VOL. 62, No. 47
www.tsdmemphis.com
November 21 - 27, 2013
75 Cents
Yes or no, which way to go?
Sales tax/Pre-K debate goes down to the wire Judge Joe Brown to keynote 5th Annual Tri-State Defender Men of Excellence on November 23rd.
At a League of Women Voters forum, Dr. Barbara U. Prescott and Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum Jr. debate the merits of Ordinance No. 5495 Local Option Sales Tax. (Photo: Kelvin Cowans)
See Special Section Inside
Special to The New Tri-State Defender
by Kelvin Cowans
Voters packed a conference room at The Benjamin L. Hooks Library on Poplar Ave. on Monday evening to receive two sides to the story of this Thursday’s vote concerning the half-cent sales tax increase for PreK funding. By a show of hands, some voters – about a dozen – indicated they had already voted, which had me wondering if they really had
Black may not crack, but we’re aging faster inside
Today (Nov. 21) is Voting Day! understood the proposed Ordinance No. 5495 Local Option Sales Tax. The other 100 or so undecided voters focused in on the educational fruit provided by Barbara U. Prescott, Ph. D. and Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum Jr., both former Memphis School Board Commissioners and still champions for the Memphis community.
Dr. Prescott argued for the increase; Dr. Whalum was against it. Prescott’s “yes” position was anchored in her belief that the City of Memphis needs this money to make sure our precious babies don’t end up ignorant by the 3rd grade. Dr. Whalum came documentation-ready to show that this vote isn’t about whether we want our children to be educated or not, but more so about the city squeezing a poor SEE DEBATE ON PAGE 3
Taking the fight to blight
The Root
by Lottie L. Joiner
You’ve probably heard the expression “black don’t crack,” a reference to black women’s ageless beauty. But though their skin may be smooth and wrinkle-free on the outside, black women are aging faster than white women on the inside, health experts say. Dr. Michelle Gourdine, a former deputy secretary of health and chief public health physician for Maryland, explains that extreme stress African-Americauses wear can women beand tear on our internal organs, tween the ages contributing to of 49 and 55 heart disease, high blood are 7.5 years pressure and biologically stroke in black “older” than women – all diseases of white women. aging. “The cells that make up your heart, your blood vessels, whatever else, begin to age prematurely because of all the stress, and that predisposes you to disease,” says Gourdine, author of “Reclaiming Our Health: A Guide to African American Wellness.” She points to a 2010 National Institutes of Health study titled “Do US Black Women Experience Stress-Related Accelerated Biological Aging?” The study’s authors analyzed data SEE BLACK ON PAGE 5
MEMPHIS WEEKEND
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
H- 6 4o - L - 3 7o R ain /Th und er
H- 4 7o - L - 2 6o P a r tl y C l ou dy
H- 4 1o - L - 2 9o Mo stl y Sun ny
REGIONAL TEMPS LITTLE ROCK NASHVILLE JACKSON, MS
Friday H-62 L-38 H-62 L-36 H-75 L-49
Saturday H-48 L-30 H-48 L-24 H-53 L-32
Sunday H-43 L-33 H-40 L-25 H-48 L-30
President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nationʼs highest civilian honor – to C.T. Vivian and 15 others on Wednesday (Nov. 20). (Photo: Pool)
7 things you didn’t know about two Medal of Freedom winners CNN
by C.K. Lett Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian and Bayard Rustin were among 16 people honored with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on Wednesday. Household names former President Bill Clinton and media icon Oprah Winfrey received the honor, but odds are you probably aren’t as familiar with their fellow honorees. Vivian is a civil rights leader who participated in the freedom rides, and Rustin was considered to be one of the masterminds behind the March on Washington. Here are seven things you don’t know about these two unsung civil rights pioneers, but should.
Civil rights movement: No ammo necessary
When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was just getting the Montgomery bus boycotts off the ground he “had not personally embraced nonviolence” according to the The Bayard Rustin Documentary Film Project. “In fact, there were guns inside King’s house and armed guards posted at his doors. Rustin persuaded boycott leaders to adopt complete nonviolence, teaching them Gandhian nonviolent direct protest.”
Violent encounters of the Southern kind
In 1965, when he was the national director of affiliates for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or
SCLC, C.T. Vivian led a group of people to register to vote in Selma, Ala. As the county Sheriff Jim Clark blocked the group, Vivian said in his fiery tone, “We will register to vote because as citizens of the United States we have the right to do it.” This did not sit well with Clark, who instead of keeping the peace, disrupted it by beating Vivian until blood dripped off his chin in plain view of rolling cameras. Images such as these galvanized support for change.
With their sights set on blight, Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and other officials on Friday will announce plans to move on three troublesome properties. The three properties are Winchester Gardens, 1895 Winchester; Walter Simmons Estates, 3720 Knight Arnold; and Wooddale Condominiums, 4876 Winchester. Officials will detail plans to demolish or clean-up large commercial properties and share “the lengths to which the City has had to go to find owners and seek legal authority to mitigate them.” Joining Wharton at stops planned for 11:30 a.m. (Winchester Gardens), 12:15 a.m. (Walter Simmons Estates) and 12:30 p.m. (Wooddale Condominiums) will be City Council members; Dwan Gilliom, Public Works director; Onzie Horne, Neighborhood Improvement director; and Patrick Dandridge and Steve Barlow of the city attorney’s office.
- INSIDE -
• Holiday festival parade turning 16. See Community, page 11. • ‘Best Man Holiday’ overcomes the odds. See Entertainment, page 9. • JFK’s civil rights legacy myth and fact. See Opinion, page 4.
2 things Muhammad Ali, Rustin, share
Rustin and Muhuammad Ali both were conscientious objectors to war SEE WINNERS ON PAGE 5
JFK