1 9 2013

VOL. 62, No. 1

January 3 - 9, 2013

www.tsdmemphis.com

Unacceptable!

Myths aside, Emancipation Proclamation was a big deal

African-American homicides remain at alarmingly high rate NNPA Editor-in-Chief

by George E. Curry

WASHINGTON – As the nation continues to ponder possible solutions to curb carnage that results from the easy accessibility to firearms, nowhere is the loss of lives from guns greater than in the African-American community.

According to “Black Homicide in the United States: An Analysis of 2009 Homicide Data,” report by the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., the African-American homicide rate in the year studied was more than six times that of whites.

The report, published last January,

stated, “According to the FBI SHR (Supplementary Homicide Report) data, in 2009, there were 6,505 black homicide victims in the United States.

The homicide rate among black victims in the United States was 17.90 per 100,000. For that year, the overall national homicide rate was 4.76 per 100,000. For whites, the national homicide rate was 2.92 per 100,000.”

There were also some stark differences when the figures were broken down by gender.

“Of the 6,505 black homicide victims, 5,576 (86 percent) were male, and 928 (14 percent) were female. In SEE HOMICIDES PAGE 2

CNN

by Alicia W. Stewart

In light of the mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., the Los Angeles Police Department recently held a gun buyback, allowing citizens to drop off their weapons and receive a gift card from a local grocery store. No questions were asked and the guns were slated for melt down. (Photo: Gregg Canes/CNN)

Family takes fight to cancer

Javon Bass, who has beaten cancer three times, now is helping his sister take on the disease. (Courtesy photo)

Load lightened by Ronald McDonald House Special to The New Tri-State Defender

It’s 2008.

Seven-year-old Javon Bass walks through the doors of Ronald McDonald House of Memphis clasping two-year-old Jakayla’s hand. Jakayla has just been diagnosed with Leukemia and is about to embark on the fight of her young life. Javon is there to cover her.

For Jakayla, Javon is not just her protective older brother, he’s her hero. He’s been here

and fought this foe before, and won. He is convinced that with her family by her side, his sister will do the same.

Last February, Jakayla relapsed. Now six years old, she is back in Memphis with her family – still fighting, yet able to maintain her love of dancing, playing with dolls and nail polish.

“This is our fifth time going through this,” said Jakayla and Javon’s mom, Lisa. “It’s been hard. But we’ve seen so many miracles happen at Ronald McDonald House throughout the years, it gives us the faith we need to get through.”

If the will to survive cancer can be passed

along, then Javon and Jakayla inherited it from their mother, who began her own battle with childhood leukemia in 1985.

“It’s one thing to be sick,” Lisa said. “It’s another thing to be sick and to feel alone.”

When Lisa arrived in Memphis in 1985, Ronald McDonald House of Memphis was still six years away from being built.

“A lot of people don’t know that St. Jude is an outpatient hospital. We would go there for treatment, but we didn’t stay there 24/7,” Lisa recalled. Instead, Lisa, her mother and SEE CANCER PAGE 2

House staves off fiscal cliff, but more squabbles lie ahead CNN

by Matt Smith

President Barack Obama — equipped with an autopen, a mechanical device that copies his signature — on Wednesday night signed the bill that backs the United States away from its fiscal cliff, but new battles over taxes and spending await.

Congress averted that self-built precipice late Tuesday when the House voted to stave off widespread tax increases and deep spending cuts by accepting a brokered Senate compromise. It makes permanent the Bush administration’s tax cuts for individuals earning less than $400,000 per year and couples earning less than $450,000.

It raises rates on those who make more than that from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, bringing back a top tax bracket from the Clinton administra-

tion, and will raise roughly $600 billion in new revenues over 10 years, according to various estimates.

The bill also extends unemployment insurance and delays for two months the threat of sequestration – a series of automatic, across-the-board cuts in federal spending.

Economists had predicted the combination of those tax increases and spending cuts could have thrown the U.S. economy back into recession and driven unemployment back into the 9 percent range.

Meanwhile, a new Congress takes office on Thursday, and lawmakers will soon be confronted by the need to raise the federal debt ceiling and what to do about the still-hanging sequester – a legacy of the last battle over the debt ceiling, in 2011.

Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said the SEE CLIFF PAGE 2

75 Cents

When Hannah Johnson wrote President Lincoln in the summer of 1863, she expressed the concerns of any mother with a son fighting a war.

But she had a special request: “I am a colored woman and my son was strong and able as any to fight for his country and the colored people have as much to fight for as any.... Will you see that the colored men fighting now, are fairly treated. You ought to do this, and do it at once.”

On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation became the first authorization by an American president to enroll Johnson’s son, and other black men, as legal soldiers for the United States military.

Emancipation and the enlistment of black soldiers were not President Lincoln’s initial impulse. He wanted to make a gradual change, as he wrote in this letter explaining his shift to an advisor: “When, in March, and May, and July 1862 I made earnest, and successive appeals to the border states to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispensable necessity for military emancipation, and arming the blacks would come, unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposition; and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter.”

By the end of the Civil War, black soldiers made up 10 percent of Union troops, and 19,000 served in the Navy.

“Republicans understood that they needed blacks to be agents of change for the process,” said James Oakes, author of “Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery.” “The North couldn’t win the war without black soldiers.”

Those soldiers, and the proclamation, became an enduring symbol of freedom.

But on the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, a historical document that symbolizes the beginnings of freedom for individuals once deemed property, historians say myths persist about what the policy did, and did not, do.

“Slavery didn’t die on January 1, 1863, but it was the death knell that slavery would die if the Union won SEE EMANCIPATION PAGE 2

- INSIDE -

• Be it resolved, lose weight in incremental steps. See Health, page 3.

• A pardon – finally – for Wilmington 10. See Special Report, page 4.

• When God talks back. See Religion, page 6.

• The trombone that landed on Bruno Mars. See “Fresh Fruit,” page 8.

• In a manner of speaking, former champ hits home.

See Community, page 11.

MEMPHIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

H -44o - L-31o S u nny

H- 4 7 o - L - 3 2 o Su nny

H- 4 6 o - L - 2 8 o P a r tl y C l ou dy

REGIONAL TEMPS LITTLE ROCK NASHVILLE JACKSON, MS

President Obama speaks in the White House briefing room shortly after Congress passed legislation to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff and raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

(Photo: CNN/ Lesa Jansen)

Friday H-47 L-31 H-44 L-29 H-53 L-34

Saturday H-49 L-30 H-47 L-31 H-53 L-36

Sunday H-49 L-27 H-46 L-24 H-54 L-28

NEWS

Page 2

Tri-State Defender

January 3 - 9, 2013

HOMICIDES

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

one case, the gender of the victim was unknown. The homicide rate for black male victims was 32.14 per 100,000….For white male homicide victims it was 4.26 per 100,000,” a rate seven times less than that of black males.

African-American females were three times more likely to be homicide victims than white females. The rate of AfricanAmerican women was 4.89 per 100,000 compared with 1.61 for white women.

The average age of AfricanAmerican homicide victims in 2009 was 30 years old. Eightytwo percent of theAfrican-American victims were shot and killed with guns – 74 percent (3,723) were killed with handguns.

“For homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 72 percent of black victims (2,271) out of 3,134) were murdered by someone they knew. Eight hundred sixty-three victims were killed by strangers.”

Another study published in September by the Violence Policy Center, titled “When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2010 Homicide Data,” observed: “A woman must consider the risks of having a gun in her home, whether she is in a domestic violence situation or not. While two thirds of women who own guns acquired them ‘primarily for protection against crime,’ the results of a California analysis show that ‘purchasing a handgun provides no protection against homicide among women and is associated with an increase in their risk for intimate partner homicide.’

“A 2003 study about the risks of firearms in the home found that females living with a gun in the home were nearly three times more likely to be murdered than females with no gun in the home. Finally, another study reports, women who were murdered were more likely, not less likely, to have purchased a handgun in the three years prior to their deaths, again invalidating the idea that a handgun has a protective effect against homicide.”

The September report noted, “The disproportionate burden of fatal and nonfatal violence borne by black females has almost always been overshadowed by the roll violence has taken on black males.”

It stated, “Compared to a black male, a black female is far more likely to be killed by her spouse, an intimate acquaintance, or a family member than by a stranger. Where the relationship could be determined, 94 percent of black females killed by males in single victim/single offender incidents knew their killers (414 out of 442). Nearly 15 times as many black females were murdered by a male they knew (414 victims) than were killed by male strangers (28 victims) in single victim/single offender incidents in 2010.

“Of black victims who knew their offenders, 64 percent (267 out of 414) were wives, common-law wives, ex-wives, or girlfriends of the offenders.

Ninety-three percent (463 out of 499) of the homicides of black females were intra-racial.”

The January study on African-American homicides by the Violence Policy Center provided a state-by-state breakdown of African-American homicide rates.

“Missouri ranked first as the state with the highest black homicide victimization rate,” the report stated. “Its rate of 34.72 per 100,000 was nearly double the national average for black homicide victims.”

Following Missouri, in order, were: Michigan (30.21 per 100,000), Pennsylvania (28.30), Oklahoma (27.96), Louisiana (26.33), Indiana (25.84), Tennessee (23.01), Wisconsin (22.71), California (22.33) and Nevada (21.06).

Although other states had a high number of African-American homicides – Maryland (331), Georgia (350), Illinois (360), New York (439), Texas (450) and California (548) – their rate of homicides did not land them among the top 10.

“Blacks in the United States are disproportionately affected by homicide. For the year 2009, blacks represented 13 percent of the nation’s population, yet accounted for 47 percent of all homicide victims,” the report stated. “…(The) devastation homicide inflicts on black teens and adults is a national crisis, yet it is all too often ignored outside of affected communities.”

EMANCIPATION

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

the Civil War,” said Eric Foner, author of “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.”

Here are three myths that persist about the Emancipation Proclamation.

Myth 1: President Lincoln freed all slaves with the stroke of a pen.

It is an easy narrative, historians argue, that a single document granted freedom. But that’s not how it happened.

Look to the proclamation’s language: “That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a

CLIFF

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

legislation was sent to the White House on Wednesday.

Obama had said he would sign the bill into law, but he did not say when – and after the vote, he flew to Hawaii to rejoin his wife and daughters on their winter vacation.

There was no urgency on the president’s signature in practical terms. It’s up to the Obama administration to implement the budget and tax changes, and since the president has said he will sign the measure, the administration can begin planning for the changes immediately.

“The sum total of all the budget agreements we’ve reached so far proves that there is a path forward that is possible, if we focus not on our politics but on what’s right for the country,” Obama told reporters late Tuesday. “And the one thing that I think, hopefully, in the new year, we’ll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much.”

The Bush tax cuts expired at midnight Monday, while se-

CANCER

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

other St. Jude families stayed in hotels.

“Living in a hotel was not fun. The lights were dim and the rooms were bare. There were no activities; no other patients to play with; no comfort of family or friends.” Lisa said. “I already felt isolated from other kids who didn’t un-

State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

Freedom only applied to those slaves in states that had seceded. It did not apply to border states, or specific regions in Union control: about 750,000 slaves.

The 13th Amendment later abolished slavery.

Myth 2: President Lincoln was the sole visionary who eliminated slavery via the proclamation.

Lincoln’s leadership proved key to signing the document, as seen in the recent blockbuster “Lincoln,” which examines the legislation and political process to pass the 13th Amendment.

President Obama hailed Lincoln in a proclamation of his own for the document’s 150th anniversary: “With that document, President Lincoln lent new moral force to the war by making it a fight not just to preserve, but also to empower,” Obama wrote. “He sought to reunite our people not only in government, but also in freedom that knew no bounds of color or creed.

Every battle became a battle for liberty itself. Every struggle became a struggle for equality.”

But popular culture, historians argue, often overlooks that questions around slavery had

“This is the best we can do, given the Senate and the White House sentiment at this point in time, and it is at least a partial victory for the American people I’ll take that at this point.”

Rep. Nan Hayworth “The president has maxed out his credit card, and he is not going to get an unlimited credit card. We’re going to talk specifically about cuts and specifically focused on tax reform as well as helping to save and strengthen Medicare and Social Security.”

Sen. John Barrasso

questration had been scheduled to start when federal offices reopened Wednesday.

World markets rose after the late-night vote. U.S. stocks jumped, too, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising nearly 2 percent by mid-afternoon.

Tuesday night’s 257-167 vote saw Boehner, R-Ohio, and about a third of the GOP majority lining up with Democrats against most of their own caucus, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor and party whip Kevin McCarthy. Rep. Nan Hayworth, an outgoing Republican representative from New York, said she was a “reluctant yes.”

“This is the best we can do, given the Senate and the White House sentiment at this point in time, and it is at least derstand my bald head, but actually being isolated from the kids who did understand me made it even worse.”

In 2003, Lisa was back in Memphis, this time with her then two-year-old son Javon, who had been diagnosed with leukemia.

“I remember when we first walked up to the house, Javon said ‘Look, mom,’ pointing to a sign next to the door. It said ‘Welcome Home,’” Lisa re-

a partial victory for the American people,” Hayworth said.

“I’ll take that at this point.”

The Senate plan was brokered by Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, RKy., and it passed that Democratic-led chamber 89-8. But many House Republicans complained the bill did too little to cut spending while raising taxes for them to support it.

And some Republicans warned that as they did in 2011, they’ll be demanding additional cuts before they agree to raise the federal cap on borrowing.

“The president has maxed out his credit card, and he is not going to get an unlimited credit card,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, told CNN. “We’re going to talk specifically about cuts and specifi-

membered. “I realized then that’s what I was missing back in 1985, that feeling of home.”

Lisa and Javon’s Memphis stay lasted for four months.

They met families from other parts of the world and from across the United States.

“Together, we helped one another bear the weight of the ups and downs of having a child with cancer,” Lisa said.

“Here, kids with cancer can be comfortable around other

been debated 30 years before the war began, and some say, since the country’s inception.

“There is a long pre-history that involves black and white abolitionists. They visualized an end to slavery long before the Civil War, and they struggled to put it on the national agenda,” said Manisha Sinha, author of the forthcoming book, “The Slave’s Cause.” “If you look at the long roots of the abolitionist movement, (they) really made it a central issue of the country even before the war.”

Myth 3: Due to limited freedoms, blacks and women were constrained in affecting the change and freedoms outlined in the Emancipation Proclamation.

In fact, despite limited freedoms, many became the agitators to address slavery.

“Despite a prevailing sense

cally focused on tax reform as well as helping to save and strengthen Medicare and Social Security. And that’s the next discussion we’re going to have in Washington.”

The federal government bumped up against its $16.4 trillion debt ceiling on Monday and has about two months before it runs out of ways to shuffle money around to keep Washington within its legal borrowing limit. Obama had sought to resolve the issue as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations, but the issue never made it to a final bill.

Tuesday night, the president warned Congress that he will not tolerate another round of brinksmanship that could have “catastrophic” effects on the global economy.

“While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they’ve passed,” he said.

Despite the last-minute fiscal cliff agreements, Americans are still likely to see their paychecks shrink somewhat because of a separate battle over payroll taxes.

The government temporarily lowered the payroll tax rate

kids and not wonder if someone is whispering about them. At Ronald McDonald House, they can forget about that and just play like normal kids.”

Lisa and Javon stayed in touch with their new acquaintances. “We would call each other just like family,” she said.

Today, Javon has won his own battle against cancer three times. He is now a fifth-

The 32nd Annual Jubilee Day celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation – sponsored by the Prince Hall Masons and the Order of Eastern Stars – was held Tuesday at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 1621 Dellwood Ave., where the Rev. H.P. Washington is the host pastor. The special guests were representatives of the Memphis Branch NAACP. (Photo by Tyrone P. Easley.)

among so many white Northerners and politicians that the war’s principal aim was to save the Union and not destroy slavery, free and enslaved black people insisted otherwise,” said photographer and historian Deborah Willis, a co-author of “Envisioning Emancipation.”

Abolitionist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, famed rescuer and spy Harriet Tubman and noted author and lecturer Fredrick Douglass, along with countless other women and blacks, were key in making the country address slavery.

“In many ways, fugitive slaves were architects of their own freedom,” Sinha said. “It doesn’t take away from Lincoln’s role. Emancipation was a huge event; it involved many actors, not the least of which were slaves.”

in 2011 from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent to put more money in the pockets of Americans.

That adjustment, which has cost about $120 billion each year, expired Monday.

Now, Americans earning $30,000 a year will take home $50 less per month. Those earning $113,700 will lose $189.50 a month.

The legislation also caps itemized deductions for individuals making $250,000 and for married couples making $300,000. Taxes on inherited estates over $5 million will go up to 40 percent from 35 percent, and that threshold will be indexed for inflation.

The alternative minimum tax, a perennial issue, will be permanently adjusted for inflation. Child care, tuition and research and development tax credits will be renewed. The “Doc Fix” – reimbursements for doctors who take Medicare patients – will continue, but it won’t be paid for out of the Obama administration’s signature health care law.

(CNN’s Dana Bash, Rich Barbieri, Charles Riley, Dana Ford, Holly Yan, Josh Levs, Jessica Yellin, Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.)

grader who loves video games and girls.

“Javon and Jakayla have grown up with us,” said Ronald McDonald House of Memphis Director of House Operations Sherri Maxey.

“Their mother Lisa is by far one of the strongest people I have ever met. Her family is inspiring to us all. Other families look at them and it gives them strength to fight their own fight.”

HEALTH

Tri-State Defender

Page 3

January 3 - 9, 2013

CHEF TIMOTHY

Be it resolved, lose weight in incremental steps

by Chef Timothy Moore

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

It’s that time again when many of us resolve to change our e a t i n g habits to lose those unwanted pounds and keep the pounds off – until next year when Dr. Timothy we resolve to do it Moore again. Our resolve to lose weight, and keep it off, annually hangs in the balance up against our difficulty resisting food temptations.

Plain and simple, resolutions are difficult to keep. We don’t always follow through.

Still, change is inevitable, and as we get older women most likely will add a few pounds to their frame and their dress sizes will increase. Men will gain significant weight, too.

Years ago, my weight reached 300-plus pounds and I was headed to the grave.

There is nothing wrong with making resolutions. But for many of us, that’s where our problems begin. We start with a plan but have no sensible goal or end in sight. If you resolve to lose weight or change your lifestyle, I recommend that you focus on doing so in incremental steps.

Be alert. Expect the fitness gurus to offer you a gym membership. They already know that one in 10 will take them up on the offer, and many of the others will become pre-paid collectables.

When it comes to our health, we tend to rely on the advice of friends, family members and co-workers. Input from others is good, but ultimately we’ll have to make our own decision. Remember, no one knows your body better than you do. What might be good for you might not be good for the next person.

It’s all right to have a workout partner, but always rely on yourself. If we depend on others to pull us through, we’ll be disappointed, for sure. If you resolve to become healthier, you’ll have to work at it. You can’t give up or give in. Once you start, resolve to finish the course.

Finishing the course means you’ll reduce the risk of diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis, heart disease and other debilitating diseases. You won’t have to spend countless hours worrying about these preventable diseases when you succeed in reaching your goal.

Whatever your goal is, the first step starts with will power and a willing spirit. Change takes root in the mind; then implementation begins. But you have to make the change for yourself and remain in control so you can reach your goal. If you’re able to do this, the next step should be a piece of cake.

The second step is to decide exactly what you’re trying to accomplish. Is it losing weight, increasing your physical activity, learning how to cook, learning more about nutrition, regaining your health or learning how to shop for healthy foods?

The third step should be to rid your life of unnecessary

Women of Ruth set blood drive

The Women of Ruth will present The Red Cross Blood Drive Celebration in Memphis! on Jan. 12 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at New Nonconnah Missionary Baptist Church at 4701 Tulane (corner of Shelby Drive and Tulane).

Hosted by Sybil Presley and Emily Kirk, the celebration will feature Christian entertainment, including choirs, praise dancers, singers, rappers, comedians, spoken word artists, poets and musicians If you are donating blood, eat breakfast. Bring your ID and call in advance to be placed on the donors list. You can also register as a blood donor at www.redcrossblood .org. (Click on Make a Blood Donation Appointment; Click on Women of Ruth.)

For more information, call Sybil Presley at 901-6431982 or email sybilpresley@bellsouth.net

stresses. To do that you must be committed to getting the required amount of sleep, learning how to relax, and discovering meditation and its benefits.

The fourth step is simple. If your health is in question, make the necessary changes to achieve positive results.

Changing old habits is very difficult sometimes, especially

if you’re used to overeating.

Recent studies, however, have shown that a 10 percent loss in weight will help reduce an obese person’s health problems. Change won’t happen overnight, but you’ll have to start somewhere.

If you’re looking to achieve optimum health, try not to make one huge life-changing

resolution that you have littleto-no chance of fulfilling.

Success comes with small baby steps. Start by drinking more water and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables.

A healthy body is more than the absence of illness. Even so, you can expect high energy levels, and an increase in strength and longevity.

The benefits of changing your lifestyle and losing weight are vast. Just remember, move forward in incremental steps.

Happy New Year!

(Dr. Timothy Moore teaches nutrition, heart disease and diabetes reversal through a plant-based lifestyle. He is a

professional speaker, wellness coach and personal plantbased chef. He is the author of 47 Tips To Reverse Your Diabetes.” He can be reached by email at cheftimothy@ cheftimothymoore.com, visit him at www.cheftimothy moore.com or follow him at w w w. t w i t t e r. c o m / cheftimmoore.)

Page 4

OPINION

Tri-State Defender

January 3 - 9, 2013

John H. Sengstacke Publisher (1951 - 1997)

The Mid-Southʼs Best Alternative Newspaper

A Real Times Newspaper

• Bernal E. Smith II President / Publisher • Dr. Karanja A. Ajanaku Executive Editor

‘True’ melting pot in U.S. by 2060

SPECIAL REPORT

The historical record now reads that Connie Tindall, Jerry Jacobs, William Joe Wright, Anne Sheppard, Wayne Moore, Marvin Patrick, James McKoy, Willie Earl Vereen, Reginald Epps and the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis were innocent of all charges associated with the Wilmington Ten case. (Courtesy photo)

A pardon – finally – for Wilmington 10

N.C. governor cites ʻnaked racismʼ NNPA New Service

by Cash Michaels

In what civil rights leaders across the nation are calling a significant moment in the civil rights movement, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue has granted individual pardons of actual innocence to all members of the Wilmington Ten. “I have decided to grant these pardons because the more facts I have learned about the Wilmington Ten, the more appalled I have become about the manner in which their convictions were obtained,” Perdue, a Democrat who leaves office on Jan. 5, said in her Dec. 31 statement.

“Justice demands that this stain finally be removed. The process in which this case was tried was fundamentally flawed. Therefore, as Governor, I am issuing these pardons of innocence to right this longstanding wrong.”

The Wilmington Ten – nine black males and one white female – were activists who, along with hundreds of black students in the New Hanover County Public School System, protested rampant racial discrimination in 1971.

In February of that year, after the arrival of the Rev. Benjamin Chavis to help lead the protests, racial violence erupted, with white supremacist driving through Wilmington’s black community, fatally shooting innocent people and committing arson.

A white-owned grocery store in the black community was firebombed, and firemen came under sniper fire. It wasn’t until a year later that Rev. Chavis and the others were rounded up and charged with conspiracy in connection with the firebombing and shootings.

The 10 were falsely convicted, and sentenced to 282 years in prison, some of which they each served.

It wouldn’t be until 1977, after years of failed appeals in North Carolina courts, that the three state’s witnesses recanted their testimonies, admitting that they perjured themselves.

Amnesty International issued a blistering report declaring the Wilmington Ten “political prisoners of conscience.” The CBS News program “60 Minutes” did a one-hour expose proving that the evidence against the Wilmington Ten had been fabricated by the prosecution.

Then-Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt refused to pardon the Ten, but did commute their sentences in 1978.

Two years later, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned all of the convictions, based on gross prosecutorial misconduct and various violations of constitutional rights.

The appeals court directed North Carolina to either retry the defendants, or dismiss all charges, but the state did nothing for the next 32 years.

In March 2011, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), at the urging of Wilmington Journal Publisher Mary Alice Thatch, voted to pursue pardons of innocence for the Wilmington Ten. That effort got underway in earnest a year ago. After a series of NNPA stories based on an investigation that revealed never-before-seen court records proving prosecutorial corruption, the mainstream media, including the New York Times, caught on, and began editorially pushing for pardoning the Wilmington Ten. In addition, Change.org, the NAACP and the Wilmington Ten garnered over 144,000 petition signatures for the cause.

Gov. Perdue’s pardons legally mean that the accused did not commit the crimes for which they were convicted.

The governor’s decision was roundly praised.

“Gov. Perdue’s historic action today doesn’t remove the past forty years of injustice against ten innocent American citizens – North Carolinians Beverly who stood up for Perdue equal treatment under the law in our public education system,” the Wilmington Ten Pardons of Innocence Project, a justice outreach effort of the National Newspaper Publishers Association and the Wilmington Journal newspaper, said in a statement.

“But (the governor’s pardon) does correct the historical record, that Connie Tindall, Jerry Jacobs, William Joe Wright, Anne Sheppard, Wayne Moore, Marvin Patrick, James McKoy, Willie Earl Vereen, Reginald Epps and the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, were indeed innocent of all charges falsely assessed to them by a corrupt prosecutor who, to this day, has not answered for what he did.”

Gov. Perdue agreed that revelations of the racist and illegal trial tactics of Wilmington Ten prosecutor Jay Stroud – which included documented handwritten evidence of seeking “KKK” and “Uncle Tom-type” jurors; bribing witnesses to commit perjury; hiding exculpatory evidence of a witness’s mental illness from the defense; and deliberately forcing a mistrial so that he could get both the judge and jury that would favor convictions – corrupt the criminal justice system, and shamed the state.

Perdue called it “naked racism.”

She said in a statement: “This conduct is disgraceful. It is utterly incompatible with basic notions of fairness, and with every ideal that North Carolina holds dear. The legitimacy of our criminal justice system hinges on it operating in a fair and equitable manner, with justice being dispensed based on innocence or guilt – not based on race or other forms of prejudice.”

She continued, “That did not happen here. Instead, these convictions were tainted by naked racism and represent an ugly stain on North Carolina’s criminal justice system that cannot be allowed to stand any longer.”

Chavis told the Wilmington Journal, “This is a great day for the people, and the movement. This is a very rare victory.”

Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton agreed.

“It was a significant victory and all of you should be commended,” said Sharpton, who pushed the pardon effort on his radio programs.

North Carolina NAACP President the Rev. William Barber, who partnered with the Wilmington Ten Pardons of Innocence, placed the successful pardons campaign in a historical context.

“Not only will the civil rights and human rights communities honor this act, but history itself will record this day as groundbreaking,” Barber told reporters in Raleigh, N.C. on Monday.

“On the eve of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Gov. Perdue has proclaimed a contemporary emancipation for these freedom fighters. These pardons are not only for North Carolina but also for the nation and for the world. We honor the governor’s noble, courageous and righteous decision today and we commend her heart’s steadfast commitment to justice.”

(Special to the NNPA from The Wilmington Journal)

Things won’t change unless some of us do

How will African Americans improve our situation in 2013? Right now, we have higher unemployment than any other population in our nation, less wealth, higher school dropout rates, and more crime in our communities.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that African-American communities had twice the number of negatives and half the number of positives in our country. While the numbers may have shifted somewhat, it is still true that we are more likely to experience negative consequences (teen pregnancy, incarceration, crime) and less likely to experience positives (college graduation, high net worth).

Those of us who focus on public policy will look at past discrimination and ways it manifests itself in the present. We will look at the way race-neutral public policy has a racial impact (for example, changing the terms of the Parent Plus loan hits wealth-poor, credit-challenged black families disproportionately). We will suggest ways to close gaps, some of which may include ways that government investment, such as job creation and job training, can help close these gaps. And we will be right.

Although we didn’t fall off the fiscal cliff, the focus on the level of debt our nation faces suggests that tax reform will reduce tax deductions, some in ways that may increase income inequality, and that spending cuts are imminent. Many of these cuts will be in social programs and educational spending. Again, some of these cuts will widen, not narrow, the wealth and income gaps.

What does this mean for Black America in 2013?

Pretend that it is Groundhog Day, if you saw the movie. The protagonist wakes up every day to the same day when everything happens the same way. If you keep doing what you have been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting.

For black Americans, this means that if we keep looking external without looking internal, not much will change for us.

Yes, it will change for some of us: Those who are educated, middle class, well networked and disciplined are likely to find significant opportunities in our stagnant economy because even stagnant economies churn and create new opportunities.

But it won’t change much for those who are less educated, working class, un-networked and undisciplined, or some combination thereof. Education, networks, and discipline can be fixed. But few have an interest in fixing these things in Black America except for black Americans. So what are we going to do?

Susan Taylor has been a passionate advocate of mentorship in the African-American community. She began the work when she was editorin-chief at Essence magazine and left the magazine to expand her reach in that area. She continues to advocate mentorship and to teach us how to be mentors. Her work supports education, networking and discipline.

Similarly, in Southeast Washington, D.C., Cora Masters Barry leads

the Recreation Wish List Committee and works with the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center to nurture more than 150 young people yearround (full disclosure – I am treasurer of the Julianne Wish List Board).

Malveaux Students are trained in physical fitness through tennis, and are encouraged in their academics through learning. Most board members have hands-on relationships with our young people, who are held to the highest standards. Again, this work supports education, networking and discipline.

Most historically black colleges do the same thing, bringing corporate partners to campuses and exposing students to the many ways they can access employment opportunities. In many cases, the entire campus offers students engaged mentorship. Education, networking and discipline.

When people tell the story of the American Dream, they talk about the many ways that hard work will help someone transcend class. They talk about hard work. People who earn the minimum wage work hard. People who make ends meet on public assistance work hard. It’s not just about hard work. It’s about hard work – and the hook up.

A corporate leader who is a wonderful friend once said that she could use her position to hook up women and African Americans who needed a hand up. She also indicated that the hook up could help individuals, but we also, and always, need a hook in to public policy decisions that affect our nation.

That means we need a seat around every table where public policy is being made, whether on issues of race, or on issues that seem race-neutral.

We should be talking about the deficit, about tax reform, about government spending. We should be talking about international affairs, about world areas of conflict, about our fluctuating currency. As long as we live in this flawed nation, all issues are black issues.

Even with the hook in, we need to offer the hook up. That means embracing or mentoring a child. That means providing an opportunity to someone who is unemployed. That means supporting education through contributions to colleges, but also by providing help to individuals. It’s the same hymn book we’ve been singing from for more than a century. Now we need to sing with more energy.

Things won’t change in Black America unless some of us do. We need to both hook in and hook up!

Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer. She is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.

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Tri-State Defender Platform

1. Racial prejudice worldwide must be destroyed.

2. Racially unrestricted membership in all jobs, public and private.

3. Equal employment opportunities on all jobs, public and private.

4. True representation in all U.S. police forces.

5. Complete cessation of all school segregation.

6. Federal intervention to protect civil rights in all instances where civil rights compliance at the state level breaks down

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In 2060 America will become a true melting pot of ethnicities and races, the U.S. Census Bureau projects.

According to the first set of projections released based on the 2010 Census, Maya minorities – inRhodan cluding Asians, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans – are expected to comprise 57 percent of the population, 20 points higher than their current population.

The projections show that the Hispanic population will more than double and represent a third of the 2060 U.S. population. Today, Hispanics represent about one in six Americans.

“The projections indicate that the population will be much more diverse particularly in terms of the Asian and Hispanic populations,” says Margaret Simms, a fellow at the Urban Institute and an expert on the economic well being of African Americans. “One of the bigger issues will be how the nation and state and local governments view the diversity of the population under 21.”

According to an Urban Institute research article, co-authored by Simms, by 2023 American children will be majority minority, giving state and local governments just 10 years to address what Simms says is the greatest issue effecting U.S. children—education.

“The Hispanic, African American, and Asian populations are some of the more disadvantaged populations in America,” says Simms. “If the children being educated are majority African American and Hispanic and those groups are disproportionately disadvantaged.”

Black children are currently more likely to live in poverty than any other race with a poverty rate of 38.2 percent, according to the Census Bureau. Hispanic children aren’t far behind with a poverty rate of 32.3 percent.

According to a 2010 Urban Institute study, persistent childhood poverty leads to increased chances of dropping out of high school, being a poor adult, having children as a teen, and being unemployed between 25 and 29-years-old.

Does this mean a majority minority population is more likely to be poor and uneducated?

Possibly, Simms says.

“Since (minority children) are more likely to live in low income families than their non-Hispanic white counterparts, they will likely bear the brunt of poor schools and limited opportunity for education beyond high school,” she says. “State and local governments, with an assist from the federal government would need to make commitments to improve the schools and provide more educational opportunities.”

Although the achievement gap between poor and wealthy students remains twice as high as the achievement gap between black and white students, there are measures being implemented across the country to narrow the disparities.

In Maryland, lawmakers have approved a housing program that may do just that.

The District Court of Maryland settled a 17-year-old case in November, granting low-income housing residents the ability to choose housing in mixed-income areas with better educational opportunities and access to a variety of services.

If programs such as this are implemented all over the country by 2023, Simms says future generations will have a better shot.

“I think one of the critical decisions that needs to be made involves investing in children,” she says.

“And it needs to start sooner rather than later to change.”

(Maya Rhodan is an NNPA Washington correspondent.)

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Tri-State Defender

January 3 - 9, 2013

Page 5

RELIGION

Page 6

Tri-State Defender

January 3 - 9, 2013

RELIGION BRIEFS

LIVING THE LIFE I LOVE

A perfect match: ‘Good’ and God

Rev. Wells to keynote MIFA’s King Day event

MIFA will honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a public birthday celebration on Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. at its headquarters, 910 Vance Ave. The free event will feature guest speaker the Rev. Dorothy Wells of Church of the Holy Apostles, and will include the announcement of the finalists in MIFA’s eighth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Teen Oratorical Contest. A special holiday meal will be delivered to area homebound seniors.

Wells, a newly ordained priest at Collierville’s Church of the Holy Apostles, received her B.A. from Rhodes College in 1982 and her J.D. from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis, and served as an adjunct law professor in addition to her work in legal compliance at FedEx. In 2009, she arrived at Church of the Holy Apostles as a seminary intern. Following her graduation from seminary, she was ordained as a deacon, and then as a priest in December 2012.

Dear Lucy: It is another year!

Maybe that means that I don’t have to go through all the stuff I went through last year that made my life just one long, hard, bumpy road.

Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for all things good, I just don’t want to struggle this year. Any ideas?

– Struggling in the City

Dear “Struggling”: For starters, how about changing your name? Let this be the year that you decide upon your true identity.

In Genesis, Adam was given the privilege of naming all that God made! Now, God said all that He made was good. So begin this year by choosing a name for yourself that doesn’t include a picture of a pitiful, helpless, struggling ant. I refuse to accept that life has to be a struggle.

Life is simply whatever I believe it to be. God said it is good and I’m going with that.

Once you change your name, stick to it. And then, you won’t have to pick and choose what you will be thankful for. You said you are thankful for the good things. When we decide to believe God’s idea of His creation we are able to be thankful for all things.

As we exercise our right to name all that we see and steadfastly stick to it being good, strange things start

BRIEFLY: Castalia Baptist Church, 1540 Castalia St., will hold a Literary Group Book Reading to discuss Charles Spurgeon’s book “Praying Successfully” at 10 a.m. on Jan. 19. The host pastor is Dr. Randolph Meade Walker.

to happen. The Word says that “God’s eyes are too pure to see evil.” He didn’t make it, He can’t see it. Just make a commitment to look for the good.

All that any of us are ever lookLucy ing for is the Shaw good we think ought to be ours.

It is placed in us to look for the good and that good becomes our God. We are always longing to find the truth hidden deep within us. Be happy...it’s there!

We give incorrect names to the passions or methods of others when they are desperately looking for that good. We call them thieves, murderers, drunkards, gluttons, prostitutes, bums and all kinds of mistaken labels of misunderstanding. They are looking for the good that they know they ought to be having. They just never learned that they are seeking after righteousness and they already have it. They don’t know that they already have the power to think it, speak it, write it, live it! They somehow never learned how very powerful they really are.

You are powerful, we are powerful. Let this be the year you claim that power.

Let this be the year that you speak the name given to you to use for miracle-working power. Jesus Christ, Emanuel, God with us...all of us. In over 100 languages, the word for God is “good.” Good with us. Good is simply everywhere all the time, inescapable.

Take the leap. Take the risk of being different, being laughed at, being confident in “Goodness.” At first, just keep it to yourself. Focus on “thinking” it. Pretty soon you will see so many wonderful things happen in your life that you will get the courage to speak it. You will be willing to say, “God is my Good,” and mean it because you have seen it with your own eyes by insisting that this is all there is. You have learned to use the name correctly!

Now when you are laughed at for naming all things good and refusing to see or claim any evil, struggle, lack or limitation watch what happens. You may be different, laughed at or called crazy. But you will also be healthy, prosperous, wise, powerful and at peace.

Try something different this year.

Don’t struggle. Just rest. Rest in the whole truth and use your new name.

Can you finish this sentence?

“…As for me and my house...” In scripture, the word house always refers to our mind or consciousness.

The only thing you have control of is your own mind, your own thinking. Let this be the year you think omni-ever present “Good” and deny evil. There is no war. We don’t have to fight or struggle. The war is already won. We simply have to march in every moment claiming and owning our “Good.”

Remember, do it quietly inside your own mind until you have your evidence. “God is a rewarder of those who seek Him early.” To me, “early” just means all the time. Demand the “Good” and expect the “Good!”

Happy New Year, Lucy

(You can watch Lucy on Channel 17 (Comcast) every Thursday at 10:30 am. (Send your questions to her by U.S. mail to: Heartworks4U, LLC; 4646 Poplar Ave. Ste 201, Memphis, TN 38117 or by e-mail to lucy@heartworks4u.com. Get your free gift at http://www.heartworks4u.com/) (For help with the feelings that get in the way of prayer and peace of mind, get Lucy’s new book, “BE NOT ANXIOUS.” Order it directly from her at 901-907-0260 or from her website.)

When God talks back

by T.M. Luhrmann

(CNN) – In the Bible, God spoke directly to Abraham. He spoke directly to Moses. He spoke directly to Job. But to your neighbor down the street?

Most people reading the ancient scriptures understand these accounts of hearing God’s voice as miracles that really did happen but no longer take place today, or maybe as folkloric flourishes to ancient stories.

Even Christians who believe that miracles can be an everyday affair can hesitate when someone tells them they heard God speak audibly.

There’s an old joke: When you talk to God, we call it prayer, but when God talks to you, we call it schizophrenia.

Except that usually it’s not.

Hearing a voice when alone, or seeing something no one else can see, is pretty common. At least one in 10 people will say they’ve had such an experience if you ask them bluntly. About four in 10 say they have unusual perceptual experiences between sleep and awareness if you interview them about their sleeping habits.

And if you ask them in a way that allows them to admit they made a mistake, the rate climbs even higher.

By contrast, schizophrenia, the most debilitating of all mental disorders, is pretty rare. Only about one in 100 people can be diagnosed with the disorder.

Moreover, the patterns are quite

distinct. People with schizophrenia who hear voices hear them frequently. They often hear them throughout the day, sometimes like a rain of sound, or a relentless hammer. They hear not only sentences, but paragraphs: words upon words upon words. What the voices say is horrid – insults, sneers and contemptuous jibes. “Dirty. You’’re dirty.” “Stupid slut.” “You should’ve gone under the bus, not into it.”

That was not what Abraham, Moses and Job experienced, even when God was at his most fierce.

For the last 10 years, I have been doing anthropological and psychological research among experientially oriented evangelicals, the sort of people who seek a personal relationship with God and who expect that God will talk back. For most of them, most of the time, God talks back in a quiet voice they hear inside their minds, or through images that come to mind during prayer.

But many of them also reported sensory experiences of God. They say God touched their shoulder, or that he spoke up from the back seat and said, in a way they heard with their ears, that he loved them. Indeed, in 1999, Gallup reported that 23 percent of all Americans had heard a voice or seen a vision in response to prayer.

These experiences were brief: at the most, a few words or short sentences. They were rare. Those who reported them reported no more than a few of them, if that. These experi-

ences were not distressing, although they were often disconcerting and always startling. On the contrary, these experiences often made people feel more intimate with God, and more deeply loved.

In fact, my research has found that these unusual sensory experiences are more common among those who pray in a way that uses the imagination – for example, when prayer involves talking to God in your mind.

The unusual sensory experiences were not, in general, associated with mental illness (we checked).

They were more common among those who felt comfortable getting caught up in their imaginations. They were also more common among those who prayed for longer periods.

Prayer involves paying attention to words and images in the mind, and giving them significance. There is something about the skilled practice of paying attention to the mind in this way that shifts – just a little bit – the way we judge what is real.

Yet even many of these Christians, who wanted so badly to have a backand-forth relationship with God, were a little hesitant to talk about hearing God speak with their ears.

For all the biblical examples of hearing God speak audibly, they doubt.

Augustine reports that when he was in extremis, sobbing at the foot of that fig tree, he heard a voice say, “Take it and read.” He picked up the scripture and converted. When the

When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sat at his kitchen table, in the winter of 1956, terrified by the fear of what might happen to him and his family during the Montgomery bus boycott, he said he heard the voice of Jesus promising, “I will be with you.”

PRAISE CONNECT SEE VOICES ON PAGE 7

-A WEEKLY DIRECTORY OF MINISTERS & CHURCHES-

METROPOLITAN BAPTIST CHURCH Dr. Reginald L. Porter Sr., Pastor

767 Walker Avenue Memphis, TN 38126

ASSOCIATE MINISTERS

901-946-4095 fax 948-8311

Rev. Davena Young Porter Rev. Linda A Paige Rev. Luecretia Matthews SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

SUNDAY Sunday School .....................8:30 am Morning Worship Service ....10:00am

WEDNESDAY Bible Study .........................10:30 am Mid-Day Prayer Meeting .....12 noon Evening Prayer Meeting........7:00pm FRIDAY Cable Channel 17 ............... 8:00pm

Dr. & Rev. Mrs. Reginald Porter

TEMPLE CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST

672 So. Lauderdale 38126 P.O. Box 314 Memphis, Tn 38101 Phone (General) 774-1572 Pastor: 775-0740 Secretary: 775-1909

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

WEEKLY SERVICES

Sunday Sunday School 9:00 a.m.

Morning Worship 10:30 a.m.

Night YPWW 5:00 p.m.

Night Service 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday Night Prayer 6:00 p.m.

Bible Study 7:15 p.m.

Wednesday Choir Rehearsal 7:00 p.m.

Friday Morning Prayer 9:00 a.m.

Night Service 7:30 p.m.

BROADCASTS 9:30 a.m. Sunday WDIA - 1070 AM

No Telecast Service

Dr. David Allen Hall Pastor

— Proverbs 1:7

“The Founder’s Church”

First Pastor: Senior Bishop C.H. Mason

Greenwood Christian Methodist Episcopal Church 3311 Kimball Ave. Memphis, TN 38111 (901) 744-7531 (901) 744-7664

Worship Services

THE BLVD Ea s t 6 7 4 5 Wo l f R i v e r B o u l e v a r d @ Kir by Pa r k wa y (i n t he Cla r k Ope r a M em phis Ce nt e r ) Me mp h i s T N 3 8 1 2 0

Dr. Frank A. Thomas Senior Servant

Sunday Sunday School Worship Service

Clarence Kelby Heath Wednesday Pastor

Noon - 1 p.m.

6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

9 a.m.

10:30 a.m.

ST. ANDREW A.M.E. CHURCH 867 SOUTH PARKWAY EAST Memphis, TN 38106

(901) 948-3441

Early Morning..........7:45 AM Church School..........9:45 AM Morning Worship......11:00 AM Bible Study For Youth and Adults Tuesday - 7:00 PM “Spirit, Soul, and Body!”

AM 1070 WDIA Sundays, 10:00-10:30 AM

TV Cable Access Broadcast Tuesdays, 7:30 PM, Channel 17 Website:www.saintandrewamec.org

Child Care Center (901) 948-6441 Monday-Friday 6 AM- 5:30 PM Emergency Food Pantry Rev. Kenneth S. Robinson, Pastor & Clothes Closet Rev. Marilynn S. Robinson, Co-Pastor Wednesday 6 PM-8 PM

“Ministering to Memphis-Spirit, Soul and Body”

Tri-State Defender

Mission complete…

The celebration last Saturday (Dec. 29) of the life of Gwendolyn Jean Gilland, 80, included the eulogy by the Rev. Rosman Randle, whose theme was “You Canʼt Win With Sin.” The former president of Hospitality Ministry also served as a missionary at Zion Temple Cogic, where her homegoing service was held. She died Dec. 23. N. J. Ford & Sons Funeral Home had charge.

(Photo by Tyrone P. Easley)

VOICES

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

Christians I know heard God speak audibly, it often flitted across their minds that they were crazy.

In his new book, “Hallucinations,” the noted neurologist Oliver Sacks tells his own story about a hallucinatory experience that changed his life. He took a hearty dose of methamphetamines as a young doctor, and settled down with a 19th century book on migraines. He loved the book, with its detailed observation and its humanity. He wanted more. As he was casting around in his mind for someone who could write more that he could read, a loud internal voice told him “You silly bugger” that it was he. So he began to write. He never took drugs again.

Now, Sacks does not recommend that anyone take drugs like that. He thinks that what he did was dangerous and he thinks he was lucky to have survived.

What interests me, however, is that he allowed himself to trust the voice because the voice was good. There’s a distinction between voices associated with psychiatric illness (often bad) and those (often good) that are found in the socalled normal population.

There’s another distinction between those who choose to listen to a voice, if the advice it gives is good, and those who do not. When people like

RELIGION

Sacks hear a voice that gives them good advice, the experience can transform them.

This is important, because often, when voices are discussed in the media or around the kitchen table, the voices are treated unequivocally as symptoms of madness. And of course, voice-hearing is associated with psychiatric illness.

But not all the time. In fact, not most of the time.

About a third of the people I interviewed carefully at the church where I did research reported an unusual sensory experience they associated with God. While they found these experiences startling, they also found them deeply reassuring.

Science cannot tell us whether God generated the voice that Abraham or Augus-

January 3 - 9, 2013

tine heard. But it can tell us that many of these events are normal, part of the fabric of human perception. History tells us that those experiences enable people to choose paths they should choose, but for various reasons they hesitate to choose.

When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sat at his kitchen table, in the winter of 1956, terrified by the fear of what might happen to him and his family during the Montgomery bus boycott, he said he heard the voice of Jesus promising, “I will be with you.” He went forward.

Voices may form part of human suffering. They also may inspire human greatness.

(The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of T.M. Luhrmann.)

Page 7

ENTERTAINMENT Tri-State Defender, Thursday, January 3 - 9, 2013, Page 8

FRE&H FRUIT

WHAT’S HAPPENING MYRON?

‘I’m a radio man’

It was 19 years ago this month that I first opened the microphone and officially embarked on a career in radio.

I had never been on the radio a day in my life.

Myron Four staMays tions and years later, I’m still doing what I love.

Each January, I always look back and reflect on where I’ve been, where I am and where I’m going.

Radio has gone through a lot of drastic changes in recent years, but if you ask anyone who has spent any time in this industry they will tell you that once it’s in you…it never leaves.

I’m a radio man. It’s in my blood. It’s who I am. And if it had not entered my life, I have no idea where I would be today.

Although my 20th year in radio is not until next year, I have a couple of other milestones to take special note of in 2013. In just a few short days, I will be celebrating my fifth year at 103.5 WRBO. From Jan. 8th, 2008 to now, I still keep the city moving overnight. Also this month, I celebrate my fifth year as a columnist with the TSD. While it hasn’t always been easy, not many people get to do the things they love. And less than that get to do more than one of the things they love.

So I count myself amongst the blessed. With that comes the continued responsibility of making sure that you are kept in the loop when it comes to entertainment and happenings around town.

Globetrotters at the FedExForum

The Harlem Globetrotters’ brand of entertainment is timeless, ain’t it? Each year they come to town, it’s a game that both young and old can enjoy. You can catch them at the Fed ExForum on Jan. 12. Bring the family. Get you tickets at the FedEx Forum box office or all Ticketmaster outlets and online at Ticketmaster.com.

The Manhattans at Sam’s Town

“Let’s just kiss and saaayyy goodbyeeeee!” Can’t you just hear it now?

Well, you’ll be able to hear it in person when The Manhattans come to Sam’s Town Casino on Jan. 18 for Peace and Freedom Weekend. You can also hear their string of other hits as well. Get a two-day ticket, spend the night and catch bluesmen Bobby Rush and Sir Charles Jones the next night. Get your tickets at Sam’s Town’s box office, through all Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Parting shot

Officially speaking, “Happy New Year!” Here we are in 2013.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the next 12 months will bring.

I’m looking forward to keeping tabs on my resolutions. Yes, I have a list. Only this year I made a list of resolutions that are fairly easy to keep.

Last year left us with a lot of exciting news and a hunk of sad news too. I’m optimistic about 2013. I think were in store for some great things, at least in entertainment. I might even start watching more TV this year. I get the feeling that great things are coming our way.

Next week, I run down some of the jewels we will get the chance to experience in 2013. In the meantime, I’ll be in “anniversary” mode for the next few days. Until then, that’s what’s happening!

(Got an event you’d like for me to cover or attend? Email me at Myron@whatshappeningmyron .com)

Kameron Timothy Whalum began playing the trombone at age 10 at Sea Isle Elementary School. (Courtesy photo)

The trombone that landed on Bruno Mars Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Kelvin Cowans

(Fresh Fruit is Kelvin Cowans’ periodic look at upcoming and rising talent from Memphis and the surrounding areas.)

Mars – the fourth planet from the Sun – is the second smallest planet in the Solar System. Fictional Martians have been a recurring feature of popular entertainment over the last two centuries. Still the question remains: “Does life exists on Mars.”

While astronomers debate and differ, Kameron Timothy Whalum keeps demonstrating to us that the answer is a resounding, “Yes! There is life on Mars.”

Bruno that is, as in singer-songwriter and record producer.

“I’ve been playing the trombone since I was ten years old way back at Sea Isle Elementary,” said Whalum. “Then after that, I went to Overton High School, which was the first music school I ever attended, and which I graduated from in 2007.

That, along with the different Blues Camps and Staxx Music camps that I use to go to in the summer.

“After that, I went to Morehouse and then back to Memphis and finally I ended up at The New School for Jazz in 2009 to 2011.”

Kelvin Cowans: So did you graduate from there?

Kameron Timothy Whalum: No, while I was studying, it was during this time that I got the call to go play with Bruno Mars. My first show was in March of 2011.

To be honest, at first we all weren’t clicking that well. But after a few shows we just held it together and what you guys see on TV is the end result of us sticking together.

KC: So Bruno Mars put that group together?

KTW: Yeah, absolutely. We roll together on basically everything now. It’s like a big family now and we’re all brothers.

Our group name is called Bruno Mars and The Hooligans.

We got Eric on drums, that’s Bruno’s brother, then we got Phred on guitar. We got John on keyboard, Jamario on base guitar, Dewayne on saxophone, James on trumpet, Bill on back-

Kelvin Cowans

ground vocals, and then me, on trombone. In addition to live p e r f o r mances, we’re all in the “Locked Out of Heaven” video as well.

KC: Dig that!

So Kameron, you guys been blazing the TV up, real talk. When Memphis wake up, yall on there, and before we go to bed, yall on there. I watched you perform with Bruno Mars on The Victoria Secret fashion show about a week or so ago. The women were hot and so was the song you fellas did about the young wild girls being the death of you. Tell our readers what else you’ve appeared on and what’s next.

KTW: Ha! Yeah, we did that, as well as “Saturday Night Live,” “Ellen,” “The Today Show” and we’re getting ready to do “Jimmy Kimmel” in a couple of weeks.”

KC: Did you always see yourself doing stuff like this. You ever think this was achievable when you started out?

KTW: I always did, after watching my uncle, Kirk Whalum, and my brother, Kenneth Whalum III, do their thing. I just didn’t know when it would happen, but I knew it would happen. So when I got that call I knew it was time. Now, I’m just enjoying life and riding the train of what we’re doing, being a professional and working hard.

Eventually I look forward to writing and producing and all that because I have a strong passion for that as well. But there’s no rush, that time will come.

KC: You use to play point guard for my basketball team, with many leadership qualities, so I know how I feel when I see you doing your thing with Bruno. And your brothers, the hooligans still, your father, Pastor Kenneth (T.) Whalum (Jr.), and your mom, Sheila Whalum …how do they feel when they see you on TV performing? What do they say?

KTW: They tell me that they’re proud of me and that they

Memphisʼ Kameron Timothy Whalum is at “home” on the trombone with Bruno Mars. (Courtesy photo)

Kameron Timothy Whalum helped pay tribute to his grandfather, the late Rev. Kenneth T. Whalum Sr., last March. (Photo by Tyrone P. Easley)

are just happy to see me doing what I’ve always wanted to do, and that makes them happy because I’m happy.

KC: Is there anything you’d like to say to our readers out

there who may be contemplating whether they should shoot for the stars and follow their dreams?

KTW: For starters, don’t underestimate yourself. If you think it can happen, it will happen: if you don’t, then it won’t. Just remember to choose your own way and believe in yourself. What works for one person may not work for you, so you have to choose your own path.

Focus on what you want, not what your homeboy or your homegirl want. You have to build relationships with other people in the city, as well as in the industry.

You have to know what you’re working for and never lose sight of that.

I’m around Bruno a lot and I have to tell you that he’s a very humble person who also knows exactly what he wants. He’s a genius, man. He’s real cool, but he knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to tell you when you’re not doing what he wants to hear.

He can basically play every instrument.

KC: That’s what’s up Kam and Memphis will be watching, and we wish you continued success. Oh, and lastly, what’s your favorite fruit?

KTW: Without a doubt, oranges.

(Kameron Timothy Whalum can be reached at www.twitter .com/@kameronwhalum.)

(Kelvin Cowans can be reached at (kelvincowans@hotmail.com)

ENTERTAINMENT

Tri-State Defender

Page 9

January 3 - 9, 2013

OPENING THIS WEEK

Kam’s Kapsules:

Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

Tania Raymondei and Tremaine ʻTrey Songzʼ Neverson in “Texas Chainsaw 3D.” (Photo by Justin Lubin/Lionsgate) Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Kam Williams

For movies opening Jan. 4, 2013

BIG BUDGET FILMS

“Texas Chainsaw 3-D” (R for grisly violence and pervasive profanity) 7th installment of the enduring horror franchise finds an unsuspecting heiress (Alexandra Daddario) travelling to a tiny Texas town to take possession of the mansion she has just inherited only to discover a bloodthirsty madman (Dan Yeager) lurking in the shadows. With Trey Songz, Tania Raymonde and Scott Eastwood (Clint’s son).

INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

“56 Up” (Unrated) 8th episode of director Michael Apted’s periodic documentary interviewing the same set of Brits every 7 years since they were 7 years of age.

“All Superheroes Must Die” (Unrated) Action thriller about four superheroes (Lucas Till, Jason Trost, Sophie Merkley and Lee

Valmassy) who are abducted by their archenemy (James Remar) and stripped of their powers before being forced to fight to save a town of innocent civilians. Support cast includes Nick Principe, Sean Whalen and Brian Taylor.

“A Bottle in the Gaza Sea” (Unrated) Unlikely romance drama about the love which blossoms between a 17 year-old Jew (Agathe Bonitzer) and the 20 year-old Palestinian (Mahmoud Shalaby) who finds her message in a bottle seeking to make sense of a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem. With Hiam Abbass, Riff Cohen and Abraham Belaga. (In Hebrew, Arabic and French with subtitles)

“A Dark Truth” (R for violence and disturbing images) International thriller about a retired CIA Agent-turned-political talk show host (Andy Garcia) who is enlisted by a corporate whistleblower (Deborah Kara Unger) to help expose her company’s cover-up of a massacre in an Ecuadoran village. With Eva Longoria, Forest Whitaker and Kim Coates.

“My Brooklyn” (Unrated) Kelly Anderson directed this class-conscious documentary chronicling the racial tensions which surfaced in her neighborhood as a consequence of gentrification.

HOROSCOPES

Jan. 2-8, 2013

ARIES Guard your words this week, and let peace and harmony rule where they may. It’s not the time to point out the character flaws of a higher-up. You can make this a very productive week if you apply your industrious spirit to your work.

TAURUS Make a move towards that someone that you’ve had your eye on! The timing couldn’t be more perfect! Go slow and be subtly sweet.

Your ability to charm and attract always works in your favor. Don’t abuse it! Show off a new attitude.

GEMINI Good deeds are in order this week. Perform all the random acts of kindness that you can.

Everything you do this week is going to come back to you in triplicate, so enjoy storing up some future blessings!

CANCER You can help out a friend this week if you plan your schedule so that you’ve got time for kindness built in! Embrace your generous side while getting your own work finished. You are excellent at multi-tasking!

LEO You may want to make this week a schmooze-fest! Whether you go out to a party or stay in with a friend, you’ll have a good time if you remember that charm is the only weapon that’ll work for you this week.

VIRGO People can get on your nerves, can’t they?

And this week is one of those weeks. Getting through it will be a test. You can get the highest grade on the test by smiling at the stupidity of those who oppose you. They don’t know any better and this week you can’t teach them.

LIBRA A secret may be revealed in a casual conversation. Your confidence is valued and appreciated. Take it all in! There’s no returning to what has been once you realize the gift you’ve been given.

SCORPIO Drive the speed limit in all things this week or you could wind up with a ticket of some kind. Why rush? Serenity is available if you only stop and listen for it inside of you. Discharge your usual obligations with dignity and count your blessings.

SAGITTARIUS Slow down and relax your brain-energies!

The universe knows how to take care of itself and of you. Give it a chance by getting your mental schemes out of the way. Sometimes it is hard but trust!

CAPRICORN A friend from the past could suddenly appear in your life. This could be a highly beneficial reunion for both of you. Let bygones be bygones, and renew this friendship. Love isn’t used up just because it’s shared with many.

AQUARIUS Be open to a new friendship that could bring public recognition, a new assignment, or a raise in income. You’ll also be pleased with romantic vibes that come from far away. Call! Someone special is waiting to hear from you.

PISCES You’ll radiate with confidence and enthusiasm this week. Important people will be impressed. Make sure you spend time in their presence. The week promises success in making new starts with old contacts. Refresh yourself by socializing just for fun.

Source: NNPA News Service

BUSINESS

Page 10

CLASSIFIEDS

Tri-State Defender

January 3 - 9, 2013

MONEY MATTERS

Your gender and credit card debt

An April 2012 study by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation shows that women with low levels of financial literacy are more likely to engage in costly credit card behaviors than men with low financial literacy. Interestingly, there was no disparity in credit card behavior between men and women with high levels of financial literacy.

Does your financial intelligence need a boost? Below are some tips to help change costly behavior patterns and, hopefully, close the gender gap in credit card debt.

Learn how to “shop” for credit cards – The study found that women tend to pay half a percentage point more in credit card interest rates than men. Credit card evaluation sites offer easy ways to compare offers.

Try www.creditcards.com, www.indexcreditcards.com or www.creditcardguide.com.

Don’t forget to include expenses in your budget – Budgeting is a basic tenant of personal finance. By itemizing and categorizing credit card expenses, you should be able to

determine where “overspending” occurs. If necessary, curb your spending to keep expenses within your budget.

Avoid department store savings incentives – Let’s face it, women visit deCharles and Sims Jr., CFP partment specialty stores more frequently than men. Temptation occurs when the salesperson suggests a discount on your purchase if you apply for a credit card. If you can’t pay off your credit card balance when it falls due, was the extra 10 percent savings you received during check-out really worth it?

Understand credit limits – Credit card companies are known to automatically increase your credit limit to entice additional usage. Pay attention to the limit shown on your statement, and call your credit card

company to reduce it to a reasonable amount. Beware, don’t reduce it so low that it brings your balance too close to the limit. Aim to keep the balance on your credit card account no higher than 35 percent of the credit line. Statistics show that the lower your debt, compared to your credit limit, the better a credit risk you are. (And the more self-control you have.)

Periodically run your credit report – A bad credit rating means higher interest rates. Your credit report contains detailed information about your credit card balances, credit limits, account types, account statuses, and payment histories.

Check it for accuracy, and report any discrepancies.

Pay on time and more than the minimum due – Look over your next credit card bill and calculate how long it will take to pay off your balance if you make only the minimum payment. You will be shocked to see how much you will pay in interest.

When you make the minimum payment, you end up paying more money

ON OUR WAY TO WEALTHY

Tagging up with 2012 We put forth every effort to be On Our Way to Wealthy in 2012 as business owners shared their experiences and expertise.

From government contracting to supplier diversity certification, churches’ economic development to young entrepreneurs, crowd funding to bankruptcy, and from mini manufacturing to sports-related businesses, their stories were inspiring and filled with advice to help others avoid their mistakes.

Before we plunge full force into 2013, let’s review Memphis business for 2012.

Memphians witnessed the ups and downs of several large businesses.

Electrolux and Mitsubishi continued construction as they moved forward with relocation and expansion plans in the Memphis area.

Incentives provided to International Paper ensured that the company remains a part of the Memphis community. Thousands of jobs were secured in the process. While International Paper has proven to be a provider of great-paying jobs, Electrolux and Mitsubishi should provide more such opportunities.

Just like small businesses struggle, large businesses struggle as well, and the impact can be widespread in a community. Even though we rooted for Pinnacle and provided support through incentives, it wasn’t enough to keep them out of bankruptcy. A best-case scenario would see Pinnacle emerging stronger and still a viable part of our airport community.

As we embark on the next set of steps on our way to wealthy, here are some building blocks to keep in mind:

Friendly folks

For the most part, Memphians greet you with a smile. When there is adversity the community comes together to support a cause like none other. While a few bad apples try to Carlee McCullough spoil the bag, this community keeps moving forward in spite of those few bad ones.

The Grizzlies are kicking butt and making us proud. It kind of makes you forget there was ever a fight to get them here, with some citizens dead-set against it. Many thanks to the pioneers.

Grizzlies

Overton Park Zoo and the Levitt Shell are great assets to this community. Take some time out of your business schedule to go and enjoy some animals or a concert. Memphis always gets the music right. Whether you like a particular song or not, the Memphis sound is always memorable. Memphis in May always gets it right. Through every rainstorm imaginable, the music continues to play.

The Zoo and music

While we are striving to obtain wealth, we must maintain our health.

Fitness

Lifetime Fitness hit it out of the park.

There is literally something for everyone regardless of your level of fitness. Whether it is a massage, manicure, pedicure, lunch, swimming, cycling, weightlifting, yoga, dancing, basketball, rock climbing, karate, or zumba, Lifetime Fitness has it.

Compared to other markets, real estate is affordable. Office space tends to be affordable as well. Since Memphis is centrally located in the country, business travelers can get anywhere domestically within two to three hours. Community organizations, including the Renaissance Business Center, Small Business Administration and SCORE, are all readily available to assist business owners striving to get to the next level.

East entry and location

Although climate is not within our control, it tends to work in Memphis’ favor. We experience all four seasons and generally have mild winters.

Great climate

As we move forward this year, expect more stories from businesses large and small. Let us know how you are doing in your quest for wealth.

Your experiences are valuable.

Closing bell

(Contact Carlee McCullough, Esq., at 5308 Cottonwood Road, Suite 1A, Memphis, TN 38118, or email her at jstce4all@aol.com.)

in finance charges. You could save hundreds, possibly even thousands, in finance charges by increasing your monthly credit card payments. It would take more than 20 years to pay off a $5,000 credit card balance (at 14 percent APR) when you only make minimum payments.

Learn when to use your credit card – If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. If you find yourself unable to pay off balances, exercise restraint and only use credit cards for emergency purposes. When it comes to financial literacy, ignorance can be expensive. Lack of financial literacy results in lower standards of living, hinders prosperity, and can dramatically affect the stability of our own nation’s financial health. Male or female, everyone needs basic financial knowledge and skills to manage their monetary resources effectively for a lifetime of fiscal well-being.

(Charles Sims Jr. is president/ CEO of The Sims Financial Group.

Contact him at 901-682-2410 or visit www.SimsFinancialGroup.com.)

‘Dialogue with Deidre’ joins MUTV1 Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Latrivia S. Nelson

“Dialogue with Deidre” is the newest show on the only AfricanAmerican network in the city, MUTV1.

The show, which will air weekly on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. on Cable’s Channel 31, features Deidre Malone, former Shelby County Commissioner and owner of the Carter Malone Group, one of the city’s major public relations firms.

“I love S h e l b y County, and I see the potenDeidre tial of this Malone great place in both the Memphis proper and surrounding municipalities,” said Malone. “I know that we are at times overwhelmed by the negative things that happen around us, but we must find a way to still focus on the positives. My upcoming show is about doing just that.”

Malone will be inviting community, business and government leadership on air to discuss the latest, hottest and most controversial issues that are impacting Shelby County citizens.

“The great thing about this show is that we’ll be using a roundtable concept where we can discuss opposing views of important topics and get a full scope of the issue,” said Malone.

Debra Davis nets Colonial Life post

Debra Davis has been named agency development manager for the Memphis sales district of Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company.

Davis, who is from Memphis, will be responsible for helping recruit and train new

sales representatives and for marketing the company’s products, programs and services in the area.

Davis started her career as a manager at UBS Financial Services and later became an agent for American General be-

fore joining Colonial Life. She is on the board of directors for Kids Can Bowl Foundation, the vice president of the deaconess board of Norris Avenue Baptist Church, and a certified bowling instructor.

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NOTICE TO BIDDER(S) Interested parties must download the solicitation directly from the Countyʼs website, unless otherwise indicated in the solicitation invitation. Please visit the Countyʼs website at www.shelbycountytn .gov. All solicitations are listed under “Purchasing Bids.”

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL DUE THURSDAY JANUARY 31, 2013 AT 4:00 PM RFP #13-012-31 INMATE MEDICAL SERVICES Pre-Bid Conference: A Mandatory PreBid conference will be held at 8:30 A.M., Friday, January 11, 2013 at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center, 201 Poplar Avenue, 1st Floor Conference Room, Memphis, TN 38103. Advanced notice of attendance is requested. Please contact Nelson Fowler@ nelson.fowler @shelbycountytn.gov with the company name, contact person, telephone number and number of representatives who will be attending.

As part of the mandatory pre-bid conference, a mandatory site visit of each facility is scheduled at the end of the conference.

Shelby County is an equal opportunity affirmative action employer, drug-free with policies of non-discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or military service.

THE RIGHT TO REJECT ANY AND ALL BIDS IS RESERVED By order of MARK H. LUTTRELL, JR., SHELBY COUNTY MAYOR SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT

Got a used car to sell?

Try our classifieds 901-523-1818

Debra Davis

COMMUNITY

Tri-State Defender

BRIEFS & THINGS King-related awards program set for Jan. 13

The 2Oth Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Awards Program honoring outstanding students and outstanding adult role models will be held at Bloomfield Full Gospel Baptist Church, 123 South Parkway West, on Jan. 13, beginning at 3 p.m.

The program, sponsored by Citizens for Better Services, will be include a salute to veterans and the service me, and women of the U.S. Armed Forces.

The theme is “The Dreamer,” and the guest speaker will be Major General Deliah Rita Works, Retired, U.S. Air Force.

Musical guests will include Whitehaven Gospel Choir, Jekalyn Carr, Barbara “Sissy” Davis, Traveling Kings of Memphis and The Gray Sisters of Decatur, Ala. The emcee will be Dr. Priscilla Williams, founder of Beacon of Light Outreach Ministry, with special appearances by Mayor AC Wharton Jr. and the Miss Memphis Pageant organization.

The Rev. Ralph White is the host pastor.

For more information, call Johnnie Mosley, chairman, Citizens For Better Service, at 901-789-6463.

Page 11

January 3 - 9, 2013

Dickerson bids farewell as NAACP president

Dr. Warner Dickerson received accolades from members of the executive committee of the Memphis Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) after concluding 11 years of service as president during the organization’s annual branch meeting at Mt. Olive CME Cathedral Church on Dr. M.L. King Jr. Ave. Dickerson, who delivered the State of the Branch address, is the longest serving president in the 95-year history of the branch. He was joined by the branch’s executive director, Madeleine C. Taylor, her predecessor, State Rep. Johnnie R. Turner, staff, and friends,.

“I now bid you farewell,” said Dickerson, “but I shall

always remain totally committed to, and supportive of the NAACP and this branch.

There is no other organization like the NAACP in America, and for 103 years there has been none as effective and successful.”

Dickerson said the future of the branch will depend on the actions of its new president, executive committee and staff. The Rev. Keith Norman, senior pastor of First Baptist Church-Broad, is the new branch president. He was elected at the branch meeting in October.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. The Memphis Branch is the largest branch in the organization.

Dr. Warner Dickerson is surrounded by friends and members of the executive committee of the Memphis Branch NAACP after bidding farewell as the branchʼs longest serving president. He will remain on the executive committee. (Courtesy photo)

LENS & LINES

Angels in Action to aid children of domestic violence victims

Angels in Action – a community service group featuring the children of Successful Single Moms Memphis members – has set out to aid children who are forced to leave their homes amid domesticabuse situations. “ My heart goes out to children who have to leave home at a moment’s notice, unable to take their personal items.

We want these children to know that we care,” said 12year-old Savanna Gates-Hulbert, a 7th grader at Kipp Collegiate School and the and Angels in Action coordinator.

Her mother is Nicole Gates, executive director of Successful Single Moms Memphis.

“Savanna recruited her friends to start making a difference in the lives of others and wanted to focus on issues that we advocate for, like domestic violence and children exposed to violence,” said Gates.

Angels in Action launched its community service initiative on Jan. 1 with the “Sweet Dreams Pillow Project.” The group will be collecting new pillows for children of domestic violence victims and donating those items to Ashes 2 Beauty, S.C.R.A.M. (Stop Child Rape & Molestation) and Walking in to a New Life – all organizations that provide services and advocacy for victims and families of domestic violence.

The goal is to collect 1000 new pillows.

“Each pillow will also include an Angels in Action logo to let the children know there are angels watching out for them and we want Memphis to show their support to our project,” said Savanna.

Donations may be dropped off at the following locations: Raleigh Assembly of God, contact - Pastor Don, 3683 Austin Peay Highway, 901386-5055; Women of Spirit, Style & Success, contact - Marva G. Ballard, owner/artist designer, 44 N. Second St., Suite 101.

Take 10 with Mayor Luttrell

Shelby County Mayor Mark H. Luttrell, Jr. is continuing his monthly one-on-one sessions with citizens to listen to their concerns and suggestions.

“These meetings give me the opportunity to speak personally with citizens about their ideas and ways we can improve Shelby County Government,” said Luttrell.

The ten-minute sessions will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, from 1:30 p.m. until 4 p.m. at Luttrell’s office on the 8th floor of the Vasco Smith Administration Building, 160 North Main.

To schedule a visit with Mayor Luttrell, call the Shelby County Mayor’s Office at 901-222-2000.

Former boxing champ Roy Jones Jr. told his young Lester Community Center audience that he used his head and studied public speaking, which he said helped him become a boxing analyst. (Photos by Chris Hope)

In a manner of speaking, Former champ hits home Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Chris Hope

I was very impressed with former boxing champ Roy Jones Jr.’s message to the children at the Lester Community Center at 317 Tillman last Friday (Dec. 28).

Jones, the only professional boxer to successfully journey from light middleweight to heavyweight champion of the world, told his young audience – boys and girls – how inspirational his grandmother was in his upbringing. She was the person he most wanted to impress.

Several times during the afternoon visit, Jones mentioned how much of a role God has played in his success, which also includes championships in the middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. I thought it was important for the children to hear him stress that while you have to work hard to be successful, it means nothing if God isn’t part of you.

One kid asked Jones if he went to college to learn how to box.

“No,” said Jones, who also spoke later at the Gaston Community Center at 1048 S. Third St. But it was what Jones said next that was the kicker.

The 43-year-old Jones, whose birthday is Jan. 16, said he studied public speaking. That move, said Jones, played a major part in him becoming a boxing analyst.

Let your doubters be your inspiration to success, said Roy Jones Jr., the only boxer to climb successfully from light middleweight to heavyweight champion.

Meshed into his talk were key points on how to prepare for your future: work hard at your goals; let your doubters be your inspiration to success.

Although it was billed as an anti-bullying message, Jones actually spent very little time talking directly about that topic, choosing to put more weight on being obedient to parents and to God and having the determination not to fail.

Happy Kwanzaa

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) was the focus for Day 4 of Kwanzaa, which included this Heritage-Tours sponsored celebration at Slavehaven, 826 N. Second St., last Saturday (Dec. 29). It was held under the banner of Mid-South Kwanzaa, Inc.

Ujima (Collective Work & Responsibility) was celebrated on Day 3 of Kwanzaa at the Memphis Kwanzaa Center, 1549 Elvis Presley Blvd. The celebration was a Memphis Kwanzaa International event.

(Photos by Tyrone P. Easley)