types of violence, motivated by all different kinds of reasons, in all parts of town (not just Negroville) how on earth is Sharpton going to take control of that? Some folk ‘round the Great Bye and Goodbye Convalescent Home think that Mr. Sharpton is coming here to really play spoiler to the right Reverend Jesse Jackson and great Minister Louis Farrakhan, two powerful voices who don’t take kindly to President
Al Sharpton Obammy’s lack of attention on the Negro people. A lot of these younger fellas seem to think its “their time to lead,” by some kind of natural default. After all, Jesse is sprite 72 now, and Farrakhan is a good-looking 80. Further, its been well known that Sharpton has a love/hate relationship with the Country Preacher and his moving into town couldn’t be good for Jackson—who has been kept 500,000 arms lengths away from the Obamas so he can’t upset their shine. The ugly, permed New Yorker, whose has a penchant for popping up in high profile cases, has angled his way in the White House with two other clueless “leaders” as Obama’s consultants on “race issues,” in order to provide cover for our fine-looking president as he refuses to address Black unemployment, incarceration rates, health care disparities, whopping foreclosures, George Zimmerman’s crazy behind, Black-on-Black violence and any thing else that might remind him of his heritage. Now, the two West Side preachers who “invited” Sharpton to town have been angling for a national spotlight for sometime. One even thought he might wind up leading the national NAACP. Another thought he’d be appointed to a school board or some other government post by de new Emperor, we mean mayor. However, after being denied a roost by Operation PUSH insiders, these two preachers decided to ditch the Jackson bandwagon and hitch their two trains running to Reverend Al. Any spotlight, to them, is good spotlight. As long as they can run home and watch themselves on CLTV with their family and homeboys they figure they is doing something. One lady, told Ima, that these two preachers are being “heavily in-
fluenced” by “people who ain’t got our best interest in mind.” The lady went on to say “you can’t prove nothin’ ... but they using de same dirty tricks they used on de Black Panthers and anybody else who stood up for us. They befriend you, tap into that drum major instinct, make you think they is with you and everybody else is holding them down, and then all of a sudden bad stuff start happening.” This lady, however, also said she don’t know too much about those West Side preachers who come up with this idea, but she seen them on TV, and at least one of them got some “strange beady eyes.” So take comments like this with a grain of salt. Now, in order for these West
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
Side folks’ alleged scheme to pass the smell test, they got Sharpton to bring in another clueless young person by the name of Martin Luther King, III to help them out. This is the pudgy son of the civil rights icon, who hasn’t done a darn thing with that good name or the years of goodwill his mother Coretta earned for him. This is the same son that was so manipulated by anti-Dr. King forces pretending to be pro-Dr. King forces that he refused to invite Harry Belafonte, the man who came to the rescue of the King family when his daddy was shot dead in Memphis, to his mama’s funeral—but he did invite George W. Bush and his daddy. This the same chile who apparently sees nothing wrong in taking his sibilings to court over embarrassing, internal family matters—including on the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s March on Washington. This is the same offspring who couldn’t even keep an elected office, losing to a Republican, in a Black Georgia district. With his name—how on earth did that happen? Apparently he lost because it was revealed that he owed the federal government more than $200,000 in back taxes and he didn’t campaign hard enough. He couldn’t even keep his role as president of his father’s SCLC; in fact, he done nothing with dat role at all, except gain more weight. It’s been said by people who claim to know him that he has always felt (Continued on page 17)
Saturday, October 26, 2013
7
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
HOW THE GREAT MIGRATION CHANGED POLITICS: On Saturday, October 26 at 2 pm, at the Edgewater Branch of the Chicago Public Library, 6000 N. Broadway Street, the Modern Lives & Movements series merges with One Book, One Chicago with a panel discussion on how the Great Migration changed politics in Chicago and across the United States. Panelists include historian James Grossman, author of Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration; historian Cedric Johnson, author of Revolutionaries to Race Leaders: Black Power and the Making of African American Politics; and Laura Washington, an ABC-7 political analyst and former member of the Harold Washington administration. For more information, visit chicagopubliclibrary.org or call the Chicago Public Library at 312-747-4050. C.N.D.A. SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR: The Chicago Northern District Association of Club Women, Girls, and Boys Inc. invites you to join them on Saturday, October 26, at their Spiritual Development Seminar. The theme is “Mind, Body and Soul.” It will be held at Sankofa House, 4041 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL 60624. Registration starts at 9:30 am and the Seminar is from 10 am-4 pm. The donation is $35.00. Dress Comfortably. Dynamic Speakers are invited, and their will be Door Prizes and Refreshments. For further information contact Chairperson, Yvonne Bennett at 773-2338382. Hope to see you there!!! ATTORNEY LESTER L. BARCLAY DISCUSSES HIS BOOK ON DIVORCE AT THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY: The Chicago Public Library welcomes attorney and author Lester L. Barclay who will discuss his book, The African American Guide To Divorce & Drama: Breaking Up Without Breaking Down. The free program takes place on Saturday, October 26 at 1:30 pm, in the Auditorium at the Woodson Regional Library, 9525 S. Halsted Street. Attorney Barclay presents a comprehen- sive, peace-making book on divorce for African Americans that minimizes the drama often accompanying contentious breakups. In his book, Barclay tackles virtually every topic related to separation and divorce including financial matters, child custody, visitation and much more. For more information, visitchicagopubliclibrary.org or call the Chicago Public Library at 312-745-2081. MARQUETTE BANK EVENTS: Neighborhood Fall Festival – On Saturday, October 26, Marquette Bank will host its 7th annual Family 8
Fall Fest at the Marquette Bank, located at 6316 S. Western Avenue in Chicago. Enjoy clowns, face painting, crafts, kids’ games and free refreshments between 9 am and noon. Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. For more information, call 773467-5110 ext. 1601. Free Halloween Kids Parties – On Saturday, October 26, Marquette Bank will host several Halloween kids parties. One is scheduled for the Marquette Bank, located at 7447 W. 63rd Street in Summit. Wear your favorite Halloween costume and enjoy family fun, games, prizes and refreshments between 1 pm and 3 pm. The event is open to the public. For more information, call 773-476-5110 ext. 1476. Also on Saturday, October 26, Marquette Bank will host a Halloween kids party at the Marquette Bank, located at 9858 S. Western Avenue in Evergreen Park. Wear your favorite Halloween costume and enjoy family fun, games, prizes and refreshments between 2 pm and 4 pm. This event is open to the public. For more information, call 708- 423-4550. Also on Saturday, October 26, Marquette Bank will host a Halloween kids party at the Marquette Bank, located at 5700 W. 159th Street in Oak Forest between 11 am and 1 pm. This event is also open to the public. For more information, call 708-342-8409. ORPHEUS AND EURIDICE: The Chicago Public Library’s Classics in the Parks Series features free performances in a wide range of disciplines from local companies this fall. From ballet to opera in a pool to traditional art forms from around the globe, the Chicago Park District in collaboration with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events kicks off the interdisciplinary Classics in the Parks series. Participating companies include The Joffrey Academy, The Gift Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater, Kalapriya Center for Indian Performing Arts and In the Spirit. All performances are admission free, and availability is on a first come, first-served basis as space allows. The Chicago Opera Theater’s Orpheus and Eurydice, composed by Ricky Ian Gordon and conducted/directed by Andreas Mitisek will be featured in 7:30 pm performances on Friday, November 1; Sunday, November 3; Friday, November 8; and Sunday, November 10 at Eckhart Park pool, 1330 W. Chicago Avenue. Advance reservations are recommended. Call 312-704-8414 or visit www.chicagooperatheater.org. for more information. THE FEAR HAUNTED HOUSE AT NAVY PIER: Be prepared for a frightening night out as the awardwinning and wildly popular haunted house, THE FEAR, returns to Navy Pier on selected dates in October! Brought to you by the producers of
Saturday, October 26, 2013
CHICAGO, ILL. NATIVE Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Stinson lubricates the landing gear of an MH-60S Seahawk assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 6 in the hangar bay aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility Sept. 27, 2013. The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group deployed to conduct maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts. (U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Kole E. Carpenter) For more information, contact Navy Lt. Cmdr. Karin Burzynski at pao@cvn68.navy.mil or (619) 545-8474. Statesville Haunted Prison, this haunted attraction will be the scariest place in Chicago this Halloween season! THE FEAR features both a nighttime haunted house that caters to adults and a low-scare, lights-on attraction during the day. Inside THE FEAR, you will meet the Captain, a man who has traveled the globe in
search of darkness and has found his way back to Navy Pier. Under his command, the Captain’s crew has captured the most feared creatures known to man. If THE FEAR sounds too frightening, visit the daytime haunted attraction - The Fear-less Haunted House. This version is a lower scare lights-on guided tour. Tickets are $20
for THE FEAR Haunted House and $12 for the Fear-less Haunted House. Or, get scared even quicker with a Lightning Fast Pass that lets you slash your way through long lines for an additional fee. Please visit navy pier.com or www.thefearhauntedhouse.com for more information.
Extended Coverage auction prices.
Are you a collector? Do you have a vitrine filled with crystal or china figurines? Sets of model trains? A cellar full of fine, vintage wines? Your collection needs special insurance. *** Many collections of stamps, coins, fine art or musical instruments generally call for a personal articles floater, an addendum to your homeowners policy.
Milton E. Moses
*** That’s where jewelry, watches, furs and silver beyond the limits of your household policy can be scheduled, too.
*** When it comes to insurance, come to the know-how people 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) 6516200. You can also reach us via email at: sales@communityinsurance.com or visit the website at www.communityins.- com.
*** Best bet for serious collectors is an agreed-value replacement-cost policy that covers those treasured items against all risks, including fire, theft, flood, breakage and accidental loss. There’s usually no deductible. *** For a serious wine collection, look for a policy rider that covers breakage, accidental freezing and other hazards. Value can be determined by appraisal or recent retail and BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
www.chicagocrusader.com
BUSINESS
Time to reform horse and buggy debt collector laws www.nclc.org/mffpa. “By updating their exemption laws, states can prevent debt buyers from reducing families to poverty,” the report states. “These protections also benefit society at
By Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist An adage advises that one man’s pain is another man’s gain. As consumers nationwide struggle to recover financially from the Great Recession, this adage is also a truism. Across the country, creditors and debt collectors are taking advantage of archaic laws to extract payments that satisfy court judgments for consumer debts. Depending upon a given state’s exemption laws, garnished wages are not the only option available to creditors. Many state laws have left loopholes that allow bank accounts, autos, or even household goods to be seized. Now a new research report by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) urges states to protect consumer wages and property from aggressive debt collection by creditors and debt buyers. The research comes at a time when many consumers’ finances remain fragile. The report, No Fresh Start: How States Let Debt Collectors Push Families into Poverty, reveals how these outdated state laws have failed to keep pace with the nation’s economy and its technology. Laws that remain a relic of yesteryear include a Delaware exemption that protects a sewing machine owned and used by a seamstress; or a Vermont law that exempts one cow, two goats and three swarms of bees from being taken to satisfy a judgment. Other exemption laws that protect wages or other personal property have not changed to reflect inflation, protecting less than $500 in personal property in some states. “It’s a travesty when outdated state laws protect farm animals and their feed but not a living wage, a working car, and a bare bones checking account,” said Robert Hobbs, NCLC deputy director. “This report is a wake-up call for states to update their exempt property laws and stop putting millions of families at risk.” The inadequacies in state exemption laws only make matters worse for consumers with judgments against them for debts not owed, already paid, or others too old, or the result of identity theft. When creditors and debt buyers obtain wrongful judgments against consumers, they are then able to take advantage of the obsolete exemption laws to extract money from consumers who never owed them in the first place. In 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received more than 125,000 consumer complaints about debt collection. That’s more than any other industry and represents almost 25 percent of all conwww.chicagocrusader.com
large, by keeping workers in the work force, helping families stay together, and reducing the demand on funds for unemployment compensation and social services.”
Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene. crowell@responsiblelending.org.
Charlene Crowell sumer complaints received. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is charged with regulating larger debt collectors by enforcement of the Fair Debt Collection Act. This law makes it illegal for debt collectors to use deceptive, unfair and abusive tactics to collect debts. The Federal Trade Commission also shares monitoring and enforcement of the law. The NCLC report ranks each state with letter grades measuring how well consumers were protected by five specific standards: Preventing debt collectors from seizing so much of the debtor’s wages that the consumer is pushed below a living wage; Allowing the debtor to keep a used car of at least average value; Preserving the family’s home – at least a median-value home; Preventing seizure and sale of the debtor’s necessary household goods; and Preserving at least $1,200 in a bank account so that the debtor has minimal funds to pay essential costs such as rent, utilities and commuting expenses. The report found that no state met all five standards and only two came close: Massachusetts, which recently modernized its exemption laws, and Iowa. Conversely, Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky and Michigan were rated an “F” for their exemption laws that allowed debt collectors to seize nearly everything a debtor owns. States rated “D” were Arkansas, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wyoming. NCLC urges states to update their laws with remedies that include protecting wages, family housing and necessary household goods and transportation; close loopholes that enable some lenders to evade exemption laws; protect retirees from destitution; and allow a reasonable amount of money on deposit. Model language for state legislation is available at BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
Saturday, October 26, 2013
9
EDUCATION
U. of I. Library acquires archives of Gwendolyn Brooks The University of Illinois Rare Book and Manuscript Library has acquired the literary archives of Gwendolyn E. Brooks, the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize and the poet laureate of Illinois for the last 32 years of her life, until her death in 2000. The archives, which had been kept by Brooks’ daughter Nora Brooks Blakely, comprise more than 150 boxes stuffed with manuscripts, drafts, revisions, correspondence, scrapbooks, clippings, homemade chapbooks in which Brooks neatly handwrote her earliest (unpublished) poems, and heavy bronze awards ensconced in velvet-lined boxes collected later in her career. Brooks kept a meticulous record of everything she ate, and occasionally added verse fragments, grocery shopping lists and notes about news. Valerie Hotchkiss, the director of the rare book library, said the archives provide a window into the writer’s creative process. “To have the papers of Gwendolyn Brooks – a compelling voice in American poetry – will help us better understand her poetry, its influences and the times in which she lived,” Hotchkiss said. “It will be thrilling for students to see the author’s hand and to get insight into her creativity through her papers.” Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950 for “Annie Allen,” her second published book of verse (her first was the critically acclaimed “A Street in Bronzeville”), chronicling the musings of an African American girl as she grows into womanhood. The centerpiece, “The Anniad,” is a 43-stanza mock epic poem in which Brooks demonstrated her technical facility across the spectrum of poetic forms. Over her lifetime, she had more than 25 books published, including one book of fiction, “Maud Martha,” and several books of prose. Today, she may be best known as the poet who wrote “We Real Cool,” a brief verse that has become a popular audio track on YouTube. Brooks received myriad of honors. Among them: She was one of Mademoiselle magazine’s “Ten Young Women of the Year” in 1945; named Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985; received the Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement from the Poetry Society of America in 1989; and was awarded a National Medal of the Arts in 1995. However, Blakely said the appointment as poet laureate of Illinois in 1968 was one of the most significant to her mother. “When Gov. Otto Kerner gave her the post, she asked him what she would have to do, and he said, ‘Your responsibilities will be commensurate with your pay,’ – which was nothing,” Blakely said. “So mama 10
set about carving out a definition of what the poet laureate was.” She established her own poetrywriting competition for Illinois schoolchildren, reading each entry herself and funding the cash prizes from her own pocket. When she visited schools as a guest speaker, she signed autographs for anyone who asked. “She read at a school one time that had about 400 students,” Blakely said, “and afterward, she stayed and signed autographs
Gwendolyn Brooks for every single one of the 400 children.” Born about a year and a half after Brooks received the Pulitzer Prize, Blakely grew up regarding her mother as a woman with an important job, but someone who could joke about the 75 honorary degrees she received from colleges and universities around the world (Brooks attended junior college). “It drove her crazy when I called her ‘Doctor doctor doctor doctor doctor doctor doctor doctor …” Blakely said. Brooks loved to watch soap operas, and never left home without an ample supply of Halls Honey Lemon cough drops and a big wad of tissues. (In the archives, her notebook of ideas for one of her most beloved poems, “The Life of Lincoln West,” contains a single tissue, used as a bookmark). She wrote at her bedside table or in the dining room, Blakely said, never with any set routine. “Her process was basically just kind of interwoven with our lives.” Brooks was more disciplined about another type of writing: For the last 20 or 30 years of her life, she documented her daily food consumption in miniature spiral-bound notebooks, which Blakely included in the archives. “I think that’s one of the most surprising items overall in the archives,” Blakely said. “She was vigilant about tracking what she ate, and these became kind of like her life-books. There would be notes about something she had seen on television, an idea she had, grocery lists – all those different things pop up in the little notebooks.” Dating back to the
Saturday, October 26, 2013
1970s, the frequent mentions of brewers yeast, vitamins, dark cherries, blackstrap molasses and her homemade “greens juice” in these little books show that Brooks was health conscious, despite occasional lapses involving pints of ice cream. Blakely, a Chicago public school teacher, said there’s a reason she chose to include these quirky mementos along with her mother’s literary papers. “You want to know why I present her as 360 degrees of Gwendolyn Brooks? It’s not by accident,” Blakely said. “When I see kids learning about Zora Neale Hurston, for instance, they learn that she wrote ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ and that she was a famous folklorist. But I like to know about the innards of people. I think that makes them so much more real than just a name in a book and an assignment you have to do.” Scholars hoping to research Brooks’ archives will need to exercise a bit of patience. Dennis Sears, a curatorial specialist at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, said the task of processing all 150 boxes will require about 25 hours of work per cubic foot. It’s a job the library staff will enjoy. “It will be a treasure trove for researchers,” Hotchkiss said.
U OF I LIBRARY’S acquisition of Gwendolyn Brooks’ archives includes the 1956 collection of poems the Pulitzer Prize winner wrote about the joys of childhood, especially in the Bronzeville community. Those poems are now available in this re-illustrated edition.
County Recorder urges vets to protect discharge papers Cook County Recorder Karen A. Yarbrough is urging all veterans and their families to safeguard DD-214 military discharge records for free with her office. That announcement was made in observance of the upcoming Veterans Day. “As we honor those who served before us and serve us now, I want to urge all veterans to record their DD-214 military discharge records with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds-Veterans Service Office,” Yarbrough said. “This extremely valuable document is what is required to apply for your welldeserved benefits, and misplacing it can result in unneeded headaches and costly delays.” Veterans may record their DD-214s at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds Downtown Office at 118 N. Clark, or at any of the courthouses conveniently located in Cook County: Bridgeview, Markham, Maywood, Rolling Meadows and Skokie (at this time, certified copies are only available at our Downtown Office). All veterans should be aware that if a DD-214 is lost or misplaced, it could take 21 days or longer to receive a new one from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, which could delay benefits. Permanently recording them with a County Recorder will eliminate this delay. Illinois State statutes allow County Recorders to record military discharge papers at no charge; the Cook County Recorder of Deeds Office also furnish-
es a free certified copy after recording. All other requests for certified copies of DD-214’s must be accompanied by photo identification and signature verification. Yarbrough wants all citizens of Cook County to know that significant steps are in place to help protect these private records from identity theft. Federal and state law protects the privacy of veterans when it comes to DD-214s, and a strict procedure is used to ensure security. For new DD-214 recordings, personal information such as the Social Security Number is digitally redacted. All DD-214s are protected from public view, and are only available to the person named in the document, the
named person’s dependents, the county veterans’ service officer, representatives of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, or any person with written authorization from the named person or the named person’s dependents. Yarbrough wishes to thank all veterans and their families for the sacrifices they have made in order to protect our freedoms at home, and spread the message of hope and peace throughout the world. For additional information, please call 312-603-5788, or visit our website at http://cookrecorder.com/veteranservices/.
COUNTY RECORDER KAREN YARBROUGH, in honor of Veterans’ Day next month, is urging all veterans to file their DD-214 military discharge records with her office. Yarbrough said the move is a safeguard as the papers are needed to apply for benefits. Replacing lost papers can take up to 21 days.
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
www.chicagocrusader.com
COMMUNITY
Breast Cancer survivor inspires others By J. Coyden Palmer In 2010, shortly before her 40th birthday, Hyde Park resident Erika Bracey learned she had breast cancer. The news was devastating and came out of nowhere. Bracey had been sitting on her sofa watching her favorite movie “Love Jones” and decided to do a breast exam when she felt a small, pea sized lump in her breast. Concerned she called an aunt and then went to see her doctor, who after doing an X-ray said it was nothing. But Bracey still was not comfortable so she asked for and received an ultrasound. Again the results were negative. But persistent, Bracey did a self-exam herself in the doctor’s office and they did a biopsy on the piece that was removed. Days later when she returned to the office she found out it was cancer. “I truly believe it was God talking to me because I had not done a breast exam in six or seven years prior to my diagnosis,” Bracey said. “I had not planned on doing one but something just told me to do it so I put my hand on the side of my breast and I felt a little pea. I didn’t think anything of it but it was something about it that made me ask, ‘what is this?’ When they told me it was breast cancer I just sat there like I was in a time warp.”
cording to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The procedure is mostly noninvasive. Bracey never had chemotherapy. Because her cancer is estrogen positive, meaning estrogen feeds her cancer, she takes a medicine called tamoxifen, which is designed to block the estrogen in her cells. But tamoxifen has several side effects and risks when used and can lead to cervical cancer, heart attacks, strokes, blood clots and other risks Bracey said. She often suffers from severe cramps in her legs and back. Despite the difficulties, she maintains a positive outlook on life and is dedicated to helping others in the Black community learn about breast cancer. “I take the medicine every day. It’s one of those give or take kind of things. But as long as I’m still here I just try and do whatever it is I need to do to get through the day and keep my life moving forward,” Bracey said. Bracey met a lot of men and women when she was getting her treatment. Many of them did not have the financial resources to cover the costs of their treatments. She made a promise to God that she would use her creative talents to help others. She started making beaded bracelets in pink, the color for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the
FOR 39 CONSECUTIVE days, Erika Bracey endured rounds of radiation. Here, she undergoes one of the many tests necessary to confirm the initial diagnosis. After sulking for a few days after the news, she woke up one day and said to herself, “I gotta keep it moving,” Bracey said. She immediately began getting treatment, which consisted of 39 rounds of radiation for 39 days straight. Bracey also had a lumpectomy, a surgical procedure in which a discrete lump of tissue is removed from the breast. A lumpectomy is considered a viable means of “breast conservation” or “breast preservation” surgery with all the attendant physical and emotional advantages of such an approach, acwww.chicagocrusader.com
proceeds from the sales go to helping offset the costs for under and uninsured cancer patients. Bracey also uses her model looks and figure to promote breast cancer awareness. Last weekend she modeled in Chicago fashion designer Barbara Bates’ “Fighting Cancer with Fashion” show. And Bracey does several photo shoots a year promoting Breast Cancer Awareness. She said by doing that she has also inspired men to do prostate cancer screenings and get men involved in breast cancer awareness ef-
BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR Erika Bracey went without a self-exam for more than six years and found a lump when she did do the exam. forts for their wives, sisters, daugh- rect manner,” Bracey said. “If you bone scan examination on her Face have the disease you have to change book page and got an immediate reters and other women in their lives. But Bracey said she is most fo- your lifestyle, we as a community as sponse. In many ways, Bracey has cused getting the proper informa- a whole must do the same. Every become the face for breast cancer tion about breast cancer out to family needs their men to take care for young African American Black women. She said there are so of themselves and their families. A women in Chicago. It is a role she many myths and people who do man who is the head of his house- does with honor and pride. not take the disease seriously in our hold has a lot of say. Men need to “All of what I am doing can culture that it has become a part of reinforce to the women in their her life mission to change. She be- household the importance of breast change the trajectory of people’s lives,” she said. “That’s what it’s all lieves that conventional breast can- exams.” Bracey posted a picture of her about.” cer awareness messages that we see on television and hear on radio ads are not aggressive enough for the Black community. “You know we sometimes need it raw and in our face before we will take it seriously,” she said with a laugh before getting serious again. “For African American women the mortality rate is much higher than it is for Caucasian women. People will take you seriously, but five minutes later they are on to the next thing. So we needed something over the top that will get the message home. In order to teach someone you have to be able to reach them. All of the awareness messages out here today in mainstream media are safe. It tells the truth but it doesn’t nail the message for our community that will promote action.” Bracey believes men can play an important role in countering this problem. She said men and women often listen more to the opposite sex, especially their mates when they put a priority on something. She believes educating men on the issue and getting them to enforce the message to their women to get their exams done can go a long way in getting early detection and treatment for women. “We have to put a lot of genera- ERICKA BRACEY CREDITS sticking to her medical regimen tional things to rest and start talking and her strong faith as the foundation for her successful battle about this in a very serious and di- against breast cancer.
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
Saturday, October 26, 2013
11
ENTERTAINMENT
By Elaine Hegwood Bowen, MSJ By Raymond Ward GOOD EATING...EXPENSIVE, BUT GOOD!: If you’ve decided that you would rather save all of your energy to participate in the postThanksgiving “Black Friday” sales, (and don’t mind spending a little cash for this privilege ) Prairie Grass Café wants to make your Thanksgiving dinner perfect and easy. The restaurant’s two award-winning chefs, Sarah Stegner and George Bumbaris, have announced their “Thanksgiving To Go 2013” menu available for pre-order now. All or-
Sarah Stegner and George Bumbaris ders must be received no later than Sunday, November 24 for pick-up at the restaurant on Thursday, November 28th between Noon and 3:00 P.M. The a la-carte menu includes everything you would want for the perfect Thanksgiving celebration. Start with a whole roasted Turkey and Gravy, serving between 10 and 14 people for $110 or half a turkey to serve between 5 and 7 people for $60. Homemade Apple Sage Stuffing ($14/quart) and Homemade Sausage and Giblet Stuffing ($24/quart) are available, serving between 4 and 6 people. A variety of homemade appetizers include Butternut Squash Soup, Organic Mixed Green Salad with Shaved Parmesan, Pumpkin Seeds and Pomegranate; Jumbo Cocktail Shrimp with Homemade Horseradish Sauce; cut vegetable assortment with Amish blue cheese dip; or Smoked Salmon Platter with Cream Cheese, Cucumbers, Capers and Red Onions. Side dishes include Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes; Sweet Potato Puree; Sautéed Green Beans; Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Chestnuts and Local Cranberry Sauce. A Prairie Grass Café Thanksgiving would not be complete without Mom’s Homemade Heirloom Pumpkin Pie; Mom’s Pecan Pie or Double Chocolate Cake. And....if you’re not in the mood to entertain at home, Prairie Grass Café, located at 601 Skokie Blvd., in Northbrook will be serving a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner from 2:00 PM until 7:30 PM on Thursday, November 28th. You can indulge in ALL of the items mentioned above (plus several more) at a cost of only $49.00 per person. Reservations are required. Please call 847-205-4433. I gotta go....I’m hungry NOW! If you just feel like cooking something....here’s a recipe you can try! Luxury Heirloom Pumpkin Pie (serves 6 people) Ingredients 6 T dark brown sugar 2 T white sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground cloves 1/8 tsp. ground ginger 1/2 cup dark corn syrup (Continued on page 17) 12
Saturday, October 26, 2013
12 Years a Slave—a horrific account of America’s inhumanity to man Any person with a pulse could not stand to sit through more than two hours of a sweeping, intense, overwhelming, gripping movie such as 12 Years a Slave and not walk out the theater, simply angry and speechless, but at the same time needing to express what you just felt even days after feeling it. Chiwetel Ejiofor is splendid in his role of Solomon Northup, a free Black man living in Saratoga Springs, New York. Upon further research into the book upon which this movie is based, Northup’s 1853 autobiography “Twelve Years a Slave,” I learned that Northup’s father, Mintus, was owned by a slaveholder, and when the slaveholder died, his will dictated that Mintus be set free. Years later in July 1808, Solomon was born, and in 1841 he is tricked away from his way of living, with a wife and two children, and ends up in Washington, D.C., in the hands of bounty hunters looking for runaway slaves. He is then sold into slavery, trying desperately to claw his way back to freedom. 12 Years a Slave presents the brutality, reality and darkness of the business of slavery in America in ways that I haven’t seen before. Northup spends 12 years trying to convince two slaveholders that he is, in fact, an educated, free man, but his pleas fall on deaf ears—because a slave doesn’t read
PATSEY BEGS FOR mercy from slaveholder Epps, as Solomon looks on. or write and certainly can’t pro- ing other slaves, just walks right past him. Eventually, as the sun fess to have lived as a free man. What ensues during his captivi- comes down, the slaveholder cuts ty is a terrible, horrific existence, him loose but sells him to anothfirst under the employ of Benedict er slaveholder, because it “isn’t Cumberbatch, who is kind of safe to keep Plait any longer.” The second slaveholder Edwin sympathetic to Northup, whose Epps is played by Michael Fassname has now been changed to binder, who is the most disgustPlait. ingly sadistic of the two. Epps But Northup, determined as he and his wife use religion to conis, gets too rebellious when dealvince the slaves that the cruelty of ing with the farm overseers and being whipped is found in the eventually he is faced with a Bible. Epps has an obsession with noose and tree. This scene is so a female slave named Patsey, who vivid and haunting, as Northup is played by Lupita Nyongo’o. hangs from a tree, swinging and trying to gather footing on mud- Patsey picks cotton to the tune of dy land, while everyone, includ- more than 500 pounds a day, but she isn’t rewarded for this dexterity; she is raped by Epps and scorned by Epps’ wife. Because of Epps’ fondness for Patsey, she is subjected to such hell that she once asks Northup to “take her to river and place her head underwater until there is no more life in her.” Northup does not oblige her and questions why she would want to put herself in such despair. But despair and hopelessness face them both, as well as the other slaves consigned to a life of beatings, disrespect and humiliation on this plantation in Louisiana. Finally, there is hope, in Canadian abolitionist Brad Pitt who, as the producer of this film diKELSEY SCOTT AS Ann Northup, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon rected by Black London-born Northup and Quvenzhane Wallis as Margaret Northup on the mar(Continued on page 17) ket square, before Solomon is sold into slavery. BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
www.chicagocrusader.com
ENTERTAINMENT By Bonnie DeShong Can you imagine living your life, successful on your job, making enough money that you can buy what you need and some of what you want. One day you meet some businessmen that offer you a legal way to make some extra money for a couple of weeks work. You go to dinner with them and wake up locked in a room, cell phone, I pad, and the shoes you spent your last paycheck on, are all gone. You are being called by another name and taken to another country to work in the fields as a slave. In 1841, Solomon Northup was educated, talented in both music and carpentry, and born a free Black man who lived with his lovely family in New York, until he was kidnapped by two men posing as performers hiring musicians for a circus out of DC and sold into slavery. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup in the film 12 Years a Slave which is based on the book written by Northup after his release. Chiwetel plays Northup in such a realistic way. It would have been so easy to make him the “big, bad buck”
12 YEARS A SLAVE
who won’t take any stuff from any one, but instead we see a man in a very bad situation working to stay alive, keep his sanity, and maintain hope that he will be freed. We see him forced to make decisions that hurts him to his heart. There are many wonderful performances, dialogue, and realiza-
of, I wish I could say that time but it seems “that time” is still around. Paul Giamatti shocked me in how matter of fact he played the slave trader. He was so smooth you don’t know whether to hate him or admire him for being so good at what he does. (I chose to dislike him very much.) My standout character is Patsy
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR - Solomon Northup. tions in this film. There is already played with so much heart by talk of Chiwetel Ejiofor receiving Lupita Nyong’o. Her portrayal a nomination. Michael Fassben- of this young woman who can der as the crazy, obsessed slave pick more cotton than any man, owner, Edwin Epps, gives us an the obsession of her master’s insight into the bizarre thinking wants, the thorn in her master of some of the owners and people wife’s eye, yet she is the girl who
MICHAEL FASSBENDER, Master Edwin Epps; Lupita Nyong'o, Patsy; Chiwetel Ejiofor, Solomon Northup. makes dolls out of husks, and has ful, emotional, and more. He the strong will of a woman born could have done so many things of a powerful people. Her inter- to make this film comfortable but actions with Solomon or his slave he didn’t. name Platt, are breathtaking and Now, 12 YEARS A SLAVE is nomination worthy. Leaving the not easy to watch but it is very theater I wondered what hap- necessary to see. It isn’t for small pened to Patsy. Did she choose children but you should take her own fate? your teen to see it and have a real I can’t leave this without speak- conversation after. You will get ing on the talent of director Steve mad but that’s good. McQueen. He took this life story I SAY SPEND THE MONEY and made us feel it, not just see it. and see 12 YEARS A SLAVE at He made us speechless, thought- the theaters.
U of C hosts exhibits on race and African American life Two events depicting African Americans’ roles in commercial art and consumerism begin this month, with one running into next year at the University of Chicago’s campus. African Americans in TwentiethCentury Commercial Art will be available at the Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery, 1100 E. 57th St. until Jan. 4, 2014. The exhibit features how images of African Americans have outfitted myriad mass-produced consumer goods in the twentieth century, from Aunt Jemima’s pancakes to the Air Jordan basketball shoe. It also examines how graphic design has shaped the relationship between the politics of race and mass consumption, as well as how have African American entrepreneurs and artists used design to shape their own images of “the race”? Drawing from collections of food packaging, print advertisements, children’s books, album covers, and toys, this exhibit traces the vexed history of racial design, from stark racist caricature to the productions of Black-owned advertising firms. It explores how graphic design capitalized on racist attitudes; it also illustrates how for many corporations, designers, and consumers, graphic design was used to envision and transform the place of African Americans in society. As a market force and aesthetic style, graphic design emerged as a material and often www.chicagocrusader.com
intimated activity that wove race into the fabric of everyday life. The curator is Christopher Dingwall, Ph.D. candidate, Department of History, University of Chicago. Another exhibit, Individual Designs: Perspectives on Race and American Consumer Capitalism runs October 24 and 25 at the Regenstein Library, 1100 E. 57th St. Invisible Designs aims to gather faculty and graduate students from the humanities and social sciences whose work explores new directions in the study of race and American consumer capitalism. We are particularly interested in approaches to
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO’S Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery offers two exhibits examining the impact of race and how African American art has impacted commercialism. The exhibits also explore the differences between African American artists and entrepreneurs and their mainstream counterparts.
the material and visual “design” of race in consumer goods, from household goods to corporate brands to Hollywood films. Recently, such approaches have illuminated otherwise “invisible” cultural logics and historical processes that have woven racial difference into the fabric of American life. Ultimately, we believe that racial design comprises a common and rich field and has begun to have a significant impact on the way many scholars think about the American consumer economy. For more information and to register, visit invisibledesigns2013.sites.uchicago.edu.
U OF C HOSTS the exhibit “Race and the Design of American Life” and some of the items being displayed include (left): American Negro Exposition Official Program, 1940; (Center) Zanzibar Brand Bitter Almond Flavor, 1924; Golden Shred Eraser, 2002; (Right) Back cover from A Century of Negro Progress Exposition Program; Special Collections Research Center. (Photo courtesy of The University of Chicago Library)
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
Saturday, October 26, 2013
13
ARTS AND CULTURE
Apollo Chorus performs “Music In The Neighborhood” Concert at Apostolic The Apollo Chorus of Chicago, celebrating 142 years of making music as Chicago’s oldest premier volunteer chorus, will kick off its 2013-2014 season with a free “Music in the Neighborhood” Concert on Sunday, November 3 at 3:00 p.m. at The Apostolic Church of God, 6320 S. Dorchester. The “Music in the Neighborhood” concert will showcase a broad variety of music, including excerpts from upcoming concerts and favorite pieces from last season. The pieces performed will include excerpts from Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, as well as “Te Deum” by Eleanor Daley, “Little Man in a Hurry” by Eric Whitacre, “Little Elegy” by Stephen Paulus and “Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles. Held at the Apostolic Church of God, one of Chicago’s largest, most vibrant religious and musical communities, this event is a great opportunity for first-time audiences to experience the Apollo Chorus in a historic Chicago setting. The Apollo Chorus has been offering a free concert to begin their season for almost 15 years. “The fall concert is an exciting preview of our most varied season yet,” said Dr. Stephen Alltop, Music Director and Conductor of The Apollo Chorus. “By bringing a range of composers including Mozart, Handel, Whitacre, and
the Beatles together in a single concert, we highlight how great composers almost always build on what came before.” The music continues in December with two performances of Apollo Chorus’ signature rendition of Handel’s Messiah on Saturday, December 7 at 3:00 p.m. at Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., and Saturday, December 21 at 3:00 p.m. at Harris Theater for Music & Dance, 205 E. Randolph Drive. Choral Classics-Mozart’s Great Mass in C & Dvorák’s Te Deum will be performed Saturday, February 22 at 7:30 p.m. at University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave.; and the season finale Spring Concert, The Beatles & Friends, will be performed Friday, May 2 at 8:00 p.m. at Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut Street; and again Sunday, May 4 at 3:00 p.m. at First United Church, 848 Lake Street in Oak Park. The Apollo Chorus is Chicago’s oldest musical organization, performing preeminent choral works at premier venues. Founded in 1872 in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire, the chorus is one of the oldest volunteer choral organizations in the United States and the oldest musical organization in Chicago. Its approximately 120 auditioned members include men and women of all ages, races, and
Legendary Band Chicago to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra A collaboration featuring two of Chicago’s most beloved musical icons will take place when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra welcomes Chicago to Symphony Center for two special performances on Saturday, January 25 and Tuesday, January 28, 2014, both at 7:30 p.m. Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be led by conductor
Richard Kaufman and will include some of the band’s most well-known hits including “If You Leave Me Now,” “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long” and “Saturday in the Park.” Chicago recently released a single, “America,” a soaring grassroots anthem about restoring the American dream. The new hit-in-the-making (Continued on page 16)
CHICAGO’S OLDEST PREMIER volunteer chorus, The Apollo Chorus of Chicago, conducted by Dr. Stephen Alltop, in its 2013-14 season will bring a “range of composers including Mozart, Handel, Whitacre, and the Beatles together in a single concert.” backgrounds brought together by their love of music. The chorus has performed the master works of the choral repertoire, as well as new masterpieces from contemporary composers. The Apollo Chorus has performed at notable historic events, such as the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the Century of Progress International Exposition, the opening of Medinah Temple, the opening of Orchestra Hall (Apollo was considered the official chorus of the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra prior to the formation of the Symphony Chorus), the opening of Navy Pier, and the “Oprah Surprise Spectacular.” In 2013, the group has performed twice at sold out Josh Groban concerts at Ravinia and The United Center. The Apollo Chorus continually strives to advance musically and to share the power, beauty and majesty of choral music by presenting concerts and educational programs for diverse communities
throughout Chicago and beyond. “Music in the Neighborhood” is a free concert; no tickets are necessary. Season subscriptions are still available for $95. A special “new subscriber” rate is available for $65 for concert attendees who would like to purchase a subscription on site. Regular priced tickets for the remainder of the season are $18$75. To purchase individual tickets or to book a group, call 312.427.5620 or visit www.apollochorus.org.
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Chicago in conjunction with Humanity First, USA announces its upcoming Community Service program for the 3rd Ward The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Chicago, under the insistence and leadership of Alderman Pat Dowell, is announcing a 3rd Ward Community Service Program from its intended purchase of a property located at 4421 South State Street, Chicago, adjacent to its current Mosque on South Wabash Street. The announced program at this facility will include: •
Free Health Fairs (To provide basic checkups and medical advice to the attending 3rd Ward residents).
•
Entrepreneur and Career Developing Workshops & Mentorship Program (engaging and training people to start their own businesses or selecting good career path).
•
Blood Drives to support the local Hospitals, Food Pantry to support a certain number of qualified 3rd Ward community residents.
•
Gymnasium use on pre-‐arranged basis to host competitions, Commercial Kitchen use on pre-‐arranged basis to cook for the Soup Kitchen Programs.
•
Short computer skills learning courses along with a possibility of cyber café (free internet access).
•
Interfaith programs inviting all major faiths to gather frequently to establish understanding, love, peace and harmony in our broader communities.
An “Open House” is scheduled on Saturday, 26th October, 2013 @ 3:00pm at “The Church of the Living God CWFF” located at 14 East 45th Street, Chicago, IL 60653 inviting the 3rd Ward residents to share the community’s worldwide services, it’s Interfaith Harmony Programs and proposed Social Support Program. Program 3:00pm – 4:30pm
THE BAND CHICAGO is one of the most successful rock bands in America and among the Top Ten best-selling U.S. musical groups of all time. The tickets went on sale recently for a musical collaboration between Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the group Chicago, which will include performances of the group’s most popular hits, “If You Leave Me Now,” “Saturday in the Park” and others in Symphony Hall. 14
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Welcome address, Introduction to the Global Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and its Services to establish Peace, Promoting Worldwide Interfaith Harmony, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community‘s plan to serve the 3rd ward residents and Comments from guest speakers.
4:15pm – 4:30pm
Comments by Alderman Pat Dowell or Representative
4:30pm – 5:30pm
Q & A and Closing Comments & Refreshments
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA was established in 1921 at 4448 S Wabash Street of the 3rd Ward Chicago and it is the oldest established Muslim Organization in the USA. This peace loving worldwide moderate Islamic community started in 1889 and is now established in 200+ countries with its international headquarter in London, England. It has 77 chapters across USA with its USA’s headquarter in Silver Spring, Maryland. The community pro-‐ motes Peace, Interfaith dialog and actively engages in various Social Services programs serving its neighborhoods across the country and across the world. Kindly visit community’s websites: www.muslimsforpeace.org, www.muslimsforlife.org, www.muslimsforloyalty.org & www.loveforallhatredfornone.org For a further introduction to the community: -‐ RSVP: Imam I. H. Kauser E-‐mail: ihkauser@yahoo.com Cell: (718) 825-‐4685 BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
www.chicagocrusader.com
SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING
A Moment to Super Size Your Thinking By Effie Rolfe Wait and hear both sides first— too often we only hear one side of the story before we jump to conclusions. As have you, I’ve definitely been guilty of this time and time again. Last week, I took special notice after posting a comment on Facebook about Pastor Marvin Winans preaching for Hermon Baptist Church’s 125th anniversary. Minutes later, someone responded “…no disrespect, but anytime a pastor shuns people due to their marital status... that is a pastor who doesn’t deserve a dime of my money! I’ll pass!” This person also posted the video on my page. Since I had yet to hear of this incident or see the video, I simply replied that every-
sation. The following day, after the anniversary service, I had the opportunity to speak with Pastor Winans and decided to inquire about the video and allegations. He said, “She was not a member of my church and before we can do anything there’s a process— there are steps that must be taken before those services are given— first you must be a member.” When asked if he would do a press conference to clear his name…he said “No, it’s not worth it—what am I going to do?” I then shared that people are upset and speaking negative of you, to which he responded, “What can I do” and threw up his hands and simply said, “It’s not worth it.” So in parting, I told
Effie Rolfe truths. According to the news report, the young lady spoke to a female staffer at Winans’ church regarding the christening services for children 2 years and under. She continued that this staffer conveyed the church’s policy and
the pastor’s rules. The mother maintained to the reporter that, “I wanted to teach my child morals and do the right thing by my child.” Although her intentions may be good, however, in this situation, christening a child does not equate to teaching morals. Perhaps instead of taking this to the media and damaging someone’s reputation, a better example could have been to follow the church’s protocol by joining the church and then having the child christened. The word is clear that all things must be done decently and in order. Unfortunately, most of the people who posted, responded or read the initial Facebook postings regarding this video, did so prior to hearing Winans’ side of the story. The news reporter said that when asked for a comment—he responded, ‘No comment.” However, as a mature adult and more so a believer, it is crucial that we not rush to judgment. How many times have you been wrongly ac-
cused or misquoted about something? What if that person took it to the local news and put a negative slant on your efforts? The average person would be furious and feel total injustice. So it is with this whole Facebook scenario—I decided to use it as a teachable moment in hopes that we can all grow from this example. Moving forward, slow down and try to hear both sides of the story before you jump to conclusions. Especially when someone’s reputation is at stake. When you perpetuate information not based on the whole truth, you may be participating in what could ultimately be a lie, as well as a stumbling block for others. What have you assumed today….? ©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 Pastor Marvin Winans one makes mistakes and to keep him “oh well, I guess they talked him in prayer. My response about Jesus and eventually perseseemed to stir up even more con- cuted him.” As I reflected on this entire situversation, because others also chimed in with a negative slant ation, my heart was heavy betowards Winans and his minis- cause sometimes damage can be try. I humbly and gracefully re- done unknowingly when we conmoved myself from that conver- tinue to spread rumors and half-
West Point MB Church addresses domestic violence The ministry and members of West Point Missionary Baptist Church have identified domestic violence as a pandemic and is conducting special activities to raise awareness of the problem. The Rev. Dr. L. Bernard Jakes, West Point’s senior pastor, said the church is working to send the messages that the community needs to stop blaming the victim, and hold abusers accountable. He added that more work needs to be done for victims’ safety. West Point is holding a pizza party for youth between 13 and 17 years old. The party begins at 3 p.m. Saturday, October 26 and includes activities focusing on healthy relationships, and collaborating with Women of Virtue, Inc. There also will be raffles, giveaways, a workshop, music and pizza. On Sunday, October 27 there will be a 10:45 a.m. domestic vio-
www.chicagocrusader.com
Rev. Dr. L. Bernard Jakes lence awareness worship service. The service will include Brothers Against Abuse pinning ceremony. West Point is at 3566 S. Cottage Grove. Ave.
Sidney Buckner and Youth in Unity invites you to Pilgrim M.B. Church, 8220 W. 91st in Hickory Hills this Friday, October 25th. Youth in Unity Fall Musical “Just Church’n” special guests for this celebration includes Emmanuel N Favor, Minister, Voices of Damascus, R&R Music, Pilgrim M.B. Church Combined Choirs and the guest M.C. will be Effie Rolfe. Come and help us have some good ole church! The group’s Buckner, the founder is excited about their latest track, which is also featured on local radio stations. *** Ramon Perry—Ministry And Praise Chorale proudly presents their 16th year anniversary entitled “A Night Of Classic Gospel,” Friday, October 25th at The Greater Harvest Missionary Baptist Church, 5141 S. State Chicago, 7:30 p.m. where Rev. Eric Thomas is host Pastor. Special guest will be Chicago’s own Lecresia Campbell by way of Rock Hill, South Carolina and The Whitfield Company of Detroit Michigan. According to Perry, “The purpose of the theme A Night Of Classic Gospel was to present and promote classic gospel artist and music that may not yet be considered ‘traditional’ yet still relevant in many churches across the country. Classic songs such as ‘Perfect Praise’ better known as ‘O Lord How Excellent’ written by Chicago’s own Brenda Moore and ‘Soon As I Get Home’ also known as ‘I Shall Wear A Crown’ sung by the late Thomas Whitfield and The Thomas Whitfield Company, are timeless songs that may not
yet be deemed traditional gospel, but classic gospel,” said the Founder. For information and tickets contact 773259-7501.
Darryl F. Houston will be the special guest musician and Bishop Otto Houston invites all to attend. For information call 773-373-7700.
*** Congratulations to Walt Whitman and the Soul Children of Chicago who will celebrate their 32nd year anniversary Break the Chains at Holy Temple in Harvey. The Founder and Director will also receive an honorary doctorate this weekend from Dr. Carlton Davis and GMOR Theological Institute. Whitman has been a staple in gospel for 32 years…recently he was on the hot new day show hosted by Queen Latifah. According to Whitman, “Queen Latifah was in town and popped in on our rehearsal and said they are flying the choir out to be her special guest at her Hollywood bowl—it was her show!” The Soul Children have made regular appearances at the White House and an array of celebrity artists nationally and overseas. The event is this Saturday, October 26th at 6:45 p.m…for more information about this spectacular event call 773-881-8120.
*** Also, congratulations to Rev. Derrick B. Wells and the members of Christ Universal Temple for their 57th year anniversary. The celebratory services have transpired each Sunday for the entire month of October with various guest ministers and musical guests. The anniversary services will culminate with a live recording of
*** First Church of Deliverance choir celebrates their 84 years anniversary. The Stellar Award winning choir that gave us the classic, “He’s Been So Good” will be singing favorites back to back this Sunday, October 27 at the historic First Church of Deliverance, 4315 S. Wabash in Chicago. Special guest includes Rodrick Dixon of Cook, Dixon and Young also, a special tribute in memory of Rev. Charles Nicks with the St. James Baptist Church of Detroit. Minister
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
Rev. Derrick B. Wells Pastor Wells and Legacy produced by Fred Nelson, III this Sunday, October 27th from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. featuring an inspiring message through music, words and a bundle of surprises. Later that evening from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. the ministry is preparing for a black tie gala at the Legacy Banquet, 119th and Loomis in Chicago. The reception will be held in the newly renovated, Legacy Banquets, 11900 S. Loomis on Chicago’s South Side.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
15
HEALTH
Symposium to focus on sexual abuse in Black communities By Wendell Hutson An upcoming symposium by a Chicago nonprofit organization will analyze sexual abuse in Black communities and TV journalist Merri Dee will be the keynote speaker. The Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center presents: “Breaking the silence: A call to address child sexual abuse in African-American communities,” from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8 at the University of Illinois-Chicago Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted St. in room 302. A group of panelists, such as mental health professionals, will join Dee and author Robin D. Stone in explaining the cause and effect of sexual abuse to Black children. And there is a $60 registration fee, which covers morning refreshments, all sessions, materials and continuing education hours for licensed social workers and counselors. Julia Strehlow, outreach and training coordinator for the organization said due to limited space, those planning to attend should RSVP by call or email her at 312492-3718 or jstrehlow@chicagoCAC.org. This is the first symposium on this topic for the organization and Julie O’Brien, a spokeswoman for the CAC, said it probably wouldn’t be its last.
“This is Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center’s fifth symposium and our last symposium was held in November 2012 and was about addressing sexual abuse of children with disabilities,” she said. “We had more than 100 people in attendance.” Strehlow added that the goal of the event is to raise awareness about the problem. “This year’s fall symposium is hosted by our Raising Awareness in Service and Empowerment for African-American Families (RAISE) coalition,” explained Strehlow. “Cofacilitated by ChicagoCAC, the coalition aims to raise awareness about sexual abuse and improve engagement in mental health services by African-American children and youth who have experienced sexual abuse in Chicago.” Child sexual abuse occurs across all demographics and in all neighborhoods and communities, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. O’Brien agreed, “Fifty-five percent of children referred to Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center for services are African-American,” said O’Brien. “To address the needs of these children and the many other cases that go unreported each year, RAISE seeks to build communitylevel capacity to raise awareness, decrease stigma and increase access to
Robin D. Stone mental health services in predominantly African-American neighborhoods.” And on of the biggest factors with Black children who suffered sexual abuse is the long-term effect afterwards. “Trauma can have profound longterm effects on relationships and behavior. Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center believes that all children have a right to tell their story to experts who will listen to them, protect them and help them heal,” added O’Brien. “When given access to appropriate resources, survivors of child sexual abuse heal faster and more fully.” In his book “No Secrets, No Lies:
How Black Families Can Heal From Sexual Abuse” Stone outlined 10 facts about sexual abuse in the Black community: It’s more common than you think: In surveys of adults, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men report that they were sexually abused as a child. It’s a Black thing, too: Many Blacks think that child sexual abuse is more typical among white people. Statistics show that blacks are sexually victimized in childhood at about the same rates as whites. Near and present danger: Twothirds of all victims of sexual assault reported to the police were under 18. In nearly 95 percent of the cases, the offender was a family member or acquaintance. Rich or poor: Poverty, which contributes to violence in many communities, is not seen as a risk factor for child sexual abuse. Abuse is more likely to be reported among low-income families, but is virtually undetected in families whose money or status shields them from authorities. Race matters: African-American women are less likely than white women to involve police in cases of child sexual abuse. Fears about betraying the family by turning abusers into “the system” and distrust of institutions and authorities often lead blacks to remain silent about “family business.” Boys are also abused: About 14
percent of all young victims of sexual assault are male, according to police reports. Twenty-percent of sexual abuse of boys is committed by women. Among Blacks, homophobia perpetuates the denial of sexual abuse of boys. Cause and effect: Black women report being more severely abused with greater force. They also report “more upset, greater long-term effects and more negative life experiences” from sexual abuse than white women. Among the effects: posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse (drug abuse), selfmutilation and more. Young and troubled: Adolescents commit 23 percent of all sex offenses. Experts say young abusers are more responsive to treatment than adults. Prolific predators: Child sex offenders tend to victimize more often than other sexual offenders. Seventy percent of child sex offenders had between one and nine victims; 23 percent between 10 and 40 victims. Quiet as it’s kept: Child sexual abusers operate in silence and isolation, the tools they use to target and control their prey. Few tend to be violent, which makes them difficult to catch and thwart. Cook County has an anonymous tip line for child abuse-1-800-25ABUSE.
SHINE a Light: Empower Youth to Prevent HIV/STI Infection The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration (SSA) and community partners are organizing a conference to prompt action on the problem of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/ AIDS among young people to be held on November 8, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Gary Comer Youth Center, 7200 S. Ingleside Ave. The event, “Building Bold Innovative Partnerships to Prevent and Reduce STIs/HIV Among Youth” is being arranged by SSA’s SHINE Network, Access Community Health Network, and the Gary Comer Youth Center. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required: https://myssa.u chicago. edu/RSVP/shine2013. “We want this to be more than a conference where people listen to interesting talks and then leave. We want our sessions to be discussions among people who vitally interested in this issue and we hope those conversations prompt more networking and follow up,” said SSA Professor Dexter Voisin, and Principal Investigator for SHINE. Voisin is organizing the conference along with CoPrincipal Investigator Alida Bouris, Assistant Professor at SSA. Community leaders and experts will discuss topics that include 16
“Youth and Community Violence,” “Youth and Mental Health,” “New Media,” and “Adapting Evidencebased Interventions for Youth.” The keynote speaker is Judy Auerbach, an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Francisco. She has published and presented widely in the fields of AIDS, health research and science policy and is the past Vice President for Science and Public Policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. The talk will be “Social Drivers of STI/HIV Infections Among Youth.” Among the panelists are Danny Davis, U.S. Representative; Juliana Stratton, Executive Director, Cook County Judicial Advisory Council; Robin Robinson, Fox Chicago News Anchor; Tim’m West, Spoken Word Artist/AIDS Activist; and Cathy Krieger, President and CEO, The Children’s Place Association. West and the South Side Drill Team will perform at the closing ceremony. “The SHINE Conference is an educational and informative forum of professionals sharing expertise about the selected topics on each panel. This year the focus on youth is great, considering a great majority of ACCESS’ HIV infection rate is
Saturday, October 26, 2013
attributed to young people and young black men having sex with men,” said Kischa Hampton, ACCESS’ Director, Preventive and Behavioral Health. “Attending this Conference is important to provide our community a strong knowledge base of education and to provide individuals with tools, while offering detailed explanations of experiences that may reflect on learned lessons, best practices and challenges,” she added. “Transdisciplinary approaches to engaging youth around HIV prevention is critical as we move to-
wards eliminating new HIV transmission events in hardest hit communities such as those on the South Side of Chicago, ”said Dr. John Schneider, Assistant Professor at UChicago in Health Studies and Medicine, Director of Global Health Programs and the Director of the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination.
(Continued from page 14)
origins in 1967); Jason Scheff (since 1985); Tris Imboden (since 1990); Keith Howland (since 1995); Lou Pardini (since 2009, though he toured with the band in 1999 and 2007); and Walfredo Reyes (since 2012). 94.7 WLS is the presenting sponsor of Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Tickets go on sale on Thursday, October 24 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased by phone at 312-294-0000 or 800-223-7114, online at cso.org, and in-person at the Symphony Center Box Office (220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago). Tickets for Chicago with the Chica-
“The SHINE conference is a critical part of the professional development of youth workers and youth advocates. It will strengthen our ability to work toward achieving
positive life outcomes for the youth we work with every day.” Ayoka Samuels, Senior Program Director at the Gary Comer Youth Center. Other sponsors for the conference are The Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago, The Chicago Center for HIV Elimination; Ci3, The Gary Comer Youth Center, The University of Center for Health Administration Studies, The University of Chicago Medicine Urban Health Initiative, and The University of Chicago Urban Network.
Legendary Band Chicago to perform with the Chicago . . . takes Chicago back to their roots of impeccable musicianship, blended with the political awareness that was so prevalent during the group’s early days. Chicago is one of the longest running and most successful pop/rock-nroll groups in history, and is the highest charting American band on Billboard Magazine’s list of Top 100 artists of all time, boasting the #13 spot. Founded in 1967, Chicago has toured every year since. The band currently consists of Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, Jimmy Pankow, and Walt Parazaider (who have been with the band since its
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
go Symphony Orchestra concert with Richard Kaufman, conductor cost $50–$250 for performances Saturday, January 25, 2014, 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday, January 28, 2014, 7:30 p.m. Tickets for all CSOA concerts can be purchased by phone at 800-223-7114 or 312-294 3000; online at cso.org, or at the Symphony Center box office: 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604. Discounted student tickets for select concerts can be purchased, subject to availability, online in advance or at the box office on the day of the concert. For group rates, please call 312-294-3040. www.chicagocrusader.com
NEWS
Robbins poised to get first supermarket (Continued from page 1)
ty funds cannot be used to leverage the bank loan the accountant is seeking to develop the store that will anchor a retail development. The estimated cost is $4.1 million. Mitchell sees the need for a grocery store in Robbins is a no brainer. The village with its 96 percent African American population mirrors the health issues of many predominantly Black communities. “When we lead in preventable diseases, such as hypertension, colorectal cancer, lung disease and others, it is clear that better diets and healthier foods are needed. It boils down to what we put in our bodies,” Mitchell noted. He added that as an athlete he has been conditioned to eat healthy. The supermarket also will mean that Robbins residents will no longer have to travel to Midlothian or Crestwood to buy groceries.
An aquaponics center will contribute to the full service aspect of the supermarket, with Tilapia having a starring role. The supermarket will be taken
into rarely chartered waters in a Black community as Mitchell has plans to make it a green development. ComEd will work with him to maximize its energy efficiencies. While the store will be
Sharpton Tackling (Continued from page 1)
Mitchell’s quest began in 2006 when he incorporated the DM Group Associates. He spent the next four years researching the project and investing personal dollars on feasibility and marketing studies. The DePaul University student envisions the parcel also will contain an urban garden adjacent to the supermarket. The fruit and vegetables will be sold in the supermarket, Mitchell said.
“The more people that know we have a problem in our community the more conversation will hopefully take place about how to stop it,” added Sharpton. “I want to meet with anyone working to solve this problem. From the West Side to the South Side is where I’ll be when in town.” Tio Hardiman, former director of CeaseFire Illinois and now, a gubernatorial candidate, said Sharpton coming into Chicago is a positive sign that change is in the way. “I would like to applaud Rev. Al Sharpton for moving to Chicago’s West Side to help bring much needed attention to the epidemic of violence that continues to destroy so many lives in Chicago,” Hardiman said. “Rev. Al Sharpton’s moving to Chicago does not mean that the police are not doing a good job. Rev. Sharpton coming to Chicago should be a plus and not a minus for the people.” Sharpton also said he plans to
speak with residents at town hall meetings and walking the streets much like Dr. Martin L. King Jr. did when he took up residency in Chicago during the 1960s. “This is a people issue and people need to be involved in the process,” Sharpton said. Hardiman agreed. “One of the main factors contributing to violence amongst African-American youth is no unity in the community. The violence in Chicago will not end until people from all walks of society reach out and help the young men involved in a violent lifestyle,” explained Hardiman. “You cannot arrest your way out of an epidemic.” But not everyone is happy to see Sharpton arrive in Chicago. The Rev. Anthony Williams, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Robbins, said, “If Sharpton really wants to do some good for Blacks in Chicago, “then he should help push H.R. 40 through Congress so Black folks can get the reparations they deserve.”
(Continued from page 7) tremendous pressure living up to his father’s iconic name. If dat be the case, how on earth can teaming up with Sharpton in a silly publicity stunt, help him at all? These two been in co-hoots now going on 10 or 12 years. So here come Sharpton, with his smooth, slick talking self—being Martin III’s best friend and confidant, listening to his personal prob-
lems, and giving this struggling son the emotional support he apparently needs. Martin on the other hand gives Sharpton great credibility so the New Yorker can rightly claim himself as a “civil rights leader,” despite his history as a roadie for James Brown and, according to Bryant Gumble and HBO, a possible informant on boxing promoter Don King. (Militants even claim he tried to trick Assata Shakur, who
is hiding out in Cuba, with a million dollar FBI bounty on her head.) Sharpton, being no dummy, is said to be a good listener, as the historic FBI tapes showed. They say he’s real smart and knows how to tap into the weak minds of people. This is why they say it is no surprise that two preachers, who love being in the media spotlight and feel its high time they got their just due, were coerced into inviting
comparable in size to a Pete’s Produce market, Mitchell noted, “It will be totally different than any other supermarket out there.” The concept apparently has a lot of appeal as Mitchell said his appearance on a national radio talk show garnered calls from across the country asking him if he would be willing to come to other states and lay the foundation for a project replicating SaveMore Finer Foods. The attention and confidence is flattering,
Mitchell admitted, but quickly added that he has to first make the Robbins development work; then he will gladly take on developments in other communities. Until then however, Mitchell will continue to work at his same frenetic pace to raise the balance of the $50,000 needed to approach banks. The crowdfunding site - http://fundanything.com/en/campaigns/saverobbins - is still available.
Alderman wants police (Continued from page 3) he believes the behavior must be changed and said that starts with making employment available where people can be paid wages to raise a family on. He also said more discretion needs to be used before using the approach Emanuel wants. He said many senior citizens carry weapons because it is the only possible way they can defend themselves. He questioned the ethical value and the “spirit” of a proposed law that would sentence people to three years right from the start.
It’s wrong to have an illegal gun. But also, it’s wrong for us if we mandatorily give a person who made the wrong decision three years who may not have ever done anything to anyone.”
“They are afraid because they don’t feel like they are being protected by the police,” said Burnett to a group of reporters last week at City Hall. “It’s wrong to feel like you have to have a gun.
Brookins, who is emerging a strong political foe to Emanuel and is being talked about privately in some political circles as a potential challenger to the Mayor in the next election said mandatory sentences in the past have failed miserably in the war on drugs. He is afraid the same would happen on gun crimes. Brookins said engaging with unemployed and uneducated citizens and providing them services to improve their lot in life is perhaps a better solution to gun crimes.
Sharpton to town. They say the incredible shrinking man, knows “the things these two preachers” said behind the backs of their former mentors. Using dat information, Sharpton convinced these guys that he’s “in their corner,” and will do whatever he can do to “lift them up,” in this crazy city called Chicago.
That’s all of the “tea” the Chatterbox got on this crazy matter— though a few people offered other tidbits about Sharpton’s Chicago move that might wind up in de paper on a later date. In de meantime, a lot of beauty shops on the West Side are praying they get his business because he needs a serious touch up.
(Continued from page 12) (Continued from page 12) filmmaker Steve McQueen, brought it to fruition. Northup finally has a listening, compassionate ear in Pitt, who plays Bass and who isn’t aligned with the cause of slavery. He delivers a note on behalf of Northup that in the end compels the sheriff and those that know Northup as a free man to approach Epps and snatch Northup away, to the diswww.chicagocrusader.com
may and defiant rants of Epps but to the excitement of those watching the film. I have read on online message boards people comparing 12 Years a Slave to Django Unchained. Believe me, there is nothing to compare. Those folks who so easily laughed through Django Unchained, which I felt was Hollywood’s and the direc-
tor’s parody around slavery, will have to grow up fast in order to stomach the unimaginable injustices depicted in 12 Years a Slave. Other cast members include Alfre Woodard, Paul Giamatti, Michael K. Williams, among others. The movie was issued in limited release and should be more widely accessible in the Chicago area at Crusader press time.
1 1/3 cup pumpkin puree 1 2/3 cup heavy cream 3 whole eggs 1 tsp. vanilla Method Mix the dark brown sugar, white sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger , cloves together. Mix the dark corn syrup, pumpkin, heavy cream, whole eggs and vanilla together. Combine the two and stir well Pre-bake a pie shell for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes. Bake until pie is cooked through. (This recipe makes enough filling for a 10 inch pie. If using a small pie plate you will have extra filling) ENJOY!
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
Saturday, October 26, 2013
17
The Modern Slavery and Apartheid
HOUSES FOR SALE
(Continued from page 13) bandits that have turned fy these men who dare exerbullies. They have tricked cise their Pan African preAmericans, Black, white, rogatives; who have left the yellow and brown to go modern plantations and along with America’s poli- travel freely throughout cies right or wrong. Just as Africa without a pass from many Americans are start- white America; that have ing to pull out of the cele- broken the modern and unbration of that European written pass laws. mass murderer ChristoShaka Barak is presipher Columbus, we see dent of The Marcus Garthose who similarly have vey Institute, P.O. Box raised their voices in 1723, Oak, Park, Il. protest against “occupy 60304 708-613-5132. wall street” and anti-war in HOUSES FOR SALE Syria. America is a powerful nation, but for the last 10 years it has a leadership that is plagued with “group think,” and only through hindsight have they realized the compulsion to go to war and attack other nations simply because you can, and to make it seem right, is full of flaws, that comes back to bite them. Marcus Garvey said, “ Therefore, let justice be done to all mankind, realizing that if the strong oppresses the weak, confusion and discontent will ever mark the path of man but with love, faith, and charity towards all, the reign of peace and plenty will be heralded into the world and the generations of men shall be called Blessed.” The courts in America, the land of the Black races captivity, equipped with overseers, drivers, and informants, are no more than the auction blocks of modern slavery, with prisons that are no more than modern slave plantations, with no desires for rehabilitation. Prince Asiel and Gregory Turner, are men who have come close to what Marcus Garvey taught, not in terms of writing a few books or lines about him, but the African Hebrews put Garveyism in a practical form of PanAfricanism when they left America, and made friends throughout the African world. They have helped raise African children who speak two and sometimes three languages. The children have been raised as not only vegetarians but also vegan. Whether we embrace their religion or not, there is no denying that the results of that repatriation or return to Africa has led to the African Hebrews becoming the most experienced Africans in the 21st century in building bridges of friendship with Africans at home, and they have the awards to prove it. So the cry went out, cruci18
Saturday, October 26, 2013
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
www.chicagocrusader.com
SPORTS
South Suburban athlete selected for All-America game South Suburban athlete selected for All-America game Nyles Morgan of Crete-Monee High School in Crete has been selected to play in the 2014 U.S. Army All-American Bowl, joining an elite group of All-Americans. Those selected will play in the game on Saturday, January 4, 2014, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The annual East vs. West match-up will be televised live on NBC at 1 p.m. EST and will feature the nation’s top 90 high school football players. “Morgan is a talented athlete whose leadership and teamwork qualities have made him a standout at Crete-Monee High School,” said Mark Davis, deputy assistant Secretary of the Army for Marketing. “Only the strongest wear the Army colors, and are proud to welcome all of the U.S. Army AllAmerican Bowl players and commend each of them on their selection.” Morgan was selected by the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Selection Committee, which consists of All American Games and 247Sports. U.S. Army All-Americans are eligible for the U.S.
www.chicagocrusader.com
Army Player of the Year Award, the Anthony Muñoz Lineman of the Year Award, the American Family Insurance Defensive Player of the Year Award, the Pete Dawkins Game MVP Award, and the Felix “Doc” Blanchard and Glenn Davis Awards. As a result of Morgan being selected to the U.S. Army AllAmerican Bowl, his head coach John Konecki is invited to travel to San Antonio and attend the U.S. Army Coaches Academy, an elite three-day learning experience, including Bowl Week activities. For more than 13 years, the U.S. Army All-American Bowl has been the nation’s premier high school football game, serving as the preeminent launching pad for America’s future college and NFL stars. Adrian Peterson and Andrew Luck made their national debuts as U.S. Army All-Americans. In the 2013 NFL Draft, there were a total of 8 U.S. Army All-American Bowl Alumni drafted in the first round. The 2013 U.S. Army All-American Bowl drew a crowd of 40,133 to the Alamodome, and was the most-watched sporting event on television over the
FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT of their selection to the 2014 U.S. Army AllAmerican Bowl team, the players gathered for a group photo. The players’ coaches also will attend an elite academy during the Bowl weekend. weekend, excluding the NFL playoffs. The U.S. Army All-American Bowl is owned and produced by All American Games, a New Jersey-based sports marketing and event management company. The U.S. Army is the title sponsor of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, and American Family Insurance is the lead national sponsor and presenting sponsor of the telecast on NBC.
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
Other national sponsors include adidas, 247Sports, San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau, Gatorade, SKLZ, NCSA, School of the Legends, Lockheed Martin, Xenith, Battle Sports Science, Oakley, NewTek and Football University. National sponsors of the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band include NAfME: The National Association for Music Education, Drum Corps International, Jupiter Wind Instru-
ments, Mapex Marching Percussion, Majestic Concert Percussion, and DeMoulin Uniforms. For more information on the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and its related events visit www.usarmyallamericanbowl.com and www.goarmy.com/events/-aab or the official Facebook and Twitter pages located at http://-www.facebook.com/USArmyAllAmericanBowl and www.twitter.com/-armyallamerican.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
19
20
Saturday, October 26, 2013
BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN COMMUNITY
www.chicagocrusader.com